Best Posts in Thread: Valencia build - the sequel!

Final report:

After a few week's absence, finally reached the finish line (almost)! Despite being the dry season we have pushed ahead with landscaping and laying turf. This means copious watering twice a day - fortunately nature has played its part the last few days with heavy overnight rain. Long may it continue!

All units have been fully fitted out now and the water supply system installed - reserve water tank, pump and pressure tank. The system is rigged to run off city water unless the pressure drops below a certain level, which will trigger the pressure tank and pump to supplement the supply.

Cable TV and internet the last remaining non-construction related items yet to be sorted. I hope this thread has been of interest to anyone considering a building project in these parts.

Many thanks to our builder Dhing Santos, who yet again produced results far exceeding our expectations and without whose voluntary help in dealing with the local electricity cooperative we could never have reached this happy conclusion.

Major credits to Belle Caldosa, co-owner of the apartments for her flawless eye for design and fantastic landscaping.

Many thanks to Pakon, a lovely lady who single-handedly planted each individual piece of turf under an intolerably hot and unforgiving sun over the last two weeks.

And lastly to Clary, my daughter, whose future inspired me to undertake this project in the first place!

 

Meanwhile, back at the build lol!! Well, another week gone and completion is getting ever nearer. The first two units have had their doors fitted, outside handrails and toilets installed. All tiling is complete and painting just about wrapped up. Just the electric shower, aircon and CR vents to install at this point. The second duplex has just completed tiling and is not that far behind. Great job over the last two weeks with a full crew.

 

Latest update: Light at the end of the tunnel!
All units now done, bar a few touch-ups to the paintwork inside. Carpenters put the final touches to the cabinets in the walk-in wardrobes this week as well. Two of our Bindoy guys spent the whole week laying the gravel footpaths, leveling the blot to prep for landscaping and shifting heaps of gravel manually for the car park. All done with a shovel and a 5 gallon paint drum in scorching heat. I take my hat off to them. I spent the week drilling holes and hanging curtains, pictures and mirrors in the first two units. Same to follow next week for the second two. Noreco now have the signed certificate of occupancy and will finally connect late next week probably. A big thank you to Dennis next door who allowed us to tap into his electric for the whole build basically. Pics taken today. Landscaper will lay grass in the near future as all topsoil (9 truck loads) now in situ. Native hut installed also - took 20 blokes to manhandle it off the truck into position. Wish I'd been there to record that! Going well.

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Weekly update: Progress looks a lot less impressive as we get nearer to the finish line! However, the first two units have all their fixtures and fittings in situ now and the 2nd two will have their doors and windows fitted on Monday. The street-side end of the 2nd unit has been rendered and all outside painting will be done by the end of next week. The next challenge is getting our electricity cooperative to hook up the permanent connection - that is never fun and can be time-consuming.

 

Today's effort was the last before the new year. I took advantage of the workers' absence to bring in a compressor and spray gun and have a go at painting the railings and steel sheet with black enamel as planned. Bloody hot work today but very happy with the result - far better than the original idea of removing them and replacing them with hollow block. Looks far better and saved a few bob in the process! Happy New Year to all!!!!!

 

Weekly update: The first two units are being fitted out now. The first of the two has all the lighting up and running. A nice touch that I hadn't expected was the hidden LED strip lighting in the split ceiling which gives off a very nice glow. The final coat of paint being applied today as well. The second duplex has now been fully tiled and the guys are rendering the two end walls. That will be done by the beginning of next week as the crew is working Sunday. All the huge coconut palm root balls were removed off-site this week - dragged onto a truck by sheer brute force - was amazing and worrying to watch the guys do this - one slip and it could have got messy. All plumbing and drainage, including link to street water run-off now complete as well. Only slight delay is the wait for the stair tiles on the first unit - delivery coming from Davao, Otherwise all good!

 

Valencia Build - Part 2:

Well, here we go again. We are currently two months into a new build on a 1,280 sq meter plot of land close to home in Valencia. This project consists of a five unit serviced apartment block to hopefully provide an income stream for my wife and daughter should I fall off the perch. We are using the same contractor who built our house as described earlier on the forum in a separate post. We are hoping this job goes as smoothly and is as stress-free as our previous home build - only time will tell! The pics were taken today - so far so good and everything running smoothly.

 

It is here but I don't think it holds up in most households quite as well as concrete. I think that has something to do with why there are no trailer parks here either, even though I have read there are some trailer park people.

 

I believe that it was 36,000 pesos to purchase the transformer and have it installed by Noreco, there was already a pole right alongside my property. When the existing wood pole broke from the new transformer, they did not charge anything additional to come and install a metal pole.