Feed workers

My fiancee lives in Zamboanga del norte Philippines.
When she hired workers to build an addition onto the house. She would feed them lunch.
Recently hired surveyors to find the correct property lot lines. She fed the workers.
I am from USA and explained to her that here we bring our own foods in bags or lunch box.
I told her why can't the workers bring their own lunch?
She said it's what they do there.
What have other expats do or have noticed when hired others for projects?
Thank you

Don
-@DonRam

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Don you should be more concerned on who is paying for the surveyors and the addition on the house house. You are not in the Philippines and if this upsets you, wait till you get here, you will have a Grand Mal Seizure.

@DonRam Hey Don... My wife and I live here in Tag Ulo(Zamboanga Del Norte) also... We have been doing major remodeling on our guest house(new trusses, roof, electrical, plumbing)... First of all... you really should be here to monitor the work... secondly it depends on the agreement with the worker... I had 4 guys to start the project.  2 carpenters, 2 helpers.... 1 of the carpenters wanted an extra 100 peso in Lew of lunch which I agreed to do...  here it is customary and expected to provide 1 snack(crackers, or banana) something like that mid morning with drink(water, juice, coffee)  then lunch at 12, then another snack mid afternoon.  This is how it is here... Its not the U.S. where you are not paying a carpenter $25.00 per hour... We pay our one carpenter 500 peso per day with lumch($10.00)(and the other 600)and the helpers are 400 peso per day... but again... you really really should be here... I catch and change how work is being done alot...

The second way that some crafts work here is per job... like our electrician...  for him we payed a flat rate for rewiring the whole thing...  for him and his helper we did not include lunches, or snacks (but the wife still gave snacks)... because it is a flat rate(5000 peso for the 3 days job). 

Hope this helps... Take Care,

Dean

Great post by Wellsfry..

When we built our house this past year we were not on site daily as it was on a different island. So although it is fairly common to do what your wife suggests, our workers had to bring their own food, and didn't seem to mind as they were all local.

However, we gave them 50p extra per day for snacks - 25p morning and 25p afternoon. This was paid at the end of the week, as an add on to their wages. So they got 3300p per week instead of 3000, for 6 days work. And they worked hard.

@Enzyte Bob

Thank you!   I am planning to  there this year June or July.

@pnwcyclist

Thank you!

@Wellsfry

Thank you Dean!

I'm making plans to move there around June or July.

Wrapping up things here plus waiting to complete the  wonderful IRS taxes " winks" here by April 18th.

Thinking about applying for the smile retiree visa.

Have a great week!

Don

@pnwcyclist that's a good idea on the snacks... I will definitely offer that one up... 👍🏻

@DonRam If you want to meet some great expats(some not so much lol) look up the O.C. restobar in Dipolog... we meet Tuesdays and Thursday afternoons! Hope to see ya there sometime!

And of course fellow forum readers, a happy worker is a more productive worker

@Enzyte Bob

You are not in the Philippines and if this upsets you, wait till you get here, you will have a Grand Mal Seizure.

@DonRam We provide snacks from the local bakery and sodas for the workers twice a day and cook them a big lunch on Saturday but they usually go home for lunch Monday thru Friday. We also pay them a  little more than the local going rate and this is the 3rd year that I gave them all a P1,000 Christmas bonus. We also set up games and contests during the holidays so they can win a little extra money. I believe it is money well spent because they work hard and do a great job for us.

The latest project (and hopefully the last) is a two story dirty kitchen that started out just an abuhan the wife wanted on a slab we used for a charcoal grill. Then we enlarged it, added a sink and countertop, then a roof and the roof became the second story and of course that needed a roof so we now have what you see in the photo. The stairs were going to be fabbed out of angle iron but we changed that to cement. Tile is being laid on the second floor today and there is a lot of painting to do yet.

The mason is lining everything with cement bamboo and the columns are cement tree trunks. The upper railing is made of 50 cement bamboo newel posts and 9 cement tree trunk corner and center post. The 4 columns supporting the roof are cement tree trunks. It overlooks the cow pasture and we get a nice breeze from the ocean which is on the other side of the trees.

