jeff bradshaw Posted December 18, 2011 Posted December 18, 2011 (edited) Hi. I have been clearing the ground on our plot in Paligawan (Silang, Cavite) and the access road to it and will soon be into the building phase. I now hit the issue of whether I need an architect or not. I am a qualified electrical engineer and fully across all the requirements of building a house including designing the septic system, drainage, electrical, plumbing etc, wall and foundation construction and the current Philippine building regulations. I have designed the whole house down to the minor detail and produced plans in full 3D with all the required materials....now I hit the Philippines where most people are poor and cannot afford the luxuries of paying someone to do what they cannot afford. Now, the Building permit seems to require an inordinate amount of red tape for even the simplest of dwellings, from Sanitation engineer, electrical, plumbing etc all with complete certification as a 'licensed' practitioner in the RP. Plus the Barangay clearance for the water install, electrical install, building permit ( ant not just once but separate clearance for each step), mayor's permit, sign off from the fire station etc etc. Now, considering the rubbish you see being built here, that I would go ballistic if anyone built my house like that....is the only way to proceed to pay 'Grease money' to buy off all the officials and signatories and be forever in their debt for when they want to 'cash in' a favour from me....or is there another cost effective way? I am interested to know others experiences. How can anyone on a meager income ever build a house here without some grease?Regards in advanceJeff Edited December 18, 2011 by jeff bradshaw Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garpo Posted December 18, 2011 Posted December 18, 2011 Are you going to build it on your own and hire the workers or are you going to retain a builder? If you can find a good and honest builder then he will take care of all of that for you if you make sure to include it in the contract. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bundy Posted December 18, 2011 Posted December 18, 2011 We had intended to build a house on our lot in Cebu, but have decided to put it off for a while so we can travel around a bit first.After all the researching we did, we came up with the following conclusions.Providing you are not building in a subdivision under one of the major developers, no you don't need an architect, no you don't even need a builder (recognised or otherwise) but if you intend to be the lone ranger, what you will need is one hell of a lot of patience and indeed a lot of self control, unless you are building in the bukid somewhere in which case you don't even need formal plans.As our lot is in a major subdivision we don't have any choice but to employ a builder who is recognised by the developer.We spoke with a few who had done work for this developer before and asked all the questions that you currently have and got the same reply from all of them. " Not a problem sir, we will take care of it, there will be no delays and no extra charge, what is in the contract you sign is what you get"We had a little bit of inside help and found out that basically if you use the "right" people, all the little inconveniences suddenly dissappear. Given your background, you would more than likely build a far better house than the people you may have to employ in order to get around the hassles which you will no doubt incur. How frustrating, but as they say....... "Welcome to the Philippines" 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Art2ro Posted December 18, 2011 Posted December 18, 2011 (edited) IMO, if one has seen other finished homes built to one's standards, design and overall appeal, just knock on the owner's door and ask who their contractor was and hire the contractor as long your developer recognizes the contractor, but if they don't the important thing is that one is licensed and has a reputable track record. At least in that way, one will sort of get an idea what one's finished home will look like inside and out by seeing the other finished homes done by the contractor! Edited December 18, 2011 by Art2ro Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Posted December 18, 2011 Posted December 18, 2011 Due to your anal nature (engineer, down to the last detail et al statements)you will not be happy with the results of using a builder. So I would do one of two things. Either hire a builder as a consultation service to take care of the local details or go see the barangy captain and maybe hire him or a family member to do the paperwork details. This way you have 'no schedule' to keep with a builder and there is no time line to cross or manpower conflicts with other projects. Remember that no matter how experienced a builder may be, it is doubtful he thinks like you do and he is willing to accept standards that you may not be. When I built out on Samar, I had 11 men that cost me 2500 a day! Total, + 'snacks'. I did have a local guy make up the plans, but then I found out all he did was copy other plans from existing building..... So I modified them to fit my needs. The woman I have there running the show is from a very old family so there was minimal grease to spread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeff bradshaw Posted December 19, 2011 Author Posted December 19, 2011 It looks like a little grease might be required. I accept the rule of the road in the Philippines and that there is almost nothing that cannot be bypassed if you know the right person. As it happens we have a willing volunteer and once I have some confidence that I will not be indebted to him forever and expect to repay him other than a 'christmas bonus' then I will be happy. We anticipate the whole grease process to be 5000 peso to get through the whole sign-off process without any architect drawings other than my very detailed construction plans and the able assistance of a very experienced builder/foreman. I discussed with him today the plan and he is happy. Without doubt I will be there throughout and stop anything i don't like at short notice and even replace people if they are not up to it, but will see how that goes. We have been lucky to get some really nice guys working for us in the initial stages but the serious building will begin in January, so I am testing their abilities on some sample projects at the moment to see how they shape up. Tomorrow they build me an electricity supply post and next a water tank foundation. They will be watched closely and see how it goes.You only get one chance to have your home built, so I think you are allowed to be a little 'anal' about it! No matter what country you are in, anything is possible if done correctly. The interpreters....my wife and her father, have the onerous task of coveying all of my little comments....we're getting there, but the real fun starts soon!Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeff bradshaw Posted December 19, 2011 Author Posted December 19, 2011 By the way, we are buying all materials and I am the engineer of the whole project. I will be doing the electricals, drainage and plumbing myself, so only needed the builder the put up the foundations and shell. A separate roofing contractor will do that bit. The rest I just hire on a daily basis how many guys I need and we feed them breakfast, Merienda and lunch and drinks for around 230/260 peso each depending on experience and 400peso for the foreman, but he stays on site overnight and also acts as the site security.Jeff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jollygoodfellow Posted December 20, 2011 Posted December 20, 2011 By the way, we are buying all materials and I am the engineer of the whole project. I will be doing the electricals, drainage and plumbing myself, so only needed the builder the put up the foundations and shell. A separate roofing contractor will do that bit. The rest I just hire on a daily basis how many guys I need and we feed them breakfast, Merienda and lunch and drinks for around 230/260 peso each depending on experience and 400peso for the foreman, but he stays on site overnight and also acts as the site security.JeffGood luck and hope all goes smoothly. Don't forget the photos as work progresses. :angry: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joeatmanila Posted December 24, 2011 Posted December 24, 2011 Do it your own as you plan it. hire your own workers and go ahead. A bit hassle for you running here and there buing materials etc but hey it worths the savings.As for architect or engineer...go to the municipality of your area, find who is the engineer who approves the plans, hire him to make you a plan, submit it to him. He will charge you about 40-50.000p (depends the size of the house and how white your face is) and that's all. You will submitt his drawing to actually him to approve it. End of hassles.If he asks you to supervise the project tell him you would do as such if you had money to pay him, walang pera po. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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