Now this is not the main reason for this article, but I want to explain a little history.

I had dreams of making an income from advertisements on the site. I soon found out, this is a difficult way to make an income online. Most readers of blogs come to read and do not even notice the ads. I then put the “Donate” button on the sidebar and then on the bottom of each post. Some readers have been kind and I do receive a donation at times, but this is not enough to support myself, my family or really cover the time and costs of this site.

I have mentioned my architectural experiences in articles and had a few who have inquired about me doing design, full construction documents for permitting and even managing construction. I have done a few designs and then never went further. I have wondered if my free designs were giving to someone else or not, I never made any money for my time.

I started this site mainly to journal my life as an American living in Davao, hence the name American in Davao.  At first, many of my articles and photos were about my family and my life. Over time, I have developed to write more about how life is here for a Foreigner in third world country.  I try to tell the truth and not “sugar coating” what observations or advice.  There are many wonderful parts to living here, but there are difficulties too. I have tried to assist people to understand how to conduct themselves here and how to be careful in different situations. Many times my wife Elena has assisted too.

Over time, I have had many comments or direct emails asking for advice, information or even assistance. I have helped visitors find accommodations, helped locate restaurants, doctors and shopping. I have had many emails from future Expats-to-be or from men with online girlfriends who were planning to move here and I have offered any assistance I can give.

Last month I was surprised when I received an email from an International Relocation Service. They had a client company sending a representative here to Davao to open a branch office. I was offered the position as a consultant to assist this person find acceptable accommodations such as a furnished house or apartment, obtaining a bank account, services and a list of restaurants, entertainment, attractions and activities.  I would be paid for expenses, mileage and an hourly rate for a preset number of hours.  The hourly rate was good even if I was in the states.

I accepted the offer and then started trying to locate high-end furnished rentals. This was no easy task. It is not like in the states with magazines and classifieds listing all the apartments and houses for rent. There are some websites that individual real estate agents have, but sometimes they do not have decent descriptions, places shown are already rented or the furnishings are not what would be desired. I felt it was my responsibility to visit as many as I could before this man arrived. I did not want to embarrass myself by bringing him to a location and discovering there was problems.

In addition, many real estate agents do not want to show a property to someone in my position with the fear I would steal the business and they would lose their commission. I did locate a few on my own and found some to be below the standard needed and one that was great. I also planned to show him a place that would be good for a temporary   residence until we could find something better.  To make this long story shorter, we found a place he liked and with my wife’s help, we negotiated a good price.

During this process, I received an email from a man planning to come here in the near future and asked, from reading my site, if I offer any services.  I told him I could offer myself and car for transportation around town, help him find accommodations and local attractions he might enjoy. I told him I would not help him find women or clubs where he can find women.

This man replied he was coming to meet his online girlfriend and offered to pay me to drive them to different attractions in the city. He stated he did not want to ride Jeepneys or has to worry about hiring drivers and/or taxis where language could present a problem.

Today I met a person who is somewhat new to the city. While we were talking about these services, he told me, if he had known about me before he moved here, he would have liked to have someone who could have assisted him finding an apartment, finding and purchasing furnishings and even getting services such as cable and internet. He said he would have had no problem paying me for my time assisting him.

Another friend I have made is planning to come visit his girlfriend he met online. Her birthday is soon and asked if my wife would assist him in buying her a present. He sent us the funds for the purchase. Elena was happy to assist. For this, he offered to take us to dinner once here and to bring both of us certain items we would like from the States.

Some people I have met through this site have offered remuneration, bringing me items from the states I might need, or just a nice dinner with my wife. All of these offers have been nice.  Even though I would like to earn a steady income, being able to assist fellow foreigners with needs, information or advice is something I am enjoying and will continue to do so. If there is a way to assist and earn, I am not against that either. From these few earnings and from the donations I have received it makes me feel it was the right thing to keep this site going and continue the time to write articles and answer comments.

It is also all my visitors to my site that shows me this site has a need and a worth.  Even though it is difficult to find items to write the three articles I try to publish every week, I will do so as long as I am able.

Thank you all for showing me my effort and work is appreciated.

In our home country, we never think about water service, it is always there. Most times if the water utility company needs to do work, they will reroute it so there is not lose of service. If there is to be a loss of service, the customers will be notified well in advance to fill bath tubs and containers.

Here in Davao, there are times or locations where water pressure goes down or service is unavailable. At our first home, in the mornings, since so many people were using water, there was only enough pressure for water to come out of a faucet, but not enough pressure to flow from the shower. Many Filipino homes do not have shower heads and use a bucket and small pail to shower and fill it from a lower faucet.

