Thread: Apartment Build in PH - Katie

Pics of house plans

Ground floor: two 2BR units, 4*8.5 m (34 sqm) each.


Upper floor: 4 studio units, 4*4.25m (17 sqm) each

These will be budget flats, not posh. The target sudience/ renters are young workers or couples/ families (for the 2BR unit downstairs). The lot is near the entrance of the subdivision (mooban) and it's roughly a 5-min walk to the highway. Along the highway, there's a nearby supermarket, water refilling station, grilled chicken store, home goods store, eateries (carinderia) and various mom & pop (sari2x) stores.

More pics:

House footprint on the lot


What the building will look like in future:


The lot it sits on is 170 sqm. It isn't a perfect rectangle, more like a trapezoid. It's ~16.3m on one side (L) and 17.3m on R side.

The front part of the building faces east, so it gets the morning sun. The R part of building faces north. The R neighbor lot is also my lot and is empty. As of now, it's where the "barracks" and some building materials are located. The L adjacent lot has a house already and we're in good relations with that neighbor. The dad of the L neighbor lot was an ex-colleague of my dad. They're both deceased now. I've known the owners of the L neighbor for many years now.

The flats (the 2BR ones & the studios) are on the smaller size (if you compare it to TH builds) but flats/ apartments in PH (esp nowadays) are generally smaller. We have a bigger population than TH and smaller land area. I've stayed in condo units (Airbnb) and hotel rooms which are ~24 sqm (4*6m). Apartments can be 4*7 or 4*8 if 2BR flats, and 12 to 25 sqm for studio flats. For 2-storey townhouses, they're usually 4*7 or 4*8m (and rent is higher).

At this time, the build contract that I have with the contractor involves building only unit 1 of the BR flats downstairs (due to budget constraints). He will make it livable, so that my mom & I can transfer there in a few months. We will continue with the build if/ when there's more budget.

Also, since I'll be living there, when the rest of the units will be done I'll supervise it and be the owner-builder, so I won't get a contractor anymore (probably - things can change).

My parents' house is old. It needs a lot of $$$ and renovations to make it more livable & suitable for a wheelchair user. So instead of spending money on reno, my mom & I agreed to build a new structure instead.

Also, I prefer the neighborhood of the new build. It's in a mooban and is quieter. Yes, there's an HOA and there are rules, but I think it's generally safer. There's a guard house & security guards. The area of my parents' house is noisier, exposed to more people and there's more theft in the area. (There are squatters nearby.)

On with the pics...

The lots were like a forest/ jungle, since they haven't been maintained for several years.

Included in the contractor's scope of work was clearing of the land.

These were taken after 1 day of clearing. The mohon/ marker for the lot boundary of Lot1 is at the middle of that electric post.

Katie,

my advice on gound works is the waste plumbing. Make sure it is tested before the they start concreting over and building up. Check the joints are properly glued, take care of 90 degree bends and there are appropriate drops on the outflows. Think about access points (screw on caps) for rodding should you get a blockage. Make sure they have included U bends or P traps.

Run the inlet water to each Apt outside if you can.

Putting any of that right after is a nightnmare

And check their setting out of the foundations, you can do some simple checks to ensure the corners are 90 degrees using pythagoras. Its worth making sure, and check overall lengths.

Originally Posted by katie23

The flats (the 2BR ones & the studios) are on the smaller size (if you compare it to TH builds) but flats/ apartments in PH (esp nowadays) are generally smaller. We have a bigger population than TH and smaller land area. I've stayed in condo units (Airbnb) and hotel rooms which are ~24 sqm (4*6m). Apartments can be 4*7 or 4*8 if 2BR flats, and 12 to 25 sqm for studio flats. For 2-storey townhouses, they're usually 4*7 or 4*8m (and rent is higher).

At this time, the build contract that I have with the contractor involves building only unit 1 of the BR flats downstairs (due to budget constraints). He will make it livable, so that my mom & I can transfer there in a few months. We will continue with the build if/ when there's more budget.

Also, since I'll be living there, when the rest of the units will be done I'll supervise it and be the owner-builder, so I won't get a contractor anymore (probably - things can change).

My parents' house is old. It needs a lot of $$$ and renovations to make it more livable & suitable for a wheelchair user. So instead of spending money on reno, my mom & I agreed to build a new structure instead.

Also, I prefer the neighborhood of the new build. It's in a mooban and is quieter. Yes, there's an HOA and there are rules, but I think it's generally safer. There's a guard house & security guards. The area of my parents' house is noisier, exposed to more people and there's more theft in the area. (There are squatters nearby.)

Great stuff. I noticed in the Philippines it was fairly common for people to start the bulk of the construction to a livable stage then finish the rest as the funds permit. Makes sense to me.. they won't let us do thst in Oz. Congrats on going ahead with the project. Keep.the pics coming

@eddy Luigi - yes, it's tailored to my & my mom's needs. I thought of using the whole ground floor as our residence/ quarters, but I thought nah - I'd rather have added rental income than more space. The 2BR-flat I'm renting (in my work-town) is ~30 sqm (3.5*8.6 m), so my new home will be slightly bigger than that at 34 sqm. I'm used to living in small spaces. My parents' house is ~8x9 m and I had a small room there which I used to share w/ my sis (until she moved out after uni). So it's about double the area of my future home. However, not all of the space was usable because it had loads of my parents' crap. (Both are/ were hoarders.) Having a smaller home will prevent us from accumulating more crap.

I've watched vids about tiny houses/ tiny living (Tiny House Giant Journey, Tiny House Expedition, etc) and I quite fancy the tiny homes. However, I opted for a bigger building to have rental income in the future. If ever I'll need more space in the future, then I could occupy the other flat - break down the wall & renovate, etc. As of now, I'm OK with the thought of living in 34 sqm.

Yes, I'll try to catch up with the pic posting so that the pics are posted almost in real time. I visit the site almost every 1 or 2 days. I told the workers & the contractor to expect me always - that I'll just show up. The contractor is called Boss/ Foreman. I told the workers to call me Boss-Ma'am or Ma'am. I try to know their names, since they're a small crew (6 to 7 workers, plus the contractor).

Edit: our contract was for 3 months and we started on 2 June. It should be finished by end of August or 1st week of Sept (max). My mom's birthday is late Sept, so I hope we have transferred to our new digs by then.