Best Posts in Thread: Construction Materials/House Construction Cost

The proper solution to this issue is to use a concrete vibrator. Without adding an excess of water, it will cause liquefaction and allow the concrete to flow into the crevices and better coat the steel.

 

Respectable Tradesmen and Builders? you are highly unlikely to find such a person here, even a couple of Foreigners who build houses here that I know have adopted the shitty build practises of the Filipinos, you will get recommendations from many Ex-pats here but it is likely they will not know what they are talking about, they will have ended up with nicely painted smooth walls, but under that render will be a catalogue of faults that will never quite show until they are long gone or a more serious earthquake takes place.

It is possible to build a good house here, if you do the research first and project manage from start to finish, Take a look at My Philippine Life, this guy built his house in Iloilo and tells the whole story of it warts and all, I'm sure his house can be considered a good house.

 

A lot will depend on the spec and how you design the house. I was told 27 - 30k a meter that was in Cebu.

For a cheaper house well just take a look at how most of them are built....

I have built lots of houses in Australia and have a good understanding of building. If I ever built in the Philippines I would want to be in the area to keep a eye on things just about daily. I think it may drive me nuts and also the supervisor.

 

A quality builder for nice house here is in the 25-27k range, 10 yrs ago, 21k, for upgraded materials (granite, choice of tiles, etc)

 

For us we are still working. We are building now so that when we retire everything will be paid off and our expenses are as low as they can be. If we waited until SS age to retire it would be a bit easier, but we are working hard to build and save money so we can retire at 58/59 years of age. We don't want to wait until our 60's (full retirement for both of us is at 67 1/2). By having everything paid for allows us to take the reduced benefits at 62 and just paying out of pocket until then.

Family is of course important, both in the Philippines and our kids and future grandkids here in the USA. Giving everyone a safe place is important to us, and reducing future costs for the kids to visit is important. My wife had built a house in Dauin before we met that part of her family lives in, and she started a house in Bacong for us that we are still making it our own. It has 3 bedrooms 2 baths plus a dirty kitchen that has another 2 bedrooms and a bath. Another part of the family lives in the dirty kitchen with a niece and nephew inside the main house that we are paying their college for.

The initial plot of land was just shy of 700 sqm, and was enough for what we started. But since we decided we wanted more land for a pool and a few other amenities we have bought the surrounding land and are extending the wall around a portion of it, leaving a portion of it with just a wire fence for gardening.

As this pandemic has shown, there could be future times where quarantines could happen, and having everything we want inside our walls helps assure the quality of life we want in retirement regardless of the circumstances. This could not be attained if we were renting a place. So for us, the upfront cost of building is worth the price for our longer term security and financial goals.

 

I agree with both Jens and Notmy. House is long term for wife and boy. I am able to do this for them because I can and want to. If I die how long would the money I left them last if not invested in a house.

 

I agree with everything you have said when comparing owning with renting - except you did not include 'stability'. Landlords can vary so much that one can never be certain of staying in the same place for a long time. Cases of VERY bad landlords turn up on this Forum from time to time. Some renters are lucky and find a good one, so stay there forever. But my wife is a bit fed up with moving and I need to give her stability before I go - that to me is the ONLY reason to buy rather than rent, but it is not for my own needs.

I have warned her that an owner could find a neighbourhood annoying (again, many cases of that reported here) and then has the difficult job of selling and moving and that in an earthquake or other disaster an owner is not able to relocate almost immediately - but being an optimistic Filipino she thinks these things don't matter as they will probably never happen.

 

27,000p smtr is build house only. Wall, gate, landscape, and of course lot separate. My last house the cost of the house was only about 65% of the total cost

 

So when a quote of 27,000 per sq metre is given, is that just the house, with fittings (kitchen, CRs, tiles etc.) or does that include the grounds (perimeter walls, car port, exterior paths, etc.)?

I think I once read here that a perimeter wall (can't member the dimensions) can cost P500,000.

Which means that a 200 sq m house could cost P5,400,000 plus perhaps P1,000,000 for external work plus the lot price (at P5,000 per sq metre on 500 sq m, that is P2,500,000) - giving a grand total of about P9 million. Perhaps soon it will be cheaper to build in our home countries and commute here daily.

 

To repair cracks and spalls in concrete the best I have used is Quikrete quick setting cement mixed with their concrete bonding agent...no water. I've used it on many projects (outside of the PI) and by far the best in my experience. They claim to be 3000 psi in 24 hrs and 8000 PSI at 28 days. I haven't seen it around Dumaguete, but it has been awhile and a quick Google search lists products available in the PI.

Shawn