I just moved to Issan this year with my Thai wife after living in Pattaya for the last 10 years.  We are about to build a house on some land her parents gave her, it is just village land (we have water and electric).  I've been waffling back and forth on whether to try to build a "nice" house or to just go with a standard steel roof concrete structure village house.  I'm in my 40s, and the idea is it is a home i will live in for the next 20-40 years.  I'm not rich, but I can afford 3-5 million baht.

 

After hearing all of the horror stories, I feel like no matter which direction I go, I'm going to be disappointed.  If I could find a relatively risk-free situation I would probably build something in the 3 million baht range and assume cost overruns take me to 4 million.  However, I can't find any "risk-free" builders/architects/etc.  So since it feels like such a gamble, I'm considering giving the wife say 1 million baht and telling her to build whatever she can get.  

 

I'd *like* to live in a reasonably western standard house for the next 20-40 years, but it is looking to me that to get truly western standards prices end up being 5 million+.  So the flip side is to just go cheap and keep the extra money for the eventual repairs...  As a general rule I've found that in thailand if you go cheap you can get deals, but if you want medium/high end you end up paying a decent premium over western prices.  For $100,000 in the US for house-only in a rural area, I could build something of higher quality than I can in Thailand...

 

Just lonely out here in Issan, looking for some other farang's input...

 

I am also in the process of having a three bedroom, three bathroom house built in Issan, between Ubon Ratcthani and Amant Charoen in November 2019. Upon deliberating and researching such as yourself I have made contact with an English builder who has a company in Thailand. Upon speaking and e-mailing  he has given me what I believe to be a reasonable quote for a high quality build. If you want further details message me and I will send you the details ( not sure if Forum rules allow me to name him etc)

Just build a nice basic house in Isaan. Keep your house in Pattaya.
You're only young so 40 years spent in Isaan maybe problematic.
I love it here, but there's challenges...like everywhere.

What ever you do don't give B 1000000 to your wife to build the house.
They'll rip her off, same as you, but then you've got no one to blame.
I think when you hire a builder, look at where and how they live first, and ask yourself....do i really want that person building my house?
If their house looks reasonable, yard reasonable, etc. maybe that's what you can expect for your build.
Everyone in Isaan can build a house, and if you ask them, they can lay tiles and do everything.....like 3 phase wiring everything...but they can't.

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I had my house built by a great English company. Very reliable and very reasonably priced. Drop me a pm if you want the details.


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I am building a House in Khon Kaen right now

, https://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/1003921-new-build-in-khon-kaen/?page=4 and I am very impresed by the builder I am using.  TC House Khon Kaen . I cant say enough good things about them.

I send you a PM , if you are thinking about building in the area I would certainly take a look at him.

If already have the land, then a reasonably nice house should not cost that much. I am no builder, but the Mrs house is built relatively cheap in terms of actual building costs. Electric was a bit more, but for good reason. 3 bedrooms (main has ensuite), and one massive bathroom. If were to do it again would probably just do 4 bedrooms and a smaller bathroom. 

 

Just got the locals to build it, so not everything is perfectly straight, but you wouldn't know unless you studied the house intently. House and fence around 1.5 million (just over a rai fenced). We were lucky that we got a lot of the materials cheap through the engineers at the Mrs workplace and the building costs were low as gifts for the family more or less.

3 Bedrooms - 4mx4m

Inside kitchen - 6mx4m
Living area - 8mx4m
Bathroom/Washing Machine - 4mx4m
4 car carport 

Dog cage - 5mx4m
Free Buddha thing, free hut and 4 free outdoor dining settings

Suits us in terms of space as we spend a lot of time outside anyway. Western enough; inside seat toilets, showers, inside cooker, 2m door frames, high ceilings, sofa etc. 

Mrs loan is 1.1 million (government pays 50% of it anyway). The father-in-law put in the other 400k.

 
 

With your budget there should be no problems whichever way you decide to go. As long as you have a bedroom each for yourself and your wife plus one for each child you can get a really nice place and be within budget. If you have enough land a bungalow is better for your old age and will be a bit cheaper than going for two stories.

As for the build the golden rule is to act as your own foreman and be on site every day to ensure your plans are followed. Local builders tend not to ask questions when in doubt and will just do it their way if you are not there to provide specific instructions.