The supply mains in most housing communities are small and pressure is low. Where we live now, there has only been a few times we did not have water service but mostly the water pressure, even though not as good like in America but sufficient to shower and household needs. In our house, the flow rate drops if more than one faucet supply is on. However, for some areas this would still be good.

When I was working, there was no water service until between 11am and 1pm. Every night someone would fill a small plastic garbage type pail with water to be available for all water uses including flushing the toilet. If the water was exhausted before the service was back, no flushing or water to wash hands was available.

Many homes and businesses have large plastic or metal tanks at their homes. Some use this as a backup for low pressure or outages. There are also subdivisions that only have water service for a few hours a day. Because of the low supply, they turn on service to one area then shut it off and turn it on for the next area. One family I know have a tank and later afternoon when they have service turn on a pump to fill their tank. This daily chore cannot be ignored or forgotten. They cannot use a timer for the pump because the exact time the service is available varies. Without water, the pump will burn out.

Even though Davao’s water is rated one of the best in the Philippines or maybe Asia, most homes buy bottled water and have a standing dispenser. This water is used for drinking. It is delivered weekly and they pick up the empties and replace with the amount of bottles needed for the week.

Living in Davao or probably most urban areas of the Philippines things we took for granted in our home country are not the same as here. Water pressure losses, brownouts (term here used for a blackout or loss of power) phone and internet service and customer service is not the same or quality of service.

I have spent many hours at different times on this philosophy. In America I have lived well at times and there have been times I have lived in a much cheaper life. At 39, while attending night classes for my drafting degree, I lost my job to downsizing. As my savings decreased and my only income was unemployment insurance, I had to share a small apartment with one of my classmates. I remember times, after paying rent and bills counting my money and trying to figure out how to eat that month.

Now, I know there are people in America and many other first world nations that lived better than me and many who need less to be comfortable in their needs.

For me, to retire and live comfortable in America would be having a decent home or condo, a car and enough money to have the basic needs with some advantages. These would include being able to go to a restaurant a few times a week, see a movie of one of the small theater plays. Of course this would also include cable TV, high speed internet and air conditioning for warm weather.

I do understand the cost of living in America has been increasing and if your retirement is in investments, the rate of return has gone down to the point you are not building your savings but hopefully you have a balance where you can live on the interest and not decrease the principle.

Now I will discuss retiring here in Davao or somewhere else in the Philippines. It is true; many things are much cheaper in the Philippines than in America or other countries. At the high end, I know someone who had built a large 3 story house with 6 bedrooms, 6 bathrooms, a powder room, in a high end sub-division with a great view of the ocean for about $400,000 USD. There are many other nice high end homes in good sub-divisions for much less.

There are foreigners here that enjoy all aspects of living here and some that have become acclimated to life here. I can only talk for myself and my thoughts.

To me, someone saying luxury I think of a larger house with as many of the amenities he is used to in America. Large bedrooms with closets, CR’s with hot and cold water, tubs and showers. Nice kitchens with large ranges, laundry facilities with modern washer and dryer and probably cable TV, internet and either central air conditioning or at least a unit in most rooms. It will be in a higher end gated sub-division with a nice clubhouse with pool and restaurant and maybe even an exercise facility. This person will probably have maids and cooks on staff. He will probably buy a large SUV vehicle and belong to one of the golf courses here too.
That is wonderful and I know his home life will be as comfortable as or more so than in the States. But, there are times he will have to or want to go out. He will need groceries, clothes, items from a hardware store and many other items. There will be times; some item he is used to buying at a certain store for months will be out of stock. When he asks when it will be back in stock get the usual answer, “I do not know” or “Maybe next month.” He also needs to realize he is in a country where many people he will come across will not understand English or only part of what he is asking.

He is probably used to nice smooth paved roads and here will find potholes, paved roads that end and becomes a bumpy dirt road that gets flooded. He is used to drivers that are courteous and considerate and see here drivers cutting you off and not letting you into their lanes. He will see drivers changing lanes without even looking to see if there is a car coming.

If money is no object, sure he can eat in the expensive restaurants that cater to foreigners but there are times your hungry and you are not near one of these places. If he is going to eat at home, is he going to spend the high cost to buy imported meats and the other products he is used to that is not regular available here from the US?

