Construction costs of houses going through the roof?

[Pravda]

No pun intended, but my wife just showed me a few houses her family is building on the land they own. Decent looking houses, 3 bedroom, 3 bathroom. but really nothing special. Construction costs from 2-3 million. Now from looking the past threads this would have been 800k baht a couple of years ago or maybe I'm just confused?

 

Also, I don't know if it makes any difference that these houses in Surat Thani and not Isaan where labor is perhaps cheaper.... but that much cheaper?

 

I don't know anything about houses in Thailand, not interested in buying or building one, so this is just an amateurish observation.

Edited March 8, 2019 by blackcab
Added "Construction costs" to add clarity

[blackcab]

There are fairly set prices for the construction of properties per square meter.

 

The quality of internal finishing, kitchens and bathrooms can vary the final price considerably.

 

There are quite a few threads showing what members have built and the associated costs.

[ThomasThBKK]

Can go up to 50 000 THB per square metre with high quality finishing/materials (and prolly beyond that), depending on the region.

 

The only thing cheap here are labour coasts, high quality materials are super expensive.

[55Jay]

3 bed 3 bath, described as "nothing special", for 2-3 million, does sound high.  If they're all about the same, be even more interesting to know why there's a 1 million spread between them - you said "a few houses", so I presume it's only 3.  

 

Are you financially involved in any of them, directly or indirectly?  

[cornishcarlos]

Sounds high to me but then Thais do have a tendancy to over exaggerate prices sometimes, they look better if they say their house cost 3mil as opposed to just 1mil... 

A new build just completed in Khanom, so same region, was done for approx 1.2mil and sounds like similar specs... 

Edited March 7, 2019 by cornishcarlos

[blackcab]

I have edited the OP for clarity and I have removed various posts. Let's try and get this thread back on track and discussing construction costs.

[jesimps]

I think the only thing certain is that the final cost will be way above the estimate.

[baansgr]

Construction costs have increased no more than 20% in ten years. Bog standard unfurnished with Thai block/tiled kitchen 2 bed 2 bath 108 sqm, just being built by me cost 1,100,000, that includes boundry and gate on 55 TW so your 3 bed 3 bath should still really not be more than about 1,300,000...location Jomtien and of course not including land.

[English Engineer]

41 minutes ago, jesimps said:

I think the only thing certain is that the final cost will be way above the estimate.

I think this a generalisation. We just built a house to a high spec. We provided a detailed spec and contract. Final price was the quoted price.

[Guderian]

Labour's not even cheap in Pattaya any more - if you can find it. My Thai builder's paying a 70-year old chain-smoking alcoholic 500 Baht/day for general labour and he's drunk or hungover most days. Can't find anybody young and reliable who wants to do hard work out in the sun. An Irish builder I'v eknown a long time told me that he's having to pay his Thai overseer 70K Baht/month now, up from 50K, or he was going to leave. Maybe it's still cheap in Isaan, but not here any more.

[Kurtf]

After living here for six years in a house I had built I have to agree that Good hard working Thai labor is hard to find. That is why for any manual labor I want done at a reasonable cost, I hire Thai Yai. They work hard and appreciate it so much when I pay them a reasonable amount plus a tip.

[Jaxxper]

I would guess that the quality / spec of the finishes is the biggest cost escalator. ie standard floor tiles versus marble for example.

Agreed there has been some escalation in materials and labour but not 3 fold.

[khunPer]

16 hours ago, Pravda said:

I don't know anything about houses in Thailand, not interested in buying or building one, so this is just an amateurish observation.

The price of building a house mainly depend on the chosen materials; secondly that some materials requires higher labor skills – like marble bathrooms and marble floors – and thereby end up with higher total costs.

 

A cheap Thai-style house up Isaan could be build for 10,000 baht or less per square meter, whilst a more Western-style house up Isaan could cost 20,000 baht a square meter.

 

In southern areas, like Surat Thani province (where I also live) it's normally calculated form 15,000 baht a square meter and up; expect Western standard to be in the range of 25,000 baht a square meter and up; whilst luxury might easily be 50,000 baht and way up per square meter.