Thanks for the input guys.  

7 hours ago, wildewillie89 said:

If already have the land, then a reasonably nice house should not cost that much. I am no builder, but the Mrs house is built relatively cheap in terms of actual building costs. Electric was a bit more, but for good reason. 3 bedrooms (main has ensuite), and one massive bathroom. If were to do it again would probably just do 4 bedrooms and a smaller bathroom. 

 

Just got the locals to build it, so not everything is perfectly straight, but you wouldn't know unless you studied the house intently. House and fence around 1.5 million (just over a rai fenced). We were lucky that we got a lot of the materials cheap through the engineers at the Mrs workplace and the building costs were low as gifts for the family more or less.

3 Bedrooms - 4mx4m

Inside kitchen - 6mx4m
Living area - 8mx4m
Bathroom/Washing Machine - 4mx4m
4 car carport 

Dog cage - 5mx4m
Free Buddha thing, free hut and 4 free outdoor dining settings

Suits us in terms of space as we spend a lot of time outside anyway. Western enough; inside seat toilets, showers, inside cooker, 2m door frames, high ceilings, sofa etc. 

Mrs loan is 1.1 million (government pays 50% of it anyway). The father-in-law put in the other 400k.

 
 

 

That's a nice house for that price.  

 

Take a look here for simple to build plans already approved by the authorities http://www.crossy.co.uk/Thai_House_Plans/index.html

 

If you wander down to your local planning office they should have books with the above plus many more which a local builder will have no problem with, so long as you don't modify the structure (much) you can make any adjustments you need and save the cost of an architect.

 

Our humble abode started as a No 27 / 30 meld, it's a lot bigger than it looked on the plans

 

My experience - For What It Is Worth

I built a house in 2015 in Buri Ram Province.

Very few off the shelf plans suit everyone. I found a great CAD program - Mysweethome.  With this I designed the house and was able to 'walk through' the house before building and knew where everything would fit in the house. Program was only a few dollars to buy on the web.

Give the plan drawing and each of the elevations to an experienced builder and he will be bale to work from these.

Our house is 2 bedroom, two bathroom (1 en-suite) dressing room, lounge and inside kitchen for me. Outside we have a large gardenroo, troilet, outside kitchen and an office room

Built to normal western standards, hot showers, kitchen water heater,  tiled roof, aircon etc.

Total floor area is 205 square meters and total construction and fit out costs work out at 10,000 thb per square meter.

You can keep budget under control by buying all materials yourself and avoid the mark up scam.

Also if you can take time to be on site every day to check and supervise, you will avoid costly mistakes.

On 27/11/2017 at 2:17 PM, tlock said:

higher quality than I can in Thailand...

For 3 millions you will get a decent 2-bedroom house in EU standard, what is better than the card boards over there. Even insulation included and double layers walls. And with a tiled roof of course and tiled floors and 2 bathrooms. Double glazed windows are not really necessary. A western kitchen with granite counter and PVC cupboards. What you want more? 

On 11/28/2017 at 5:06 PM, tlock said:

Thanks for the input guys.  

 

That's a nice house for that price.  

 

Windows must have been extra

Built a 4 bedroom 2 bathroom house with living room, 8 x 4 metre kitchen meals room, and a family room, all up 200 square metres for 1.5 million baht.

 

Blonde bricks the thermal heat ones, steel roof frame, tile roof, polished concrete flooring, included total fit out and painting, what we call complete, and readt to move into.

 

The most important things to remember are:

 

Bedrooms to be on the opposite side of where the sun is at midday.

 

Cavity brick walls a must

 

Less windows the less heat coming in

 

Insulation in the roof, i.e. thermal reflective insulation delays the heat getting into the attic

 

Some whirly birds to remove the heat from the attic in summer

 

Eaves 900mm or more to shade the house and make sure your eaves are vented, i.e. soffit boards to have those holes in them so air can travel in and out of your roof

 

Air conditioners a must for hot summer nights, 26 degrees will be a perfect temperature, not to cold, and you won't even notice they are on, that is if you need them, but try without first, but summer does get really hot here.

 

Electrical in ceilings should be put into pvc piping or have that insulation that the rats cannot chew through, don't forget that safety switch, and put in plenty of power points, never enough, also sensors to light up the place if anyone comes onto your property at night. Hot water wall mounted systems no less than 6500w because they will be just fine in the winter months.

