It seems perfectly reasonable to match the speed of paying the billings to not only the percentage but also the speed of completion by your contractor. The percentage complete tends to be a very imprecise measure. Certainly this is the case with our pool as we would expect that, as we have just been billed [...]

We are very much taking one day at a time here. Rain has caused further delay to the remaining tiling and in fact I calculated that they will need to order quite a few more tiles. Yesterday the Northcon team were painting the newly-welded railings and this morning they were beginning to position them around [...]

Northcon has decided that the pool railings chosen on Tuesday are too tall and a revised, shorter and lighter version has now been fabricated. We agree with them that the new one is a lot more appropriate. The replacement lanai doors are now installed. Restoration of the plasterwork and paintwork is now in progress. We [...]

Due to the heavy rain we’ve had lately, the concreted but tile-less swimming pool has been regularly part-filling with water. So we thought, why not use it. Under our watchful eye Justin, Katkat and Nicole all began paddling through the water. Even our shitsu, YoYo, joined them and became the first to demonstrate doggy paddle. [...]

There’s certainly plenty to watch as what seems like an army of men continues to work on the pool. This of course is what makes a pool of this size so expensive in the UK where labour costs are vastly higher. In the Philippines I estimate that the cost is barely 25% of what it [...]

Around 1pm yesterday our yard started to fill with vehicles and an army of workers waiting to start concreting the pool. An hour or so later the first concrete was being poured. 9th August 2010 – 1 9th August 2010 – 2 9th August 2010 – 3 A bulldozer was used to compact the driveway [...]

Lately it’s been more a story of acquiring plants than actually landscaping. We’ve been travelling as far as Cayauan City, about a 45 minute drive from our house, to visit plant nurseries we know there. In particular we found some striking bamboo plants that branch out rather like a large hand with nuckles. In addition [...]

To bring visitors up to date here are a few photographs of our new home. Aspects that relate to the sophisticated security measures have been deliberately ommitted. It’s a shame that such measures are necessary but they are essential to deter intruders. Incidentally, full licences are maintained for those measures that have the potential to [...]

Work began in earnest today with four or five men starting to dig out the kidney shape for the pool. We think the initial position chosen is perfect and the pool actually doesn’t look out of proportion. If anything we could have gone larger! But it’s interesting to note that from end to end it’s [...]

When we visited the site yesterday afternoon there was no sign of the power being transferred to individual house meters, however, our stove and range hood had been delivered and were sitting in the garage. Also arriving late yesterday from Zamora in the nextdoor province of Quirino was the hardwood swing seat, small table and [...]