Dumaguete Info Search


Trades & Labor Update on building costs

Discussion in 'Businesses - Services - Products' started by Notmyrealname, Jun 14, 2021.

  1. DAVE1952

    DAVE1952 DI Senior Member Showcase Reviewer

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    Well Sir Dave, I do believe we have a mutual friend Liverpool Fan and I'm sure he said that is also your name.
    Your are correct I do knock the Builders here, and although I have not met so many, the few I have met have not impressed me, apart from two that I do know, (like yourself both Canadians Bernie and Darwin) they do have my seal of approval haha, also they have been good with advice when I required it.
    Apart from these two men I have only met 5 others others, 3 were Foreigners and did not impress me, 2 were Pinoys and they were about as bad as it gets in my humble opinion. With both the Pinoys I had the opportunity to observe them and their team almost every day, whilst they were building next door to me. They were just clowns, not one of these houses went to final completion.

    Now can I substantiate any of this or what I have written here before now? Yes I can you are welcome to pay a visit to me any time, LF knows both myself and my neighbour who also happens to be Danish, between the two of us we have employed around 30 Pinoy construction workers, virtually all of whom were hard working men, but none had even the slightest clue what they were doing and that included the one foreman employed by my neighbour, I'll even supply a Wee Dram or two maybe a Beer if that is your preference.

    My very first insight in to building here was around 4yrs ago when I read this mans story about how he built his house on Panay Island near Iloilo, he was from US, but; a very clever man, he tells the story all about his build here warts and all of which there was many, If I remember correctly he had 3 different construction teams before he found one that would do what HE wanted, OK he did have different ideas on how to build here, he wanted his house to be built to an acceptable standard, yes they do have standards here written down in black and white and I guess they are used when they build high rise building or big shopping malls, hut they are rarely used when building domestic properties in my humble opinion.
    Here is a Link to his site and it is not all about house building, he talks of life in the Philippines in general.
    My Philippine Life – A foreigner shares his Philippine experiences.

    An old saying from UK, one Swallow does not make the Summer, this analogy also applies to that One very good Carpenter you had haha.
     
  2. Show Pony

    Show Pony DI Forum Patron Highly Rated Poster Showcase Reviewer

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    Thanks for the invite. When my second dose of vaccine is done I'll get Liverpool fan to bring me up your way.
    When you mentioned you don't trust foreigner builders I thought well Darwin knows his stuff. LoL small world isn't it. He was running a job on the lot next to me. I was impressed when they brought out a transit to layout the building. When the brand new Caterpillar 426F backhoe arrived..... well what can I say.
    Look forward to meeting you.
     
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  3. Sedona

    Sedona DI Forum Adept

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    I will add my two cents worth on Bernie and Darwin. They have done multiple projects for me, from big to small. Recently just completed a custom full-wall entertainment center and shelving unit - high gloss beautiful wood, built in lights and wiring ... it's awesome. They know their stuff, they are craftsmen, and completely honest and reliable good guys. Highly recommended.
     
  4. Pedro

    Pedro DI Senior Member Showcase Reviewer Veteran Navy

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    Is this your opinion on some of the newer developments and associated builders going on like the Tierra Alta in Valencia?
     
  5. DAVE1952

    DAVE1952 DI Senior Member Showcase Reviewer

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    I don't know.
    My opinions are based on many factors, much life experience, especially as a man that worked on the tools, I worked for Post office telecommunications (later BT) for nigh on 40yrs, in the early days when I started in 1975, it was up to yourself to do whatever you wanted, there was NO quality control, the result of which was a high level of faults over 90% of these faults were man made, in other words people leaving sh*t work behind them, even minor storms created havoc and much weekend overtime for us, years later they did bring in quality control and the faults were reduced to a minimum. In UK about that same time New Cars had the same problems as there was little of any quality control in the car industry. In the 70's most all British Cars leaked oil almost from new, then people started buying Japanese and only then the whole industry changed for the better.

    Here and now in the Philippines there is no quality control over new builds that I know of, at least on minor construction like domestic house builds, you get your plans passed handed a building permit then you can do whatever you want, so the small time builder here gets away with anything he cares to do, sh*t work or otherwise it does not matter.

    You ask about Tierra Alta, I have been there and it is a very nice place, I believe it is under the complete control of Phil South, they are a big company and I can only guess that it is likely they do build better homes, they may even have some form of quality control, but perhaps the very worst thing about the building industry here is; there is little of any Formal Technical Training available to Construction Workers, so they have been trained on the job by others with no formal training, I have posted here before about myself and my neighbour sharing workers on our new builds there was at least 30 of them, not one of these could be considered good at his job. So is it possible some of these not so good men are now working for Phil South? how can you control men and have them work to a standard, when they do not know what the recognised standards are?

    Of our 30 workers nearly all of them had control of the cement mixer at some point, each time a new person had control of the mix we would get watery soup, when asked why they are doing it in such a way they would always answer with; that is the way we do things HERE.
     
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  6. jim787

    jim787 DI Senior Member

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    Back to the original question of costs, I just overnight got a request for subsidiary payment for redwood, part of an outside building project in northern California. The original estimate was pre-pandemic; apparently lumber and metal costs have skyrocketed.

     
  7. Ozzyguy

    Ozzyguy DI Forum Adept

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    I don't know.
    Had a look at Tierra Alta last time I was in town, looked a bit flash for me.

    Any idea on the square meter costs of the land or the packages. Not interested in buying one.
     
  8. SkipJack

    SkipJack DI Senior Member

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    Yes, During the pandemic the wholesale prices for structural lumber went up 400%. The prices are dropping now and are expected to stabilize in another 6 months. I imagine other lumber has gone up a lot too.

    https://markets.businessinsider.com...-demand-commodity-inflation-2021-6-1030537230
     
  9. charlyB

    charlyB DI Senior Member

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    The cost to be aware of in any sub division or condo is the association dues which pays for the security guards, street lights, swimming pool and clubhouse running and maintenance.
    When we first came here we lived in a small sub division that had no pool or clubhouse so the dues were very small, a few hundred per month, one month one of the owners did not pay stating no budget which was strange as everybody knew they were business owners and had just bought a shiny new 4 wheel drive pick up, this had a domino effect on other owners and the end result was that those who were willing to pay had to pay more and more every month, if we all stopped paying then there would be no security guards or streetlights.
    Regarding a condo which i have personal experience of (not in Dumaguete) the association dues were high and just kept rising and rising to the point where i was beginning to feel as if i was not an owner and was only renting it.
    When Marina Spatial had a stand in Hypermarket just out of interest as i would never buy one i asked the sales lady what the cost was for the dues, she could or would not tell me and said this would be decided once you buy it :greedy:
     
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  10. jim787

    jim787 DI Senior Member

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