 

You can usually find a builder (rice farmer) in the village by word of mouth, our had exceptional skills, but you want to have a look at what he has built, and ask those people if they were happy with the build and price. DO NOT give the Mrs the money, you have to control it and oversee it, no disrespect to your Mrs, but most Thai's are not good with money, pay as you go, never in advance, and expect the builder to disappear every time he gets some money, but if you don't give him any in future advancements, he will come back to work, and make sure you have a full list of what is included in the build so there is no dispute and get him to sign it, 5 progress payments should do it, and make sure your land is above the road for future flooding, or fill it till it is above the road level.

 

Get a fixed price, you buy all of the materials and bargain with the hardware stores of local, or pay cheaper at the bigger stores.

 

Single level for ease of access and future years 

 

What part of Isaan you looking at building if I can enquire, as I might be able to recommend our guy and you could inspect our place ?

 

Good luck with it

Our house in Isan cost 2.1 million Baht, but that was 3 years ago. We have western style bathrooms (separate shower cabinets so the floor is not wet), extractors and wall fans so you can have a shower in comfort in even the hottest weather.

 

Build single story (assuming you have the land). There are plenty of reputable builders. Make sure you look at their most recent builds to get an idea of the quality.

 

Your contract with the builder will specify standards and costs, and will have completion stages at which payments are due. For example, we wanted marble floors in most rooms and the contract specified 750 Baht per square metre for these rooms. If we wanted fancier floors we would have to pay the difference. Each bathroom was costed at 10,000 Baht for fittings (shower, taps, sinks, cabinets, toilet etc). You can spend more (and pay the extra) or less (and get credit for other items in the contract). 

 

 

24 minutes ago, 4MyEgo said:

What part of Isaan you looking at building if I can enquire, as I might be able to recommend our guy and you could inspect our place ?

 

We are in Buriram. 

 

I think the conclusion I reached to my original question was "build a small nice house you can extend later".  I also realized that the price of the house was just the beginning, we also needed to build a wall, landscape, and furnish the thing.  We decided to just go with a 2 bedroom with a car port to start.  We think we've found a good builder, he comes highly recommended by several farangs in the area, and we saw other houses he's built to a nice western standard.  

5 minutes ago, tlock said:

 

We are in Buriram. 

 

I think the conclusion I reached to my original question was "build a small nice house you can extend later".  I also realized that the price of the house was just the beginning, we also needed to build a wall, landscape, and furnish the thing.  We decided to just go with a 2 bedroom with a car port to start.  We think we've found a good builder, he comes highly recommended by several farangs in the area, and we saw other houses he's built to a nice western standard.  

Well done, the perfect solution.

 

When we would come to stay here for a month or two at a time, some 10 years ago, we built a 64m2 one bedroom Bungalow of brick and tile construction, a nice big one bedroom for us, then 3 years prior to moving here we got the same builder to extend and build the house joining onto the bungalow which was extended forward, i.e. 48m2 family room, and then converted the living room to another bedroom using a plasterboard wall, then adding the house, so the bungalow is now 2 bedrooms, with a family room and a bathroom, total 112m2, then the house has 4 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, so all up 6 beds, 3 baths, and around 316m2 to accommodate mum, dad, and 4 kids...lol

 

Sounds like a smart start, just remember to insulate against the heat and smoke, very important to be comfortable because you will miss the sea breezes 555

Build your princess the palace she deserves, hang the expense.

Before building ask yourself would you be happy living in isaan as a bachelor. If all your dreams are built around your wife then do not spend up big. At least in Pattaya if the relationship goes belly up your not going to run.

A couple of things I would suggest from my own experience..    have at least one nice big room in the house with cavity walls.. insulating block on the outside.. conventional concrete block on the inside ok.. verandas protecting the walls from direct sun.. if single story lots of insulation above ceiling.. and good air flow from roof space.... to keep the radiated heat level low..   if 2 story no worries.. you will have at least one room that keeps a pretty constant ambient temperature and very cheap to air con  cool if you want..   . ..have a nice room for yourself.. for your internet and escape from Thai TV and family visits etc.. construct it cool as well.. Pay by installments.. last payment when you are happy with everything...

Be on location every step of the way and make sure they do things the way you want.. Chok dee.. enjoy the journey..

