Advise for first time building a new house. What mistakes did you make, what would you (NOT) do again.

[Jen65]

8 hours ago, Rampant Rabbit said:

https://gardentabs.com/are-palm-trees-roots-invasive/

mmm yes the last sentence sums it up "And take care to plant your palms away from a sidewalk or your home to ensure the root system doesn’t interfere".

[Rampant Rabbit]

30 minutes ago, Jen65 said:

mmm yes the last sentence sums it up "And take care to plant your palms away from a sidewalk or your home to ensure the root system doesn’t interfere".

palm roots generally dont interfere 

[Jen65]

On 9/25/2021 at 8:21 PM, Rampant Rabbit said:

palm roots generally dont interfere 

tell that to the 5T Kubota guy that I had to employ to dig up the stumps and root system in my front garden and side of the house in order that the builder could lay water / drainage pipes !    The root system was "strangling" the septic tank !!    

[Rampant Rabbit]

10 hours ago, Jen65 said:

tell that to the 5T Kubota guy that I had to employ to dig up the stumps and root system in my front garden and side of the house in order that the builder could lay water / drainage pipes !    The root system was "strangling" the septic tank !!    

unlike tree  roots  palm roots  do not  thicken over time  , they are  not  massive they are in the top 3  foot  of  soil they  will  not destroy your house, my  house is  surrounded by palms hundreds of  them there  right  next to my septic, a properly  installed one with a   totally sealed system for the black water not  open like the Thais do them, the roots  will  not break through concrete, suggests  your  septic was  open and  roots  will  look for  water . The second septic  tank for grey water is  open BUT should drain easily, if it doesnt drain easily  roots  will  go  looking for  water especially if  its  sitting there. Palm root s  will wrap around but  not break through..

https://activerain.com/blogsview/5445481/can-palm-tree-roots-damage-concrete

 

So, palm tree root systems are generally not a huge problem for the average yard and won't usually cause the kinds of damage you may encounter with other types of trees. The roots are long and thin, so they generally don't exert enough force to do any harm, if any, to concrete paths and walls. Just make sure that your palm gets all the water and nutrients that it needs, and it should be a delightful addition to your garden.

Edited September 27, 2021 by Rampant Rabbit

[Sqoop]

Stay on site during the build to watch progress. Correct errors as they happen and watch quality of materials. 

[Ian3005]

On 9/6/2021 at 6:49 PM, bwanajohn said:

Lots of good advise in the above

    Remember that the SSW side of the house will get very warm at the end of the day so if those are bed rooms make sure that 3Mt deck runs along there. Use Bamboo blinds on the deck at the rail edge ,cooling and creates a lovely ambience. I use the blinds to block sun in the winter when its low and to block  some of the heat rising up from the valley in the hot season. 

I prefer AAC block to double brick and I think it holds and transfers less heat.

   I vent the black water where it enters the house with two inch pipe up over the eave rather than the thai style  of a 1 inch pipe out the top the septic tank. I think its more effective. Grey water I forgot to put P traps in the shower but was able to buy some very neat little rubber things that fit in the drain and look like a heavy duty condoms with the end cut off ,They open when water flows and close back up when empty . We had abit of smell before we got those. I actually think alot of the smell in Thai bathrooms is from the grey water not the loo, where they are separate systems.

  I agree with not going for security bars . With battery powered tools B&E is simple as these days,

  a battery operated saw in  three minutes  can cut the whole lockset out of the wooden door or make whole large enough to reach in and unlock it all.

    My neighbours are adamant there are no thieves  in the village and all new faces are suspect, but they all have security bars.

  We have built several houses, 2 in Thailand one in NZ and 3 in Canada. The two in Thailand are in Chiang mai province at 1000metres above sea level so we have a very unique climate . A few nights in winter it gets down to close to frost 2C and lots of single digit nights and in the hot season 

it will hit 40. Not this year though because we had a very rainy April from the very first day,

   In the rainy season its consistently 19 to 21 at night and 26 to 30 in the day ...occassionally a couple degrees  hotter if the sun is out all day. We wanted a house that needed no heat or AC . Thats worked out quite well.  Our kitchen living dining is open air and in the dead of winter its too cold in the late evening in the open parts of the house so we retreat to the closed off rooms.

