Dealing With Architect And Contractor

[smoz]

After speaking with, and rejecting several no-problem-mai-penrai-can-do people I think I now have found an architect and a contractor I can work with for the renovation of my house; time will tell. Nevertheless I would greatly appreciate any advise on how to limit the risk of unwelcome surprises when it comes to quality of work and materials, pricing etc. It's something to be aware of wherever you build a house but I assume a Thai situation has it's specifics. Any experiences?

[MetroGirl]

The key here is to have......

The agreeable, good written, and enforceable contract detailing

-Dateline on each stage of construction

-Materials specification

-Pricing of all items

-Payment detailed

-penalty of project delaying

-design modifications pricing - in details

…..etcs

Just to name a few, and will sure minimize your heachaches later on

[InSiSongkram]

I can put you in touch with someone good who has just done a house for me and I`ve been very happy. The above points are great guidelines though.

[Chopper]

Good list from MetroGirl.

Also when the job is finished as with almost all jobs you will have a snagging list. A lot of the small snagging jobs may not be become apparent immediately. With that in mind it is always advisable to hold a small retention on the final payment for a period of time until you are completely satisfied everything is either up to standard and there will hopefully be no further call backs for your contractor.

Holding a small retention after the job is complete seems to have them rushing back to fix whatever snagging jobs you may need doing for some reason.

[Westering]

The key here is to have......

The agreeable, good written, and enforceable contract detailing

-Dateline on each stage of construction

-Materials specification

-Pricing of all items

-Payment detailed

-penalty of project delaying

-design modifications pricing - in details

…..etcs

Just to name a few, and will sure minimize your heachaches later on

Good advice and if the contractor understands all this in the same way you do then things should go fairly smoothly. I would add that you shouldn't expect your architect to come to the worksite to check the work or to take any responsibility in ensuring that the contractor builds according to the plans and specs. You will have to spell this out with the architect and this sort of periodic supervision may cost you more.

When we had our house built the plans were viewed by everyone except us as a mere formality needed to get a building permit. The designer thought his work was done when the permit was obtained. It was assumed that the contractor would build in any way convenient and profitable to him so he was shocked when we required him to actually follow the plan. We eventually had to take over as contractor and that turned out for the best in our case.

[MetroGirl]

Of course it has to be one of the good lists, coz you're talking to an architect and I'm using them everyday ja

[InSiSongkram]

Or make sure you have a clause in the contract that gives you up to 12 months guarantee on any issues/snags, any reputable company won`t flinch at that if they believe in the work they have done.

Good list from MetroGirl.

Also when the job is finished as with almost all jobs you will have a snagging list. A lot of the small snagging jobs may not be become apparent immediately. With that in mind it is always advisable to hold a small retention on the final payment for a period of time until you are completely satisfied everything is either up to standard and there will hopefully be no further call backs for your contractor.

Holding a small retention after the job is complete seems to have them rushing back to fix whatever snagging jobs you may need doing for some reason.

[Tod Daniels]

Dealing with a thai architect is not all that fraught with problems. For the most part they are at least semi-competent at their profession. I have met some which excelled and others which should be relegated to using crayons and colored paper. My experience is once the plans are produced by the architect, they will consider their job finished, leave it to the contractor to build according to plan and leave it to you to enforce that however you can.

Beware there is a wide disparity between what a contractor may say and what you may receive as a final product. Get references, NOT from thais, but from foreigner's they've worked for.

Beware many contractors in this glorious country will cut EVERY corner they can once your back is turned, just to drive up the profit. If you're NOT prepared to be on the site EVERY day watching so that it is build to the standard you agreed upon, chances are it will be second rate shoddy construction, painted to look good. Unless you're totally blind, you might have noticed there is no shortage of that kind of workmanship in buildings here.

With face saving being so ingrained into these peoples psyche, you run the risk of them playing the ever popular "can-do" game here. That is where all your questions are met with verbal approval, and then you are given glowering looks when you hold them to their promises.

Communication is KEY to you having good quality work done without misunderstandings which can cost time and money. These are far from the most time sensitive people on the face of the planet, and deadlines may pass by with little notice on their part. Staggering the payments is a way of leveraging them into following the timeline of construction.

If your thai is not up to speed, and your wife's ability to understand english construction concepts is lacking perhaps look into retaining a competent translator as a go between. Above all DO NOT ever accept "this is how we do it in thailand" as an answer to ANY construction related question.

I can say, of the people I know who used contractors here; it seemed pretty hit or miss on if you get a good one. If you can find another foreigner who has used a particular contractor, had a good outcome to their project, go with that one. You might reduce your exposure to shoddy work.

It is labor intensive running herd on a bunch of thai construction workers on a job site. You most certainly have your work cut out for you.

Recently I read a series of articles about someone building a house in Lampang (south of Chiang Mai), about the pitfalls, trials and tribulations he went thru during the process. Quite an interesting read. The pictures of the finished house once he persevered and got it done were spectacular. Good work can be done, it's just not something that will happen without a LOT of planning and oversight on your part.

Good luck..

[bruceboy]

Good information. Thanks.

[smoz]

@ MetroGirl

@ InSiSongkram

@ Chopper

@ Westering

@ top-daniels

Many thanks for your very informative remarks. Much appreciated!

[smoz]

ooops, sorry...

@ tod-daniels

great help!