Although I've never lived in the Philippines, I helped my wife's parents build a house there in 2003. We also built a 2nd house next to it last year (2017).
I'm sharing this because it's interesting information that demonstrates the level of detail that I put into my plans. The costs are outdated, but my approach is still solid. Plus, it's a good introduction of myself and an interesting story!
At the time, I was just newly engaged. My wife's family had been squatting on land with a number of neighbors for 15 years, and they were all getting evicted because the owner had sold the land. Their house (and all of their neighbors next to them) were going to have their houses destroyed.
I was cautioned against assisting(by friends from the old Asawa Forum who had bad experiences), but I verified that the situation was legitimate. I'd been courting my wife for a long time, and we'd already had our Pamanhikan. So, I decided to work with her parents to build a budget, buy land, and build a new house. (Spoiler: It all turned out perfectly)
I worked with them (in a loving way) to help them determine exactly what they’d need. I was shrewd but never unkind.
First we needed to find the land. Before we started, I insisted that my wife’s parents ask the following questions for any land they considered:
- Availability of Water hook-up
- Availability of Sewer Hook-up (if important)
- Availability of Electric Hook-up
- Slant, Drainage, and floodpath of the lot
- A check on leans or debt on the property
- Potential for Phone Hook up (They will never get one)
- Basic Details for the written contract for land (and find a lawyer)
* Date, Time Signatures
* Description of item
* Statement that they own the land
* Statement that there are no outstanding debts tied to the land
After this, we started talking about materials. In the Philippines, not all “Concrete Bricks” are equal. "Good quality concrete is 3-2-1 (three parts sand, two parts gravel, one part cement.) or 5 to 1.
First, we purchased Hollow block for a few pesos each. That's a great price, but they were Formulated with a 16 to 1 sand-to-cement ratio. They crumbled in their hands.
The mason offered to have them made on-site at 10 to 1. I insisted on 8-1, and the mason thought I was crazy. We made hollow block for a few weeks, and started construction. Later I found out we paid for 8 to 1 but got 10 to 1 after all. (I still don't know what happened to the extra cement, but the house has weathered 4 typhoons with no issues since 2003. The neighbors with 16-1 mixes were not so lucky!)
So, I next worked up my list of questions before they began building:
1) Have you looked for a "finished house" of the same price?
2) Are you sure of the cost of building? And the time involved?
3) Do you understand that you must have a complete house with the money I send? 150,000 pesos is the limit. And remaining money is delayed until December.
4) Do you know someone who has built a house before?
5) Do you have experience building a house?
6) Do you know the cost of getting water pipes? Sewer? Electricity?
7) Concrete blocks come in different quality. They are made from sand, gravel, and cement. You need the more expensive 10-1 (or 8-1 mix) blocks. Otherwise the blocks may not last.
8) Do you have time to build a base (foundation) for the house? The floor may move while you build. The weight of the house may crack the walls.
9) Is the lot big enough? Should you search for a double lot with room to grow?
10) Are you sure that you prefer to build? It requires much work. And, mistakes are expensive to correct.
Initially we thought the house would cost about $3000. For comparison at the time: 150,000 Pesos was $3,000 USD, 3,354 Euro, 5,834 Australian Dollars, 2,059 British Pounds, 22,002 French Franks, 6,560 German Marks, or 2,641 Irish Punt.
Everyone told me to expect to pay 2x as much as any estimate. They were correct! Before we started the project I explained that if I gave her the $3000 for the house, we'd have a very small wedding. She was happy to accept the trade-off. (And, we did have a $500 church wedding!)
When the lot was purchased for 25,000 pesos, it was an interesting transaction. The lot was 11x15 meters (about 33x50feet). The attorney charged commission based on sale price. They purchased the land officially for 15,000 Pesos to reduce the attorney fee. Then, they paid the owner another 10,000 directly. Illegal? Probably. But, they are thinking things through. It is reassuring that they watch every penny. I also assume that the owner will not have to declare the hidden "10,000 pesos" as income for tax purposes.
Next, we bought the materials to build the foundation for the 8x12 meter (24x36ft) house. The materials cost about about 25,000p and consisted of:
- hollowblocks 4x8x16"=500 pcs, (500 blocks = 40m²)
- round bars 10mm = 16pcs ,
- round bars 8mm = 30pcs ,
- tiewire #16=3kls,
- cement portland 20 bags,
- coco lumber 1x6x10=14 pcs and 1x2x10=10pcs,
- 3kls c-nails #4,#3,#2 1/2 and 2 kls c-nails #2.
For the initial brick work and roof, we had a master carpenter for 200p/day and 4 more workers for 100p/day (I never knew if it was each or for all 4). We also had to supply food and drinks for them at the worksite.
Next, we bough the woods for the house. That was another $1000 (56,000p). The woods consisted of:
APITONG:
25 pcs .2x6x12 (29 Pesos/brd ft.)
35 pcs. 2x6x10 (29 Pesos/brd ft.)
60 pcs. 2x3x13 (29 Pesos/brd ft.)
LAWAAN:
100 pcs.2x2x12 (24 Pesos/brd ft.)
14 pcs.1x10x12 (29 Pesos/brd ft.)
TUGAS:
20pcs.2x6x8 (35 Pesos/brd ft.)
22pcs.2x6x10 (35 Pesos/brd ft.)
