01 : Building a house - Nong Kung Si - Initial Plans

[Petey303]

Statement:
I am posting to get feedback and to leave a record for others. I went through and read multiple blogs and posts on house building in Thailand. I am not an expert in any way. I'll share what I know and try to post regularly as we progress.

 

What I won't be doing is getting everyone to agree with me on my decisions. I like input, but most public posts have quite a bit of troll-type comments. I will definitely look for the "wheat" posts and ignore the "chaff". Ultimately, I need to weigh what is best for myself and my family.

 

A little background to start:
I am an American, my wife is Thai. We are building our home in Nong Kung Si District, near Nong Yai, in a small town (about 100 homes).

 

Where we are at now:
We have worked with two different companies, the first one was a little small and unable to meet my requirements. We found a much better builder (better = more experience, larger company, engineering in house, very responsive).

 

We have been working on house plans for a while, first with company 1 and now with company 2. We are not expecting to start building until August of 2021, so we will be working on plans for a while. Our view is - everything in the plans. That is step one, step two is getting everyone to follow the plans. I know from my research that step two will be challenging. I am sure we will have lots of posts about this when the time comes ????

 

My plans for the plans:

• Get a layout that my wife and I like (almost there)
• Review the plans with an American Architect (done)
• Engineering input - Civil and Structural (in progress)
• Start filling out the details; placement of lights, switches, hose bibs, outside lights, etc.
• Spend a lot of time on the low voltage details - placement of APs, wiring closet, gate control, video, etc.
• Review with the American Architect again
• Check all materials
• Follow American safety standards where we can (example - fire rated door to the garage)

 

The physical build:
The lot is clear and has a load of dirt on it. Not really anything more to do to prep. The lot is a little tight, I am hoping that things align in the future and we are able to pick up the lot next to us to have a bit more room. My wife spoke to that family and the seed has been planted ????

 

If you've built your own house in Thailand, I would love to chat with you. What went wrong, what went right, what would you do different?
 

[sirineou]

we built a house in Khon kaen a couple of years ago.

Getting  a good responsive builder with good communications is key. even if you have to pay a little more. Also make sure they know that you are posting this in a forum where thousands of farangs will see it. and if they do a good job they might get a lot of business. 

Ask them to make you a 3D plan to scale on Sketch Up that way you can make an avatar to scale and walk through the rooms . also place furniture to scale and decide where your switches, outlets and windows should be  in relationship to your furniture .

You don't want stupid surprises such as a window where you wanted to put a dresser. or an outlet behind your bed, 

I look forward to your build. 

[BeltAndRoad]

How deep is your landfill? You need to get the slab right or it will crack along with the walls.

[DJ54]

We had a house built outside of Kumphawapi. The builder had several different of type homes for us to decide style etc. Picture

is what we came up with using builders made a few changes.

 

All went well on schedule and price. The only I can think of that 

wasn’t is the bottom step at entrance drain properly... Although done by a small contractor they did excellent job....

 

 

[BeltAndRoad]

26 minutes ago, DJ54 said:

We had a house built outside of Kumphawapi. The builder had several different of type homes for us to decide style etc. Picture

is what we came up with using builders made a few changes.

 

All went well on schedule and price. The only I can think of that 

wasn’t is the bottom step at entrance drain properly... Although done by a small contractor they did excellent job....

 

 

Nice house. Though deemed unnecessary in Thailand you should invest in gutters to stop excessive amounts of water seeping under your slab.

Edited April 25, 2020 by BeltAndRoad

[baansgr]

If your house isn't anything exotic, use existing plans from the local tessabhan and have the architect there ammend to your needs. Firstly it's far cheaper and secondly the building permit will be issued without any problems. I paid somewhere between 10,000-15,000 to be good to go. 3 bed single story..also again for rental apartments. On construction...you need to be there everyday...morning visit and evening...

[ThaiFelix]

We built a house 6 years ago near Tha Khantho using local farmer builders.  My suggestion would be to be fully  prepared by stocking up on tranquilizers, grow eyes in the back of your head, and get a good divorce lawyer.  Your wife is going to have the ride of her life (no not that kind of ride lol).

 

Oh and think seriously about an outside kitchen.

[DJ54]

16 minutes ago, ThaiFelix said:

Oh and think seriously about an outside kitchen.

We have both wish they’d use the outside when their frying...and bring back utensils, pots and pans. .. Their getting better 4 years later

[sirineou]

26 minutes ago, DJ54 said:

We had a house built outside of Kumphawapi. The builder had several different of type homes for us to decide style etc. Picture

is what we came up with using builders made a few changes.

