kamalabob2

I noted actual repairs being done in Buriram Province of the Zinsano Amazon High Pressure Washer Sprayer at the tool repair department of Ruangsangthai Builders Merchants. I had bought some floor wax at the Buriram HomePro and picked up the July 17th through August 6th HomePro sales catalog which showed "sale" prices of Zinsano VIP pressure washer at 16,900 baht but in Buriram at a local family owned store it is in stock at 11,999 baht. The Zinsano Amazon is on "sale" at the Buriram Homepro for 2590, marked down from 4350 baht. What a surprise it is listed for 2250 baht everyday at Ruangsangthai, The normal price at HomePro of the Zinsano Artic power washer is 6350 baht, but it is now on sale at 4590. Yet the normal discount price at the family owned store for the exact same Zinsano model is 4270. I am of the opinion that the OP will find fair prices on Karcher or Zinsano high pressure water clears if he compares a high volume, low overhead family owned hardware store to a "chain store", which have color brochures listing "sales". Just as important as genuine discount prices, is which store has an actual repair department with staff trained by the manufacturers so you can get your power tools and garden tools repaired on site in a timely fashion. I am of the belief that every province has one or more family owned appliance shop and builders merchants shop which compete aggressively in price and with superior repair service to heavily advertised chain operations.

I am of the opinion that most every province in Thailand has a "go to" shop that provides the water pumps, water filters and associated chemicals for municipal buildings, hospitals, sports stadiums, and schools. The same water pump specialist will often be the "go to" shop that installs and maintains village or community water supply installations. These independent shops can often provide swimming pool owners in Thailand the lowest price of swimming pool chemicals and might even provide better local delivery service than a fancy dedicated swimming pool franchise shop. In Buriram province a family owned water pump | water tank builders merchants is Ruangsangthai and the prices they charge in Buriram and Surin Province may be similar to what other similar low overhead high volume non air conditioned water pump shops can quote you.

http://www.buriram-bosch-power-tools.info/swimming-pool-supplies.html

In 2008 and 2009 I had some custom furniture made to spec by Neo House Products in Korat. They had a great furniture design department and did free delivery to a small town in Buriram Province since the order filled one truck. One of the store owners was my contact and his English skills were excellent. It may be worth the time of the OP to check with the furniture design department of Neo House products. http://www.neohouseproducts.com/Map.html

Perhaps these will be of interest to the buddy of the OP

1) What name is in English in the space for "owner" on the approved building plans for the house?

2) Who is listed on the "Permit to build" as the owner?

3) Who is listed on the written contract with the house builder as the owner of the house?

4) Who is listed as the owner of the house on the house insurance policy?

I check the price today of 10 meter pieces of Thai standard rebar in Buriram that are used in typical house building. I did not obtain a price from the HomePro store or from Thaiwatsadu in Buriram. The price on Highway 2074 in Buriram from a family owned builders merchants store ranges from 60 baht per piece to 350 baht per piece of re-bar steel. Free delivery in many parts of Buriram Province and a few parts of Surin province are included in the price I was quoted. This should help the OP compare prices he is quoted for the house he is building on Koh Lanta.

While this is the price per cubic meter of concrete delivered in Buriram Province from a computer controlled modern concrete batching plant in six cubic meter ready mixed trucks it is indicative of the prices charged for normal concrete in other Thailand Provinces including the Krabi area. I priced ready mix concrete delivered to my wife's village which is 15 KM from Muang Buriram and the prices did vary depending upon the dealer of the major brand cement including. I found in Buriram Thailand you can price the cost per cubic meter of ready mixed concrete from Thai Pride Cement Co, Asia Cement, Siam City Cement Public Company, TPI Polene Public Company, CEMEX, and SCG Cement Co. often called CPAC Concrete. All six of these reputable major Cement companies have manufacturing plants located in Sariburi. The cement mix is then shipped to each province and batched by the local Ready Mix Dealer who will show the cement brand name on the Silo of the Batching Plant.

I was quoted in writing Thai Pride Concrete delivered in a modern Liebherr ready mix delivery truck to a village 15km from Muang Buriram the following prices in June 2014:

180 KSC 1699 baht per cubic meter, 210 KSC 1799 baht per cubic meter, 240 KSC concrete 1849 per cubic meter, 280 KSC 1899 baht per cubic meter. These written prices were quoted by the owner of Ruangsangthai Builders Merchants located across from the Buriram Provincial Electricity Authority office. I believe these prices are similar to what the OP could pay in Krabi. There was more information at http://www.burirambuildersmerchants.com/ready-mix-concrete-delivery.html Not every concrete dealer had an actual computer controlled modern batching plant and not every dealer could provide documentation of the load you had delivered.

