Munsterman

I have exactly the same question....

On 7/1/2019 at 6:20 AM, sometimewoodworker said:

If instead of the word "Thais" you had used the phrase laxly supervised builders" you would be far more accurate. 

 

There are workers of any nationality who are as bad or worse than the worst Thai worker. Equally there are workers of every nationality who take pride in doing a great job. The problem with finding them in Thailand is that, in general, they already have good jobs and aren't interested in temporary (building is the epitome of temporary) work.

That's why its good to use a company that is big enough to have staff - or at least full-time subbies for the trade work. Many smaller companies here (which includes most falangs) rely on day labour, so don't have the chance to train and supervise staff to attain high standards. I've watched it happen, fortunately not at my place. 

On 6/30/2019 at 12:49 PM, 4MyEgo said:

Retiring from a property valuation background of 25 years in Sydney, it was part and parcel of my job to inspect some properties being built so that various banks could release funds to pay the builder once the builder sent them his progress claim, there are 5 claims from start to finish in 20% claims per inspection.

 

I have seen a lot of crap workmanship from builders and a few good ones, suffice to say whenever I was doing a reno or a build, I would project manage it myself because I have never heard a good story when it came to a client being happy with their builder.

 

The above said, we waited a year for the Thai guy in our village to build our place, he is not a qualified builder in any form, however worked under his father for many years and learnt the trade so to speak, and I inspected 3 properties he built in the village.

 

He did an extension on our little bungalow and then joined the main house to the bungalow, in all it took a year with him only using a friend and then calling in team of renderers when they had to render inside and outside. 

 

His workmanship is that good that I won't allow anyone else to do any work around the house and will wait months for him to finish off whatever he has on so that he can do a further extension, or a covered outdoor area, or an additional carport.

 

He is cheap with his prices as we paid him 500,000 baht back 3 years ago for the extension to the bungalow and single level house build which worked out to be around 256 square metres excluding the existing bungalow which is 64 square metres. 

 

The materials we purchased cost us around a million baht, so that works out to be around 5,860 baht per square metre inclusive of the builders fee, or the complete build of 1.5 mil baht, or $272AUD per square metre, that's slightly cheaper than what it would cost me back in Sydney, i.e. 64,500 per square metre, or $3,000AUD per square metre, or $768,000AUD completed, so one could say we are stocked ????

 

 

 

A true tale of success! Great prices too.

I saw someone describe Trump/Netanyahu/Kushner's Palestinian Plan as the equivalent of a "paedophile offering candy to kids from the back of a van". Obviously Israel and the US has been softening up the Palestinians economically for a few years (destruction of Gaza, de-funding of UNWRA, closing of the Palestinian delegation in Washington etc etc), and thought throwing a couple of coins at them would do the trick. That they expected an "economic solution" without addressing the context of military occupation indicates the extent of idiocy in the Trump administration. Even avid Israeli supporters like Tony Blair were embarassed at being forced to attend Kushner's little picnic.

Without major changes to thinking by Netanyahu and his cronies, there may not be a state of Israel to argue about in another few years. No tears from me. The Israelis had their chance and blew it. Too busy finding excuses for their land grab to worry about their grandchildren.

Pity that Palestine even bothered to seek a "a just, lasting and comprehensive peaceful solution". Israel has never wanted peace. It just wants land. And the international community is so bereft of humanity it prefers to side with these colonists. But the other Palestinian action on the international stage last week is perhaps more interesting - their joining of the ICC. Fortunately, the USA could not block this. And of course, Israel refuses to sign up to the ICC because it knows it will be held to account for war crimes committed over the years. Another major moral victory to Palestine.

Utter BS, the British were in cahoots with the Jews. Just check what Orde Wingate was up to in the 1930s in Palestine!

No, the reality is that British simply couldn't make their mind up and tried the impossible, which was promising both sides at different times and assuming this would not gets people's back up. 'Individuals' Brits were in cahoots with both sides at different times and at different levels (politicians back in London or in situ in the Mandate, local commanders, to soldiers themselves). Wingate, for all his success cannot be pointed to as being 'standard' British policy. Eventually he was recognised by the British Government to have too strong a personal interest in what he was doing there, and was sent elsewhere, never to set foot there again in his life. At flash point, some British soldiers were known to have stayed behind and fought with the Jews and some were known to have assisted Arabs in carrying out attacks on Jews. One example is February 22, 1948 on Ben Yehuda street.

Kudos. Someone who actually knows their history. The British stabbed both sides in the back and both sides launched attacks on them. Those are the FACTS.

Maybe so - but totally irrelevant to this topic, which is about the sleazy nature of the Israeli political world and its incessant land theft from Palestinians since 1948. The central point here is that there is adequate evidence that Israeli politicians are as materially corrupt as they are morally.

Women never do this. Just ask UNIFEM, that august body funded by the contributions of taxes from most western countries, who will reassure you that if she was at all violent it was only to defend herself.

I would just like to point that the writer of this headline seems to get off on anthropomorphising bits if metal that are stuck together to form flying machines. The planes are actually innocent of any killings.

