My House - My Story

[bootleultras]

Hey all,

Thought I would share my story from when we first bought our house here in Binangonan, Rizal & the struggles & eventual pleasure we came across on our journey. It might give an insight to some planning on building a place or renovating on what not to do!

We bought our place in a sub division in 2002 & everything about the place was appealing to me, quiet, secure, flood free & a nice family sized home to go with it at a good price! It was the first time either of us have purchased a property & to be honest we were both a little naive with everything.

We basically purchased 2 houses and their lots which had been made into one home, inside there was only basic work done, all the fixtures and piping, electrical etc were in place but we had plans to build extensions on either side and the back, plus we also had to decide on the number of bedrooms we would like upstairs as there was no divisions in place.

We worked on plans for the remainder of our vacation (we were both working abroad at the time) and thought we would look into them over the next 6 months while we were away and look into costing etc.

Almost 7 months later we returned to the Philippines & wanted to start the ball rolling & get our plans and ideas into action. My fiancee (at the time) talked me into employing one of her childhood friends who was an architect to run the project, I did have reservations but seeing how close they still were, i thought lets do it!

After telling him exactly what we wanted, we asked him to draw up the plans and sort everything out, then he would forward them onto us for final approving as at this stage we were about to return to work again.

The plans arrived, everything looked perfect for us so we advised him to get everything underway and after forwarding costs associated we decided that we would send money in instalments, as & when he saw fit to move it along at a steady rate. At this time, my wife spoke to her family, particularly her father as she didnt want him interfering with the builders (he likes to get involved) they took a bit of offence and said they would stay away from there period (not good).

So our future paradise was underway and we were so excited to see the end product, the issue now was that we wouldnt be able to return to the Philippines for almost 1 year which we were not happy about as we wanted to move in and get settled in our new home asap but work called and without work, none of this was possible. During the year we received positive news regarding the progress of our property and how things were moving fast, but never photographs which if Im honest we never even thought about asking for.

We had requests for the instalments of money, at first at the times agreed but then as the year progressed, the architect friend then asked for the remainder to get everything completed for our arrival mid february, we obliged and again dreamed of our beautiful home finally being finished!

We never knew anything different until the day we were flying back to the Philippines, we were in Seattle airport on a layover when my wife rang home to finalise us being picked up and taken home when her mother broke the news, the house is not ready, the workers have all left as they hadnt been paid for weeks of work and that my wifes brothers and friends are actually there now just trying to make the place look somewhat liveable. We were devastated and still had a long, long flight to think about it! We thought it couldnt really be that bad...... We were mistaken!

On our arrival my wife called her archtect friend and told him we would pick him up on the way to our place, which he hesitantly obliged to. Once we met, he then told us how he had actually taken on another project and then hired another architect to take on our home renovation..... My wife was furious, I was gutted, even more so when we reached our place, despite her brothers efforts the house was unliveable. I wouldnt ask anyone to live there, it was just a building site! Any materials they had bought for the place were the cheapest, nastiest looking things I had ever seen...... Gutted is not even close to how we both felt, Stupid summed us up perfectly, if only we hadnt asked the family to stay away.....

We were told how the 2nd Architect had started the job & after a number of months became slack and then after recieveing the final part of the budget, all of a sudden disappeared, leaving workers sleeping on the property, waiting for someone to come and pay them! The Architect(friend-i use that word loosely) eventually found out but was too scared to inform us so just continued to hide it from us until he finally told my wifes parents. I have to say at this stage, I really wanted to get on the first plane out of Manila and never come back, but then again I saw how upset my wife was and knew we had to be strong and do something as soon as we could, needless to say first things first, we called our employers and asked for extended leave, 4 months granted!......next a good Lawyer (yeah right!)to find this crook who had the best part of $20,000 of our money, done! We had to meet with the Barangay police with this guy who then proceeded to blame the other architect & obviously said he had no money, it was like school boy stuff! I think enough is mentioned on the legal system here for you all to know the outcome of this......still to this day I havent seen a penny of that money come back to me, who knows where this guy is, but one day he will get his Karma, if not already, lawyers are useless especially in our situation where my wife wouldve had to quit her job & stay home to persue a legal case, something we couldnt afford to do, taking into account of pensions etc, it was too much to lose.

We then spent the next 4 months rebuilding the entire property, how we wanted it, with the quality materials we wanted......basically we worked harder than we ever have trying to have something resembling a home we could live in, alot of hard work & effort by some really good workers, family & friends saw us do just that.....obviously at a cost but we didnt really care at that point! Our 4 month vacation (if you can call it that) was now done. Our home looked like a home, not complete but a home finally.