One Hundred Nine Thousand baht (109,000) difference between a self propelled Sakari Lawn mower with a Honda gasoline engine and a ride on lawn tractor such as the Sakari LWA175. You can easily see prices at many HomePro Stores for sit on lawn mowers or a self propelled grass mower. I bought my Bosch electric lawn mower in Buriram at Ruangsangthai Hardware on Highway 2074 and they delivered the lawn mower to our home, set it up and showed my wife and her sister how to properly mow the lawn. But for O.P. with a larger 2 rai of lawn maybe the manufactured in Japan genuine Honda model HRJ216R2 Self Propelled mower that sells for 25,200 baht is worth considering. For less money The Sakari 21" with a Honda GXV160 petrol engine is worth considering. Home Pro currently sells an older model Sakari SKG175 Lawn Tractor for 145,000 baht. If I lived in Kalasin I would first look at a family owned shop that could actually repair the lawn mower I purchased at the store I buy the lawn mower. In Buriram Province the family owned Ruangsangthai Water Pump specialist shop sells the current model Sakari LWA 175 garden tractor for 127,900 baht and perhaps similar shops with lower overhead in Kalasin have similar sensible prices. I noticed the Makita PLM4622 self propelled lawn mower that is made in China and costs 20,800 in Buriram.

HomePro currently sells an older model Craftsman YT4000 riding lawn tractor for a sale price of 199,500 baht and it is imported from China. Repairs and spare parts in Thailand for a Craftsman lawn mower than sells for how much at Sears in the USA was something to ponder. I thought is was 'cheeky" to claim it a sale, at over $6100 USD for a lawn mower with no spare parts in stock in Buriram and it costs under $1800 at Sears in the USA for the same model 24hp lawn tractor.

Seven years ago I purchased a Karcher K4.98 130 bar pressure sprayer from HomeWorks and it has served my family and my wife's family in the village very well. It has not needed any repairs. I've seen the Zinsano Atlantic model for 5690 baht and the Zinsano Caspian Pressure Washer for 7590 baht in Buriram at Ruangsangthai Hardware. That Buriram Builders Merchant is a repair location for Zinsano pressure sprayers with parts for several models in stock in the tool repair department. It might be worthwhile for the OP to check with shop he found that has lower prices than Homepro, for other Zinsano Pressure sprayers or slightly larger Karcher power sprayers. My personal experience was that while the Karcher power sprayer was not cheap, it certainly has proven to be able to withstand use by village relatives. I have not had the need for a repair location in Buriram for the Karcher Power Sprayer so I can't cite any repair costs.

I have seen at the HomePro on the bypass highway in Korat a sit on model Craftsman brand lawn mower, made in China, at triple the price it sold for at Sears in the USA. Sort of like how Weber BBQ's or Char-Broil BBQ's imported into Thailand sell for triple the everyday cost in the USA. However there are in fact several brands of riding lawn mowers sold in Thailand at less onerous margins. I'll look in Buriram and post Wednesday what brands I see of this product. How many rai of grass is the OP cutting? Certainly are self propelled Honda and Makita lawn mowers sold for various prices at several shops in Buriram.

I've bought only two front loading washing machines in America, but five in Thailand. The 6.5 kg Siemens XLM 600 front loader was certainly made in Thailand as is still growing strong in my wife's village. The larger capacity Electrolux we have now is also made in Thailand. I've done the purchase in Buriram for several of my wife's family members who saved up the money for a washing machine and front loaders on sale at the right shops, even with delivery and store staff installation, can be bought under 10K. 12K had plenty of front loader choices. Only one low end model Samsung front loader was made China, but it also works fine. The warranty periods are full of fine print, but a reputable local family owned appliance shop has served us well. A few times they had the "factory service" team come and deal with a more complicated issue, but never on the washing machines. Parts for the Siemens cook top sold in Thailand, but made in Portugal, that was a different repair experience. Even new wheels for the made in Thailand Sanki brand solar clothes dryer are easy to obtain in Thailand.

