Pocong Wellness Hut in Basdiot Moalboal Cebu

Pocong wellness front viewMeljoe Pocong’s wellness hut is a native styled wooden structure with amakan walls to create a cooler temperature and polycarbonate roofing to maximise natural lighting. 

This nature inspired structure also serves as jump off point for boating services to their resort in Basdako.

This wellness hut is located just 20 steps away from the baranggay road leading to basdako and is situated within the spa strip in Moalboal thus competing with the standard spa services in the resort municipality.

The all wood design makes the structure relatively low cost but natural.

Low cost commercial building in Banilad Cebu City

julie commercial distant perspectiveHere’s a super low cost commercial complex set on a prime location.

There are no structural columns, just round metal posts, wrapped by fiber cement boards, meant to support the roof. The walls are made of dry walls (fiber cement boards).

Since it is on a prime location, this project is expected to return investment by leaps and bounds.

Tulod Residence by RenBacs: Low Cost but high end looking residence in Soong Lapu-lapu City

2 masters bedroom window view from the groundLow costing doesn’t necessarily mean low-cost looking.

Tulod’s residence in Soong Mactan is a low costed residential project but the budget was maximized by RenBacs’ long experience in efficient construction methodology thus resulting in a middle-end-looking output.

If good workers are well motivated and well supervised, the result is high quality output.

Looking around this house, you will not notice that only the ground floor walls are concrete. The second floor walls are actually dry walls (fiber cement boards). Fiber cement boards can be used in a variety of ways – not just for ceilings or eaves but even walls or floors for thick fiber cement boards.

Even the tiles and fixtures look high-end but these are actually middle-priced fixtures from one of the large popular construction shops in the city – Cebu Home Builders.

Despite the sudden increase in the construction materials today, you can still maximize your budget on your construction project through well experienced project management techniques coupled with good efficient workers.

Insulated concrete forms and blast proof micro rebars

ICF cross viewInsulated concrete forms (ICF) have been used in Canada and the US for the past 15-20 years due to its good thermal insulating properties, and now it’s trying to reach the Philippines.

ICFs are high quality hollow styrofoam blocks/panels that are meant to be filled with concrete at the center and becomes your wall replacing replacing the traditional hollow blocks.

The main advantage of ICFs is it’s excellent thermal blocking effects since your concrete wall is now sandwiched with two thick layers of styro. Your new ICF house is expected to save you a lot of electricity since you no longer have to use aircon during the day. It will also save you a lot of construction time since the panels are piled like lego blocks.

If you add steel micro rebars into your solid concrete wall, then you will have a blast proof and earthquake proof wall since your micro steel rebars will act as metal fibers that holds your concrete in every centimeter of space. The micro rebars technology – replacing the standard rebars is developed by the US Military. These steel micro rebars are stainless and not connected together, thus will not corrode and will add to the life span of your walls.

developed by US military twisted steel micro rebars makes walls blast proof

This is the new construction method that Fine Finish Cebu will be promoting henceforth as it is the future of construction and we want to be where the future is. Though it will cost more than traditional methods, but the end user of the house will reap big savings on aircon use and his structure will be very very tough…

GVEA Korean School behind City Hall of Lapu-lapu City: Facade Make Over

You can always use a total face make over, or in the case of a school, a total facade make over. After learning that the government officials want to visit their school, GVEA Korean school in Lapu-lapu decided to give their school a total new look by closing their open corridors thus adding more space forward…

The new windows and side and ceiling screens also ward off buzzards so their students can enjoy their now enclosed corridors freely without having to suffer mosquito bites and the likes…

The additional polycarbonate canopies also prevent strong rains from seeping thru the corridors.

Aldana House in Pagsabungan Mandaue City

Oliver Aldana’s low cost rentable house project is located in Pagsabungan at the entrance of Holy Spirit village. 

The project is low cost budgeted at only p700k meant to be rented out for those looking for affordable abode in the city.

Even the original plan was not followed – just to further cut the cost…

Alipin Project Site Blessing of Foundations

While I was visiting my mother’s barrio in Lanao, Pilar, Camotes Cebu, I overheard the conversation between the parish priest and his friend talking about the proper way to bless a house as they’re waiting for the people in the church to settle down from the afternoon procession a day before the barrio fiesta.

The parish priest clearly advised his friend who happens to be building a house that time, that we Catholics should ask a priest to bless our new house three times as we are Trinitarians or believers of the Holy Trinity.

The first blessing should be done during the laying down of the foundations, the second blessing in the middle of the construction, and the final blessing during the turn over of the project when it is fully finished.

It so happens that we are currently doing preparation works for the laying of foundations for the Alipin residential project in Ibabao Mandaue City. so I asked the priest why it is necessary to bless the construction three times. He explained the evil spirits should be ward off three times in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit to invoke the Holy Trinity to protect the construction and the house. 

The construction blessing will also protect the workers and keep them safe as they work. And the final blessing is meant to protect the occupants of the house.

Blessing the foundations of Alipin-Boc Residence is Franciscan Friar Fr Bonfilius of the Franciscan Church in Talamban.

The parapet option

The parapet design gives a more modern look of your house since the roof edge is hidden and your house gets the cube look. If you go for this option, just make sure that you’ve designed your inside gutter well. A concrete gutter is the best option for this, and you do have to waterproof your concrete gutter so that water won’t seep in to your inner walls…

Low cost sky rise in the woods in S.B, Cabahug interior Mandaue City

Alipin’s residence behind the Great Wall motors in front of Mitsubishi in Mandaue can be considered a sky rise in their area considering that their neighbors houses are only mostly one storey shacks. 

The building is only 3 storey and the lot is really small at only 84.54 sqm yet we managed to squeeze in the owners requirements vis a vis the city engineer’s restrictions. 

This building when finished will really stand out at the neighborhood considering the neighbors are just shacks and a bigger part of the area are vacant with trees…

Noel Igao Golden Meadows Cordova Residence

Noel Igao’s residence is a very simple yet classy design. The design is so simple, but the gray color and the large front glass enclosed media center which used to be a terrace made the house look so modern and so high end. This is a perfect example of how a simple design change from a front terrace to a boxed media center with large glass front can certainly level up the over all house look and certainly raise the selling price as this house is currently for sale.