Thai Workers Are A Joke

[Brewster67]

59 minutes ago, marin said:

With a contact like that why are you complaining to people you dont even know. Get on the phone to him and document each and everything you have complained about here. Seems much more practical. 

The wife alreasdy has and he will come over when he gets back into town and see for himself. He is working out of town, so there.... I already did it.

[JAFO]

1 hour ago, Brewster67 said:

This is Homepro.... Wouldn't you think the biggest company in Thailand that covers this industry would have done that work already?.. Meaning they vet the workers they send to install their goods.

Nope.  Not at all.  In fact I would actually never have any Homepro tech install much of anything.  Its like the USA,  Never have anyone from Home Depot or Lowes install anything.  They sub contract to the cheapest and you get the cheapest install. Sure its convenient but thats what they sell, convenience, not quality

 

In my years here I have never had a bad install or upgrade on anything. But I buy it myself and if I do not want to mess with the install, I know reliable high quality guys that will.  

[RanongCat]

1 minute ago, fredwiggy said:

I wasn't here all of the time, and most of it came to be afterwards. Shoddy workmanship is rampant here, as I've heard from many, and now many more.

Not denying especially when it comes to expectations of foreigners. My question is as to why ?

I have seen a lot of construction for Thai who go to great effort to emulate foreigner objectives ( Only they know why ! ) and the  quality is there.

High rise condominiums are constructed to a  poor standard? Or is  only the surface detail that  in the desired consumerist  market need be a changed at least once in every decade of five  decades of viable designed life?

At that time they will probably be the latest slum areas accommodating crackheads etc same same as  all the  "civilized"  centers of the world..... if it survives that long.

Single level  housing will be over run by corporate scale government backed "public housing" schemes to contain the irritant population that continues  to breed at rate above objectives  despite mandatory interventions that AI has provided to the un elected elite who will wrestle for total control .

Your insignificant hutch would have been pulverized and powdered regardless of 'Construction quality " regardless of Thai workers or refugees from any part of the globe assigned ! 555

 

 

 

 

[Brewster67]

20 minutes ago, RanongCat said:

Given the designed zone hardening I would suspect a short life.!  Aesthetically quite nice though .

Are you serious????

 

Toughened glass will never break, we have the same hob and the glass is almost unbreakable and still going strong after 13 years... I make my own cheese and regularly put a pot on it with 20 litres of milk at a weight of around 25 kilos.

 

Is this the first time you have come across this type of hob?... Man you seriously need to get out more.

[RanongCat]

Just now, Brewster67 said:

Are you serious????

 

Toughened glass will never break, we have the same hob and the glass is almost unbreakable and still going strong after 13 years... I make my own cheese and regularly put a pot on it with 20 litres of milk at a weight of around 25 kilos.

 

Is this the first time you have come across this type of hob?... Man you seriously need to get out more.

Come back to me the day it explodes into fragments and explain why I  must  be wrong. Ok?

It is not so much about weight.  But be happy .

[rgrdns]

25 minutes ago, pseudorabies said:

OK.... I'll feed the troll

Note that the glass is above and in contact with the countertop.

Yep...done as it should be, did mine myself...actually I do all repairs/renovations myself ????

[OneMoreFarang]

There are some high-quality companies and workers. 

Not surprisingly they work for big projects and are not interested in small contracts like just one house or even less work.

I know one company who to cabling (computer, power, etc.). They do great work, work in time, test everything, and clean up. And they charge similar prices what a company in "the west" charges.

And a 1/2 million THB contract is a small contract for them. Not interested in anything smaller than that.

 

With my condominium renovation I had one guy who did very good work. He did the tiles everywhere. Some other workers were ok. Others substandard. And all were hired by a contractor who is known for high quality work (and not cheap).

What annoys me most is that we are not allowed to criticize them. Even if it is obvious that they don't know what they are doing, stay calm, call the contractor. Tell him to tell them that this is not the way to do this...

[bkk6060]

The OP is pretty much spot on.  But, sorry where was your wife during all this?

My experience is if you have the right Thai female observing and directing them to make corrections, it will get done.  Maybe talk to your wife about more aggressive in these type situations.

[jojothai]

Unfortunately you have to check almost everything.

That can be done if you know and understand the kind of work, but all are not engineers or DIY experts.

One of my mates is having an extension built and was complaining that he cannot get anybody he can trust now. He has before been building houses, renovations and modifications. The good thai builders seem to have disappeared.

Seeing the first few bits of the extension look ok.

I said good, 

One small step at a time, one giant leap for thailand if its right first time.

Edited September 21, 2023 by jojothai
Add word

[bbbbooboo]

hmmm... basically it goes like this in Thailand, If someone believes they are a tradesperson, then they ARE a tradesperson. Despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary this belief will persist(as you have found out). eg : whats black and charred and hangs from the ceiling, Answer: a thai electrician.

[scorecard]

12 hours ago, Brewster67 said:

This is Homepro.... Wouldn't you think the biggest company in Thailand that covers this industry would have done that work already?.. Meaning they vet the workers they send to install their goods.

