Building our house and garage in the Philippines
Discussion
The builders have started work on the centre walls for the roof top rooms, plus laid the base for the perimeter walls. The architect has turned out to be a total flake and doesn't seem to be able to draw the roof for us. He has had all his fee already, so obviously feels he has no need to do anything more. Just the sort of thing I expected. So, I guess I'll have to break out the Sketchup once again and design the trusses etc.
Should go down a bundle in the uber-catholic Philippines.
£10K? You could buy a place for that, but it won't be in some lucrative resort or anything like that.
Our whole project, land, garage and house, will end up in the region of £80k, so you will find you can buy a small basic condominium/apartment for £10k. And bearing in mind Angeles is one of the most expensive areas in the country, you'll get better value for money further off the beaten track for that price.
Foreigners can't own land in the PI, but condos are okay.
Do a Google for 'condominiums Angeles - Cebu - Subic' or something like that.
Our whole project, land, garage and house, will end up in the region of £80k, so you will find you can buy a small basic condominium/apartment for £10k. And bearing in mind Angeles is one of the most expensive areas in the country, you'll get better value for money further off the beaten track for that price.
Foreigners can't own land in the PI, but condos are okay.
Do a Google for 'condominiums Angeles - Cebu - Subic' or something like that.
Roo said:
I'd be worried about putting a nail in that wall to hang a picture.
I'm away working, and as soon as my wife sent me that piccie through I sent a stern message to the contractor stating that sort of stuff is NOT happening in this house. There are enough pipes and conduits and stuff running in the walls already without random diagonal wires running hither and yon. The other wire at the top is for the wall air-con, but there is no excuse for that diagonal abortion, apart from laziness and that certain third world lack of really giving a fxxk.....
We're keeping a detailed 'journal' of photos and drawings so we know just what runs where in the walls/floors.
Edited by King Herald on Tuesday 9th August 16:00
There's a San Fernando about ten miles from us, but I think there are more than a few of them dotted around the country.
We have most of our furniture already, some local, some from the UK. We recently had a huge king size bed custom made from local mahogany. Not exactly cheap, by local standards, but I'd hate to have paid for it to be made in England.
We have most of our furniture already, some local, some from the UK. We recently had a huge king size bed custom made from local mahogany. Not exactly cheap, by local standards, but I'd hate to have paid for it to be made in England.
jeff m said:
Are you both sure about the law regarding foreign ownership.
(of stuff)
I was of the opinion that the ownership of one residential lot, with or without improvements was ok.
It didn't affect us because my wife already had a decent house, biggish and not made of twigs before we met.
There was also a law change in the mid nineties regarding corps, that allowed Carrefour (French superstore) to open in Manila.
However employment laws are still very archaic, as a non pinoy you are barred from most proffessions, even Doctors without Frontiers tending to people after some flooding were told "sorry, no doctoring" you're foreign. (northern Mindanao some years ago).
Off topic a little, Bohol is a nice little island, great beaches, very low crime rate, but......if you fancy a bit on the side you are gonna get caught cos it's so small
Of course that is not relevant for us PH types, just added it for the casual lurkers.
Seriously, a foreigner can not own land in any shape or form. It is also illegal to form dummy corporations, for the business of controlling the ownership of land. Everything we have is my wifes, if we split up she gets it all, just like the UK really.......(of stuff)
I was of the opinion that the ownership of one residential lot, with or without improvements was ok.
It didn't affect us because my wife already had a decent house, biggish and not made of twigs before we met.
There was also a law change in the mid nineties regarding corps, that allowed Carrefour (French superstore) to open in Manila.
However employment laws are still very archaic, as a non pinoy you are barred from most proffessions, even Doctors without Frontiers tending to people after some flooding were told "sorry, no doctoring" you're foreign. (northern Mindanao some years ago).
Off topic a little, Bohol is a nice little island, great beaches, very low crime rate, but......if you fancy a bit on the side you are gonna get caught cos it's so small
Of course that is not relevant for us PH types, just added it for the casual lurkers.
You can own a minority percentage of a business or corporation, as long as the majority owners are Filipinos, which is how big foreign businesess operate here.
As for a bit on the side, we have an incredibly fit 18 year old nice living with us, and I seriously have to be careful what my eyes, and mind, are doing when she is wandering around the house in her tight little shirts and short shorts.....
ETA: We did think about putting it in our daughters name, as she has dual nationaily, like my wife, but then it could not be sold or anything like that until she was 21, not for any reason. Another 11 years, if ever we decided to get rid of it.
Edited by King Herald on Tuesday 16th August 02:43
swiftpete said:
...... She didn't strike me as the sort of person I'd have trusted any money to, to be honest and in the end she proved that my gut feeling (and everyone else's), about her was correct.
I work in the oil and gas offshore business, and you'd not beleive the number of guys I've met over the last 20 years with similar tales of woe. I know one American guy who has lost THREE houses to Thai hoars! 
Finally, a little progress. We have been concentrating efforts on the house for several months, but now they have started back on the garage, with the roof. Trusses are made from 2 x 1/4"angle bar, x 12"deep, should be strong enough even though they used the local equivalent of 1/4", which is about 5mm......
The purlins (sp?) are about 1mm thick max, which seems very skinny to me, but that's the way they do it here.
Arches from dining room to the kitchen, something the mrs had to have. (All we need now is some stained glass windows and a few bells in the loft......)
House is being rendered inside and out now, with 1" of concrete. The surfaces are as flat as a pool table, amazing workmanship.
The purlins (sp?) are about 1mm thick max, which seems very skinny to me, but that's the way they do it here.
Arches from dining room to the kitchen, something the mrs had to have. (All we need now is some stained glass windows and a few bells in the loft......)
House is being rendered inside and out now, with 1" of concrete. The surfaces are as flat as a pool table, amazing workmanship.
They had a couple of theft problems, someone stole the motor off the cement mixer on two occasions, but generally they keep a fairly tight ship.
We had some problems today, when the roofer rolled up and decided he was going to build something different to what I'd specced out on several drawings. This has been an ongoing 'niggle', when the guys make decisions that they should not.
I go offshore again tomorrow for four weeks so I now have to rely on photos and info from the wife.
We had some problems today, when the roofer rolled up and decided he was going to build something different to what I'd specced out on several drawings. This has been an ongoing 'niggle', when the guys make decisions that they should not.
I go offshore again tomorrow for four weeks so I now have to rely on photos and info from the wife.
Sounds cool. You really can get a lot of bang for your buck in the PI. I can't watch the video though, as our internet connection here on the ship is so pathetically slow I'd be here for hours getting it to download.
I'd rather have built in a cheaper locale, as where we are is one of the most expensive areas in the PI. We could have had more land, more house, more garage, a pool etc, for the same price, if we'd moved just 25 miles away, outside the city area.
I'd rather have built in a cheaper locale, as where we are is one of the most expensive areas in the PI. We could have had more land, more house, more garage, a pool etc, for the same price, if we'd moved just 25 miles away, outside the city area.
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