Understand the Basic Construction Application Process, So You Don’t Encounter Obstacles on Your Path to Building Dreams
Couple from Taiwan Returns Home to Open a Store Despite Financial Struggles
The place where most people live, from studying, working, to starting a family, is often influenced by various factors, making it impossible to design or choose completely according to one’s own wishes. However, after gradually stabilizing in the latter half of life, have you ever thought about where you want to live at the end of your life? How do you want to live? What kind of lifestyle do you want to adopt or what kind of house do you want to build as the final destination of your life…?
Today’s article shares the story of a couple who always make decisions contrary to others, who spent 18 years building their own house in Pingtung Fangliao.
During the era of money flooding the streets in Taiwan (1980 to 1989), peers were heading north in search of employment and entrepreneurial opportunities, even buying houses and properties, but this couple decided to rent out their house in Kaohsiung, raise funds with family, and return to their hometown Fangliao with their two daughters to prepare for the second half of their life’s house-building plan.
They opened their first restaurant “Green Grass Square” in their hometown Fangliao, selling the trendy hamburgers of that time (the kind you find in breakfast shops now). The entire restaurant was designed in the shape of a large “G,” and they intentionally left the native mango trees on the land. The back of the restaurant was planned with a grassy courtyard and outdoor elegant seating. The owner Yang San Er not only personally supervised the construction but also built a fountain himself. Before they turned fifty, they raised two children on the income from this restaurant, and in the tenth year of operating Green Grass Square, they decided to start from scratch to create their retirement home.
The Romantic Dream of Being an Engineer
Yang San Er (known as Master Yang) once worked in Arabia and was employed by Arabian American Oil Company. This foreign laborer from Taiwan returned to Taiwan and participated in the Ten Major Construction Projects. The endeavor of building his own house was an exciting and essential plan for Master Yang, who had been active in the engineering field during his youth.
When deciding to construct another future home, it was around the year 2000. Master Yang believed that steel was too expensive [note 1] and was unwilling to use the reinforced concrete brick construction method, which over time faced issues of leaking and wall cancer. While searching for suitable building materials, he read about a lecture on wooden construction in a newspaper. After attending that lecture, Master Yang spoke with the speaker, Professor Chen Qiren, who is currently the president of National Kaohsiung University. He borrowed a book titled “Japanese Wooden Houses,” co-authored by Mr. Matsui Ikuo, Kobayashi Kazumoto, and architect Miyakoshi Yoshihiro, which was detailed and about A3 size. Master Yang felt as if he had found a treasured gem and decided to adopt the Japanese mortise and tenon construction method to build his retirement home starting in the year he turned 50.
[Note 1] The price of rebar is approximately NT$20,000 per ton (current rebar SD-280 average price is about NT$14,150 per ton _ Price update date is February 2, 2015)
The purest “naked value” emerges from sweat and perseverance
Making the decision to build a house by oneself is like deciding to apply for a working holiday abroad before turning 30. For a master craftsman like Yang, whose soul is immersed in engineering, his motivation for building his own house, aside from saving on labor costs, is to personally experience and create the process of building a home.
Building a home is a major project in life, and it is recommended to start this romantic plan when you have the most physical, financial, and mental resources available. As you imagine the final journey of life step by step, ask yourself what kind of life you want to live, envision various future living scenarios, and hope that the blueprint of the home you personally tailor will be faithfully presented, allowing you to slow down and see the “naked value” of this plan.
Choosing a non-mainstream way of building requires plenty of patience and an unwavering determination. The harsh reality is that living in a utilitarian environment, time equals money. We live in this era of coexistence with digital technology and resource sharing, where upon opening our eyes, there are a pile of bills and basic living expenses that must be paid, making it impossible to ignore the existence of fixed monthly deduction bills.
For this reason, the strategy of Master Yang and Mistress Yang of the Da Mu family is to lower their desires for life, save on living expenses, treat living in a tent on the construction site as a pleasure, and use waste materials and dry leaves to start a fire for boiling water for household use. These few tactics are not just a camping experience for two or three days; they are a genuine and tangible change in lifestyle maintained throughout nearly ten years during the process of building a home, wholeheartedly dedicated to creating their house.
Basic Construction Procedures for Self-Built Houses
People often ask, “Why does it take so long to build a retirement home?” A family member would respond, “We are not very wealthy, so we choose to build the house slowly.” If your budget is sufficient, you don’t have to choose to build the entire structure yourself like a large wooden house; just the main structure took 18 years to build. In fact, hiring professionals to participate in the construction is a good option to simplify the complex process.
Regarding self-built housing, one major difference from purchasing a completed house is that in Taiwan, if you only have land, it will be more difficult in terms of loans and financing, with very few options available and limited loan amounts. This is the primary threshold to overcome. As a result, during the early stages of the dream to build a house, most people ultimately choose the mainstream method of buying a completed house and negotiate credit with banks. While you can decide “where to buy,” the type of house you can live in depends on how many projects are available for viewing and selection in that location.
But buying a completed house has never been an option for a family like the Da Mu family. When Master Yang was young, he returned home with US dollars from working in Arabia, following his father’s advice to buy a fifth-floor apartment in Kaohsiung City. He experienced the inconvenience of coming and going, the heat absorption from the sun on the rooftop, and the ongoing maintenance issues that plagued the entire building. In recent years, there have been even more disputes over insufficient parking spaces. Various uncontrollable factors in daily life have troubled their ability to settle down. Therefore, even though funds are not abundant, building their own house remains the only option that Master Yang and Mrs. Yang insist on.
The rhythm of self-built houses in Taiwan and the application process for construction can refer to the following steps:
House Builder Guide
When you think about what kind of house you want to live in and what kind of life you want to lead in the future, do you often enter a state of reverie, filled with anticipation? Of course, you don’t have to mobilize your entire family like Master Yang did, insisting on building a house for 20 years. You can choose to hire a house-building agent, who, with the perspective of someone who has walked the long road of house construction, can become your best guide on the path to realizing your dreams, clarifying the feasibility from your vague wishes.
Starting from the planning blueprint, assist in calculating suitable construction methods, provide usable material references within the preset framework, avoid wandering around for price inquiries, and always failing to find reasonable market prices. You can use that time, which lingers outside the walls, unable to enter, to think and establish your residential blueprint, allowing the construction agent to help you translate the wishes on the blueprint.
Self-built houses have three major conditions, which are also the three key points to review for any project initiation:
People (family support)
Money (house building budget)
Time (dedicated vacation days)
Building a house by yourself or commissioning a house will be one of the most fulfilling periods of your life, however, the payment experience is completely opposite to buying a completed house where you enjoy first and pay later. The speed of building a house by yourself will vary according to the builder’s daily schedule, it may be delayed due to being tied up with work, it may stop because the budget for the next phase of construction funds has not been gathered, or it may change due to family needs prompting design alterations. This is a romantic endeavor that requires you to constantly reflect on your heart; various pauses seem to question again: will this self-built house be the destined residence?
If you are also looking for the best measure of life in a residence
Start looking for your destined home builder agent for home building consultation!
