Building a Home in the Philippines 🇵🇭 - Foreigner and Filipina
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- Опубликовано: 21 авг 2024
- Discussion on ensuring all permits is in before starting construction. The end of another work week.
Construction day 101 update.
@Buildingthephilippines
#philippines
#construction
#building
It seems there are many pitfalls to watch for and I appreciate that you and others building there now are filling us future builders of homes in The PH in on what to expect/be wary of...I'm enjoying your share of your build BTW!
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Yes, this was one of the reasons why we started our channel. To actually show the ups and downs of building a home in the Philippines. We are glad you are enjoying our videos.
A couple in Zambales in their house build encountered the similar type of contractor using unscrupulous tactics all the while saying that the permits were taken care of. In the end after running over budget and over billing for materials denied that those arrangements were agreed to. Caveat emptor should be your attitude.
Real good advice Steve, one really needs to get involved. Thats why I say often in videos, you need to be on site as much as you can & ask for face-to-face scheduled meeting. I personally would never build here and be back in my home country. Too much can happen without your knowledge. I'm hoping these videos, comments back and forth help some foreigners/anyone building a future home here. Thanks for the comment.
@@buildingthephilippines Agree!
Personally, I'd put the water tank, pressure tank, and pump in the outside corner by the perimeter wall. Reduce the noise and vibration inside the house. And easier access for flushing and drainage. Just like you are setting up for flushing your pool pump. Also, set up a 3 stage filter system between the holding tank and pressure pump.
I was thinking the same thing, but was recommended to have everything under roof for obvious reasons. Thanks for commenting.
Removing the door solves 2 issues, good solution with the window.
Thanks Greg. I'm glad we talked it through and made that change. We will be glad we did later on.
Re-watching some of the old videos. One of the things that I’m working with mentally is separating, the architect or engineers from the builder versus having it all done turnkey. Mainly to make sure that the architect can keep an ion the builder, and they’re not one in the same as the building by spec.
Yes, having an independent eye is important. Quality assurance is needed here.
So happy to see your build coming along so nicely! I'm always looking forward to your video updates.
Thank you two so much for all the good information presented in an easy to understand and enjoyable way.
Thanks Richard for the kind words. We are trying to get out some info as well as show our build at the same time. Throw in some videos about our life outside the building world as good measure. Thanks for the comment.
Good advice on the builder / permit issue. Like everything in life you got to do your homework. I went with a reputable construction firm and never had any concerns of conflict of interest using the firms architect. We came up with the basic design and they added the features which we desired. They showed up several options of the designs and we modified the one we wanted. I feel safer as the responsibility rests solely on the contractor. Permitting in the Philippines is not cut and dry.. It took us time to get our final permit but work was started after all the paperwork was submitted. Depending on your location this process can take several months. The bigger issue is the land Title which can be a clusterfu*k. Good luck with that boys and girls.
Your spot on. Titles can be a nightmare. Wilmas title for the house she built there took only 12 months. However, it was easy as only 2 people we involved. Mother titles etc etc I have heard years and even additional money to be laid out to move things along. So important not to purchase land unless the homework is done up front, and your willing to walk away if things are not in order. Some people buy anyway, because it's a great deal to them, but then pay for it later. So many different variables. Thanks for commenting.
Greg excellent advice on building permits. My experience we trusted our building contractor in the Illocos region with the building permits, unfortunately we found out he was building without a permit. I suggest if you have trusted family on the ground, is handle all of the building permits and walk them through yourselves. In the Philipines make sure all of your paperwork from property title, right of ways access, roads, drainage, utilities is correct. This will take time, it is Caveat emptor. Eyes wide open.
you need to be right there every day of construction. if not you will end up pay way more & probably get a poor quality build that will require major repairs every 5 to 10 years.
As the owner (Filipina) you definitely need to take control and require/request/follow up. Trust but verify. So many stories out there. So important to be involved/be visible and ask to see things firsthand. Thanks for sharing your story as it may help someone else. Great advice as well.
Great advice make it pay, I agree with you. So important to be involved as much as one can.
You should ask them to use PPR for your water lines not the standard blue ones because the solvent will fail and you will have leaks everywhere, we use blue lines for temporary applications
Thanks for the comment. Wilma used the same material in her home in Leyte many years ago. No leaks so far. The water tank needed to be cleaned out at the 20 year mark as we lost pressure. We had the water tank cleaned out, replaced the pvc outside, but not in the house. All seems to be fine there. Also, plumbing rough ins are completed. The material you mentioned is probably better though. Always a better mouse trap out there.
