Construction labour costs

[seaman1975]

My girlfreind is planning to build a small house north west of bangkok but we are a little confused about the labour cost.the floor area will only be 65m2 but roof area is almost twice due to overhang.one contractor calculated the area with roof overhang and the cost gets enourmous.we are only looking for the labour cost per square meter. have anyone any idea how this works or is it better to pay daily rate?i have built houses before in philippines and been cheated way too much and would like this time to have full background before starting.i know it should be cheap to build but have not found anything on internet regarding labour only expenses.

 

[Rimmer]

Moved to DIY forum

[Kwasaki]

If you use a certified building company it will be costly.

As said by many what we do is buy the materials and use different local labour for certain stages of build, we get local people through viewing their work through recommendation but still supervise to some degree to mainly keep an eye on quality finish., costs for us at mo are 300 -  500 per person depending on the type of work.

[bankruatsteve]

I'm not sure what a "certified" builder is but you should be able to get quotes for labor only from any number of "builders" and who hopefully have references.  The problem with this is that labor crews are getting more transient lately.  So the builder may have had a crew that built that house really well but now has a new crew that consists of slackers.  You just don't know.  Ideally you would find someone with experience who lives in the area and takes on the odd job along with some mates for the grunt work.  For a roof, you will need an experienced welder and if he's any good at all will be wanting at least 1000 baht/day.  Builders in Thailand don't discriminate that much when it comes to screwing as they will do it to the Thais just as much as the farang.  Caveat emptor.

[seaman1975]

thanks for the comments.Still i would like aomeone in charge of the whole construction but we will buy all the materials.how have you guys out there done this with regards to contract and price.we are looking for simple and we both knows building but not labour costs per square meter

[bankruatsteve]

Labor cost for specific jobs like tiling and painting in terms of square meter are probably the normal way to quote.  But quoting for a house build in price per square meter is just silly.  The floor plan, number of windows, doors, electric requirements, plumbing requirements, on and on...  Those are what a builder needs to have a design or make a design including all the elements and then quoting on that.  Anybody that quotes a house build in terms of price per square meter is an idiot and a robber.

[Thaidream]

I second the post by Kawasaki- Years ago I built a house in Bangkok by using a team of local laborers - I had a schematic drawing of what I wanted and asked for a price based upon only the labor to build it indicating I would purchase all the material myself. Each week I would get with the 'head' laborer and ask what he needed for the week as far as construction materials and the wife and I would then go and purchase all the materials.  This system saved at least 50% of the cost as a contractor is going to factor in his cost of getting the materials and mark the materials up.

 

The going rate  for day labor is 300 Baht per day;  Masonry and tile people will want 500 Baht per day; plumbers will want a little more and electricians probably 1000 Baht per day. The way I found these type of people was to get a recommendation from another person and viewed their work. You can also drive through a housing estate and simply ask one of the laborers regarding work. Normally there is a 'labor boss' on site.

[khunPer]

7 hours ago, seaman1975 said:

thanks for the comments.Still i would like aomeone in charge of the whole construction but we will buy all the materials.how have you guys out there done this with regards to contract and price.we are looking for simple and we both knows building but not labour costs per square meter

Normally when you build a house and make a contract, either with a building constructor in charge of all, or numerous individual contractors specialized in various fields, you will receive quite detailed quotations, specified material cost and labor cost separately. It not as simple a square meter cost for a complete construction, as there are many individual factors that involves the labor cost, including requirements for specialists for certain tasks. Often a building contractor use a number of sub-contractors, besides his own team of workers; i.e. sub contracting tile work, roof steel work, some brick laying jobs (depending of finish), electric installations, pluming, etc.

 

When asking for labor cost you will also need a foreman for the workers; some also employ a "project manager". You may find a team of workers with a foreman, but don't expect them to be qualified for all the work needed, so they will still need to sub-contract some jobs, as you otherwise may end up with some bad craftsmanship.

 

When it specific comes to roof, it is worth having a quote from Cement Thai (SCC)/Home Mart "roof center". You buy all materials yourself, but they can put them up for you, i.e. build your roof, for often a competitive price. On top you have a guarantee from a constructor, you likely can find again, if ever needing the guarantee. The can even do all your steel work for the roof in galvanized steel. The "roof center" will make specified drawings and give you a quote for free. I used them for my house, and the quote was better than the one quoted by my Thai building constructor, and I got a 5-year warranty.