Didn't know Home Pro offered installation of one off windows etc.

 

Did have one experience, they had a 4 items kitchen appliance set (same good brand, hob, range hood, oven and sink) on special including installation.

 

We bought the set, installation man arrived, he said HP had given him 5,000Baht to do the installation but he wanted 5,000Baht more from us.

 

We called HP, lady said 'pay him or he will walk' and they have no replacement installer. We paid, he did a good job. 

[bigt3116]

12 hours ago, Brewster67 said:

Colleges and universities are everywhere here, but none for trades it seems.

Apart from these 416

 

"A quick search reveals 416 colleges and 673,000 students in the Thai vocational system."

 

[rwill]

As far as not using the wax ring for the toilet it's just not how they do it here.  Normal for them to use cement.

[itsallmine68]

14 hours ago, Brewster67 said:

I have never seen such aweful quality of workmanship as I have seen here in Thailand.

 

We just bought a new load of bathroom fixtures as the old ones were starting to look a bit tatty such as chrome starting to look aged.

 

The guy who fitted the new toilet has left out the wax ring because when he fitted it the water refused to drain out of the toilet for some reason. So he left it off and said call him if it leaks.

 

The guy fitting the shower tried to fit it so low that it would only be capable of showering an either very short person or a child.

 

Then we find out that there is only a 30 day warranty on the installation work..

 

The irony is that my brother in law is actually the regional manager for the whole northeast of Thailand for Homepro home installation department.

 

Oh and once again they left a terrible mess behind them which is a feature of all Thai workers, they never clean up their mess.

 

I remember having some work done on my house and they mixed cement directly on my tiled driveway and just left the detritus behind after them, I had to chip off all the hardened cement the next day and use acid to dissolve all the lime staining...

 

We had an extra window fitted in one of the back rooms, the father in law said he knew a couplke of guys who were window 'experts'. after fitting we couldn't open it, so we got a different guy who told us they had fitted the window upside down... He took it back out and refitted it right way up, but the renedering work around the window is so bad it looks like he was standing on the deck of a ship in a hurricane while rendering the edges.

 

If Thais arte seriously conscious of losing face, why do they leave such face-losing work behind them????

 

I have a list as long as my arm of other stuff, I would say 70% of work done by Thais is of very bad quality.

 

 

 

 

USA Plumber $30usd per hour Thailand $12 USD a Day 

You critisize the Thais?  You get what you pay for

[Bundooman]

13 hours ago, mikebike said:

If you took the time to find workers who's did quality work rather than random suggestions,  you may have had a more positive outcome. 

You too could be accused of the same problem. The OP is a foreigner. How and where would he look to find such people? Possibly his spoken Thai is poor or non-existent. So where does he look? He asks his Thai family or those around him. He is also unlikely to be able to check a workers past 'quality' work - how would he do that?

Your post makes me think that if you also took the time to think about workers in this country, you may even arrive at a different point of view yourself!.

[ezzra]

By now this topic have been covers for all possible scenarios  and reasons and most of the replies are correct, just to add that i had both good and bad experiences with Thai tradies, the trick is to constantly monitor what they are doing and point out the problems, but still, up to the luck who are those guys and the level of their workmanship...

[malthebluff]

14 hours ago, Brewster67 said:

I have never seen such aweful quality of workmanship as I have seen here in Thailand.

 

We just bought a new load of bathroom fixtures as the old ones were starting to look a bit tatty such as chrome starting to look aged.

 

The guy who fitted the new toilet has left out the wax ring because when he fitted it the water refused to drain out of the toilet for some reason. So he left it off and said call him if it leaks.

 

The guy fitting the shower tried to fit it so low that it would only be capable of showering an either very short person or a child.

 

Then we find out that there is only a 30 day warranty on the installation work..

 

The irony is that my brother in law is actually the regional manager for the whole northeast of Thailand for Homepro home installation department.

 

Oh and once again they left a terrible mess behind them which is a feature of all Thai workers, they never clean up their mess.

 

I remember having some work done on my house and they mixed cement directly on my tiled driveway and just left the detritus behind after them, I had to chip off all the hardened cement the next day and use acid to dissolve all the lime staining...

 

We had an extra window fitted in one of the back rooms, the father in law said he knew a couplke of guys who were window 'experts'. after fitting we couldn't open it, so we got a different guy who told us they had fitted the window upside down... He took it back out and refitted it right way up, but the renedering work around the window is so bad it looks like he was standing on the deck of a ship in a hurricane while rendering the edges.

 

If Thais arte seriously conscious of losing face, why do they leave such face-losing work behind them????

 

I have a list as long as my arm of other stuff, I would say 70% of work done by Thais is of very bad quality.

 

 

 

 

I had a shower fitted by homepro, I was out when they did it when I returned they had wired the 9kw shower to the light switch which is only 1mm wire and with no breaker. Even showers here go on their own fuse but not with homepro installing,

i never got my installation fee back so after complaining so

would never use any installation from them again

[Gandtee]

15 hours ago, mikebike said:

If you took the time to find workers who's did quality work rather than random suggestions,  you may have had a more positive outcome. 

