We are built a house on Panay Island in the Philippines. We’ve documented our project with photos, text and building cost reports. This is the index to our posts. Keep in mind that we are not architects or engineers so don’t take our opinions as gospel. We been very open about things that went wrong and why. That may give the impression that we are unsatisfied with the house we built. Nothing could be further from the truth. We love our house and our life here. Yes, some things could have been done differently if we knew them what we know now. Isn’t that always the case? We are open about our missteps because we’d like to give our readers a chance to learn from our experiences. Finally, in this narrative we sometime express frustration with our construction crew. If they had a blog we’re sure that they’d return the favor! Nonetheless, we feel real affection for our crew, and deeply appreciate their hard work, work which has given us a wonderful place to live out our years.
PLEASE NOTE THAT PHOTOS IN SOME POSTS ARE BEING RESTORED. PLEASE BE PATIENT AND PLEASE ASK IF YOU HAVE AN INTEREST IN A PARTICULAR POST. WE’LL TRY TO MAKE THE PHOTO RESTORATION FOR THAT POST A PRIORITY.
Our Philippine house: Buying our lot Our Philippine house: Building a perimeter fence Our Philippine house: Filling the lot Our Philippine house: House Design Our Philippine house: Cool Roofs and Cool Buildings for the Tropics Our Philippine house: Earthquake Seismic Design Philippines Our Philippine house: Earthquakes – Lessons from Haiti Our Philippine house: Design in Security Our Philippine house: Architects and builders Our Philippine house: Building and Zoning Permits Our Philippine house: Being your own contractor in the Philippines Our Philippine house: Digging a water well Our Philippine house: Building a bamboo house – a “bahay kubo” Our Philippine house: Buying construction equipment Our Philippine house: Buying hollow block (cement block) Our Philippine house: All about steel and fabrication (welding) Our Philippine house: Concrete Quality, Concrete Vibration Our Philippine house: Layout Our Philippine house: Concrete Columns and Beams Our Philippine house: Walls (pending revision) Our Philippine house: Rebar Splicing – right and wrong Our Philippine house: Roof Design Our Philippine house: Building roof trusses – welding Our Philippine house: Roof trusses and roofing Our Philippine house: Residential Electrical Systems in the Philippines Our Philippine house: Stranded v. Solid Electrical Wire Our Philippine house: Backup Generator Our Philippine house: Wiring a Backup Generator Our Philippine house: Plumbing Our Philippine house: Windows, we build our own casement windows Our Philippine house: Finishing (plastering) the walls Our Philippine house: Ceiling Support System and Ceilings Our Philippine house: Concrete Floors Our Philippine house: Tiling Our Philippine house: Drainage and Wastewater (Septic System) Our Philippine house: Building our garage Our Philippine house: Carpentry Our Philippine house: Air Conditioning Our Philippine house: Air Conditioning – Operating Costs Our Philippine house: Ceiling Fans Our Philippine house: Granite Countertops Our Philippine house: Kitchen Cabinets Our Philippine house: We buy a Bompani cook stove Our Philippine house: Paint and Painting Our Philippine house: Learn from our mistakes (still being added to) Our Philippine house: Window Screens Our Philippine house: We move in! Our Philippine house: Final Construction cost report Our Philippine house: Landscaping and Gardening Our Philippine house: Internet Our Philippine house: Real Estate TaxesRelated posts:
February 9, 2012 at 3:32 pm
Hi Bob and carol – love your project thanks so much for your efforts. realy would like to see the section on landscaping but its down just now – carol wonderful dishes i will show them to my filipina wife – we live in Bogo – stumbled on your site yesterday.
February 11, 2012 at 5:38 pm
David,
I had forgotten that we had not yet finished the landscaping section. That’s why you can’t access it yet. Sorry about that. We will have to get to work!
Bob and Carol
September 29, 2011 at 2:37 pm
enjoying your experience. we are from alabama however we are in Legennes, Iloilo
this month visiting family. we have purchased a nice lot in Roxas City to build on in the next 2 years. Are you close to Legennes?
September 30, 2011 at 3:51 pm
Leganes is maybe 40 or 50 km from Tigbauan. Tigbauan is WSW of Iloilo City and Leganes is ESE of Iloilo City. Sometime we go that way to the Joy Joy seafood restaurant on shore road.
