00:00Hello, G. I'm Jack. I'm Chet. We are here in Santa Maria, Pangasinan.
00:08Welcome to the Big House Place.
00:10Tara. Pasok tayo.
00:30It started back in 2013 when we just moved back to Kuwait and we lived in a small apartment.
00:42So there were times that we wanted to host parties and stuff like that, but we couldn't.
00:48So we said if one day we're going to build or own a house, it's going to be something that's big and modern.
00:59We actually didn't have the U-shape in mind at that time, but we knew we wanted something modern with clean lines.
01:12We used to like watching Grand Designs Australia, UK, and then some other YouTube channels.
01:22And then I think a few months or a year before the build, that's when we discovered OG as well, through him.
01:38What we came up with is the house is basically divided in three major sections.
01:44We call it the left wing, right wing, and the grand hall.
01:50We call that the grand hall because that's where we have the kitchen, the dining, and the living area.
02:01The right wing actually belongs to our guests and we have like a four bedroom.
02:06And then on the left wing is where our main suite is. There's nothing there but us.
02:20In the guest suite side, each room has its own climate control, but it's all tied in to the same HVAC system.
02:29It's not individual, so each room has their own HVAC, each room has their own ensuite bathroom.
02:35Part of the guest wing side also is we have what's called a flex room.
02:41So it can entertain, but it can also serve as a theater.
02:44It's a little home theater type room, but also if you just want to hang out and other places to sit.
02:49And there's a common toilet that kind of merges you in from there and it transitions you to the outside.
02:55The outdoor space now, we've got a few areas out there.
02:59So underneath canopies is what you'll see is what's called verandas for us.
03:03Where we've got some furniture where you can kind of sit, some quiet space.
03:06What we would commonly be heard to as a dirty kitchen in the Philippines, I refer to it as an outdoor kitchen.
03:12It's pretty robust. You know, it's got a sink and cooktops and beer kegs.
03:21What separates the wings obviously is the pool.
03:24The pool is saltwater. We create our own chlorine from it.
03:29It's pretty deep. It's not a traditional build.
03:31It's basically six feet when you step off from the shallow end, there's no transition.
03:35We did that intentionally because we always wanted anybody who came here with little children
03:40to be encouraged to teach them how to swim and not be paranoid in and around water.
03:47At the front of the pool, you'll see an area called the lanai.
03:51The lanai is really a transition point for us. It takes you from inside to outside.
03:57It's not climate controlled, but it's actually got some screen doors.
04:00So you can kind of sit in there in the morning or in the evening and feel the cool breeze.
04:14The house shell is made of SRC. So in a layman's term, it's styrofoam.
04:20Styrofoam reinforced concrete.
04:23So it's basically you've got little pieces of rebar and some styrofoam
04:28and then you put concrete on both sides of it and it forms a wall.
04:3210 times stronger than hollow block.
04:35So there's a PSI rating in hollow block and SRC is actually 10 times stronger.
04:42Some of the other unique things about the house.
04:45We're totally off grid. So there is 130 panels of 550 watts,
04:52which basically takes you to about 71 kilowatt of solar panel on the roof.
04:57There's a three phase air conditioning system that runs about 35 horsepower.
05:02In the mechanical room, when we harvest from the sun,
05:05we store it inside of lithium iron phosphate batteries.
05:08I've got high voltage batteries and low voltage.
05:10The house is three phase, which isn't common.
05:13Most residences are built single phase. It's three phase.
05:17Because we're off grid, it rains a lot here in the Philippines.
05:20So I had to get a 71 kVA generator supported by a thousand liter diesel tank
05:26for the days where the sun doesn't come out and we don't store enough batteries.
05:31So the other unique characteristic about the house is we're on a well
05:34and the well is basically filtered through water filling station.
05:38And we've run the water filling stations to each tap.
05:41We produce our own water and we harvest our own sun.
05:44There is zero connection from any type of public utility here at the house.
05:49So we're on our own.
05:57The property is 3,500.
06:00And then the floor area, the gross floor area of the house is around 800 square meters.
06:13Some of the challenges we faced before the build,
06:17we had a lot of problems.
06:20Some of the challenges we faced before the build, realistically, since I'm a foreigner,
06:25anybody can sit there and tell you, yes, yes, yes, and they're nodding their head.
06:28But when they're giving you something on paper, it's not exactly what you wanted.
06:32So we knew whoever we finally decided to go with to build,
06:40at the core, would have to understand me.
06:44Because obviously my wife can speak Tagalog to them and that gets translated.
06:48But then I'm just having to use her to go back to them to figure out what was said versus speaking.
06:54And then my thoughts came back to me properly.
06:57And this place was built by our architect collaborating between my wishes,
07:05my wife's wishes, and what he could physically do based off his set of challenges
07:11building in a rice field, you know, having the right amount of people, a timeline.