As I had in an article a while ago, there are many foreigners that come here to visit, stay in the better hotels, eat in their restaurants and use a taxi or a driver to take them around. After they go back to their home country tell others and feel that life here is so comfortable and cheaper then back home. Many things are cheaper, but things like imported items, gasoline and electricity are more expensive.

By now you must be thinking, Bruce must hate it there. No, I enjoy it here. Yes I get frustrated at times and there are things I miss from my life in the US but I look at the job market and the economy and realize my life would be so much worse if I did not move here. I enjoy going out and meeting people. I enjoy learning about the culture here and the differences. Even with the differences I love my family and how we relate to each other. I have learned to eat well and enjoy most of the foods here. I also enjoy being able to write my feelings, thoughts and views on this site. I get many comments from people that disagree with me and many that do agree. One thing I find interesting, most agreements are from Filipinos and most disagreements are from foreigners.

As always, I am giving this disclaimer; what I write is thoughts, observations and experiences. Not everyone will feel as I do, live as I do or think as I do. I am just relating how I think about things from my view.

If you agree or disagree, your comments are welcome. I just do not want a long heated debate or accusations.

With all this dust in the air, every morning someone in the family or a maid will sweep the floors and dust the furniture. This is a never ending battle. If you have a car, even if you just washed it, by the next morning it will be covered with a level of dust. If it rained the night before, you will see the blotchy spots.

If you have an air conditioner, you need to check the filters regularly and have a service tech come out the recommended every 6 months to clean out the internal mechanisms.

Something else you need to keep an eye on is your books, luggage and other items packed away or under the bed. With the humidity items that can absorb moister is a great breading place for mold and mildew.

My bedroom has this problem and it is an increased problem because we use air conditioning at night. The room and everything in it gets nice and cool over the night. Then when we wake, we turn the unit off. Now the humid air comes in and the moisture condenses on the cool items.

As I have written in other articles about homes in the Philippines, ventilation is the key. The more windows you have, and the more fans can move the air, the less the moisture problem, but as this article was intended, with the open windows the more dust and dirt comes in.

Something else I have noticed with many Filipinos is a kind of conditional tunnel vision. They see what’s in front of them and do not use their peripheral vision. Also many are into the philosophy “if not seen, it does not exist.” What do I mean with this, well if they are cleaning the sink, they do not see dirt on the counter. Or if they are cleaning the counter, they do not see dirt on the cabinet in front of them. This goes further with house cleaning.

They sweep the floors around the furniture but do not think to sweep under. If they are dusting and there is a tall cabinet, they will clean the front and maybe even the shelves, but do not think to clean the top of the unit.

With the personalities, you have to mention as a thought and not an order or complaint to direct them to clean in areas not thought of. I am not saying all Filipinos but many.

I was at the mall one day and saw someone I knew. They were with their family at a kiosk donut shop. I walked to the counter and acted like I was checking out the donuts. I was only about 4 feet away and the person never noticed me. I stood there and looked at them and I was invisible.

As much as we think we know the Philippines and the Filipino people, we will continue to learn the differences. Who is right and who is wrong, who can say. Just remember, you are in their county. They lived here longer than us and we are the outsider. Even though we might know ways to do things better, this is their life and you have to be diplomatic showing other ways to do something.

There are people that are called “Squatters” These people find a vacant piece of land and construct a shelter. There are also squatters that find a vacant home and just move in and take over.

Some are concrete and look like a normal, but poor housing. Then there are some made from coco lumber framing, either woven bamboo panels or even rusty corrugated panels for walls. The roofs will be corrugated metal thatched grass or even covered with canvas banners previously used for advertising. A lot of these houses have dirt floors, no electricity and no running water. If they have electricity, it might be stolen power taped into someone else’s power feed.

I was once in a neighborhood and there was a thin power line running down the street on the top of bamboo poles. At each residence there was a tap running to their home. The street was unpaved and it had ruts and muddy. Waste water ran down alone the site of the road in shallow trenches, not even the normal drainage canals.

I have seen wood framed structures with canvas banners for wall and roof coverings. Seating outside is wood boxes or rough nailed together benches. Cooking is over a wood fire burning on the ground with a pot above it.

In America and probably in many other countries waterfront property along a river or the ocean is prime real estate. You see large expensive homes or maybe nice fishing cabins. Here it is different, you see squatter areas. The rivers are brown with pollution and where does this go, but into the gulf. I remember driving to the airport in Manila and going over a bridge, along the river you saw squatter homes all pushed together and the garbage and think river scum probably 6 to 12 feet wide along the shore.

