Lima, Peru is located in an area of intense seismic activity and earthquakes have devastated the city several times in its history. Recent census data also indicates high-growth in residential building since 1993 subjecting an ever-greater number of inhabitants to seismic risk. For effective earthquake planning, it is essential to consider the need for the development of parameters for use in seismic recovery estimation of typical residential buildings in Lima. A survey of builders and other construction professionals working in the metropolitan area of Lima is conducted to determine estimated prices and practice for local construction and repair methods for residential buildings. It is shown how this data can be used to provide a clearly defined damage scale that relates level of damage to seismic losses/recovery. A methodology is also presented as to how this scale could be best integrated with seismological and building vulnerability studies to form a completed seismic recovery estimation model, which would be of benefit to earthquake planning professionals.