Volunteer Nipa Huts

[Doc]

I would like to construct Nipa huts for our Volunteering the World program. We are advertising for volunteers to come and help out the street kids and other projects in Gensan. I have looked online but the Phils are not truly set up for online research yet.
So does anyone know what it will cost for fairly nice suitable nipa hut? And are there many builders available?

[Frank Woolf]

Usually local people build their own. I only know one place where they make them for sale and theirs are mostly designed for rich people's gardens. They are also expensive at around 45,000 for one with a small room and a veranda.

Of course a lot depends on the size but coco lumber, nipa and bamboo matting is all quite cheap.

As a rough guide I just paid 1,500 for 100 pieces of 2" x 1" coco lumber. Larger size coco lumber for main structural frames would most likely be around 50 to 80 pesos per 8 foot length.

Strips of nipa for the roof were 5 pesos each and one strip would maybe cover 5" x 72" (They are a lot wider than 5" but you need a lot of overlap). I don't know what the bamboo matting costs because I already have more than I need without buying any.

If there are coconut trees that can be cut then you could get a local guy to cut them into boards with a bandsaw. I have seen some do it as good as you could do with a saw bench but you would need permits to cut the trees.

[abu farsi]

I would like to construct Nipa huts for our Volunteering the World program. We are advertising for volunteers to come and help out the street kids and other projects in Gensan. I have looked online but the Phils are not truly set up for online research yet.
So does anyone know what it will cost for fairly nice suitable nipa hut? And are there many builders available?


I never met a filipino guy who did not know how to build a nipa hut. Nipa is chosen because of the low tec of installation, low initial costs. Nipa is palm plant that grows in lowlands near the shore. It's leaves rot slowly thus, are used for roofing. Most Nipa installations last perhaps 2-3 years before the first leak, usually must be replaced before the 4th year is up. A very poor choice for 'volunteering the world'. This type of building is highly flammable, and i have seen some horrific fires in squatter places.

On the other hand, I have never met a filipino who knew how to cast concrete well, and, it can cost less than a nipa hut.

I built a cast concrete house near surigao, 155 sq M, 2 story and my structure costs were under $4000. That is with a concrete roof that will last 100's of years.

I am about to use this building style for Habitat for Humanity in Butuan, my costs for 33 sq M, CR, 6 glass windows, 2 solid doors... P120,000.

I honestly don't know what would be a good project for volunteering in the PI for a short time basis.

[Frank Woolf]

A good compromise may be hollow block walls and a metal roof. Hollow blocks can easily be made on site and cost only a few pesos each. The metal roof can be insulated with nipa over the top so the building does not become an oven.

[abu farsi]

uh huh... Block walls cost minimum P500 a M2 complete. Plastered they run as high as P1200. thin cast in place cost me P150.

This guy wants to build while visiting the PI, the permit process would be 6 weeks, IF, he had his lot already. Foreigners can't own land, so he has to build temp. structures. Neither block or cast in place would be a good project for a volunteer.

[Doc]

I had wanted to Nipa huts to give the Volunteers the "tropical" feel of the islands but had not considered the potential fire problem. I will use the Nipa hut idea for the pavilion and look into our concrete vs. block options for the huts. I do like the Nipa on the roof idea.
Thank You both.

[Frank Woolf]

Block walls cost minimum P500 a M2 complete. Plastered they run as high as P1200. thin cast in place cost me P150.


Where do all the costs come from. If I remember right the good quality hollow blocks we used to build the bathroom and pump house were 15 pesos each. They are available cheaper but they may not use the correct amount of cement and may use beach sand. Rebar was very cheap and cement was 210 pesos per bag although I think it is now 230 pesos per bag.

[abu farsi]

easy.