 

So a 100 m² house up Isaan can cost 800,000 baht, if constructions costs are 8,000 baht per square meter; more Western style of the same size could be 2 million baht, whilst down south a similar house might be in the range 2.5 million baht.

 

So how many square meters are "decent looking houses, 3 bedroom, 3 bathroom, but really nothing special"; and what kind of materials are chosen – like Q-con bricks at three times the price, and build with double walls, and what kind of floor and wall tiles, and which steel quality used, and which roof tiles, and heat insulation for example under roof and over ceilings – stuff that might not immediately look like anything special, but the overall materials costs could be two or three times as expensive.

????

[ThomasThBKK]

Yeah and add 20-30% percent if you are building on a small Island, as you will have to pay more for labour (You need to get good workers from BKK prolly) and have to ship the materials over there renting  a barge/ship.

 

You are also limited in materials there as you can't use normal woods, only 25 plus years old golden teak and some others due to the saltyness of the sea.

 

 

Edited March 8, 2019 by ThomasThBKK

[Bigstef]

Condo prices too in 5 years almost double,wife-sister buy one in 2013 in Siracha for 2M now the same condo are resale for 3.9 to 4.5 on the same floor....

[poka513]

We have lived in a 3 bedroom townhouse for 3 years near Chiang Mai Airport. We paid 3.1 million new and about another 500k to add a 4th bedroom downstairs, make an enclosed kitchen in back and furnish the inside. Our complex has five 3 bedroom units that never sold and a few 2 bed room units that sold but have been listed for sale since last summer. I do not see much demand over the past few years. When we bought 3 years ago, you had to go out to the 2nd or 3rd Ring Road to find cheaper houses. Our 2 older kids have a house building/remodel business. Past 2 years, they have had a decrease in new customers even asking for bids on jobs. This past year, they only got a couple of remodel jobs, but no new from the ground up house builds. It has been a struggle to keep their team of workers busy. When we drive around Chiang Mai, I see many new unsold vacant units. It has been that way for a few years now. We have friends who own local businesses that are also seeing a decrease in customers. I do not think the cost of new building, at least in the Chiang Mai area, can continue to increase until the demand returns.

[NightSky]

It sounds like the price is for the finished houses including the cost of land and markup and the value that the owner feels they are valued at once finished, I.e the retail price + foreigner markup 

 

welcome

 

????

 

 

[wolf81]

8 hours ago, baansgr said:

Construction costs have increased no more than 20% in ten years. Bog standard unfurnished with Thai block/tiled kitchen 2 bed 2 bath 108 sqm, just being built by me cost 1,100,000, that includes boundry and gate on 55 TW so your 3 bed 3 bath should still really not be more than about 1,300,000...location Jomtien and of course not including land.

We've build a house in a village in the northern part of Thailand with around the same specs (but large external kitchen) for 1.5 million Baht or so. Mostly not very expensive quality materials (I think) and built buy local villagers, but the house is still decent imo. 

 

I do believe that many Thai people try to make huge profits on houses though. And I would guess most foreigners don't really know what the actual cost is to build a house here. I think that the prices you see on many real estate sites are rather crazy.

[Rimmer]

I built ten years back for 10k a square meter but 15k at that time was the norm, but we used family.

A friend who is a builder has ten house projects on the go at this time says the cost per sq mtr now is around 20k.

 

As an example back then I paid 14 baht each for QCon blocks they are now 22 baht each, labor has gone up and steel has gone up considerably,  another big factor in the price rise 

[Pravda]

32 minutes ago, Rimmer said:

I built ten years back for 10k a square meter but 15k at that time was the norm, but we used family.

A friend who is a builder has ten house projects on the go at this time says the cost per sq mtr now is around 20k.

 

As an example back then I paid 14 baht each for QCon blocks they are now 22 baht each, labor has gone up and steel has gone up considerably,  another big factor in the price rise 

 

Okay, so it looks like my amateurish observation was correct.

 

The 2 million dollar house is definitely over 100sqm, so they might be even getting a deal.

[KhaoYai]

The build cost of a finished house varies vastly according to the quality of both the style of build/building method and materials and fitments used.

 

On the style side you need to consider things like the number of storeys, bathrooms, gables, balconies etc. etc. Building method - single or double skin walls? Tin sheet or tiled roof etc. ect. Far too many variables to be able to give an idea on cost without knowing the above details.

