Bohol land wanted

That sounds like a very workable system. I get myself to sleep at night by imagining building these things. I think prefabricating each panel and then fitting it into place will work, perhaps even with a Pinoy workforce. It will simply be a case of designing each panel, then producing a cutting list for the U and C channels,

The cutting crew will number each piece with a sharpie, and bundle them up ready for assembly.

The assembly crew can then screw everything together according to the drawing for each panel, and if I've done my part right, it will all then fit together.

I really like your idea of pre-drilling the bottom rail and then drilling all the holes into the slab, cleaning out and plugging the hole ready for the panel, and I can see that working efficiently.

I thought it might be best to put the two triangular panels at the end of each A-frame up first, as the roof sections could then land in place, and the pitch of the roof would be dictated by the already-formed triangular end piece.

As far as that keyless chuck goes with drills, it's a common thing. I worked in customer service for Toolstation for a while (crappy, crappy job). Anyway, they (the manufacturers) warrantied everything except for the chuck, because they knew it would loosen over time. Not so bad with a £250 De Walt, but those Milwaukee Tools cost an arm and a leg, and their replacement chuck was priced accordingly.

But nonetheless, the 18v De Walt drill/driver x2, an impact driver and hammer drill will definitely be on my Santa list, and a good quality chop saw for cutting the GI channels, which means I'll also need a generator.

I'd better start doing the dishes and racking up the Brownie Points.

Your kitchen idea sounds good. What size channel did you use? As I understand it, the inside of a Filipino kitchen cupboard is not for the faint-hearted

What do you think of this mixer? Not worryingly cheap is it?

Spot on there - one of my worst jobs - changing the tap and trying to tighten the bastard thing up afterwards - In the end I made my own tool for doing it out of bamboo!

It's going to need doing again soon because my son is so clumsy with it

By the time you add the shipping costs likely you can buy this local for around the same price, the one I bought only had a 6.5hp motor but this was adequate for our needs, this cost us P52K I shared this with my neighbour and between the two of us we did at least 1,000 bags of cement through this and it never gave us a problem, we bought this from a local small hardware outlet that only sold heavy power tools, two Chines/Phil brothers owned this, they carried spares for most things and had a great deal of knowledge and ability to repair everything they sold, added to this they were cheaper than the large mainstream hardware stores.

Metal Chop Saw, we used the Lotus brand and this served us well never giving us problems, bought on line for P6K, the large stores on our area wanted 10K for this, cutting discs for this and the grinders must be bought on line as the local stores will charge 3 times the price, the best discs in the large size were Benson, Oasis and Lotus, in the grinder size Lotus were the cheapest and just as good as the more expensive brands like Bosch, get a couple of welders aprons, using a grinder burns holes in your clothes and bare arms are fairly scorched at the end of the day, there is a whole range of Cheap chop saws there in PH some with brand names such as DeWalt and Hitachi and they nearly all have one thing in common, a chain is used to lock down the head for transport, the better ones have a pin, my neighbour had one of these with the DeWalt name on it and this was sh!te.

Later today if I get the chance I will tell all about my Kitchen design and a bit about the Flux cored Mig welder we bought this was a dream to use and beats any stick welder, an hours practise with this and you can weld like a Pro.

The Termite free Kitchen complete with the cabinets vented to an outside wall (most cabinets stink in PH) was started off with a Plynth, this was done with the 4x2'' channel and a 12mm Hardie placed on the top, a piece of this same 12mm was used on the front edge as a kick board, a decision was made to make a double unit at 850mm wide and not the standard 1000mm like we have here in UK a shorter unit is stronger.

We used the 3x2'' channel for all the side partitions and the frame for this was done is one piece of metal, with the metal cut at 45 degrees to bend each corner, these require to be all done at the same time using the first one as a marker to have the rest identical, better to do this yourself than trust a Pinoy? ideally you want to use the narrow section for the edge and to do this you cut scrap pieces into 3inch sections to then bend the flanges and slide them into the channel, this way you can screw boards onto the channel on its open side, likely you will not understand this and I cannot think of a good way to describe this? for the top a piece of 12mm and one of 9mm making it 21mm this gave a good base to then tile on the top, a hardwood edge was then fixed to the front, this was Tugas wood, this was screwed and glued
into the 21mm of the Hardie which can take a screw almost like wood provided the correct size of pilot hole is chosen, of course the glue was epoxy, I made the doors from MDF in a kind of shakers style, soft closing hinges had been sent from UK, ideally a pillar drill should be used for this, I had a cheap one that converted an ordinary drill for this but it did the trick.

