Does anyone know a good builder?

[Paul52]

The Mrs and I want to build a small house on some land she bought.  We’re having a real problem trying to find a builder who can build without posts.  We don’t mind posts in the outside wall, but we’d really like to build the house with no posts inside, so that we have more flexibility for configuring the layout.   Does anyone know or have experience with a builder in the Isaan area who can do this? We live in Roi Et province.

Edited June 18, 2020 by Paul52
Missing word added.

[worgeordie]

There's..Bob     now seriously, the only way you are going to get away

with no posts on inside is to build a double wall, I found it difficult to

get them to do anything that is outside their normal building practices,

the typical Thai house is always a concrete frame filled in with bricks,

or blocks, if you are only build 1 story, see if you could build with those

big white blocks,they should not be much narrower than the posts,and

by the time the walls are plastered ,should be /maybe no corners.

regards worgeordie

[khwaibah]

23 minutes ago, Paul52 said:

Does anyone know or have experience with a builder in the Isaan area who can do this? We live in Roi Et province.

Give this company ago. They are in Surin.  https://www.alanthebuilder.com

[BobBKK]

Yes his names Bob.

[LM405]

Alan the builder is highly recommended, lots of good feedback on him. I believe he can be contacted at [email protected]

[CGW]

1 hour ago, worgeordie said:

now seriously, the only way you are going to get away

with no posts on inside is to build a double wall,

How? double wall or single its immaterial if the bricks or blocks are not engineered to support weight, as far as I know you cannot buy "engineered bricks or blocks in Thailand, therefore you need the posts to for strength and support, dependant on the design the OP wants there should be no need for any internal posts.

[bodga]

55 minutes ago, LM405 said:

Alan the builder is highly recommended, lots of good feedback on him. I believe he can be contacted at [email protected]

as  you are  unable to say  bad  things  in  Thailand about a company  due  to  their  laws its  very  much  like  the  emperors  new  clothes

[bodga]

6 minutes ago, CGW said:

How? double wall or single its immaterial if the bricks or blocks are not engineered to support weight, as far as I know you cannot buy "engineered bricks or blocks in Thailand, therefore you need the posts to for strength and support, dependant on the design the OP wants there should be no need for any internal posts.

aac  blocks 250mm  thick are supporting

[Paul52]

1 hour ago, worgeordie said:

There's..Bob     now seriously, the only way you are going to get away

with no posts on inside is to build a double wall, I found it difficult to

get them to do anything that is outside their normal building practices,

the typical Thai house is always a concrete frame filled in with bricks,

or blocks, if you are only build 1 story, see if you could build with those

big white blocks,they should not be much narrower than the posts,and

by the time the walls are plastered ,should be /maybe no corners.

regards worgeordie

Many thanks for your reply.  I should have mentioned that it is a single story house, so should be ok to have posts and steel  on the outside wall to support the roof, and no posts inside as they’re not structural.  Thanks.

[Paul52]

1 hour ago, khwaibah said:

Give this company ago. They are in Surin.  https://www.alanthebuilder.com

Thanks for that.  Looks very interesting, indeed ????

[CGW]

15 minutes ago, bodga said:

aac  blocks 250mm  thick are supporting

Must be relatively new to the market, do you have a link, just did a quick search, can't find?

[khwaibah]

18 minutes ago, CGW said:

Must be relatively new to the market, do you have a link, just did a quick search, can't find?

They are not new. been about for at least 8 years in Thailand.  http://www.aerocretethai.com/?page_id=33

[CGW]

29 minutes ago, khwaibah said:

They are not new. been about for at least 8 years in Thailand.  http://www.aerocretethai.com/?page_id=33

I can find this link, my house is built from them, but where does it state they are engineered and "self supporting"? When I built my house there was no ACC that would support weight, my question was where does it state they are?

[khwaibah]

6 minutes ago, CGW said:

I can find this link, my house is built from them, but where does it state they are engineered and "self supporting"? When I built my house there was no ACC that would support weight, my question was where does it state they are?

Yes.  https://gharpedia.com/resolve-queries/use-aac-blocks-load-bearing-structures/

[CaptainCarrot]

5 minutes ago, CGW said:

I can find this link, my house is built from them, but where does it state they are engineered and "self supporting"? When I built my house there was no ACC that would support weight, my question was where does it state they are?

In the table it compares the compressive strength with brick and quotes strength of 50kg/cm2 (5N/mm2 for us SI users).
However you cannot just look at compressive strength. Most houses are concrete frame to provide resistance to lateral (wind, seismic) as well as vertical loads, and then the block infill (which does improve the lateral resistance as a shear wall, but is not normally considered in design).

