Guides
Most of what decides whether a house goes well is settled before anyone pours concrete. These are the questions families actually ask, answered properly, with the source named beside each rule.
When you are ready to plan, the services set out what the practice does, and a consultation for future home buyers looks at a lot or house before you commit.
Start with the building code
The sections of PD 1096 a house meets, and the places where the decree says something other than what people assume.
Before you commit
The decisions that are cheap to change now and expensive to change later.
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How to choose the right lot for your home
Orientation, drainage, setbacks, access and soil: what to check on a lot in the Philippines before you pay for it, and which problems a design can solve later.
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Types of houses in the Philippines: detached, attached, row houses and the traditional forms
Types of houses in the Philippines: single detached, single attached, duplex, row house and townhouse, bungalow to elevated house, and the bahay kubo.
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House design ideas for the Philippines: 14 ideas and why each one works
House design ideas for a Philippine home, each with a design concept image: deep eaves, lanais, lofts, breeze-block screens, raised floors, small CRs and more.
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Simple house design: what makes a house simple, and how to keep it that way
Simple house design for the Philippines: a plain footprint under one roof, rooms that do two jobs, wet rooms together, and details that stay simple to build.
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Low budget simple house design: where to save and where not to
Low budget simple house design in the Philippines: the choices that cost less, what never to cut, a low budget two-storey house, and building a core to extend.
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Cladding house design: materials for a Philippine house, and how to fix them
Cladding house design for the Philippines: fibre cement, timber, composite, metal cladding, stone, brick tile and bamboo, and how each copes with heat and rain.
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Corner lot house design in the Philippines: two streets, more coverage, less privacy
How to design a house on a corner lot in the Philippines: the 90 percent coverage rule, windows on two streets, the entrance, privacy, sun and the carport.
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Tiny house design in the Philippines: the smallest rooms the code allows, and the permit
Whether a tiny house in the Philippines needs a building permit, the smallest rooms and ceilings the building code allows, and how to plan one that stays cool.
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Container house in the Philippines: the permit, the heat and the ceiling height
Whether a container house in the Philippines needs a building permit, why the ceiling height is the hard part, and how to keep a steel box cool and dry.
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Prefab house in the Philippines: the permit, and what to check before you buy
Whether a prefab house in the Philippines needs a building permit, the kinds of prefab house, what the factory leaves to you, and what to ask a supplier.
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Small house design in the Philippines: what makes a small house work
How to design a small house for a Philippine lot: setbacks, one storey or two, a plan with no wasted corridor, keeping cool, and why stock plans rarely fit.
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50 sqm house design in the Philippines: what fits on the floor and on the lot
How big 50 sqm is (5 m by 10 m), what a 50 sqm house holds, a 50 sqm lot under the lot coverage and BP 220 rules, and when to build up on a 100 sqm lot.
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Bungalow house design in the Philippines: planning a one-storey home
How to plan a bungalow for a Philippine lot: when one storey fits, the big roof, keeping it cool, floods, access for everyone, and building up later.
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Two-storey house design in the Philippines: planning both floors from the start
How to plan a two-storey house for a Philippine lot: when to go up, where the stair goes, stacking the structure, keeping the upper floor cool, and the permit.
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Loft house design in the Philippines: making a loft work in the heat
How to plan a loft-type house for a Philippine lot: headroom above and below, keeping the loft cool, the stair, the edge, the structure and the permit.
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Modern house design in the Philippines: clean lines that suit the heat and the rain
Modern house design for the Philippines: what makes a house modern, roofs and eaves, big windows without the heat, materials for the climate, and staying cool.
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Rest house design in the Philippines: a house for weekends, the farm or the beach
How to plan a rest house or farm house in the Philippines: the lot and its access, rivers and shores, water and waste, a house left empty, typhoons and upkeep.
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How architect fees work in the Philippines
The four ways architects in the Philippines charge, what each one suits, what moves the number, and which costs are the architect's fee and which are the build.
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Renovate or rebuild? How to decide
House renovation in the Philippines or a rebuild: the structural, cost, permit and lifestyle tests that decide whether an existing home is worth keeping.
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House extension design in the Philippines: building out or adding a floor
How to plan a house extension in the Philippines: building out or up, whether the house can take it, joining new to old, permits and living there meanwhile.
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Getting it approved
What the building office asks for, and why applications come back.
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Building permit requirements in the Philippines
The documents a building permit needs, who signs each, the order to file them, what the fee is based on, how long it lasts, and why applications bounce.
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Renovation permits in the Philippines: when you need one
Which renovations need a building permit in the Philippines, which may not, what to file, the rules for condos and subdivisions, and what skipping it costs.
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Vicinity map for a building permit in the Philippines: what it shows and who signs it
What a vicinity map or location plan is, what it must show for a building permit, who signs it, and how it differs from a sketch, the site plan and the survey.
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Site development plan for a house in the Philippines: what it shows and what it is checked against
What a site development plan for a house must show under the building permit rules, the lot rules it is checked against, and who may sign it.
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As-built plans: what they are, an example, and when you need one
What as-built plans (as-built drawings) are, an example sheet, how they differ from design and record drawings, and when a Philippine house needs one.
