Thai vs Falang builders

[potless]

Perhaps an inducement of a 5 or 10 % bonus on labour costs would focus the builders minds. Subject to satisfactory completion of course. Just a thought.

2 hours ago, khunPer said:

Agree, find a Thai building constructor that you can communicate with – preferable one speaking some acceptable level of English – and where you have a possibility to check the previous work, eventually also at an active construction site, where things are open, without make-up; then you will have a good house build for a reasonable cost...????

 

[finnishmen]

On 6/29/2019 at 1:32 PM, moontang said:

Where are the expansion joints in the driveway? 

1,3 million this must include land price too, not newer thats little house can cost 1 million ,thai grynder build this house 500 000 B ready to move in. and if roof select tileroof 600 000B justy my wife brother build same size house lot all same and thai building corporation say 400 000 but brother select ecpensice better tiles and colour and decoratives cost 500 000B all house ready. if falang build same come lot better interior europe elektric safety and lot better beauty bathroom etc many other ,about kitchen lot better can work better and biggest and lot more table area. ETC, but farang build cost little more and have guality lot more better.

[finnishmen]

im laught lot how stupid many falang have, buy same house 3-5 million and thai pay same house same land 600 000B haha, but falangs lot have big idiots money have but not brains and no can be smart. newermind, many have idiot and need be too because thais need all idiots money own pocket hahahaha 55555 but true is thai do lot but newer not good guality, i see many hotel ,who many say high guality buiders has made3 this 5556 lot fails has and idiot builders, true is thai have totally idiot if speaking how must build good house.

[faraday]

1 minute ago, finnishmen said:

im laught lot how stupid many falang have, buy same house 3-5 million and thai pay same house same land 600 000B haha, but falangs lot have big idiots money have but not brains and no can be smart. newermind, many have idiot and need be too because thais need all idiots money own pocket hahahaha 55555

Yes, & I laugh at your posts, because you, have written, complete twaddle.

[JimHuaHin]

As some people have commented already, there are good and bad builders in every country, and the same goes for the farang and Thai developers in Thailand.

 

I had 3 houses built for me to live in in Australia over the years.  For each builder I went around and checked about 10 houses that they were building over several months.  Sometimes I went on Sundays to check the work that was being done, when the workers were not there.  Once I was satisfied that the builders' workers' work was up to MY standards, then I signed the contracts, and was not disappointed.

 

In Thailand I have followed several builders, mostly farang developers, and found thier work standards and quality have been substandard, from MY perspective.  But I have also followed two Thai builders who were recommended to me - in both cases the builders' workers produced very high standard work and paid attention to the details.  One builder was too expensive for me; the other builder produces great quality work, at a lot cheaper cost than most fanang developers I have come across.

 

Do your home work!!!

 

 

 

 

[rumak]

On 6/29/2019 at 1:11 PM, colinneil said:

Quite funny reading this.. Farang builders better than Thai, if you use Thai builders they use Thai workers.

If you use farang builders they use Thai workers, so at the end of the day you get the same end result.

actually.... if you can speak thai and know how to "discuss" things that come up with the thai builder, I would venture that you will have less hassles then with a farang overseeing the work.  the workers also respond better to a thai boss that knows how to manage them.

my houses were built years ago and done pretty well.   the main problem was at that time I was a little

bit too juu jee ( picky)  and  keenio  (stingy).  I admit it and have changed my ways  ????

Note:  I used local small builders and workers were both thai and burmese (usually thai yai)

I personally think the thai yai are good workers and not lazy.

[rumak]

46 minutes ago, finnishmen said:

im laught lot how stupid many falang have, buy same house 3-5 million and thai pay same house same land 600 000B haha, but falangs lot have big idiots money have but not brains and no can be smart. newermind, many have idiot and need be too because thais need all idiots money own pocket hahahaha 55555 but true is thai do lot but newer not good guality, i see many hotel ,who many say high guality buiders has made3 this 5556 lot fails has and idiot builders, true is thai have totally idiot if speaking how must build good house.

translation please

[moe666]

My mechanic back in the states was building a new garage, well the inspector shows up and says no rebar in these walls, cinder block, my mechanic say what, yes no rebar where it is suppose to be. They had to get a new contractor tear the place apart and put up new walls with rebar. They sued the contractor he filed bankruptcy and started a new business. The inspectors really took a liking to the new building giving my mechanic a bad time about every thing even thought that contractor responsible was long gone. Bad and incompetent contractors every where as well as unqualified workers always ready to take a short cut or rip you off

[Fairynuff]

On 6/29/2019 at 1:11 PM, colinneil said:

Quite funny reading this.. Farang builders better than Thai, if you use Thai builders they use Thai workers.

