With a wife and a baby on the way, Alfonso's cost of living in the city became prohibitive. Other builders began to develop sprawling neighborhoods of cookie-cutter houses on doily-sized lots far beyond the city limits. They're lovely, but they're too small (for a growing family) and too far from the city center.

The middle-class man became a stressed-out man-in-the-middle, forced to take the long daily commute or pay big city prices. There was no room for compromise. "Pagod ka na papunta sa trabaho, pag-uwi ka..."

"Alfonso deserves better," said the Builder. "He deserves a real home near his workplace... a cocoon of good living."