Building In Buriram Advice

[siamamerican]

I paid for a new home last year for my wife’s sister’s family. My wife flew to Thailand and supervised the construction. Her family works in the construction industry as day laborers, and they were able to do 90% of the work themselves. The 3 bedroom house took 3 months to construct and cost roughly 550k bt. I was amazed at how nice the home was upon completion.

Now, I’m thinking of building a home for myself in Buriram. My wife owns 4 rai bordering the crocodile ( don’t the name for crocodile in Thai ) river/stream. It’s a few miles from the new Big C.

Are floods an issue in Buriram or more specifically near rivers? I won’t be building an extravagant home. My wife’s family will do most the work and I anticipate the cost to be in the 1 mil bt range. It wouldn’t ruin me by any means if I lost the house. If flooding is an issue, what steps I could take to mitigate the risk of building near water.

I spent a few months in Buriram and it was pleasant if not exciting. At worst, I have a home I can stay in occasionally and the wife always has a place to stay when she visits family. I seem to be rambling – I’ll spare you any more trite info, but would appreciate any input.

Edited April 7, 2008 by siamamerican

[Thaicoon]

I paid for a new home last year for my wife’s sister’s family. My wife flew to Thailand and supervised the construction. Her family works in the construction industry as day laborers, and they were able to do 90% of the work themselves. The 3 bedroom house took 3 months to construct and cost roughly 550k bt. I was amazed at how nice the home was upon completion.

Now, I’m thinking of building a home for myself in Buriram. My wife owns 4 rai bordering the crocodile ( don’t the name for crocodile in Thai ) river/stream. It’s a few miles from the new Big C.

Are floods an issue in Buriram or more specifically near rivers? I won’t be building an extravagant home. My wife’s family will do most the work and I anticipate the cost to be in the 1 mil bt range. It wouldn’t ruin me by any means if I lost the house. If flooding is an issue, what steps I could take to mitigate the risk of building near water.

I spent a few months in Buriram and it was pleasant if not exciting. At worst, I have a home I can stay in occasionally and the wife always has a place to stay when she visits family. I seem to be rambling – I’ll spare you any more trite info, but would appreciate any input.

Also starting building again, outside buriram, wifes family have quoted me 250k for a 3 bedroom bungalow with bathrooms, no kitchen, lounge/diner, mind you this is going to be built on a budget, so maybe we can do a bit cheaper, we are building 5 to start, then maybe another 5, this is part of our new venture outside town.

[siamamerican]

I paid for a new home last year for my wife’s sister’s family. My wife flew to Thailand and supervised the construction. Her family works in the construction industry as day laborers, and they were able to do 90% of the work themselves. The 3 bedroom house took 3 months to construct and cost roughly 550k bt. I was amazed at how nice the home was upon completion.

Now, I’m thinking of building a home for myself in Buriram. My wife owns 4 rai bordering the crocodile ( don’t the name for crocodile in Thai ) river/stream. It’s a few miles from the new Big C.

Are floods an issue in Buriram or more specifically near rivers? I won’t be building an extravagant home. My wife’s family will do most the work and I anticipate the cost to be in the 1 mil bt range. It wouldn’t ruin me by any means if I lost the house. If flooding is an issue, what steps I could take to mitigate the risk of building near water.

I spent a few months in Buriram and it was pleasant if not exciting. At worst, I have a home I can stay in occasionally and the wife always has a place to stay when she visits family. I seem to be rambling – I’ll spare you any more trite info, but would appreciate any input.

Also starting building again, outside buriram, wifes family have quoted me 250k for a 3 bedroom bungalow with bathrooms, no kitchen, lounge/diner, mind you this is going to be built on a budget, so maybe we can do a bit cheaper, we are building 5 to start, then maybe another 5, this is part of our new venture outside town.

My post was semi-pathetic and this post is probably in jest. Hmmm, no kitchen? Well, you can piss in the bathroom sink and save the cost of a bathroom and sewage costs. Seriously, you should see the sister in law’s home. It’s a simple home that has all the basic necessities.