If you use farang builders they use Thai workers, so at the end of the day you get the same end result.

You’re ALMOST right. You’ll get the same job but you’ll pay more to the farang “builder”

[Fairynuff]

If anyone has a recommendation for someone to do bathrooms in Bangkok please PM me. Up to now I’ve had 5 people come to measure and quote. Three never contacted me again, one quoted me enough to build 2 houses and another quoted for doing the whole job and then decided to also charge for the workers! He couldn’t understand why I didn’t want to pay twice!

[madmen]

8 minutes ago, Fairynuff said:

If anyone has a recommendation for someone to do bathrooms in Bangkok please PM me. Up to now I’ve had 5 people come to measure and quote. Three never contacted me again, one quoted me enough to build 2 houses and another quoted for doing the whole job and then decided to also charge for the workers! He couldn’t understand why I didn’t want to pay twice!

Is it a condo? try Juristic. We have a great team of long term maintenance guys (its a huge condo block) at more than reasonable pricing that can do all jobs including tiling

[Fairynuff]

14 minutes ago, madmen said:

Is it a condo? try Juristic. We have a great team of long term maintenance guys (its a huge condo block) at more than reasonable pricing that can do all jobs including tiling

Yes it’s a condo but I’ve seen the work done in other units here and it doesn’t come close to what I’d expect. I freely admit I have expectations that can’t always be met

[moontang]

9 minutes ago, Fairynuff said:

Yes it’s a condo but I’ve seen the work done in other units here and it doesn’t come close to what I’d expect. I freely admit I have expectations that can’t always be met

I let the local guy do everything but the bathroom.  He doesn't do beveled edges on corners.. plastic strips that look like crap.  Also seen them tile around toilets. 

[shy coconut]

On 6/29/2019 at 5:10 AM, petermik said:

There are good and bad builders the world over,not just here.....this is my four year old thai built house......cost just 1.3 million......excellent work and no problems...so far hi

How much would it have cost with a garage? ????????

 

Only joking, it looks nice, I like the tile/brick pillars.

[khunPer]

6 hours ago, potless said:

Perhaps an inducement of a 5 or 10 % bonus on labour costs would focus the builders minds. Subject to satisfactory completion of course. Just a thought.

Thanks for your reply, and thoughts.

5 % to 10 % bonus sounds quite high to me – the work costs you see specified in a quotation are not necessarily the workers salary, but rather a calculation method – but some benefits for the workers do help.

 

I first had in mind to do like what we would do in my home country, like at end of the work-week give a "Friday beer", which in Thailand is Saturday, and not as much of a beer, but rather some Thai brand alcohol and red Fanta. The idea was to find a way – in agreement with the building constructor – to show appreciation. The workers however asked, if they instead of alcohol could have instant noodle soup to bring to their camp. I'm living on an island, and almost all construction workers stay in camps, as they are not permanent residents on the island, and some of them are migrant workers. For the cost similar to alcoholic drinks and mixers, the workers could get several instant noodle soup every Saturday; I bought boxes from Makro of their preferred brand, we had about 30 workers all together at maximum periods.

 

I also had the possibility to visit the construction site at least once a day, and show interest, and appreciation, in what was done. Furthermore, right from the beginning I showed my interest by being there when "the lucky post" was erected, and I pulled the first buckets of cement into it, after a little bit of gold was placed under the post, which gave some extra points. The idea was, to get the workers to "put their heart" into building "my house"; and that the workers were happy that my family – i.e. my girlfriend and our little daughter – was part of protecting the construction site from bad spirits. The next door neighbor didn't show up for their "lucky post" ceremony, and shortly after, during a thunderstorm, lightning hit a sacred very high straight palm tree on the land – the house was designed around this palm standing in the middle, as it could not be cut down – resulting in talks about ghosts and unlucky construction; and they did have many problem, and a leaking roof.

 

Lucky post ceremony.

 

Once a month we made a party for all workers in a buffet restaurant – the so-called "hot pan" buffet, where you can eat as much as you can – including workers eventually spouses and children; we could be 40+ people. 119 baht a person, children half price, and beverage reasonable priced – liter bottles water and soft drinks, and some large beer that was shared, they were very polite and showed "granjai" (not asking for too much) – probably a very good investment, and a happy construction crew that felt we were a big family. Compared to the total construction cost, the various buffets was probably around 1 percent, and as we also enjoyed it, and the happy workers company, it was worth the money. We gladly changed the hot pan-restaurants, so they could try a variety on the island, or suggest where we should go, if they had heard about a good one, then we also learned something new...????

