House building

[Spellbound]

Taken a lead here from "Chonabot"

I want to build a house soon in Korat, Does anybody want to post here Cost, Style, Size and experience etc.

I am thinking about a 3 bed, 2 storey house (1/2 Thai 1/2 european style) some A/C, Euro kitchen, office downstairs etc etc, house footprint about 10mtr x 15 mtr in a Thai Moo-Barn village. I am thinking about 2m-thb is this enough ?  (*as always the land is offered free*) all ideas greatly appreciated.

The only ideas I have found is from Lundy Homes but I dont think they will build out of town, and I think thier expensive.

Does anyone have a website and photos of the house you  have built, please post here.

All help needed    TA

[lopburi3]

Can't answer your questions but would advise you not to make your home too much above the area it is in or you may be the subject of more than envy.  As for the Euro kitchen are you going to do the cooking?  Most Thai and maids will not appreciate it.  Thai cooking requires ground space to prepare the foods and easy to wash area to clean up the cooking oil splash over.  You may want to have two kitchens connected with one semi outside if you need the 'show' of a western kitchen.

[sevinnow]

Most farang have a kitchen built outside the home because of the aroma of Thai food, quite powerfull day in day out, personally I eat Thai food without a problem so it does not bother me but may be a consideration for you.

Alternative is a good outside barbie, always cheap and easy to make.

Personally I think 2 million baht is OTT, why not spend half that amount and gradually extend the house as and when you like later on, that way it is precieved  that you are not being too flash intially and also you can employ local labour to do the work which will be very much appreciated.

Remember you will be living amonst the locals so let them help you help them.

Good Luck

Sev

[pnustedt]

I haven't started building yet but have done a fair bit with the preliminaries.

2m baht should be plenty but check out your "free" land for services, etc. The main thing is location but sometimes the "free" land can be the most expensive.

How high is the land, is it above the flood water plain? - you may need to dump a few truck loads of soil to raise the level, many Thais do but it can be expensive. Also consider building on stilts.  It helps with air circulation under floor to keep cool. Even Thai houses at ground level are actually on sunken RC stilts rather than conventional western foundations.

Are services available, power - can take time to organise, you'll probably need a back-up generator anyway; drainage - probably need to install sceptic tank (access for tanker to empty); water - a well or piped? Telephone land lines? Road access - there may be a ditch in front of the plot and you'll need to build a "bridge" capable of holding a truck, etc. etc.

There's quite a few web sites for developers in the Phuket area but I think you'll be pretty much on your own in Korat so, as sevinnow says, make friends with the locals, but have a clear idea of what you want to do.

Hope this helps to get you started - let us know how it proceeds.

[rakthai]

2 million bhat sounds a lot. You can buy new houses for less than 1 million in Chiang Mai. Maybe its the area you live in? Good luck anyway.

[jayenram]

Prior to building my house 3.5 years ago, I was told a good rule of thumb was Bht 5,500 per square metre. Increasing this by Bht 1,500 /sq m to allow for grade A materials and Farang styling brings you to Bht 7,000.00. Add around Bht 50,000 for european style kitchen units etc., Bht 35,000 for each a/c unit and Bht 40,000 for a half decent looking garden.

My 110 sq metre house was pretty close to Bht 7,000/ sq m. However, that was almost 4 years ago.

[Spellbound]

http://www.conventure.co.th/

Info for those of you thinking about building a house.

Think they picked a very very poor choice of company name thou !!!!! CON-VENTURE.

[Thetyim]

"as always the land is offered free"

Oh Dear, Oh Dear.

Look at it from the perspective of the land owner.

" as always the house is offered free "

I can send you a picture of my house if you want.

It's the one I paid for but don't own.

[tuky]

<font color='#0000FF'>"as always the land is offered free"

Oh Dear, Oh Dear.

Look at it from the perspective of the land owner.

" as always the house is offered free "

I can send you a picture of my house if you want.

