Build or Buy Off-Plan? What My First Build in Lombok Taught Me

The day the builder stopped showing up

Halfway through building Soma House, my first project in Lombok, my contractor ran out of money and walked off the job.

The walls were half up. The money I'd paid was gone. And I was standing on a site in Kuta with no builder, no clear idea what had been spent where, and a business that was supposed to be open already.

I'm telling you this because I get messages every week from people who want to buy a plot here and build their own villa. Most of them are smart, capable people. So was I. It didn't help.

Experience didn't protect me

By then I'd lived in Indonesia for close to ten years. I'd spent more than fifteen years opening restaurants and hospitality concepts, in the US and here. I knew how to run a project, hire people and manage a budget.

What I didn't know was how building works in Lombok specifically: how contractors price jobs, how they fund the work, and what happens when one job runs over and they borrow from the next. That gap is where most first builds go wrong. It isn't about intelligence. It's about local knowledge you only get by going through it once.

The problem is that the first time is the expensive time.

What it taught me

1. Never pay ahead of the work. I paid too much, too early. When the contractor got into trouble, my money was already funding other problems. Tie every payment to a stage you can see and check on site: foundations poured, structure up, roof on.

2. A contractor's cash flow is your risk. Ask how they fund materials and wages between payments. If the honest answer is "from the next client's deposit," you're carrying someone else's project as well as your own.

3. Get the drawings done before anyone breaks ground. Every change made on site costs more and adds days. Detailed drawings also give you something concrete to hold a builder to.

4. Budget for the gap. Whatever your number is, keep a real buffer on top. Mine got used, and then some.

5. Be there, or have someone there who answers to you. Progress photos on WhatsApp are not site supervision.

[Andrew: real build numbers make these lessons land. Fill in any you know: roughly what % of the contract you'd paid when the builder walked; how many months late Soma opened; how far over budget it ended up; what it cost to bring in a new builder to finish.]

Why I tell people to buy off-plan first

If you're new to Lombok, my advice is simple: don't make your first property here a self-build. Buy into a project someone else is building, learn how things work, and build later if you still want to.

Off-plan done properly gives you a fixed price, a finished design and a developer who carries the construction risk. You get to watch a build up close without your money being the thing holding it together.

But off-plan has its own risks, so check these before you sign anything:

• Is the building permit (PBG) issued? Don't accept "in progress."

• Has construction actually started? Ask for dated site photos, or better, visit.

• Are payments tied to milestones? You should never be paying for work that doesn't exist yet.

• What title will you hold? A foreigner can hold HGB through a PT PMA, or a notarised lease. Neither is freehold, and anyone who tells you otherwise is a red flag.

• Who is the developer, and what have they already built and run here? A business you can walk into tells you more than a brochure.

How we built Manuka differently

Manuka Villas is the project I wish had existed when I first came to Lombok. It's eight villas in Kuta, about five minutes from the Mandalika circuit and 25 minutes from the airport. I chose the site because of what Soma House taught me about location: it's central, quiet, outside the flood risk that some parts of Kuta deal with in the wet season, and easy to get around on foot.

Everything above is built into how it runs. The building permit was issued before we broke ground. Construction started in July 2026 and the foundations are finished. Payments follow the build: 10% to reserve, 40% at signing, 40% at foundations and the final 10% when your villa is complete. Handover is planned for Q3 2027.

And Soma House did get finished. It's open in Kuta today, and since March 2026 it has run at 84.5% occupancy. That's the best proof I can offer that we know how to get a building done here and run it once it is.

If you're thinking about owning in Lombok, come and see the site, then ride five minutes over to Soma House for a sauna. Email salesmanukavilla@gmail.com to arrange a visit.