Building a Concrete Block House in the Philippines – part 4
Making coco lumber! We are now in the process of lining up the materials to be used on the roof. Coconut lumber is going to be used for the roof trusses even though it is not the ideal building material due to it’s susceptibility to insect infestation.
I have been advised that it is important to use older mature trees because they seem to have less problems with termites because the wood is more dense. We plan to paint an insect preventative on the wood before putting it up also.
Part of the gang – we landed up with 17 lumber carriers of all ages, two chainsaw men, one multicab driver, and the old man – the owner of the chainsaw.
The trees we plan to use are over a kilometer off the road, so hand carrying the timber has to be figured into the total cost of the project.
In the dry season it was suggested that a vehicle could get in there but it’s not the dry season so we are going to have to hike out each piece on foot.
These trees are heavy! Blocks are made to roll the logs off the ground so the blade doesn’t dull by getting grit in it.
Preparing the cut.
Measuring the tree into 18 ‘, 14 ‘, and 8’ lengths. Below a “chalk” line is snapped to use as a guide for the saw man.
The “chalk” line is actually a cord dipped in used motor oil.
One bonus about cutting our own trees is that we get to keep all the coconuts :)
This was a long day for everyone.
I missed a great picture of the whole gang holding banana leaves over their heads keeping off the rain like an umbrella. The chainsaw man’s son even held one over his head while he worked.
Operating a chainsaw barefoot.
This guy was good – the lumber was straighter than the stuff I usually buy from the sawmill in Ormoc City.
A list of all the porters was kept and each piece of lumber logged and the price of carrying them was recorded. 2x3x8 were 10 pesos ea – the kids carried these.
2x6x18’s were 40 pesos ea 2x6x14’s were 30 pesos ea 2x3x14 20 pesos ea
I did haul a few of the bigger pieces out of the woods 1.2 kilometers to the road with my motorcycle.
I tabulated everyone’s pay at the end of the day. One little guy earned 35 peso and proudly remarked that he was going to give 20 pesos to his mother and keep 15 pesos for his school – stuff like that makes living in the Philippines so cool.
It was a tough job but everyone did their part
Lucito was the top porter – earning 200 pesos for the day. He and Jinalyn carried some of the 18 footers.
Let me tell you what – those wet planks were heavy! The first 1.2 kilometers was all hand carry.
Once on the surfaced road the multi cab driver took over.
He agreed to haul the lumber the final .8 kilometers for 600 pesos.
We made 4 trips and got most of it but it was very challenging too.
There was a hairpin turn that we could not negotiate with the long timber.
The driver would go as far into the turn as possible and then back up the upper road until we would come to a place to turn around.
This picture is a classic!
We were all pretty well spent by the end of the day which was cut short because we ran out of gas.
Building a house in the Philippines – barefoot chainsaw operator
Climbing Mount Apo
General Santos
Growing Orchids
Judy's Resto Bar
Logging with Motorcycles
Mount Mayon
Balabac Island
Biri Island
Calbiga Cave
Capul Island
Mangrove Swamp Palawan
Mikes's Resort
DP,
Cutting timber in barefeet with a chainsaw…crazy stuff mate…where’s your work safety policy…lol…that’s one hell of a large chainsaw he is using to cut the coconut tree with…..
MG
I am amazed just how straight the guy with the chainsaw got the wood. Looks like life is very tough for the people in the Philippines without modern machinery to work with. Safety does not seem to be a priority as the guys are cutting trees in bare feet using a chain saw.
I’m interested in possibly building a house in the Kidapawan area in mindanao. Are you interested in being a site supervisor for the same type construction you have done previously? I am not looking for a mansion just a comfortable 2 – 3 bedroom block home. I believe that a budget of around 400 – 500 K peso should be enough?.
Anyway any info would be appreciated.
Regards
Jason
Hello Jason
I have been in Kidapanaw, Mindanao numerous times and usually stay at this hotel
http://www.dutchpickle.com/philippines/mindanao/old-barracks-suites-kidapawan.html
I strongly suggest spending some time in the Kidapawan to get a feel for the place and see if you would like to live here. If you have spent time in this area and have a special reason for selecting this location – move ahead slowly. It is rather easy to loose money on land deals and construction projects in the Philippines if you are a foreigner. A foreigner can not legally own the land in his name so you will either have to lease the land or put it in a friends or spouses name that is a Filipino citizen.
I stay in Kidapawan when climbing Mt Apo or enroute to Cotabato City
http://www.dutchpickle.com/philippines/mindanao/climbing-mount-apo.html
I am assuming that you have a relationship with a Filipino citizen that is getting more serious. cool
I also have no idea about the land values are around Kidapawa. Building costs often seem to have a way of going over budget as well.
I suggest renting for a year simply to get familiar with the area and see it is is going to work for you. I prefer the coast between Ozamis and Dapitan in Zamboanga del Norte area .
another place to consider is Negros Island on the coast between Dumaguete and San Catalina.
dp
Hi DP,
Just wondering, how much did it cost you to cut down trees and cut them into lumber sizes you want? My husband and I are planning to do the same in bohol.
Thanks
Mich
I paid 500 pesos per tree. I don’t remember what I paid the chainsaw man to rip the lumber into 2 x 6s or whatever. We also paid by the piece to carry the cut wood to the road where we could load it on a jeepney. I dragged the long ones out with my motorbike.
After the Yolanda Typhoon there were so many felled trees that were made into timber. The problem was getting parts for the saw and even getting gas and oil. I think then we paid 400 pesos for the better trees.
Don’t forget to treat the cut wood with termite repellent such as Solignum to keep the bugs out.
There is an art to buying the right trees as a coco farmer will not want to part with good producers.
dp