It's the one I paid for but don't own.</font>

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

moved to the house building forum, and I am posting to bring it back to the top.

[Boon Mee]

With regard to general home construction in LOS, I'm somewhat dismayed at the electrical installations overall. It's like "Buddha will Protect" kind of mentality. What I'd like to do with this next house I'm building in Suphanburi is either run all the cables thru the walls or, more realistically, run the cabling down the walls thru surface-mount "trays" manufactured by either Panduit or Wiremold etc.

Has anyone seen such done in LOS?

Also looking for a good source of quality ceiling fans. The old-fashioned type with the big blades that move the air at slow rotation. The newer ones come with remotes to change speed - on/off functions. Had them in my house in Singapore a while back but haven't seen them in Thailand as yet other than the ones you see in shops/restaurants that are green and made of metal.

Thanks everybody...

Boon Mee

Edited February 14, 2005 by Boon Mee

[lopburi3]

Fancy slow speed fans were the rage here a decade or so ago. Should not be a problem finding them in Bangkok.

Have not seen surface wire done in trays, other than for air conditioners where pipes are included, but there is local made plastic available in various sizes about 1 meter long which is quite inexpensive and available almost everywhere so no reason you could not use brand name types. Wire can be run inside the walls with the yellow PVC conduit and that seems to be the norm now. You will have to make sure they understand three wire system and ECLB usage for safety.

[Boon Mee]

Fancy slow speed fans were the rage here a decade or so ago.  Should not be a problem finding them in Bangkok.

Have not seen surface wire done in trays, other than for air conditioners where pipes are included, but there is local made plastic available in various sizes about 1 meter long which is quite inexpensive and available almost everywhere so no reason you could not use brand name types.  Wire can be run inside the walls with the yellow PVC conduit and that seems to be the norm now.  You will have to make sure they understand three wire system and ECLB usage for safety.

Thanks, lopburi...

[Crazy Dave]

heres a nice blog

[dvk1951]

Fancy slow speed fans were the rage here a decade or so ago.  Should not be a problem finding them in Bangkok.

Have not seen surface wire done in trays, other than for air conditioners where pipes are included, but there is local made plastic available in various sizes about 1 meter long which is quite inexpensive and available almost everywhere so no reason you could not use brand name types.  Wire can be run inside the walls with the yellow PVC conduit and that seems to be the norm now.  You will have to make sure they understand three wire system and ECLB usage for safety.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thanks, lopburi...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

What ever method of wiring raceway and enclosures you select, would advise that you confirm that they are inflammable. Most electrical fires are caused by an over-amp problem which can easily generate enough heat to flash fire plastics. Sorry, don't know the properties of the yellow PVC conduit. If cost is not an issue, Wiremold and Panduit products are an excellent choice. I prefer not to use them as it tends to make the walls look like shiite with all the exposed raceway. Best to plan ahead in your design and place the raceways in walls if possible. Also, would advice to error on the excessive side of installing wall plugs, unless you are a fan of plug strips and those lovely extension reels laying on the floor. Have yet to live in a home in Asia that was wired with sufficient plugs.

The advice to get a competent electrician who understands and cautions on the side of safety is well to heed. As indicated by other posters, make sure you get a three wire system (power, neutral, ground) that is connected properly. Would also recommend that you confirm that the neutral bus bar in the power distribution panel is also grounded(earthed) to a rod driven into the soil outside the home. This gives any neutral wire leakage an alternate path and keeps one from being knocked on their @ss everytime they touch metal enclosed electrical devices

IMHO Sparky

[Boon Mee]

heres a nice blog

Excellent!