 

All went well on schedule and price. The only I can think of that 

wasn’t is the bottom step at entrance drain properly... Although done by a small contractor they did excellent job....

 

 

Very nice house with cool outside places to seat also love the tile combination,,

 The only negative thing I notice , and I only bring this up for the benefit of the OP to conciser. Is that blue pipe on  the perimeter wall.  I'm I correct in assuming it is the vent to the septic??

I say that because they tried to do the same in my house. 

A vent pipe that low, could introduce unpleasant odors right at the high of my head, 

I had then turn it around and vent it at the height of the roof where the wind would carry away any unpleasant odors. 

It used to be where the plants are now on the side, but you cant see it now because it was turned around and was snaked in inside the bathrooms( there are two bathrooms one on top the other) you can see the downstairs bathroom behind the outside kichen. 

[DJ54]

20 minutes ago, BeltAndRoad said:

gutters to stop excessive amounts of water seeping under your slab.

Thanks for reminding me.. we are just outside the main village..

and was hoping to catch guys driving around selling and installing 

gutters... I don’t speak Thai good enough to tell them what I want

and no else around the time. ...

[DJ54]

3 minutes ago, sirineou said:

A vent pipe that low, could introduce unpleasant odors right at the high of my head, 

I had then turn it around and vent it at the height of the roof where the wind would carry away any unpleasant

Thanks appreciate the tip... next time I see the builder I’ll ask to change. If you don’t mind when you have time send showing it and 

it will make easier to explain...

 

I thought that was mama in law the smelled... kidding... I probably 

don’t notice being in the back room (on one that has AC) and the door and closed...

[sirineou]

19 minutes ago, DJ54 said:

Thanks appreciate the tip... next time I see the builder I’ll ask to change. If you don’t mind when you have time send showing it and 

it will make easier to explain...

 

I thought that was mama in law the smelled... kidding... I probably 

don’t notice being in the back room (on one that has AC) and the door and closed...

You cant see it now because it is inside the wall and it come out through the roof , like we do in the west. As I said they were trying to vent it by the wall .as you see in the picture. it should be vented on the roof 

This is a stock picture I found on google 

Since your house is finished , too late to do anything now without making a mess. 

at my house I build an extension to the height of the wall on the side for more privacy.. because when my neighbor build they overfilled their lot to half way up my wall. and they could easily see over my wall.

If you ever do anything like that you can also extend your vent pipe higher. 

The vines that you see planted, have grown now and are covering that wall 

 

PS: I wouldn't had build it that high but i was not there when it was done, and my wife build it too high. 

I call it trump's wall , and i could not get mexico to pay for it also ???? 

Edited April 26, 2020 by sirineou

[Mama Noodle]

Ive only got a couple of recommendations:

 

1 - You really don't need all the American engineers and western checks. Find a LOCAL plan that you like and have the builders make that. These will be rural people and language will be a barrier and Ib be willing to bet your sole translator will be your spouse. Unless your spouse is fluent in engineering terms and basic construction methods (very unlikely) then its going to be really hard.

 

2 - As an American myself, my main recommendation is to build with the intent of energy efficiency. By that I mean local homes are built so inefficient that air-conditioning them is extremely costly. Good quality UPVC windows and doors are a must as well as roof insulation rolls above the ceiling. Thats the minimum. 

[BeltAndRoad]

Absolutely correct, i have a veranda around the perimeter of my house to ensure no walls are in contact with direct sun light, i also have insulation in the ceiling and vents in the roof for air flow. My house is double brick with the perimeter walls battened and lined with gyprock on the inside.  I also have double glazed windows though this was a little expensive because i couldn't find them prefabricated. i have a 4kw aircon that cools the whole living area of the house easily and when the aircon is turned off it takes a long time for the house to heat up.

Edited April 26, 2020 by BeltAndRoad

[DJ54]

30 minutes ago, sirineou said:

PS: I wouldn't had build it that high but i was not there when it was done, and my wife build it too high. 

I call it trump's wall , and i could not get mexico to pay for it also

Very nice! ....until 2 weeks ago we had 6 ... 3 year old shrubs about 7ft and full... a nice barrier from neighbors that just moved..,

 

One morning I got up looked out front and Papa moved all 6 and planted near front wall... I was <deleted>.. and they all died within a

week....

 

but that’s ok now when comes asking for few bucks I will just 

point where trees...

 

Thanks again..

[GBW]

Gday Petey, 

I was a building contractor in Australia for over 35 years, now retired in Thailand 10 years.

The best initial advice I can give you is,

Make sure that you fully comprehend all detail in your final plans.

Obviously foundation are the most important part of a build. Piers, slab, rough in (placement) of plumbing etc.  Check and be onsite and check again that all is to plan.

