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For mine, I got an itemized cost ie line items for every material and cost. Labor should not change for higher cost materials such as tiles, but there should be a budget on tiles that is built in to the quoted price. Then if you want more expensive tiles you can just add in the cost of them later when you pick them out. If you mean materials such as rebar or hollow blocks, expensive being higher quality, then maybe the delivery or supplier is different and is added in. The determining factor is your builder. There are many that will swap out cheaper materials, at least with itemized list, you have documented it. There are good builders with reputation, and rely on word of mouth and build examples you can see

So Andre, are you suggesting 50% material and 50% as the labour cost?

OMO here and Ben keeps accurate books and figures for the last 12 months or more on our construction cost and wages, example say we spent P3M then the materials were P2M and labour P1M so 2 to 1.

Australia it's around 40% material and 60% labour. 1st world country.

4 years ago we consulted an (supposedly) architect to design and quote on a 6 to 7 ft high block and rendered fence with timber gates, fence 60ft on the road side and 180ft on the neighbours side. His quote came in @ 1.2M using 4 inch blocks, rendered but not painted.

We built as owner builders 8 to 9ft high using 6inch blocks, rendered and painted, a 16ft x 8 ft high S/S designer gate motor driven remote. A 16ft x 10ft pump/generator house, storage also. Bigger foundations that his plan called for and the total cost was less than P900K, his little slice for supposedly managing in his quote was P120K, that extra money covered 9/10 workers here for nearly 4 weeks,  did it ourselves, built better and saved a heap of money.

I have 45 odd years of building and management experience so was easy for me, we got the local draftsman in the municipal office to draw up the plans for fences, a large double garage and extensions to the house, he cost including permits and fees P25K and only took 2 months for approval. Most draftsmen are just as clever as an architect and builders.

If you have building experience through your life then manage it yourself. As for building costs depends on if you want 2 sheets of corrugated iron or a mansion. From all I have read P10K is the lower end up to P45/50K per M2 for high quality, I hope others throw their 2 bobs worth in on this.

@Filamretire

Yes we also got 2 pages of line by line of material and labour from the architect as well as another builder (his price was P1.3M) and given their prices on paper I could see they were taking the piss as far as material and labour cost were concerned.

If you want a contractor then you pay more money, but there have been a few mistakes here and yes I wear the costs to correct, the guys learn.

Managing this site and works (if you can) gives us control on quality and buying power, challenging but well worth the effort,

Cheers, Steve

@bigpearl Did you put any type of sealer on that cement wall?

I'm looking for a cement sealer. From what I'm seeing from "YouTube Pros" , a siliconate based sealer might be my best choice for our needs. Applies clear, thinly, and penetrates and basically disappears. Yet still beads off the water. I am seeing Acrylics on Lazada, but not finding what I'm looking for. Possibly using wrong search words.

Yes Larry, if the works were under 2 months old/weathered we simply brushed down and put a latex base flat primer then 2 coats of semi gloss Elastomeric from Sunshine (the brand) Keeps the boys busy.

Any thing younger than 2 months but over 1 month was swept down and hit with a concrete neutalizer (Garin enterprises), 3/4 days later then prime providing good weather then 2 coats top coat, 3 on the top of the walls.

Depends on how new your render is, leave it as long as possible before treating, let it weather as the salts and other cr@p will leach out then when ready then neutralize and paint with a good quality paint.

Cheers, Steve.

The best approach here is if your doubting the contractor with costs. Do what we do in the construction industry cost +.  Meaning whatever the cost of materials and labor cost, it should be in Bill of Materials. (BOM) then just add agreed percentage for the contractor.

I am currently building a small single story hollow block (4 inch) house in the province with local, mostly family labor. About 28 Square Meters exterior dimensions, 9 ft. ceilings. One Solid Luan Wood entry door and one slider window 120 X 120 mm. Decent quality ceramic tile throughout including walled CR/Shower and kitchen countertops. Galvanized Iron 22 gage roof which we will paint later with a Heat Reflecting Paint (Boysen Cool Roof). Basically a Studio Type with only CR walls inside. All walls Skim Coated and Painted - Interior & Exterior. My Costs are scheduled to be about 12,000 pesos per square meter which includes all Material and Labor. However, I provided them with about 25,000 Pesos of Tools (Wheel Barrow, Concrete Mixer Tool - Heavy Torque Drill Type Paddle), Circular Saw, Angle grinder, Diamond Cutting Blades, 4 ft. Level, etc.) and extra Travel (from Cebu City to the Province to check progress) and Delivery Costs of about 20,000 Pesos. Labor is about 100,000 Pesos for four men per day at 500 pesos per day each, which includes the customary Snacks twice  a day (Coffee and a Biscuit/Cracker or two). Estimated Total Price of Materials and Labor is about 400,000 Pesos. No Aircon; No Furniture. Price includes a medium size Septic Tank made from hollow block. Extra Rebar Steel was added to support possible future second story revision. Hope this helps.

Sounds good talamban, are you on the ground? Watching? As for equipment we spent P41 K on a one bagger but should get 28/30K back on resale, other tools and equipment another 35/40K you know concrete vibrator, levels, tape measures, shovels etc etc., we already had the laser level from Australia that the guys hate but accurate. Did you take into account your municipal fees, electrician, plumber, fixtures and fittings, paint etc? If so you are doing well.

Cheers, Steve.

Hi Talamban

Thanks for the info appreciated, certainly good input for me to work with.

Thanks again

Andre

Briefly, new two-story construction of my own design.164 sq m.  Finished walls, floors, tile, attached garage (area not included in the 164 sq m), paint inside and out, lovely roof and downspouts, fair windows, good doors inside and out.  Much site work -- many trucks of fill dirt to raise the site 1.1 m.  (Former rice Paddy.)  Excellent on-site engineers (two) daily.  Super crew augmented by local laborers for the big pours.  Small barracks built for the overnight watchman.  Half the crew and one engineer (bridge builder and commercial builder) long-time family friends.  Total 4 million pesos.

Not included -- kitchen cabinets, bathroom cabinets, countertops, appliances.  I've built the kitchen and bathrooms myself -- 35 sheets of marine-grade 18 mm laminated plywood from United Laminates in Valenzuela City.

Works out to about p25k / sqm.

Stef