Thanks Dave... & dvk1951

Edited February 14, 2005 by Boon Mee

[jayenram]

Also, would advice to error on the excessive side of installing wall plugs, unless you are a fan of plug strips and those lovely extension reels laying on the floor. Have yet to live in a home in Asia that was wired with sufficient plugs.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I agree wholeheartedly. We installed the following which are still not enough:

Kitchen - 5 twins

Lounge - 4 Twins

Bedrooms - 3 - 4 twins

Car port - 1 twin

Bathrooms - 1 single shaver

[Crazy Dave]

The blog is spread over two blog pages.

http://thaibuilding1.blogspot.com/

http://thaibuilding.blogspot.com/

[tutsiwarrior]

Boon...we had those plastic conduits/cable trays put in downstairs in our shop house and they weren't worth a shit...they came apart within a couple of months. The guy that installed them seemed to otherwise know what he was doing...the other wiring was simple cabling stapled to the wall that we had no problems with. If you chose the conduit option look to see who has that as a satisfactory arrangement and how it was installed. Then supervise the your electrician closely.

[Boon Mee]

Boon...we had those plastic conduits/cable trays put in downstairs in our shop house and they weren't worth a shit...they came apart within a couple of months. The guy that installed them seemed to otherwise know what he was doing...the other wiring was simple cabling stapled to the wall that we had no problems with. If you chose the conduit option look to see who has that as a satisfactory arrangement and how it was installed. Then supervise the your electrician closely.

Thanks, Tutsi...have been thinking about planning this out in more depth and 'am now leaning towards running all the raceways within the walls. That Panduit and Wiremold stuff should hold up but it does look a little "industrial" for a clean look. Stapling the cables to the walls/ceilings gives me pause - guess I haven't lived in S. America or Asia for a while and 'am not used to the possible safety concerns.

Thanks for the heads-up, man...

[Ajarn]

Boon...we had those plastic conduits/cable trays put in downstairs in our shop house and they weren't worth a shit...they came apart within a couple of months. The guy that installed them seemed to otherwise know what he was doing...the other wiring was simple cabling stapled to the wall that we had no problems with. If you chose the conduit option look to see who has that as a satisfactory arrangement and how it was installed. Then supervise the your electrician closely.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thanks, Tutsi...have been thinking about planning this out in more depth and 'am now leaning towards running all the raceways within the walls. That Panduit and Wiremold stuff should hold up but it does look a little "industrial" for a clean look. Stapling the cables to the walls/ceilings gives me pause - guess I haven't lived in S. America or Asia for a while and 'am not used to the possible safety concerns.

Thanks for the heads-up, man...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I used some conduit for some heavy-duty power lines. In the case of several cables laid flat, it would have taken 2 or 3 times more wall space. The conduit box added to a clean look, albeit an industrial one. I use the yellow pvc conduit outside, and it's held up well for 5 years now...

Here's a photo of the interior conduit I used. Note the old-style cables running next to it, those feeding the lights and A/C in that room

Personally, I think running the wires outside the wall, Thai style, makes good sense for safety and maintenance. With the overall quality of Thai wiring installations, I wouldn't want to be dealing with this wiring inside the wall in case of a problem...

[marttaff]

The blog is spread over two blog pages.

http://thaibuilding1.blogspot.com/

http://thaibuilding.blogspot.com/

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

[Tornado]

With regard to general home construction in LOS, I'm somewhat dismayed at the electrical installations overall.  It's like "Buddha will Protect" kind of mentality.  What I'd like to do with this next house I'm building in Suphanburi is either run all the cables thru the walls or, more realistically, run the cabling down the walls thru surface-mount "trays" manufactured by either Panduit or Wiremold etc.

Has anyone seen such done in LOS?

This is typical of all builds in Phuket, well everything over 10,000 bht sqm.

You should have no trouble finding a good sparky and a plasterer - just put them together and tell them what you want. 

Also looking for a good source of quality ceiling fans.  The old-fashioned type with the big blades that move the air at slow rotation.  The newer ones come with remotes to change speed - on/off functions.  Had them in my house in Singapore a while back but haven't seen them in Thailand as yet other than the ones you see in shops/restaurants that are green and made of metal.

Home Pro

Thanks everybody...