Closer look at the bottom floor. It is finished except for the ceiling fan. My wife selected the tile and pretty much designed the thing as we went along. I did the electric and plumbing and I also made the bamboo love seat. The fence in the background is part of this project also but it is now finished. It is 140' long with 14 sections. You can see my little gate I added in case I have to retrieve something from the cow pasture.

These guys can do anything with cement. This is the support for the stairs landing. We used the brown paint for primer and the green we first tried on the bamboo wasn't cutting it so we bought a more suitable bamboo paint.

This is our gazebo for the pool from an earlier project. We now have outdoor kitchen and matching outdoor dining room. The in laws bungalow is in the background, that was another project. It has been a busy year and a half but winding down now.

Nice looking project, Moondog - haha I love the cement tree trunks and bamboo.. you have an amazing place there.

We gave a Christmas bonus too, since their work was done the week before. They were surprised and happy.

@Wellsfry

Look forward to it.  Thank you

@Moon Dog

Awesome  and very cool projects

@Enzyte Bob

The house project is on hold until I get there this summer.

I'm not worried  about the food for the  workers  as I wanted  to learn what is the customs or differences in the Philippines and USA. 

From reading the posts here, the labor rates my lady pays is inline what the others pay. 

Yes they are hard workers and in the beginning weeded out who was not good.

For permanent help, there is a 13 month tradition. . . . . A one month bonus at Christmas time.

@Enzyte Bob

Great idea!    Looking forward to living in the Philippines!   

So much cheaper then USA 

DonRam said. . . . So much cheaper then USA

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Don I don't know what your lifestyle is in Flint Michigan but to duplicate it in the Philippines is not as cheap as you think. For me it's more expensive when it comes to my American diet.

I don't know your age if you are on Medicare or private insurance. One expense that comes into place is your healthcare. As many of us are in our trimester of life, healthcare starts to enter in the budget. I'm talking about serious problems,  your going to pay upfront.

Your stateside insurance is not valid here, Medicare or private. Same if you have a prescription plan.

Considering the water in Flint Michigan in the past, that's about as good as it gets here.

@Enzyte Bob

Considering the water in Flint Michigan in the past, that's about as good as it gets here.

Are you referring to the high levels of lead Bob?

@Enzyte Bob
Considering the water in Flint Michigan in the past, that's about as good as it gets here.

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Are you referring to the high levels of lead Bob?
-@Lotus Eater

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Yup a big scandal.  When Flint Michigan switch water from the Detroit water system to the Flint River trying to save money. Myself that didn't make sense as the people pay for the water. The WOKE People tried to blamed the change on Racism.

The City of Flint said it was to save money. Lead levels among children were 2 to 3 times normal.

For Details Google Flint Water.

Hi Don and welcome. Some great input from the members here and things to think about and back to your question, we have 9/10 workers here,8 to 9 live here 6 days a week in the bunk house that has a kitchen and bathroom and they have access to a second bathroom, beds are 4 inch mattresses/bunks. Lights and power, concrete floors and a short walk to the many sari stores now for 4 months so far, 4 to 5 months to go and yes we supply them with 2 snacks a day, bottled water and a smiling face.

They buy and cook their own lunch and dinner and rotate the cooking, who ever is cooking the lunch is still on the pay roll. Saturdays (payday) also a crate of San Mig light and a monthly bonus of 500 to 1K depending on the productivity. We do look after them but most times they don't look after us. I personally would not do this project from a distance, I need to be on the ground every day.

We just sacked the lead mason after 4 months as he wasn't a leader and was more focused on the now and not the big picture nor managing his workers.

We are off to Singapore for a week (visa run) and I am seriously concerned what I will find when we get back, 9 guys left alone with no leader. We have to suck it and see and as always it will be us paying for any mistakes.

Snacks should be the least of your worries Don as they are only pittance in the scheme of things. Good luck.

Cheers, Steve.

@Enzyte Bob

I'm 65 and have Medicare.   Could fly to Guam as you already know.

I'm still researching options like AXA Healthcare,  Sun Life Fit & Well, GEO Blue,   Cigna or if I have the SRRV visa I think I can apply for Phil Health the informal system.

Still researching.

@bigpearl

Yes lots of information here.  I asked about the topic to learn more about the differences between Philippines and USA.

The hired workers we do feed them lunch rice and chicken, fish or beef.  Snacks and bottle water.

Thanks