 

When I build my house I used a Thai building constructor for all the basic construction, i.e. cement and bricks, whilst I bought materials myself and paid work only for all finishing, including tiles, roof and various others; for electric I bought some materials, and let the electrician supply cables and pipes etc. Tile work, for example, you pay the work as per square meter floor (price depending of size of tiles, and how complex to make), per square meter wall tiles, per running meter decoration boards on walls, per running meter stair-nose on stairs and edges, etc. Electric work is charged per meter cable, plus per outlet or switch installed, plus for each lamp fitted, each water heater, etc. With all details specified, you can convert that to a "per square meter" price for the house; but too many factors just to talk about a general price per square meter for labor cost.

 

If you find some workers doing a job on daily paid basis, you'll need someone to be foreman (preferably a Thai speaking experienced professional). You may be able to save a little compared to detailed per meter or per square meter quotes; but you also risk to pay more...

 

Wish you good luck with your house.

 

 

[misterphil]

We were quoted 4,500 baht per sqm for labour only and we buy the material. 

 

This is in Saraburi (The new Bangkok) 

[bizwizard]

As a general contractor in Los Angeles, I agree with bankruatsteve about pricing per sq. m.  A contractor will fit whatever works into that number, but you might not get the quality you wanted or expected.  Best to have detailed contracts for each separate specialty if possible.

[generealty]

Minimum daily rate set by Government is now 350 baht, also remember to obtain local authority approval for design and construction or you could find yourself in deep water later or expected to provide a bulky brown envelope

[khunPer]

5 hours ago, generealty said:

Minimum daily rate set by Government is now 350 baht, also remember to obtain local authority approval for design and construction or you could find yourself in deep water later or expected to provide a bulky brown envelope

Thanks for info, but are you sure..?

I read in ThaiVisa news feed a while ago, that minimum wage was raised to 305 baht in certain regions, and the all nation minimum wage was abandoned.

[Kwasaki]

On 10/21/2017 at 12:48 PM, seaman1975 said:

thanks for the comments.Still i would like aomeone in charge of the whole construction but we will buy all the materials.how have you guys out there done this with regards to contract and price.we are looking for simple and we both knows building but not labour costs per square meter

Again ask someone local who has the experience to be in charge, they are usually people who work as well.

Day costing is not always a good thing it can be strung out, if not supervised closely.

Most workers like to work at a sq metre price on e.g. brickwork and other surface covered areas, flooring too, most for ask for lineal metre price on steelworks and some concrete set outs. 

Asking around for prices per sq & lineal metres is best also you will need to know sq cubic metre prices for certain materials. 

Edited October 22, 2017 by Kwasaki

[bankruatsteve]

Whenever I get a quote for labor per m2, I ask how many days and how many people (they never have a clue where I am going) and convert to a daily rate.  If it's too much, I either negotiate with a total price for the project or tell them too much and walk away.  

[Khunmanoun]

Hi, I have build a number of houses in the North East, western construction method, with concrete slab, crawlspace and brick walls (not the thai way with pillars and small red bricks filling, which give you cracks everywhere with 100% certainty). The finished cost was around 10,000 Baths / square meter finished, with ceramic floor, empty house. The concrete slab cost alone was around 150,000 baths for a 100 square meter house (20 cm thickness).

A standard helper worker is around 300 baths per day.

A good construction worker is around 500 baths per day.

A good roof welder 600-1000 baths per day.

Be careful with thai contractors, the price can be crazy and the quality crap.

[Khunmanoun]

Concerning build permission, it depends if it is one floor or two floors. One floor is no problem. Two floors requires a design documentation with load calculation. One time I have delivered an english documentation for a two floors house with drawings and calculations to the Oboto of the village and he looked very tired and signed immediately. Also, it depends if the build area already had a construction or not. The Oboto will wait for a 20,000 baths envelope or just the 500 baths official cost if you are good at negociation or know people.

[Khunmanoun]

19 hours ago, misterphil said:

We were quoted 4,500 baht per sqm for labour only and we buy the material. 

 

This is in Saraburi (The new Bangkok) 

Saraburi is certainly more expensive than the North East, which would be around 3000 baths / squ meter real cost I think (not billed).

[Misab]

Price per square meter in Cha Am area is between 2600 - 3000 Bahts and you buy all materials. Do not expect professional European work