Building a Home in Davao

[Gary D]

1 hour ago, Marvin Boggs said:

Interesting trick with the motorcycle bucket hoist!   I'm empathizing with your struggles to communicate what you want to happen, and then ensure it happens.  Whenever I've encountered this problem, I have discovered my wife is 50% to blame for the misunderstanding.  She explains things in a vague way, and then latches on to whatever meager acknowledgement she gets from the foreman, then gets angry at me for pecking and pressing with more questions.  IDK if its her personality, or just something about pinays.  Whenever there is an expert involved -- i.e. a foreman, or electrician, mechanic, plumber, etc. -- its like she is compelled to accept whatever they say, even if she herself doesn't have 100% confidence in the answer.  Its odd.  Fortunately, after I get through to her what we are really trying to achieve, she can anticipate the various shortcuts and cheats. 

Yes definity a pecking order. When we arrived 3 weeks ago I was inspecting our water tower and noticed the plumbing had changed from our last visit and they somehow ended up isolating one of the two tanks. I then pointed this out and asked the brother in law to move an offending valve which he did but ended up breaking the feed from the two tanks So today we got it fixed but I litterally had to stand over them while they corrected their previous error. Even then it was painfull having to say put that there, connect that there......

[Marvin Boggs]

1 hour ago, Gary D said:

Yes definity a pecking order. When we arrived 3 weeks ago I was inspecting our water tower and noticed the plumbing had changed from our last visit and they somehow ended up isolating one of the two tanks. I then pointed this out and asked the brother in law to move an offending valve which he did but ended up breaking the feed from the two tanks So today we got it fixed but I litterally had to stand over them while they corrected their previous error. Even then it was painfull having to say put that there, connect that there......

 Oh man can I relate.  When our landlord was having problems with the pressure tank and well, I had to draw him a sketch of how the system should be.  When they ran a new electric line for it, it just drapes along the wall partially in front of one of our windows.  I'm like WTF.  Oh well, not my house...

[hk blues]

4 hours ago, Tommy T. said:

 Eyes on is always a good idea.

Sometimes I get a bit frustrated because I will bring up some point as a reminder about something we discussed before - and for which I printed out reminders too - and it's as if it's the first time they have heard of it 

 

 

Eyes on is great, Tom,  but only when the eyes are on!  We realised early on in our build that we were unable/unwilling to spend too much time watching over things.  This will depend on individuals as well, but there is a risk that too much interference can pee of the contractor and lead to other issues.  It's a fine balance.

Yep, I'm sure most of us here can identify with the 2nd point!   

[Tommy T.]

3 hours ago, Marvin Boggs said:

Interesting trick with the motorcycle bucket hoist!   I'm empathizing with your struggles to communicate what you want to happen, and then ensure it happens.  Whenever I've encountered this problem, I have discovered my wife is 50% to blame for the misunderstanding.  She explains things in a vague way, and then latches on to whatever meager acknowledgement she gets from the foreman, then gets angry at me for pecking and pressing with more questions.  IDK if its her personality, or just something about pinays.  Whenever there is an expert involved -- i.e. a foreman, or electrician, mechanic, plumber, etc. -- its like she is compelled to accept whatever they say, even if she herself doesn't have 100% confidence in the answer.  Its odd.  Fortunately, after I get through to her what we are really trying to achieve, she can anticipate the various shortcuts and cheats. 

Well, Marvin... I think I am a bit lucky. L is a school teacher with a strong personality but not overwhelming. She is good at explaining things in the local language that I discuss with her. She had her own home built several years ago and watched it intently as it was constructed. She followed all the trades - plumbing, electrical, masonry....the lot. So she is up on these things PLUS, being Filipina, she is also up on local construction techniques. She asks them questions and inspects things that are beyond what I understand here and is not afraid to speak up. However she does it respectfully (especially with the tradesmen types) and gets her way.