January 13, 2012 at 3:04 am
Tigbauan Proper is about 20 km WSW of Iloilo City, while Leganes Proper is 11 km NE of Iloilo City. When the circumferential road C1 is completed, you could bypass Molo and Jaro by turning left at Dulonan and the C1 will usher you out at Buhang, Jaro on to Leganes. Or you could also use the newly finished R4 Bypass Road from Buhang to Leganes. R4 Bypass is parallel to MacArthur Drive or the Jaro-Leganes Road (R4). R4 Bypass starts from Buhang and ends just outside Zarraga.
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August 9, 2011 at 11:10 am
nice blog, very informative. i hope that someday ill be able to write a blog of my own about building my own house. i became interested about building a house when i read a book years ago by tracy kidder titled “house.” i never thought that it could be such a beautiful subject for a book. i live in the the national capital region where i think building a house is a different challenge and experience than your own. my province, however, is pampanga, so im also dreaming of having a future house there. good luck in all your endeavours and have a wonderful stay in the philippines. its not a perfect place but there’s so much hidden beauty in it.
August 9, 2011 at 11:50 am
In a way, I envy you building in the NCR. The choice of every type of building material is so very much better than in Iloilo. One of the things I do if I was building again would be to spend a week or two scoping out the materials suppliers in Manila so that I could arrange shipping to the province. I’d buy an old container to store the stuff in while I was building. Regards, Bob
August 6, 2011 at 12:45 pm
I have already said in other places on your blog how much I admire your work and especially this very interesting tale documenting the whole process.
Now, young man, I’m going to wear my Iloilo tourism hat on here !!!! Excellent blog about you building your lovely home in Iloilo and then you go advertising Boracay with your main photo!!!! (Lovely photo by the way!!) Are there no lovely beaches in Iloilo that you could feature ???
All the best
August 7, 2011 at 7:51 am
Young man? Are you sure you have the right blog? Haha. OK, will look to see what I have for images. It needs to be an image which suits itself to a very horizontal cropping.
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October 15, 2010 at 9:36 am
Hi bob & carol,
I’ve seen the pictures of the plumbing work for your house. Can we use this pictures to post in our Plumbing Journal?
Our journal will soon be published this November.We need pictures to support one of our article (How To Construct, Operate and Maintain A Good Plumbing System).
Hope for you favorable approval.
Thank you.
Joy Abaja
Plumbing Journal
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May 3, 2010 at 1:53 am
You have a great deal of info here. I don’t see any information about the plumbing though. I would also like some more info on a septic drain field. I know lots are small in the PI but do they use a drain field like we do in the US ?
Chuck
April 18, 2010 at 4:50 pm
John,
We only considered it in passing. Our approach was more or less completely conventional, just using stronger mixes and 6″ rather than 4″ block.
Bob
April 17, 2010 at 7:26 am
Hello again
Thanks for the quick answer, as well as all the info on here – I am sure there are many people following your build with interest.
One other question for you: did you ever consider the “cast solid wall” version of construction?
Thanks and good wishes to you and your wife
John
April 15, 2010 at 10:47 pm
Hello Bob and Carol,
I am following your house-building reports with some interest because I shall be embarking on a similar “exciting challenge” soon in San Carlos City.
You reported your roof as being about 300 sq meters but could you tell me the size of the overall floor area please?
Regard and thanks in advance
John
April 16, 2010 at 2:37 am
John, the floor area is 150sm. The is a 1.2M roof overhang. The rise in the roof is 3m.
April 11, 2010 at 7:55 am
hi Bob and Carol,
thanks so much for your blog. We are also planning to have a bungalow built in Pampanga. The experience you shared with us will definitely help us when we start construction next week. please keep us posted on your progress. great looking house you got there!
best regards
michael
April 10, 2010 at 5:54 pm
Hi Bob & Carol,
Thanks for the blog, these are good insights. I just returned from a trip in Guimbal to visit my wife’s relatives. It is a nice coastal town, probably very similar to Tigbauan. Lots of good fishing sites. Definitely will swap golf clubs for some fishing rods next time. Sad to say for golfers, there is only one golf course in the entire province of Iloilo… but it’s well worth it, the course is very challenging.
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February 18, 2010 at 12:22 am
Hi Bob & Carol,
Thank you so much for your blog. I am an American married to a Filipina and am currently living in Dumaguete (where I am a good friend of Bobby-Ray). My wife has a piece of land just outside Carmen, in the Chocolate Hills of Bohol, that we intend to build a modest house on, starting later this year. I have never done a project like this in my life and to say I am nervous about it would be a massive understatement. Being able to read about your ongoing experiences and finding a source of comparative costs, how to, etc., has made me a little more confident. I will be a keen follower of your progress and will undoubtedly ask many questions (hopefully not too many stupid ones).
Gary & Irein Davis