Lotus 200amp wire feed Mig Welder, This I bought for P5K on line, 10K from the big local stores, this proved to be a fantastic tool, we put 70kgs of welding wire through this little machine and we never had any bother with it, generally Pinoys use a stick arc welder and their finished result looks like blobs of chewing gum, they do not understand if they were to grind a clean edge before welding they would get a better stronger finish, however the Mig does a fair job even on dirty metal but on the clean stuff it comes out near to perfect, the beauty of this is; there is no need to strike an arc perhaps the difficult part of welding with a stick, to buy something equivalent here in UK to the above machine would cost a few hundred pounds

Fine job you've done there Dave

"We used the 3x2'' channel for all the side partitions and the frame for this was done is one piece of metal, with the metal cut at 45 degrees to bend each corner."

The 45 degree cuts are to keep the plate bent at 90 degrees for rigidity, but without the cuts that form the 90 degree bend fouling one another if you had cut them at 90. The two 45s will form a mitre where they join.

"ideally you want to use the narrow section for the edge and to do this you cut scrap pieces into 3inch sections to then bend the flanges and slide them into the channel, this way you can screw boards onto the channel on its open side, likely you will not understand this"

So pretty much two U channels, open face to open face, but you saved on wastage by using the second U channel only where you need to screw into it?

That kitchen is such an improvement on what I see being built in modern Pinoy homes. It wouldn't look out of place in a house in Britain. I know that you made the doors from MDF, but did you use sheet steel for the sides of the carcase, or Hardie board?

I had a good idea that my description was not all that good, you do not put two channels together open face to open face, only a small piece of scrap of 3 inch bending the sides a little they are slipped into the main channel one at each corner and one in the middle open face to open face, so that is eight pieces of 3 inch 24inch in total with the main channel being roughly 8ft in length having four 90 degree bends to form the two sides, top and bottom, this is clad with 3mm hardie both sides and eight screws are sufficient, a small bead of Hardie Putty was applied before the screw down and the squeeze out trimmed off, in the front section where the doors hinges were, I fitted a piece of mahogany to take the screws of the hinges thinking they may work loose eventually if screwed to metal only? you get a second chance with wood to fit a longer screw, these wood sections were sat in a pail of Solignum overnight and changed over to the opposite end the next night, with this treatment and contained in a box section there is little chance of termite damage to them.

Something I did not mention I used a mix of 50/50 Borax and Boric acid, one acts as a fire proofer and the other wards off ants and rice weevil, termites also avoid this, available very cheap on line, it was recommended to water it down and spray on the hulls but I thought this too much of a task and used it dry only, a dusting of this was used in the cabinets before assembly with me thinking it can do no harm?

Building the house with a 45 degree roof pitch gives a lot of space in the attic having two beds and two baths downstairs I really did not need the room upstairs however I did floor the attic and had provided close spaced at 300mm centres, 3x2inch floor joists with an overlay of 12mm Hardie, there is around 32M2 of very usable floor space with an 8ft headroom, likely no one will ever do anything with this space other than store rubbish, however I decided to fit a compact usable staircase to it, the choices being Round, Ladder or Pork Chop so I went for the latter with this you get a full 10inch tread only stepping up 8inches and yet it takes up half the length of a normal stair, mine is not typical of a Pork Chop style, google this to see what I mean, this would be a good choice in an 'A' Frame being so compact.

I am just a little terrified of the possibility of someone taking a tumble down a vertical ladder or a compressed staircase. I've come up with the idea of running a full staircase that rises above the kitchen cabinets, from the back door at the bottom, rising in the direction of the front of the A-frame. By the time it reaches the kitchen cabinets, there is plenty of headroom for food prep.


I'm sure it isn't quite so shirt-tucked-into-the-underpants, belt and braces public liability as it is here, but nothing kills the holiday vibe quicker than falling down the stairs, and that's likely to lead to p!ss-poor ratings online, and, God Forbid - a refund!

With all these fresh and much-better-than-mine ideas that are coming through, I can see I'm going to need to get many of them down on paper to form part of the main design, lest I forget them.

I keep hoping that I can pick up a taxi fare to Land's End via John O'Groats, wait and return on a Bank Holiday Monday to help pay for everything, or a visit from the lottery fairy, but I suppose that patience, being a virtue and all that, will be called for. I have years and years before I can make this a reality. It's just with the world sliding ever more quickly into complete lunacy and insanity, I'm a bit anxious.

Mind you, if it were to go completely ga-ga, who would come and stay with us?

I was trying to get one of the firms in Manila or Cebu to come up with a schedule of wall panels, and supply them to us in kit form, already cut, so that all the contractor would need to do would be to assemble the panel from the pieces provided, and erect them according to the drawings. But despite there being eight buildings on the project, I can't get a reply.



