Thai Workers Are A Joke

[quake]

Relax, you've been Somchai-ed

 

Monday        His  a Carpenter.

Tuesday       His a Roofer.

Wednesday His a Welder.

Thursday      His a  Ceramic Tiler.

Friday   1 hours of work then off drinking, but still wants paying  

Saturday      His a Electrician.

Sunday         His back to normal job, a Rice farmer.

 

It's ok, it happens to us all,  at some point over here.

we learn from it, well most of us do, 

Also, take no notice of the ones that Bs about.

( you get what you pay for ),  if only that was true here.

Good luck.

DIY is the best if you can. 

 

 

[1FinickyOne]

16 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. 

I have seen where people recommend a contractor who does an excellent job for them and then the next job is a disaster... I guess life is a crapshoot in many ways... even in the Western World... 

[SammyJ]

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.

Suggest to ask the brother in law--these workers, btw, really do not work for Home Pro, just as with outfits like Home Depot and Lowes back in the US--Home Pro arranges installation but contracts that out--in the US, local contractors really wanted to be on the Home Depot lists as it got them more work.

[itsari]

A tiler I unfortunately hired had two articles in his tool kit . A angle grinder with a worn out wheel and a makeshift chisel .

I provided all tools for the man but the biggest problem was that there was no planning on the layout of the tiles leaving silly small cuts on one side even after I had told him that I did not want that .

A big mistake to hire him and I decided to continue the work by myself.

[JimTripper]

1 minute ago, itsari said:

A tiler I unfortunately hired had two articles in his tool kit . A angle grinder with a worn out wheel and a makeshift chisel .

I provided all tools for the man but the biggest problem was that there was no planning on the layout of the tiles leaving silly small cuts on one side even after I had told him that I did not want that .

A big mistake to hire him and I decided to continue the work by myself.

Never hire a man without tools.

[Celsius]

11 minutes ago, JimTripper said:

Never hire a man without tools.

Unless the man is a tool

[quake]

12 minutes ago, itsari said:

A tiler I unfortunately hired had two articles in his tool kit . A angle grinder with a worn out wheel and a makeshift chisel .

I don't believe you.

They always have a bent screwdriver and a hammer with a busted shaft. 

[NorthernRyland]

16 hours ago, recom273 said:

As I'm currently building, I just have to tell myself - some of these guys left school at primary school, a lot can't read or write, when you see their homes, they are combination of cinder blocks and corrugated zinc, they throw their M150 bottles out the window at home, and they get paid 450B daily which they live on until the next days pay - they dont know any better.

Really sums it up well. Can't squeeze blood from a stone.

[NORDO]

The majority of Thai workers have never had professional training.  They learn on the job by incompetents, then go into the workplace replicating their learned incompetence.

[NorthernRyland]

15 hours ago, RanongCat said:

Thai workers/ trades people/small business people of Thailand have personal pride and if you genuinely acknowledge that and encourage it instead of constant demeaning either behind or in face which is noted either way the outcome may be much improved

Wait, you think Thai builders are withholding all their excellent building skills because we haven't stroked their precious ego enough? Dude they literally don't know any better or are too lazy or drunk.

[TigerandDog]

There's only 1 way to get decent workmanship here. You MUST be present 100% of the time to supervise.  When we were having our house built 2 years ago had to get lots of corrections done. Tiles meant for the bathroom floor were being put on the wall.  Tiles for the carport floor were being laid in the kitchen. Wrong tiles being ordered despite being given model # of the tiles we required. Issues with roof tiles. paint watered down when told not to water it down. This was a so called professional home building company. Had we not been present to keep an eye on these guys god knows what we would have had to deal with. OP I think you're being generous by saying 70%, it's more like 90%.  They're so used to doing shoddy work for Thais they just can't accept that farangs expect better quality workmanship.

[FritsSikkink]

17 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.

 

 

 

 

You had a bad experience and claim ALL Thai workers are a joke. Incredible stupid conclusion as there are loads of very capable Thai workers and I know a lot of them.

[khunpeer]

17 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.

 

 

 

 

luxury problems, not real problems.... ????

[jaideedave]

8 minutes ago, TigerandDog said:

There's only 1 way to get decent workmanship here. You MUST be present 100% of the time to supervise.  When we were having our house built 2 years ago had to get lots of corrections done. Tiles meant for the bathroom floor were being put on the wall.  Tiles for the carport floor were being laid in the kitchen. Wrong tiles being ordered despite being given model # of the tiles we required. Issues with roof tiles. paint watered down when told not to water it down. This was a so called professional home building company. Had we not been present to keep an eye on these guys god knows what we would have had to deal with. OP I think you're being generous by saying 70%, it's more like 90%.  They're so used to doing shoddy work for Thais they just can't accept that farangs expect better quality workmanship.

555 An acquaintance had a house built by his wife's family. What a joke , so many mistakes were made that most everything had to be done once then removed and done again.He called me over one day to look at the kitchen counter they installed. I couldn't believe my eyes. It was just above the level of your knees.

How could a sober man put that much effort into something and not stand back and scratch your chin and ponder?

[Surasak]

16 hours ago, Gottfrid said:

So, you are accusing me to be a liar? Must feel very comfortable behind the keyboard. I am gonna tell you one time. I am not lying. hopefully you get that.

I notice under the avatar name it says 'Just a little Wacko!' Say no more.

[brianthainess]

It seems to me there are only two kinds of builders here, IMO

One type does an absolute perfect job or

One type does an absolute bad job. 

[The Theory]

17 hours ago, Brewster67 said:

I would say 70% of work done by Thais is of very bad quality.

