Our House Construction

[intrepid]

10 hours ago, Gary D said:

My concern is if he is doing all of this for free how much was he overcharging in the first place.

I can understand why you would think this.  I too wondered what was his profit.  Of course it would not be proper for me to ask him that question.  I've researched and asked a lot of questions and also checking the complete bill of materials for my project, it appears his profit should be in the 10% range.  This I don't feel is too much.  Further in his defense, he is the type of person who puts the customers happiness over profits.  Just like me visiting some of his projects, I’m sure he will be proud to show my home to other future customers and not be concerned what my recommendation will be.

[Jack Peterson]

24 minutes ago, intrepid said:

it appears his profit should be in the 10% range.  This I don't feel is too much.

Exactly why I said this in my post, Buy run of the Mill (if they bought) stuff that seems ok but if you want that bit special Material then not so good, Houses are our main expenditure and to get the best results that are value for money, We should ensure all are happy and that I am now finding after only 5 years, The contract profit has meant substandard materials in Places of course YMMV but for me, Control, these guys like any tradesman are only as good as the last work they did, we should have a keener eye ours are not the Friday Job

 JMHO but after some disasters I Learned

BUT why should we allow any Profit on materials, they are already getting the Price for the Job. I mean we are always moaning about the rising price of things and yet we allow this.

[Jake]

1 hour ago, intrepid said:

I can understand why you would think this.  I too wondered what was his profit.  Of course it would not be proper for me to ask him that question.  I've researched and asked a lot of questions and also checking the complete bill of materials for my project, it appears his profit should be in the 10% range.  This I don't feel is too much.  Further in his defense, he is the type of person who puts the customers happiness over profits.  Just like me visiting some of his projects, I’m sure he will be proud to show my home to other future customers and not be concerned what my recommendation will be.

Danny retired from law enforcement in the Maryland area.  I'm sure you did not not forget how to read people and their unspoken words.  Like in the military, reading body language becomes second nature.  Most importantly, the architecture's previous clients and their beautiful homes is a testament of a good honest and hard work.  

Again, well done sir!

[intrepid]

1 hour ago, Jack Peterson said:

BUT wy should we allow any Profit on materials, they are already getting the Price for the Job. I mean we are always moaning about the rising price of things and yet we allow this.

Jack, just let me be clear so there is no misunderstanding.  I did not mean to imply he was making 10% profit on the material.

He gave me a contract price for the complete job from start to completion.  Also a list of materials with the specs of each.  This list included every block, rebar, bag of concrete, stone, sand, window, elect wire, ect.,everything which included more six pages.  After checking the prices of most of the materials on the list, it is my calculation that the contract price he gave subtracting the materials leaves him with more-less a 10% profit.  I have been on the project site almost daily and when deliveries are made, I usually check the items myself as they are being unloaded before the foreman signs for them.  I'm no expert, but have worked in the building industry part time most my life along side some pretty good engineers.  I have picked up a thing or two and feel pretty good about the materials used and the methods in constructing or project.  There have been times along this process I did question some whys and hows because it was different than I have experienced.  My architect would always take the time to explain to my understanding.  One example; He knows I plan to later build my own workshop and told me  to always check the rebar delivered before accepting it by bending at least one piece either by hand or using a long pipe  to make a short 90* bend.  Making sure it bends and not break.

[Dave Hounddriver]

2 hours ago, Jack Peterson said:

You spend 1 million on goods and they charge you 40 % in building but if you pay 2 million in Goods it is still 40% so come on it don't take Brain surgery to figure we get ripped off.

It works out very well if you are buying cheap stuff and building low cost housing.  VERY well.  Picture the cost of material for a cheap house . .  light sockets for 25 pesos . .  wire for next to nothing.  hollow blocks and cement on the cheap.   You could not pay these guys standard wages and get away with less than the percentage rate.  In fact, the guy who originally did my contract for me lost so much money by only charging 40% that he upped it to 50% on the next renovation and by my calculations he still only broke even on what he had to pay the guys.  So it definitely has its place.  I may not use that same contractor again as he is getting smarter now 

EDIT:  My house is not all that cheap either.  I just got the contractor to put in all the cheap work and then I went through it on my own to do stuff like having expensive aircons installed or upgrading the light fixtures or building a fancy closet and mirror wall.  Those kinds of upgrades are killers if you pay 40% labor on them.

Edited July 3, 2017 by Dave Hounddriver

[Jack Peterson]

I Hear what both of you are saying (Intrepid & Dave"H") but as I said a House is just about the most expensive thing we will do here, as it would at home (Wherever that may be) but it  galled me to think that the Engineer said 40% of material Cost to build at 2.5 Mil which it did cost out at, was something like 1 million in labour when in fact it cost us a little over 600.00 when we employed and bought our own material based on the bill of Quantities, ie; main Doors ( For example) 3 part Sliders took 3 days with 2 men to fit each one and we have 2, they cost 45.000 per Doorway. (Mahogany with Glass inset panels) at 40% that was like 90.000 peso for 2 Doorways, 40 % labour would have been 36.000 in Labour.

Now the 2 men at 250 per day ( 5 years ago was the going rate) per man was 750 peso x 3 days x 2 men x 2 doorways= 3.000  that in itself was a saving of  33.000 OK it may sound petty but it is not when you go down the Line and look at what you get and what you can get.

 The other thing that  got me was the Pocketing of labour Money OH! I need 10 men then 8 turn up and his has been paid. But we paid on parade ie; you work you get cash you don't work you don't

We did not Build on the Cheap as it is what we wanted. The Total as I said was 600.000 so we saved 400.000 to spend on Furnishings and such. Each to our own as we say but to us, we felt that at the level we were Building it was a better way to do it.

I am no cheapskate at all but I like (or should I say "A" insists) on value for Money. House Builds can go either way and you may think we get what we Pay for, we just made sure we got what we paid for without lining to many others Pockets and they could have given the materials we were prepared to Buy. Hence my Disliking of the 40% Route but that is me and Mine. If in doubt keep an eye on things as think Hmmmm overpaid for that bit

[Steve GCC]

We built our house on a contract price and all turned out well, maybe even better than had expected and pleased with result and the VFM aspect.

Almost finished the grain store and had two ridiculous quotes of 1m and 1.4m.  Decided to do our selves this time with BIL keeping eye on it, sending pics daily, buys materials, pays salarys etc........ Will be finished for around the 650k mark.............

At the end of the day it all comes down to the specification of materials and making sure the labour are productive IMHO

[Gary D]

The builder will buy from his favourite supplier, what you don't see are all of the discounts and freeby's. And they won't appear on the receipts. Even if you use your forman to buy the materials he will be getting a finders fee, that's how the Philippines works.

[OnMyWay]

4 hours ago, Jack Peterson said:

3 part Sliders took 3 days with 2 men to fit each one and we have 2, they cost 45.000 per Doorway. (Mahogany with Glass inset panels)

Off topic.  Were those hard to find / get?  I will need something similar.  In fact, I might buy those sooner than later because the current sliders are in really bad shape.

[Jack Peterson]

8 minutes ago, OnMyWay said:

Off topic.  Were those hard to find / get?  I will need something similar.  In fact, I might buy those sooner than later because the current sliders are in really bad shape.

Made specially but we are in Dumaguete or I could help you