lost in isaan

I have gotten zapped twice going around 10km/h over the speed limit. Never got a fine. Might be the same case with you

Good points to consider, thanks. As far as i know, the only nasty thing happening is some locals calling her playfully ma dam (black dog) sounds a bit different than madam. Yeah, there has been requests for handouts, but she keeps telling people that i control all the money and she has none. So far, they have left it at that. Her family is surprisingly nice. I have read many horror stories about families, but hers has never asked any money or caused problems. I still have a long time before the build starts. The land I plan to build on is split between family members and we're in process of acquiring it. I also want to raise the ground atleast 2 meters and let it set around a year after the heavy machinery does its work on it. The main reason i made this post is to get other points of view, not to bs or flaunt like some of the members are thinking. On the last house build i got many good advices that helped me to avoid quite a few mistakes. Many valid adviced so far in here too. I'm also travelling around thailand constantly, so maybe i'll find a better place i'd like to build a house onto. Nothing is set on stone yet :)

Cheers :) Glad it worked out at the end, looks nice.

The funds i will use for my house are currently invested in stocks and crypto. So technically they are not earned before 2024? But yeah, i'll wait it out and see how it plays out. Will contact a lawyer/tax specialists before i move anything to thailand. I totally agree with you on the health issue :) The village i live in is luckily pesticide free (They were banned quite a few years ago) and we get most of our food from locals. Meat and exported food is another story.

Thanks for sharing. Really good points

Yeah, good point. I'll have enough :) My only concern atm is how to move the money to thailand to pay for the house without paying the 35% income tax. Got to wait and see the fine prints of the new law. Good point. I'll have enough solar to run all the AC's during the day, so not really a problem for me. Yeah, that's one of the problems i'm considered also. Might need to hire someone to ensure the quality. Getting the people to work for us will be a challenge for sure, as i live in middle of nowhere. Thanks for the input :)

Fair enough. Something worth pondering on. Thanks for the input

Good luck :) It's actually from masterplan https://www.masterplan101.com/official-detail/MASTERPIECE 01

Hello dear members, I would be happy to get some ideas and inputs from old-timers in Thailand :) A bit about my situation: I moved to Isaan around a year and a half ago and built a cheap house to see if I want to settle down here and experience life firsthand. The house was a valuable learning experience, allowing me to observe its construction from scratch. Overall, I have enjoyed my time here and am now planning the next steps, which involves building a "proper" house. Initially, I planned to build a decent-sized ~600-800 sqm house, but lately, I have been considering something bigger. My wife comes from a very poor farming family and she has created a mental barrier for herself convincing that she's not "good enough" to have something luxurious. Last time we went to iconsiam, i had to convince her to go there with me, because she thought it's not for people of her "status". She has done well in life, relying on no one, got educated enough with free goverment education. Got a decent job and attended university while working. When i met her in bangkok, she had a "good" office job by thai standards, but in my view she was basically a slave working 12h per day, 6 days a week, living in a small one-room <deleted>hole with a pay that is laughable by western standards. My wife already considers me rich for being able to live without working and for being able to build a 1-million baht house. I've been living quite humbly and only hinted her that i had some extra money, but she has no idea how much. Life in isaan can be boring sometimes, so why not have some fun? I have some "<deleted> you" money and slowly planning to build a huge mansion in middle of rice fields. I already know that i have 0 need for house that big, it's mainly to heal my wives mindset of her inferiority complex planted by thai society. Your wealth and power should not limit and define you as a person. I know there's better ways to do it, but why not? I'm also not investing on someting i can't afford to lose. My question is regarding the downsides of owning a big mansion in middle of nowhere. Is it worth the effort? Here's some i thought so far: - I have to hire staff to keep it clean. - More people will annoy us when wealth is obvious. It's been quiet so far. Only had some people asking for money when we first moved to the village. (I like to keep to myself mostly) - Visible jealousy - Unwanted attention. Potential thieves and people with bad intentions. - I have seen how power and money can change character. Might happen to my wife. Picture of the house i currently plan to build

I was planning to send a hefty sum of money to Thailand for property and other goods and avoid taxes by staying out of Thailand for half a year. However, I was reading Siam Legal's post about it (https://www.siam-legal.com/thailand-law/thailand-new-tax-on-foreign-income-an-overview/) and am not sure if I can avoid it by just staying out of the country if I paid taxes the previous year. (I have not filed the tax report yet). I hope things get clarified asap. Quote from the post:

Thank you. I use "first flush" system for rainwater and 100-mesh small filter before the pump. On the wall i have 5 filters: small easily cleanable 100-mesh filter, 5-micron sediment filter, carbon filter, resin filter and lastly UV filter. The greenish tank is a 100-litre pressure tank. I don't intend to drink the water, it's just a simple and inexpensive way to make it more clean ????

