Construction Costs

[boogie]

Anyone give me ballpark figures on construction costs including materials for building a house in Chaiyaphum. Low and High per sq metre.

[adjan jb]

From 2000 bahts a sq metre.

I'm currently building a house (in Chiang-Mai) and I think that it'll cost me around 2300 a sq metre. But i coud have done a little bit cheaper.

[jayenram]

Anyone give me ballpark figures on construction costs including materials for building a house in Chaiyaphum. Low and High per sq metre.

It depends upon what you intend to build the house from, i.e. materials.

If you go for a single storey wooden house on stilts, not in excess of 50 sq.m., with a corrogated tin roof, two light bulbs, an external kitchen (open fire), an outside toilet (paddy field) and a single water tap inside, you'll probably get away with Bht 500.00 a square meter.

If you want something a little more posh, start with Bht 6,000/sq.m.

[Goat Roper]

Anyone give me ballpark figures on construction costs including materials for building a house in Chaiyaphum. Low and High per sq metre.

Got quotes in Hua Hin early last year to build a 100 square meter bungalo, not fancy but western style, price with some fixtures and electric all pulled in- Baht 5500/sq. meter, my plans. I could have chiseled the guy and got a cheaper price but I say pay cheap-get cheap; Bangkok vacinity you can start by doubling that at least. This is of course construction costs only, land not included.

[ThaiFarmer]

Hi house builders and house owners,

Some stupid questions.

How do you people count and measure sq.m. when you talk about sq.m.-costs. I mean, is it only inside the house behind 4 walls or is it "outside" too. Perhaps you make it very simple and measure your house outside (length x width x number of storeys) and that's it! I think you have to speak "the same language" else you compare apples with bananas.

Some examples. Do you count this in or out?

1. Built-in carport - roof covered (main building) with 1-3 already existing walls.

2. Balcony - with no roof and 1-3 already existing walls.

3. Terrace - 3.1) On the second floor, partly roof covered and partly not. 3.2) On the first floor and all roof covered. Both with at least one existing wall.

4. Entrance - roof covered. Moore or less expensive design with pillars, stairs, banister and ++.

5. "Thai kitchen" partly outside. 3 walls and roof for example.

These spaces are not "for free" and you often have at least some of them even in a "simple" house. For very simple houses it doesn't matter too much but for "better" houses like the one in Korat with blue roof (see this website) and more luxurious it does matter more. The sq.m.-cost can differ up to 30-40% on a "better" house depending on if you count these areas in or not. I've just checked!!

Excuse me for making things complicated. It's a (bad) part of my personality. Ask my patient Isaan-wife! After 21 years together she is climbing on the walls by now.......

[jayenram]

I would consider the inside area plus covered stoeps. I wouldn't consider the car port unless it was roofed and had three walls. Basically, areas that could be 'lived in'. But that's just my way of doing it.

[mrmnp]

ThaiFarmer: The builder who you will be doing business with will count as much of the house and its exterior as chargeable square meterage as he can get away with to up the price and maximize his profit.

Beware of back door slabs being counted, half the driveway between the end of the carport overhand and the street, etc.

When you spoke of a two story house, you put your finger on a critical issue. A two story house has half the roof of a single story house with the same livable square meterage, so the price per square meter of livable space should be lower in a two story job.

Your right, measurements are to the surface of exterior walls.

If your pricing a thai built house, the number of electrical "points" are important as you will undoubtedly want many more "electrical points" (outlets) as Thais do.

What worked best for me in building a custom house using the builders cost per square meter of his "standard" house as a bench mark, was to buy all my own fixtures, cabinetry and tile so I controlled the quality and deprived the builder of an opportunity to charge more for fixtures than he paid or that I could buy them for. You would be shocked at what builders consider acceptable fixtures.

[jayenram]

When you are all finished it's over 10,000 a sq meter, and thats the shitty Bangkok style of sub divisions.

When you are finished, I believe the post from boogie was referring to building in issarn!

Completely different kettle of fish to building in Bangkok.

[boogie]

Yes I was only interested in Isaan costs ! but thanks anyway.

[Snark]

I haved moved this topic to back on track, eliminating non relevant postings. I sincerely apologize for the convenience.

[Falang56]

Dear Boogie,

I made a house before, bungalow style, 2 bedrooms. The personell costs for a team of 8 people where 35000 baht, for a period of 1 month, the house was finished. All the materials I have bought myself. A nice bungalow is totall of 365000 bahts finsished. With 8 double teak windows, 4 double doors teak wood.

Costs per squere mete, I do not so believe in, just find an example, give it to the constructure, and keep everything in your own hands.

More and more:

One of the most important things, do not let the wife or her family, give you the feeling that you must compete with the rediculous competition to make a bigger house then the nearest falang house in the village,or next village. This is one of the most stupid things in Esan I have seen. Fellow falangs do not keep this contest going on, Why> The only reason that land and houses in Thailand are getting more and more expensive is because the Falangs make the market go up.

Good luck

Edited November 3, 2005 by Falang56

[Blue Unicorn]

When I lived in Thailand, which was for 20 years of my life, I used to hear lots of talk about cheap building costs. From my experience having built four homes there, anything under 7000 a sqm is going to be very low standard. To even get close to a standard comparable to back home, you had to be talking 15,000sqm. also try and find a company that has one Foreigner overseeing the work.

Edited January 29, 2006 by Blue Unicorn

[BKK90210]

It's hard to say without seeing how fancy your home is and the availability of local materials and the competence of the local labors supply. If I were you next time in thailand, I would take my plan with very specific specifications to at least 3 reputable local construction companies for a bid. Pick the middle price and make sure the company has an in-house engineer to oversee the project...and with specified liability clauses if they mismanaged the project.

I've been browsing this housing forum for quite sometime...often came across many member's project that I see having many problems such as an undersized beams...nuts or bolts are too small...foundation's not properly compacted....septic tank ways too close to the house....the footing is too small or not deep enough for the house load bearing walls...etc... don't want to go into technical details too much.

As a sturctural engineer I found these to be unacceptible standard practices. Many people tend to put too much emphasis on the appearance of the architecture and the materials being used...but they also need to pay a close attention to the stuctural members as well. I don't know how good is the engineer in your local area of building but at least having one to check over the works at the site is better than having none at all.

Just my thought

BKK

Edited January 30, 2006 by BKK90210

[phibunmike]

Anyone give me ballpark figures on construction costs including materials for building a house in Chaiyaphum. Low and High per sq metre.

I just finished my small bungalow a couple of months ago. I did my own plans, and showed them to a builder in the village, but who has done work for farangs in bangkok. We agreed a fixed price of 80,000 for labour, which my Isaan friends considered high, but I made it clear I would be more picky than local customers and he understood that. All subcontractors were at his expense and under his responsibility. I then selected and bought all materials using his "shopping lists" when necessary for things like bricks, steel, sand and cement.

I haven't yet got around to adding up all the material costs, but I intend doing that and I will post it here one day when I have. I guess around 600k for materials, but that figure doesn't mean much on its own.

I have added a second building with garage, guest bedroom and Isaan bathroom - 8m x 6m overall - and labour cost for that was 45,000.

For labour costs I include all construction, plumbing, tiling, interior and exterior painting. The second building shares the septic tank included in the first building's costs.

Hope this helps.

Mike

[boogie]

Thanks for the recent updates, however you will see my original post was almost two years ago now. Since that time I have changed my plans and actually bought a house in Chaiyaphum, hence I am no longer interested in building costs as I now have no plans to build a house.