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Designing for here
What the Philippine climate does to a house, and what to do about it.
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Tropical house design for the Filipino climate
The orientation, cross-ventilation, shade and materials that keep a house in the tropics cooler before anything is switched on.
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Roof design in the Philippines: roof styles, pitch and eaves
Roof design in the Philippines, drawn: gable (dos aguas), hip (cuatro aguas), hip-and-gable, shed (uno aguas), flat deck and clerestory, and typhoon fixing.
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Elevated house design in the Philippines: raising the floor above floods
How to plan an elevated house in the Philippines: why raise the floor, how high, what holds it up, using the space below, stairs, utilities and the septic tank.
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Small bathroom and CR design in the Philippines: layouts that stay dry and fresh
Small CR design for a Philippine home: the smallest CR size the code allows, layouts with wet and dry zones, the floor drain, windows and air, and the door.
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Modern bahay kubo: design ideas in concrete, steel, timber and bamboo
Modern bahay kubo design ideas: the raised floor, steep open roof, deep eaves and breathing walls of the bahay kubo, carried into houses of current materials.
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Bahay kubo: where it came from, its parts, and how it was built
What a bahay kubo is, what each part is called and does, why bamboo, nipa and a raised floor suit the climate, how the plan works and how one goes up.
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Bahay kubo design: layouts, roofs, walls and how high to lift it
Designing a bahay kubo to build: four plan layouts, how high to raise the floor, thatch or metal roofs, which walls to use, and permits for a backyard kubo.
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Bamboo bahay kubo: the materials, how long each one lasts, and the upkeep
Bamboo bahay kubo materials: which bamboo goes where, nipa, cogon and metal roofs, woven walls and rattan ties, what wears out first, and a year of upkeep.
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Small bahay kubo: the questions to settle before you build one
Planning a small bahay kubo for the yard or family land: what it is for, its size, where it goes, permits, who builds it, typhoons, and how long it lasts.
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Bahay kubo drawing: how to draw one, with its plan, elevations and section
Bahay kubo drawings: six steps to draw one from the front, then its plan, front and side elevations, a section naming every part, a cut-away and exploded view.
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Bahay na bato: its parts, why it was built that way, and a modern version
What a bahay na bato is, the parts of the house from zaguan to azotea, why it is stone below and timber above, and what a new house can take from it.
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Why a 3D walkthrough is worth doing
What a virtual walkthrough shows that a floor plan cannot, and why changing a wall in a model costs nothing while changing it on site costs a great deal.
Check a room
Test one room from your plan against the code's minimum sizes, ceiling heights and window openings.
Read your plans
What each sheet of a house plan shows, who signs it as the Supreme Court settled in 2023, what every symbol means, and what the floor plan apps can and cannot do.
How to read a Philippine house plan
Floor plan symbols: the full legend
Floor plan makers, and when a plan needs an architect
Check a stair
Plan a stair from the height between floors, or check its rise, run, width, headroom and handrails.
Check a lot
See how much of a lot a house may cover, what a 2 m clearance leaves, how far a window must stand from the neighbour, and how fast the ground under a Pampanga lot is sinking.
Open the lot coverage calculator
Read why Pampanga floods, and see how long a floor’s margin lasts
Know what the neighbours are owed
Right of way, windows facing the next lot, drainage, riverbanks and party walls, and the water on your own land, with the article behind every distance.
Read right of way and easements in the Philippines
Move in legally
The steps from building permit to occupancy permit, the fire certificates both depend on, the accessibility sizes of BP 344, what the Clean Water Act asks of a house, how a septic tank is designed, and declaring the finished house for tax, each with the section of the law behind it.
Read the occupancy permit guide
Read the Fire Code for house owners
Read the tax declaration guide
Read BP 344, the Accessibility Law
Hire an architect and a builder
How to check an architect's licence and a contractor's PCAB license, what the Architecture Act puts on your plans, and what the Civil Code makes the contractor and the designer answer for.
Buying a house and lot
What PD 957 gives a buyer, from the license to sell to the title, the lot and house sizes BP 220 sets for socialized and economic projects, what PD 1529 says to read on the title itself, what the Maceda Law keeps for a buyer on instalments, what RA 9904 gives a homeowner once the association runs the subdivision, what the Condominium Act makes a unit, which office hears a complaint under RA 11201, what a deed of absolute sale does, what zonal value means, how long-occupied land is titled under RA 11573, and what RA 7279 asks of developers.
Read PD 957 for house-and-lot buyers
Read BP 220 for socialized and economic housing
Read the Maceda Law on instalment refunds
Read PD 1529 on reading a land title
Read RA 11201: which housing office handles what
Read RA 9904 on homeowners association rights
Read the Condominium Act for unit owners
Read what a deed of absolute sale does
Read RA 11573 on titling land you have long occupied
Read RA 7279 and RA 10884 on socialized and balanced housing
Start your project
Tell us where the lot is, what you want on it and roughly when. Every project is quoted after a free consultation, so the first message costs nothing and commits you to nothing.