Cost to Build a House

[AlwaysRt]

1 hour ago, Steve GCC said:

Much cheaper in long run if know what you are doing

Only works if you Actually know what you are doing. Doesn't work so well if you Think you know what you are doing. 

[sonjack2847]

2 hours ago, AlwaysRt said:

Only works if you Actually know what you are doing. Doesn't work so well if you Think you know what you are doing. 

I agree with this.I spent nearly 40 years in construction,I have witnessed and put right many bodge jobs by diy people.

Sometimes it`s best left to those who know what they are doing.Putting things right can cost more than doing it properly in the first place.

[AlwaysRt]

39 minutes ago, sonjack2847 said:

I agree with this.I spent nearly 40 years in construction,I have witnessed and put right many bodge jobs by diy people.

Sometimes it`s best left to those who know what they are doing.Putting things right can cost more than doing it properly in the first place.

Not just DIY people either, many 'experts' are incompetent also. My awesome 20+ year experience concrete finisher was world class - as a finisher. Couldn't correctly form a 2 meter by 3 meter back patio though (Not an exaggeration, I always had to go correct his formwork). And a builder built a $700,000 house with a master bathroom that if you were at the sink brushing your teeth, there wasn't enough room for your wife to walk by you (like you are at the sink and your back is against the wall. Idiot couldn't read plans). 

[stevewool]

Why cannot you agree a price for him to do the construction and you just buy what you are wanting .

We built the family home , agreed a price and we brought everything when the builder required it and it did all work out rather well too.

[Gary D]

Although you may not qualify for a bulk discount you can often get a loyalty discount by buying all materials from the one supplier.

[jpbago]

9 hours ago, Gary D said:

Although you may not qualify for a bulk discount you can often get a loyalty discount by buying all materials from the one supplier.

And cash back or points if you use certain credit cards.

[mogo51]

On 6/23/2017 at 3:48 PM, intrepid said:

Maybe I just got lucky.  But we hired an architect to design and build our house and have been so satisfied words could barely explain.  He has gone far and above anything I could have expected after reading and hearing all the horror stories and problems others have experienced when building here.  Of course we are not complete yet, but I have no worries and no stress.  Once our project is done, sometime late August, I will do a complete write up on my experiences with the architect.  Now to your question on payment.  Like I said we hired the architect for the complete project.  The cost to build our place complete is under 23,000 peso per meter.  His foreman is an engineer with great skills and the work force has ranged from 12 to 20 men depending what stage of the process.  Since we broke ground last November they have worked six days a week never missing and only taking off on the major holidays.  For payment he asked for 1/3 down, then 1/4, another 1/4 and the final payment when complete.  Although he does not yet know, he will receive a bonus. Everything has gone by the plan like clockwork and so many details completed without a single issue.  He may call us once or twice a week asking for opinions or choices and then sometimes two weeks may pass without a word.  He is managing several projects in different areas at the same time and only stops at our project two times a week or as needed.  I usually stop and check in every other day.  If I see an issue, which I have maybe three or four times, I usually take a photo is needed and send him a text or email.  He responds no later than an hour or so and the issue is resolved!  Like I said in the beginning, maybe I just got lucky.  I have built other homes in the US myself and many smaller remodeling jobs but this has got to be the least stressful bar none!

Always good to read a positive comment about Filipina in Philippines, hope you enjoy the new house when you get to reside in it.  You obviously  found a good one.

[scott h]

8 hours ago, Gary D said:

Although you may not qualify for a bulk discount you can often get a loyalty discount by buying all materials from the one supplier.

I am not so sure about this Gary, at least not by my experience here in the PI.

When we build our house, I got a list of the materials I would need for the first month, pretty long list. Went to 3 different local suppliers and asked for a quote, with the exception of the quality differences they were all within a few pesos of eah other. I sent my BIL out to see if a local could get a better deal, same thing. We made it clear that we were building a complete house no difference lol.

Another example of what we would think of poor competition is when we were buying our major appliances for the house. We went to SM Appliance, aBensons, Wilkon, Home Depot and a couple of other places I cant remember. Might as well have saved the gas money. Again all were within a few hundred pesos of each other. It was almost as if they all got in a dark room some plase and agreed on pricing lol. The only discount was if we paid in cash et et.

My last example of business competiveness involves the son of the guy who we ended up buying our materials from. (nice guy, speaks great English and we have become friends of a sort) upon his graduation from college, he set his boy up as a stainless steel fabricator in the same building. I noticed that he would sit day after day in the office waiting for business to walk in the door. I talked to him one day and asked, "why don't you get on your bike and visit building sites, talk to the builder and drum up some business, or failing that, just hang around your Dads business (same building) and watch what folks are buying and ambush likely customers on the way out?" His reply was, "oh if they need my stuff they will come to me"

Now I might be a blue eyed guy looking at a brown eyed world, but I just don't see the business competiveness we are used to in the west. So now days, if I see an item and I think it is worth the cost, I don't even bother to price compare anymore, I just buy it.

DISKLAIMER: Now this is just based on my observation, in my little slice of a large country, this might and most likely are different elsewhere in the Philippines

[Dave Hounddriver]

45 minutes ago, scott h said:

I am not so sure about this Gary, at least not by my experience here in the PI.

I agree with you, by MY experience, but I agree with Gary by OTHER people's experience.  The two cases I am thinking of is my own contractor and our Jack.  My contractor has been building in and around town all his adult life and knows every supplier and he knows what price they will give him as the "last price".  Our Jack has a wife who works for a huge local purchaser and has merely to drop a name to get a discount due to their volume of purchases.

But you and I are not going to get that experience if we are only building one house.

[Steve GCC]

5 hours ago, scott h said:

 

14 hours ago, Gary D said:

Although you may not qualify for a bulk discount you can often get a loyalty discount by buying all materials from the one supplier.

I am not so sure about this Gary, at least not by my experience here in the PI.

 

I agree also with Scott.

Whilst building the house it didnt matter if we bought 10 blocks or a 1000 price was same.  The same goes for washed sand, cement, crushed stone, waste pipes, pipe fittings etc etc..... Also found as others said that most suppliers are within a peso of each other.

Only exception I found was buying quality branded paint from Wilcon and not from the local Paint shop who mixed colours to get desired colour.  Was more expensive but in long term hopefully wont paint outside for a number of years yet...............time will tell