RoboLB

23 minutes ago, BangkokAlan said:

My advice would be to go through the quotations you have now and determine where is the major costs, generally costs by items can be reduced if you firstly change an expensive finish to something cheaper such as changing you kitchen worktops or the standard of bathroom fittings or your floor tiles. The other thing to do is buy the major items yourself such as the kitchen, bathroom, flooring, lighting etc as all these items will have the cost price increased with the addition of your builders mark up. The builder can fit them or just provide the services to the kitchen and bathroom and each supplier can come in after and fit them for you. 

 

Good advice, thanks.  We are doing that with the current quote.  Getting it down slowly........

The story so far.........

Thai wife and I live in Sydney Australia.  

Have a tiny condo in BKK and wanted to get something a bit bigger.

 

Couple of years ago we bought a really run down house in Bang Plad.

Typical 2 up 2 down thai house.

Concrete ground floor, wooden 1st floor.

Quite small, on a very small piece of land.

But not a bad location and at least we got into the market.

 

It's been sitting empty whilst we try to find someone to renovate it.

Thankfully family keep an eye on it.

 

It's not really habitable as it is.  Needs new bathroom. a kitchen, decorating, new roof, new windows etc.

maybe a small extension at the back.  like an extra 1 metre... not much.

  

1st Attempt.

Architect came up with a great plan.  We loved it.  Lovely guy.

But building was way over budget and council would not approve it.

We made the plan more simple, still no approval and still way over budget.

Architect and we, lost interest.

 

2nd Attempt.

Small builder.

Needed to draw up their own plans. (for a fee of course)

We stipulated the budget was 1.2 million.  No problem they said.

Plan came back with a costing of 2.5 million.

Asked for simpler renovation.  Now they are losing interest.

 

3rd Attempt.

Not really sure what to try next.

The MO seems to be.

1. Tell us it can be done for our budget.
2. Get us to pay for anther plan.
3. Put in a quote way over budget to see if we accept it.
4. If not............move on.

 

Any suggestions as to our next move?

 

I'm sure there are small builders / renovators out there who know what they are doing?

 

At this stage we have an uninhabitable house and some nice looking plans ????

 

This is our first foray into dealing with builders in Thailand.

 

Seems as bad as Australia!

I had 5 contractors come to quote on fixing our roof.

Only 1 bothered to send a quote.

He starts Monday.........

 

If you know of anyone reliable to do a renovation for us in BKK, please share ????

 

 

42 minutes ago, NiwPix said:

Option 2 and 3 are almost the same. And option 1 is not reeeeally feasable like you said if you want to keep family relations intact.

Instead of starting up a business for her, which will eventually be run into ground and everybody else blamed except herself, go with option 3 and buy a small business. Dont go with a random "no-name" business, but look into a franchise. Franchises generally are successful, they do lot of the marketing for you and hold you by the hand to a certain extend. She could do well with that and everybody is happy. She may fail, but she cant blame you or the franchise for it.

Question is what kind of franchise that also meets the budget. Reading your post and me thinking of franchise, reminded me of this thread last month:
https://forum.thaivisa.com/topic/1141531-laundromat-automatic-washing-machines-coins-operated-laundry-in-thailand-just-a-trend-or-profitable-business/

 

 

I know of 1 franchise that does this ( otteri wash & dry ). As mentioned in that thread, I think it can work. However, I dont know what the intial buy-in and setup fees are.

Another idea would be a small franchise coffee shop, an up and coming one that has potential to do well. Those may be within the budget.

 

Hope that helped. Good luck

Thanks.  Good feedback.   I'll certainly go take a look at that thread.

39 minutes ago, frequentatore said:

Why are you closing in Bangkok? Your sister-in-law is not bringing any business?

Complicated.

 

We have been there for 20 years using different structures / models.   This one is no longer working.

Not directly her fault.......

48 minutes ago, henry2109 said:

Option 2 and 3 are not good ideas, as you perfectly know.

 

People who are succesfull self-employed must have certain attidudes, and per your description your sister in law does not have them. Dont cause yourself a headeache, and let it go. 

Yes, I understand what you are saying...

 

But (1) I feel I need to help in some way  and (2) If it's something that better suits her ability and interest it might work.