07:17You know, we gave him a crunch on the timeline.
07:19So there were some challenges before we even started to build, for sure.
07:23Actually, I didn't have much of a problem with them because they were the type of client
07:29that when they gave instructions, they were very detailed.
07:34Actually, they even gave me a long list of what I needed to do.
07:40So they didn't want this, they didn't want that.
07:43They really told me what their preference was.
07:48That's why the design stages were very smooth.
07:54I wasn't really challenged because they were the ones solving the problem, like in space planning.
08:02They really knew what they wanted to happen.
08:06My only job was to interpret the points or requirements that they wanted.
08:16Some of the advice I'd give you if you want to build something big, large-scale,
08:38is take all the time you can to plan it.
08:43Because once you get into the execution, things start to kind of steamroll on you.
08:48So the longer you take, try and plan it out the best you can.
08:51That way, when the things do arise, they're usually not going to be as crazy or as big an emergency.
08:56Because no build is perfect.
08:58Especially when you start spreading property out and merging materials and having different ideas.
09:03And as far as the off-grid portion, it's not for everybody.
09:07If you want to truly be off-grid with a well, you're going to have to be involved with your house.
09:12You've got to work with the house. Don't fight it.
09:15Find a professional. A professional who listens.
09:20Not just with the title of architect, engineer, whatever.
09:26Find someone who understands you and your goal or what you're trying to achieve.
09:31With your project in general, not just the house.
09:38My favorite part of the property is the outdoor space.
09:43We knew we were going to get dogs and they would need space to run.
09:46We've got two Belgian Malinois and they're very active dogs and need a lot of room to run.
09:51I wanted a space to be able to grill.
09:54I wanted to be able to hang out in an outdoor kitchen.
09:57I wanted a place to pour my beer.
09:59Most nights I'll sit there in the gazebo.
10:02Have a beer.
10:04I'll have a beer and just relax with my dogs and watch the sunset go down.
10:08The gazebo wasn't even part of the initial design of the house.
10:13My favorite part of the house is always the grad hall.
10:18Because that's where the fun is, basically.
10:23It's where I get to bake, get to cook, get to host.
10:27Everything at the same time.
10:31And secondly, our bathroom.
10:34I've always wanted a bathroom that's just clean and tidy and definitely with a lot of space for both of us.
10:42Being a man and a woman.
10:45I really like the area here, the grad hall.
10:48Because it's very unique.
10:50It's a typical house.
10:52You have a living area, a dining area, and a kitchen.
10:56Sometimes there's a partition so it looks more tight.
10:59That's why we called it a grad hall because it's a whole space.
11:03It's a space where you can do whatever you want.
11:06You can do whatever you want.
11:08You can do whatever you want.
11:11We put all the feature walls on the client's proposal.
11:23So for materials, actually,
11:26what influenced me the most about this house was the design.
11:31When we designed this house, we were really focused on the design.
11:34As for the materials, the client was the one who influenced me the most.
11:42He said that he wanted an industrial look, a natural concrete look.
11:46That was one of the feature walls that we used.
11:49Then, we used WPC, fluted panels, and a simple paint.
11:55We mixed and matched the brown so that the color would be earthy.
12:00Then, we used a stucco finish and white to blend the three.
12:08During the planning stage, since the client was abroad,
12:12we did the schematics and design development for four months.
12:16We had a schematic phase, a design development phase, and a construction phase.
12:24We did all of that while they were abroad.
12:29What we did was a zoom meeting.
12:41I wanted to promote good people like our architect.
12:47We're not first-time homeowners, but this is our first build for us.
12:52Normally, you just buy and then you live in it, right?
12:56Obviously, you invest seriously, whether it's the money,
13:02whether it's the possible heartache or headache.
13:06That all didn't matter because we found the right guy.
13:12Because he's good to us, I just want to share it to people that
13:17when you're good, everything's going to come back to you in thousand folds.
13:23I'm crying. Why are you making me cry?
13:26Everything will come back to you because if you're sincere, people will feel that.
13:31I think that reflected in our entire house.
13:36Up to now, he comes and visits us at least once a month.
13:41When you're good, it'll be out there effortlessly.
13:46People will just talk about you.
13:48That's what I wanted people to know or wanted to basically expose.
13:53We found a good architect and now we're living our dream, our dream home.
14:00When you build a home, it's really personal, right?
14:02It's a business to him, but he takes his business personal.
14:06Anybody who takes his business personal,
14:10why wouldn't you want to be around somebody like that?
14:14We just want people to know that there might be a lot of bad experiences,
14:20but I sure do hope that they can find a good contractor or anyone to build for them
14:31to take care of their investment, basically.
14:50Email us at stories.onlygood at gmail.com and tell us about your interesting home story.
14:56For more videos like this, subscribe to OG and be part of the community.
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