Victor Consunji and VCDC Building Dream Homes for the Filipinos
In the 21st century Philippines, moving out of your parents’ house to live on your own has become something of a norm. It brings about feelings of excitement, curiosity, and a sense of independence. This holds true even for Victor Consunji—a third generation scion of a family in the real estate business, who has blazed his way into the industry and is beginning to build his own empire—the Victor Consunji Development Corporation (VCDC).
As the grandson of the late David Consunji of DMCI, Victor Consunji admitted he was no stranger to being impeded by family expectations. “Because of my family name, there was this expectation that I should follow in the family footsteps and join the family business,” he shares. However, the young Victor could only think about the personal goals he’d like to achieve once he graduates from university. “I didn’t feel like I could contribute to the family, like how do you become part of such a big piece of machinery and not have a real foot to stand on?” he adds.
A man of great ambitions
Victor began exploring the initiatives he can do on his own in hopes of proving that not only will he continue his family’s legacy, but also make a name for himself. “I want to be able to do my own thing without judgement. I want to come back later on and show that I had the affinity for it, or that I have accomplishments, which I did with my own two feet,” he affirms.
“Eventually, we started building our first house, then our first building, and so on and so forth.”
Victor Consunji on his early days in the construction industry
With such a motivation in mind, Victor started his own little construction consultancy, to which his team accepted landscaping jobs and small renovations that cost around PHP 200,000 to 300,000 at the time.
A change of course
It went on like that for some time until Victor realized a pattern that ultimately changed the direction of his venture. “I noticed a problem, and I call this the ‘small contractor syndrome’. Because the jobs were always one-offs, a lot of effort was always spent on hunting for the next job. [As a result], a lot of the rewards that come from such jobs are basically extinguished while you’re in the process of doing it,” he explains.
Victor, who was once a small contractor, grew tired of this cycle of putting lots of effort but getting very little reward. He started looking around and thought to himself, “The solution to that is to find yourself a multiplier—to get yourself into a position where you make the same amount of effort but you multiply your rewards.” This catapulted his decision to take a big leap. “Becoming a developer was the right way to go.”
A newbie back then, Victor knew that he and his team might find it difficult to gain a strong foothold in the business. “Real estate development, especially in this country, is an industry that can be both saturated and open,” he acknowledges. “So, I had to figure out how to go about finding a segment in the market that we could best serve our clientele, where we could be effective with our expertise.”
A beam of hope
As he and his team set foot in the industry, Victor recognized the fact that—just like when he was nearing his college graduation—lots of people believe in the Filipino dream, that is, basically buying a house and settling down with a family. “It’s like when you go back in those days and you start thinking about where you’re going to live,” he recalls. “Nobody goes and says they’re going to continue living with their parents. And so, you start feeling the pressure of how difficult it is to get a proper place [to live in].”
Victor Consunji, a forward-thinking man, also confessed that he is never the type to rent a place. “I’ve always thought that I’m going to buy a condo and, essentially, somebody’s going to live there with me. I didn’t think that I was buying a place in the short term, and I never wanted to rent a place either,” he explains. “I know it’s a necessity in some cases, but if you can avoid it, I would rather own than rent.” This is what he and his team leveled on.
“I designed the properties according to how I wanted to live. I’d always say to some early buyers and designers, and anybody involved in the project, that the design and the implementation had to be good enough that I would want to put my family in it.”
Victor Consunji on how they made inroads into real estate development
Hence, he established the Victor Consunji Development Corporation (VCDC) with this principle in mind, that is, to build homes that would not only serve as a livable space, but would also withstand the test of time so as to house generations of Filipino families.
The game of spaces
Located in prime areas, Victor envisioned all homes developed by VCDC to feature open-plan configurations. “All of our homes are designed to be flexible and customizable, and are specifically created as suggestions to the homebuyer,” he notes. “You can have configuration one, which has a bedroom or two, or configuration two, which has maybe three or four bedrooms. We’ve designed the structure from the beginning, so that you can literally draw any layout you want.”
True enough, space isn’t wasted but rather maximized without sacrificing customer preferences. “They make a wonderful blank canvas that you can imprint your own style onto,” Victor describes. “I think that part is important because you’re catering to multiple families of different generations.”
The middleground of perspectives
In terms of style, Victor Consunji leans toward a more masculine, modern, and a little bit industrial sense. Yet, he admits that that doesn’t always match others’ liking. “That’s my personal preference, but I’m also under the distinct impression that that’s not for everybody,” he maintains.
“How we present our properties and how somebody else would like to design their future home, are two completely different things. But that’s the beauty of it, right? I can have my style, you can have yours, and we can both be in the same property. There will be no issue, because prior to building, we’ve already thought about how it is that you can have different styles in place.”
Victor Consunji on how he and his team at VCDC find a middle ground with their clientele
When asked if he collaborates and works closely with their clients, Victor responded with a yes and further explained their concept using fashion. “You don’t go to a retail store and have something tailored,” he emphasizes. Stating the obvious, one ought to go to a dressmaker for that. “In most cases in real estate, you can’t do that as well. You can’t go to the developer and have something tailored—unless you’re us.”
For VCDC, it’s as easy as the client taking a pencil and sketching what it is they want to see, and Victor and his team implementing them. “We can do it. That’s how we balance their needs with our wants, and with what it is that we can build,” he expresses.
The vision of a brighter tomorrow
Given such flexibility and customizability, Victor pictures VCDC properties to adapt to your growing family’s needs today and tomorrow. “We expect people to live in our unit. It means we have to cater to their actual needs, not just what we want them to see,” he says.
VCDC properties, then, are built with sturdy foundations, and all columns are located in the exterior of the structure. They can carry as high as four stories and accommodate as many rooms without having to worry about whether you’re gonna hit a column.
“All of these come from the DNA, or at least my origins of growing up living in proper homes, where I can step out into the garden and get fresh air. And interacting with neighbors and having friends over is normal, not a game of how we’re going to squeeze three people into this tiny, tiny space,” he says. “For me, that was the true innovation, and [VCDC] will continue to be this true innovation.”
Make your dream homes come alive with Victor Consunji and VCDC: visit VCDC’s website for more information.
Creative Direction JANN PASCUA
Art Direction NIEL IBAY
Photography ED SIMON
Videography EXCEL PANLAQUE
Sittings Editor ARCH. GEEWEL FUSTER
Hairstylist & Grooming CATS DEL ROSARIO
Shoot Coordination MAE TALAID and MJ ALMERO
Shot on location KIARA MODEL HOUSE, M RESIDENCES, TAGUIG BGC