 

I can't really do nothing....  

Hi All,

 

I'm hoping that someone might have some ideas as I need some inspiration.

 

The backstory......

 

I'm based in Australia, with Thai wife.  I have a consulting business. We have a 'branch' office in Bangkok.

My sister - in law works for us there.  I'm closing the office.

 

My sister in law is not the smartest person on the planet, and has always had trouble holding down jobs.

 

And I'm about to make her unemployed.  Not great for family relationships!

 

Option 1, she goes to find another job.  Hard to get and she probably won't do well.

Option 2, we 'buy' her a job.  i.e. we set up a small business that is not hard to operate.  Fund it, get her started.

Option 3. Actually buy a small business?  Don't really want to throw more than about $20,000 at this though. 

 

Any thoughts on a fairly simple small business we could try to start / acquire for her?

 

She has reasonable office / project management skills.

Also tried a small food delivery business in the past.

 

One of my businesses has a large marketing team, so whatever we set up, we can build a good website and kick off the marketing.

 

I had thought of:

 

Commercial Cleaning

Some sort of online business selling Thai products.

 

Would really appreciate any other ideas though!

 

 

 

Thanks @Scorecard, we'll certainly look at those.

 

As her English is not great, I was rather hoping that some degree courses would include English 'instruction' rather than just teach everything in English...   

.

Hi,

 

My wife and I are researching Universities for our niece who has just finished High School in Bangkok.

 

She stayed with us for 3 years in Australia so has good basic English.  We want to try to find a degree that has a mix of Business and English.

 

We've found courses that are just English, they cover English for Tourism, English for Marketing etc.  Many applications of English.  But they don't cover non language topics.  i.e. Marketing, Finance, Operations and so on.

 

We worry that purely having a degree in English, with no Business qualifications, may not be a good foundation for securing a worthwhile job.  Maybe we're wrong.  I wouldn't hire someone in a business, just because they could speak English for example.  (OK, you have qualifications in English and what else?   )

 

So I'm struggling to find any degree courses that mix English with Business subjects.  I don't think she would cope with a business degree taught totally in English.....which would be another option.....

 

Any guidance towards suitable degree courses would be much appreciated.

 

Rob

 

All Government Health Centers and Hospitals offer massage and their masseuese -- unlike most you will encounter elsewhere -- are specifically trained in, and accustomed to, dealing with people with medical problems.

Many private hospitals have also started to follow suit.

Public Health Center 21 is the Govt Health Center in the On Nut area. Should be able to find it on Google maps.

many thanks for the advice.

Hi,

I'll be spending three weeks in Bangkok and I've been having back problems. So a regular massage would be great. But a 'proper' massage.

Thai massage is fine for relaxation but not really much good in fixing things. At least that has been my experience.

Can anyone suggest a good remedial massage service? Either one that can call to our home, or at least not too far from On Nut via BTS.

Any recommendations would be most appreciated.

I think it was 4 different banks.....6 branches. So Yes, worth trying different branches.

Plus it doesn't harm situation if your Thai wife could enlist the support of an existing Thai customer (p rovided they have a good relationship with that bank) to simply put a phone call to the manager to smooth the way. In my case I got VIP treatment and my bank account was opened very speedily.

Thanks for the advice guys.

6 banks later, and a Thai friend calling ahead with an introduction for us. We managed it.

Wrong forum...

Check

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/260738-opening-a-new-bank-account-in-thailand/

OK, got it. Thanks.

Hi,

Hopefully I have misunderstood something.........

Short version of story. I have a Thai wife. We live in Sydney. We have a Condo in Bangkok (in her name). It was easier at the time. We aim to spend a few weeks a year in Bangkok and potentially retire in Bangkok. Or at least spend our time between Sydney and Bangkok. I have no intention of working in Bangkok. So don't have a work permit.

As part of our preparation, today we dropped into a couple of Banks in Bangkok, to see if I could open a Bank Account. So I can start accumulating enough funds for a retirement visa etc.

I wasn't allowed to open an account.....

The best result we got was this.

Go to the Australian embassy, and get a 'certificate' allowing me to open a bank account in Thailand.

Then make sure we got both our names on the house book.

