Possible House Build

[Kuya John]

Hi Guy's n Gal's

My wife and I were discussing the possibility of building on the piece of land we own near Cagayan.

We had plans drawn up a few years ago, which now may be somewhat dated.

However you dear people, who have more recent knowledge of possible costs, may be able to advise me.

What I would consider a reasonable size, may not be what my lovely wife has in mind

I am looking at maybe 120 sqm over two floors with access to a concrete flat roof ( to take in the view overlooking)

Just looking for rough estimates of construction cost at the moment. (EG: cost per sqm.)

Thanks for any information you can give....JB

 

Edited March 8, 2017 by Kuya John

[SNAFU]

Kuya, not exactly an answer to your question, but our personal experience that you might find useful is hindsight 20/20, we should have simply been more pragmatic when planning to build our home here. By that I mean simply taking more time in advance just walking our area (subdivision in our case) looking at other homes, styles, amenities that appealed to us and talking to the homeowners - whether they be neighbors, friends, OFWs, other expats and even contractors working near our lots. Maybe they also know a thing about the reputation of A/Es, builders, contractors and tradespeople, etc. in your area. Who knows, you might even come across another house that is "wow, that's almost/exactly what I had in mind"! I also wish I had known/used our forum first, too, so congratulations to you on that. I'm sure we have a lot of construction skill, experience and wisdom amongst our membership.

P.S. We love our home, but plenty of lessons learned along the way.

 

[Jake]

What I have learned from this great forum is this:

Take a look at the history of the geographical area.  Is it prone to flooding?  If so, check for any water stains in the nearby area, check street drainage system and the natural slope of your property.

Neighbors?  Check the domestic animals -- roosters singing My Way at zero dark thirty.  History of rat infestation?  Do you have to run a gauntlet to avoid stepping on dog chit right outside your front gate?  Any nearby late hour nightclubs, drinking sessions or noisy jeepney-tricycle stands that may affect your sleep?  

The placement of your foundation -- hopefully elevated, which side of the house will face the hot afternoon sun or the noisy traffic.  Verify property line, you may be encroached.  Verify, verify that you have a clean title with no liens or disputes against the property.  

And finally, reserve a sacred place on your new wall so that I could properly bless it.

Edited March 8, 2017 by Jake

[Dave Hounddriver]

8 hours ago, Kuya John said:

I am looking at maybe 120 sqm over two floors with access to a concrete flat roof ( to take in the view overlooking)

That sounds like 60 sqm on ground floor and 60 on second floor and 60 on the roof deck.  Sounds like a good size, depending on your needs.  I found 60 sq m houses to be normal size 2 bedroom bungalows when renting so yours will be double that.  As to cost, it depends so much on what you put into it.  Two guys I know built similar size houses, (similar to what you are suggesting I mean), up in Tierra Alta, Valencia this past year or two (it takes a year from start to finish to build the dang place).  One paid US$100K (plus land) and the other paid almost double that.  Same contractor and same square footage but it all depends on the extras.

Rather than estimate based on sqm, the contractor I use estimates on cost of materials.  You tell him what you want to put into the house and he estimates cost of all materials plus 50% of the material cost for his laborers.

Be careful with flat concrete roofs.  They are notorious for leaks with all the rain here but nice if you get that problem beat.

Edited March 8, 2017 by Dave Hounddriver

[Steve GCC]

Not sure how much it helps as ours was somewhat bigger, two storys and around 360m2 in total.  I would suggest anywhere between say 11-15000 peso per m2 depending on finishes from our own experience. We are mid figure of that with granite floor tiles throughout, granite counter tops in kitchens, mosaic tiles in master bath, toughened glass up stairs, landscaped, LED lighting throughout, chandalier etc etc............ I would say if tight budget could easily be done for below 10k m2 or even lower depending on simplicity of design.

From what i hear it also depends on location, island and province as materials vary in cost also.

Labour is cheap but slower than we would be used to in UK. Quality is errrrr lets say substandard compared to what we are used to and takes alot more time and effort to Supervise and control to get a quality end result.

Happy to provide further detail if required, just ping over a PM

Cheers

Steve

 

[intrepid]

1 hour ago, Steve GCC said:

Not sure how much it helps as ours was somewhat bigger, two storys and around 360m2 in total.  I would suggest anywhere between say 11-15000 peso per m2 depending on finishes from our own experience. We are mid figure of that with granite floor tiles throughout, granite counter tops in kitchens, mosaic tiles in master bath, toughened glass up stairs, landscaped, LED lighting throughout, chandalier etc etc............ I would say if tight budget could easily be done for below 10k m2 or even lower depending on simplicity of design.

From what i hear it also depends on location, island and province as materials vary in cost also.

Labour is cheap but slower than we would be used to in UK. Quality is errrrr lets say substandard compared to what we are used to and takes alot more time and effort to Supervise and control to get a quality end result.

Happy to provide further detail if required, just ping over a PM

Cheers

Steve

 

Very nice looking place Steve.  What is the smaller building to the left of the house in the photos?

What year did you build your house?

[Steve GCC]

Thanks . Smaller building to left is old family farm house.  We have been building since lst Feb 2016, now just touching up and final bits and pieces.

[Kuya John]

Thanks for the insight so far guys.

The lot is right next to the bay, there are signs of slight flooding maybe at high tides, however there are plans to increase the harbour size.

That taken into account and a possible viewing platform (Roof) we should still have a panoramic view.

The near neighbours  have been able to over come any drainage problems by raising the ground floor levels.

More advice welcome anytime, as the final decision is yet to be made.

[Kuya John]

11 hours ago, Jake said:

What I have learned from this great forum is this:

Take a look at the history of the geographical area.  Is it prone to flooding?  If so, check for any water stains in the nearby area, check street drainage system and the natural slope of your property.

Neighbors?  Check the domestic animals -- roosters singing My Way at zero dark thirty.  History of rat infestation?  Do you have to run a gauntlet to avoid stepping on dog chit right outside your front gate?  Any nearby late hour nightclubs, drinking sessions or noisy jeepney-tricycle stands that may affect your sleep?  

The placement of your foundation -- hopefully elevated, which side of the house will face the hot afternoon sun or the noisy traffic.  Verify property line, you may be encroached.  Verify, verify that you have a clean title with no liens or disputes against the property.  

And finally, reserve a sacred place on your new wall so that I could properly bless it.

Sound advice Jake, triple like's

[intrepid]

36 minutes ago, Kuya John said:

The near neighbours  have been able to over come any drainage problems by raising the ground floor levels.

More advice welcome anytime, as the final decision is yet to be made

That's good idea.  Another option would be to make the ground level a garage/parking area.  Many beach homes on the US east coast built like that.