In the process of building a "simple" house in Laos. Budget was 1 million baht.

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On 11/28/2017 at 9:34 AM, wildewillie89 said:

If already have the land, then a reasonably nice house should not cost that much. I am no builder, but the Mrs house is built relatively cheap in terms of actual building costs. Electric was a bit more, but for good reason. 3 bedrooms (main has ensuite), and one massive bathroom. If were to do it again would probably just do 4 bedrooms and a smaller bathroom. 

 

Just got the locals to build it, so not everything is perfectly straight, but you wouldn't know unless you studied the house intently. House and fence around 1.5 million (just over a rai fenced). We were lucky that we got a lot of the materials cheap through the engineers at the Mrs workplace and the building costs were low as gifts for the family more or less.

3 Bedrooms - 4mx4m

Inside kitchen - 6mx4m
Living area - 8mx4m
Bathroom/Washing Machine - 4mx4m
4 car carport 

Dog cage - 5mx4m
Free Buddha thing, free hut and 4 free outdoor dining settings

Suits us in terms of space as we spend a lot of time outside anyway. Western enough; inside seat toilets, showers, inside cooker, 2m door frames, high ceilings, sofa etc. 

Mrs loan is 1.1 million (government pays 50% of it anyway). The father-in-law put in the other 400k.

 
 

 

Well done. Very cheap I reckon.

 

You might want to get some trees growing, though...

 

 

It's amazing what passes as a house in Thailand. Mos Eisley architecture looks better in comparison.

 

 

Why do most people bent on having their own house want to build? Yes, I know the old, daddy gave us some land, but it may be better to be a bit away from the in-laws. I have seen several farang-built houses which are up for sale and some have been for years.  Some are pretty well built and quite lovely. Asking price is usually higher, but at least one I know will take B5M for his nice two-story 4bdr/4bth house on a 120sqm lot in a good quiet residential area.  Got to be plenty of farang- or local-built places in Isaan for sale, or have the ladies simply taken over all of them?

1 hour ago, smotherb said:

Why do most people bent on having their own house want to build? Yes, I know the old, daddy gave us some land, but it may be better to be a bit away from the in-laws. I have seen several farang-built houses which are up for sale and some have been for years.  Some are pretty well built and quite lovely. Asking price is usually higher, but at least one I know will take B5M for his nice two-story 4bdr/4bth house on a 120sqm lot in a good quiet residential area.  Got to be plenty of farang- or local-built places in Isaan for sale, or have the ladies simply taken over all of them?

Because it's new, and every Thai I've ever met is obsessed with new. The farang-built houses usually only sell to other farangs because secondhand is still within our comfort zone, provided the price is right. Although IMHO many farangs put a price on their houses which almost guarantees it won't sell.

If you can agree with your building constructor, that you are present at the construction side, and decide the materials used – i.e. you can control the work and materiales are as agreed, and stop and correct it, if not – you can get a good standard house for a relative reasonable price; "relative" is 20,000 to 25,000 baht a square meter, i.e. a 100 square meter house will cost you 2½ million bat, or your 3 to 4 million baht can give you a 150 to 200 square meter house, including some outside work (wall, gate, drive way..?).

 

I build a house a few year back that way; however, not up Isaan, but in a tourist area. A friend from Britain build a house at Isaan, and he had a contract with a work team, including foreman, with a fixed price for the work, and his Thai wife and him bought all materials, and was in that way in control. I was told that is was a normal way to do it "up there", where in my I area, I mostly heard about a total price from a building constructor. My friend build his house up Isaan, before i started to make mine, so I got little inspiration.

 

I decided to make the drawings simple – I was my own "architect", but used a professional to convert my pencil drawings to computer, and make the steel details and calculations for building permission – so everything was like what I could expect a local building constructor to understand, and be used to make. That of course required some knowledge preparation from my side, but I believe it's worth it – Google is a great friend, and so are some books like "How to Buy Land and Build a House in Thailand" by Philip Bryce (Paiboon Publishing) – and also looking for what I was used to from my Scandinavian home country, and available locally here, helped me.

