Thaibel

Hi Peter,

If you have someone who speaks and reads Thai you can buy the standard contracts in a good shop for school supplies and articles, they mostly have them there together with lease contracts, sale agreements and other. You only need to buy the whole pack, like 10 or 20 contracts, but so what ,it is only a few baht anyway and it saves you a lawyer and it's a standard legal contract.

Good luck,

Thaibel Asia

With 80% i ment, the soil density test that has to be done on the land to check the stability, you will never have 100%, it is not concrete after all.

2000m2(area):8-10m3(cub/truck)=250 trucks total x 1400-1600(average truck price)=350.000.-400.000.Baht

This is for filling the land exactly 1m.

8-10m³ per truck? Why not use a 10 wheel truck, then you can bring at least 15m³ per truck load.

8-10m3 per truck is legally allowed, if you put more then this and you could get in trouble with the local police....

Anyway, as someone pointed out, you have to watch every single truckload being dumped, otherwise there is a good chance that you will get a load of construction debris (asbestos, crushed concrete etc) or other garbage dumped on your land.

The price sounds unreasonably high, I would say 200k is a more reasonable figure. Have your wife or someone else Thai shop around a bit and do not let them reveal that a farang is involved until the price is set.

This price quote is very good if you want it to be done proffessionel, lower than this is not advised.....especially not in Touristic areas, in Koh Samui it goes up to almost 1900 baht/truck because there is not much filling ground available, it all depends on area too offcourse.

With 80% i ment, the soil density test that has to be done on the land to check the stability, you will never have 100%, it is not concrete after all.

2000m2(area):8-10m3(cub/truck)=250 trucks total x 1400-1600(average truck price)=350.000.-400.000.Baht

This is for filling the land exactly 1m.

Thaibel Asia

Hi,

We have experience with landfill operations

Here some tips:

1.Why you need 1m above street level for a landfill ?

2.Have at least 80% compounding

3.Ask for a guarentee for 60 days for the landfill to be stable

4.Ask for a lumpsum price instead of a truck price, you will be better of and you are sure not to pay more

5.A 10% pre-payment is normal, doing landfill without pre-payment is risky business.

6.And at last and most important, ask your license to do the landfill before starting it to avoid problems with the officials.

For more info you are welcome to contact us.

Thaibel Asia Co.Ltd

I'm moving to Bangkok in January, and my Thai friends there are finding me a 1br apartment before I move (long story). It will be in the Klongtoey area, around Sukhumvit Soi 36. I'm on a mega budget so it will be "up to" $6K a month. What sort of thing do you think I'll get?

Right now I'm living in a $2.5K a month concrete/lino room with a fan, bed and basic bathroom with non-flushing toilet and hosepipe shower in Ubon, so I'm not expecting anything fancy, but curiosity's getting the better of me!

Not much more then in ubon i guess

You should try the airport area, better conditions

Good luck

Been to Thailand many times,but not to look for house with my family.

Would like live 30 mins from Pattaya & schools.

No further than Pluak Daeng. Like something and somewhere a liitle upmarket.

Any thoughts most appreciated.

Ban Amphur

Hi!

I plan to spend some time in Thailand, about 6-8 months. Need a place to stay. Unfortunately I don’t have a clue about renting prices.

Need a 2 bedroom flat, with furniture, high speed internet, air cond and other stuff for comfort. I don’t intend to stay in bkk.

Can any one tell me how much in average would be the price for this kind of apartment?

Thanks!

Hi,

Let us assume you stay outside Bangkok then i would recommend between 10.000-20.000.Baht/month for the lower range, 20.000.-35.000.baht/month in the middle range and above 35.000.baht/month in the high-end range.

This is my opinion, a general view for rental prices in touristic areas and outside Bangkok area.

Warm regards,

Thaibel Asia

How much will I have to shell out for taxes on the income and management fees? Anything else I need to know? thx to all. shovel in advance

Cheapest way is to find an agent in the city where you have your condo.

Standard commission is 1 month for 1 year contract and 1/2 month for 6 month contract.

Good Luck

Thaibel Asia

Hi,

We are urgently searching for a house or condo for our customer outside the pattaya/Jomtien city or near Ban Amphur.

