There was a good discussion today on my friend Bob Martin’s blog, www.liveinthephilippines.com about building homes today.  It reminded me I have been promising myself to get busy on a series about the subject.  A lot of Filipino homebuilders don’t do a very good job … sad to say … because of the frequent attitude towards excessive cheapness … or the pwede na yan … that’ll do for now … attitude.

On the other hand, many foreigners come to the Philippines and ignore everything the local experts tell them and build monstrosities, many of them unsuited to Philippine conditions.  In any area where many foreigners live you can find these white elephants for sale, often at desperation prices.

A few things need to be thought through before you start drawing plans and calculating costs.  Here are some to get you started thinking:

1. I’m going to build my house to US, UK, Australian, German … (pick one or substitute your own country’s) standards.  Well, you aren’t, unless you are really dumb.  The typical home building materials and standards in these countries are not suited for many of the conditions and realities of the Philippines.  This does not mean you shouldn’t build to high quality standards and include the comfort items you are used to, it’s just that the “US” way isn’t necessarily the “best” way.  You must adapt methods and materials to suit reality.
2. Costs are relatively low, so I’m going to build big!  Well, it’s your house ands your money so go for it, but realize first that the 4,000, 6,000, 8,000 square foot status symbols yo0u are used to in the US may feel very out of place here.  And when you get your first month’s electric bill you may realize another reason not to “super size” your dream house.  It’s much smarter to build to more modest dimensions and use the extra money to build another, smaller home somewhere else, for just one example.
3. I’m going to have every “system” I have in the US and then some.  Again, do as you will, but your really should live here a while and “feel” things for yourself.  Hot water, for just one example.  yes, it’s perfectly possible to build in a US-style domestic hot water system.  It’s also wasteful and dumb.  Asian-manufactured “flash’ hot water heaters provide much better service at much less cost.  Better yet, think solar.  Much more practical here than in the US.  Central air is another idea that often is not smart.  It makes no sense to live in a sealed box, air conditioning every room, even when no one is using them.  Electricity costs substantially more than the US and it will go higher, even faster than other energy costs will rise, do to management and infrastructure issues.  Try learning to be comfortable with natural or fan-forced ventilation and then use individual aircons only as needed.

Here’s a US site with a lot of information on home design and building systems that can be readily adapted to the Philippines.  http://www.scrapbookscrapbook.com/DAC-ART/index.html

And here’s a Philippine company that can do the whole job and has some great materials and building systems that will get the job done nicely. http://www.vazbuilt.com/vb/index.asp

As I started to post this I noticed the VazBuilt site has changed a lot.  It no longer seems to highlight that the cornerstone” of their business doesn’t seem to be highlighted.  Similar to the US site I also referenced, VazBuilt’s speciality is a system of standard or custom-sized wall panels and special concrete shapes that lock together and let a crew of men erect a house in hours instead of days or weeks.  And since the components are poured under controlled conditions the quality is consistently higher than “site built” methods.  This other VazBuilt site shows more, including their really cool pre-cast modular fence/wall system, very handy for the Philippines.

http://www.vazcomm.com/vm/diyComponents.htm

Build wisely.

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