00:00Hello, G. I'm Jack. I'm Chet. We are here in Santa Maria Pangasinan.
00:08Welcome to the Big Isles Place.
00:10Tara. Pasok kayo.
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.
00:58We 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 Oji as well, through him.
01:31What 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.
01:49We call that the grand hall because that's where we have the kitchen, the dining, and the living area.
02:02The right wing actually belongs to our guests and we have like a four bedroom.
02:07And then on the left wing is where our main suite.
02:11There's nothing there but us.
02:21And the guest suite side, each room has its own climate control.
02:25But it's all tied in to the same HVAC system.
02:29It's not individual.
02:30So each room has their own HVAC.
02:32Each room has their own en suite 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.
02:44So it's a little home theater type room.
02:46But it also, if you just want to hang out and other places sit.
02:49And there's a common toilet that kind of merges you in from there.
02:53And 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.
03:10I refer to it as an outdoor kitchen.
03:12It's pretty robust.
03:13You know, it's got a sink and cook tops and beer kegs.
03:21What separates the wings obviously is the pool.
03:24The pool is salt water.
03:26We create our own chlorine from it.
03:28It's pretty deep.
03:29It's not our traditional build.
03:31It's basically six feet.
03:32When 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
03:39to 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.
03:54It takes you from inside to outside.
03:56It'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.
04:05The house shell is made of SRC.
04:16So 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.
04:32Ten times stronger than hullablock.
04:35So there's a PSI rating in hullablock and SRC is actually ten times stronger.
04:42Some of the other unique things about the house.
04:45We're totally off grid.
04:46So there is 130 panels of 550 watts, which 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, we 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.
05:48So we're on our own.
05:50AnÃANATA LANDASIDE
05:59And the réflor começa
06:04The property is 3,500.
06:09is 3,500. And then the floor area, the gross floor area of the house is around 800 square meters.
06:23Some of the challenges we faced before the build, realistically since I'm a foreigner,
06:28anybody can sit there and tell you yes, yes, yes, and they're nodding their head
06:31but when they're giving you something on paper, it's not exactly what you wanted.
06:35So, we knew whoever we finally decided to go with to build at the core would have to understand me.
06:47Because obviously my wife can speak Tagalog to them and that gets translated.
06:52But then I'm just having to use her to go back to them to figure out what was said versus speaking
06:58and then my thoughts came back to me properly.
07:01This place was built by our architect collaborating between my wishes, my wife's wishes,
07:09and what he could physically do based off his set of challenges building in a rice field,
07:15having the right amount of people, a timeline. We gave him a crunch on the timeline.
07:22So, there were some challenges before we even started to build for sure.
07:26Actually, wala akong masyadong naging problema sa kanila.
07:29Dahil sila yung tipong kliyente na pag nagbigay sila ng instruction,
07:35napaka-detailed nila. Actually, nagbigay pa sila sa akin ng mahabang list.
07:40So, ayaw nila ng ganito, ayaw nila ng ganito.
07:43Ang preference nila talagang sinabi nila sa akin.
07:48Kaya, very smooth yung sa mga stages ng design stage.
07:54Hindi ako masyadong na-challenge dahil sila din mismo yung nagsasolve nung problem like sa space planning.
08:02Alam kasi nila talaga yung gusto nila mangyari.
08:05Ang naging trabaho ko lang talaga is ininterpret ko lang yung mga points or yung mga requirements na gusto nila.
08:16Some of the advice I give you if you want to build something big, large scale, is 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 got to work with the house. Don't fight it.
09:15Find a professional. A professional who listens. Not just with the title of architect, engineer, whatever.
09:27Find someone who understands you and your goal or what you're trying to achieve with your project in general, not just the house.
09:36My 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 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. I wanted to be able to hang out in an outdoor kitchen.
09:57I wanted a place to pour my beer. Most nights, I'll sit there in the gazebo.
10:02Have a beer. 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.
10:13So my favorite part of the house is always the Grand Hall.
10:19Because that's where the fun is, basically.
10:23Where I get to bake, get to cook, get to host. You know, everything at the same time.
10:32And secondly, our bathroom. I've always wanted a bathroom that's just clean and tidy and definitely with a lot of space for both of us.
10:44Being a man and a woman.
10:47I really like the area here is the Grand Hall.
11:00Because it's very unique. It's a typical house.
11:04You have a living area, you have a dining area, you have a kitchen.
11:08Meaning it's a empty room.
11:10So it's a distinct space here.
11:14Amazing room is a closed area, room moderator,
11:15So it's a very easy, very easy, and it's the inside.
11:20So it's the one route to got around it.
11:22And inside the environment in that space,
11:25it could have a complete need.
11:28Don't worry about its Jacob.
11:29So, sa materials, actually, pinaka-nakapag-influence sa akin na ito, gamitin natin, is yung client.
11:41Sabi niya, gusto ko medyo industrial look, natural look na concrete.
11:45Isa yun sa mga feature walls na ginamit namin.
11:48Tapos, yung mga WPC, fluted panel, tapos simpleng paint lang.
11:54Okay na yun. Mix and match namin yung brown para medyo earthy yung color.
11:59Tapos, merong cold naman na stu-cool finish.
12:03Tapos, white para ma-blend silang tatlo.
12:08During planning stage, kasi ang client nasa abroad, parang apat na buong kaming nag-i-schematics design development.
12:16Kasi merong kaming schematic phase, merong kaming design development phase, and then merong kaming construction phase.
12:23So, lahat yun, ginawa namin na nasa abroad sila.
12:28Nandito lang ako.
12:29So, ang ginagawa, zoom meeting.
12:40I wanted to promote good people, like our architect.
12:47We're not first-time homeowners, but this is our first build, like for us.
12:51Normally, you just buy and then you live in it, right?
12:56Obviously, seryoso yung i-invest mo.
13:00Whether it's the money, whether it's the possible heartache or headache.
13:06And that all didn't matter because we found the right guy.
13:11And because he's good to us, I just want to share it to people na, you know, when you're good, everything's going to come back to you in thousand folds.
13:22I'm crying.
13:23Why is that me crying?
13:25Everything will come back to you.
13:27Kasi pag-sincere ka, people will feel that.
13:30And I think that reflected sa entire house namin.
13:36Like up 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.
13:48And that's what I wanted people to know or wanted to basically expose.
13:52Now, we 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?
14:02And it's a business to him, but he takes his business personal.
14:06So anybody who takes his business personal, why wouldn't you want to be around somebody like that?
14:13We just want people to know that there might be a lot of bad experiences, but I sure do hope na makahanap din sila ng matino at mabait na contractor or anyone na magbe-build for them to take care of their investment, basically.
14:43Want to share your house and get featured?
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.
Comments