There are parts of Davao that has nice neighborhoods. These are subdivisions. They are usually gated with security. And there are neighborhoods that have nice modern homes mixed with very lower class homes.

Now, there is something interesting with squatters. I have not been able to find actual documentation but I have heard something about “Squatters Rights.” This is something about if squatters is on untitled land and someone buys that land to build they have to either relocate the squatters or pay them to move off the land. I heard about a big development planned in Manila. It was to be two large condo buildings with a shopping mall. The developer found the land and was getting ready to start the contracts with engineers and architects. Then they found there were over a thousand squatters living on the land. The cost of relocating all of them was too much so they stopped their plans and started looking for other land.

I have a Filipino friend. He is in his mid 50’s and had a good life, is married and has children. His wife and he had the opportunity with the help of a friend to open a jewelry store and pawn shop. Over time their business increased and they were able to buy a commercial lot and build their own building. There business flourished and life was good. Their children went to college and immigrated to the States. Then one day a problem with his wife. I do not know the details except he moved out. They filed for a legal separation. But here court cases can take years to go in front of a judge. It has been 5 years and it still has not been to court. His wife has control of the house and business and the man now looks for odd jobs or gets help from friends. One day he told me he was locked out of his boarding house for lack of rent payment. For a time he would spend his nights on a piece of cardboard in one of the parks.

This is the plight of many Filipinos. From all the years of this beaten down life, some just live in squatter homes, scrape for survival and have no idea how to move up from the life they have.

The photos are not necessarily squatter houses, just some types of lower cost housing.

Next I will discuss how these families are able to get their money for survival.

One thing, because of my background, that interests me is the Architecture of the Philippines.

The original peoples used native resources to build their homes. These were made from bamboo and wood and long grasses for thatching of their roofs. These homes are known as Nipa Huts probably from the use of the Nipa Palm for a building material.

These homes would be placed above the ground on stilts to keep wild animals from easy entrance and ventilation from air passing below the house. The Moro’s on Mindanao would build a similar home but the posts would be places on a rock base used as a type of roller incase of earthquakes. I feel this also helped keeping the termite problem to a minimum.

These homes would usually be a one or two room configuration used for multipurpose. It was a meeting, eating and sleeping room. The roofs were grass thatching and would have a long overhang to help with shade and protection to the areas below.  The floors were usually made of split bamboo which would enable to allow dirt and food scraps to fall through to the ground below.

After the arrival and colonization by the Spanish stone or block wall construction was introduced and the homes had a more Spanish appearance or style and would be larger mansion style. Over time the Chinese style came onto the scene too.

After the Spanish American war the architecture developed into a more functional style with straight lines. Then there was World War II where a lot of the older buildings were destroyed and some others just fell to decay.

These days a lot of structures have a modern look, but with a lot of old style of thoughts.

In America homes have a more spacious look with larger rooms. Many here have smaller rooms in the private areas. The bedrooms are sized to contain the required items, but not extra room for comfort. There are usually no closets or areas for storage. CR’s are narrow and some do not even have a lavatory (sink). There is a shower head but no curb or shower enclosure.

A lot of the upper scale homes, especially the multi-story homes have large glass windows spanning the whole height of the structure. This is beautiful but without operable panels, it lets in light and heat without ventilation.

Homes and many commercial buildings are painted in bright colors. I was asked once “What do you think of Philippine Architecture?” My reply was “Bright, Bold and in your Face.” What I mean with this is the bright colors, larger gutter and cornice trims. I am not one in favor of the “minimalistic” style of architecture, but also not a fan of architecture that screams “Look at me.” But that is only my opinion.

As I have stated in other articles, I am also a fan of using natural ways to protect and ventilate the homes.

One thing I think is wonderful here, with the carpenters and craftsman, you can have beautiful panel doors made in any design or style you like. There are painters that can paint metal to look like fine grained woods.

As anywhere, if you plan to build, you need to look at different styles, understand what can be done with available materials and the wants verses budget constraints.

As we know, insulation is based on layers with air gaps. Also concrete absorbs the heat as the heat tries to penetrate the walls.

I have been asked about using insulation in the walls to keep the heat out and the home cooler.

Just like concrete, insulation will slow down the heat from penetration, but as the day progresses, the insulation, like the concrete will absorb the heat. Then as the sun goes down and the off the heat will radiate from the walls.

Also here most roofs are corrugated steel or steel sheets stamped to look like tile. With the sun shining on it all day your attic builds up with heat  and heats the attic.