Three table-loads of happy construction workers, and two farang friends.

[sometimewoodworker]

On 6/29/2019 at 11:19 AM, BobBKK said:

You were lucky. Thais, generally, are lazy and cut corners but there are some hard working Burmese around who, if watched very carefully, can do an ok job. 

If instead of the word "Thais" you had used the phrase laxly supervised builders" you would be far more accurate. 

 

There are workers of any nationality who are as bad or worse than the worst Thai worker. Equally there are workers of every nationality who take pride in doing a great job. The problem with finding them in Thailand is that, in general, they already have good jobs and aren't interested in temporary (building is the epitome of temporary) work.

[musicscene]

On 6/29/2019 at 1:38 PM, petermik said:

Absolutely correct....3 other builders turned up to my GF,s brother,s house when they heard we were looking for a builder all 3 quoted less for labour...none had any experience of building with Q Con blocks,the builder I chose I had seen building a nearby new build....no one of course could speak english so later I took the GF along to get the low down and speak to the owners of the property being built for any issues....I then negotiated a price for the build and 7 months later it was completed...one or two hitches of course but in the end well worth £25,000 UK pounds (luckily it was 54/55 baht to the pound then) 

2/3 bedrooms 2 en-suite bathrooms 120 sq. metres in total 

and before anyone chimes in with "but it,s not yours-you cannot own a house here" I knew full well before I decided to have what is a holiday home for me and somewhere for my GF when my toes curl up......and I will never spend anymore money here that I cannot afford to walk away from if needed.

You can own a house here You just cannot own the land 

[sandyf]

On 6/29/2019 at 1:11 PM, colinneil said:

Quite funny reading this.. Farang builders better than Thai, if you use Thai builders they use Thai workers.

If you use farang builders they use Thai workers, so at the end of the day you get the same end result.

Exactly. I had quotes from both Thai and foreign builders with the price being from the falangs being more than double the price. The biggest problem I had was finding a Thai builder that was willing to take the job on as I wanted bricks and cavity wall construction. It also proved to be a problem during the build, I lived on site and had to go round every evening and remove their rubbish from the cavity,took several talks with the builder to get them to stop.

Can't complain, at the end of the day got a good job for the 900K.

[VocalNeal]

5 minutes ago, sandyf said:

Exactly. I had quotes from both Thai and foreign builders with the price being from the falangs being more than double the price. The biggest problem I had was finding a Thai builder that was willing to take the job on as I wanted bricks and cavity wall construction. It also proved to be a problem during the build, I lived on site

Usually costs more if you watch! Even more if you want to help.

[sandyf]

5 minutes ago, VocalNeal said:

Usually costs more if you watch! Even more if you want to help.

Another irrelevant and uninformed comment.

The house was built on the family land about 30 metres from my father in law's house who was a retired builder. The builder had previously worked for my father in law and was more than happy for him to keep an eye on the workforce.

[RocketDog]

On 6/29/2019 at 1:11 PM, colinneil said:

Quite funny reading this.. Farang builders better than Thai, if you use Thai builders they use Thai workers.

If you use farang builders they use Thai workers, so at the end of the day you get the same end result.

Nonsense. Your logic may be amusing but it's fallacious.

 

At the end of the day you get what the workers produce, Thai or otherwise.

If they know their trade you get good work, if they don't then you don't.

 

If you don't know what quality workmanship is and don't demand it you won't generally get it, especially here.

 

So if you build a house you better know exactly how to do it all yourself or be damned sure the people you hire do.

[ThomasThBKK]

Alternatively to knowing everything yourself, hire a decent architect that has a reputation and is proud of his work and wants to see it turn out well.

They will help you on every step and also supervise the building, they also know all good building companies and have a vast experience in working with them, no builder is interested in screwing over the architect that brings him work regularly.

 

As already said, you will get what you pay for. 

 

I think the biggest hurdle is building semi-expensive houses.

Building a cheap house in subpar quality for 1-2 mio THB is easy and so is building a house north of 30 mio as you just pay for an experience architect to handle it, but building decent quality yourself that is affordable is the biggest challenge imo.

[sandyf]

2 hours ago, ThomasThBKK said:

Alternatively to knowing everything yourself, hire a decent architect that has a reputation and is proud of his work and wants to see it turn out well.

They will help you on every step and also supervise the building, they also know all good building companies and have a vast experience in working with them, no builder is interested in screwing over the architect that brings him work regularly.

 

As already said, you will get what you pay for. 

 

I think the biggest hurdle is building semi-expensive houses.

