House Build Costs (Rough)

[jpbago]

On 7/25/2017 at 8:53 PM, Dave Hounddriver said:

Yes!  Can be done!  Been there done that when I built a house for my first ex.

Its quite reasonable really.  All you have to do is pick a number you can live with for what you want to spend on your house.  In my case we were splitting up and she's crying about having no-where to go.  Given the circumstances I told her I would pay to have a house built on her families land for her and her son, IF she could have one built for 40K pesos.  Yep, all the estimates came in, local materials, local builders and it looked like they could do it for 40K.  By the time all was said and done it cost me 80K.

Here's what I got built for 80K back in 2013

So the moral of the story is you can build as cheap or as expensive as you want.  Just realize you only get what you pay for.  I see too many expats with champagne dreams on a beer budget when it comes to building a house here.

Without constant maintenance, that house would be gone by now due to the termites, insects, rodents, rain, wind, heat, and earthquakes.

Did you include a monthly maintenance fee?

[Dave Hounddriver]

3 hours ago, jpbago said:

Did you include a monthly maintenance fee?

Yes actually, I included the fee for an OFW agency that hired her to work in Dubai.  She now has since got more money than I have, has built a nice concrete block home thats nicer than I have and has a better life than many expats living here.  And I'd be welcome to stay in the new concrete house any time.  She's one of the ones who would not see me starve if she saw me begging on the street. Karma can be good.

[stevewool]

3 hours ago, jpbago said:

 

Did you include a monthly maintenance fee?

This is the most important thing, maintenance,

Some folk seem to let things go to far before repairs or even a little paint, then it can run into the hundreds even thousands .

[stevewool]

Reading some of the replies to this thread has got me excited about our build and i am wanting to get tings into some sort of plan. Like i have said it can be our house for ever if that is what i am wanting, we can have a outside garden and a roof garden it all depends on what i am wanting and willing to do, so i have the best of everything really. I have plans in my head and some drawn on paper for the inside plus the outside too, so i may be asking Queenie for advice soon on what i can grow, i do know there are orchids grown on the tree in the lot. You can see our house on google map too,and even walk down the street, but if you walk down its the old house and if you view from the air its the new house, have many of you seen your house on google maps yet.

[Mr-T]

Just thought i would mention this as i have been through the process of building myself. What about lot preparation? Depending on the site location. Many areas have flooding during the rainy season. Cost me quite a bit to fill our lot and building a fence. I have seen so many natives home flooded, some had to even vacate for awhile. Hope no one of us will experience that.

[Snowy79]

20 minutes ago, Mr-T said:

Just thought i would mention this as i have been through the process of building myself. What about lot preparation? Depending on the site location. Many areas have flooding during the rainy season. Cost me quite a bit to fill our lot and building a fence. I have seen so many natives home flooded, some had to even vacate for awhile. Hope no one of us will experience that.

Definitely a big thing to check out for anyone buying a lot. I've seen some places flooded that you'd never think possible. My lot is about 100m above sea level on a flattened parcel of land with slopes on two sides. It's been level for just over two years with no sign of landslides in the vicinity.

[Dave Hounddriver]

12 hours ago, Snowy79 said:

I've seen some places flooded that you'd never think possible.

I saw one of my expat friends buy a piece of land and "fill it" to be above the level of the surrounding lots and then he started to build.  A richer person bought the lots around him and "filled them" (this is in Liloan, Cebu and the fill used is called anapog).

Anyway, to make a long story short, the richer person made his lots much higher than my friend's bit and his lot was now the flood plain for the rich guy.  As my friend was buying it on payments he just walked away and took the loss.  Lesson learned.

Sometimes it works in our favor.  The subdivision that I live in now did the same thing to the surrounding land owners who would not sell.  Those land owners now have rice fields where before the water ran off freely.  

[Jack Peterson]

 A Lot of this depends on your own water table, I am the highest land in the immediate area but have a very high water table (As do the adjoining lots) So we get Flooded because the Water does not Soak all the way in for some Hours

If you can before buying and building Check the Water table as this is a BIG thing on Flooding

 

Jack

Morning all

[scott h]

5 minutes ago, Jack Peterson said:

So we get Flooded

That is a beautiful yard Jack.

But I have to tease you, watch out that you do not get deported for operating an illegal fish pond 

[Jack Peterson]

2 minutes ago, scott h said:

That is a beautiful yard Jack.

But I have to tease you, watch out that you do not get deported for operating an illegal fish pond 

Cheers Scott for the comment on the Yard  (Garden) [ Brit here remember] This only happens once in awhile and can be a real pain, although it does everything good and we notice a rapid growth in things but with 5 dogs, can you imagine the Mess