stair-05 photo - this is the close up shot of the santol hardwood after being sanded once by a #36 sand paper using a grinder ...
two down, one to go 🙂 ... the 2nd stair from the mezzanine floor to the 2nd floor has just been installed this afternoon ... can wait to see the last stair installed by next week ... cheers
Boo!
I can't seem to open the photos
sorry about that :-), there is a max limit of 4 photos per post which is why you can't see the photos ... i edited it and remove one photo ... the rear section ... cheers
Boo!
@ roofie, this is the rear section view ... cheers
Boo!
this is the latest photo of the house (bahay kubo lego block design :-)) construction as of last week ... the structure is already completed and all the activities are now inside the house ... some of the design changes we made based on the original house plan are:
1. the outside stair going up to the kitchen is now facing front instead of facing back ... we have to do this to provide some space between the house and the bahay kubo beside it which will serve as the guestroom / guest house ...
2. the concrete stair at the back, from the ground leading to the back terrace and the roof deck was taken out. instead, access to the roof deck is now from the family room at the 2/F. this is why you see an access door on the roof of the house ... this was done to reduce cost and also to improve security - no access to the house from the back ...
3. the ground of the "silong" of the house was made deeper, about 400mm to increase the height clearance for people to walk around freely 🙂 he he he ...
4. the front window of the master bedroom at the 2/F was taken out and instead move to the back. the master's toilet/bathroom and walkin closet are now at the front side of the house ... it was not practical to place a window in front of the master bedroom due to the obstruction cause by the kitchen roof slab. this also improves the design of the plumbing system because the 2/F TB is now on top of the 1/F TBs ...
5. all the bottom fixed window glass in front of the house (living room @ mezzanine floor) was taken out. all the fixed window glass on top of the living room was replaced with glass blocks ... this is to further reduce the heat inside the house while allowing light to pass thru, glass blocks are good heat insulators ...
it's starting to look like a house now 🙂 ... cheers
Boo!
Nice! When I will start to build my house, I will post it here too, with detailed cost for the materials.
that's good ... same with me, i keep a detailed list of the expenses on a daily basis in a worksheet ... prepare yourself for the adventure and the sakit ng ulo 🙂 he he he ... cheers
Boo!
bought some red nato hardwood yesterday to replenish my stock for the house furniture as most of the hardwoods i bought before was used for the doors and the stairs of the house ... a total of 180+ board feet @ 23 per board feet (5 pcs of 2" x 10" x 10" and 5 pcs of 2" x 12" x 10") ... the wood is newly cut and needs to be air dried for at least 3 months pa before i can use it ... cheers
Boo!
finally, the last of the 3 stairs of the house is finally setup 🙂 ... the floating stairs from the family room to the roof deck is now done, the structure of the house is now complete ... my family can now access the roof deck for the first time 🙂 ... this calls for a little celebration tonight with my family ... barbeque time again 🙂 he he he ... FYI, the mountains you see in the background is locally called "mag-asawang suso ng dalaga" ... cheers
Boo!
the scaffolding for the 3rd stair (family room to the roof deck) has been removed yesterday after 2-weeks of drying the concrete. the beauty of the floating stairs can now be seen in all it's glory 🙂 ... even my wife commented "ang ganda nga pala ng mawala yun mga tukod na kahoy" ... all that's needed now is to close the side wall with a few CHB and we can now start the finishing activities for the 2/F area ... the hardwood was only sanded once using a #36 sandpaper. i also need to treat all of the hardwood of the 3 stairs for termite control before we can even think of starting to finish the woods ... my wife mandated 🙂 that the samsung 50" UHD TV (Smart TV), thank you again HCG, should be placed at the corner (bottom of the stairs) ... my only reply is, yes dear 🙂 he he he ... i still need to find a corner wall mounting bracket either at Ace or Handyman ...cheers
Boo!
@ roofie, pre, that is a nice house design 🙂 ... it would be difficult to say if 120K is "right" or not because there is no basis to compare the cost. and since i'm not an engineer nor a contractor, just an IT project manager, just by looking at the picture really does not help much 🙂 he he he ... as what i mentioned before in other threads here in PHM ... an owner should look at the house construction as just like any other buisness project which has to be reviewed and decided upon based on logical/rationale criteria ...
before even talking to contractors, the owner must must have already done some homework of the house that he want's to built - the more detailed, the better ... a "professional" contractor will normally quote a price for the whole project - siya na lahat ang bahala sa lahat, lilipat ka na lang sa bahay mo on the agreed completion date ... if the contractor is just quoting labor for your house, and you'll handle all the materials needed, he is not really a contractor, but more of a project manager or a foreman - madami lang siyang kilalang mga trabahador para gumawa ng bahay mo :-). my advice, stays away from these type of contractors ... sakit lang ng ulo moving forward. it would be better for you as the owner to manage the construction of the house yourself, especially if your working on a tight budget 🙂 ... a contractor's quotation will basically consist of 3 major items - materials to built the house + labor to complete it + his profit for the project. no need to worry about capital (equipment) as it's not a building 🙂 ... the owner MUST HAVE some objective cost estimate of the first 2 items to make a SOUND DECISION if the contractor's quoted price is "just right" based on your objective ...
