Building materials

[billygoat993]

If you buy property inside gated subdivision there is a Deed of Restriction and it is annotated at the back of land title:TCT. Usually piggery are not allowed. In laguna we are surprised that Laguna Bel Air had sold almost all and had opened new phase. Well maybe bec they are one of the affordable compared to other developers. We find it cheaper to build as long as there is an Engineer to check 2x a week or during important structural phase. No more contractors for us.

[cvgtpc1]

Originally Posted by billygoat993

If you buy property inside gated subdivision there is a Deed of Restriction and it is annotated at the back of land title:TCT.

Thanks. Good to know. The sales agent could've said that and I would've been fine. They weren't too swift. Also the models didn't match the finished product which had alot more features after touring homes in progress. Told them their model should match what you're getting as it be a better selling point, they didn't get it lol

[yakc130]

WOW!! Lot's of great info in here.

The wife is still trying to figure out what she wants, and where. She likes a condo because of the security factor, and being able to rent it out to other OFW's when we aren't there. But she also likes the idea of getting out of the city and into the province.

Thanks for posting all of this stuff. The photos are especially nice.

[bbazor]

Originally Posted by Maxx62

I don't know how useful this is, but here is a rough drawing of our floor plan. I put the kitchen sink and bathroom drains along the same wall, to save the hassle of running the sewer line to different areas of the house, and I tried to keep everything else pretty simple.

Attachment 15753

I am curious about the total cost (land, materials, contractor, appliances, furniture, etc..... basically total out of pocket). I hope thie is not to personal of a question. I just want to get some ideas.
Thanks!

[Maxx62]

Originally Posted by bbazor

I am curious about the total cost (land, materials, contractor, appliances, furniture, etc..... basically total out of pocket). I hope thie is not to personal of a question. I just want to get some ideas.
Thanks!

My wife inherited the land, so we really didn't have any major expenses as far as acquiring the land itself. The cost of materials and labor wasn't much more than $55,000, or so. We came over here with a savings of approximately $75,000 (US) and by the time we were done we still had approximately $8,000 - $10,000 left in our savings.

Of course we also rented another house while our own was being built, I purchased an old Kia to drive around when we first arrived, and we had some other daily living expenses which also ate into our budget a little.

I was surprised by the amount of hassle I had getting my electricity connected, and I had to hire a second architect too draw an electrical plan of our house (his drawing was based upon BS). I think that the total cost of getting my power was close to $2,000. Another unexpected expense was building a water storage tank to hold water during periods of time that the local municipal supply isn't working. That was probably another $2,000, including the cost of water pump used to pump water from tank into house. I paid a local carpenter, who used to work for my father-in-law to make my furniture. The total expense of the furniture was probably around $2,000 or so, and I'm happy with the results. There were some other minor expenses, here and there, but I would say that we spent under $63,000 (purchased used refrigerator) from the time we first turned the first shovel of dirt, until we spent our first night in the house.

I probably could have saved a little bit of money if I kept a closer eye on the labor costs, as I feel that I lost a bit due too people goofing off, and also to theft.

I

[billygoat993]

Max did Meralco also asked you to pay for the deposit based on the load computationof your blueprint? I find that ridiculous since they base it on that but of no one will use everything all at the same time. To transfer our meter from temporary to permanent since we would need ST5 we were asked to pay 52k pesos bec it is based from the Certificate of Electrical inspection load and the load computation from the Blue print. Wife stood firm and contested it so she presented billing statements from Meralco that we do not consume that high so she paid 18k pesos including the meter base.

[billygoat993]

Originally Posted by bbazor

I am curious about the total cost (land, materials, contractor, appliances, furniture, etc..... basically total out of pocket). I hope thie is not to personal of a question. I just want to get some ideas.
Thanks!

Land cost will depend on the location, village or developer. In Sta Rosa La Residencia is 7-12k price is low if no agent and direct owner, if the lot is prime lot meaning near clubhouse this Village sells lot only although all sold out but some resale be ause they bought it for investment and now its peak time. Georgia 20k/sam same developer. Britanny and near each other. Sme place would sell 2,000 / sq or even less .
When we bought the lot 2010 its only 6,000 now its 12,000, furnitures depends on how big and since wife has that already I didnt buy much.

[Maxx62]

Originally Posted by billygoat993

Max did Meralco also asked you to pay for the deposit based on the load computationof your blueprint? I find that ridiculous since they base it on that but of no one will use everything all at the same time. To transfer our meter from temporary to permanent since we would need ST5 we were asked to pay 52k pesos bec it is based from the Certificate of Electrical inspection load and the load computation from the Blue print. Wife stood firm and contested it so she presented billing statements from Meralco that we do not consume that high so she paid 18k pesos including the meter base.

I honestly can't remember, billygoat, if they charged a deposit based upon my blue print or not. I know that every time my wife and I would go down there, they would put a new obstacle in our path, and it really seemed to me that they were just making things up as they were going along. I think that they asked for the blueprint on our second or third visit, then after that they wanted to see our title to the land, and other misc documents. I knew that they were giving me the special treatment, because when you drive around our area, you can see a lot of squatter shacks with power connected to them. I'm sure that these people didn't have blue prints for their little shacks. I finally let my wife and her brother handle it, because I felt that I was getting special treatment, if you know what I mean.