Building a house in the Philippines

 I installed the aluminium bladed windows for several reasons on the apartment. Firstly they are easy to get parts for as they are pretty  much the most common type of window in the Philippines. They are easy to maintain as the glass can be slid out for cleaning. They are simple to install mainly held together with a few screws,brackets and pot rivets. But also they are cheap to buy.

The prime reason that I bought this type was though it allows air movement throughout the apartment. A small breeze carries in through the back of the apartment and through the windows on the front allowing natural cooling. For 4 large windows and a small window for the CR it came to under P3,500 I installed them myself as simply the window openings are in such poor shape being so far out of square I know if I was an installer I would walk off the job. Important note if your getting window openings made “CHECK THEM YOURSELF”. The guy we used was told how to do it and the equipment made available to him but still messed it up because “Yes” means “Im not listening I will do it my own way”. Next time I won’t have him on the job at all its cost me about 4 hrs a window for installation instead of the 4hrs to install all 5. Lesson learned and not one I will make again as I have had to chisel out chunks of concrete to get the windows to fit. There are dips and peaks all over it.

As the project has gone on with the apartment its become very obvious to the benefits of being so hands on. As I have found where weak spots in the workers are but also their strengths. A lot of the problem lies down in the fact people will not tell you something. For example like me at the moment struggling to get the aluminium windows with glass blades installed I am having a nightmare of a time getting them to fit the openings as the person who done all the windows has made a real dire job of it. The windows seem to be at least half an inch out along the cill and completely out of square. Now if I was wondering why a guy has taken all day to fit one window I would no doubt be thinking they are dragging the job out when what has really happened the guy who set the work up for his window really messed up.

Its coming to the end of the job and I have learned a great deal on this first one and at the same time have now managed to find which guys to use on the next project. As well as which parts to monitor to make sure they do it right first time. The guys who will be on the second apartment aren’t the fastest but the extra time they take is pretty irrelevant to the amount of materials and time I will save by the jobs being done right first time.

When looking at buying land or property in the Philippines there are some factors you need to be aware of. Firstly there is always a higher price if nobody is in a rush to sell so buying when someone needs the cash quickly is always the best way to get the land. But also be aware that real estate agents have sub agents who all stick a percentage on the price as well as hike the value of the land for example our hill lot was originally purchased for around P700 sqm directly from the seller but the same lot was advertised by a real estate agent for P2,500 sqm why the hike? because I assume the realtor had plans on pocketing the other P1,800 sqm for themselves. But sometimes you will see the sub agents fee will add to the price which is already over inflated.

So how do you buy land/property? If your looking at a sub-division property I would look to pre-buy as often you will get a discount. The cost is always inflated in comparison to other general lots but that is due to you being in a secure environment and all your neighbours have money to buy land there as well so there is less risk of undesirables in theory. If your looking for a general lot look around yourself or you could hire me if your in the Cebu area I would simply locate the lots and buyers there would be a finders fee and a small day rate for searching. Anyway the point being the best thing to do with land is search yourself avoid realtors. If your buying in a sub-division approach the developers as you maybe able to secure a discount as well as reduce the cost of fees.

The big house is the big question… The problem in the Philippines is the market is pretty tight when it comes to numbers of buyers for houses of over P3million it will no doubt increase over the next few years as more OFW’s return home and more foreigners move here but remember the foreigners are still a small number and most rent. But OFW’s generally already own land from inheritance so when you buy or build a big house remember what happens if you get sick, tired of the Philippines or simply decide you want to move areas. You could be stuck with a house. An alternative which we are personally doing is building/buying smaller units that can be sold in small quantities if ever needed e.g. studio apartments 1/2 bed apartments/houses. Its also easier to budget for construction on smaller scales as the labour force is a bit hit and miss. The main reason is though we are able to keep things seperated for emergencies as well as get a constant stream of income. In the big picture we will add a swimming pool long term once we can finance the apartment structure we want at the same time this is obviously shared usage with the residents of the apartments meaning we have no cleaning or usage costs as its absorbed in rentals. Im going off tangent but just to give you an idea of what other options are out there as often people forget because they see a nice big cheap house but in essence its not really worth the hassles in a lot of cases.

