Family House in Negros Oriental

I posted on this a few years ago. The whole thing went to sleep a bit but now it’s gathering some momentum.

Three sisters including Mrs Ash have inherited a plot of land in Dumaguete. They own it jointly. But not one of them wants to use it except they have agreed to build a four bedroom bungalow on it for their mother to use if she wants and / or to use it for visits and holidays. They don’t want to sell the lot as it was a family gift.

The three of them have been meeting up over Zoom to discuss plans etc. Fortunately the eldest sister had her house built for her family and also fortunately the two eldest sisters were born and raised in Dumaguete. Also the eldest’s brothers in law have each had houses built while working abroad - I have seen one of them and they look solid enough.

I have not been involved at all though Mrs Ash tells me what they doing. It looks like they are going about things the right way. Mrs Ash and I were discussing the roofing and she talked about a coloured roof as opposed to corrugated metal. I wasn’t sure what she was referring to but it turns out she was referring to clay tiles? Not sure but I think that is what she meant.

The plan is for 4 bedrooms, a kitchen, two bathrooms a lounge and a dirty kitchen. Something like that.

Estimates appear to be in the range of £15000 or 1 million pesos. Each sister will chip in towards the cost of the build. Though I understand money is already set aside for that, to a certain degree.

They seem to have a builder lined up. Someone they know well.

£15,000...lol--it cost my insurance more than that to have a new engineered wood floor laid throughout my house following a leaking pipe claim 2 years ago.

I think the arithmetic is right. See what @Jim says about it being a realistic figure.

i think it will cost more like double that.

The three girls between them actually have a fair bit of experience to call upon having had their own houses built and their relatives too (who’s husbands work in Taiwan). I saw a 2 bedroom home that one of the cousins had built in the provinces (Papanga?) and it cost 700000 pesos to build (£10000 quid). It looks pretty solid. They already owned the land. Not sure what the sister in law’s house cost but it is well built and they had it built for them on land they already owned.
It looks like they are going to go for it so it will be interesting to see how it develops.

They are going to tell the builder what they want and he will come back with a price.

It depends if they get a contractor to do the build. If they use local builders and buy the materials themselves could save money but they need to know and trust the builders.
Building Costs Per Square Metre in the Philippines ...

Thanks Jim. That house in the photo looks very like the sort of thing and at 720000.

A large portion of the wider family live in Valencia / Dumaguete and the land was handed down from the grandmother. It’s on the Dumaguete outskirts. The two elder sisters spent their lives up til they were in their 20s in the region and seem to know a lot of people there including extended family. Meantime while relatives on the husbands side have been working abroad, the eldest sister has been coordinating building efforts on their home builds in Nueva Ecija? As a consequence she seems to have a good idea on materials and costings.

So yes Jim. It will be people they know doing the building work. I believe the labour rates are unbelievably affordable.

“Nine provinces of the Philippines, namely Negros Oriental, Davao Del Norte, Dinagat Islands, Surigao Del Norte, Isabela City, Bukidnon, Aurora, Agusan Del Norte and Leyte are priced at ₱7,000 per m2 for new home construction.”

One problem emerging is disagreement amongst the sisters on choice of colour for the walls

@oss. What are your plans (outwith the pandemic) for the future? Will you look at buying a property or even building one? I seem to recall Boots was going to get you sorted?

I meant the inside walls. But yeah. All the houses I ever saw in the Middle East were white.

We are getting some prices coming in now at around that kind of price, maybe a bit less ie 2 million. They have gone for a nice design.

Yes but we all know Insurance claims are inflated, thats why when you go to a Car Bodyshop the first thing they ask is it an Insurance job ?, then just look at the way vetinary costs have skyrocketed since Insurance has become the must have with Pet Owners, before Insurance vetinary costs were affordable nowadays its only vaccinations and such like that most people can afford.


“Nine provinces of the Philippines, namely Negros Oriental, Davao Del Norte, Dinagat Islands, Surigao Del Norte, Isabela City, Bukidnon, Aurora, Agusan Del Norte and Leyte are priced at ₱7,000 per m2 for new home construction.” Thats interesting if true, the inlaws live in Bukidnon.

Yes but we all know Insurance claims are inflated, thats why when you go to a Car Bodyshop the first thing they ask is it an Insurance job ?, then just look at the way vetinary costs have skyrocketed since Insurance has become the must have with Pet Owners, before Insurance vetinary costs were affordable nowadays its only vaccinations and such like that most people can afford.


Yep.
i had to submit estimates--my neighbour is a builder, i made sure he put in the lowest quote. i had other work done at the same time.

Its not what you know but who you know .

What’s the point of this type of roof?

I did wonder about the ventilation. I asked Mrs Ash and she just likes the design, which is what I think they are hoping to include in the design. I assumed there was a purpose to the design but wasn’t sure why.

looks nice...but i think a typhoon would make short work of that.