KISS. Keep it simple stupid. A mantra followed by many different successful people over the years. We find that here on a Panama Island it is important to keep it simple. There are no stores to run over to if you have forgotten something. There are no repair people who can come over that day and correct your current problem. It makes one look at life and all its aspects a little differently.
Construction. Build it right the first time so that you do not have to do it a second time. If it is something that is going to require maintenance in the future build it so that it will be as painless as possible to maintain it. For example, all the trim work in our Bocas del Toro Hotel have been screwed in with stainless steel screws instead of being nailed in place. Why you ask? First because the wholes in which the fasteners were to be placed had to be drilled. We used local hardwoods for our trim work. We wanted to limit our use of such materials and we wanted to be sure that we were able to properly maintain what we had so that it would last a very long time. So since we wanted to be able to refinish the same wood at such time in the future as it would be necessary, we screwed the trim in place so it would be easy to get it down and into the shop to refinish it. We used stainless steel as we liken living in a tropical environment to living on a boat. We build for the elements.