Today we got the aluminium windows and tonight I looked at sorting them into order for each window and set it all up for installing in the morning. I was originally going to install tonight but due to the “spirit level” never seeing the light of day or even setting up a template the windows are all out of square. When I say all I mean all and not by a little bit. Its something I can work around but as usual its another snag added to the list and extra time wasted cutting to fit instead of it just being a quick fit and onto the next job. I also noticed tonight (I have been avoiding the site for a few days) that the windows have got cup marks on the cills and the one window is filthy with hand and foot marks all round it. Another sign that people just don’t care.. its very obvious that its fresh paint and a bit of care should be taken to sheet it if going through it. But as usual it will be a job needing redone to tidy up someone else’s mess. It generally seems to go that way here you do things two or three times instead of once. Not sure why people do it as it just doesn’t make sense at all. To top it all off when we returned with the windows we found that the our painter (who is doing the outside due to my western weight not being able to be supported on the scaffold) is happily working his way through a large bottle of Red Horse Beer which to be honest I wouldn’t be bothered about normally except he is about 20 feet in the air on make shift scaffold. At the moment I am keeping quiet simply because I am letting Paps run this job the next one I will run and see how they compare. I can’t really complain at guys at the moment because they are working via Paps (Aprils father). But next time will be very hire and fire and making sure that people do what needs to be done in the right order and try to kerb the don’t care attitude with any damage you pay for it.

I’m just glad we are on the final run now. The shower and toilet room is nearly finished with the tiling tomorrow the windows will be in. The exterior paint at high level should also be done. Leaving the floor tiles which I am also collecting tomorrow in the hope they start getting laid tomorrow evening. If the tile layer doesn’t he will find its just all the crap cuts to do in the morning because I will lay the rest overnight. Hopefully I have some money arriving from the UK tomorrow as well so we can get the new water tank installed. There is a funny thing about water tanks as everyone seems to go for the metal ones. If you read the side of the metal tanks it tells you that “if your water is high in minerals or corrosive materials you should use the poly version”. Now I discussed this with April as we are getting the plastic tank which is guaranteed for 12 years and nearly double the size for the same money. It seems people go for the metal because they are smaller which personally I think is a waste of money as having a tank the same price which will last longer, hold more water and cheaper there doesn’t seem to be an argument against. But funnily enough we had someone working on our electric water pump who had advised us the reverse as well. Which I said to April a lot of the problem is people don’t take the time to read things properly. I often get it at the net cafe when people are trying to signup for things like Yahoo email. Because they don’t read what is right in front of them telling them what they are doing wrong. They will sit there for 30mins retrying the forms yet it could be as simple as a letter mistyped on an email address e.g. instead of “.” its a ”,” because they pressed it by mistake. The result being getting back to the conversation earlier that this guy fixing the pump is supposed to know his stuff yet its pretty obvious he never questioned why things would corrode a plastic tank over a metal one because if he did without a doubt he would realise he was wrong straight away. At the same time he is encouraging others with his knowledge to install the wrong tanks. It’s funny in some respects but others you wonder how much training people have had. Most people seem to have followed on from someone else rather than college trained because if college trained no doubt they would be an OFW. The same with my mechanic I seemed to have to undo his repairs as things ran worse then repair it myself. So many people say the same thing.. unless you go main dealer but from experiences with them in the UK doesn’t mean the servicing will be any better.

Yesterday the hand rail sections started to go in as you can see a fair bit of work has been done in comparison to what was done by the painters. The difference is getting a good worker. Also the fact Paps (Aprils father) is a welder as well although this work was carried out by someone else. They know the speed and quality Paps is expecting as simply Paps could do it himself if he wanted to. Why did the paint stop where it did? The reason is simple I can’t reach! I am getting to the point where I need to buy scaffolding or have some built for my weight load. The one in front of the building as you can see is built for Filipino weights about half of mine. I experimented with a roller to find the cheap Chinese ones we can find available are rubbish and getting an expensive good quality paint roller is difficult in our area I might have to go into the city just to locate one. In future I am also looking at getting a compressor for spraying the outside walls to save time but its a long way off as the compressors here are over priced I would be better to get a Balikbayan box sent from the UK with a compressor complete with spray kit and fill it with food. I would still probably save money on the cost and have a brand new good quality compressor. I also learned a lesson regarding painting. Let people above you finish first because if they drop, get something dirty or damage your paint work in anyway they will just leave it. Which is why im doing the second level first and once the scaffold goes down I will do the bottom level. Its not about telling people to be careful its the fact that they wont most expats I have spoken to will tell you it doesn’t matter how often or what you tell people they will generally go back to they’re own way of working as soon as your back is turned. Only person I have seen take note of what I say is Paps as he knows there are different reasons I do things although we do discuss some of the options for different reasons as materials affect how things are done for example. But good house keeping is something anyone should be able to master but in most cases they don’t bother.

