While living for the past 22 years here in the Philippines on a fixed income I’ve learned to keep a separate discretionary fund to cover purchases beyond the normal monthly nut. Our monthly expenditures are water and electric the Cell Phone and internet plans with Globe and food. Plus gas for the car and occasionally gas for the generator and most important going out once or twice a week with friends.
I have an Australian friend Bill and his wife living up the road and they are renovating a house, not to live in but to flip for a profit. They have done a very nice job and the house is a 4 bedroom 4 bath large and roomy place, with a new roof plus the outside walls are tile. Yada-yada you get the picture…
When they redid the kitchen they installed marble counter tops and believe they look nice. But herein is where my store really begins. Bill and I were sitting on his roomy terrace and Lori (Bill’s wife) took Mayang on a tour. When our house was built I was out to sea most of the time and never got a chance to work on the kitchen, what never would have happened was the use of regular tile as a counter top like they used to do in the 1960’s.
For the next 15 years Mayang was happy, with the way it looked until that tour. Mahal did you see the counters in the kitchen?
Bill looked at me and mumbled (Yer screwed mate) I had already figured that out, even with my rum blurred vision.
Being that I had funds in the discretionary budget and I have never liked the original design of our kitchen the next day we talked about it and I said, go canvas a price foe everything (All-in-all) installed, one time expenditure, with the no hidden cost price.
The next day Jhun arrives in a new monster pickup truck with the engine snorkel attached on the side. I explained that it never floods on the mountain, he hesitated and started laughing. Juhn and his wife own the business of installing granite or marble counter tops and are the only ball game in town.
Here is where he impressed me, he measured everything at least three times and each time bounced it against what he wrote down, that was my first time in the Philippines to see that, as a matter of fact, that he didn’t just eyeball it and guess kinda impressed me.
So I said: “Jhun you follow the state side way, to measure twice and cut once!” He asked me if he could write that down and make a sign for his shop wall. I said yes since I heard it from Dave and Pete on that TV show “Flipping Boston”
The estimate with new kitchen sink and fixtures in total is Php 54,000.00 (Approx. $1,200.00) the new sink is required because it is recessed under the granite counter for that seamless look. (Jhun/s wife said that) I said yes, as my wife stood there in absolute shock surprised that I so quickly agreed. I also watch Scott and Aimee on Flipping Las Vegas and in the states I learned it would cost between, $2,500.00 to $5,000.00 for less square feet of material. I’ve learned more from those two shows than I ever did watching Bob Vila years ago.
One week the counters are being cut and the following Monday they demo my old tile top and install the granite. Or so goes the “Plan”.
Change two modifications # six. No one showed up Monday, Boss (Juhn) was in court, now I hoped it wasn’t because he took down payments and never came back again. But Tuesday at lunch the crew showed up with Granite slabs ¾ inch thick pre cut but to be finished on site and all tools required (Except what they borrowed from me.) then they immediately sat down under my tent and ate lunch. But they did unload the truck first.
The rest of the day was spent smashing out all the antiquated tile counter tops, and generally messing up Mayang’s kitchen. Dust was everywhere; I moved to the second deck, turned on the Air/Con and went to sleep. Wednesday morning the real dust commenced, my gray car was covered in fine white Granit dust and because of the bags of cement stacked beside it, it could not be washed.
Thursday the job should be finished but due to the court delay we are going into Saturday, with no promise of it being done then. But since no one told me to “Please Wait” I’ll let it play out on its own. Besides it was a set contract and Juhn was paying his workers. Take another nap.
But if you ever want to know inconvenience, take your kitchen apart and find out what a pain that can be.
More dust today, and the work is slowly moving on. My Saturday deadline to submit to Bob Martin at LiP HQ fast approaches and a thought hit me. (Light Bulb Moment) I still need to sum up the Omar the tent maker adventure, so next week I’ll just do an article closing out the last few projects and the rain report. Do you get a glimpse of how my brain works?
