Rough Idea Of Costs To Build A Medium Sized Home?

[Dave Hounddriver]

5 hours ago, hk blues said:

as I said in my post the price was for a "finished state" so all plumbing, electrics and ceiling and walls were plastered and painted and tiled as required - wouldn't really be move-in state IMO but some did. 

Yes.  That part amazed me.  When I had my house built it was cheap enough but then I spent another 25% of the build cost to finish it to a liveable (for me) state.  Later I spent another 25% of the build cost on improvements to make it comfortable (for me)

The amazing part is that 90% of my filipino neighbors lived in the house the way it came . .  barely liveable.

Don't misunderstand me.  I like that system.  It allowed me to spend as much or as little as I wanted on the finishing.  It was just not what I was used to, coming from Canada.

[Gandang Smile]

16 hours ago, hk blues said:

But it wasn't a shell Gandang, as I said in my post the price was for a "finished state" so all plumbing, electrics and ceiling and walls were plastered and painted and tiled as required - wouldn't really be move-in state IMO but some did.  The developer charged 4.8m for the unit and passed on 1.5m to the contractor.  In that relationship, I know which one I'd rather be! 

Apologies, I read incorrectly. I thought 1.5M was the final price to the final Client. 1.5m to 4.8m is a massive hike. As usual, the question is: what is the added value of the developer compared to the building contractor? Even if they did the design, the project management and quality control, a markup of more than 300% is insanity. Little wonder the contractor accepted reluctantly and won't accept similar offers in the future.

Even at 4.5m for the construction-complete house, I was referring to the fact that rectification of construction issues (e.g. uneven ceilings, walls, beams. etc.), decoration and furnishing end up amounting to a good 25/30% of the final construction cost. Of course quality of finishing and taste are totally subjective, so indeed mileage may vary.

If we did build my dream home in the Philippines (I have already discussed with my wife, it has a 50% chance of happening), I would ask my brother, who is a civil engineer with 15+ years of experience, to help with the design and I would just hire a project manager to supervise the project. It does sound remove the middleman as much as possible is the way to go. 

Edited June 5, 2021 by Gandang Smile

[hk blues]

10 hours ago, Dave Hounddriver said:

Yes.  That part amazed me.  When I had my house built it was cheap enough but then I spent another 25% of the build cost to finish it to a liveable (for me) state.  Later I spent another 25% of the build cost on improvements to make it comfortable (for me)

The amazing part is that 90% of my filipino neighbors lived in the house the way it came . .  barely liveable.

Don't misunderstand me.  I like that system.  It allowed me to spend as much or as little as I wanted on the finishing.  It was just not what I was used to, coming from Canada.

To be fair to our developer, the units were/are in move in condition if you're style is spartan.  We made some immediate improvements i.e. water heater/light fittings/ceiling fans/curtains/blinds etc but mostly cosmetic.  Over the past 6 years we have made some more substantial changes to make it more comfortable.  As you say though, most of the locals seem to be ok with the "delivered" state.

The only thing I learned is that If I was doing it again (I won't) was to have the unit in a less-finished state if that makes sense - it would save time and money undoing what was done.  I'm thinking kitchen cabinets, tiling etc.

[hk blues]

20 minutes ago, Gandang Smile said:

Apologies, I read incorrectly. I thought 1.5M was the final price to the final Client. 1.5m to 4.8m is a massive hike. As usual, the question is: what is the added value of the developer compared to the building contractor? Even if they did the design, the project management and quality control, a markup of more than 300% is insanity. Little wonder the contractor accepted reluctantly and won't accept similar offers in the future.

Even at 4.5m for the construction-complete house, I was referring to the fact that rectification of construction issues (e.g. uneven ceilings, walls, beams. etc.), decoration and furnishing end up amounting to a good 25/30% of the final construction cost. Of course quality of finishing and taste are totally subjective, so indeed mileage may vary.

If we did build my dream home in the Philippines (I have already discussed with my wife, it has a 50% chance of happening), I would ask my brother, who is a civil engineer with 15+ years of experience, to help with the design and I would just hire a project manager to supervise the project. It does sound remove the middleman as much as possible is the way to go. 

Yep, as I said i know which side of the relationship I'd choose! For balance though, the land value has to be deducted so 4.8m would become 4m, and then you have the other costs for the developer.  I'd imagine that would knock off another 0.5m so we're looking at 3.5m - still, a markup of 235%!

I agree, the finished state may not be up to western standards but in our case it was acceptable albeit after a few weeks of snagging and repairs carried out by the contractor.

When all is said and done, I absolutely bear in mind what I'd get in the UK for the same money.  If I was to take a UK budget and build something here I'd get way more for my money and would be able to build a relatively comparable property in terms of quality - it would be a challenge but can be done even here.

[Gandang Smile]

6 minutes ago, hk blues said:

Yep, as I said i know which side of the relationship I'd choose! For balance though, the land value has to be deducted so 4.8m would become 4m, and then you have the other costs for the developer.  I'd imagine that would knock off another 0.5m so we're looking at 3.5m - still, a markup of 235%!

Agree, still a hefty hike for intermediary services! Do you feel that the developer's contribution in terms of project management and QA was worth the markup?

