City living made easy

By Willie J. Uy, President & CEO, PHINMA Properties Updated February 09, 2009 12:00 AM

I have been with the Phinma Group straight out of college for almost 30 years now. The Phinma Group was born out of a philosophy of nation-building. There is a very nationalistic thrust in the business model of each of its subsidiaries and Phinma Properties fits this role to a T.

It is every Filipinos dream to own a home. With developers churning out mostly mid to high end condos in Metro Manila, city dwellers unfortunately find themselves unable to afford a decent home or to acquire a house outside the city and contend with high transportation costs and long commute times. Our mission is to provide community-oriented, master-planned, affordable housing within major urban centers, especially Metropolitan Manila.

Our slogan “City Living made Easy” is where our edge is. Our projects embody several distinctions. The first is manifested in high quality, speedy construction. The second, selling quickly, is made possible by the conscious limiting of profit margins and the resulting value-for-money residential units available to prospective buyers. Finally, there exists in the company an underlying drive towards social relevance and contribution by building not just residential homes, but wholesome communities where family life is fostered, and new, lasting friendships are made in a conducive environment, tailor-made for the mentioned purposes.

Although we are in the affordable segment of the housing market, one of the things a buyer would initially remark on when he visits a project by Phinma Properties is that it doesn’t look “low-cost” at all. Another aspect immediately noticed is the quality of finish and standards.

To date, we have built more than 6,000 condo units in Metro Manila. We pride ourselves in establishing communities and are fully committed to its responsibility as a community builder. We have the capability and experience to change people’s lives and upgrade their living standards and are delighted by the fact that our housing projects evolve into communities whose residents live together harmoniously.

The challenge as CEO is to make sure that we don’t just offer value-for-money homes but that the company should always be a step ahead of its competitors. To this end, we have endeavored to serve the public through the implementation of programs and goals that benefits not only the company but our buyers directly:

Quality, safety & environmental concern: Despite being in the affordable segment, we have aligned ourselves with international standards. We are the first and only developer in the country with triple ISO certification for the Quality, Environmental and Occupational Safety & Health Management System.

Green architecture: This year, we will be further enhancing our developments by introducing features that will increase the efficiency in the use of water, energy and materials in our designs while reducing impact on the environment through reduction of waste and pollution.

Community building: To ensure that the residents’ investments and the project’s value do not depreciate, we have established its Post Project Management Group (PPMG).

Social responsibility: We believe that our slogan “city living made easy” should be experienced by both our homeowners and the larger Filipino community. In fact, our business of providing decent and affordable homes to Filipinos is in itself social responsibility in action.

Our present initiatives are under the umbrella of our “Bagong Buhay” program. Under this effort, we give new life to excess scrap materials by reusing and recycling them to build basic community facilities such as classrooms, chapels or public toilets. We also adopt parks in our host communities, giving new life to these public spaces and the beneficiaries as well.

Finally, as CEO it is important not to lose sight of two other important factors in a service oriented business — customer service and organization. It is important to make sure that our employees are well-trained, empowered and motivated to deliver on our promise to our buyers. I personally make it a point to lead quarterly general employee meetings to keep them updated on what’s happening in the company and to motivate them to meet our goals.