Judging from your description of the water tank, it seems like it would be big enough to block most of the sunlight anyways. I believe it the better solution would be to put all plumbing machinery(pool pumps, water tanks, pressure pumps) in a separate pump room or better yet an entirely new pumphouse. These devices produce a lot of noise and vibration. As for the water flowing into the house, make use of redundant solutions (if one fails, the next one will take care of it) My solution would be to put a sliding glass door( to allow light in), and have a 2-inch horizontal drainage (like moats) along the outside and inside step of the door. (The outside drain will catch any water trying to come in and the inside drain will take care of whatever the outside drain fails to catch)
Thanks for the suggestion.
Gregg,if there is any long leftover from the Quartz countertops it might be useful for that Shower niche ledge, of ask the Marble / Quartz lady for a piece or Wilcon or Citi Lumber might have them in 6" ×76", it is called Shower Jambs,available in Carrara Marble( natural stone- which has to be sealed) or Quartz which is a better material- man made, no need to seal, no need to bull nose, just polish the exposed edges with grinder, the countertop Installers can do this.
That's another option. We actually designed kitchen to use 100% of the granite. We are going to get some samples next week, bring them up to the site and decide from there. I will video that exchange.
We did all the permits ourselves after talking to our lawyer. We did all the steps he outlined. When the city said we could go ahead and start your septic etc before permit. We got the engineer, at the city, to sign off.
We’re now building the house with AAC block instead of hollow block.
Good idea getting your permits yourself. So many rely on others, then don't follow up, I guess. Good luck with your build and keep in touch.
I would suggest going with the larger water storage tank. You won't be sorry to go with the larger tank, but you may regret choosing the smaller tank
Yes, the contractor suggested 1000 liter. We started looking at the size of the tanks and 1500 liter will fit nicely in that area. We feel that's plenty for our location as we are so close to the source that the water never gets shut down. Locals said it runs 24/7 for years at a time. Some Municipals shut the water off for hours a day, but luckily since we are so close to the source it keeps flowing. Thanks for watching.
Greg I like it, Building in the Philippines 101 Good course useful info. Not sure if I'd do it but how come nobody puts a mirror in a shower? If that space you need to tile was at the right height would be perfect for a mirror great for shaving etc. Not sure if Wilma would get much benefit other than a clean bathroom sink. I tend to think outside the box and would put a urinal in a bathroom as well. No arguing over the seat being up. 😃
We live in a rent to own house. Yes I have not seen a CR with a mirror in it in my 6 years visiting the PH. I asked and was told no one does ?
Hi Rob, the urinal rough in is already complete. When you enter the master bath it's on the right-hand side, the toilet is on the left-hand side. As for mirror in the shower, need to discuss that with Wilma. Never thought about that before. Thanks for watching.
Hi Patrick, me too never seen a mirror in a shower here.
This may be a stupid question because I have never had a home built with hollow block and rendering. Like you mostly stick-built and sheetrock. But after building the wall, and they chisel out channels, does that weaken the wall? I have no knowledge of this build process to please forgive me asking this.
Hi Drew! I'm in my 5th year of architecture school in the Philippines, I'm about to get my degree soon, just need to finish my undergrad thesis.
To answer your question, If I am not mistaken, yes it does weaken the wall a bit. But it doesn't really matter since most walls in a residential building are not structural members, they're not load-bearing.
@@rebabuhin poor planning yields poor results. if there needs to be a conduit for the aircon i should be on the electrical plans.
Hi Drew, think of the hollow block wall as 2x6's & sheet rock in the US. It's not structural. However, that hollow block wall, with all the concrete inside/don't forget all the vertical & horizontal rebar in it is way stronger than a sheetrock wall on one side and plywood on the other. Thanks for the comment.
Congrats Reb on your future career. You are correct the hollow block walls here are not structural. However, you can see by the videos how hard they are to chip out. Imagine taking a hammer and chisel to a sheet rock wall in the US.
Most hollow block walls in the Philippines are non-structural .Proper building process are footings , tiebeams in foundations and each floor and roof beams , and all along the perimeter of the walls of the house, and then vertical rebars and every 3rd course of hollow block.Many HB makers are just backyard operations and the HB mix not strong, but you can buy good HB but at a price, but due to multiple rebars ,even Philippine substandard HB compared to Western HB , I'd be better off in a good house like Gregg is building than a California house that is stick and siding and drywall, both buildings being in Eartquake Zones, Philippines in the " Ring of Fire" and California's San Andreas Fault line.