That explains it, thank you

I recently built DIY water filtering system. I have two water pumps: mitsubishi water pump that pumps from rainwater tanks and hitachi for well water. The thing i'm curious about is why does mitsubishi pump keep pumping even after i hear the pressure switch click off? It runs couple of mins and stops at around 4 bars. I thought the issue was with pressure switch, so i got one that switches off at 1.9 bar. Previous one switched off at 2.8 bar, but that did not change anything. My hitachi pump switches off at 1.8 bar and works like it should. Not a critical problem as the pipes should be able to handle the pressure, but in a long run more potential leaks and i don't really need that much pressure. Any ideas or suggestions are welcome. Pictures of my DIY system:

House is progressing fast and will be completed in may. Plastering is done and they are now working on floor tiling. I was waiting for over a month for a family relative to install poles for electric line and pull the cables, but nothing got done so i decided to do it myself during songkran. Dug ~1m hole for each pole. Filled the holes with 50+cm of concrete and installed the pole. And pulled the cable. All got done in less than 8h and wasn't complicated at all, so i don't really understand the 10k ฿ quete (labor cost) i got from a builder ????. All the 5 poles were 20-25m distance from each other and are 2.5mm thick and 6m in height. Hope they will be strong enough for future storms. Poles cost me 970฿ each and the wire connection parts were around 200฿ for each pole. I have 5 slots on each pole, because one will be for the internet and the other side will be for solar generated electricity for in-laws house. My only mistake was not wearing long pants while doing the welding ???? It was a painful one week after that. To be honest, my initial plan was to put the wires underground, but everyone thought i was crazy. Seems like it's not the norm in here and I didn't really care to argue.

The steel walk ways are a great idea, thanks. I'm quite worried about the air flow also. I installed few temperature meters already and will be monitoring the situation. Currently without the ceiling, the hot air clears out really fast and the temperature drops similar rate as outside. Didn't know about the forum either, i'll check it out.

Total price for the finished house is around 720k. This is the original offer: We increased the length of the house by 1m and got thicker roof steel. That cost me 70k extra. Up until this point we have paid 600k (includes the rendering). Another 120k for tiling, paintint, electrical work etc. So it's quite cheap and i'm not too stressed if the house quality will be medicore. I'll build a proper house if i'm still staying here after couple of years.

The builders completed the walls and are off to one-week holiday. The quality of the work has been getting poorer and some of the walls are not straight ???? oh well, at least the pillars are straight. Now that it's time to talk about extra work (car port, extra plugs, tiling etc) they offered to do everything for 300k. I would gladly pay that amount, if the quality of the work was on par, but it's not. The real value of materials and labor should be around 150k, so we decilined most of the extra work and will do it once the house is built. To be honest, it's probably better this way. Now we will have better control over materials and quality. Latest pictures:

Thank you for the advice. I fully agree with you and will most likely add insulation under the roof. Since it's not that hard to add, i decided to wait until it rains first to see if there's any leaks. I also might add some extra solar panels to the roof, so i'd rather confirm first that there are no extra holes.

Roof is ready and things are going forward without major issues. I'm amazed how hard working the builders are. They work 10h every day, even in 40 degree heat. It's been over 4 months since it last rained in my area and the water pressure from main line is dropping. I noticed that our 2000-litre water tank was almost empty, so got to reduce the water usage. When i asked around, the people said that on years where it's dry like this, the groundwater starts running out around June ???? This proves that my decision to store water will be on point and 10000 litres might not be enough, as many of you have already mentioned. Some pictures from past few days:

Nope, never. Back in the day when i still used TF i used to get msgs like this: Whole different experience, but similar goal: to scam you.

Thank you for the link and tips. You are right, that battery does seem way better option. I'll most likely buy them if i don't find better options ???? My house will be pointing south-west, so i'll get some of the evening sun. Only issue is my neighbours trees that create some shading on the roof after 4pm. Hope i'll find an agreement about cutting them down. I dont think microinverters are worth it since I won't have any shades 7am - 4pm

As someone who has been doing intermittent fasting for over 10 year, i can't recommend it enough. However, it's not for everyone and you should not force yourself if you're not comfortable with it. I personally fast over 20h daily and do longer fasts (3-7 days) once a year. For me, fasting makes my mind more clear and leaves my body with more energy. Big plus is the autophagy effect ( https://www.bluezones.com/2018/10/fasting-for-health-and-longevity-nobel-prize-winning-research-on-cell-aging/ ) If you're worried about muscle loss, there has been research that light exercise during fasting will reduce it. During longer fasts you might feel dizzy, lightheaded or experience muscle pain. That is because of the lack of sodium. Make sure to drink a lot of water too. When i started fasting i did not know about that and suffered for no reason ????

That's a good point. I'll try to remember to clean the dust off before the hot season ????

Pillars are finally done and they started with the roof: The house packet didn't come with any insulation or ventilation, but i guess it's the norm for thais in rural villages. Even the builders don't think it's necessary. I've been reading a lot regarding this topic and some people on older topics claim that insulation can be harmful in Thailand due the humidity levels. Maybe it can be true if there's lack of ventilation? I decided to take this as an experiement and install 6 bluetooth temperature sensors around the house. I'll monitor the temperatures and see if there's any point to improve the ventilation and insulation. I refuse to believe that it's not necassery at all so i will start with bare minimum and bought thai style ventilation for the attic Similar to this, but its from pvc and has a mosquito net. Many people seem to favor reflective foil, but it's unclear if it's more effective to have it on top of the ceiling or under the roof tiles with few cm gap. I decided to get drywall panels that come with the reflective foil. If these are not enough, i'll install reflective foil + insulation under the roof at attic and get some exhaust vents running. I'm still not sure about intake vents but might get them as well for better airflow.

Yeah, that is a cheaper option and solar with battery will take very long time to pay itself back. However, I would like to be self-sufficient and not care what PEA does, especially if there's a solar flare or smt that will break the grid for more than few days.