I've had very good experiences when buying Bosch, Makita, Maktec power tools and garden tools in Buriram Province from Ruangsangthai Hardware. I was referred to this shop when they had the lowest price to buy and install the water pumps, water tanks, water filtering system, water pressure tank at our home in a small town near Buriram. The owner will gladly double the factory warranty for Makita and Hitachi Power Tools you buy at his Buriram Builders Merchants store. He does a thriving business in power tools locally not only selling but repairing power tools by an actual tool repair department at his main store located across from the Buriram PEA office building. I've seen boxes of power tools he receives in the postal mail for repairs, and boxes of Bosch, Makita and Maktec power tools he sells to customers who pay him via his bank account and he mails them the tested new tools via EMS for far less than even Global House, Homepro, Thaiwatsadu charge for the exact same tool. There must be other independent family owned tool shops in many parts of Thailand that do not have the high rental fees, high advertising overhead of the national home improvement chain stores. If the OP finds a shop where the owner has the confidence in a particular brand, stocks the repair parts, perhaps that owner will double the warranty. Makita and Maktec Tools are made inside the same Makita Tool Corporation assembly plants, to the same build standards, but not the exact parts in each tool. A Makita, or Bosch power tool, lawn mower or garden tool is not a throw away item, like so many 2nd tier or "house brand" electrical goods I've bought and discarded in Thailand.

You can contact American Standard office in Bangkok for any spare parts. They have quite a selection and a decent web page to see the part numbers. You can e-mail the parts or service manager in Bangkok and they will answer tech and part questions in my experience. This was one e-mail that worked for me last year

[email protected] In the customer care section they had quite a few spare parts sold and stocked in Thailand.

http://www.americanstandard.co.th/index-en.php

re: post #151 But unfortunately, I see it also means I'm going to need to pay ฿150 to get our house inspected.

In our case, they never came to the actual house, we paid for the permit to build, and they do not issue the permit until they read the house building plans. Now the actual on site home builders following the plan to a "T", that is a different story. But certainly a fools errand to do it without a plan in Thai. It was a good "point reference" and saved any shouting matches. They could save face, when I smiled and pointed out the "slight" differences from the physical work and the approved plans. All that said a couple of doors and windows in different places did not matter one bit 7 years later.

“The building permit document itself incurs a 20-baht fee and there are other fees for inspection, depending on what the building permit is for.

The inspection fee for a building of no more than two storeys or of a height up to 12 meters is 0.5 baht (50 satang) per square meter of the total building area, combining the areas of each storey if there are more than one.

For structures of two or three stories, or between 12 and 15 meters tall – the fee is 2 baht per square meter of total building area, combining the areas of each storey.

For structures of more than three stories or of heights over 15 meters, the fee is four baht per square meter of total building area, again combining the areas of each storey.

The fees I have given here are the inspection fees for new buildings only. There are different rates used for other aspects of building permits, such as in renovating a property, not building a new one.

These rates are listed in the building permit fee section in the Interior Ministry’s Ministerial Regulation Notice 7 issued in BE 2528 (1985), which updates the Building Control Act BE 2522 (1979).

A copy is available for download from the Thai Council of Engineers website

This is from a google search and a real estate firm on Koh Samui. The laws are nationwide as are the nominal fees for a "permit to build"

No. 00000/2555
License is given to _______-_______ the owner of a building, residing at __-__ Alley/Soi - Road ___-___ Moo __-__ Tambon/Kweang _____-______ Amphur/Khet ______-_______ Province ______-_______
Clause 1 To construct a building (green area ___) At - Alley/Soi - Road - Moo - Tambon/Kweang - Amphur/Khet - Province - in Nor.Sor. 3 no xxxx which is the land of ___________-____________
Clause 2 To be a ...................................... building
Type ............................ amount ............. to be .................. with an area/length of .................. - square meters. A parking, a u-turn area, and an entrance/exit for.................. car(s) with the area of - square meters.
Type ............................ amount ............... to be .................. with an area/length of ................. - square meters. A parking, a u-turn area, and an entrance/exit for ................. car(s) with the area of .......................... square meters.
Type ............................ amount ............... to be .................. with an area/length of ................. - square meters. A parking, a u-turn area, and an entrance/exit for ................ car(s) with the area of .......................... square meters.
according to an area plan, a blueprint, details of a blueprint, and details of a calculation no ...........................
Clause 3 Mr. ............................... is the foreman
Clause 4 A licensee shall follow conditions below:
A licensee shall follow principles, methods, and conditions according to ministerial regulations and/or local registrations; section 8 (11), section 9, or section 10 of the Building Control Act B.E. 2522. The building(s) is calculated by Mr. ___-___ In case of a blueprint violates other relevant laws, a licensee shall follow those laws.
This license is valid until ............. month ............. B.E. .............
Issued on .............. month .............. B.E. ..............
(signed) ............../s/...........
(Mr. ...................................)
Position ...........................
(official seal being affixed)

For a house? Interior or exterior? For wood or concrete or roof?