for labor, it's really quite simple, basically it's a question of time (how long to make). the more labor you use, the shorter is the construction time, as a lot of activities can be done simultaneously. so as an owner, your main issue really is how long can you wait?. let's assume 4 months (26 days (mon-sat) per month = 104 days). from my house construction experience, labor is more efficiently use if they work as a pair - as all DIYer knows, 2 hands are better than one 🙂 ... also, from my house experience, the minimum and ideal labor you will need is 6 persons - 1 foreman + 1 assistant foreman + 2 skilled labor + 2 unskilled labor. all of them are working on the house. knowing the minimum wage in your area for non-agricultural unskilled labor (e.g. here in tampakan-region 12 it's 275/day for labor) you should be able to compute your total labor cost (skilled should be xx% higher than labor, and foreman/assistant foreman should be xx% higher than skilled). in my house construction experience, max labor was at 10 at some point during the construction and min of 4 at some point in time. i paid 300/day (2 merienda a day and on sat plus lunch and a little drink after work if everything is on schedule based on my timetable 🙂 he he he) for unskilled labor - i spoke to some owners near my area and they are paying only 150-200/ day for unskilled labor 🙁 ... just take note ... paying lower than what is legal = sloppy work ... just like us, if we are not paid properly comensurate to our skills, then performance is always below par ... a satisfied worker will always do a better job compared to an unsatisfied worker ...
for materials, it's also quite simple, based on the house plan, you MUST estimate the quantity of the critical materials (sand, gravel, cement, CHB, rebars, wood, fixtures, etc) that wil be needed to construct the house based on plan - THE MORE DETAILED, THE BETTER. once you have the quantity, just go to 1-3 hardwares and check the retail price of each one, get the average and use it to compute your cost of materials. professional contractors MUST ALWAYS provide you the owner with a BILL OF MATERIALS for their quoted price. with your estimate and the constructor's estimate, and some analysis, you should be able to identify which contractor/s are good at their work and those which are not ... all things equal, and you did a good job at estimating materials + labor cost, a good contractor's quoted price is a little higher than your materials+labor estimate ... just like a good owner, a good contractor will come up with an estimate of the materials close to yours since both of you have a common basis which is the house plan. most professional contractors will put labor as a % of the bill of materials taking into consideration the lenght of time to construct the house. you can then review that labor cost with your estimate and analyze the difference. from my experience of reviewing the proposals submitted to me by the contractors i approached before, the difference between your labor estimate and the contractor's estimate of labor is their profit margin 🙂 ... think of it as pang alis ng sakit ng ulo mo for building your dream house 🙂 he he he ...
if your ok with the constractor's price, then you can go to the next level pertaining to the specifics of the contract which for you as an owner is another area that MUST be agreed upon with the contractor (e.g. terms of payment/advances, time frame/schedule, penalty clause, changes in specs for the contractor to charge you, performance bond, defects after completion, etc.) before any deal can be finalize and construction to begin 🙂 he he he ... as in any business contract, both the owner's interest and the contractor's interest must be clearly laid out and agreed upon by both parties ... if your budget can handle the cost, it's always good to go with a professional contractor to built your dream house para wala kang sakit ng ulo 🙂 he he he ...
so, with all of the above, going back to your question ... is 120K expensive? ... your the only one that can answer it, provided that, as an owner, you did your homework ... if you don't have any basis/criteria to compare the 120K, then there is no logical way for you or anyone to say it's expensive or not 🙂 ha ha ha ... pre, always look at it from a buisness standpoint ...
let me show you a simple math of your labor scenario with the contractor who quoted it ... assuming all the materials (which you as the owner will prepare) are ready on site before day 1 of construction ... also assume, for simplicity, that you only require 1 month (26 days) for them to complete the house (in the photo) and for you to move in ... 120K / 26 days = 4615 / day ... divide by 300 / day for an unskilled labor = 15 unskilled labor per day for 26 days of work ... if i pay my foreman/asst. foremen 2x that of unskilled labor, that would leave me with 11 unskilled labor ... if a pay 2 skilled labor at 1.5 each, that would leave me with 9 unskilled labor ... so if the contractor said that he can finish the job in 1 month, you pay extra cost of 7 (9-2=7 extra labor) labor to complete the job in 1 month ... if the contractor said he can complete it in 2 months, 3 months, or whatever ... is it logical for him to do it for say 2-3 months with only 120K for labor to work on and complete a nice house like in the photo you mentioned? ... just by doing some basic logical analysis, already shows you that there is already something wrong with the assumption ... your expectation on the project and his (contractor's) expectation is miles apart ... you need to sit down with the contractor and clarify every detail with what is his expectation of you paying him 120K for labor ....
i hope the above info will help you in you making a wise decision with your project of building your dream house ... as i said before, building a house is an adventure, that is if you have done your homework and at least have prepared yourself for all the expenses and sakit ng ulo 🙂 he he he ... cheers
Boo!
Very nice project po, I think most houses dito sa atin should be build like this, economical at mas matibay. I can't wait to build my own house. Thank you so much for sharing these ideas.
If there is anything we can help you about roofing materials just let us know. We are more than happy to help.
Thank You!!!
Onduline
