Building Supervisor

[philippineexplorer]

Since this is a site dedicated mostly to expats living in the Philippines and in this topic \"Building in the Philippines\" I will take a shot that hopefully this post goes through. PLEASE! I really don\'t know where else to turn in reaching expats with this specific topic. I am planning a large residential building project to begin sometime in December and lasting perhaps 10 months. It will be in Batangas and like most expats here I will need to rely on the site supervision of a Filipino construction engineer (over the contractor work force) for the project. Honestly, I would feel more comfortable with an American or English speaking European who has expertise in commercial building. A Developer friend of mine would be the ultimate judge of expertise when it comes to making a decision as to who would do this. Anyway, if someone has any interest in such a project perhaps they can contact me and I can provide details. I will as I mentioned before, be constantly posting in vivid detail the entire building job which hopefully should be a great education for us all. I\'m at yahoo. Thanks

Well, is your 10 month time span by Pinoy standards or yours? 

Is this project single story or what?

Will you be on location or are you building from afar?
B-Ray

[c_a_p_t_a_i_n_r_o_n]

I know of a German who speaks Bisaya and is foreman on a friends building project....I\'ll check and find out if he also speaks Tagalog and find out if he\'s available
But he\'s in Bohol at present

[philippineexplorer]

It is a 5 story building. 1 level for garage, drivers and storage and then on top 4 single floor condo/apartment units of 200sqm\' each plus balconies

10 months is a guess now but will could be more or possibly less as the weather in that part can be really fickle. With the right crew I am not too concerened bout delays and such. Even a year might be okay but any contract will be for the actual constuction time which will be what it will be. The builders here in this part of the Philippines are I would guess more skilled than in the provinces where buildings aren\'t as sophisticated.

Yes I will be nearby in most likely a rented house which this individual can share with me and occassionally my family who will mostly stay in Manila. One of the reasons to have this individual aside from making sure everything goes correctly is so I don\'t have to be there evry second. From a learning experience it would certainly behoove me to watch as much as I can but I want freedom. The one time I will be there often is with all finishing work as that is of course very important in a different matter.

\"10 months is a guess now but will could be more or possibly less\"

Some could report what it took them to build a single story building.

My buddy built a 262 s/m single level 3-2 UPSCALE and it took a bit over ONE YEAR.

Hopefully in your area, things are faster.

You could have a time limit, (set by the contractor), in the contract with a % back, per day that it isn\'t met??

I did with the two story and held the contractor to it. Found a few things 2 week after and the contractor JUMPED to get them corrected.............or pay 1/2% of 1% of the total cost PER DAY.   

[geno555]

Since this is a site dedicated mostly to expats living in the Philippines and in this topic \"Building in the Philippines\" I will take a shot that hopefully this post goes through. PLEASE! I really don\'t know where else to turn in reaching expats with this specific topic. I am planning a large residential building project to begin sometime in December and lasting perhaps 10 months. It will be in Batangas and like most expats here I will need to rely on the site supervision of a Filipino construction engineer (over the contractor work force) for the project. Honestly, I would feel more comfortable with an American or English speaking European who has expertise in commercial building. A Developer friend of mine would be the ultimate judge of expertise when it comes to making a decision as to who would do this. Anyway, if someone has any interest in such a project perhaps they can contact me and I can provide details. I will as I mentioned before, be constantly posting in vivid detail the entire building job which hopefully should be a great education for us all. I\'m at yahoo. Thanks

I have seen all these plans, and I\'m going to do this and I\'m going to do that, but I just went ahead and did mine. I have been building for only 6 weeks now and next week we start on the roof. Sure we have a long way to go but for 45 days, that is not Filipino time but USA time.

Also maybe it is me, for the crew, the foreman both my civil engineer and my architect are brothers ,both speak fluent English plus Bisya and Tagalog so there is never a communication problem.

I just looked at over 25 projects built by this gentlemen, gave him a call and have been doing business with him every since, and as of yet i have had not to borrow a cent from the bank at that ridiculous interest rate, for he lets me pay him by the month,

I know there is much dissatisfaction with the average Filipino worker with some Americans, but I think if you treat people with respect and dignity you get in return a damn hard days work.

For me in my small part of the world, I could never find an American to work in 104 degree heat temperature in the middle of the day for 170 pesos per day? no way no way.

Murf

[philippineexplorer]

There will be an extremely good building team doing the construction I have no doubts.  But even so......and Nothing against builders in this country but no matter how good they are there are always issues. Like anything in this country there is the Filipino way of doing something and the RIGHT way of doing something and I want someone there to make sure it is done the right way. It is simply a matter of education. With all the construction going on experienced crews are getting spread thin thus the need for an additional American/European supervisor. (tempertures are generally in the lows 70\'s to low 80\'s. At night in the high 60\'s.  It is 2200 feet above sea level. Thanks again If interested contact me.

\"It is simply a matter of education\"

WOW, I could easily say, YOU MUST BE HAVING A LAUGH!

SOOOOOOOOOO many times........ I\'ve done and seen by other expats and Pinoys corrected to do proper work. ONLY to see a bit latter, the same Pinoys using the \"standard\" Pinoy ways!

Most likely, a bit of Pinoy education will fall your way, lip service too? A 5 story will take a lot of looking after from my POV! 

BTW, on the job training, by on the job trainers is the Pinoy way of learning the trade, (right or wrong).
B-Ray