One of the things we wish we had during our painful, multi-month and ongoing condo fitout, is the constant supervision from an external person, perhaps a young local architect or engineer (women are the best at that!). Then again, my wife and I concluded that finding a good supervisor would be just as hard as, if not harder than, finding a quality labourer. So we gave up and decided to supervise everything directly.

 

6 minutes ago, hk blues said:

I agree, the finished state may not be up to western standards but in our case it was acceptable albeit after a few weeks of snagging and repairs carried out by the contractor.

When all is said and done, I absolutely bear in mind what I'd get in the UK for the same money.  If I was to take a UK budget and build something here I'd get way more for my money and would be able to build a relatively comparable property in terms of quality - it would be a challenge but can be done even here.

 

I think this is a common dilemma for foreigners building a home here. I lived in the UK long enough to know the abysmal quality of many of the housing projects, from ancient working class semi-detached to council flats. At least in Scotland and some parts of the North of England you tend to build more in stone. So I hope the standards you are referring to are those of modern condominiums, which can easily go for a 500K/750K pounds a pop.

 

[hk blues]

6 minutes ago, Gandang Smile said:

Agree, still a hefty hike for intermediary services! Do you feel that the developer's contribution in terms of project management and QA was worth the markup?

One of the things we wish we had during our painful, multi-month and ongoing condo fitout, is the constant supervision from an external person, perhaps a young local architect or engineer (women are the best at that!). Then again, my wife and I concluded that finding a good supervisor would be just as hard as, if not harder than, finding a quality labourer. So we gave up and decided to supervise everything directly.

I think this is a common dilemma for foreigners building a home here. I lived in the UK long enough to know the abysmal quality of many of the housing projects, from ancient working class semi-detached to council flats. At least in Scotland and some parts of the North of England you tend to build more in stone. So I hope the standards you are referring to are those of modern condominiums, which can easily go for a 500K/750K pounds a pop.

 

I can only repeat the contractor's comment - he said he couldn't make money at that level so I guess that answers the question.

In our case, the developer had their engineer and the contractor an architect so we had some degree of support.  OK, both had vested interest, but the developer doesn't want to be left holding the baby if/when things go wrong, it's the developer we have a contract with, not the contractor.

As for the UK, from my experience the new-build properties are not always the best, but would still be streets ahead of the norm here.  We lived in 3 new-builds in the $200-300k range - quality was more than acceptable and far, far from abysmal.  We got lucky, maybe. 

[Moon Dog]

On 6/2/2021 at 4:56 AM, Michael H said:

Hi All

Apologies if this has been asked before! I was just looking for a ball park figure on how much it costs to build a medium sized home in the Philippines?

The contractor is putting the finishing touches on our house on Biliran Island which is attached to northern Leyte by a single bridge. Just a little stone work, the driveway and landscaping left to do.  The house is 165 sq m 2 story with 3 bedrooms, 3 baths and cost P5.5 million to build. The house is on a 1,700 sq. m lot which costs approximately P1.5 million a few years ago. P100K won't buy much, my workshop will end up costing me almost P500K by the time it's finished. 

 

[Tommy T.]

7 hours ago, Moon Dog said:

The contractor is putting the finishing touches on our house on Biliran Island which is attached to northern Leyte by a single bridge. Just a little stone work, the driveway and landscaping left to do.  The house is 165 sq m 2 story with 3 bedrooms, 3 baths and cost P5.5 million to build. The house is on a 1,700 sq. m lot which costs approximately P1.5 million a few years ago. P100K won't buy much, my workshop will end up costing me almost P500K by the time it's finished. 

 

Very nice and attractive home... good job! I especially like all the terraces and protected spaces to go to and enjoy the outdoors...

Edited June 12, 2021 by Tommy T.

[stevewool]

On 6/2/2021 at 9:56 AM, Michael H said:

Hi All

Apologies if this has been asked before! I was just looking for a ball park figure on how much it costs to build a medium sized home in the Philippines?

My fiancee has a (smallish) lot in Leyte at the ocean which we are thinking to build our retirement home on, depending on costs it would be great to start sometime next year with a view to early retirement (I'm currently 43 and would love to retire asap...)

Not looking to build something too huge or swanky, 3 bedrooms, 3 stories perhaps to accommodate this as its not the biggest lot.

Google results were saying 100k pesos or so which seemed too good to be true... but looking at a few threads on here I saw a figure mentioned which was in excess of 1M pesos?

Any ball park figures you guys could offer would be really useful, thanks!

All depends on what you are wanting for yourself , once the family gets involved the price will double and maybe treble too, look at some designs in the area and on the internet and go from there, just over 1 million should get yourself a nice house , good luck 

[russellmania]

On 6/11/2021 at 1:45 PM, Moon Dog said:

The contractor is putting the finishing touches on our house on Biliran Island which is attached to northern Leyte by a single bridge. Just a little stone work, the driveway and landscaping left to do.  The house is 165 sq m 2 story with 3 bedrooms, 3 baths and cost P5.5 million to build. The house is on a 1,700 sq. m lot which costs approximately P1.5 million a few years ago. P100K won't buy much, my workshop will end up costing me almost P500K by the time it's finished. 

 

You paid 1.5 million for 1700sqm a few years ago...I just paid 1.5 million for 170sqm near Cebu City! You got 1000 sqm more for the same price!