The welder and two assistants went back to the site two days ahead of the carpenters. It was difficult to predict when the rains would stop and the project can just get delayed but we decided to go ahead with a third of the crew first. The cost of doing the work during the rainy season shoots up because labor is not maximized so I was hemming and hawing about the whole thing and was compelled to continue since the most important thing is to finish.
This is third welding machine we brought to the site. We made two trips just to get the right machine that would work with the generator.
The carpenters arrived and it's easier for them to do their part because the main steel structure is up. Watching this going up, I thought about the teacher I had when I was studying architecture - Neil Jackson who was so enamored with steel construction that he's written several books about it. I thought steel structures are wonderful but they weren't a popular or common method of construction here in the Philippines. But seeing this one go up using my design, I understood what made Neil Jackson fall in love with steel. I thought what a neat and quick method and wouldn't it be wonderful if we studied and explored other forms of constructions and materials aside from the laboriously slow "buhos" and "CHB" type we normally use here -- something that would be faster to put up saving costs in the process.
My hubby is the king of the off-road! He's mastered the tricky, muddy terrain of Calatagan.
When I was canvassing for the steel materials for the project, I was shocked at how expensive some pieces were especially if you required extra thick bars or tubes. Sometimes, the thickness we wanted wasn't available. So when I had to look for another specific thickness, I wanted to see for myself the actual source. We were led to several huge warehouses owned by the brother of the hardware owner and the stacks upon stacks of metal were quite beautiful.
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