Over the next few years, we would take one project at a time & fix the remainding areas just the way we wanted, the bathroom (my wifes pride & joy), the bar, the kitchen & breakfast bar, the spare bedroom all coming together in the end. When we have visitors they are always so impressed with our 'beautiful home' we dont tell most about the first 5 years we had the place, rather just enjoy their admiring stares and take satisfaction of the efforts and strength we shown together.

I know this has been a long story......very long! But I just hope that anyone thinking about building/ renovating from a distance will take the necessary procautions that we didnt and won't get ripped off altogether, there are bad elements everywhere & unfortuantely we were victims, we learned a harsh, expensive lesson but very early on in our lives together here & hopefully we came out the better for it.

Please take care & dont make our mistakes. :)

[ibemarshall]

Long?? Okay we are now ready for the next installment of your experiences surrounding your home.  It was a great read and I for one appreciate you taking the time to write it out...long it wasn't...Cheers!

[relcarve25]

I liked the post also. Long it may be but I can't criticise that with my own track record.  Most of us who have had many years of experience with the Philippines will recognise many aspects and situations you describe. If we're honest we've all been ripped off here in the Philippines. I've also been ripped off in nearly every country I've been to. I think that one of the problems here is that, no matter how often you are warned about things, it is very,very hard to stick to your original intentions. I reckon most genuine Philippinophiles are like me in that you find people in Cebu superficially very welcoming and friendly. We WANT to trust them and believe what they say and so lay ourselves wide open for being 'ripped off.'

   

   Lawyers here are the people who have designed the system so that it is so complex that they are required at every step and thus are guaranteed money. Laws are NOT designed with the interests of foreigners, or even the local people, in mind. Laws here serve the interests of the rich and powerful only. NEVER believe a lawyer here.

 

   When I mention believing people here I find it a difficult topic to discuss- the reason for that is that I will probably offend a lot of people. After many years of absorbing Filipino culture and every day life I find it hard not to be cynical. I think it was my wife who brought the matter home to me when she told me, after years of marriage, that ALL Filipinos lie about things. She herself says that it just comes as naturally as breathing to her. She constantly lies to her friends and relatives who continually lie to her. DONT GET ME WRONG PLEASE- everybody tells little 'white lies' at times and these are the sort of lies my wife is describing- exaggerating the value of things- pretending you paid less than you did etc etc. But there is something in the basic culture here which makes it very hard for Filipinos to tell the absolute truth. It is so prevalent that I reckon most people don't think of it as telling a lie. It has become a GAME. So what I am really saying, I suppose, is that your Filipino friends and relatives EXPECT you to lie because they think YOU will know that THEY will also tell a few 'porkies.' If everyone knows this where's the harm? Just don't automatically believe what you are told and look for proof in other places if it's important. The trouble is, as you and many others have found out the hard way, we don't come with that initial conditioning and thus are often 'suckers.'

   Now what was that about LONG?  :thumbsup:  I guess I'd better duck my head below the parapet and hope the coconuts miss me!

[Jack Peterson]

:unsure: Absolutely heart wrenching my friend. I felt guilty, when I read your Story, having not long before, completed my Topic of Azon's family and our good result on the house project. Although Azon was here, If I had not, have had the stroke, I would have been in Spain still. I would have had to rely on photos.  I was at the build every day for the Duration of the work and as I am sure you will now agree, this is very important. of course, if this is possible.

 

Deliveries of cheap but paid for expensive (Well the ones you want) materials, seems to be a regular scam. I am sure that we can all, learn from others mistakes ( where we can ) but our Thoughts go out to you here,for the loss of time and faith in what should have been a fantastic time for you.

 

 

 

We both wish you well and hope all will go according to plan now.

 

 

 

 

:tiphat:

 

 

 

[bootleultras]

Hi Jack,

Thanks for the kind words, we are well and truly over this now, our house was finished a couple of years back & now we just redecorate or look to improve when we feel like it! We retired from our work last year so now we have plenty of time to enjoy ourselves here.

It was reading your story that actually inspired me to tell my story also, you never know it might just helpanother member in future.

[sjp52]

where are the pics man

[Tukaram (Tim)]

i am about to get into adding a cr to the house and im nervous about that! i would have a stroke if i had to rely on these guys to build me a house.

glad yours finally worked out. i hope my small project stays a small project ha ha

[bootleultras]

SJP52, there are some pics of my house in the main gallery, I would of liked to have posted the disaster we returned to originally but the photos were lost when one of our hard drives decided to stop working!

[sjp52]

SJP52, there are some pics of my house in the main gallery, I would of liked to have posted the disaster we returned to originally but the photos were lost when one of our hard drives decided to stop working!

Thanks, Just checked them out. Nice place. Mostly pictures of the bar ( nicely done ). You sure look young in those Pics ( just a baby ) lol.

[bootleultras]

Yeah, thats kind of my little retreat where I spend way too much time! I still like to think I am quite young even if I dont feel Like I am at the moment!!!