The small ceiling that took three days! bearing in mind the Kitchen I done the first coat myself and I also done a 1/4 of the ceiling area one night to test the paint. The first paint we used didn’t work well as it was heavily absorbed by the plywood. A lesson learned was not only on making sure the paint is upto the job but also that nobody tells you it isn’t any good they just carry on until the end of the day and one tin and P500 later you find out the paint wasn’t any good so off to the store to get another paint and do a test yourself during the night so they could redo the work in the morning. There is a thing here where nobody wants to tell you there is a problem or that your wrong. I don’t mind being wrong tell me it saves me money! Yesterday as they finished they requested to do the outside but after they used a roller on the edges (you cant see it here as I worked last night to get the aqua to form a line under the white. But a lesson I heard from my friend John was when his painter got the ceiling paint on the walls then the wall paint on the ceiling and a cycle developed. Much easier for me to have a San Mig and work a couple of hours and do it myself faster, cheaper and a result im happy with. There is also a problem that the guys don’t clear up after themselves I found splash marks on the doors, on the walls and cigarette butts all over the floor. Its something I find disrespectful and I had to repaint the window cills due to them making them dirty by standing on them and putting things on them. Its friggin new paint doesn’t anyone consider that fact?? Some days its better to just smile and say your not needed anymore. They know they have annoyed you and maybe thinking they have made one days work last three but I look at it the other way round they lost one weeks outside painting, one day painting the railings and at least another week on the next apartment. Not including that we will be building more.. so who really loses?

Anyway the final result looks pretty good I done the aqua green/blue and the outside yellow/orange myself and I think I will do the rest of the painting myself as simply I cannot waste any more time or budget on this apartment I have another to build.

An article many will be interested in I came across at http://www.bcphilippineslawyers.com

Real Estate Ownership in the Philippines

Philippines real estate law does not allow outright ownership of real property by foreign nationals. Filipinos and former Filipino citizens and Philippine majority owned corporations (Take note of the Anti Dummy Law) are permitted to own land, buildings, condominiums and townhouses.

Foreign nationals may buy condominiums units in Philippine condos (shares in condominium corporations) as long as not more than 40% of the units in a project are acquired by foreigners (Republic Act No. 4726, otherwise known as the Condominium Act).

Exceptions to the 40% Foreign Ownership of Philippine Real Property

• Land Aquired before the 1935 constitution
• Acquisition through hereditary succession if the foreigner is a legal or natural heir
• Foreigners who acquired Philippine property when they used to be Filipino citizens, will maintain ownership of those properties even after their change of citizenship.
• Former natural-born Filipino citizen subject to the limitations prescribed by Law (Batas Pambansa 185 and R.A. 8179)

  1 – For residential purpose – 1,000 square meters of urban land or one (1) hectare of rural land (BP 185)
  2 – Cannot own both urban and rural land. Choose one type only.
  3 – Previous ownership (when still a Filipino citizen) of residential urban or rural land will lower the 1,000 sq meter and 1 hectare limits above.
  4 – Can own a maximum of two (2) lots only.
  5 – Those lots must be in different cities or municipalities in the Philippines.
  6 – A transferee of residential land acquired under Batas Pambansa Blg. 185 may still avail of the privileges granted under R.A. 7042 as amended by R.A. 8179.
  For business or other commercial purpose – 5,000 square meters of urban land or three hectares of rural land. Section 5 of Rule XII states: “the land should be primarily, directly and actually used in the performance or conduct of the owner’s business or commercial activities in the broad areas of agriculture, industry and services including the lease of land but excluding the buying or selling thereof.”
  - Ownership (when still a Filipino citizen) of urban or rural land used for business purposes will lower the 5,000 square meter and 3 hectare limits.
  - Ownership of only one type of land is allowed either urban or rural not both.
  - Ownership is restricted to 2 lots. Each lot must be in a different municipality.

Ownership Of Houses or Buildings by Foreigners in the Philippines

Foreigners my own buildings or houses in the Philippines legally; as long as they do not own the land on which it is built.