Boon Mee

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

[Tornado]

<font color='#0000FF'>Taken a lead here from "Chonabot"

I want to build a house soon in Korat, Does anybody want to post here Cost, Style, Size and experience etc.

I am thinking about a 3 bed, 2 storey house (1/2 Thai 1/2 european style) some A/C, Euro kitchen, office downstairs etc etc, house footprint about 10mtr x 15 mtr in a Thai Moo-Barn village. I am thinking about 2m-thb is this enough ?  (*as always the land is offered free*) all ideas greatly appreciated.

The only ideas I have found is from Lundy Homes but I dont think they will build out of town, and I think thier expensive.

Does anyone have a website and photos of the house you  have built, please post here.

All help needed    TA</font>

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I would say about 1.5 (10k sqm).

Since the 30% increase in tax on steel, it is hard to build something nice for much less.

In the last house I built, I had a "cabinet maker", build the cupboards and bought a granite counter top (nearly black) and then had that cut and fitted. The whole kitchen made out of solid hard wood and granite with sink cost 30 k (stove, oven etc extra) . If you buy a kitchen out of a "showroom", you will pay 200k ++ and get MDF or even worse chipboard!

[penzman]

Watch out for the wiring that's run inside the walls using yellow or gray conduit. They often don't use elbows for 90 degree turns and the wires get stripped as they pull them. Been done at my house and seen it elsewhere as well.

I'm considering gypsum walls for the next house.

[Wee Jimmy]

Watch out for the wiring that's run inside the walls using yellow or gray conduit. They often don't use elbows for 90 degree turns and the wires get stripped as they pull them. Been done at my house and seen it elsewhere as well.

I'm considering gypsum walls for the next house.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Had my house here now for 6 years. EVERTHING inside the walls,( including water pipes).. WHAT A BLOODY MISTAKE I MADE. I can't trace wires! I have had a lot of problems with this. I got a water leakage from a pipe and hade to break into the wall. I only wish I could start again and keep everything visable. What one has to remember that there are no real tradesmen here in Thailand. They all say, I can do, I can do. At the end of the day they can do &lt;deleted&gt; all.

[Bilko]

They all say, I can do, I can do. At the end of the day they can do &lt;deleted&gt; all.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

haha, glad to see you are impressed Jimmy.

[GuestHouse]

www.coolthaihouse.com is a website dedicated to building houses in Thailand.

[miminem]

I finished my house near Khorat early this year.

Cost was less than 1mb for three bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, one storey.

Material price was 2/3 of total cost and may have gone up with oil at 60usd/barrel ( I start to drill tomorrow in my garden).

One air conditionner in one bedroom cost me 16.000 bath, all installed last may.

I did not have any electrical problem, all in the conduits in the wall , nice and working fine.

I had to add an outdoor kitchen later as the mother in law prefers it.But cost was 10000 bath only.

Garden is being prepared now but I need to complete the fence first to keep the chicken, dogs, etc.. out.

The way I proceeded: I took the best known contractor in the area, his price was slighly higher than the other ones but I visited some houses he built a few years ago and they are still there ( good sign ).

I bought the material and I paid him only the work.

My father in law was monitoring the work all day long .

I did not ask any fancy things as I believe I would go into trouble doing so. So the bathroom is thai style, with a little step to go but it is fine for me.

I never shouted and argued with the contractor ( I cannot speak thai anyway). I just told my wife what I wanted ( always keeping it simple), she explained to her father and he then was getting it done.

Two things: 1/if your wife select the colors, be careful . 2/ think about some roof insulation with foam, I will do it next July.

Hope this help.

[chiangrai57020]

<font color='#0000FF'>Taken a lead here from "Chonabot"

I want to build a house soon in Korat, Does anybody want to post here Cost, Style, Size and experience etc.

I am thinking about a 3 bed, 2 storey house (1/2 Thai 1/2 european style) some A/C, Euro kitchen, office downstairs etc etc, house footprint about 10mtr x 15 mtr in a Thai Moo-Barn village. I am thinking about 2m-thb is this enough ?  (*as always the land is offered free*) all ideas greatly appreciated.