Seek and ye shall find. if you are very lucky.????

[RobU]

13 hours ago, RanongCat said:

That does not sound/read  true !  How would it be possible to install a glass cooktop on the top of a counter ?  Do you suggest the plan was to  create a cutout of the counter in a way to support the  glass ?

In the UK I had a 4 ring zannusi induction hob the body of the hob was in a hole in the worktop and the edges of the glass plate rested on the worktop supporting the whole thing exactly as the manufacturer instructed

 Absolutely no problems with heavy pans on the glass the edges of the glass easily supported it.

I believe this 8s what was intended

[paulbrow]

Very different experiences you and I have had. I've had a lot of work done around the house, always performed my due diligence and routinely monitored and supervised their work. I've had no significant issues and reasonably well done work.

[ChipButty]

I think rule number one dont use anybody recommended family member, 

Rule number two dont use HP free installations guys, last year the wife wanted a new washing machine and they said free install, what could go wrong I thought take the old one out and put the new one in, same place that turned into a nightmare I flirted them off and did it myself, 

I've been through a few clowns over the years, now I have a good team of guys who I can call on, I spent all my life in the construction industry so I can usually tell by looking at them, if they get their tools out and it looks like a bag of scrap iron you know what kind of job you will get, 

It doesn't stop just in the construction, a couple of years ago I had a flat battery on my truck so I called the local tyre and battery place down the road they came right out with a new battery but put it on the wrong way round and blew all the fuses, <deleted> idiots, red to red and black to black, I had to call another garage to come and fix the truck, 

My list would be endless on here, 

[LukKrueng]

14 hours ago, Brewster67 said:

I come from the UK where there are lots of training programs for the basic trades with oversight and certification. In fact I don't think you can work on someone's property without the necessary certification.

And how's the price comparing for same job done here and in the UK?

[herfiehandbag]

15 hours ago, bamboozled said:

Holy moly did this make me laugh. Sadly, spot spot on. You left out the part about them having to borrow your tools because they show up with only one flat-head screwdriver, heedless of the type of job. Um, no doubt there are some real craftsmen here. But they are always in hiding. My apologies to my brother and sister Thai folk. To be fair, if I had grown up here, I'm sure I would operate in the same manner. That is, it's a cultural phenom and not a genetic disposition. I will hazard that it's a feature of most every country with a hot climate like Thailand. Prob not the only factor but certainly part of it.

I always thought that borrowing your tools was a joke, until my wife hired a recommended expert to fix a water pump. He turned up on his motorbike, no tools...

[fondue zoo]

3 hours ago, bbbbooboo said:

hmmm... basically it goes like this in Thailand, If someone believes they are a tradesperson, then they ARE a tradesperson. Despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary this belief will persist(as you have found out). eg : whats black and charred and hangs from the ceiling, Answer: a thai electrician.

 

It truly is the land where dreams come true. Be everything you imagine yourself to be. 

 

From now on I'm a Cowboy Astronaut Millionaire.

 

 

[sirineou]

" Thai Workers Are A Joke"

We pretend to pay them, and they pretend to work.

[Henryford]

15 hours ago, Brewster67 said:

This is Homepro.... Wouldn't you think the biggest company in Thailand that covers this industry would have done that work already?.. Meaning they vet the workers they send to install their goods.

I just had Homepro install 2 new toilets. They did a very good professional job, cleaned up, couldn't ask for more.

[ChipButty]

1 hour ago, malthebluff said:

I had a shower fitted by homepro, I was out when they did it when I returned they had wired the 9kw shower to the light switch which is only 1mm wire and with no breaker. Even showers here go on their own fuse but not with homepro installing,

i never got my installation fee back so after complaining so

would never use any installation from them again

There was a farang here some years ago bought a bar, he called me one day asking if I knew a good electrician he wanted to make some changes, I know 2 but they dont come cheap if you want a good job doing.

I called the one who lived nearest to the bar and asked to take a look, later the electrician called me and said he's not doing the job unless the farang completely rewires the place, I asked why, he said the previous owners had used speaker cable for all the lights, it must been glowing, 

[ChipButty]

14 minutes ago, herfiehandbag said:

I always thought that borrowing your tools was a joke, until my wife hired a recommended expert to fix a water pump. He turned up on his motorbike, no tools...

Thats a bad sign, 

[Skipalongcassidy]

14 hours ago, pseudorabies said:

   The manual called for placing the cooktop glass directly on the countertop.  They insisted that the glass wasn't strong enough and that the metal subframe that covered the  

The cooktop glass is supposed to be flush with the countertop... BUT the unit needs to be supported from underneath... the glass itself is NOT strong enough.

[Adumbration]

You are at fault.  You broke one of the golden rules.  Never, ever leave a Thai in charge of any facet of you life.  You should have been there hovering over any work done by a Thai to ensure it was done properly.