[TBWG]

I paid for a new home last year for my wife’s sister’s family. My wife flew to Thailand and supervised the construction. Her family works in the construction industry as day laborers, and they were able to do 90% of the work themselves. The 3 bedroom house took 3 months to construct and cost roughly 550k bt. I was amazed at how nice the home was upon completion.

Now, I’m thinking of building a home for myself in Buriram. My wife owns 4 rai bordering the crocodile ( don’t the name for crocodile in Thai ) river/stream. It’s a few miles from the new Big C.

Are floods an issue in Buriram or more specifically near rivers? I won’t be building an extravagant home. My wife’s family will do most the work and I anticipate the cost to be in the 1 mil bt range. It wouldn’t ruin me by any means if I lost the house. If flooding is an issue, what steps I could take to mitigate the risk of building near water.

I spent a few months in Buriram and it was pleasant if not exciting. At worst, I have a home I can stay in occasionally and the wife always has a place to stay when she visits family. I seem to be rambling – I’ll spare you any more trite info, but would appreciate any input.

Also starting building again, outside buriram, wifes family have quoted me 250k for a 3 bedroom bungalow with bathrooms, no kitchen, lounge/diner, mind you this is going to be built on a budget, so maybe we can do a bit cheaper, we are building 5 to start, then maybe another 5, this is part of our new venture outside town.

My post was semi-pathetic and this post is probably in jest. Hmmm, no kitchen? Well, you can piss in the bathroom sink and save the cost of a bathroom and sewage costs. Seriously, you should see the sister in law’s home. It’s a simple home that has all the basic necessities.

HI Siam American

I know where Thaicoon is coming from.... if he is building 5 of them they are obviously holiday accommodation and a kitchen would not be necessary.

However, having invested a bit of money in a western type kitchen in my own house I can now see the Thai point of view why cook inside and generate more heat? also attracts insects into the house and lastly Thai cooking can be rather smelly, all in all best done outside or better still eat out!!

Re your original question, it is standard practice when building a new house to raise up the ground level with an appropriate number of lorry loads of soil. In the event of flooding then your neighbours get your share of the floodwater as well as their own!

TBWG

[siamamerican]

I paid for a new home last year for my wife’s sister’s family. My wife flew to Thailand and supervised the construction. Her family works in the construction industry as day laborers, and they were able to do 90% of the work themselves. The 3 bedroom house took 3 months to construct and cost roughly 550k bt. I was amazed at how nice the home was upon completion.

Now, I’m thinking of building a home for myself in Buriram. My wife owns 4 rai bordering the crocodile ( don’t the name for crocodile in Thai ) river/stream. It’s a few miles from the new Big C.

Are floods an issue in Buriram or more specifically near rivers? I won’t be building an extravagant home. My wife’s family will do most the work and I anticipate the cost to be in the 1 mil bt range. It wouldn’t ruin me by any means if I lost the house. If flooding is an issue, what steps I could take to mitigate the risk of building near water.

I spent a few months in Buriram and it was pleasant if not exciting. At worst, I have a home I can stay in occasionally and the wife always has a place to stay when she visits family. I seem to be rambling – I’ll spare you any more trite info, but would appreciate any input.

Also starting building again, outside buriram, wifes family have quoted me 250k for a 3 bedroom bungalow with bathrooms, no kitchen, lounge/diner, mind you this is going to be built on a budget, so maybe we can do a bit cheaper, we are building 5 to start, then maybe another 5, this is part of our new venture outside town.

My post was semi-pathetic and this post is probably in jest. Hmmm, no kitchen? Well, you can piss in the bathroom sink and save the cost of a bathroom and sewage costs. Seriously, you should see the sister in law’s home. It’s a simple home that has all the basic necessities.

HI Siam American

I know where Thaicoon is coming from.... if he is building 5 of them they are obviously holiday accommodation and a kitchen would not be necessary.