The only ideas I have found is from Lundy Homes but I dont think they will build out of town, and I think thier expensive.

Does anyone have a website and photos of the house you  have built, please post here.

All help needed    TA</font>

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Plumbing:  Make sure that you keep plenty of White Plastic plumbers tape on hand!  Most of the plumbing is done using PVC with fixture attachments made of metal.  You cannot simply buy a fixture and screw it onto the pipe.  It just does not work.  You will have to put yards of tape on the fixture or pipe if you do not want leaking fixtures.  In addition, put shut-off valves at each fixture.  You will save yourself a lot of headaches.  As for buying fixtures, buy brand name fixtures.  Until I got ‘smart’ I was purchasing shower heads, faucets, etc. every month or so.  They simply start freezing up, leaking, fall apart, etc.  You will pay more for brand name but they will last much longer.  And, you cannot get replacements parts for anything in Thailand (at least that has been my experience).

Electrical:  Keep plenty of light bulbs on hand!  You can buy the high energy efficient bulbs but they do not come close to lasting the 20,000 + hours advertised (so do as the Thai’s - buy the cheap ones).  There are just too many power surge’s.  It seems as though every time I turn on a light, it shorts out.

I had no plumbing or electrical experience when I came to Thailand 7 years ago.  In Thailand you have to learn to take care of your own problems that occur in the home.  You cannot call the Plumber or the Electrician - there are none.  And the Yellow Pages are worthless!

What I have just stated has to be clarified.  The above applies if you are living in a small village away from a major city.  If you are living in Bangkok, Chiangmai, Pattaya, or other major city, there may be services available.

If you plan to build a house learn as much as you can from the internet about everything relating to plumbing, electrical, concrete, etc.  There are many web sites that explain everything in detail.  It will be well worth your while.  When the ‘rice farmer’ come ‘expert’ home builder starts to lay your drain pipe for the sewer system, you will no if he is doing it correctly.  Or if the electrician decides to put your entire house electrical system on 1 or 2 breakers, you will no what to do.  When the ‘site’ supervisor wants to lay a 2" concrete slab, you will no what to do. 

I do not advise anyone that is contemplating building a house ‘in the country’ to leave it to the ‘rice farmer’ to do everything correctly.  Do not walk away and come back in 2-3 months and expect to have a fully functional, expertly constructed house.  There are ‘workers’ that have built many houses in Thailand but even they cut corners.  When the roof starts to leak at the beginning of the next rainy season, you will no what I am talking about.  In 1 or 2 years when the house finally starts to settle and you find doors that do not close properly, or there are cracks in the walls (sometimes ‘large’), you can sit back and wonder why!  Or the sewer system backs up and there is no clean out trap, you can wonder why.

This is not written to scare anybody that is planning to build a house in Thailand.  The purpose is to make you understand that ‘country’ construction workers do not have the training to accomplish what we refer to as ‘standards’ or ‘standard practice’.

Good luck.

[Fried Rice]

We are working on building a house now just outside Udon. Found a website (might have even found it here on TV) anyway it had a floor plan we liked and had a Thai architect friend make some small adjustments and should be done in a few months. Have some local builders friends of the family of course putting it together for us and they are charging 140,000 baht. They are nice guys and like that they are local to the area.

We bought the wood for the house from a older house for 80,000 baht and had it refinished. Not teak but a local hardwood that will hold up. It is alot of wood as it was a big house, looks almost new now. Plus we will have leftover for a little building or buffalo home of somethin.

We fashioned it after the leatherback model and made the inside space alittle bigger. Love the big wrap around deck and will fit into the village we are living.

http://www.polehouses.com/index.cfm?fuseac...FTOKEN=95289458

Anyway, if your spending 2 million on building a house you will have lots of options. That is well above what we budgeted. Good luck.