Perhaps the OP could go in person to the Daikin Center in Bangkok with his house building plans. They would be happy to spec out a/c of any type for him. I had central a/c in California and I wised up real quick to that thought in Thailand. A Mitsubishi wall mounted fan might keep you cool enough in any bathroom in Thailand. I had eight split system a/c units installed in a house in rural Thailand. Simple to cool the room we need for the time period we want. With 4 water pumps, electric fence, dish washer, washing machine, a few TV's, a couple of computers, two kitchens, etc.. our PEA bill was still 2845 baht last month. Some months it has hit 3400 baht. I do not get any discount on the PEA bill. I had all 8 split units cleaned earlier this month for 300 baht a unit. I've never had a split unit need to be fixed since installed in 2008. But if one needed to be fixed it is one unit down and not the entire system. NONE of the pipes are visible in any interior or exterior wall. None of the compressors are in public view from the street in front or behind the house. None of the exterior compressor units are mounted to a wall. All of the compressors are in places easy to clean, easy to maintain, and with easy drainage of water from the inside the room unit. Only the lower end series LG is noisy, the better "series" of Panasonic, Mitsubishi, Daikin, Samsung and Amena are very quiet. The OP could meet in person with technical reps from several mainstream a/c manufacturers in Bangkok at the annual Architect Expo held later this month at Impact Challenger Hall. The cost to install and to repair a central unit for a normal house in Thailand might be a bit more than a central a/c unit in the United States. The OP can see the actual costs for himself easily in Bangkok. Even large Government Buildings in Buriram Province use split systems instead of a central unit to save energy and for the ease of maintenance, cleaning and repairs. Perhaps the OP would post on this forum the actual prices he gets quoted for "central air" by any major a/c firm once he brings his house plans to reps of such firms.

The price I have paid in 2014, including VAT, including free "local delivery" (the Ruangsangthai water pump shop truck was already going to our small town in Buriram Province on a larger delivery, and it was not a direct immediate same day delivery, but rather it was a couple of days after I placed the order) for swimming pool supplies is:

Not all "Blue plastic" tanks are created equal. Both Safe Brand and Diamond Brand sell blue tanks of certain "series" that are not prone to the issues of common blue tanks. They list the sunlight blocking layer on the label of some better series of blue water tanks. Any good water tank retailer can show you water tanks side by side and indicated the discount price including proper delivery and guaranteed installation at your home. The water tank brochures I have read make it clear about wall thickness, outlet size, warranty period so it is not difficult to compare name brand water tanks in Buriram or any province in Thailand.

The same independent "water pump shop" that sells and installs water pumps, water tanks and chemicals to "village water systems" is a good place for all manner of swimming pool chemicals at a fraction of the cost of a swimming pool shop. Every province has one or two "go to" water pump shops that do a serious business in chemicals for water treatment. The cost savings is significant on chlorine and all manner of swimming pool chemicals at such shops. I paid dearly for swimming pool chemicals from a famous Bangkok Swimming Pool company prior to realizing the water pump shop in Buriram had every swimming pool chemical for one third to one ninth what I was previously paying. Ubon Ratchathani certainly must have one or more similar shops. Perhaps the same shop that supplies the water pumps and water treatment for the larger Ubon Ratchathani Government hospitals.

I bought two 2000 liter Diamond Brand Green tree Sand Stone Series water tanks for clean water to use inside a two story home. They are at ground level in a "pump room" attached to a carport. I also had installed a 500 liter Hydroline Bladder Expansion Diaphragm Tank. When the electricity goes out, we still have water pressure inside both floors of our home. No leaks in those two 2000 liter plastic water tanks and it would seem they could be cleaned if I wanted. Now under the ground tanks are a different beast. I watched as two large 30,000 liter clean water tanks were installed last year in Buriram behind the Taweekit Shopping Center. They also have a serious booster pump to pull that water from the underground tanks to inside the new part of that shopping center. If you are in Buriram, you can be sure they do not plan to pull up those two tanks as they placed concrete over the top. Also in Buriram above ground, at surface level water tanks on normal concrete pads, water pumps, bladder expansion diaphragm tanks are in use at i-Mobile Stadium. They hid the various water tanks behind bushes and they do not seem unsightly in any manner to me. If the OP has hired a house builder who would come back to deal with water tank issues, years after that house is built he has hired a rare breed of house builder. In my experience and observation getting a typical house builder in Buriram to come back and solve roof leak issues is a great accomplishment the first year and nearly impossible after 12 months. The house builder who built the home I live in was wise to make water pumps, water tanks, a/c, kitchen counters NOT part of the contract and I used sub contractors who were far better trained in their specific fields. Those sub contractors, hired directly were responsive to "after the sales" service issues. The house builder "lost interest" after one year in any service issues.