We are coming to Pattaya next week for visiting available properties and the contract will start around half november for 6 months rental.

Specifications:

-Minimum 100 m2

-2 bedrooms and 1 bathroom

-Spacious livingroom

-Spacious garden or terrace

-privacy

-At least Communal swimming pool or in case it is a condo it has to be near the sea.

-ADSL or internetfacilities.

-UBC or cable tv

-pricerange 20.000-30.000 baht/month

Please send available properties to our email

Kind regards,

Thaibel Asia

Farangs cannot buy land. However, as per Thai law, a farang can own 49% of a Thai company (not in all industries - you should check this with a lawyer) - so, therefore if a Thai company was used to buy a piece of land, you could be 49% owner of that company, but the other 51% must be Thai owned. I cannot tell you of the minimum number of shareholders, but I'm fairly sure it is a few -

It is 7 shareholders, minimum 1 should be Thai Nationality

meaning that, if you owned 49%, there would usually be a few Thai names on the shareholders' certificate owning smaller percentages.

There is some debate over the validity of many "nominee shareholders" (the 51% Thai part) in many land-owning companies.

This is a typical real estate answer (although you must understand that real estate agents have their own agenda): "Whilst it is possible that these companies are not 100% in-line with the law (which is not exactly clear itself), there have been few, if any, reports of such companies experiencing any particular problems to date." I can (but I won't) quote a reputable real estate agent (yes, there are many around), who says that, if ever the Thai law clamps down on these companies (which, as a real estate agent, he doubts - you don't bite the hand that feeds you), there will be ample time to legally adjust the shareholder setup retrospectively before any action from the powers that be, and changes in the law take longer than changes in company structure.

There is also the chance that you can own FREEHOLD an apartment in a condominium; condos have their own Condomium titles, which a farang may own 100% - although only 49% of the units in that condo may be entirely foreign-owned.

Have you spoken to a lawyer? Or maybe Sunbelt Asia? Either of them could offer much more conclusive advice than me.

Best and cheapest way to do is from your own home country if possible.

Thaibel Asia

We build with load bearing walls just like in Europe...........We don't fill the the blocks with grout and steel.....the cavities are used as insulation and for the electric supplies. Thaibel Asia

Interesting...

Load bearing walls without steel rebar, and I can see vertical electrical conduit being installed, but where to install horizontal runs? I don't think I'd use these on a hillside considering the weight & NO STEEL reinforcement.

How you think they do this in Europe ? Offcourse our floors have steel reinforcement

In addition, the foundation would have to be pretty 'beefy' to support the weight of these blocks (hopefully, with steel)

The foundation is beefy, with steel. In Europe it's even heavier...and there they use 2 walls you know

Is it me or ? The girl posing in the photo with her hand laid across the block that measures 23cm;

(I'm assuming she's 'a woman') Her hand is larger than mine and I wear an XL golf glove or #29.

She is a woman yes, and no her hand(tip finger till wrist is 17cm) is certainly not bigger then yours....the bricks are 40X20X20cm.......the 3 extra cm mentioned is for the plasterwork on both sides of the wall.

Kind regards

Thaibel Asia

Hey real estate boys, if the gov't has indeed created this "new way" just show us the documents that say it is so.

Hey Johnny,

It's not true, the gov't did not create such contract.

It's just a marketing stunt from some real estate agent in Los.

Kind regards,

Thaibel Asia

Marketing stunts

Thaibel Asia

As requested here are the bricks we use.

And i'm sorry, the constructor don't sell these bricks to other builders or developers, he produces the bricks in his factory and only uses them for his own projects.

1 brick is 22kg

Regards,

Thaibel Asia

It would not be necessary to use such large blocks in building a wall unless the wall was a load bearing wall. I have never seen a Thai building which was designed with load bearing walls....all the ones I have seen were built with columns carrying the load and the walls were just infill.

Are you building with columns?....or load bearing walls?.....do you fill the cavities in the blocks with grout and reinforcing steel?

Chownah

We build with load bearing walls just like in Europe...........We don't fill the the blocks with grout and steel.....the cavities are used as insulation and for the electric supplies.