I intend to construct the foundation for the bar/resto and the house first, because the buildings will sit on top of two triple garages, half built into the hillside to give a flat surface above, and masses of dry, secure storage beneath.

On top of the resto/bar storage area, I'll have my light steel frame factory, with everything stored beneath when not being used. The resto/bar will sit beneath a nipa covered roof, similar to this...



Obviously, without the fixtures, furniture and fittings. I can have one section devoted to cutting, and another for assembly, and all under cover, and partially at least, protected from the elements. Then we can have another team taking the completed panels to wherever they're needed. On a site in the west, this would work well. I'm hoping that with a little forethought and explanation to my foreman, he can convey the plan to his workers, and supervise everything.

All this cutting and assembly won't be for a few years though.

Stage One (March 2025) of the project will be to build the six garages (three beneath the house, three more beneath the resto/bar. I want this because I can then get electricity and water connected, which will make the whole project run more smoothly.
Stage Two (March 2026) will be to install all the septic tanks, the drainage and the foundations for the A-frames. I think the foundations for the A-frames would be piles, with a steel frame forming the floor beneath the A-frame, bolted/welded to the pile cap. Of course, this is subject to the land being suitable for this, but it would overcome the slope in the cheapest fashion I think.
Stage Three (March 2027) would be to build the covered area of the resto/bar
Stage Four (Rest of 2027) would be to build the house so that we have somewhere to come to when we visit to implement each subsequent stage.
Stage Five (March 2028) would be to assemble and build the six A-frame cabins to get them sealed up.
Stage Six (2029) would be to complete the cabins, one at a time, so that we can begin the business in 2030 - perhaps with only one or two cabins completed.

It's an ambitious project for us, as we are about as far away from becoming millionaires as is possible to be. But I think with a deal of determination and adherence to our financial plan, we will be able to do it.

We intend to provide food (buffet style) for our guests, as it's way out in the Bundoks. Initially though, there will be food taken to the cabins, rather than the guests come down to the resto/bar. Of course, this won't be so difficult when there are only one or two cabins, but I hope we can get the resto part of the project opened before it becomes a logistical problem.

Should we build the walls using hollow blocks and columns, bearing in mind they will be partially embedded into the land, or should we build with formwork and concrete, right the way up to and including the floor slab?

Never ever use CHB's where there is a need to insert steel rebar inside, these blocks are only good for making raised grow beds to grow Long Leeks in they are feck all good for anything else, when you site a house wall into a hillside this becomes a retaining wall therefore it must be done in concrete with a wide cantilever foundation, a retaining wall should have weep holes this will not be possible for you however between the soil and the wall there must be a layer of gravel backfill to allow water to escape and perhaps a drainage channel above to catch the surface water before it soaks down the retained soil.

Having been down that same road myself I had a good idea, that like me, enquires to these Pre-Fab company's were fruitless, I think you would find for them to do anything bespoke would be cost prohibitive?

It is my opinion that you are racing ahead like a runaway train? if I was in your shoes I would concentrate on one 'A' frame only, build this from start to finish sort out the mistakes as you go along aye there will be mistakes and plenty of them, this will give you a real feel for things and only when this is complete and you are satisfied to then go ahead with the rest.

I'm not sure what you mean by steel piles as I understand it piles are posts driven into the ground and I'm sure you will not be doing that?

If it were me I would be having concrete pillars to then run Box Beams ( a box beam is normally done in wood, this is used a lot in US it is a frame done in say 3x2's in the form of a ladder then this is clad in half inch plywood it is so very strong in some ways better than a steel girder as it is easy to attach to) there is no reason why the same could not be done in GI, SS and Hardie, coated with the readily available in PH, Coal Tar Oil this would act as an underseal and it is very cheap to buy. If 5 of these were run the 9mtrs at 1.5 centres, this will take the bounce out of you lighter floor joists running the opposite way.

@HONEST DAVE

So we're living in a flower bed... my wife would probably agree... hope she doesn't see those pictures of your kitchen!

That Kitchen was so easy to do and quite cheap also if you ever want to change from the ones you have at present with the swept head doors painted brown Haha, including the P3K sink I did this inside of P25K that was for 3 x double units 3x single units and a drawer unit.

When Chris first mention that land he bought I thought he got that at an amazing price at around P300 pre square considering it is on Bohol, however having given some thought on how to level off and build on what seems to me a fairly steep slope this will cost around P250K on a small property and a Half million for a larger one, this is just a rough guess on my part.

