Home construction and land acquisition

[warwalk]

I sit here in Houston sipping my Singha and enjoying the phenomenal 73(23) degree weather, all windows open, a light breeze blowing through... two days from September and loving this south Texas weather. Brooding clouds and high humidity have been the order of things the past few days, a brisk wind punctuated by periods of calm. It reminds me a lot of my trip recently to Bangkok... in fact, a lot about Houston does. Houston, flat as a pancake, sleepy bayous of slow moving coffee colored water, and then further out elevating to rolling pastureland and ultimately hill country.

 

My girl and I took a drive out from Thonburi, and as the miles passed and the dense population grudgingly gave way, gorgeous rice fields in all stages of planting became the scenery. Once we had had our fill of this, the land began to slope as Erawan came closer. The trees hugged the road more, the houses and businesses less and less frequent. Small towns and small intersections, and (ironically) Dairy Queen. Green, in abundance, and just incredibly beautiful. Later when I posted pics of our trek friends in Texas commented on some of the similarities of the drive from low lying Houston out to Hill Country.

 

But... I digress. 

 

For those that are so inclined, how does one buy land in this slice of paradise? I'm not asking for the legalities of it, but it seems the land sales are few and when they're present the cost is dear. My girl says the only people that sell for anything reasonable probably have gambling debt (her observation as a lifelong resident, not mine)… where's that $5000 an acre stuff? Or, $5000 a rai even? :/    Is it even feasible?

 

In terms of building, I hear horror stories... cracking walls, leaking roofs... what certifications are required for Thai home construction? I'm certified in electric, can I wire my own house? What do people see as being the best method? (Concrete seems the popular choice - I'm guessing balloon frame is out of the question?). What can lower costs based on the country - what increases costs?

 

I see a lot of glass walls in houses for sale, this seems ridiculously expensive, but when I think about what those glass walls replace (outdoor siding, outdoor painting, framing, insulation, sheetrock, interior paint) maybe those walls of glass aren't so expensive. Any idea what those suckers cost per square yard... er, meter?

 

What is the deal with these individual room A/C units? Is there a benefit / drawback compared to the North American whole house unit?

 

Honest, these questions are really just to drum up conversation. I'd love to hear from people with more knowledge. Thanks y'all!

[Langsuan Man]

Save yourself from a lot of mis-information and bias here at Thai Visa and go to a Thai website that specializes in house construction and land purchases

 

http://www.coolthaihouse.com/forum/index.php

[ThomasThBKK]

On 11/30/2019 at 11:21 AM, warwalk said:

For those that are so inclined, how does one buy land in this slice of paradise? I'm not asking for the legalities of it, but it seems the land sales are few and when they're present the cost is dear. My girl says the only people that sell for anything reasonable probably have gambling debt (her observation as a lifelong resident, not mine)… where's that $5000 an acre stuff? Or, $5000 a rai even? ????    Is it even feasible?

 

In terms of building, I hear horror stories... cracking walls, leaking roofs... what certifications are required for Thai home construction? I'm certified in electric, can I wire my own house? What do people see as being the best method? (Concrete seems the popular choice - I'm guessing balloon frame is out of the question?). What can lower costs based on the country - what increases costs?

 

I see a lot of glass walls in houses for sale, this seems ridiculously expensive, but when I think about what those glass walls replace (outdoor siding, outdoor painting, framing, insulation, sheetrock, interior paint) maybe those walls of glass aren't so expensive. Any idea what those suckers cost per square yard... er, meter?

 

What is the deal with these individual room A/C units? Is there a benefit / drawback compared to the North American whole house unit?

 

Honest, these questions are really just to drum up conversation. I'd love to hear from people with more knowledge. Thanks y'all!

 

1) All land we bought was either from for sale signs or just locally asking around, shopowners and co always know people. Thais like gossip, if someone wants to sell the locals know it.

Prices per rai are vastly different and depend on the location, just regular farm-like looking land in a village is cheap, expect to pay hundreds of thousands USD for innercity land/ beachfront island land etc...

 

2) Not much certification as long as it follows the rudimentary building permit ... only issue can be zoning laws that limit you. Not hard to find out, just ask local land office/or bor tor. You can get whatever quality you want - you will pay for it tho. It's easy to build a house here that is vastly superior to the average european or american house, but that has a price. concrete with rebar or bricks is the usual thai thing most use. I've done alu/steel frame houses etc before tho, without issues. Preassembled is also an option, just bring it over with a truck from Bangkok. You hear horror stories from people who don't know what they do and trust the local builder, don't .... if you have experience it's ok here tho, there are far worse countries to build. I know equal horror stories in germany... You get what you pay for.

 

3) Individual units are cheaper initially and easy to install. I use whole house units tho, they are as easily available. Not visible that they are installed... a big AC with installation can reach 2 mio thb tho for a biggish house. Other's buld a whole house for that here, there's something for every budget.

 

And yes, coolthaihouse is a decent resource.

 

Last but not least - a decent architect can spare you a lot of pain, headaches and work! They have excellent ones here, they know what they do and they also make sure the quality is ok. Expect 5-15% of house price to go to the architect tho, that's the going rate pretty much everywhere.

Edited December 1, 2019 by ThomasThBKK

[NCC1701A]

On 11/30/2019 at 11:21 AM, warwalk said:

how does one buy land in this slice of paradise?

you don't.

good luck.

Edited December 1, 2019 by NCC1701A

[warwalk]

I wanted to say thank you to everyone that has responded, and will be looking into the "Coolthaihouse" website.

 

@ThomasThBKK Huge thank you for your well thought out reply. Ideally what we are looking for is West Coast Thailand but not prime beachfront property nor in a prime area tourist area. Something inland by maybe a kilometer, where maybe from a certain angle you can catch a glimpse of the water.

 

Also, good information on the concrete. I've seen it going up pretty much everywhere... in town, out of town, big and small. Really it's incredible what they can do with the stuff. 

 

Also interesting about the HVAC units. The cost for whole house units seems incredibly high when compared to the US, where a whole system (2 units, all ducting, etc) would cost under $15k. To me though, having the whole home at a single temp seems nicer, but if it's really spendy I may look more at the individual units.

 

@NCC1701A I understand about the land. I'd leave that part up to the missus ????

[ThomasThBKK]

59 minutes ago, warwalk said:

Also interesting about the HVAC units. The cost for whole house units seems incredibly high when compared to the US, where a whole system (2 units, all ducting, etc) would cost under $15k. To me though, having the whole home at a single temp seems nicer, but if it's really spendy I may look more at the individual units.

 

Yeah for a normal size house, let's say 200sqm, you can totally get a single unit AC installed with duct work for 1 mio thb/15k usd. Like an LG model, should be no issue at all.

 

 

For land, you can get some land on an island like koh chang big enough for a house for like 500k THB: https://www.thailand-property.com/land-for-sale-in-ko-chang-trat_2129467

 

prolly a bit overpriced and you could find something cheaper locally.

 

Edited December 3, 2019 by ThomasThBKK