Building a Home in Davao

[Old55]

Fantastic! We know you both must be so excited your home is finally finished.

[Tommy T.]

58 minutes ago, Old55 said:

Fantastic! We know you both must be so excited your home is finally finished.

Thanks, Old... I'm wet! I think she is too!!!

Edited October 27, 2020 by Tommy T.

[GeoffH]

Congratulations Tommy!  After all this time it's finally done :)

[Tommy T.]

12 minutes ago, GeoffH said:

Congratulations Tommy!  After all this time it's finally done :)

Thanks Geoff... Yeah... Two birthdays later after starting this project...

Never again!!!

[Snowy79]

Looking at the stairs I have similar in my apartment. Make sure you give them a good check over. Mine the weld has cracked a few times due to poor quality weld and material. Fortunately they never collapsed as I'm sure it would be broken leg time. 

[Tommy T.]

4 hours ago, Snowy79 said:

Looking at the stairs I have similar in my apartment. Make sure you give them a good check over. Mine the weld has cracked a few times due to poor quality weld and material. Fortunately they never collapsed as I'm sure it would be broken leg time. 

 

Thanks for the tip, Snowy. I have checked them all numerous times and I think the stairs will likely outlast me and even the rest of the home! They are solid. These boys are fairly good with cement and welding and steel. They are not so good with wood. But - as someone here suggested - the steps are glued and screwed to the steel supports. Early on they wobbled a bit and were not all straight. But they feel secure and sturdy now. I am positive they have never done this sort of staircase before so they learned as they progressed.

I remain a bit surprised that L is possibly pickier than me about the workmanship. She misses very little and is never bashful about telling the boys to change or fix things. They have made a number of mistakes along the way, but we caught them (we think) and they have made them right. I think the place might have been a disaster if we had not been checking up on the work. Again, that was L's advice - glad I heeded it.

Of course, we made a few mistakes too in our plans and suggestions and we are paying the price for those too. It's always the way a home build goes. And there are already some things that we see and think - oooppps... shouldn't have done that or done it that way. Some we can remedy fairly easily and some we will just have to live with, but none are really terrible.

Anyway, tomorrow I will assemble my office chair, and will lean back, contemplate the orchard and sip my Tanduay and San Mig Light. There is no TV yet, so we will just have to think of other ways to entertain ourselves. L has to go to her school a few days and now her commute will be closer to 45 minutes or more compared to her 20 minutes up until now.

We still have to send the washing machine, water dispenser, motorcycle and the second car. And there are myriad tasks to take care of out there. But there are only a few roosters, the dogs don't really bark except at strangers (I guess we are accepted by them now) and generally it is rather quiet. No more garbage men blowing the horn on their truck at 4:45 am!

Edited October 27, 2020 by Tommy T.

[Tommy T.]

So maybe some members here could shed some light on some odd things L and I both noticed on the build here...

The contractors have a couple of guys who have been painting. They started painting the interior months ago. Then the sparky comes in, the air con guy and even the foreman to chip out cement for installing or moving wires and plumbing. Then the painter paints over that when it's done. Then, even the painter goes and sprays stain and top coat on the wood work and makes a total mess of the paint job he has already done. So he paints again. 

Not being sarcastic here, but I really think this guys and his helpers have painted the interior of the house at least four or five times. When building the house in USA many years ago, the painting was just about the last thing to do before moving in. We did it in one day by having a "painting party," where we invited a bunch of friends to come out and paint. We provided all the equipment, there was scaffolding and we put on a good spread of food and lots of beer and wine (for afterwards). Two coats of paint throughout a 1.7k sqft home in one day and it was all done. Tarps and plastic on the floor so no mess.

These boys here did not place any tarps or cloths when painting so there are white paint spots everywhere. So they now have at least two guys cleaning up the mess on the floors. Maybe this is just to keep people employed?

It's the same thing outside the house. The workers just dropped or tossed everything from cigarettes butts to plastic bits - all kinds of rubbish all over the property. Now they have a couple of guys going around and picking up (most of) the trash. Again, back in the USA home build, the workers mostly cleaned up after themselves right away. Sure, there were still cigarette butts and some other trash, but not really much. When that house was finished, they walked away and it was done...no mess, no fuss.

So, I am not complaining, but just expressing my observations about the work flow and work habits I have seen. The organization seems a bit loose. And even L says the same thing - she is puzzled by the continuous painting and irritated by all the rubbish that was thrown around.

There have been some other vendors there - deliveries, the glass outfit and others. They toss out their empty water bottles and other plastics and whatever, right by where they park and leave it there.

Again... not really a complaint, but an observation. Our guys pick it all up and, in future, we will have one of the local tricycle drivers take our bagged rubbish and police the area for other trash on a regular schedule. They are always happy to do simple things like that for some extra pesos.

[hk blues]

Tom - you're not alone in your observation but when people are being paid per day and using materials somebody else has paid for then you can see why things are done the way they are.  Add in the apparent inability to plan beyond the very rudimentary level and you can see why things follow a meandering path.

I'm surprised your partner is surprised though - it's very much par for the course here.

 

[Jack Peterson]

33 minutes ago, Tommy T. said:

There have been some other vendors there - deliveries, the glass outfit and others. They toss out their empty water bottles and other plastics and whatever, right by where they park and leave it there.

 Tommy to the Provincial way of Life, Something that City Dwellers don't always notice until they are involved daily with it, Along with HK, I am surprised that "L" is surprised when this is what Happens around School Gates, You will get used to it eventually, I have found the more you mention it and get irritated by it the more it happens. On my Build once they realised it upset me and the more I cleared up after them the more they did it. PAYBACK time for our constant search for Perfection methinks  Tom once you are moved in it will stop BUT it will still happen outside your gates mate. My helper can spend 1/2 an Hour a day sweeping up after the Kids dropped Wrappers and such   Its Life mate

Edited October 27, 2020 by Jack Peterson
spelling

[Tommy T.]

10 minutes ago, hk blues said:

Tom - you're not alone in your observation but when people are being paid per day and using materials somebody else has paid for then you can see why things are done the way they are.  Add in the apparent inability to plan beyond the very rudimentary level and you can see why things follow a meandering path.

I'm surprised your partner is surprised though - it's very much par for the course here.

 

Thanks for your thought, HK. What we are seeing is a lack of planning and organization on the part of the contractor. This is in addition to the general lack of consideration regarding trash, etc. The foreman here is a really nice guy. But he is now split between finishing our home and some other construction project they now have underway. He is expected to do myriad tasks AND to be a supervisor. It is beyond his capability and we see that.

L is a school teacher and a bit of a Maverick (female!) too. She does not fit in with most of the commonly accepted or observed customs of many Filipinas (or Filipinos). She gets very irritated when she sees the lack of planning and the haphazard progress of the build. She had her own home constructed several years ago and spent a lot of time correcting what she saw as flaws or other issues with her home. She is a bright lady and very enlightened and possesses a number of western values... Her family still wonders why she is like this?