Renovations and Architectural Review
A renovation here is governed by five different authorities at once.
A Casa de Campo® villa sits inside one of the most carefully governed luxury resort communities in the Caribbean. The visual coherence — the materials, the heights, the setbacks, the relationship of villas to golf courses and ocean views — is not accidental. It is enforced through an architectural-review process that runs in parallel with the standard Dominican municipal and national permitting stack.
For an owner planning a renovation, an addition, or a new build on a Casa de Campo® lot, that means navigating five layers of approval: the resort’s Architectural Review Committee, the municipal authority, the national Ministry of Public Works, the engineering and architecture professional association, and the Ministry of Tourism.
Resort ARC
The Casa de Campo® Architectural Review Committee maintained by the resort’s POA and Costasur. Reviews every meaningful exterior change: new construction, additions, exterior remodels, roof, pools, perimeter walls, visible mechanical, landscape changes near roadways. Submission requires CODIA-credentialed architect-stamped plans. 4–10 weeks for response.
Ayuntamiento — municipal
The municipal building permit from Ayuntamiento de La Romana. Confirms zoning compliance, land-use permission, and basic safety. Required for new construction, structural work, and most additions. Less consistently enforced for interior-only work but technically required for any structural change.
MOPC — national
Ministerio de Obras Públicas reviews architectural plans for compliance with Dominican building codes and issues the national building license. Typically the lengthiest part of the public stack — 8–16 weeks is common for a substantial residential project, longer for complex work.
CODIA — professional
Colegio Dominicano de Ingenieros, Arquitectos y Agrimensores certifies the architect and engineer of record are licensed and in good standing, with their professional stamps on plans. CODIA certification is a prerequisite for both municipal and MOPC submissions.
SECTUR — tourism zone
Because Casa de Campo® lies within a designated tourism-promotion zone, projects of meaningful scale require a Carta de No Objeción from the Ministry of Tourism. Smaller renovations and interior work usually do not trigger SECTUR review; new builds and substantial additions do.
The patterns that come up over and over.
The Casa de Campo® ARC publishes design guidelines that govern the resort’s visual coherence. The categories below come up consistently in conversations with owners who have run renovations. A renovation that respects these patterns from the design phase moves through the ARC faster, with fewer revisions, and at lower aggregate cost.
Massing and lot lines
Building heights capped by surrounding villas and sight lines from adjacent fairways. Two-story expansions in single-story neighborhoods are typically declined. Tower elements and rooftop terraces visible from neighbors are scrutinized. Setback encroachment to gain interior floor area is the single most common rejection.
The resort palette
Stucco and rendered concrete in cream, sand, terracotta, and warm gray ranges. Clay-tile or terracotta roofs. Natural stone accents. Wood elements in warm species. Reflective metal cladding, mirrored glass, saturated blues and greens, white roofs, and any industrial finish are typically declined.
The patterns that come up over and over.
The Casa de Campo® ARC publishes design guidelines that govern the resort’s visual coherence. The categories below come up consistently in conversations with owners who have run renovations. A renovation that respects these patterns from the design phase moves through the ARC faster, with fewer revisions, and at lower aggregate cost.
Openness and screening
Long uninterrupted solid walls along roadways are typically declined; articulated walls with planted breaks clear. Mature-tree removal requires ARC review and replacement plans. Lawn-to-hardscape conversions and changes to the planting along golf-course edges are scrutinized.
Equipment screening
Generators, large AC condenser banks, solar arrays, water tanks, and pool equipment must be screened or located out of sight from neighbors and the golf course. Rooftop installations are the most common compliance failure. Reflective pool tile that flashes sunlight at neighbors or fairways is restricted.
The order that saves owners months.
The single biggest predictor of a clean renovation timeline is the order the owner works in. The pattern that works has been validated across hundreds of Casa de Campo® projects. Skip a step or invert the order, and the timeline blows out.
Consult the POA office
Before retaining an architect, confirm what the ARC will and will not approve for your specific lot and neighborhood. Design guidelines are publicly available but neighborhood-specific nuances are best confirmed in conversation.
Retain a CdC-experienced architect
The single most expensive mistake is hiring an architect who has not worked inside the resort before. The ARC has specific submission conventions; an architect who has run plans through the committee before knows what reviewers ask for and how to present it. Confirm holding structure (SRL vs personal) at the same time.
Survey the lot first
Pull the lot survey from the Registro de Títulos and confirm setbacks, boundaries, and easements before drafting. A boundary surprise late in design is the single most expensive timing failure. Survey first, draft second.
The order that saves owners months.
The single biggest predictor of a clean renovation timeline is the order the owner works in. The pattern that works has been validated across hundreds of Casa de Campo® projects. Skip a step or invert the order, and the timeline blows out.