Given that extensive research shows that at least one in three victims of domestic violence are male, this is not a shock at all (see, for example, the website www.oneinthreedotcomdotau). (Do I really have to put URLs in this ridiculous format to keep the Maters of ThaiVisa happy? I can only assume they must have a good reason, albeit one which is not shared by the millions of similar forums around the world).

The shock is realising that there has been so much BS over the years about domestic / partner violence that the reality has become obscured.

Yes, it works OK if you want to fly to Yangon. It doesn't allow for Mandalay at present.

I'm not sure what can be done since carrying weapons for self protection is illegal in Thailand.

It's a joke how these dogs have taken over many towns simply because people are too lazy to do anything. It really does make the country look like a 3rd world slum. In fact, much more impoverished places don't have thousands of homeless dogs roaming the streets, probably because they have some pride in their towns.

Carry a cane (if you are old) or an umbrella if you are concerned.

Or a loaded pistol if you have a permit. I hate soi dogs. All of those making excuses for their aggression have never been surrounded by a pack of 20+ crazy dogs late at night. You need sometimes to kill a few to let them know you have moved into town. Preferably the alpha males, then the new top dogs teach the others to leave you alone.

I'll lay 10 to 1 that they don't give up the metric system. Or should that be 144 to 13 that they keep the Imperial?

It looks like the genocide in Gaza has become a media cause celebre for the Swedes, who have recently decided to recognise the Palestinian state. Now, the next question is why doesn't Palestine just unilaterally declare statehood? They don't need Israel's approval (as if they would get it anyway), and it may force the lily-livered hand-wringers in the UN to bugger off to cloud cuckoo land where they belong. Then Palestine, the newly independent state, could figure out if it wants a war with its neighbour or not. But it sure should not wait on permission from Israel, the USA or the UN. Much better to force the hand of the international community. Make them recognise what we all know exists - a separate Palestinian state that is occupied by the the Israeli Army (and please stop mis-calling them the Israeli Defence Force, or IDF - they are about as concerned with defence as is Mike Tyson).

Why does everyone keep referring to "girls" or "she"? We all know that the A-Rabs demonstrate an unusually strong proclivity toward, shall we say, "the love that dare not speak its name" (just to ensure that no-one is the least bit offended). I suspect that this proclivity is not only common to A-Rabs, but also a Muslim trait, given the religious barriers to the normal expressions of sexual desire. So I would like to know just how many young boys in Rotherham, not girls, are victims of this twisted gang? And why does none mention these boys? Why is it just the girls attract expressions of sympathy? Does no-one care for the boys who have been raped and sexually abused by these monsters?

Since last week, England needs to be concerned not only with terrorists wearing keffiyehs, but also those wearing kilts. There are, I have been reliably informed, plans to disrupt daily life in London by leaving unattended haggis on public transport.

One can almost feel the venom dripping out of the above article, usually, commenting

on such baseless statements are waste of time, but just one of the baseless comment

you have made that Israel never led one peace initiative...

2001, Clinton-Arafat- Israeli Pm Barack at Sharem a shiek offered the Palestinians 95%

their land back in echange for peace...... Arafat flatly refused....

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/jan/03/israel2

In 2008, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert offered to withdraw from almost the entire West Bank and partition Jerusalem on a demographic basis. Another blown opportunity by the Palestinians.

Are you disingenuous or just ill-informed? Abbas was told NOT to sign the offer by Israel's Foreign Minister, Tzipi Livni, as she was replacing Ohlmert while he resigned to fight allegations of corruption. Abbas did not know who he should be dealing with. He appears to have made the mistake of thinking that he might get a better deal from Livni. In retrospect, a huge mistake. Your inference that Abbas somehow did not want peace or the realisation of a 2 state solution is way off the mark. He was just misread the entrails.

That good old magic word "IF" again.

"IF" my Granddad wore a dress he would have been my Granny. However he didn't, and he wasn't

But you don't know what your granddad did in the privacy of his own wardrobe now, do you?

How about a campaign to get the police to actually do policing?

I appreciate your motive is concern for the safety of others, but don't get too carried away there. Why would they selectively enforce the one law about helmets? Surely they should enforce all laws, such as those regarding alcohol sales and consumption; bar girls and prostitution; jaywalking etc? And then you may as well be living in one of those over-regulated tight-ass places like Dubai. Or Tel Aviv. The slack approach to law enforcement is one of Thailand's many endearing features.

Thailand has been seriously anti-smoking for many years, long before most western countries. I think they were one of the first countries to ban point-of-sale advertising. Sure, the Thais often tolerate people smoking, even in places with big "No Smoking" signs. But they don't like it, and quite sensibly focus on stopping the youngsters from ever taking it up.

On a personal note, as an ex nicotine addict I really hate the sanctimonious holier-than-thou sentiments of some of the purer brethren. The type who have never been tempted to step outside the safety net that their nannies brainwashed them into erecting around their lives from infancy. It almost makes me want to start smoking again just to spite the fekers.

Smoking is an easy addiction to develop, and a bugger of one to shake, some say more so than heroin. But it can be beat, although sometimes smokers need support to quit. For those who are thinking about quitting, I heartily recommend finding a local Nicotine Anonymous group.

Love this thread. Julius Streicher's spirit is alive and well and living online in Thailand. But still haven't found anyone calling for forced sterilisations of the jihadis. Well, not yet.