However, having invested a bit of money in a western type kitchen in my own house I can now see the Thai point of view why cook inside and generate more heat? also attracts insects into the house and lastly Thai cooking can be rather smelly, all in all best done outside or better still eat out!!

Re your original question, it is standard practice when building a new house to raise up the ground level with an appropriate number of lorry loads of soil. In the event of flooding then your neighbours get your share of the floodwater as well as their own!

TBWG

Thanks for the explanation. I should have taken more time reading his post and I had a few glasses of wine. I thought he was building a home without a bathroom - my mistake.

Raising the ground level makes sense. This was the main reason I built the home for my sister in law's family. The neighbors on both sides, built home that a few feet above her home. Their house became a pond during the rainy season.

Do rivers flood in Thailand, like the do in the western US? Being flat, I assume flooding isn't a major concern. If they do, raising the house a few feet would be of little help during floods.

Thanks, SA

[ronthompson]

On my side of Buriram we do not worry about floods however some of the rain storms will make u wish your house was higher. You do need to build up the area where your home will stand.

In Bangkok I had a condo which I remodeled and had a very modern American type kitchen. When I moved to the village I had a new kitchen built, nice but with no built in oven. My wife wanted a small cooking area on the "back porch" outside of the house. Turned out to be one of the best projects I have ever had done. 90% of the cooking is outside where its cooler, I at last found real bug lights so its bug free and very comfortable. I have started to enlarge the area with more ceiling and NO walls. An outside kitchen is really a great thing to have.

[TBWG]

On my side of Buriram we do not worry about floods however some of the rain storms will make u wish your house was higher. You do need to build up the area where your home will stand.

In Bangkok I had a condo which I remodeled and had a very modern American type kitchen. When I moved to the village I had a new kitchen built, nice but with no built in oven. My wife wanted a small cooking area on the "back porch" outside of the house. Turned out to be one of the best projects I have ever had done. 90% of the cooking is outside where its cooler, I at last found real bug lights so its bug free and very comfortable. I have started to enlarge the area with more ceiling and NO walls. An outside kitchen is really a great thing to have.

Hi Ron

Care to share details of your effective bug lights?

TBWG

[ronthompson]

I used yellow light bulbs and tubes in the states to control bugs, Was not able to find in Bangkok and I checked in all the big stores.

Had a reason to stop at our Friend Rays house and he had yellow bug lights on his back porch, just like what I used in the States and he is very happy with them. His wife told my wife how to find the store and we purchased a couple.

PM me if u want my number to talk with my wife about the address.

[siamamerican]

Sound like a gentleman I met at a Buriram university in 2001. The orphanage was smaller, but it could have grown.

I will most likely start building some time next year. I’ll stop by the orphanage when I’m in town.

[siamamerican]

Sound like a gentleman I met at a Buriram university in 2001. The orphanage was smaller, but it could have grown.

I will most likely start building some time next year. I’ll stop by the orphanage when I’m in town.

Yes, SA, I am the one. retired from Rajabhat, not by choice, replaced by Filipinos at the end of March 2006 as they teach cheaper. (12K vs. 30 K per month). Taught there 8 years and they were good years. Taught 5,000 students during that time. Three of the kids here at the TreeHouse now attend BRU. One more will be going there next year. No problem though after leaving as it has given me loads of time to help kids around Buriram, Surin and Korat provinces. 61 free English camps later, 600 school visits, going stronger at 60 more than ever. We now have 17 children here aged 4 months to age 23 (4th yr student will graduate next year!)--- just added two more kids aged 11, 14 last week, 2 last month aged 8, 12 and one more aged 12 just 2 days ago. 282 volunteers so far have come out here to help for anywhere from 1 week upwards from 29 different countries and more coming. If you build it they will come still rings in my ears (Field of Dreams, Kevin Costner). Do indeed come bye and see us. Would welcome your visit. (Roger)

Congrats on finding your purpose in life. I'm going through the motions right now and doing quite well. Haven't really accomplished what you have, but I'm still young.

Take care