[CGW]

4 minutes ago, khwaibah said:

Yes.  https://gharpedia.com/resolve-queries/use-aac-blocks-load-bearing-structures/

Which leads me back to my original question, what is the compressive strength of the 250mm blocks that can be used for "support" that is no data available that I can find for Thai manufactures. My belief is that it is only designed for infill here.

[Keyser Soze666]

2 hours ago, LM405 said:

Alan the builder is highly recommended, lots of good feedback on him. I believe he can be contacted at [email protected]

Alan or BOB?

[worgeordie]

5 hours ago, CGW said:

How? double wall or single its immaterial if the bricks or blocks are not engineered to support weight, as far as I know you cannot buy "engineered bricks or blocks in Thailand, therefore you need the posts to for strength and support, dependant on the design the OP wants there should be no need for any internal posts.

Posts and double wall

regards worgeordie

[Martyjustice]

Not to highjack a thread, but does any member have experience with Taweechai builders?  Ubon office is across from McD.s .  Some of the pricing is reasonable to slightly high, but if they are good then maybe ok.  Don't have to be wordy in the reply due to libel laws, just a "oK" or "Don't" is good enough.

[kamalabob2]

I am in a unique position to see what both Thai and expat builders really order. Some are cowboys, some thieves, some fraudsters, some skilled tradesmen. Some with ethics. But it takes more than one man to build a home. Some builders "call it in" on products, no need for bringing in pesky house plans or list of materials. I'll go on record that more than 6 of Alan the builders customers have spoken to me face to face and have been VERY pleased with the results of a home they had built by Alan. The people who often "talk bad" about a business are the folks who can't afford that business. Alan orders way in advance and pays for products when he orders products. That in itself speaks volumes about the professionalism of a home builder in thailand.

Paul the swimming pool builder has over a dozen customers who rave about the quality of his work and followup service. The folks who might put him down are folks who could not pay his quoted price. I see what steel, concrete, PVC, tile grout Paul orders. Always top grade. Never a compromise, and he orders in advance. 

Do not get me started on builders (Thai and Expat) making changes in a list of materials where they go down to lower strengths of steel, lower KSC of concrete, smaller size water or drainage pipe, wrong strength of pipe, smaller gauge electric cable, cheaper no name sockets, skipping tile adhesive, bad consumer load center units, and lower spec tile grout. That list goes on and on. "It's all in the building contract for a set price" is a sure way to guarantee lower quality goods than you paid for with MOST builders. Not a problem for Paul or Alan.  

20 by 20 by 60 aac blocks are in stock at Ruangsangthai. 25 by 20 by 60 blocks are in stock at Ruangsangthai Home Builders Merchants in Buriram, yet an Australian home builder is buying every block in stock on Monday. More of any size AAC block in fact be ordered from any Diamond Building Products dealer in Thailand. There are no 25 wide lintels made by Diamond, yet two 12.5 lintels can be used side by side over doors and windows.  Q-Con is another very good brand of AAC, lintels and kitchen counters to price in any part of Thailand. Photos are taken in Buriram of 25cm by 20cm by 60 cm G4 Diamond Brand autoclaved house building blocks. 

I see which home builders order steel reinforced AAC door and window lintels. 

[Dante99]

On 6/18/2020 at 4:38 PM, worgeordie said:

as far as I know you cannot buy "engineered bricks or blocks in Thailand, therefore you need the posts to for strength and support,

There is a place in Chiang Mai, Mae Joe actually, that makes and sells structural blocks that are load bearing.  The business is owned by several CMU  Engineering Department Professors .   I have built small building and large wall with the blocks.  They are strong.   No cracks after 15 years.  

[worgeordie]

2 hours ago, Dante99 said:

On 6/18/2020 at 4:38 PM, worgeordie said:

as far as I know you cannot buy "engineered bricks or blocks in Thailand, therefore you need the posts to for strength and support,

There is a place in Chiang Mai, Mae Joe actually, that makes and sells structural blocks that are load bearing.  The business is owned by several CMU  Engineering Department Professors .   I have built small building and large wall with the blocks.  They are strong.   No cracks after 15 yea

you are quoting me as saying the above, when in fact it was CGW who said that ?

Yes I know about those blocks,and had a friend who built a good size bungalow 

with them quite a few years ago , no posts,just like they would build a house in UK,

but as the OP in in Issan and the cost of the block are a lot higher than what else

is available,i did not mention them.

regards worgeordie

[Dante99]

8 hours ago, worgeordie said:

you are quoting me as saying the above, when in fact it was CGW who said that ?

Yes I know about those blocks,and had a friend who built a good size bungalow 

with them quite a few years ago , no posts,just like they would build a house in UK,

but as the OP in in Issan and the cost of the block are a lot higher than what else

is available,i did not mention them.

regards worgeordie

sorry the quote came out incorrect, I just marked a section and selected quote and it came up with the wrong name, I did not put the name on it