 Breakfast when its gone down to 2 at night is time to channel my inner Canadian spirit and put on my snugglies and a toque .It warms up pretty quick and we have a sunny spot on the back side of the house for morning coffee.

    Although not the most efficient use of materials a long narrow house one room thick allows great cross ventilation and the deck doubles as a hall ways. Rooms can be interconnected as per use.

    I think cavity walls would be the best and my next project will be a steel framed house with insulated cavity much like the stick frame they build in Canada.  A lot of people think insulation is just for the cold but it aint so. I think you can easily get close to R 20 with this method and nothing else will come close to that.

    With AAC block our rooms stay about 6 to 10C degrees cooler than the outside if we are conscientious about closing up during the day and opening in the evening but at some point in March  April it will get overwhelmed if we have a couple warm nights and hot hot days.

      I think our climate is unique here and so probably not everything will be applicable. I think our village has the highest above sea level hospital,high school and 7/11

 Good luck and have fun.

      Dont build two storeys with out a convection chimney and preferably an outdoor covered stair case . I ve rented two and three storey houses here and with out AC the upper floors are hot hot hot almost all day all year.

 Plant trees  lots of them

   My two satang ...hope it helps.

BwanaJohn.... Sounds like you either lived in The Rhodesia's or South Africa at some stage.

I was born in Northern Rhodesia (Zambia) and lived in South Africa for 10 years so I'm familiar with the term Bwana. LOL

 

I purchased land in the Chaing Kham rural are hoping to build and see the rest of my life out over there in a rural village with peace and quiet.

Covid and a cheating wife have stalled progress. LOL

 

I'm having difficulty getting building rates THB/M2 s I can prepare a budget.

 

On 9/6/2021 at 6:49 PM, bwanajohn said:

 

 

[Ian3005]

On 9/28/2021 at 9:44 AM, Sqoop said:

Stay on site during the build to watch progress. Correct errors as they happen and watch quality of materials. 

Appears there are no guarantees on work done over there.

I had retaining walls built and after a heavy rain one wall is collapsing.

The builder went into hiding and says it's not his problem.

 

I'. used to at least a 7 year warranty on faulty workmanship.

[KhaoYai]

I'm sure someone else will also have given this advice - sorry, too lazy to read all 6 pages. The single most important thing I would not do again is not be there throughout the whole build.  I guarantee you the first hour of each morning will be spent pointing out all the short cuts/mistakes they made the day before.

[sometimewoodworker]

4 minutes ago, Ian3005 said:

I'm having difficulty getting building rates THB/M2 s I can prepare a budget.

Depending on the quality and comfort you want a rock bottom is 3,000 M² through 10,000M² for a comfortable low end going onto 20,000M² for quite good then as much as you want to spend, though going over 50,000M² might be a little difficult 

[sometimewoodworker]

5 minutes ago, Ian3005 said:

Appears there are no guarantees on work done over there.

I had retaining walls built and after a heavy rain one wall is collapsing.

The builder went into hiding and says it's not his problem.

 

I'. used to at least a 7 year warranty on faulty workmanship.

It depends on who you use. Was it faulty workmanship or bad design? 

[GarryP]

On 9/7/2021 at 10:48 AM, sometimewoodworker said:

P1) if you use PP-R pipe and correctly do the joints, pressure test before acceptance, pipes in hollow walls are no problem

 

2) yes to slump test, but buy from Cpac RMC they can do the test at no cost and since they do the test refusing a load is easy.

 

3) yes to septic system, absolutely no to grey water into the black septic as the water flow will be too fast for the septic to function as it should unless you grossly oversize the septic tank

In my current house we have PP-R piping and it is set in the floor and embedded in AAC blocks. So far 10 years and absolutely no problems with leaks. I had no involvement in this house build. I just bought my townhouse from the developer in Bangkok. However, for my new house which will be built upcountry I was planning on doing something similar. The pipes will be embedded in the floor and will then go up in the cavity walls to the outlets. 