Neither of thinks there is any cheating or real short cutting going on here at all... just maybe bit of sloppiness at times and a bit of lack of forethought at other times. So, between us, we try to fill in the gaps to make it right. I never expected it to go perfectly well, and I did and still expect there to be some issues. It really appears that communication is the biggest issue and she has explained why... English is a rather precise language - we have exact words for so many procedures, concepts, items, etc. The Filipino languages (of which she is fluent in at least 7!) are very imprecise, especially with technical terms. It can take five minutes in Davaoeno to explain something that might take 30 seconds in English. It's just the nature of the beast.

[Tommy T.]

2 hours ago, intrepid said:

Oh well, it all works out in the end.

But which end?

[Tommy T.]

1 hour ago, Marvin Boggs said:

it just drapes along the wall partially in front of one of our windows.  I'm like WTF.  Oh well, not my house.

Those are the sorts of things we are doing our damndest to avoid!

[Tommy T.]

1 hour ago, hk blues said:

Eyes on is great, Tom,  but only when the eyes are on!  We realised early on in our build that we were unable/unwilling to spend too much time watching over things.  This will depend on individuals as well, but there is a risk that too much interference can pee of the contractor and lead to other issues.  It's a fine balance.

Yep, I'm sure most of us here can identify with the 2nd point!   

Yes, HK, it is like you said another time recently - always a balancing act. We go out maybe twice a week - at most. It's like pulling teeth to get them to give me a schedule of events, but it's sort-of happening. We have spent probably hours of time with the contractors (wife and husband team - she's the civil engineer and sharp and smart, he's not quite so bright, but is onsite often and happens to know everyone in the city engineering and building departments...among others).

As L reminds me constantly, "Please don't compare how things work in USA compared to here..." And she is right (but I still do in my mind, even if I don't tell her - I can't help it because that's my experience). So that's why I rely on her so much. Yet she yields on many things that I might suggest regarding style, layout, etc. And that's because this is not really a Filipino house but rather an Amerasian house, I think? This girl is considered a bit of a renegade in her family because - and long before we met - she carries a lot of western values and not strictly the Filipino values she was raised with. Neither she nor I nor any one else knows why she is like this but, hell!, I am not complaining! So she is usually amenable to my ideas but will interject her own if she really feels they might be important. And I don't fight her either if she gives me good reasons. And maybe that's the best part - we argue (not quarrel) with each other with logic, rather than emotion - and it works! (Mostly).

The contractors and builders scratch their heads a bit at the size of the rooms, especially our master bedroom cr. The house is not large, but it also does not have a warren of tiny rooms. Two bedrooms, two cr's, a "library" or computer room or whatever you want to call it as a third bedroom if we have several guests. Typical kitchen, dining and living space sizes for here. An exterior laundry "room" (outside with roof and open sides with 1/3 high walls for shielding the elements and a totally exterior dirty kitchen for the barbecue, fish cooking, etc.... Oh... and the master bedroom cr is a bit extra large too!

Edited October 15, 2019 by Tommy T.

[Gary D]

We are having plans drawn up by and architect for our house extension. I said I wanted a master with ensuite, a second bedroom with ensuite and if room a third bedroom/storage room. the plan came back with three bedrooms and two CR side by side at the end of a corridor.

[Marvin Boggs]

1 hour ago, Tommy T. said:

This girl is considered a bit of a renegade in her family because - and long before we met - she carries a lot of western values

Funny you say that.  Mine is sort of like the 'general' in her family.  First to travel abroad (where we met), first to marry a foreigner, business minded, etc.  When we want something done within the family, she coordinates with Mama and it gets done.  Mama deflects the static from us, or else someone will need to take their chances approaching my wife with a frivolous idea!  We are thinking of asking the family to coordinate the subcontracting, so that we can park someone onsite for the full duration of the build, and just try to manage the bigger decisions.  Lets see if we can both keep from micro-managing...

[Tommy T.]

Mama  and Papa are very old now - 90's so L is sort of the defacto manager of the family, even though she has older brothers and one older sister. Nothing is decided easily (Philippines...) but she gets her way most of the time. The family respects her greatly. And so do the contractors and workers... Like I said... I feel very lucky to have found this girl...