Then apply to open an account.

Perhaps naively I thought I'd be able to just open an account.....

Is this what most people have had to go through just to open an account?

And do different banks have different rules? (some perhaps being easier than others)

Does anyone actually have a system that works? Isn't politics about staying in power at all costs and maximising the personal benefit?

Here is Australia our system totally sucks. Greed, corruption, perks, self interest, it's al a big game funded by the tax payer. ... Our politicians are trusted about as much as used car salesmen. Sorry to used car salesman, you are probably 10 times more trustworthy.

As an outsider at least, Thai political corruption is somewhat transparent. Openly 'buying' votes and support.

Here in Australia they use tax payers money to buy votes in marginal seats, with much needed football stadiums, swimming pools and other enticements. They obviously think we are totally stupid or they just don't care what we thing. The latter I presume.

We are about to buy our Condo and found that it is being advertised as Hotel units online!

Everywhere online!

http://www.booking.com/hotel/th/the-habitats-at-ideo-mobi-sukhumvit-onnut.html

OK, the short story. This is not about is this a good building etc...............

We are buying a Condo off the plan at Ideo Mobi Sukhumwit.

It's now finished and we are about to hand over the final cheque. Then my wife stopped the cheque!

She saw the building being advertised online as a Hotel............

OK, I can understand an owner or two maybe wanting to rent out their Condo. That's fine.

But it seems from reading various websites that this company 'Habitats' is going to use 50 Condos in our building as Hotel rooms.

Why is that bad?

Well, having so many 'transient' people living there, who don't own or rent the Condos, who treat it just like a Hotel...........can't be good.

They won't take care of the place or may not behave that well, because it is not there 'home'.

So, is this normal?

We don't seem to have any kind of Strata agreement that covers this. Just the sale contract.

Not sure if Strata agreements are Internationally used, but they lay down what owners and residents can and cannot do with the building.

I have to say we are panicking a bit and may pull out of the sale even if we lose our deposit.

I don't want to live in a 'Hotel' environment.

Any thoughts or experiences of this would be REALLY appreciated!

Robo

2) Quite simply the High Schools here in Australia are a year or two behind Thailand academically.

??????????????????????????? What school did you send her to in Australia?????

Everything that i ever heard. Said things were the other way around. Please, explain this?

Sorry for the delay in replying. I haven't been on here for a while.

My comments are based on this............

She went to the local Government High School. As an overseas student we had the privilege of paying $10,000 a year for that.

We looked at private Schools, but basically for an overseas student they charged double the local student rate. We couldn't afford that.

After a while we had to see her Year Advisor. She was finding it hard to study because basically the local kids could not give a toss about learning and the classes were too disruptive. Teachers could do nothing about that. She also asked if she could get more homework, as it was pitiful compared to Thailand. No go.

Keeping in touch with kids 'back home' in Bangkok, she found they were at least one year ahead in what they were studying.

We gave per extra private tuition at the weekends, and the tutor, a High School teacher at another Government School, confirmed what we were finding. That all his Thai students coming for tuition were way ahead of the local kids. He deduced that the Thai school system was probably at least a year ahead of Australia. (We are talking Government schools)

But obviously I can only speak from our personal experiences..........

Our niece is now in Bangkok and we are 'doing the rounds' of entrance exams.

Basically she is way behind the local Thai kids and is struggling to find a place.

Was bringing her to Australia a good idea? Academically No.

But she has gone back quite fluent in conversational English and has a very high degree of personal confidence now that she may not have developed in a Thai School.

At the end of the day, there are good schools and bad schools everywhere I guess. Maybe we were just unlucky.........

Thanks for all the tips. She lives in Bang Plad. We may have found a school not too far away.

It's important to consider what you want her to do after school. Are you ok with her studying in english language in an International program in Thailand? If she is insisting she wants to study in Thai language in university I would suggest she studies in the Thai program of a private school. My school has both a Thai program (5/6 periods of english a week), but I work in the English Program, where most of their subjects are done in english. Despite this, many of my students went to study in Thai language programs in university (3 got into medicine, one in an international program). Either way you go, she might have to study in extra tutorial classes (which I detest), to help her get into a Thai language program. Students who study in Thai language at school generally struggle with learning in english at university. As for fees, my school charges about 120K a year for the EP and about 40K a year for the Thai program. This is a private school. Other schools may charge more or less. I'm sure your niece would be close to the top in my english class, but may be about a year behind in the other subjects. But because her english is good, I'm sure she can catch up, as long as she is competent in those subjects.