 

Still not sure about monkey bars. Will be looking into that soon.  

Edited July 15, 2022 by GarryP

[burner2014]

I didn't built a house but I got one pre-made. After 5 years I can tell you what you really should avoid doing ????????

 

1. Bad Water... really make sure you plan this well. Otherwise you got just stinky bathrooms. Research here a lot and make a good plan from septic tank layout to screwer gas vents and other stuff like u-pipe 

 

2. Bathroom: take nice anti slip floor tiles. They awesome ???? we renovated all our baths already before they were super slippy. It's like holiday/Bali feeling style.

 

3. We built another "house" onto our house with a big dining kitchen inside. The end product is awesome but to get there was crazy. Plan your roof well as Thailand has strong rain ???? ???? and yeah I agree control the work as it is done... after it's too late.

 

4. I agree with the double brick and roof isolation. We don't have this and it gets f****** hot during normal days. Isolation in pre-made houses is not existing ???? 

 

5. Build the whole house (fundament) a bit higher for flooding. Always better to be safe

 

6. Make sure you plan with a pest control guy early, our guy came for "house kitchen" and made sure in the fundament are the right pipes for pest control later via an access point. Costs like nothing maybe 4000 THB or so 

 

7. In general on the previous pages I agree really invest into a good plumber and a good electrician. Scary how the quality differs ... we had our electric check again by another professional team after we finished that second house just to be sure. As I said in point 1... really I can't emphasize the plumber and a great layout of bad water again and again. A good water pump for fresh water is also nice ???? there are also different qualities on the market... if you buy too cheap there your water pressure in the second floor sucks

[Rampant Rabbit]

Build  it  yourself, its the ONLY  way to be sure EVERYTHING is  correct.........after watching Thais  construct anything thats  what I learnt, if you want concrete  like  soup with stones in, water  pipes  not  prepared  ie sanded cleaned with  cellulose  thinner and glued  correctly with the correct strong  not weak green tin glue, no earths, wrong  colour  cables, wrong  size  cables, door  stops  in the wrong  place, <deleted> welding like  bird  <deleted>,  blocks  laid without staggered  joints, leaking roofs...........then go right ahead and hire  Thailands  finest. If you do get a crew  in you  WILL  have to be onsite 24  hours a  day watching EVERYTHING as they surely  will do  all of the above if  left  alone

Experience   built 3  houses alone with no  help as they cant even mix  mortar  correctly. This  one was for my staff...........before they arrived

Edited July 18, 2022 by Rampant Rabbit

[OneMoreFarang]

2 minutes ago, Rampant Rabbit said:

Build  it  yourself, its the ONLY  way to be sure EVERYTHING is  correct

Maybe you are the specialist in everything. But how many of us are on that level?

In general I am not bad in DIY, but not in everything. I.e. I looked at at least 20 videos how to lay tiles. In theory I am sure I am pretty good at that. The only problem is that I never actually did it. That makes it extreme unlikely that everything will be correct if I do it myself.

There are expert builders out there in Thailand. How do I know? Look at all the high price hotels, condominiums, shopping malls, etc. Many of them are made by professionals who know what they are doing. But obviously these people are more expensive than Somchai. 

It's good if you know what you are doing. But it's also good if many of us know that criticizing someone else work is a lot easier than doing it ourselves better. 

[Rampant Rabbit]

3 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Maybe you are the specialist in everything. But how many of us are on that level?

In general I am not bad in DIY, but not in everything. I.e. I looked at at least 20 videos how to lay tiles. In theory I am sure I am pretty good at that. The only problem is that I never actually did it. That makes it extreme unlikely that everything will be correct if I do it myself.

There are expert builders out there in Thailand. How do I know? Look at all the high price hotels, condominiums, shopping malls, etc. Many of them are made by professionals who know what they are doing. But obviously these people are more expensive than Somchai. 