BOARD FOOT TOTALS:
1,010 brd.ft apitong
540 brd.ft. lawaan
380 brd.ft.tugas
-----------------
1,930 brd ft.
COST TOTALS:
29,290 apitong
9,600 lawan
4,060 lawaan specailcut
13,300 tugas
------------------
56,250.00
The only other major expense to this point was the he window Jealousys (Glass slats that fit inside the window frames that can be opened or closed). Those were manufactured, and thus kind'of expensive. With all the windows, this came to about $500-1000 (I don't quite remember).
With the various additional materials that we'd purchased, we were at the $3500 mark. The next big purchase was tiles. The entire floor of the house is covered in ceramic tiles. And, the edges of the bathroom and kitchen are also covered. This was our first cost over run. I sent about $1400 to cover it.
They were using 20x20 tiles, and it took 110 pieces at 29 each for the kitchen (3190pesos). They wanted to purchase a stainless lababo for the kitchen for 500 pesos. They needed flywood, jelousy's, florescent lights, a marine door, and labor. A tiled floor for the rest of the house (260 pieces at 88p each for 22,880 pesos). Those are a bit of a luxury.
The money also covered two outside doors, 3 inside doors, the wood for walls inside, woods for the lowered ceiling, a sink, a CR, and stucko to cover the brick.
Later, we got an electrician to hook them up for about 3400p (including materials), and we got them hooked up to city water for about 2400p. Electricity runs about 450-500p/month (with a refrigerator that we got for about 12,000p) and water runs about 150p.
Recently, they went back and added Screen Doors and Screens to keep the mosquitos out! I'm so happy!
by that point, only 2 tasks remained. First, we needed to build a security fence around their house. We were about to purchase the lot beside them, so we were waiting until the sale goes through. No use in building a fence around their house when we'll have to expand it to go around the lot next to them too! The other expense was paining.
When they first gave me the estimate of 80,000p ($1300US) to pain the house I thought they were crazy! Then I started to do the calculations. Good paint costs the same there as it does here. It's about $17-20/gal. A gallon of paint covers about 300sq Feet. Their house is 8x12 meters (24x36ft) with about 2m high ceilings. To do a good job they need to paint 3 times (1 primer, and 2 coats of paint). They will also paint the roof to protect the metal. They most paint the outside of the house, the inside of the house, and the ceiling with 3 coats.
After we were done, we decided to figure out what it would take to finish everything and set up my wife’s parents comfortably for life.
Bear in mind, we are still talking 2003. After asking some questions, we determined that we’d need to remit about 75,000php to set them up comfortably for life. We also took into account their utility bills, and included enough for them to prepay all of them for about 6 months (at the current rate), although I expected it to fall short by a few months. Here's a snapshot of what we ended up sending:
15,000 Land Money (Final payment to get adjoining lot)
4,000 Buy trees & Seeds to plan in new lot (Includes extra)
27,000 Used Motorcycle
1,800 Electricity (About 6 months)
1,200 Water (About 6 Months)
10,000 Food/Living Exp (About 2-3 Months)
2,000 Tuition (For brother & Sister + some expenses)
8,000 Ceiling (Closing Gap between roof & Ceiling with Flywood)
5,000 Get Used Cell Phones (we didn't know the cost, just a guess)
Everything ended up costing what we expected (or less), and we ended up finishing the house and getting everything set up without any problems. Her parents were so proud of how well they did. They even saved the receipts (though I didn’t ask for them) and made sure that I got copies.
At that time, My wife’s father was in the Military and he's only 2 years away from getting his government pension. He has high blood, so he's was laying off heavy work. Her mother made foods to sell in a local school cantina, but the sales are unpredictable. Sometimes she make a little, others she barely covers cost of the ingredients. She generally makes enough to buy rice. Her younger brother was going to University of Mindanao, so he was mostly focused on school. And her younger sister was still in Highschool.
As far as the motorcycle, we were calculating the transportation costs. The Tricycle rides were about 10p per trip. We had folks moving in multiple directions (College, Highschool, Work, Market). They were spending about 60-90p/day on travel. Across 6 months (the timeline we were trying to prepay), we estimated that they would spend about 11,700p on transport (90p x 5days a week x 26 weeks). And, that money would be gone forever. During one year the cost would be about 23,000p. Once that's spent, there is nothing to show for it. So, I decided that for 27,000 (about $500US), it would make sense to just go ahead and get a motorcycle. At least that way, the money doesn't completely go away. Yeah, there are still going to be parts, oil, & gas expenses, but those will be really negligible.
Based on our estimates, if the motorcycle only lasts 16 months, it will completely pay for itself in saved transportation fees.
The prepaying of utilities was mostly because it is inconvenient to send money every single month. It was cheaper to send large chunks quarterly or bi-yearly.
The only expense that we are put off for 6 months was the painting of their house. The cost of paint is very similar over in the Philippines compared to here. For a layer of Primer, and 2 coats inside and outside, it's going to come to about 40,000p. That includes labor, but only a small part. It includes the roof, ceiling, walls, inside and outside. I thought they were crazy for naming the price, but I did the math. Evidently a gallon of paint only covers about 350sq/ft. I started to do the calculations based on the size of their house, and paint at $16/GAL (800p), and it all turned out to be legitimate. I just didn't expect that it would cost too much.
That’s the type of planning and work that I put into situations. It’s not that hard for me, but this is a good example of how I approach problems.
Kindest Regards,
The Asawa
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