 

I excluded the roof from my building constructor's entreprise – as a good, non leaking roof is important – and contracted that to SCG's Roof Center, which can be found in most Home Mart stores. The roof center makes free detailed drawings of the roof construction, and they can also do the steel work in calvanized steel, which last longer and is lighter than normal steel construction, and they give a 5-year warranty. Furthermore, make a heat insulation layer under the roof tiles, it's not that expensive, and it helps for having a more constant indoor temperature. I also got roof quotes from building constructors – I got more than one detailed construction quote – and SCC was actually cheaper, and seem to be much more experienced (they do roofs, and roof only). I'm happy that I chose that solution, the locals say that my roof is the only roof not leaking during the monsoon...

 

Using water-proof cement mix avoid cracks in the construction of posts and beams. It costs a few hundred baht extra per cubic meter mix – but if one expect the house to last 30 to 40 years, that might turn out to be an extremely good investment – it's often better to buy premixed concrete, that having the workers to mix, but they can easily obtain the waterproof additive. Also when later rendering, use water proof mix as that avoids the "usual" cracks.

 

I decided to use so-called "Smart Block" from SCG, but there are more than one manufacturer, so also known as "Super Block" – aerated concrete – which we have been used to use for almost a century in Scandinavia. It's more expensive than the normal cheap building blocks, but it saves many fold in better indoor temperature control, especially in rooms with aircon, where you many fold can save the extra material cost. To avoid visible post, I used double SuperBlock walls, with aproximately 10  cm air between the walls, in aircon rooms, whilst at non-aircon areas the normal cheap blocks were used. Consider sun heating, when choosing which blocks to be used in various parts. You can actually build a whole villa in aerated concrete blocks, without the use of any posts, that's how we build in Scandinavia.

 

I installed inverter aircons, they are little more expensive to buy – about 50% when I bought – but they use (a lot) less power when working, which together with Smart Blocks makes it very cheap to keep the house in a comfortable indoor temperature; and actually, inverter aircons can also heat, which might be nice in a bedroom if Isaan-mercury drops too low.

 

Plumbing is often a weak point in Thailand – anyone can be a plumber, if one can glue to blue pipes together – so this is a area to be specific in control over; especially as it's often covered in, or under, cement, and extremely expensive to fix later. Make sure to have big sewer pipes – especially from a (Thai) kitchen – and that you have the right angle on sewer pipes, and that you have acces to flush them, with for example high pressure water, if they got blocked.

 

Wooden doors is a bad place to save – one of my few faults, and I only use wooden doors inside – as the climate is not in favor of cheaper light wood. Spend the money for heavy hard-wood doors. For outside doors and windows it's worth thinking of aluminium – which can be made and maintained locally, and it's fairly weather resistant – or uPVC, for example look a SCG's "Windsor Vinyl" (which I used for gutters); I used Hoffen and regret it, because they are not around as SCG, and after sales service (they installed all), and maintenance (like ordering handles), became a pain a certain place. The price is almost the same for uPVC doors and good quality (thick) aluminium.

 

I installed an European kitchen (Western kitchen) – probably the most expensive square meters in my house – but I will recommend to consider two combined kitchens, an Europen-style indoor, and a Thai-style outdoor, if not only a Thai-style kitchen. Preparation of Thai food can be hard for a European-style kitchen.

 

Keep electric installations simple, but demand quality and safety – i.e. earth installed all over, and earth leakage circuit breakers on all circuits near water. I designed a fairly complicated electric system, and two electricians couldn't understand it, but I was lucky to find one that could, and also did a very good job. Think of maintenance and progress – i.e. LED-lighting is still "young" – and enough sockets; our wireless era is equivalent with multiple wires to numerous chargers; it's cheap to make some extra wall-outlets when building the house, difficult to expand later – even I made more-than-enough in my planning in 2008 (I build the house 2009-2010), I could have made more in certain places; mind you, the iPhone is only 10-years old.

 

To avoid repainting in two or three years – or live in a house looking like it's in desparate need of maintenance – use a high quality paint. A good friend of me owns a painter company in my home country, and he helped me with advises, as it's no problem to buy high quality materiales in Thailand. First, let the cement render dry (cure) at least a month before painting. I used two layers of primer, both indoor and outdoor, and three layers of acrylic color (only two on indoor ceilings). I used semi-gloss paint outdoor, as my painter friend advised, even I didn't like gloss, but just as he said, after one year it's not glossy at all, but using the semi-gloss makes the paint last longer. My neighbor build a luxury mansion at the same time, but in a total entreprise, where I could see they used cheaper paint, one layer primer and two layer color, and after one year only the most monsoon-exposed side of the house was repainted (by the contractor under guarantee), and now, seven years after, their house could really need a makeover; my house don't. I chose TOA "uperShield", because TOA advertised that SuperShield would last at least 10-years, and it was used on Baiyoke Sky Tower in Bangkok; I presumed they did not want to repaint a 300 meter high building every second year, so that paint was probably Okay for my house...