Thaibel Asia

Probably just a marketing stunt.....

Thaibel Asia

Welcome

Thaibel Asia

And about building codes in Los, well, we better not start about it.........it would lead us to fear, wouldn't it ? All i can say is our construction process of the house is almost the same as in europe yes, but fitted for tropical living. 1 example, we use bricks of 23cm not 9cm that we make ourself and only that gives our houses a big savings on electricity(aircon) because of a better isolation.

As i said before, it's up to the clients desires/wishes and his budget offcourse.

Thaibel Asia

what size columns are you using for these 23cms blocks? normal 8" columns would use 19cms blocks or less (if you dont mind seeing the columns internally).can you post a picture of them and the cost per unit please.

As requested here are the bricks we use.

And i'm sorry, the constructor don't sell these bricks to other builders or developers, he produces the bricks in his factory and only uses them for his own projects.

1 brick is 22kg

Regards,

Thaibel Asia

I'm with Ollie. Joined this forum as building away merrily, posted a few pictures as encouraged to do and have recommended a local builder ( by PM only ) when asked.

It does seem that you can not now praise a Thai without self-interest groups jumping in with horror stories and look how good I am spiels.

By all means advirtise lads and good on you, as without the support the whole issue collapses. However, not every thread needs to be steered to employ me lines, that's what your banners are for.

Hope you get lot's of business from the sponsorship, but leave the hi-jacking to Osama.

Well......don't have words for this kind of explanation.......

By the way, I do praise Thai builders, we also sell for them, we just wanted to give the difference between Western and Thai standards.....nothing more.

Regards,

Thaibel Asia

Ollie,

Are you referring to us ?

I don't think i did something wrong, did i ? I just told my opinions in a topic what has to do with my field of work. I never pussed anyone to come to me ?

And i m not the only sponsor in this forum, right ? What about Sunbelt ? They do this more then i do.

Im just trying to give advice for people who need and want it, nothing more, nothing less........

This is what a forum is all about......talking about topics, right ?

Kind regards,

Thaibel Asia

i've heard so much about "building to western standards".

all jokes aside, what exactly does this mean? especially in terms of ...

insulation?

electric wiring?

plumbing?

what else?

The term "Western Standards" refers mainly to the 'quality' of the work performed as well as:

Electrical: wiring & conduit installed within the wall and properly grounded.

Plumbing: proper water supply pipes, vents (hidden from view), p-traps, drains (that work), etc.

Roofs: that don't leak

Concrete: properly mixed with the correct (or near correct) cement-water-aggregate ratios. They tend to use too much water here for ease of placement. Proper finish for applying any number of materials; tile, marble, granite, linoleum, etc., instead of a rough finish and later adding a half inch to two inch concrete bed for tile which has no adhesion properties as well as inevitable air gaps/spaces leaving the tile vulnerable to cracking & breaking.

Tile/marble/granite: properly installed using the proper adhesives, equally spaced from wall to wall and uniform grout spaces also using grout additives to resist salts, alkalis, minerals, etc., commonly found in un-filtered house or well water.

Walls: plumb & square (basic in western construction;

Wood Floors: Sleepers imbedded in the concrete instead of glued down to the concrete.

In addition, when referring to western standards it can sometimes be directed towards the bathrooms & kitchens, "western style" which can be quite different than "Thai style", i.e., wall & base cabinets, stove top/hob & vent, hot & cold water fixtures, etc. Bathrooms with 'western toilets', bidgets/b'days, shower enclosure, hot water, proper drains with floors that direct the water to the drain and not to some other part of the room, a common practice here in Thailand even in 5-star hotels.

Anyone who's built a house in Thailand knows it's no picnic. A friend of mine once told me it's better to stay away from the project, "No matter if you're there everyday to sort out the problems, at least if you're not there you won't have the headaches everyday". After 18 years of managing all types of construction projects throughout the Kingdom, I can honestly say that it's one of the least rewarding jobs and not paid very well either. Being responsible for 'everything' and trying to explain & show proper and/or better ways of doing things is quite the task.