Visit your house site as regularly as possible. 

Buy yourself a good tape measure, spirit level and aluminium straight edge.

Outsourcing products such as, doors, windows, lighting, kitchen etc would save you $.

There are standards and then there are your standards. If your are not happy with something on your build, do not be afraid to address it with the owner of the company immediately.   This in turn will/should set a precedence on what you expect from the company and show in the final presentation.

I have overseen the 3 houses I have built here in Thailand. Standards differ all over the world, so do your best to maintain your standard, especially here in the LOS.

Good luck.

GBW

PS, there has been some good advice offered in other posts. Be open to any advice, albeit little or more.  Tranquillisers might sound funny, but quite true in context, although I found Diazaphan and a icy Leo at the end of the day quite sufficient. 

Cheers mate

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[RickBradford]

We built a place 7 years ago, and have had no problems.

 

I attribute that partly to the fact that we let the builder work in the way he was accustomed to. More importantly, though, we paid him for labor only - we bought all the materials ourselves, so there was no cutting of corners in that regard.

 

It takes longer, and it is a drag having to keep going to the hardware stores, but the result has been good.

 

[Aland]

Hindsight is 20/20. Somethings that were overlooked when I had my house built. Family size, at the time I assumed that a small 2 bedroom 2 bath house would suffice for myself, my wife and my step daughter. My mother in law, who has a home directly behind me, has been “living” under my roof for years, we’ve  also had at least 1 niece in residence, from a total of 4, since the house was built back in 2010. Last year we also added a grand daughter.

 Closets, I can’t stress this enough. Not a single closet in the house. I’ve had to build 2 storage sheds outside and we have 2 large cheaply made but very popular in Thailand, wardrobe/clothes closets inside.

 I see that you mentioned electrical outlets, the more the better IMO, especially outside. My house had/has 2 outlets per room, none in either bathroom and 1 outlet outside for the washing machine. Needless to say, we use a lot of power strips and in this country most power strips , conveniently come with a long cord. I had a water filter installed in the cabinet under our kitchen sink, sadly, I have to run a power strip from an outlet 2.5 meters away, to run the filter.

 Finally, for me, screens on windows and doors turned out to be a small issue as the windows come with screens, albeit they are backwards from the rest of the world, but the doors were overlooked. 

[GBW]

1 hour ago, DJ54 said:

Thanks for reminding me.. we are just outside the main village..

and was hoping to catch guys driving around selling and installing 

gutters... I don’t speak Thai good enough to tell them what I want

and no else around the time. ...

SCG and Windsor Windows supply and install very good guttering systems domestically and commercially throughout Thailand. The product is UPVC.  Both have websites (English). 

I went with Windsor, found them to be very good and was pleasantly surprised with cost.

 

 

[Mister T]

I built our place near Ubon in 2012 from Qcon blocks. Luckily my son is an architect and I got a lot of good advice from him. I did get a great builder after looking at several of his previous builds in the area. We negotiated a price per sq mtr and I made sure I did all the materials purchasing, he did come along in support. We agreed on progress payments. small one at start, another at slab completion, another at roof completion and the final when we were able to move in.

Strongly suggest damp course liner between slab and blocks, bio septic not concrete rings, 7" guttering if available in your area, down pipes at each corner of the roof (including the entry). As previously stated, you can never have too many power points. I had 4 double power points in each room, had a great electrician, he did all 3 core wiring tubed and recessed in the walls. Minimum 1.8 metre copper earth/ground in a moist soil.

Good luck, it can be fun and frustrating at the same time.

[Petey303]

6 hours ago, ThaiFelix said:

Oh and think seriously about an outside kitchen.

Good insight!

 

I have had this thought a lot. I wanted an indoor kitchen and a smaller one outside. So far, our plans only have an indoor kitchen. One of our points we are working through. 

[Petey303]

6 hours ago, DJ54 said:

We had a house built outside of Kumphawapi. The builder had several different of type homes for us to decide style etc. Picture

is what we came up with using builders made a few changes.

 

All went well on schedule and price. The only I can think of that 

wasn’t is the bottom step at entrance drain properly... Although done by a small contractor they did excellent job....

 

 

I love this house. Nice one DJ54!

[Petey303]

6 hours ago, baansgr said:

If your house isn't anything exotic, use existing plans from the local tessabhan and have the architect there ammend to your needs. Firstly it's far cheaper and secondly the building permit will be issued without any problems. I paid somewhere between 10,000-15,000 to be good to go. 3 bed single story..also again for rental apartments. On construction...you need to be there everyday...morning visit and evening...

