Maintenance and repair in the Philippines is a thing I am wondering about a lot. If I look around at houses, streets, vehicles and actually at everything what needs maintenance, I notice that the state of most of those items is very poor. At the moment our rented house is undergoing some renovation and necessary repairs. This is the main reason I am writing this post. A lot of Filipinos like to just ‘fix’ things. That these fixings are only temporary, they seem not to worry, they just fix it again. Maybe they do not like to spend a lot for repair or maintenance. I do not know. One very common fixing in the Philippines is something like in the picture above. I’ve seen this one in a house we have visited some time ago. And believe it or not: it was working !
In the months we are living now in the Philippines and while searching for a place to buy or rent, I have seen many examples of bad maintenance. I took pictures of some of those cases. It also serves as an example for the Expats-to-be who like to buy a house or other property in the Philippines. With these pictures and facts I like to warn everybody to check a house very well before buying or renting. Decay of concrete (is this the right term?) is something you will find in a lot of houses, partly because of bad construction (bad materials or wrong formula in making the concrete) and to bad maintenance.
Plumbing is another thing to worry about and to check very well. In the Philippines often a paste is used to stop leaking. This picture is an example of how a fitted washbasin has been ‘repaired’ from leaking. This is common practice here.
Another ‘defect’ that actually needs repair is the gutter of this house in the picture. The water is running freely into the street in this case. Often the water is going against another wall (neighbor) and sometimes even windows. I do not have to explain here what will happen after some time.
Many streets in the Philippines have pot-holes or even worse (see picture). This is a manhole going to the sewer system in the street. It might take months or years before this will be repaired or replaced properly and cannot damage cars or motorcycles anymore or hurt pedestrians because they don’t see this after dark. On lots of places there’s no cover anymore and is the manhole not covered at all.
People like to build their own house. No problems with that, but newly build houses sometimes have to wait for completion for many months or even years (lack of funds ?) . The result is that the building is decaying before it is finished. If a building had a longer break in construction often can be seen by the different color of the used concrete.
But it is not the houses alone, also lots of vehicles in the streets are needing maintenance. Lots of cars, mostly trucks, busses, jeepneys and tricycles are not getting the maintenance they need. Many of those vehicles are producing black smoke and are the cause of the huge air pollution in big cities like the Metro Manila. From a distance you can see a dark cloud of pollution hanging above Manila. Not very healthy if you ask me. That’s one of the reasons not so many expats like to live in the ‘city’. Also mechanical failures (due to a lack of maintenance) are giving problems. Just recently a few severe accidents have happend on the road to Antipolo with trucs with their brakes not functioning or defective steering. Several people where killed in those accidents. In the news is shown regularely that provincial busses are having accidents and sometimes rolling down in a ravine. Most of the times because of technical failures.
My last picture is not about maintenance, but something what often is done in the Philippines: Electricity fixings. This picture I took on a trade fair. The outlets just laying on the floor. many people passing by with drinks in their hands …… Can you imagine what could have happened here? The same you can see in private houses. Because most private houses do not have enough outlets, it is easy to use this kind of extensions. No problem as long as they are not laying on the floor and properly made. Electric extensions are often made and isolated with some black tape. The hot temperature is melting the adhesives and the tape is losening. Probably this kind of things often creates a short circuit and causes a fire in houses.
SO BE CAREFUL WITH FIXINGS
Filipino time:
Hallo Jan,
I have to admit that I have to laugh when I see this. Sometimes, people are very creative. Unfortunately, or do I have to say luckily, those creative people live all over the world.
Keep us posted about what’s going on in the Philippines.
Greetings to tiya Deling
Hi Cas,
In the Philippines they are very inventive in looking for solutions and repairs. Not much is just thrown when it doesn’t work anymore. Everything can be made to work again.
I had to struggle constantly with my electrician to install more outlets. He just could not understand why I would want one on each wall, but yet he installed so many light fixtures and switches we had to remove over half of them to save electricity, we didn’t need 3 or 4 18 watt lights in every small hallway. My plumber didn’t install any shut off valves going to various faucets so I would have to shut the water off to the whole building to repair one cheap leaking faucet. Now I have gate valves on all my water lines. I’ve had to get weather stripping shipped from the US to waterproof my windows. There are such big gaps in the sliding window frames rain just pours in. I thought I got cheated on the windows but discovered the local hospital has the same windows and same problems. Most products sold here in the province are just junk and usually need modification before they work properly for any length of time. I have never found a faucet that will last more than 6 months before it starts dripping.
Hi Marvin,
As they like to say in the Philippines: Made in China !!
If you can get the parts most leaking faucets can be easily repaired. Providing you have cut off valves.
Most plumbers I’ve met don’t know how to repair them.
Maintenance is not a well developed concept there. Preventative maintenance is almost unheard of. They just build it as cheap as they can and then use it until it falls apart.
I don’t think I would buy a house from someone there. If I couldn’t build it myself I’d rather rent. Then if it starts falling down I can move.
Tom,
You are so right.
If a Filipino owns a hammer, he thinks he is a professional carpenter.
If a Filipino has his own wrench, he thinks he is a plumber or a mechanic.
If a Filipino owns a screwdriver and a wire stripper, he thinks he is a electrician.
As far as I know there are no schools for professions like this in the Philippines. It would be much better if there were.
There are some technical schools but with the salary these people get paid who can afford them. So instead some who knows something shows you. Then you know something so you can show someone else.
Right, but that doesn’t make them qualified professionals yet !!
I have lived here a few years and yes maintenance is not one of the strong points for Filipinos.
When judged from a western perspective some foreigners might conclude they are lazy too stingy but I have come to understand that when we both look at the same thing we do not see it the same way.
To our western eyes something half broken or in need of repair enters our full conscious awareness and for many it is annoying or frustrating. For most Filipinos it is not something they spend any time thinking about and consequently they are oblivious to it. Filipinos will deal with it when it absolutely demands attention (when it fully breaks). It’s a matter for different values and priorities.
Another major consideration is the very harsh tropical environment. After living here a number of years I am amazed at how fast things corrode and break down. I have seen building I would have guessed are 20 or 30 years old only to be told they are 2 or 3. Yes poor building practices and substandard materials might be a factor but the environment is also a major factor.
Christopher,
I agree with you completely. The problem is that preventive maintenance cost money, which most of Filipinos don’t have. They do not know how to save for this kind of things.
Using better building materials and use more modern construction methods could help improve this, but will also be more expensive for them.
And a part of their culture is : fixing things. They only throw something when it is not possible to fix anymore. That is also the reason that you see so many old and run down cars in the streets. As long as they are able to fix the engine and it runs, they drive ! Have you noticed the tires of jeepneys and older cars? They often do not have any tread, but it’s still rolling so why replacing ?