When I first arrived in PH to live I was with a different Lady to the one I am with now, she had been an OFW that had lived in Japan for over 20yrs and she had a farmhouse in Balamban/Cebu, this was also built on a steep slope, from the service road up to the house there was no road only a very rough walking path, so I hired a large excavator for the day with this we cut in and graded a road up to the house the distance being 50mtrs, we then had around 5 or6 truck loads of gravel delivered, I used a plate vibrator on this and had it looking not too bad, however only a 4WD could climb this road it was so very steep, after a night of heavy rain 70% of the gravel washed down to the bottom of the road, so we ended up having to put down concrete, fortunately our Pinoy neighbour of around 50yrs had worked on roads most of his working life and knew what he was about or so I thought at the time? after a few weeks this road had quite a few cracks in it and he blamed a minor earthquake, actually it was the lack of expansion joints that caused the problem, doing any sort of construction work there in PH where a steep gradient is involved flash flooding must always be considered, Pinoys never think on this as long as something they build lasts till the end of the day, I've said this before the education system there wrecks the natural intelligence the people are born with, thus they have no ability to think for themselves.

You've got some great Filipino tales... better to have loved and lost as they say

6 slain NPA rebels in Bohol encounter identified

I cut out the part about the road you dug out on your own land, but in reference to that - at first I considered taking a road up in a crescent about halfway up the slope. That works out to be about 10-12m of rise over around 50m of road, so yeah, quite a climb.

So, as you'll see from the idea as far as the plot goes, I've just put a couple of carports at the end of a short driveway. Again, thinking from a safety aspect, I wouldn't want cars whizzing by the front of the A-frames, so we will keep it car free.



The land itself was very cheap, and I had a fair few paranoid thoughts as to whether or not I was buying an old burial ground, or some unstable land. Then I figured that if it hasn't slipped by now, it's unlikely to in the future.

Someone is going to have to spend a day or two with an excavator and bring this down in terraces of sorts. As you all know, I have yet to set foot on the land, but will do so in March with a contractor with whom we have already had a preliminary discussion about our plans. The way I see it , allowing for change once I actually do physically see it, is that there will be a top level onto which we will build the two largest A-frames. Beneath that will be another level, with two more cabins either side. Then the bar resto and our house on the level below that.

Obviously there will need to be a load of measurements taken, but as I keep saying, we have years to work this out. I'm of the mind that we should minimise the disturbance to the land as much as possible and reduce the risk of movement afterwards, and the best way to do that is to introduce terracing and retaining walls.

Almost all of the land we looked at was a minimum of 1000 pesos per m2, and I realise that with it being so cheap, there's a possibility that this might not be the bargain that we had hoped for, by the time we factor in the expense of providing a stable substrate. It all depends on the depth of the topsoil really, and how far down we would need to go in order to find some solid rock.

I'm not being flippant about this, but the total cost is a million pesos, and if it turned out to be bad land, and unbuildable without significant expense, I'm sure it can be flogged off, even at 300 pesos/m2 or something. We could then find alternatives elsewhere.

But I have a hunch that we will be able to find a workable solution to stabilise and do what we set out to do. Even if we spent as much again on putting it right, 3500m2 at 700p/m2 is cheap in comparison to what I'd managed to find up till now. It will still be a bargain, bearing in mind that I rarely saw anything less that 1000p/m2, and most lots priced significantly higher than that.

All of it is supposition of course, and we could just as easily have run into problems with a flat piece of land. The much-mentioned Richard Armstrong was recently seen wading across his kingdom in hip-height floodwater despite raising the level of his lot considerably.

There is cheap land available on Bohol, but it tends to be up north, in Trinidad and Tubigon, Talibon and Ubay. It seems a bargain until you realise that guests would need to travel for four hours to get to the main attractions. People will always find the attractions, experiences and activities that they want, and then search for what accommodation they can find. We are pretty close to all of the main attractions, and it's up to us to provide people with a compelling reason to come and stay with us.

We aren't by the river, but we aren't far away. We are a fifteen minute drive from Loboc, and the road that goes to the Chocolate Hills, manmade forest and the Tarsiers. We are two miles away from Sikatuna Mirror of the World, and a mile away from the (better) Tarsier Experience. We are half an hour away from Panglao, and maybe an hour from Alona beach. All in all, we're kind of central to everything without being in the middle of everything.

Moreover, we won't be in a situation where we need to achieve spectacular revenue, and will keep our prices at reasonable levels. We want to concentrate more on providing our guests with as many good memories as we can, and so, each cabin will have a BBQ/dirty kitchen, a covered dining area, somewhere to lounge, a plunge pool and a secluded jungle vibe, with egg chairs and all that Instagram appeal. Moreover, we intend to have a high level of service, with nothing being too much trouble. We're hoping that this can help us to stand out from the crowd. Certainly in the local area, but also for the people that don't want to suffer the crowds and noise of Alona Beach, or pay the extortionate prices of the more upmarket resorts. Some of them are £200 a night for two people!