We are looking at modifying a plan that this builder already built. It would be more straight forward and we can learn lessons from the first one they built - I like your suggestion,

 

For being there every day, the builder says not necessary (I know, I know). I am working on that aspect since I time share between the US and Thailand. My wife and I may need to do shifts. But, for me, I don't know what I am looking at. Someone could change material, I am not sure that I would catch it.

[Petey303]

6 hours ago, DJ54 said:

Thanks appreciate the tip... next time I see the builder I’ll ask to change. If you don’t mind when you have time send showing it and 

it will make easier to explain...

 

I thought that was mama in law the smelled... kidding... I probably 

don’t notice being in the back room (on one that has AC) and the door and closed...

On our drawings they just showed the septic and a vent. One of the questions in my list (I should post that list sometime) was where does this pipe go. Thanks for bringing this up, I'll bump up the priority to get answered.

[Petey303]

5 hours ago, Aland said:

Closets, I can’t stress this enough. Not a single closet in the house. I’ve had to build 2 storage sheds outside and we have 2 large cheaply made but very popular in Thailand, wardrobe/clothes closets inside.

 

Aland - yes, I was a little surprised that no closets in some of the bedrooms. One of the changes we are working on now is at least a hanging closet in all rooms. The two large rooms have walk in closets.

[kamalabob2]

GBW and others have posted some great tips. The walk in closet I had fitted in Satuk Buriram was built in my carport by a reputable "wood team". I suspect there may be similar wood teams located near the OP.  The same wood team had built the bar at Book N Bed Restaurant in Buriram. I opted to have them build my indoor kitchen when I saw the bar at Book N Bed Restaurant in Buriram. I am of the belief that every province has "go to" contractors for special aspects of building. I would caution the OP about galvanized rain gutters sold off a truck. It would be worth his time to consider UPVC of Windsor, Hoffen or VG Rain Gutters. I selected stainless 304 steel rain gutters for my home as the roof was a bit larger than most. A deeper wider rain gutter and more downspouts than most homes has served me well. 

 

https://www.buriramhome.com/buriram-master-bedroom-suite/

 

I would encourage the OP and anyone building a home in Thailand to consider both an indoor AND an outdoor Kitchen with sinks, cooktops and enough electrical outlets on RCBO GFI circuit breakers.  Hot water is readily available for any kitchen when building a house in Thailand. I would also encourage the OP to budget tile to the ceiling in any kitchens or bathrooms. It will make cleaning so much easier. 

 

https://www.buriramhome.com/buriram-home-custom-kitchens/

[Petey303]

13 hours ago, kamalabob2 said:

GBW and others have posted some great tips. The walk in closet I had fitted in Satuk Buriram was built in my carport by a reputable "wood team". I suspect there may be similar wood teams located near the OP.  The same wood team had built the bar at Book N Bed Restaurant in Buriram. I opted to have them build my indoor kitchen when I saw the bar at Book N Bed Restaurant in Buriram. I am of the belief that every province has "go to" contractors for special aspects of building. I would caution the OP about galvanized rain gutters sold off a truck. It would be worth his time to consider UPVC of Windsor, Hoffen or VG Rain Gutters. I selected stainless 304 steel rain gutters for my home as the roof was a bit larger than most. A deeper wider rain gutter and more downspouts than most homes has served me well. 

 

https://www.buriramhome.com/buriram-master-bedroom-suite/

 

I would encourage the OP and anyone building a home in Thailand to consider both an indoor AND an outdoor Kitchen with sinks, cooktops and enough electrical outlets on RCBO GFI circuit breakers.  Hot water is readily available for any kitchen when building a house in Thailand. I would also encourage the OP to budget tile to the ceiling in any kitchens or bathrooms. It will make cleaning so much easier. 

 

https://www.buriramhome.com/buriram-home-custom-kitchens/

Great post! I like the urinal in the bathroom, I have that on my list. Also, the Thai outdoor kitchen is a must. I agree. I showed your pictures to my wife, she likes them. Thanks for the help.

 

For my next new post, I will show a list of all the items on my must-do and my wish list. I have a few things that probably won't happen. I'll post that soon.

 

[Crossy]

We built our home back in 2011 (moved in in 2012 after the floods).

 

Thread here

 

 

 

 

[TommyBlue]

Here is a link the 'the' definitive publication on how to build a house in Thailand.

Tony kept an ongoing record and then made a book out of his 'adventures'.

880 pages of invaluable advice and experience that you just cannot buy.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1SpDATCbkwR0feraatTMGThxzCP9ZEk1d/view

 

This is the guy's website.

https://tonyinthailand.com/

[david555]

Free Thai Government House Plans

 

http://www.crossy.co.uk/Thai_House_Plans/

Pre approved plans , technical plans for download