Protect yourself from Bad Builders in the Philippines

 

I would like to discuss a little about how to protect oneself from the unprofessional, untrustworthy builders.  

This discussion is in no way supported by any builders, businesses, or ads, just a typical customer/client learning from his mistakes of trusting a contractor too much.  Hopefully any future home investor doesn’t fall for the same tricks from the many dirtbag contractors that exist here. 

The Philippines may have many appropriate laws, but enforcement is much to be desired and contractors take advantage of that.  The best thing to do to avoid getting ripped off is your diligence and research.  Readers, please comment or contact if you know a step that could help others. Education can help get rid of these bad actors by denying them of potential victims.

Here is the guidance:

1. Don’t trust anything a contractor says without verification
2. Ensure engineer is registered in PRC and business should be under PCAB.  See Contractors License Law RA4566.  Is it illegal to operate without a PCAB license?
3. Demand a Surety or Guarantee bond and verify.  Know how to file a claim if necessary.  This will help assure performance and your risk so don’t skip this step.
4. Demand building permits before any construction starts.  Although permits could be accomplished during construction, it provides less incentive for the builder to accomplish that task and opens the risk that construction design has non-compliant features.  Revising a blueprint is less costly to fix than tearing down a wall.
5. Don’t take a final quote or estimate based on cost per area only.  It should be itemized what materials are required and by how much.
6. Get multiple quotes no matter what.  Don’t fall for the salesman pitch of ”act fast or else”.
7. Ideally one should buy/deliver the materials vs getting the builder to buy.  The sleazy builder will inflate material prices and give you the cheapest materials so one should verify material receipts and delivery.
8. Ensure workers are properly supervised and supervise the supervisor.  Contract should allow owner to enter worksite for periodic inspection.
9. Contract should be reviewed & notarized with your attorney, not the builder.  Even better is your attorney write the contract for your protection. Be sure there is performance timelines for payment in the contract. 
10. Contractor will submit request for payment in writing along with progress report with an evaluation period before payment. Progress report must match performance timeline goal.  If goal is not met, get in writing/notarized for explanation and remediation.  Decide if worth continuing. Here is another guide.
11. Down payment could vary  between 10-30% but more likely the higher end.  For added protection, try breaking up the contract into some major parts.  Example: contract for perimeter wall only and review results.  If all is well, contract the house foundations and structural, then interior. Limit the commitment.
12. If there is a natural event that could cause work to stop, contractor should provide explanation. 
13. For legal sake, just remember: “If it’s not written down, it didn’t happen".

    With these steps, it is quite likely you will turn away many builders, but with the costs involved, it is     better to take your time to be careful for such an important endeavor.  Keep the power!

Jeffrey Sesnorio Figueroa and JACCS Builder - Another Scam Builder

 A recent commentor brought to light another subject that the public should know.  This commentor recruited the services of another home builder in Cebu known as JACCS Builder. The engineer's name (if considered an engineer) is Jeffrey Sesnorio Figueroa, sibling of Jerzon.  What did he do?  From the client, "The project started last July 2020 and was supposed to be completed by November 2020.  But he completely abandoned us October.  Starting by September the workers were already complaining as there were no materials and no salary for them".

Jeffrey was also an operations manager of the infamous Elizabeth Construction. Take the money and run is apparently a family thing here.  If you don't like your building budget to fund this family's personal enterprise, avoid their related businesses such as ELJ77 Trading or Emman Trading, Emman Logistics, or Elijah Advertising.

Elizabeth Construction abandonment and Rectification

Since Jerzon abandoned our construction by month 17, our replacement builder (Balighut Engineering Construction) has performed honorably.  Our house was rectified and completed in five months from 50% to 100%.  It took Jerzon 17 Months to build from 0% to 50%.

Here's a rectification of the carport showing the obvious deficiency.  This is all due to the engineering mismanagement from a non-civil engineer.

Obvious structural sagging

Rectification almost complete

House complete (but not by Jerzon)

Next time will be discussion of the lawsuit process and outcome!

Keep this mind.  If you are a victim of Jerzon and you don’t take legal action, you encourage him to continue his business of swindling.


Is this house project just a one time bad experience? You judge for yourself:

Google Reviews before Site Removal

Elizabeth construction / Elijah builders / ELJ Konstract Cebu Experience

I’m writing this blog to help potential home investors in preventing what my family went (or am) going through regarding a supposed home builder in Cebu, Philippines. 

My wife and I recently bought a piece of property on Mactan island, Cebu.  We wanted to place a house in it and we needed a builder.  So, like in all modern ways, we searched the internet for a builder.  I’m not sure why, but at the time, there didn’t seem like a lot of builders with a web presence.  Unfortunately for us, we came upon the website elizabethconstruction.ph, elizabethdesigns or elizabethdesignbuild.com (links may no longer work). They were well developed sites, lots of pictures of houses/buildings of their projects, their services offered with “quality and affordable construction”. It was essentially a "We have a solution to all your needs!"  website.  So we gave them a call and was in contact with a person named Jerzon Cesnorio Figueroa, owner/manager of Elizabeth construction.   He first asked about the property documents, then a survey as expected from any builder.  We asked about building permits and he said they can get it done, as part of the contract, during the building process. 