Soffit vents and ridge vents will help a little. Also if you have low open windows on one side of the house, and open windows on the opposite side of the house up higher, natural convection will cause a breeze or airflow through the house. As heat rises it will pull in air from the lower open windows and hotter air will exit through the higher windows.

Another thing you can do is put a cupola on the high point of the roof. A cupola is a structure like a little doghouse. It can be round, square or octagonal in shape. Then you install vents on the sides. With this the heat in the attic will rise into the cupola and the breeze will blow through the vents and clear the heat out.

An expensive way is always to run air conditioning all day, but most of us come here for a cheaper way of life and do not want to spend all our savings on the electric company.

Many of us dream of building our own house in the Philippines. The first step is finding a lot. That is easy, there are Real Estate agents to help, sub-divisions all over or just drive the roads and look at the posted signs.

You do need to keep in mind, there are some scams where people are selling lots with phony titles. You need to have someone to go to the government office and make sure the title is legal.

You also need to remember, a foreigner cannot legally own land in the Philippines unless you receive it in an inheritance and that can be hard. I am not going to go into all the legalities involved. So let’s assume you have that lot and you want to build a house.

There are many Architects here in Davao and all over the Philippines. The services here are somewhat different. In America an architect will draw the plans for all the areas needed to build the house and make sure it will pass the local building codes. From there you find a builder or licensed General Contractor to get the contractors and sub-contractors to do the work.

Part of the Architects job is not only to get all the plans needed to build the house, he also will include a full bill of materials to determine all components needed and a price to build the house. Also part of his fee is to visit the project to make sure the house is built to the plans.

The typical type of construction here is masonry. They use the Post and Beam type of structure. That is concrete posts or columns vertically with concrete beams running horizontally. Then the walls are filled in with 4 inch masonry block. The interior walls are also 4 inch masonry block. After the block is laid and set, they come back and use a cement plaster to cover the finished wall. Over time, I have noticed cracks appear.

I have known from my work here for an Engineering and Architectural firm that higher end homes are using steel wall framing and using a concrete wall board. Hardie Flex is the product I have seen used. I have heard it can also be used for exterior walls. My only concern is sealing it to stop water and insect infiltration.

Doors and windows are usually made to fit the opening and there are some window companies that come to your location and cut and weld the window units on-site.

Roofing is mostly corrugated steel attached to steel trusses. There is some stamped steel roofing that looks like Spanish “S” tile or concrete tile. There is also tile roofing which means you have to have a plywood roof deck to attach the tiles to.

You do need to explain to your architect what type of house you want and your desire and needs since Philippine house design is different than American homes. Most Philippine houses do not have closets, bathrooms are narrow and storage is not thought of.

If you’re in the Davao area and need help in design or finding an architect or builder, feel free to contact me. In my time here I have developed a list of quality contractors, project managers and Architects. I am also available to manage the project to keep your project running smoothly with continual contact with you during the project.

First let me tell you about houses in the Philippines. Houses or homes here are in many different styles and building materials. I do not want to show photos so I do not embarrass anyone who might have lived in a poorer type construction.

Houses here can be anything from a structure of woven fronds to a large masonry and modern home. There are “Nipa” style homes. Those are made from bamboo strips woven into wall panels.

There are also multi-family condos and townhouses being built in a lot of areas.

Also it is allowed to build to the property lines and all sides. The problem with that is you cannot have any windows or openings on those sides except facing the road.

The house we moved into is on the property line on the 2 sides and the rear. It does have an atrium on one side so the Master Bedroom and the dinning area has windows or French doors to get out and let fresh air in.

The house started out as a small masonry house and then a past owner added to the original house. It is now a 3 bedroom, 2 CR (bathroom) home. The Master bedroom, Master CR, the kitchen/dining room and Sala (Living room) are large. There is a second kitchen called a “dirty kitchen” which is like a prep kitchen and is also the access to the back bedroom. There is a second interior bedroom and a second CR.

The 2 CR’s, the dirty kitchen and the 2 smaller bedrooms have exhaust fans to blow out the hot air and bring in fresh air.

The Sala is at the front of the house with a door to the outside. The outside area is small and has just enough area for a small car and a flat area to put a couple of chairs.

Right now the 3 girls sleep in the rear bedroom and our nephew has the bedroom in the middle of the home.

It is comfortable but someday I would like to sell it and either buy or build something a little more modern.

I will soon write about the new home and moving experiences.

Please continue to come back and give the support you have all shown in the past.

Sincerely,

Bruce