The cost to upgrade to a better, larger meter, will pale in the cost you might incur if you "blow out" your meter and have a surge, fire or brown out in your home. Your meter is sized for a village family with nominal electrical consumption. I lived in a row house rental for 2 years with the 15/45 meter. 2 a/c units, major appliances, no issues. But a few houses down an expat had nothing out of the ordinary, for a Farang furnished 2 bedroom house. Two a/c, a water pump, water heater, TV, small appliances, normal major appliances. One day BOOM, POP and all the power went out on the block and he had a fire at his meter and a surge or some major electric malfunction in his modest house. That 5/15 meter service cost him dearly. Depending on who actually signed up at the PEA office, for the OP current electric meter, they might have a modest deposit on the books. If he goes to his PEA office, the actual net cost to upgrade to a 15/45 is nominal, as the deposit is refundable when he changes service or changes address. Crossy did a fantastic job of answering each question for the OP.

Rabbi: I spoke on the telephone today about your post with the owner of the #1 volume water pump | water Tank | water treatment shop located in Buriram. Pichai runs the family owned "Ruangsangthai" Hardware and Pump Shop located five minutes from the Buriram Private Hospital on the Buriram - Phutthaisong Highway 2074. He said he could easily send a team of his water pump installers to your home in Chompun Buri as he is doing other water filtering and water pump installation projects in Satuk next week. At no charge, no obligation, he would have his staff meet you and your Thai speaking better half at your Surin province home, to take a water sample and ascertain what some solutions might be for clean water in your home and garden. Then Pichai would EMS the water sample to a private testing lab in Bangkok and in about 4 days the results are faxed to his store. When he has the results he would phone you and request you meet him in person at his large store on Highway 2074 so he can show you exact name brand water pumps, name brand water tanks, and the filter tanks and media to go inside the water tanks that would solve your water situation. He can give you written guarantees on the products and installation. The only part of the project that are not direct employees of Ruangsangthai would be the professional well drilling firm he sub contracts. He will guarantee their work. Ruangsangthai has thousands, not hundreds, of water pumps in stock. Grundfos, Mercury, Mitsubishi are some of the submersible pumps. Hitachi, Mitsubishi, Pentax, Luckystar, Ebara are some of the land pumps. If you do a google search you can find much more about this store and they have a web site and google maps directions. His installation and service fees are a fraction of what are quoted by chain home improvement centers.

I have hired Ruangsangthai to install and maintain water pumps in three different Buriram locations, both village and in a town and I have found the prices always lower than any competitor, the installation crews professional and the owner responsive to my questions. The owner, Pichai speaks and understands English better in person, than on his mobile phone 089-844-9680 His shop has a serious stock of PVC and sprinklers for garden and farming irrigation. He sells inexpensive water pumps and water tanks to farmers and higher quality longer lasting water pumps, etc.. to those in a position to think "long term" value. I have made use of the free "loaner pump" when a Mitsubishi pump could not be repaired at my home, and the Ruangsangthai staff installed a free loaner water pump for the time period it took to repair and return my Mitsubishi water pump.

Cooked in Post 11 points out the two problems with PVC drain pipe. It looks great at a "Home Show" in the USA, but in Thailand the rain flow off of a large roof, just not enough water can get into the gutters. Now in Thailand you can afford to have a worker make more holes in the PVC drain pipe to allow more rain water into the gutter area. You can also do annual removal and cleaning underneath and on the sides of the rain gutter where decomposing vegetation does get inside the gutter. It is that decomposing vegetation that helps to rust away or destroy most any rain gutter, even PVC or stainless steel rain gutters. With initial modifications and annual cleaning the PVC drain pipe is an option to consider, but it is not a simple "cure all" as it is presented at a Home and Garden show by a vendor in the USA. They do in fact sell and install rain gutter mesh toppings in Thailand. I have seen such at the annual Architect Expo in Bangkok. They even sell wire mesh down spout "bulbs" to prevent birds from making a nest inside your downspout. I can not recall which of the rain gutter firms had such on display, but it was readily available from a vendor who had a booth at the annual architect expo at Impact Challenger Hall in Bangkok.