That's why I do what ever is possible by myself and I'm sure the result will be much more acceptable than if hire anyone to do it.

[n00dle]

17 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.

 

 

 

 

apparently mileage varies. the beach house i bulit 16 years ago looks like the day we moved in. Sure ity has required maintenance, but not very much considering its exposed location

a friend bulding inland nearby at the same time is on their third roof. they saved some money on the build.  

 

 

[Surasak]

30 minutes ago, NorthernRyland said:

Really sums it up well. Can't squeeze blood from a stone.

True, but some try!

[keithkarmann]

17 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.

We has similar problems with air con installers. Not fitted centralised with window and visually leaning one way.

[sikishrory]

16 hours ago, pseudorabies said:

The wife and I recently had a new kitchen installed by contractors working for a large home improvement store that wasn't HomePro.  We had bought an induction cooktop and the workers refused to install it according to the manufacturer's recommendations.  Even after printing out the installation manual in Thai and showing it to them they insisted on installing it their way.  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 electronics should carry the weight. I even showed the workers pictures of installed cooktops in showrooms and from the interwebs but they wouldn't budge.  I had to get their supervisor on site in order to have them (grudgingly) install it correctly.  Even the supervisor warned us about putting anything too heavy on the cooktop.  He evidently doesn't know that glass is often stronger than steel.  

 

What I learned from all this is that for Thai workers "the easy way is the correct way"

had a gaggenau glass induction cooktop break about a year ago at work because the engineer stood on it. They're not as strong as you think. They're good but gotta be careful

[BenStark]

25 minutes ago, TigerandDog said:

There's only 1 way to get decent workmanship here. You MUST be present 100% of the time to supervise. 

When you build a house you need to be present 25 hours per day, or things go wrong.

 

I built a house more than a decade ago and everything, and then I mean everything from the floor to the roof and all in between, had to be done at least twice. Some parts 3 times before it was correct.

 

What was supposed to be a 9 month construction job took 34 months before I could move in.

 

Right now opposite my house a foreigner with a Thai partner is building a fancy restaurant.

 

I told him about my experience, and he laughed, and said his place would be finished in 3 - 4 months.

 

That was October 2022, and as of today I estimate another 6 months to get it finished, if he's lucky

[BenStark]

31 minutes ago, FritsSikkink said:

You had a bad experience and claim ALL Thai workers are a joke. Incredible stupid conclusion as there are loads of very capable Thai workers and I know a lot of them.

I have read many of your post Frits, and I really wonder if you live in a different Thailand, or in Thailand at all

[sikishrory]

I had the engine light coming up on my nmax and it wasn't starting every couple of days.

It took 8 visits to yamahas biggest service centre here to actually get it fixed.

The first 4 times they cancelled the error and proudly gave the bike back without barely looking at it. Like a job well done. Oh they did hook it up to the computer once and said I could replace the computer. As if changing the ECU was a logical way to get rid of the pesky error.

It never seemed to cross their mind to actually diagnose and fix the root cause of the error.

Only remove the error itself. This was a good insight into how Thais think.

I think it was the 4th time when they said take it to the bigger shop as they were doing "renovations".

Take it to the big shop and same thing. 4 times.

First time they said it was the battery and we changed that. Next 2 times, hook it up to the computer cancel the error and say "no problem, no problem".

Then it started losing power on the road. Finally I got a guy who actually thought to open it and have a look. He found a oil leak that was leaking onto the alternator causing power loss.

In total 8 visits to fix an oil leak and to even get someone to investigate the alternator.

[ujayujay]

17 hours ago, Brewster67 said:

I would say you are 100% lying and I think most people reading your BS knows you are lying... I bet plenty on here have had the same experiences as me... NOBODY on here has had your 100% perfection record.... Just read the other posts, they are all lying????.... Nope.... YOU ARE.

Why do you live in Thailand...to do Thaibashing! Go home to your home country if everything is better there, bean counter!

[The Theory]

My tile lady had a big mouth and complained about frang.???? she told my gf "farang expect quality work and complain too much, but they don't know nothing about tiling" !!! I fired her while she was tiling shower floor unevenly  (she filled the shower drain by cement, I was lucky since the drain pipe under the house was not installed yet), after 6 months she was around and stopped by to see my work and admired that done professionally. 

[freeworld]

18 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.

 

 

 

 

Says a lot about supervising your subcontractor and installations.

 

The world over, artisans need supervision, inspection and correcting.

[carlyai]

'Here in Thailand I don't think any such thing exists, I don't think there is any certification or regulation covering trades skills. Colleges and universities are everywhere here, but none for trades it seems.'

There are training phacilities.

In a previous life I was the Engineering Manager at a school of engineering.

The courses were the Australian diplomas in electronics and computers.

Lots of hands on practice.

Also German Institute ran tradespeople like courses.

 

[BenStark]

11 minutes ago, ujayujay said:

Why do you live in Thailand...to do Thaibashing! Go home to your home country if everything is better there, bean counter!

I guess you went home already, not?

 

 

[ChipButty]

There was a farang near me, thought he would get the outside of the house painted while he was away for a few weeks, so he's got the painter to come around and give an estimate, ok straight forward job same colour "White" everything was agreed, the farang gave him money not all of it but enough to get on with the job, final payment when he comes back, no problem, so he thought.

He comes back after 3 weeks he almost drives past his own house, why? they had painted it purple he blew a gasket WTF is that I told you white, the reply from the painters We thought you would like it, 555, 

I thought at the time maybe they had a few buckets of purple paint left over from another job, then spent the money,