Foreign individuals, corporations or associations may lease land for a period of 25 years renewable for another 25 years. (P. D. No 471, Fixing a Maximum Period for the Duration of Leases or Private Lands to Aliens)

Companies or individuals investing in the Philippines may receive government permission to lease land for up to 50 years renewable for another 25 years. (Republic Act No. 7652, otherwise know as the Investors’ Lease Act)

In a country with high unemployment and a problem with being able to find enough to eat everyday you would expect that you wouldn’t have a problem finding reliable workers right? Well sadly to say its wrong I can’t even say how many problems we have had with poor workmanship, slow working and people not turning up. As well as unable to do the basics like sweep a site when they finish at night. They enter a clean building site and leave a bomb site when finished involving more cleaning up than the amount of work they were asked to do. Is it all Filipinos? I don’t think so but the problem is how many people do you have to hire and fire until you start getting reliable staff. Our projects are going to be ongoing for years having people let us down regular isn’t an option. Even when you get good workers sometimes they just stop once they have enough money and you won’t see them for a while. Now I am asking you as a reader is it regional? We live in quite a tight net area just on the boundaries of Cebu City (what is still a seperate town Minglanilla). But here the poverty levels are a lot lower than other areas, there are a lot of OFW’s working in shipping which means there is a lot of paper with an income regardless if they get out of bed in the morning. Alcohol is also a major problem as some of our workers were requested to start on a Saturday and refused until Monday because it interfered in drinking at the weekend.

I think my best response to dealing with the situation is literally to build a skeleton staff and go mechanical where possible. We have some reliable concrete workers which are the most labour intensive jobs the roof sections getting welders for isn’t an issue its mainly just the routine internal fixings and wirings which I can do both myself anyway. I don’t mind putting the hours in as I work during the night when its cooler. This is the start of probably 10 years of projects and hopefully we will develop our machinery and equipment as well as get involved in other peoples projects but at the moment its semi-stalled due to staffing meaning I am spending more time working hands on than doing the other stuff I want to be doing.

Although this blog is following my current projects it is important to remember your part of it. Adding your own articles to build up a selection of “how to” and “dont’s” will help people reduce the risk of money loss projects but also help people realise the potential of how to get things done and that they can do it. I am happy to share the good with the bad and I hope you will do the same. The projects we are currently doing are likely to carry on for a decade as we expand outwards we want you to be a part of that as well as wanting to learn from your knowledge at the same time sharing ours. Later on this year we will also be looking to help develop a road section which is due to our road being a “private road” so we will repair the section between our gate and walls in the hope the neighbours will carry on outside their homes to get the road finished. There is a thought that outside the gates its the “governments” problem but in reality if we don’t fix it I will probably be 80 before I seen anything happen. The cost of road stone is about P2,000 a truck with 5 loads we can pretty much cover our section. Not a lot of money for the amount of difference it will make including not paddling through mud in the rain.

Being a locksmith previously you end up at a lot of properties after robberies (back in the UK). The weakest point is normally down to poorly installed or lack of good locks. The apartment on the other hand although only having the Yale lock with night latch has a security gate on the stairs which will make it very difficult to even get close to the apartments. There will be bolts added to the inside and also the door itself is solid. I don’t expect intruders but its always better to be safe than sorry. One thing that is a problem in the Philippines though is getting door handles “without” a lock. Which may not seem an issue but as a friend of mine pointed out a young kid with a keen interest in locking themselves into rooms it could be a big problem. Generally the locks are round ball type with a lock in the middle. So if you want lever handles its probably easier to find in the West and probably cheaper and better quality. Getting from a wholesaler a box and shipping them with your other stuff would probably be the best option ordering extra to cover any breakages.

I installed the door myself by the way I was a carpenter for many years but also I didn’t want any mistakes. The average size of the Yale locks is a 32” drill bit. I prefer core cutting type bits as you will get a clean cut and not have to worry about going off angle. In the UK you can find most of the bits and pieces at Screwfix or machine mart. All depends how often you are going to be DIYing but remember most people here don’t have tools! So spending a bit of money in advance is likely to save you in the long run. Because if they mess up the door you may have to end up painting it instead of stain and varnish to hide the mistake. Not something I am keen to do. Also you will find inside the doors there is mixes of wood I think things are made up in sections of “what is available” rather than it all being 100% mahogany just another thing to look for when buying so that if you are staining you can be aware of differences in shades and patterns in the wood.