Specific Things To Ask A House Contractor To Do?

[Svenn]

I unfortunately wasn't able to come to Thailand for my miss's construction of a small bungalow and perimeter wall in central Ubon... she's there herself monitoring the situation and picking out materials, but neither of us were able to get as involved as we liked to in the construction and we basically just have to contract most of it out. The contract is for 400k for a small one-storey bungalow and perimeter wall from an apparently competent older fellow who showed her other houses he's been constructing at present.

I was basically wondering, for this kind of typical small-budget house, are there any things experienced farangs out there would say I absolutley MUST request from the contractor?

Right off the back, I noticed from the picks that he uses small red brick for the walls between the posts as oppossed to bigger cinderblock- will that make the place hot? My gf mentioned something about insulation for the attic, but I'm not sure it's enough. Anyway, my only big concern besides heat and ventilation (can I make up for crappy insulation by planting a ring of tall bananas around the house?) is the tile grout... which I will insist is stain-resistant so the place looks decent. Thanks for any other tips...

[Rimmer]

Unfortuantly 400k will get you very little in the way of decent construction, but having said that make sure the builder ties the house together at the top of all the sow poons with either cast concrete or steel welded to the upright sow poons.

I have seen so many low cost houses where this has not been done and the sow poons fall outward leaving cracks at every corner. Ideally there should also be a band of cast concrete around the house at window height as well.

[Beardog]

I unfortunately wasn't able to come to Thailand for my miss's construction of a small bungalow and perimeter wall in central Ubon... she's there herself monitoring the situation and picking out materials, but neither of us were able to get as involved as we liked to in the construction and we basically just have to contract most of it out. The contract is for 400k for a small one-storey bungalow and perimeter wall from an apparently competent older fellow who showed her other houses he's been constructing at present.

I was basically wondering, for this kind of typical small-budget house, are there any things experienced farangs out there would say I absolutley MUST request from the contractor?

Right off the back, I noticed from the picks that he uses small red brick for the walls between the posts as oppossed to bigger cinderblock- will that make the place hot? My gf mentioned something about insulation for the attic, but I'm not sure it's enough. Anyway, my only big concern besides heat and ventilation (can I make up for crappy insulation by planting a ring of tall bananas around the house?) is the tile grout... which I will insist is stain-resistant so the place looks decent. Thanks for any other tips...

[/quote

It will be hard to get much than red brick or standard brick on that budget . You can make sure the house is built in the proper direction North oriented- to keep the optimum conditions in your favor.Do not build where the sun just pounds into the windows or at least keep minimal rays from coming in (especially in the afternoon) You can put up trees such as Taw Kobe to shade the west side of the house(most likely the hottest area) Bananas will not give much insulation, but Taw kobe trees are excellent shade trees. We Have 3 shading the house & it works well & gives awesome little berries to eat. We are growing 15 more Taw kobes for our next house to start soon. We paid 250,000 for a 74 meter house. that or 400,000 range will come with the long asbestos based tile & Not the c-pac monier type roof. Add another 140,000+ for the c-pac style roof.

The house will be built on the ground & not raised with the pipes underneath for easy access. Our house came with the chain link fence as requested. The priceof the project was ridiculous & the contractor went broke so we wound up finishing almost 1/2 of the house. As the amount you have to spend is not huge the builder will most likely try to find ways to make it cheaper so it behooves you to make certain he does not skimp on the foundation(especially the steel- which should be rebar{ribbed steel} & not smooth light gauge steel used for cages) If you have a well or borehole put in keep your septic at least 30 meters away from the well or your water will be contaminated. Make sure the builder is building you a septic & not a pump it out every month cement holding tank.

I did All the septic from shooting the transit to get the degree of angle on the pipes to digging the drainage ditch. I let his crew dig the septic hole & paid extra.Next project I have a cat (claw to dig the septic along with other areas) An excavator can be gotten for 5500 baht -6500 baht & well worth it as it was a true pain in the ass to hand dig it. There are many things to consider & watch to avoid the common mistakes made in building in LOS. The electrical is a crap shoot. Our build has twisted wires & black tape instead of junction boxes & block connectors. I have been upgrading to western standards as I go along.

If he uses (most likely) the long roof tiles make sure he gets the modern clips that he can slide the tiles in place with opposed to the drill & stud method that not only leaks but is hel_l to do repairs as needed.

After my first experience with Thai building , I could write pages on the subject, but I will let other posters offer their expertise as well & keep it short.

We built 13 months ago although the price will be about the same or slightly higher. In closing in the construction field- no matter where you build add in 20-25% for unseen addons & corrections. If you don't go over the cost Fantastic- but nothing is worse than surprise expenditures you haven't added in & still need to do to complete the job.

There are many pages on bungalow construction if you do a search also.

Good luck on your house!

[torrenova]

Yes, my missus "organised" a glorified overhang around the house on 3 sides and they drilled and studded the bugger as well as putting in one concrete post at an angle. <deleted> useless and she knows bugger all but apparently knows more than the sum knowledge of western society when dealing with matters such as these.

[Rimmer]

my missus "organised" a glorified overhang around the house

If they are anything like my crew it would have been a 'glorified Hang over'