How to Wire A House

I will not presume to know how to wire a house and will leave it to the experts. But I am happy with the progress of the electrical wiring in my house and would like to share the pictures here.
I just found out that payment for an electrician is on a per "hole" basis. Since we wanted 6 in all, payment is at P400 each, excluding the service entrance and the circuit breaker, labor will be around P3,000 on this. The materials costs a lot more, especially the circuit breaker and the electrical wires. I wouldn't think of scrimping on it though, knowing that its for my family's safety and my peace of mind.However, for minor wiring needs, you may check out this Do-it-yourself guide on how to wire a house here.

I am just happy that it is starting to look like a house already. And I texted the Meralco guy that we have constructed the service entrance already and if he could inspect it anytime, but he didn't reply. Oh well, after 3 months of waiting, I guess I could wait one more week!

Oh, and please ignore the walls. I will be doing something about it next time, budget permitting!

House Construction: Contractor Problems

I have been blogging about how we are building this house one hollow block at a time and since this is our first time to contract labor, we relied mostly on trust and the recommendation of our neighbors. Sadly, we learned some things the hard way.
You must specify exactly the inclusions of the amount you are paying for. For the roof in front, we only discovered that the GI sheet at the side for additional protection from rain was not part of the package. We paid additional money for this. Then for the walls at the back, the contractor told me to buy flexible hose for the wires so that they will be in place before he cement the walls. Then when we came back, he did not put them saying it was not part of the package. Then, he also measured the window and the door at the back and gave the measurement to the guy doing the grills. When we came back, the door and the window grills were not yet in place. The other guy couldn't weld them yet because the walls were rough. He was told by Manong that finishing the door and the window walls were not part of the package either and so we had to pay another person to do it. Good thing Manong is in the province, because if I had been told while he was there, I would have raised hell. I still owe him some money that was left from all his vale so I will just deduct the payment I made to this other guy.

I know that we shouldn't be too trusting but what can we do? The Manong is the father of our next door neighbor and when I told him that the delay to the putting uop of the door and window was because of his father, he couldn't look me in the eye. I told him how could it be not part of the package when he knew that a window and a door will be welded in the walls? He was the one who took the measurements, so if he wouldn't finish that side of the wall, surely, he knows that the other part of the job will be left hanging. Prior to this, he was also complaining that he was "lugi" since he has to feed his men. I just ignored him since this was "pakyaw" and that was not my problem since he was the one who quoted the price until we reach an agreement. Although we are satisfied with his work in the beginning, we just noticed that the more vale he made, the sloppier the work has become.

I think we will just chalk this up into a learning experience, an experience which costs us some money. But hey, this is a small price to pay for a Dream House, right?

Finally : The Meter Base

Finally, after 101 days of waiting, we have finally found the light!


We were told last Saturday to construct the service entrance so that they can connect the power already. Of course, there used to be complete electrical installation in the house but all of it was vandalized. This is just another expense that we now need to shoulder. And payment to the electrician is P400/outlet. And that's just for the labor. Costs of the wire from the meter base to the circuit breaker is at P26/meter times two and the panel board is at P3,900. Add the outlet s and the switches, the pvc pipes and the lighting fixtures and it means a lot more dent on our pocket!

But hey, let there be light! After the long wait, we are just glad that its finally over. So we again count the days until when we can finally switch that light on. I hope it will not take them another 100 days.

101 Days and No Electricity

Its been exactly 101 days since I paid my developer for the light and water connection fee but I have no electricity yet to this day. And the person who is in the site office is clueless despite my repeated and incessant follow-ups.

But out of the respect for the elderly, I have always been kind and polite to him. I called the other office here in Manila and was told that their previous engineer resigned and the new engineer has yet to give an update on these pending applications.

I have been uncharacteristically patient on this one since I do not intend to live in the house yet. But we want to stay there during weekends just so we can relish the feeling of owning our very own house already. But how can we when we don't have electricity yet?

M-Y P-A-T-I-E-N-C-E I-S R-U-N-N-I-N-G O-U-T!!!