It's good if you know what you are doing. But it's also good if many of us know that criticizing someone else work is a lot easier than doing it ourselves better. 

whoever  is  building is  highly unlikely to find any professionals  like you mentioned. they will already be working for big  companies and often overseas...........under the veneer  of those  condos and malls  is a  <deleted>fest of crapp, there is  alos the problem if  hiring staff who come and go often, the foreman often can  only  get the dregs locally.

Edited July 18, 2022 by Rampant Rabbit

[unheard]

23 hours ago, Rampant Rabbit said:

the foreman often can  only  get the dregs locally.

That's not correct.

From what I've seen the established high volume house builders (not cheap) will directly employ specialized crews being sent to remote sites.

If not directly employed then at least utilizing vetted contractors on a long term bases.

All depends on quality of the builder and who they employ.

Quality cost money, as everywhere else.

Edited July 19, 2022 by unheard

[Rampant Rabbit]

8 hours ago, unheard said:

That's not correct.

From what I've seen the established high volume house builders (not cheap) will directly employ specialized crews being sent to remote sites.

If not directly employed then at least utilizing vetted contractors on a long term bases.

All depends on quality of the builder and who they employ.

Quality cost money, as everywhere else.

you  did  read the bit where it says "locally"

[Rampant Rabbit]

On 7/18/2022 at 10:21 AM, OneMoreFarang said:

Maybe you are the specialist in everything.

I am now

[GarryP]

3 minutes ago, Rampant Rabbit said:

you  did  read the bit where it says "locally"

"there is  alos the problem if  hiring staff who come and go often, the foreman often can  only  get the dregs locally."

 

But they don't hire locally, as in the same district/town. The project managers/contractors hire specific teams that serve that region. Teams that handle only foundations/footings and other concrete parts, teams that only handle roofing, tiling teams, etc. That is unlesss you hire the local jack of all trades to build your house, in which case you really can't blame anyone. You get what you pay for.     

[Rampant Rabbit]

13 hours ago, GarryP said:

"there is  alos the problem if  hiring staff who come and go often, the foreman often can  only  get the dregs locally."

 

But they don't hire locally, as in the same district/town. The project managers/contractors hire specific teams that serve that region. Teams that handle only foundations/footings and other concrete parts, teams that only handle roofing, tiling teams, etc. That is unlesss you hire the local jack of all trades to build your house, in which case you really can't blame anyone. You get what you pay for.     

Out  in the  boonies I dont see any of  those, they all  hire the local  villagers where  all  of them are "changs"..............of  the sloppiest kind.

[unheard]

3 hours ago, Rampant Rabbit said:

Out  in the  boonies I dont see any of  those, they all  hire the local  villagers where  all  of them are "changs"..............of  the sloppiest kind.

Deep in the sticks you usually don't have much of a choice for a local based builder. It surely won't hire anyone far away from town.

And yeah, prices are great.

At the same time even In the middle of nowhere you can still get quality big city based builders that will send specialized teams to your location.

But the prices won't be nearly as cheap as with local "changs".

And please don't say no one does it just because "you don't see any".

Edited July 20, 2022 by unheard

[unheard]

btw, the higher prices charged by the out of town builders will also include the expenses for housing their teams in near proximity to the building site.

The reason you don't see any of those in your area is there for the very obvious reasons.

Quality is not cheap.

Edited July 20, 2022 by unheard

[GarryP]

2 hours ago, unheard said:

Deep in the sticks you usually don't have much of a choice for a local based builder. It surely won't hire anyone far away from town.

And yeah, prices are great.

At the same time even In the middle of nowhere you can still get quality big city based builders that will send specialized teams to your location.

But the prices won't be nearly as cheap as with local "changs".

And please don't say no one does it just because "you don't see any".

This is what I am doing at the moment. Company based in Khon Kaen, house building in Kalasin. Specialized teams for each stage. 

[Rampant Rabbit]

18 hours ago, unheard said:

btw, the higher prices charged by the out of town builders will also include the expenses for housing their teams in near proximity to the building site.

The reason you don't see any of those in your area is there for the very obvious reasons.

Quality is not cheap.

my  idea  of  quality and  yours  may  vary........wildly..........spent 30 years  in construction,  ive  seen it  all

[Rampant Rabbit]

On 7/19/2022 at 9:40 AM, unheard said:

That's not correct.