A good footing – dig down to solid ground – and high quality steel, there are two grades to my knowledge, is worth investing in, so the dream-house don't crack after a few years. Finishing like tiles, floor tiles, various equipment, etc. may be places where one can balance costs; nice looking tiles can for example be found at a reasonable price, also in acceptable quality; and looking more at the practical side, and especially maintenance, rather than brand name fashion may be worth considering when choosing equipment, for example for bathrooms. The most expensive brand name might under Thai-conditions (especially rain and sun) not last longer than a fairly cheap equivalent (talking from experience); in my case I live by the sea, which makes corrosion even worse.

 

Compared to my Scandinavia home country, many thing seem to have a shorter life-time in Thailand – both brand name products and the more affordable stuff – so be prepared to have some maintenance expenses beginning after 5 years; for example water pump(s); some outdoor handles rusting or corrosion; some bathroom equipment wearing out, or just not looking good; in areas with unstable electric supply, electric equipment that is not protected, might have a shorter life than expected; etc.

 

I feel I got something as close to "my dream house" as possible, compared to the money I had. I spent about 22,000 baht a square meter, all inclusive; which also included both the outside work (beach front and road entrance), and furniture. It's cheaper to build up Isaan, than on a tourist island, so even it's almost 8-years ago, I'll say that for 20,000 to 25,000 baht a square meter you should be able to get an excellent house, if you can find the balance with decoration (tiles etc.), which is often about half of the cost for a house, in that square meter price-range.

 

I wish you good luck with your house project...

 

 

11 hours ago, Lacessit said:

Because it's new, and every Thai I've ever met is obsessed with new. The farang-built houses usually only sell to other farangs because secondhand is still within our comfort zone, provided the price is right. Although IMHO many farangs put a price on their houses which almost guarantees it won't sell.

So, farangs want to build houses because their wives want a new house? Well, that sounds like another poor decision to me, but I have heard the same. Why is it these lovestruck farangs obey? Oh, that's right, that wet spot again. As I said, I have seen lots farang-built houses for sale. Most ask a price they will never get, but probably a price close to what it cost them to build.

I built a house for the gf & I  .. I wanted a comfortable place for us.. with a garden..  I enjoy a project.. it wasn't without problems of course but no regrets.. we have been together 10 years now.. 5 in the 'new' house.. it is a gift to her and her daughter when I go.. If you think you are building for yourself and may want to sell later.. forget it.. rent.. 

1100 sq ft bungalow with 2 bedrooms, a bath, farang kitchen, LR / DR and  a 2 car carport was 1,000,000 baht.

 

If your little town is like mine no one would move there  if you didn t have family there.  The money is spent and I will never see it again. 

 

My wife tells me if you are poor people look down on you and if you are rich people are jealous.

 

There are bigger and more expensive homes in my village, good for them, I have money to travel and have no financial stress.  

 

 

1 hour ago, smotherb said:

So, farangs want to build houses because their wives want a new house? Well, that sounds like another poor decision to me, but I have heard the same. Why is it these lovestruck farangs obey? Oh, that's right, that wet spot again. As I said, I have seen lots farang-built houses for sale. Most ask a price they will never get, but probably a price close to what it cost them to build.

You can build it heaps cheaper than buy. The Mrs went to look at some houses with a few of her engineers that were being built in estates in the heart of our city. For the price she paid for her house we would be getting a much smaller house built out of poorer materials, and also no land (living on top of the neighbours). I would rather drive the 3km for the extra land, space and stronger house. 

The Mrs house is posted earlier in the thread. Cost 1.5 million, would sell for a lot more than that being close to our rural city. Before being built they had an offer of 1.1 million just for the land. 

Land price go up, house price depreciates rather quickly. After 15-20 years the value is 90% in the land. 

Something to consider when building.