That looks really nice. We usually see nothing but shanty towns when we see the Philippines. Are you in Manilla? Can't help wondering how you ended up over there. Are you retired?
hes an offshore engineer off the gulf of mexico probably in the middle of nowhere, morrisman what are the building regulations like over there? looks like you can just design anything and build it? im sure its not though
We live in Angeles, about 50 miles north of Manila.
Building regulations are fairly strict, in theory, but nobody seems to pay much attention to them. You can actually start building the day you put your planning application in, but I don't know what happens if your plan is rejected. Well, I do know actually: money changes hands and all is well.
My garage has two small windows in the back, but apparently you can't do that if a wall is closer to the property line than 1.5 metres, some firewall regulation. When the planning inspector came out,
three months into the build, he complained about it and our local architect simply slipped him a few bucks and everything was signed off as okay.
I designed the place, an American is building it, but we have to use a local architect to do legal applications and official blueprints.
There is supposed to be an official electrics, plumbing and a dwelling inspection/certification, to ensure safety and all, before we are allowed to move in, but I have no great confidence that they will be a guarantee of anything being safe.
It is all a far cry from the sort of process you have to endure in the UK, but I can see it coming to the Philippines in a few years, or decades, as education and safety levels rise, and prices will go up. People will demand things are done to a better standard, will demand things are safer. It is all a vicious circle, and it all costs money.
I wish we'd done this ten years ago, as it would have cost a whole lot less.
