Advice Needed - Offplan Condo

[Newbee]

I have been reading through the forum for a long time, but never registered. Today it's my time to ask questions, and … I need your help, guys.

I have bought (offplan) a 75 sq m. 2 BR unit with 1 small balcony and 2 bathrooms (one is full (bathtub/shower/ toilet/sink), the second one is smaller (shower/ toilet/sink).

Now it's time to tell the developer what options do I want to include in my condo. If anything is not included, I can get the refund.

1. Ceiling. An engineer from the developer strongly suggested I do not include ceiling. Reasoning - it will anyway be damaged after we install aircons (it's not possible to install aircon before they do the ceiling).

a/ is it true that installation of aircon will damage ceilings?

b/ how much would it cost to do the ceiling (subcontractor)?

c/ if I don't order the ceiling, what would be there in the apartment (how it will look like - could my husband do the ceiling himself)?

d/ can the true reason be that making ceilings is a quite difficult task and the developer would prefer to avoid it?

e/ If I choose to include ceiling, would I expect it to have any lightings installed?

2. Floor. There is an options of two light colors of laminate. First, I don't like light (yellow - brownish) floor, second, there will be small kitchen-type open unit and the area near the entrance door where I would prefer to have tiles (about 3x4 meters in total).

a/ the same engineer from the developer suggested I rather paint the laminate... Any comments?

b/ how much would it cost to do the floor (subcontractor)? I think I would prefer to have wooden floor (parquet?), but may also consider darker laminate, depending on my budget at the time the unit is finished. I know the common opinion on the forum was to have tiles throughout the apartment, but with small kids and with experience of living in a tile-only apartment, I 'd rather not to have tiles. How much would it cost to do different materials?

c/ if I don't order the floor, what would be there in the apartment (how it will look like, would it require a lot of work (cement to even it out, etc)? How long it would take to do the floor?

3. Is it possible to order kitchen and built-in furniture from the same subcontractor? What would be an approximate price for this unit (2 wardrobes in each bedrooms, 3*2 corner kitchen)? I need the cost of built in furniture only, price for electrical appliances is fairly available.

4. Any other comments / suggestion / references / links on the above, would be most welcome.

[rak sa_ngop]

Regarding question 1, I had to have an aircon and a shower water heater installed recently. The condo builders had made provisions for these appliances buy mounting the electric wiring in the concrete ceiling and installing an 'junction box' in the best place they considered for the appliance. Therefore when the condo owner decides to install an aircon or water heater he has to cut a hole in the plasterboard false ceilng to access the power junction box (in my case 2 holes were necessary because we 'missed' with the first hole). The holes were about 30 x 30 cm to give adequate access to complete the wiring and obviously need to be patched up afterwards.

If you know where you are going to place your appliances maybe you can put all the necessary wiring in before the false ceilings are installed.

The other consideration is for the aircon outlet pipes. Mine run along the walls level with the aircon units so I can give no advice on putting these out-of-sight through the ceiling.

Hope the above helps.

[SamSipEt]

Get the ceiling put in by the developer. Install wall mounted air-con units and as close as possible and practical to where the external compressor will be. I did this after the condo had been built and no mess, no problems and only a couple of hours work. As to lights in the ceiling this should be convered in the contract. If they are excluded put them in at the same time as the ceiling.

Floor - again get the developer to do it and get him to quote for tiling the small areas that you want tiled. It can't cost that much and it is so easy to have only one person to deal with if you are not happy with the finish otherwise they will just blame each other and you will get no where.

As for kitchen and bedroom units why not shop around your local furniture shops and see they can deliver and put together for you?

You seem to have a lot of basic questions a bit late in the day but take it step by step - sort out the ceiling and flooring first, air-con second and furniture thord would be my suggestion. Unless your husband is an experienced builder don't consider letting him loose on building work!

[Moonfruit]

As said above, get the developer to do all the stuff required, as it will give you less headaches in the long run when problems come up, which they inevitably do in any building project!

As a rough idea, a ceiling costs around 900thb/sqm installed. Some places a little cheaper, some more expensive, but thats a ballpark.

You most certainly cannot paint your laminate flooring.

Solid wood parquet flooring would cost you anywhere between 2000thb/sqm and 4000thb/sqm, and that price may rise depending on your sub-floor. However, if taken care f properly will outlast you and me, whereas laminate looks pretty shabby after a few years of wear and tear.

[Newbee]

Ok, just got the refund amounts from the developer -

25 000 baht for the floor

17 000 baht for the ceiling

From our conversation with the developer I understood that we cannot ask them to make any changes. According to the plan, they have laminate all over the living space, so we can either choose to make the whole area yellow laminate or to cancel the floor and make it the way we want. Has anyone been in the same situation and managed to negotiate any custom changes?

Thank you everyone who responded, looking forward to more advices/ opinions!