Isabela House (Construction Log 30) Is a House a Home without a Roof?
The perimeter fence/wall continues to grow. It already rises to more than 7 feet above the ricefield level an has yet to gain its top beam plus further hollow blocks or railings, depending on what we have decided for each span. Down one side the footings for the binding beam are already being concreted into position and these together with the 12cm steel reinforcement will ensure that the wall is really strong.
Backfilling has commenced with a first delivery of embankment soil. Gina’s brother, Nelson, is acting as foreman/supervisor and by next week will have at least 4 guys working alongside him to spread the gravel as it is delivered.
Given the difficulties Northcon seem to be encountering with completing the main house project by even the revised target date, we are confident we made the right decision in not awarding any additional sub-projects to them. We don’t want to distract them from their primary objective.
Both the engineer and architects assigned to the project have been very attentive to our requirements. We cannot fault that. But the relationship betweeen Northcon and some of the subcontractors they are using (welders and roof installers) seems to be strained. Because they are based in Manila and don’t seem to delegate control of payments to the local team here, Northcon can sometimes be a little slow in authorising the release of payments. They also seem to expect subcontractors to take responsibility for correcting things which should strictly be regarded as Northcon mistakes.
We would still recommend anyone building here to consider using Northcon but they are not perfect, just considerably better than the majority of construction firms here, which admitedly is not saying a lot, but you know what I mean. I guess it’s down to culture. Things do get done here ….. EVENTUALLY, but you need a lot of patience! And if you are, what they will produce for you will be something far better than you could ever afford in your home country.
Now it has to be said that we like very much most of the things Northcon are doing but unless it is normal so late in a project for a roof still not to be complete we would question their abilities to manage a project. Even the revised target date of 23 April is now looking rather absurd. It is about supervision, quality control and maintaining good relationships with subcontractors, working with them rather than against them. The alternative is confrontation, workers walking off the job and delivery dates slipping which it seems is what is happening right now.
Northcon spot some things that are wrong but much of the time we (Gina, Nelson and I) find the the faults ourselves and highlight them. Like the railings to the lanai which, now they have been replaced, lack proper anchoring to the wall pillars and wobble when you kick the base of some railings. We haven’t tested the viewing deck railings as this is still work in progress, or will be when the new welder gets started.
In contrast the local contractor we are using for the perimeter fence/wall and railings has proved to be extremely reliable and we manage the material purchase and payment advances to them on a daily basis supported by full receipts and signatures. Having Nelson involved is also extremely helpful. What they have built so far is excellent and it seems quite likely that we will commission them to complete the remaining sub-projects.
An intruder was spotted last night in the site so we have emphasised to Northcon the need to occupy the premises at night in order to discourage any other uninvited guests. This is not a subject to be apathetic about.