But like the Saturday morning movie serials when you were a kid that would clutching and hanging at the edge of the seat waiting for the cliff hanger ending….Wait until next week’s episode, and you’ll be disappointed once again.
One thing I like better in the USA over the Philippines is the abundance of auctions. New to me are on line auctions where I can set at home and bid to my hearts content. A few weeks ago they had a Granite store shut down and auction off big granites, medium granites, little granites, & pallets stacked with granites. This was the real stuff, not the fabricated type. I needed a counter top for a remodel so I prepared to bid. One piece caught my eye that was 1.5 inches thick, 128 inches long, and 40 inches wide. For the price of US 28.00 dollars I was the high bidder on this piece and I also got several other smaller pieces for less than $20.00 each and seven pallets of assorted sized slabs for $3.00 a pallet. I had intended to bid on about 30 more pallets and was planning on being prepared to raise my bid on a select few at the end of the auction. No one else bid on the pallets I bid on nor most of the other pallets and fortunately I got distracted and forgot to bid on the other pallets, which I would have gotten also if I had of bid the $3.00. My son in law and I took our two heavy duty 1 ton and ¾ ton dodge diesel pickups plus a trailer to the bid site 48 miles from our home to retrieve the stones. First surprise we couldn’t even lift one end of the slab we intended to use for the counter sink top. Next surprise my one ton heavy duty pickup could only haul 1 and ½ pallets due to the tires flattening out like pancakes on a griddle. Three trips latter we made it home with the Granite in the moonlight. Putting the sink slab in the remodel was out of the question as it would have required extensive foundation stabilization so we now have a lot of pretty slabs of granite decorating our back yard. We measured OK but should have calculated the weight.
Loren,
The good news is at least you didn’t spend an arm and a leg for it.
Paul,
If we build a house I will make sure the kitchen is to Annes liking so no major renovations are required lol. That would be the plan at least.
Papaduck,
As any man would if he was on site, but being out to sea earning a paycheck she designed the kitchen not even knowing that Granite was an option. It’s fixed now.
Papaduck;
Just an arm, thank heavens I saved the leg. (lol)
Loren;
Next time just call Juhn and get an estimate and forget about hauling and lifting that heavy stuff, I thought ¾ of an inch was thick, but you could use yours to build an underground bunker. Loren the Prepper we’ll call you now. My advice to you is to hide that remote to your TV….
Paul
Your Australian friends from up the road are doing the right thing.
Asia is the only place on the planet with rising real estate values.
The US and Europe are one the other (steep) side of the slope.
Palawan Bob;
It’s now a case of finding a buyer who wants a nice house but a distance from the action, with fairly poor infrastructure. But there are seven foreigners al with nice houses (And better internet connections than me) within a few mile radiuses so maybe he’ll do well. I hope so anyway.
Hi Paul it’s always nice when a plan comes together, I’ve spent the last 8 weeks
Renovating a large bungalow which we rent out, well like you I just watch and
Give my opinion for what it’s worth yes there’s a lot of dust and stuff but at the end of the day it will be worth it looking forward to next weeks thrilling episode,
Derek in pasig.
Derek;
After the truck left on Saturday morning it was Katie Bar The Door… A cleaning crew entered the house started in the kitchen, then living room and dining room and,well you get the picture. I was told to go and be out of the way, as people flashed by me with cleaning supplies in hand. But I’ll cover that next week, right now I’m still hiding.
Hi Paul,
One thing I have learned in life is to keep the wife happy. It pays in so many ways to have a nice kitchen and bathroom. I have often heard building or remodeling a house has ended many a marriage. So it is a wise man that lets the wife have what she wants in the kitchen. This saying is so true “Happy wife, good life.”
I really enjoy your articles, you have a great sence of humor.
Scott D.
I get to pick the cars, well she lets me think I do, but the truth is I have no desire to choose what goes into her house, I just let her know if we can afford it.
I inherited my sense of humor from my Mother, when she said something if you weren’t paying attention you would miss a real gem. I slip extra stuff into my articles to see if anyone is really reading them.
