I should once again make clear that I am not a contractor and know little about house construction in the U.S. or the Philippines. I should also say again that despite any complaints I might have, our workers work hard and, let’s face it, work hard for small pay.

The following are more layman’s observations.

Can Anyone Count?

While in our last episode I complained that our contractor never bought all the materials needed, in this episode I will complain about the corollary. Now that we have taken over purchasing, we have asked all the key people (including the contractor) for lists of material needs. This has worked much better but still can be a nightmare. “We need 120 of this color tile, Sir.” So Janet and I dutifully buy 120 only to be told a week later that we need another 80. Counts are consistently not just a little off but 50-75% off. When I have time I count myself but sometimes I just get the number requested and go ballistic when I discover that someone simply couldn’t count. The conclusion: make your own count or resign yourself to the fact that you will be returning to the store multiple times for the same item.

The reverse is also true. “We need X,” I am told only to discover days later that boxes or bags of X already existed, buried under something else. It’s not the end of the world, but annoying as hell.

Finishing Something

I really don’t consider myself to be too anal (no comments). For the last 23 years in the US I lived in two old homes and accepted their flaws and imperfections. What I find in construction here in the Philippines is that nothing is ever finished 100% before the crew is moved to another task. I would estimate that our project is 80-85% completed but there is no one area that I can point to and say, “This is finished.” Painting is maybe 75% done, tile 95%, electrical 80%, plumbing 75%, etc. etc. But it seems that for whatever reasons nothing is ever completely finished before the crew is moved to another task. I am sure there are some reasons for this, such as materials running out. But in general there seems to be an “it’s almost finished” attitude that permeates. Yesterday I was told that the closets were painted and finished. When I looked I pointed to unpainted spots and areas covered with paint dust that should be cleaned. “It’s mostly finished, but not completely finished,” I said. “But it’s basically finished,” I was again told. This becomes particularly sticky when a pakyaw worker wants to get paid.

We had a welder on pakyaw for the past month. In fact he contracted to do 4 separate pakyaws. Each time he would finish 90% of the work and move to the next assignment, because that was where the money was, assuring us he’d come back and finish the previous job. When all four were 90% done and almost all the money paid out he was told to go back and finish. He spent a couple days halfheartedly finishing the assignments and doing poor work. By the end of the day Janet and I handed him a few more pesos and told him he was done. I spent my Sunday morning finishing some of what he hadn’t. It’ll get done but will just take some time and wear and tear on my ancient body.

The conclusion: Whenever possible make sure that something is done before moving to the next assignment. And don’t do pakyaws.

Do You Want Paint to Go With (or On) Your Tile?

We knew from observation and hearing stories that in the Philippines tile is laid down before the house is painted and the tile is rarely covered. From early on in the project we asked the contractor to schedule the project so that the tile came a little later but if he couldn’t do that to lay down plastic or something to project the tile. He agreed.

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Sure enough the tile went down first and despite numerous complaints nothing was done to protect it. The view is that it’s easy to clean later but the fact is that it is not. The contractor’s view is “it’s water based paint. It’ll clean up easily.”

The same attitude seems prevalent everywhere. If you have to step on, scratch or damage someone else’s work so that you can perform your work, then that’s what you do. I have given up on complaining about it. We will clean it and fix it as best as we can as we go along or at the end of the project. Janet already plans to have the kids come to Valencia on October break to clean.

Be Careful of Friends and Associates:

One of the advantages of the Philippines is its social nature. Everyone knows everyone. I swear that everyone in Dumaguete knows our contractor and visa versa. There are advantages to that and disadvantages.

The biggest disadvantage is how to discipline or even fire your friend, relative, or someone you go to church with. I know for a fact that there were people hired on the job because the contractor knew they needed money and not necessarily because they were the best person available. Now when it comes to general labor, this might be a good thing; someone motivated to work hard. But when it comes to the skill positions my preference would be for the most skilled person that can be obtained.

Supervision

One of the biggest differences between the construction of Janet’s small family house in Southern Cebu and the construction of this larger house in Valencia is supervision. Janet had no contractor in Cebu and functioned as her own contractor, but she did have Boy, an older Foreman who was on the site 5-6 days/week. While there were exceptions he mostly made things flow smoothly.

On our project a Foreman was hired but for only two days/week. I questioned that decision from the get go but was told that between the Foreman and the Contractor there would be plenty of supervision. Wrong! It was quite common for the majority of a day to go by without a supervisor onsite. Workers made their best decisions but sometimes didn’t know what to do. And of course unsupervised they did not do their best work. I complained constantly but there was never a real solution.

When Janet and I took over direct supervision of the project the first thing we did was ask the Foreman whether he could give us any more of his time for the remainder of the project. We like him and find him competent. Happily, he said he could do 3.5 – 4 days/week. Since then things seem to flow smoother and frankly the Foreman seems happier. He’s actually allowed to use his skills.

The conclusion is obvious and not unique to the Philippines. Get a good Foreman and hand him the reigns.