Today we have a Guest Article from my friend, James Browning. James has given us several guest articles in the past about the construction of his home up in Luzon. The home is pretty much complete now, except a bit of landscaping, and James has a few words and pictures to share with us! Beautiful place, James, and I especially like your BBQ Grill! MindanaoBob
Hello my name is James, and me and my Philippine wife Joy have been building our Philippine dream home for 2 years now.
The house is complete and we have been working on the landscaping now, we still have a way to go but we build as we go without borrowing any money, so it is a little slower but in the long run having a dept free home will be good for my family, we still need to complete the fence and carport, and god willing a swimming pool one day, so when we leave the middle east everything will be complete.
Our grass is Kentucky blue grass, and we added a water garden with the Mother Mary statue, we have also added a picnic table as well as a MindanaoBob Deluxe BBQ grill.
For the backyard it is family volleyball, a couple of old tires some concrete, and 2 pipes, and we have a volleyball court.
There are several large homes in our area owned by Filipinos, the reason I mentioned that is in the past articles, some western people believe all the communities should be a bungalow or a Nipa hut, but my neighbors visit me frequently we play volleyball cook on the grill and knock out a few San Miguels.
I am a firm believer in the family makes the house, not the house make the family, I hope one day soon my home will no longer be a vacation house, but my permanent dwelling for the rest of my life.
I hope you enjoy the pictures:
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- James’ Version of MindanaoBob’s Deluxe BBQ Grill in the Sunset
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- A Volleyball Game in the yard
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- James Browning showing off his shiny new MindanaoBob Deluxe BBQ
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- A little meal on the new grill!
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- Now that’s a meal!
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- Joy relaxing in the yard
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- Posing with the family
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- A little volleyball action
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- Family First
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- Having a cold one on the patio
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- We have a path around the yard!
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- The farmers have been busy!
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- Having a little snack
Thanks James & Joy
About JamesBrowning
thanks for sharing james.
your are welcome Maria, thats what this website is about , Sharing
Very nice James, I hope you share your experince of building in detail soon.
Hi James – Love it! I’m sure all the neighbors do, too. Our neighbors truly enjoy our house being where it’s at – they say it brings beauty and pride to the barangay. Who am I to argue?
Kentucky Bluegrass – I wonder if you have a hybrid that can withstand the heat? We had to put in a hybrid of St Augustin/carpet grass to survive climatic conditions that would doom many other varieties.
you are welcome Brian I have been inspired by several LIP readers with there stories and pictures and started writing to Bob when i started my house, so it is like giving back to a online comuinty
Thanks Paul, the kentucky bluegrass is doing well so far , the rainy season is here so we put the hose up, my wife picked everything for the house and it was her landscaping design except the satalite, thats one battle I won.
Thanks Paul, so far the kentucky bluegrass is holding up, with the rainy season upon us I put the hose away, my wife designed almost everything for the house, I just gave her some perimiters to stay in,
Hi James – A quick question prompted by a cousin who’s married to a fellow from Pangasinan and says he has a neighbor married to an American who just built a big, beautiful house there.
Cousin & husband are Lety and Peter Paraiso. Our cousin asked us not to “commute” from NAIA on our next trip but to take the connecting domestic PAL flight to Laoag. Her reasons involved a Pangasinan neighbor Pinay & Americano’s experiences.
Any connection? (Sort of hope not – considering the experiences.)
Hello Paul K, no there is no conection there, Pangasian is a pretty big place
Spot on James looks really great . Did you have to pay Bob Martin royalties for coping his grill
it really looks the done thing. Where did you build in Luzon.?
Hello frank. i actualy printed a picture of bobs gril and showed it to my brother in law, we had a septic tank on the side of the house we wanted to cover, So they buit my grill and tiled the whole area, now I have a fuly funtional gril as well as my septic tank, we live in Pozorrubio
45 min from baguio
James;
Thank you for the update, and your e-mails. Now that you have the best looking septic tank I’ve seen, I’ll say that Joy, is a design Wizard. The Mindanao Bob Deluxe BBQ Grill looks great, as with the entire house and yard. So many good times to come…
So many pictures, but not one of the house itself (except the one of the back porcH). Intentional? If not, please post a couple, front and back?
Hi Don – Look at James’ last article by clicking here.
Hello Paul, yea kind of beleive we got the best of both there, I was just going to build a grill verry simalar to Bobs, so my wife took off with it, and now it blends in with rest of the yard, your grill shows your personality with the helm built in it looks good.
I like the tile you used, ofcourse I would, it’s the same as I used on the inside of my grill. (lol)
But it looks like a great location and what a view. I’d turn the wheel all day long! (just bring beer)
Thanks Bob for sending Don that link
Happy to do so, James!
James,
Great looking place you have there! I know you will enjoy it once you are there. But I know you will miss this heat here in Kuwait!
Just getting started with our little project. Some of your pictures have inspired me to add some things in time. I really liked the idea of the MindanaoBob Deluxe BBQ! You have made that into a nice area for many relaxing days it looks.
hello Steve, around 5pm is the best time for that side of the house, the mindanao Bob grill
allowed me to kill 2 birds with 1 stone , I coverd up an eye soar with my septic tank and I have a fuly functional grill, when I was on vacation we enjoyed it often.
James:
What builder did you go through.
Hello Bruce, I did not go that route, I sent my wife to the Philippines and she got an engineer
for 5% of the total house cost, and he left the progect when I had 1.5 million in the house so he
got 5% of 1.5 mil, my house was built by locals in the barangy. it took us 2 years becuase we built without borrowing.
James:
We to will be paying cash but kinda stumped on how to start or where to look for an engineer that won’t rip us off. Can you give me some suggestions or recommendations on how to start. My wife will be over there doing it without me. because as you know as soon as they see a kano their goes the price. thanks
Hello Michael, diffrent parts of the philippines have diffrent wages, for example my house is in Pangasian and my brother inlaws house is in Baguio, we got our hollow blocks from the same factory but he paid alot more becuase of transportation, also in the province they just build without alot of inspectors, the same workers worked on my house worked on my brother inlaws house but he had to pay them more becuase Baguio has a higher wage, my
engineer charged 5% of the total cost of the house, I spent 5 mil on my house, but the engineer left early before my house was complete, when he left I had 1.5 mil in the house,
so I gave him 5% of 1.5 mil wich was around $2,000 if you live around my area I can give you his number, also you are verry wise by not being around when construction is being done or you will wind up paying the american price, buying stell and concrete during the rainy season
will also save you money, my wife and sister in law went to 3 diffrent places to check the price
what part of the philippines will you be buiding in? if you have any more questions I will try to a answer or I will ask my wife.
James;
We will be building in Subic Bay. I will be retiring in 3yrs and don’t want to spend anymore time in Florida than I have to. We will be taking a trip this year to scope out an area we would like to live in. Then my wife will return the following year to buy a lot and start the house and have it completed when I retire.
Hello Mike, sounds like a good plan, your wife will play a huge part in this whole transition
she will have to have your best intrest in mind, she should look for a engineer
with out you present the word american should never come out of her mouth,
and I think you will be fine, i also gave my sister inlaw job cooking for the workers
it was a win win situation.
Very nice house James, hope you get many years of happiness from it. Just curious about the bathroom/CR is that a “one way” mirror on the wall? I thought I saw a framed tiled wall above the sink?
Hello Boss, we have 3 bathrooms 2 upstairs and 1 downstairs, I think you might have seen some fixed glass that is eched but that goes to the pantry.
Aloha James, thank you for sharing the pictures of your gorgeous mansion! How did you go about choosing your contractor?