Those fees sound similar to what we are hearing.

It makes sense to me, for her to study in Thai, but with plenty of English classes.

Maybe you could PM me the details of the school?

It sounds correct. I work with a bilingual school system and we have a lot of people who get their kids in early to assure that they will be likely to remain. In the upper Mathyom - grades 10-11-12 -- some still don't make the cut. The difference is, all they have to remain is get reasonable grades and behave themselves. They don't have to take an entrance exam.

Check with some of the private bilingual schools. She should be able to get in.

Thanks, but the private schools are saying her grades might be too low ...

Gee you're a cynical bunch some times :-)

OK, she's crazy!

We live mainly in Sydney Australia, with fairly frequent trips to Thailand to visit family.

A while back our dear old Golden Retriever died. We are now ready to have another Dog........

And my wife has found the Dog A stray in her Soi in Bangkok

Actually I know the Dog. He's really cute and well behaved. Not the normal 'Dingo' looking mongrel. More the short and hairy variety. Probably the off spring of a Pet.

So..............you can see this coming ... right?

Sweetheart, I'll never want for anything again ...can we bring him to Sydney?

Nice idea. But how practical? I started taking a look.

Can't import direct from Thailand. Needs to pass through an 'approved' country first. etc etc. http://www.daff.gov.au/biosecurity/cat-dogs/step-by-step-guides/non-approved-countries

Looks like a real night mare.

Has anyone actually imported a Dog to Australia from Thailand?

Robo

Whilst I love Thailand, it can certainly be an 'Amazing' place at times........

The Back Story - Short Version

My wife (Thai) and I live mainly in Australia. Been married 10+ years. We thought we would 'help out' the family by bring our niece (also Thai) here to Australia for 3 years to attend a local High School. That's a story in itself. Very expensive, even at a Government School as she was an 'overseas' student. Was here on a student visa.

Anyway....our Niece has now just gone back to Thailand to complete her final 2 years of High School. Great experience for her and now a very confident/capable English speaker. Why going back? Because she wants to go to Uni in Thailand, not Australia. And we are advised that it is easier to get into Uni by following the final years of High School in the Thai 'system'. Makes sense. i.e. The right topics, taught in the right way, to pass entrance exams.

The Problem

It seems getting into a local Thai High School is not so easy. My wife is in Bangkok now trying to find one. They all want high grades on entrance tests, even the Government Schools. And of course whilst her English is great, the other subjects are not so strong. 1) she has been learning in a foreign language for three years and 2) Quite simply the High Schools here in Australia are a year or two behind Thailand academically.

So we are trying, some 'cheaper' private schools, but still she has to pass entrance tests. And also looking at some Government schools that have a strong focus on English (to maintain that skill). But things are not looking good, because of her grades.

I mentioned to my wife that if all else fails, at least she can just go to the local Government High School. On No she says, not that simple! Even the local High Schools can pick and choose students. So that if her grades are considered too low, she will end up at the bottom of the pile in a local High School where all the 'dregs' end up. Hardly seems fair.

I know I shouldn't compare. But here in Sydney the local High School is obliged to take kids from their 'catchment area'. And in fact the reverse applies. You need approval to go to a Government school in another 'catchment area'.

For those who have experienced this...............does this all sound correct ?

Robo

What a bloody farce this all is. And the country will suffer as a consequence. I've already pulled out my business interests in Thailand, which involved staff losing jobs. Had enough of the utter BS that goes on there. Seriously thinking of altering my retirement plans to Thailand. What will all this do to property prices? I'm about to settle on a Condo........ might cut my losses on that.

tourists are scare not much about protests going on now, but about a possibility, that airports might be occupied again.

same goes for business travellers

That's the issue isn't it. No point in going there if the Airports get besieged!

Bloody idiots (on both sides) screwing up a great country. The economy will suffer, and the Thai people will suffer as a result..........