ARC first, then public permits
Submit plans to the resort committee. Receive the response. Incorporate revisions. Resubmit if needed. Only after ARC approval should municipal, MOPC, CODIA, and (if applicable) SECTUR submissions go in — they run in parallel from that point.
Contractor + construction
Select from CdC’s informal but tightly-held network of contractors familiar with resort standards, gate protocols, and noise-and-hours restrictions during peak season. Work proceeds under issued permits with periodic municipal and ARC inspections. Final ARC sign-off on completion.
Renovations at Casa de Campo® — candidly.
Do interior-only renovations require ARC approval?
Generally no — interior work that does not change the exterior envelope (cabinetry, bathroom remodels, flooring, paint inside the villa) usually does not require ARC submission. Structural work, even when interior, requires the municipal permit because of safety review. When in doubt, a one-paragraph email to the ARC office confirming “the proposed scope does not require committee review” creates documentary cover.
Can I add a second story to my villa?
Sometimes, in some neighborhoods. The ARC reviews proposed massing against the surrounding villas and the visual lines from adjacent fairways. A two-story addition in a single-story neighborhood is typically declined. Confirm with the committee before retaining an architect.
Can I install solar panels on the roof?
Possible with ARC review. The committee looks at visibility from neighboring villas and from the golf course, panel finish (matte vs reflective), and roof-mounted equipment screening. Ground-mounted solar with proper landscape screening is sometimes easier to clear than roof-mounted.
Can I build a perimeter wall?
Yes, subject to height, material, and articulation requirements that vary by neighborhood. Long uninterrupted solid walls along roadways are typically declined; articulated walls with planted breaks and resort-palette finishes typically clear.
How long does the full permitting process take?
Plan for 4–10 weeks for ARC review and 3–6 months for the public-permit stack (municipal, MOPC, CODIA, SECTUR where applicable), with the public stack running after ARC approval. Total preconstruction timeline of 5–9 months is realistic for a substantial renovation; longer for a new build.
What does the permitting process cost?
Architect fees scale with project size — typically 5–10% of construction cost for a substantial residential project. Public-permit fees (municipal, MOPC, CODIA, SECTUR) typically run 2–4% of declared construction cost in aggregate. The ARC review fee is set by the resort and is modest by comparison. Total preconstruction cost typically runs 7–14% of the eventual construction budget.
Can I do work without permits?
No work above the cosmetic level should proceed without permits. The risks include resort stop-work orders, municipal fines, complications at resale (a future buyer’s title due diligence will surface unpermitted additions), and — for the most material work — orders to remove unpermitted construction.
Do I need to be in the country during construction?
No. Most foreign owners use a Dominican architect of record as the project’s local representative, supplemented by a project manager or villa-management firm to oversee day-to-day. Quarterly site visits are typical for substantial projects.
Not a substitute for the ARC — and who to engage.
The information on this page is summary guidance compiled from publicly available Dominican permitting law (the Ministry of Public Works regulations, the CODIA professional standards, municipal building codes for La Romana, and the SECTUR tourism-zone framework) and current operational practice at Casa de Campo®. It is not legal, architectural, or engineering advice and should not be relied on as such. The Casa de Campo® Architectural Review Committee maintains the definitive design guidelines, and those guidelines update over time. Neighborhood-specific restrictions vary across the resort. Before retaining an architect or initiating any design work, confirm the current requirements directly with the ARC office or with Casa de Campo® Real Estate.
Two professionals you should engage before any plans are drawn:
A Dominican architect with Casa de Campo® experience, CODIA-credentialed, with at least one prior project that has cleared the resort’s Architectural Review Committee. The fee differential between an experienced and inexperienced architect is consistently recovered through faster ARC approvals and fewer revisions.
A Dominican project manager or villa-management firm familiar with the resort’s construction protocols, contractor network, and gate procedures. Foreign owners overseeing construction from outside the country need a competent on-the-ground representative.
Talk through your renovation before plans are drawn.
The cheapest hour you will spend on a Casa de Campo® renovation is the one before the architect starts work — confirming what the ARC will approve for your specific lot, what neighbors are doing nearby, what the realistic timeline looks like, and which architects and contractors have a track record inside the resort. We will walk through the constraints and the introductions.
Una guía independiente para compradores de bienes raíces en Casa de Campo®. Gestionada por Caribbean Paradise Homes, presente en el complejo desde 2003 y lista para ayudarle a encontrar y comprar su hogar aquí.
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Casa de Campo® Resort & Villas es una marca registrada de Costasur Dominicana, SA. Villas in Casa by Caribbean Paradise Homes SRL es una agencia inmobiliaria independiente y no está afiliada ni avalada por Costasur Dominicana, SA. La información de este sitio se basa en información que consideramos confiable. No podemos garantizar su exactitud ni su integridad, por lo que no debe tomarse como tal. El precio de venta y las ofertas están sujetos a errores, omisiones, cambios (incluido el precio) o retiro sin previo aviso.