Basically, Thai workers learn from watching each other and copy just about every movement. Yes, there are good hands but few and far between. The common terminology for most workers is: 'makngai', which translates to: 'fast and dirty' and 'you can't see the problem from across the street'. Ask any farang construction/project managers in Thailand and most will tell you that it's a glorified babysitting job.

All or most contractors don't supply proper supervision and it's left to the homeowner if he wants things done properly or to 'his standards'. Unlike fifteen years ago when you couldn't get proper materials, additives, grouts, sealers, etc., nowadays you can so it is possible to build with a house with integrity, to last without having to repair and replace frequently.

As previously mentioned, there are no government inspector's to ensure proper construction practices and the use of proper materials so you're basically at the mercy of the contractor or workers if your building experience and knowledge is limited and don't expect a Thai contractor to build to "Western Standards" if he lacks the experience. In the west we are protected, somewhat, from un-scrupulous contractors. The law is on our side. Here, in Thailand, not the case. In fact, most contractors that I've worked with don't have companies and don't pay taxes. My wife was at the police station the other day with a friend who's having a lot of trouble with her contractor. When she came back home she told me she couldn't believe how many people were there to make complaints about contractors. Of course the police can do very little, if anything to remedy the problem but one has to first make a complaint at the police station prior to suing and if it goes that far it can take years and lots of legal costs. Most Thai's don't bother and write it off.

The term, "Western Standards" I believe, is meant to mean a higher quality of work as compared to tamadah, the usual....and in my humble opinion, most Thai construction "is a joke"..

I could not say it better....

i've heard so much about "building to western standards".

all jokes aside, what exactly does this mean? especially in terms of ...

It's hard not to joke because it doesn't really mean anything. Mostly it implies a western style more than anything about the actual construction. Building codes are either non-existent or unenforced (unless the building collapses and kills people). For comparison, here are the building codes for Las Vegas, Nevada. Inspectors actually come out and make sure things are "up to code" at various phases of the construction.

A western style yes, Most tourists who buy here want to have a spacious livingroom.......a nice bathroom for 2 ........a nice build in western kitchen.........these are the things i mean and many more, most of these things you not find in a Thai classic home. Often many thai builders ask for advice or designs to make for them because they don't really know how western people like to live.

Besides that, if we sell a villa with high european standards, believe me, its not only the western interiour you buy for that money, its the different construction and materials we use.....most of them import, the best possible materials from all over the world and that makes our houses and villas as good as they are.

And about building codes in Los, well, we better not start about it.........it would lead us to fear, wouldn't it ? All i can say is our construction process of the house is almost the same as in europe yes, but fitted for tropical living. 1 example, we use bricks of 23cm not 9cm that we make ourself and only that gives our houses a big savings on electricity(aircon) because of a better isolation.

As i said before, it's up to the clients desires/wishes and his budget offcourse.

Thaibel Asia

I have owned a number of houses in the West. Some were of high quality, some rubbish. The " West " is not an issue, the Thai guy building my new house is the best i have ever come accross period. It's got bugger all to do with where the builder comes from, it's his care and proffessionalism that counts.

I agree on that point...professionalism and experience is important.

The company i work with has more then 70 years experience in construction and architecture, comes from Europe and is now more then 6 years active in Los.......i think that is not bad in his field.

They strive to high quality materials, affordable prices, good locations and service to the client.

my commission only about 200k on this sale but I dont mind as i made a very busy guy take a holiday with his family and gave him some quality time....

-----------

And do you have a workpermit and pay tax???

Timeshare is on the list they will be checking on I heard and as far as I am concerned they can boot the lot out of Thailand except for a few exceptions.

All these scams make things more difficult for those of us doing some honest work and do follow the rules...

I just checked the list from the ministery of labour in BKK and the activity that comes near time-sharing i think is nr. 35 (Street vending) of the prohibited list.

The question is, is contact on the street with a potential customer also selling TS or not ? I think the contract will be signed in an office and not on the street.........Don't know..........but i guess the law is not very clear on it ? Maybe someone can call the labour departement to know for sure.

At 4pm:

-Euro= 47,9870 THB

-USD= 37,8555 THB

-GBP= 71,2673 THB