It’s fun, I do the same when sitting with friends having a beer.
Paul
Reading your last few articles is like watching a series of The Walking Dead. They build us into a frenzy in October and then leave us hanging until March for the conclusion. Still love reading them though!
A nice cold SMB will wash the dust away from the throat.
Tagay
AJ UK
AJ UK
The dust had no chance of settling in my throat thanks to the item you mentioned. The Cliff Hanger was started in the movie theater (Or theatre for you) using the serial filler before the main movie where the damsel would literally be left hanging over a cliff waiting to be saved by the hero.
Cinema dear boy, cinema!
AJ UK;
The main reason we in the states do not use the word Cinema, is it looks like Crimea, and who wants to be watching a flick as the Russians are invading?
Hi Paul,
Before my first visit to The Philippines, I had never seen kitchen counters and sinks made with what appear to be individual tiles. I am sure there must be a reason for this, the only thing I can think of is maybe it is effective and cost a lot less.
I am sure by now you have cleaned the dust from your car but your description of it gave me a thought of what could start a whole new trend in auto finish. If you had left the dust on the car, masked the glass and other ornamentation etc. Give the car a coat or two of clear laquer you would have a car finish of ” Granite Dust Grey ” .
Bob New York;
Most counters were tile when I was growing up, unless you were rich and had “Formica” Watch a re-run of “Everybody Loves Raymond” and look at his mother’s kitchen.
After washing the carport and the front of the house we did the car, it ran off like volcanic ash. We’ve seen plenty of that!!!
Paul –
I would venture to guess that Mayang felt that the change for a new countertop has been a long time coming, but probably felt that it was too soon to bring it up given that you just had the kitchen painted not too long ago, or was it the drapes that were just replaced?
Anyway, the timely visit to Lori’s newly-renovated house provided just the right opening for her to remind you that those white tile countertops had to go. Perhaps they remind Mayang so much of the smelly fish and other seafood sliding around on the very same white tile countertops, with flies buzzing around, found at the Olongapo wet market next to the Municipal Hall. LOL
John Reyes;
Mayang was the one to design the original kitchen, and I was told on my return from sea that granite was Not in Stock in 1999. Yes she brought it the subject up and I said go for it in my second sentence. After meeting Jhun and watching him work I knew he was a professional and a week later he proved that again. I was the one that thought that grout could not be very sanitary and would eat nothing that came off it. (We did have a 2’x2’ marble slab for food preparation.
on the subject of hiring tradesmen Paul,,i decided to get a patio built on my house in malolos ,,fter negating a price and procedure I said I would pay him 1/2 the money immediately and balance on completion,,to my surprice he responded by refusing to take the payment,,immediately because as he said “hindi nah kuya
is fiesta time ,I might get drunk and spend it all”
Gotta luv em..lol
Bloddymal;
You have ran into an honest man, keep his number on speed dial.
lol
Hi Paul,
LOL. I remember you wrote quite a while back about the ever presence light of your wife’s Mayang rice cooker in the kitchen being on all the time (to those people who doesn’t know what significance about the ever-present light on the rice cooker is that there is available cooked white rice for someone hungry). Rice is king in the Philippines!
And to a Filipino who is almost always hungry eats rice (it must be the heat or the cold showers of the rain) to know that a hot/warm rice in the rice cooker is pure heaven and there is no stopping a Pinoy for anything and start digging for the leftovers of chicken/pork adobo, canned pusit or sardinas, bulad or inihaw, you name it, or even freshly cooked anything with rice.
Now Senior Chief, my question is where was this rice cooker relocated when you said you have your wife’s kitchen’s old countertop smashed and messed up, and with dust everywhere? 🙂
Thank you!
From, Aklan Heat.
Aklan Heat
The Rice Cooker (AKA Eternal Flame) was moved out of harm’s way to the back of the house (My computer room to be exact) but now it has returned to its place of provenance with it’s light once again guiding the hungry Filipinos out of the darkness to the dinner table.