Our houses

[Gavanddal]

As many of us have houses in the Philippines either complete or in different stages of construction it would be interesting to see them.
Not as a "mine is better than yours" more as a- let's see how the Brits live in the Phils.
Perhaps we can have an album in the gallery showing everyones houses (or pile of hollow blocks)

[andypaul]

I can show you pleny of empty lots, knowing the missus she has already chosen the site started construction while she is out there at the moment. Better go check the joint account

I think more than like you say mines better, bigger, greener or whatever floats your boat, a lets help one another learn from others experiences would be real useful.

A Section about Houses renting, buying, buliding and maintaining would be handy.

[Gavanddal]

Yes, and it's interesting to hear what people are paying for extensions, kitchen, windows, doors, roofs etc.

For example, an English guy in Southern Leyte told me he paid £300 to have all his windows and doors hand made. If I can find someone to do that I'll be well impressed.

Without having researched it thoroughly yet, it seems harder to find reputable builders than in the UK. By that I mean that many don't seem to advertise so it's mainly word of mouth?
I saw 3 construction sites whilst I was last out there and thought about just asking the head honcho if he could give me a quote.

As far as sourcing building products is concerned, how easy is that? I found some small "builders merchants" but with very little choice. I have visions of shipping many things in from a large city like Cebu.

[andypaul]

Yes, and it's interesting to hear what people are paying for extensions, kitchen, windows, doors, roofs etc.

For example, an English guy in Southern Leyte told me he paid £300 to have all his windows and doors hand made. If I can find someone to do that I'll be well impressed.

Without having researched it thoroughly yet, it seems harder to find reputable builders than in the UK. By that I mean that many don't seem to advertise so it's mainly word of mouth?
I saw 3 construction sites whilst I was last out there and thought about just asking the head honcho if he could give me a quote.

As far as sourcing building products is concerned, how easy is that? I found some small "builders merchants" but with very little choice. I have visions of shipping many things in from a large city like Cebu.

Also if buliders and bulider merchants were being reviewed and recomended to other whiteys it would possibly help them out and their workers as well as the people requiring their services.

[fred]

You can get pretty much everything you need here these days.
Try to take advantage of things like the dirt cheap granite slabs for sale..Marble flooring ,solid mahogany doors ect..Most importantly take advantage of the cheap labour..There are some really good tradesmen here..The secret is finding them.. Like I said before..If your a 50 mile radius of Manila..Just ask me...I can probably help.
A lot of the fittings here are good quality and imported.. Lets put it this way..You get what you can afford...
When your architect asks if you would like him/her to quote for standard fittings then expect nothing but Chinese crap.
Plan like crazy and be here during construction.

[Gavanddal]

Plan like crazy and be here during construction.

That's all very well if you can spare the time. I'm sure many of us can spare no more than a month there unless you've already made the move for good.
I've heard that many workers are quite slow so it could be quite a chore being on site for the duration.
Can you get workers to agree to a price and duration like you can in the UK?
That way you can plan your works and get your floor tilers out before the painters start for example.

I guess you need a reliable site agent to oversee works when you're not there. I've managed numerous projects in Europe and having a project plan and a good local agent is most important.

Perhaps others can tell their stories about how they've managed this process on their Philippines projects.
And I agree, recommending suppliers may be useful but then again I'm sure our sites are very well spread out!

[jimeve]

I agree with Fred, I used local labour 2 quid a day, but you have to be there
all the time, cracking the whip.

Dont know where Iam going to get marble tiles, granite, decent doors from,
as building in negros island, not much to choose from.

Like I said before, I have to save then go over for a month or two.
you can get contracts, but you have to pay on completion, which i don't
have £50,000-£60,000 to spare.

cheers Jim

[fred]

That's all very well if you can spare the time. I'm sure many of us can spare no more than a month there unless you've already made the move for good.

Thats true but unless you have people here to send the money to that will spend it honestly where it should be spent then it might be worth taking off an extra two months from work. Its a tough one I know..

We built our place from scratch completely from the UK..We sent them rough plans of what we wanted with pictures sent by email..They had drawings done by the head municipal engineer who also issues the building permits required..They sent us a copy of the plans by DHL and we approved them.. The permits were issued and work started.
It takes a great leap of faith to send huge heaps of hard cash..
My brother in law tells me that it is common practice here for family members to divert large amounts to secret bank accounts and simply tell the sender that the project is over budget..
We are very fortunate and I could not in good conscience advice others to attempt the same...Just in case it all goes horribly wrong!!
No wonder a lot of people overseas come here for a month and buy ready finished houses in new sub divisions.

I've heard that many workers are quite slow so it could be quite a chore being on site for the duration.

Of course they are slow..They are on day work! The more days they work the more money they end up with. (Same in UK)

Can you get workers to agree to a price and duration like you can in the UK?

Of course!! The problem you now face is will the foundations have the tie beams they quoted you for? Will the posts and beams have the correct size rebar?...and so on.
You need someone that you can trust to be there to oversee just about everything.

I guess you need a reliable site agent to oversee works when you're not there.

Yes..Thats exactly what you need. Make sure you get one.

[jturnedrich]

Why not try have a vacation house in Boracay?

[chino]

Why not try have a vacation house in Boracay?

Boaracy is nice but a party place (off in Oct of my mates get their money back from Oasis) not a place i could live all year round... still nice though.