Conceptual

Month 1

After a few weeks of designing and budgeting, we had an agreed contract signed for a 10 month build time, completed by end of 2018.  We were on our way to a new house…or so we thought.

Month 2

After prepping and a few weeks with builder onsite, the wife, who was periodically checking, was questioning some of the building practices and rate of progress.  Workers generally didn’t have power tools and materials was constantly scarce.  Even the foreman was complaining for lack of materials.  I, assuming certain tasks could be slow at times or some engineering reason, told her to just to keep monitoring.  In our contract, we stipulated progress payment plan.  Jerzon, each month, asked for payment, which was a fixed amount.  However, nothing in terms of a written progress report was presented. We just paid each month which was a big mistake.

Month 3

During the months under the contract, we saw our initial foreman/engineer quit.   We kept asking about progress on the building permits, and Jerzon said he’ll get it done next week, etc.  Of course it didn’t.  At about 8-9^th month of the contract, the wife, after much effort on her side, we finally got the permits in place.  The experience regarding permits was it took tooth and nail to get this builder to do anything.  One of the things we complained about was workers were leaving the site to attend to other projects.  We apparently were low priority.  We even paid early with the hope of speeding up construction.  By month 10, our side of the contract was fulfilled, all payments except a final payment upon turnover.

Month 5

Month 6: 2nd Floor

By the end of contract, Jerzon formally asked for a 3-month extension.  We gave it to him, even though there was no apparent reason.  We had him sign a form to stipulate final payment would decrease each month after the extension.  At this time, the house was up but there was still no roof. Workers were putting up ceiling and interior stuff.  No Roof!  When no workers were around, there was always at least one worker just painting, almost like there just to seem like work was progressing.

Month 12: Beyond end of contract. 
Does this look anywhere near complete?

Month 10

The 3-month extension goes by (Month 14), Jerzon asks for another 3-month extension (to Month 17).   We brought in a lawyer with demand letter to finish up in the 2^nd 3-month extension. During this extension, more substandard work occurs and painting to cover it up.  Tin underlayer roof installed but leaky.  No engineer or management for the workers so they just did what they wanted.

Month 15 Interior

Month 15 Exterior

Month 17 Rear

Month 17 Front

By the end of the 2^nd extension, we hired a lawyer with demand letter for a meeting.  We also had a structural engineer assess the building and found out the inadequacy of the house should there be an earthquake/typhoon.  Further, concrete roof tiles was planned and paid for in the beginning, thus adding a lot of potential weight to the house that somehow management overlooked during construction.  

Improper Truss Anchoring

Honey comb on Concrete

"Quality and Affordable Construction?"

During the meeting with the lawyer, we presented the structural integrity of the house with Jerzon.  He had the arrogance to question the engineering assessment so he hired another structural engineer and received similar results.  The house needed rectification…on a new construction project!  If it was designed and constructed correctly, rectification wouldn’t be required. Understanding his work was inadequate and incomplete, an undertaking agreement was signed by Jerzon for another 4 months.  This time it would involve an engineer hired by us to manage/report Jerzon.  So all that Jerzon needed to do was deliver materials and workers.  Afterwards, Jerzon contracted out a roofer and had more trusses installed for the roof to support the cement roof tiles.  That took about a week.  After that, there was just a painter covering up evidence, basically not doing anything relevant.  By the end of the month, we had another demand letter presented if he was going to continue the project and get real work done. After another month and with no response, project was considered abandoned.   So that was the last grace period.

We now have a lawsuit submitted to this builder and person for breach of contract “Article 1167. If a person obliged to do something fails to do it, the same shall be executed at his cost. This same rule shall be observed if he does it in contravention of the tenor of the obligation. Furthermore, it may be decreed that what has been poorly done be undone.”  With three extensions offered past contract date and outside engineer assessments on quality and 50% complete at best, I wonder what possible excuse he could conjure up in court.

So where did we go wrong?

We certainly didn’t do enough research.  For one, Jerzon is just a mechanical engineer as noted in the Philippines Professional Regulation Commission (PRC).  What does a mechanical engineer know about civil engineering work?  Further, the business was not licensed Philippine Contractors Accreditation Board (PCAB), see here.

Do you want to deal with this nightmare construction company?

We should have demanded written progress reports before payment and hired another engineer to spot check for quality earlier on.  Of course we did not know this builder would prove to be incompetent and had no real intentions of completing the contract in any reasonable time. Or was that the plan?







Aftermath:

In the weeks that followed, we hired another builder, reviewing the next contract more carefully and also documenting the house before reconstruction began.

Elizabeth construction has been renamed to Elijah Builders, Elijah Builders and Development Corp, or ELJ Konstract.  I wonder why.  Too much negative feedback about the prior business name or trying to hide from his obligations?  Several other victimized clients have also been discovered so an estafa case is building. Would you like to join this case?

If you like or learned something about this story, be sure to spread the word (or link), so other hard working people don't fall for this bad construction company.