 

Materials, fenestration and internal fitments can also have a huge impact on the cost price.  I've had people tell me they've built a single storey small house - complete for 500,000. Yes, you can still build a house very cheaply in Thailand if you are happy with Chinese plastic windows, no skirting boards or architraves, plastic bathroom doors and kitchen units built from concrete block with doors from the local DIY shop.

 

I've just re-fitted my house to suit my own personal requirements - its only a 2 bed but the windows and doors were around 250,000 and the western kitchen 220,000. Add on the plumbed in 'inverter' hot water system and I'm close to 500,000 for those items alone - quality costs money. My plugs, sockets and switches were close to 30,000!

 

I went to look at some houses on a new development recently - advertises at 2.9 mil. They look quite well from the outside but when you get close up/go inside, they are very basic.

 

 

[natway09]

Supply & demand.

But finishing as has been said makes a huge difference. Kitchen appliances can add 800,000

at the blink of an eye if you want the top stuff

[rickudon]

Here in Udon a cousin of my wife built a 2 bedroom bungalow 2 years ago, under 100 sq, metres, to a middling Thai standard and it cost 1.2 million, not including the land (previously had old thai house on it).

 

There has been a bit of an explosion in Thais having houses built on family land, but usually small (50 sq. metres?) and basic concrete block and brick (single thickness). These are all about 600,000-800,000 i understand. I guess these are for older couples who expect to retire soon and return to Isaan. Middle class/farang builds have hit a 10 year low i would say. The only Moobaan developments now going on are those on really well located sites at Hiso prices (The latest near Nong Prajak has prices up to 30 million!), But the developer i know admits sales are really bad.

 

The older, 10-20 year old Moobaans often have about 25% of the plots still undeveloped and no sign of ongoing building.

[baansgr]

14 hours ago, rickudon said:

Here in Udon a cousin of my wife built a 2 bedroom bungalow 2 years ago, under 100 sq, metres, to a middling Thai standard and it cost 1.2 million, not including the land (previously had old thai house on it).

 

There has been a bit of an explosion in Thais having houses built on family land, but usually small (50 sq. metres?) and basic concrete block and brick (single thickness). These are all about 600,000-800,000 i understand. I guess these are for older couples who expect to retire soon and return to Isaan. Middle class/farang builds have hit a 10 year low i would say. The only Moobaan developments now going on are those on really well located sites at Hiso prices (The latest near Nong Prajak has prices up to 30 million!), But the developer i know admits sales are really bad.

 

The older, 10-20 year old Moobaans often have about 25% of the plots still undeveloped and no sign of ongoing building.

Who would pay $1.000.000 for a house in Issan..... No wonder he can't sell them... That kind of money can buy beachfront or even major  cities around the world where you can actually own the property... 

[KhaoYai]

........................................................

Edited March 10, 2019 by KhaoYai

[Khaeng Mak]

On 3/7/2019 at 10:45 PM, cornishcarlos said:

Sounds high to me but then Thais lie a lot, they look better if they say their house cost 3mil as opposed to just 1mil... 

There was a typo in your post.  I fixed it for you.

[Khaeng Mak]

15 hours ago, baansgr said:

Who would pay $1.000.000 for a house in Issan..... No wonder he can't sell them... That kind of money can buy beachfront or even major  cities around the world where you can actually own the property... 

Where can you buy beachfront or even in a major city around the world for the equivalent of $31,515 USD?

[Khaeng Mak]

My Thai neighbour (divorced young lady) has just built a nice little two story place.  Nicely rendered with steel frame, proper gyprocking, hidden wiring and a nice steel water tower tank included.  All up 500K THB.  But the build is now 3 months passed promised deadline because the builder just cant get enough workers.  Good quality job.  I might actually get the builder to build exactly the same for me.

[Pravda]

13 hours ago, Khaeng Mak said:

Where can you buy beachfront or even in a major city around the world for the equivalent of $31,515 USD?

 

You are confused.

[topt]

On 3/10/2019 at 7:04 AM, baansgr said:

Who would pay $1.000.000 for a house in Issan.

The OP keeps using $ when he means baht - or at least I hope he means baht.........