Building a cheap house in subpar quality for 1-2 mio THB is easy and so is building a house north of 30 mio as you just pay for an experience architect to handle it, but building decent quality yourself that is affordable is the biggest challenge imo.

There is a lot in that. Much depends on personal circumstances and if the plans mean anything. I was fortunate that I lived on site and in a previous life was a manufacturing engineer so could make some sense of the plans. I picked up several mistakes by the builder before they became irreversible.

[sandyf]

2 hours ago, ThomasThBKK said:

Alternatively to knowing everything yourself, hire a decent architect that has a reputation and is proud of his work and wants to see it turn out well.

They will help you on every step and also supervise the building, they also know all good building companies and have a vast experience in working with them, no builder is interested in screwing over the architect that brings him work regularly.

 

As already said, you will get what you pay for. 

 

I think the biggest hurdle is building semi-expensive houses.

Building a cheap house in subpar quality for 1-2 mio THB is easy and so is building a house north of 30 mio as you just pay for an experience architect to handle it, but building decent quality yourself that is affordable is the biggest challenge imo.

There is a lot in that. Much depends on personal circumstances and if the plans mean anything. I was fortunate that I lived on site and in a previous life was a manufacturing engineer so could make some sense of the plans. I picked up several mistakes by the builder before they became irreversible.

[Munsterman]

On 6/30/2019 at 12:49 PM, 4MyEgo said:

Retiring from a property valuation background of 25 years in Sydney, it was part and parcel of my job to inspect some properties being built so that various banks could release funds to pay the builder once the builder sent them his progress claim, there are 5 claims from start to finish in 20% claims per inspection.

 

I have seen a lot of crap workmanship from builders and a few good ones, suffice to say whenever I was doing a reno or a build, I would project manage it myself because I have never heard a good story when it came to a client being happy with their builder.

 

The above said, we waited a year for the Thai guy in our village to build our place, he is not a qualified builder in any form, however worked under his father for many years and learnt the trade so to speak, and I inspected 3 properties he built in the village.

 

He did an extension on our little bungalow and then joined the main house to the bungalow, in all it took a year with him only using a friend and then calling in team of renderers when they had to render inside and outside. 

 

His workmanship is that good that I won't allow anyone else to do any work around the house and will wait months for him to finish off whatever he has on so that he can do a further extension, or a covered outdoor area, or an additional carport.

 

He is cheap with his prices as we paid him 500,000 baht back 3 years ago for the extension to the bungalow and single level house build which worked out to be around 256 square metres excluding the existing bungalow which is 64 square metres. 

 

The materials we purchased cost us around a million baht, so that works out to be around 5,860 baht per square metre inclusive of the builders fee, or the complete build of 1.5 mil baht, or $272AUD per square metre, that's slightly cheaper than what it would cost me back in Sydney, i.e. 64,500 per square metre, or $3,000AUD per square metre, or $768,000AUD completed, so one could say we are stocked ????

 

 

 

A true tale of success! Great prices too.

[Munsterman]

On 7/1/2019 at 6:20 AM, sometimewoodworker said:

If instead of the word "Thais" you had used the phrase laxly supervised builders" you would be far more accurate. 

 

There are workers of any nationality who are as bad or worse than the worst Thai worker. Equally there are workers of every nationality who take pride in doing a great job. The problem with finding them in Thailand is that, in general, they already have good jobs and aren't interested in temporary (building is the epitome of temporary) work.

That's why its good to use a company that is big enough to have staff - or at least full-time subbies for the trade work. Many smaller companies here (which includes most falangs) rely on day labour, so don't have the chance to train and supervise staff to attain high standards. I've watched it happen, fortunately not at my place. 

[MadMuhammad]

On 6/29/2019 at 1:41 PM, colinneil said:

Yes mate the standard of so-called Thai sparkies is abysmal.

To even refer to them as sparkies is insulting to the trade. Totally shameful 

[elliss]

On 6/29/2019 at 1:13 PM, petermik said:

Except for the higher cost premium from the farang builder......

  Check farangs agents surveyors etc, have valid work permits/qualifications etc.

Otherwise you could end up in the brown stuff. Nuff said ..

 

 

 

[4MyEgo]

8 hours ago, Munsterman said:

A true tale of success! Great prices too.

The only downside is the quality of the air from time to time, because as I have found out, Thai's love to burn, burn, burn

[mania]

On 6/28/2019 at 6:10 PM, petermik said:

There are good and bad builders the world over,not just here.....this is my four year old thai built house......cost just 1.3 million......excellent work and no problems...so far

This is a really cute & clean design