Hi Greg and Wilma .. this is a good topic ., thank you for all the information.. my husband and I already thought about building permit ., I know the Philippines govt office do a snail job on those kind of documents.. can I just show the deed of sale to the municipal authority as proof of ownership for the building permit? I still don’t have the land title transfer to my name as my real state agent said it would take awhile for the process..
All you need is deed of sale to obtain your building permits. However, in some cases one should wait to build with just a deed of sale. E-mail me at buildingthephilippines@gmail.com as there are other important factors. Getting your title is a different ball game. It has everything to do with the history of the land you purchased. It can be very easy or very hard. Wilma's land in Leyte, she had her title in 12 months. However, if you bought land where family gets involved (on the owner's end) and issues with taxes & if owner (name on the title) is deceased etc etc etc then it becomes complicated. We plan to have our title on this property in less than 12 months. I'm sure that will stir up some comments, but we can report yea or nea down the road. E-mail me and we can have a longer discussion if you would like.
Thank you for your reply Greg.. I will email you for the details.. thank you for willingness to help .. I’m excited to build our retirement house but I’m getting anxious too with all the headaches that comes with it .
In the pictures at the beginning, what's up with you being on the left side in every picture? Curious..
LOL, I had to go back to look at the beginning to see what you were talking about. It's not by design. I will need to think about that, lol, as I never noticed that. Great observation though. I'm going to go look at more pictures and see if that pattern repeats. Thanks for commenting.
Hi Greg, I have read comments about purchase and title on the land. Allow me to contribute to help those who do not know. I'm not a lawyer and this is not an advise, rather based purely on my experience as I have purchased a couple of properties in recent times. In the Philippines, a change of title by purchase can take a very long time. The quickest way to purchase a land is when the following are present: 1) The owners/sellers are still alive and their names are in the title; 2) the original title (not copy) is still available; 3) the tax declaration is also in the same name that appeared in the title; 4) the tax declaration is updated and no tax are in arrears; and 4) not mandatory but the sketch plan or survey if available can help. What is the hardest or longest way to complete a purchase of land? When the following are present, this is presented in the order of difficulty: 1) When the original title is lost (to replace a title called 'reconstitution' can take 50k pesos per lot and several months because it has to be advertised and has to go to a court); 2) when the owner of the land ( the person whose name is in the title) is dead and the seller has inherited the property. This is complex there are estate tax involved and you have to get the signatures and TIN and other documents for everyone, etc; 3) when the tax declaration is not in the same name as in the title. Long story if I have to explain why a mismatch happen but this is not uncommon; 4) When the tax is in arrears. This can be very costly. If you have the money to pay all the tax like capital gains tax (can be very high) and estate tax, and annual tax (tax declaration) in arrears - I would suggest you pay this and not wait for the seller. Just make sure you ask for a discount on the purchase price. If you wait for the seller, you have no control of the time and that is not a good situation.
This is outstanding advice. I follow everything you said as this is how our lawyer explained things to us back in April. Thanks for taking the time to document. Do you mind me putting your words down some day in a document that could assist people in the future. I can footnote your name on the document.
@@buildingthephilippines Hi Greg, no problem at all. I can expand it more later once you have it in docs, please send me a draft. For example, if the title is lost and the title needs to be "reconstituted", this is best handled by a lawyer and involves processes like affidavit of loss, advertisement in local paper, court submission and hearing appearance and finally obtaining the "finality" - a long process. In my earlier comments, the same processes and documents are needed whether you are buying, inherited a property, or receiving a property donation from family or friends. We can also mention at what point they needed to have documents like Ecar and where they are going to go for the various documents - BIR (tax office), Municipal office, ROD (Registry of Deeds). We can also mention how "Fixers" can help in running around chasing documents for you if you want less hassle and how to choose them and how much to pay. In the footnote please add a disclaimer that is it is not a legal advise but an experience. Cheers.
Sounds good. Might take some time to put together as I need to focus on the house build. I do think however it could help others. Thanks again.
Thanks Greg I understand.
Why Not Just Do a Check List and post it ?????
Hi John, Wilma and I just discussed that today. We may look to put something together as a guide. However, need to be careful with giving written guidance, someone using it, it goes bad and they try to hold me accountable. We need to think about it a bit more. Good suggestion and thanks for commenting.
Ugh building permits. They will get the permits, and back to work.
I'm sure that's the case, but I'm sure there's some sort of fines involved. Also, if a contractor would cheat on getting something like permits/what else would he do? Definitely bad business. Thanks for watching.
@@douglasljdunn I agree with that. Integrity is everything or at least should be.