Hollow blocks are P8... mostly. There are 12.5 in one square meter of wall (M2). They must be placed on a footing, usually in the PI it is 18C by 20 C, concrete today is P2700 a cubic M, placed (9 sac mix, 550 a M3 for rock, 620 M3 for sand, labor at P200, mixed by machine), so lets figure 1/8 M3 per running meter of wall, or P330 plus block 100.. labor P100, fill for the block P50 or so. Like I said, around p 500 a M2. This of course does not mention posts, which can be very expensive indeed, depending on the motivation of your contractor.

My wall is mostly 2" thick. Reinforced with wire. Recently I cast sections that measured 2.15 M by 3.15, or 6.77 M2 a cast. I cast the footing at the same time. Inside my wall was, 2 sacks of cement (P430), 2 kilos of wire (P82), 1, 9 MM and one 6 MM bars (P140), some form release(P20) and rock and sand (P170). For a materials cast cost of 886. 2 men cast 2 a day, mostly. So my labor costs were P200 a cast... total P1042 for 6.77 M2 of wall, or P153 a M2. plus form costs of P15000. My forms can be used 100+ times... so lets figure P10 a M2/use.

I would love to show a picture of the walls I build, but I can't figure it out how to do it exactly.

[Frank Woolf]

When you say labor at 200, is that also per square meter? I was paying 180 per day for a stonemason and I think 90 to 100 per day for helpers. They did the walls of my bathroom in about three days. It is 18 feet by 12 feet with concrete floor and 2 divider walls to make a shower room, CR, changing room and connecting corridor/bags and coats area. This thread shows some pictures (http://www.frankwoolf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=27)

This will be useful to me to have an approximate cost per square meter. Its hard for me to calculate based on building the bathroom because there were so many things being done at the same time.

[abu farsi]

No no no....

When i say building costs it is for large projects as start up costs are high in any project. If you have a project that is 400 M2 of wall surface, then the cost of building it would be far greater than the cost of just starting it.

I pay my common laborers P 200 a day. This is substantially higher than others in the provinces and far lower than in Manila. I know one guy who is building a 3 story shopping complex and pays his laborers P 130 a day, carpenters P200.

Whole houses, retaining walls, long fences, or warehouses... Use my figures. Building a room divider, you are on your own.

[Frank Woolf]

I would love to show a picture of the walls I build, but I can't figure it out how to do it exactly.

When you click reply you get a text field to enter your message. Below that is a "Manage Attachments" button. Click the Manage Attachments button (before you click "Submit Reply") and you can select up to 5 pictures from your computer to upload with the message.

[abu farsi]

Here are some pictures of my first sample house and fence.

Cast solid. Stronger against earthquake than block by a factor of 5.

[Frank Woolf]

Very interesting. Are you reusing the same moulding for fencing (walls) and the house?

How does the cost compare to hollow block?

What did you use for the floor of the second story?

[abu farsi]

The fence and house used the same form. I have used it 68 times, I used another form built the same way 105 times.

I also invented a new way of building center slabs. And yes, it meets building codes as to structural stability. Just different thinking. I use less than 1/3 of the concrete traditionally used in center slabs in the Philippines. Because my slab is so much lighter, I was able to use under half the bar as well.

I am pretty sure my slab design is 8 times cheaper than traditional slabs cast in the Philippines. Mine is P850 a M2. My roof cast the same way does not leak, and will last as long an any concrete slab ever will, maybe 50 years.

No shoring! No plywood form work!

I did not save cash by using poorer quality anything. Just better quality thinking.

I have applied for a patent both in the US and Philippines.

Abu Farsi

[Frank Woolf]

Looks pretty good.

I was told that a big cost of building a two story house is the additional strength needed on the ground floor then the cost of all the wood for forms which is then all thrown away. It sounds like you would not be throwing much away.

I guess basements would also be easier and cheaper with your method.

[Surfiber]

howdy doc,

just in case this project's still pending, have you considered using packed-earth technology to make the walls? by using onsite soil, it surely won't cost as much as hollow blocks. the technology is freely available online

cheers,