From what I've seen the established high volume house builders (not cheap) will directly employ specialized crews being sent to remote sites.

If not directly employed then at least utilizing vetted contractors on a long term bases.

All depends on quality of the builder and who they employ.

Quality cost money, as everywhere else.

Ive  employed  out  of  town "quality"  construction crews  before twice, I got  rid  of  both within 2  days, the first were to  put  in  piles for me, sent me a fancy  video of  pile  cutting machines  screwing them in and bashing them in....when they turned  up it was  no  machines, hand  digging  then 8 of them standing on a plank to bash them down, pathetic  to watch, they also cut the piles  in half  claiming it was  too stony......the  price for  a  33 metre  length of  2  metre  piles at 1  metre  spacing was 190000 baht, I paid them a fraction of that and got rid  of them. The other was a  well drilling company, similar  story, fancy brochure shoing all the latest gizmos, none appeared  on the day  just a normal water blasting knackered  old drill. They were both from Bangkok and I am  out  in Praxchuap.

In the end I did  my  own  piles.............. the  few  piles they put  in werent  even neatly  cut  off  just smashed with a hammer and half the length they should  have been....Id  put  up their wonderful  video and  name them  but of  course you cant do that here and therein lies  half  the problem with Thailand....similar with architects way back  in 2008 hugely  expensive price and told me when I questioned it that NONE  of their other  customers  were  bothered  by the prices and perhaps I should  choose a  lesser  company....designed  it myself  in the end. 

[unheard]

4 hours ago, Rampant Rabbit said:

my  idea  of  quality and  yours  may  vary........wildly..........spent 30 years  in construction,  ive  seen it  all

I'm not sure what you're trying to imply here.

We're talking about general trends here.

[unheard]

4 hours ago, Rampant Rabbit said:

Ive  employed  out  of  town "quality"  construction crews  before twice, I got  rid  of  both within 2  day

As someone has mentioned in this thread.

If you're experienced in the field and know what you're doing.

Great!

Then you definitely don't need to rely on anyone to complete your building tasks.

This is not what this discussion is all about and your proclaims about nonexistent Thai "quality" are misleading.

There are many quality tradesman in Thailand.

The trick is to learn how to find them, and how to take into account associated cost differences (often very significant) since the field's hierarchy is not the same as in the west.

Edited July 21, 2022 by unheard

[Sametboy2019]

My worry is that almost every Thai house after a few years has rising damp of some kind wether it comes through the walls near a bathroom or from just the fact there is no damp course or polyurethane sheet under the oversite.

My friend is currently having a house built  and they have just filled the ring beam up with soil and poured a concrete slab over it. 

The builder told him there is waterproofer in the concrete but im dubious. Even if there is its probably not suffecient!

Edited July 21, 2022 by Sametboy2019

[Rampant Rabbit]

On 7/21/2022 at 12:07 PM, Sametboy2019 said:

My worry is that almost every Thai house after a few years has rising damp of some kind wether it comes through the walls near a bathroom or from just the fact there is no damp course or polyurethane sheet under the oversite.

My friend is currently having a house built  and they have just filled the ring beam up with soil and poured a concrete slab over it. 

The builder told him there is waterproofer in the concrete but im dubious. Even if there is its probably not suffecient!

and  for  just a  few  baht they could  add  GANZUM (waterproofing) to the concrete............probably dont even know or  care, or  the very small  cost

[Rampant Rabbit]

On 7/21/2022 at 10:49 AM, unheard said:

As someone has mentioned in this thread.

If you're experienced in the field and know what you're doing.

Great!

Then you definitely don't need to rely on anyone to complete your building tasks.

This is not what this discussion is all about and your proclaims about nonexistent Thai "quality" are misleading.

There are many quality tradesman in Thailand.

The trick is to learn how to find them, and how to take into account associated cost differences (often very significant) since the field's hierarchy is not the same as in the west.

and I  already said I  hired the so  called  professionals  who turned out to be KRAP and it wasnt a cheap  price  either.