What Tips / Tricks Did You Learn When Building Your House?

[SMEEERE]

This might not be allowed by the mods, but we had a house built in Huahin in 2001 of course there were a few problems, water pipes and drains were directly next to the bathroom door, gutters and downpipes not connected up , nothing that couldnt be sorted out, 9 months later we started another project at a different location, big mistake catastrophe from day 1, septic tank and drain layout and connections put in, all done professionally according to plan, we came back after 3 days to find the slab laid, slapbang on top of the septic tank and main drainage, building supplies started arriving, wall frames , roof trusses, all different sizes to plan , the builder explained half of the materials were for another building a couple of kms away, honest mistake we thought, wrong!! they were on the bill made out to me,we decided to pay more attention to what was going on,there always seemed to be a surplus of materials that evenings or early mornings just seem to vanish,there were so many faults! sliding glass doors built in upside down,insulation charged for but not installed, drains not connected to main drainage pipe , roof not sealed , first rainfall brought the ceilings down, no steel matting in the slab for thecar port and sockel for the rainwater tank , resulting in the rainwater tank splitting the sockel.We traced aall the missing material to the builders home which he was renovating at our cost it took us over 12 months to get our house sorted, and all our money back!! By the way all this happened in Australia near Bribie Island the construction was done buy a well known national builders, I can publish the the inspection reports and surveyors findings, they read like an episode from australias funny videos, I will never complain about thai builders ever again

Dont follow, were your problems in thaiand or oz ?."This might not be allowed by the mods, but we had a house built in Huahin in 2001 "

[SMEEERE]

If you will be happy with a shed on sticks and tin sides go ahead, they are great at it, .when i told my wife there was no lock on the "toilet" door at the bottom of the garden she replied " oh we live here 30 years no one steal a bucket of shit yet !

Edited May 28, 2009 by SMEEERE

[Nignoy]

This might not be allowed by the mods, but we had a house built in Huahin in 2001 of course there were a few problems, water pipes and drains were directly next to the bathroom door, gutters and downpipes not connected up , nothing that couldnt be sorted out, 9 months later we started another project at a different location, big mistake catastrophe from day 1, septic tank and drain layout and connections put in, all done professionally according to plan, we came back after 3 days to find the slab laid, slapbang on top of the septic tank and main drainage, building supplies started arriving, wall frames , roof trusses, all different sizes to plan , the builder explained half of the materials were for another building a couple of kms away, honest mistake we thought, wrong!! they were on the bill made out to me,we decided to pay more attention to what was going on,there always seemed to be a surplus of materials that evenings or early mornings just seem to vanish,there were so many faults! sliding glass doors built in upside down,insulation charged for but not installed, drains not connected to main drainage pipe , roof not sealed , first rainfall brought the ceilings down, no steel matting in the slab for thecar port and sockel for the rainwater tank , resulting in the rainwater tank splitting the sockel.We traced aall the missing material to the builders home which he was renovating at our cost it took us over 12 months to get our house sorted, and all our money back!! By the way all this happened in Australia near Bribie Island the construction was done buy a well known national builders, I can publish the the inspection reports and surveyors findings, they read like an episode from australias funny videos, I will never complain about thai builders ever again

Dont follow, were your problems in thaiand or oz ?."This might not be allowed by the mods, but we had a house built in Huahin in 2001 "

Our first house was built in Huahin our second one with all the problems was built in Australia, I thought the mods might disallow it because the secon project was not in thailand

[Tokay]

Wow. Thank you gentlemen for your eye opening posts. It's a lot of information, but I'm writing it all down and making a point to do what many of you have suggested.

Thanks again.

[Macx]

Don't hire anyone you can't fire.

Relatives, neighbors, people in the same moo-baan, etc. (unless, of course, they're doing it just to help YOU out)

[eddiemonster]

the book is by paiboon publishing...here is the website they posted on the backcover: www.paiboonpublishing.com

some lessons I learnt:

1) try to word the building contract so that payments are linked to milestones or to %completion (good to do a review to agreed milestones bfore progress payment is made), and try to hold back as much as possible as final payment until all problems are cleared to your satisfaction.

2) farang need not mean western standards...in my case, it meant western pricing but local third world standards.

3) make sure bill of quantity specifies brands/types of fittings (or equivalent standards for refernece) so that builder does not come later andsay he only allowed for some rubbish fixture. Example: if teak is to be used, specify it in contract. Or brand of tiles, taps etc.

4) my builder underquoted and it is my fault for not going thru fine details...in the end, he said he allowed for Rubbish Brand, when I clearly specified A-Quality Brand upfront in written communcations. It was not in contract unfortunately, so I ended up paying the extras. Don't ever fall for the "the details can come later" bull shit...I fell for it because I was told he wanted to start project becasue e had another one coming so to save time, we executed a grossly inadequate contract. In hindsight, I now know it was intentional to put pressure on me.

there are many more lessons, but it is not my intent to write a book here

I would definitely follow this advice especially point 2 "farang need not mean western standards...in my case, it meant western pricing but local third world standards". I have yet to meet a farang 'professional' who, in reality, offers anything more than a very expensive translation service.

[eddiemonster]

Not all builders are "shady", but misunderstandings and a difference of "standard procedures" could lead top conflicts.

#1 SPEND the money to have a proper house plan for YOUR home drawn up by a licensed architect. It is NOT necessarily expensive in Thailand. "House from Book" boring and rooms too small in my opinion.

#2 Have a DETAILED list of materials prepared and then pay a translation service or attorney to TRANSLATE to your native language. EXACT MODEL NUMBERS where possible or exact "series" of materials.

#3 In writing how long is the minimum for concrete to cure for various concrete applications in your home. "One day NOT o.k." Insist on an ELECTRIC concrete vibrator used in all appropriate applications. Be clear in writing on waiting time between application of primer and painting coatings.

#4 Attend any functions such as the Architect Expo to see building materials and obtain brochures and business cards of the various companies.

#5 Use a free service such as www.third-drawer.com to list EVERY material in your home, and the contact numbers, warranty information so you can have instant access to that vital information. In our case the manufacturers were very responsive and helpful before and after sales with questions and service. You WILL get some defective parts or parts with bad designs which can be replaced at no charge if you have your ducks in order and stay in contact with the manufacturers.

#6 COMPARE prices in WRITING. Get personal mobile phone numbers of the English speaking managers and owners, who run the merchants building supply stores.

#7 Do not hesitate to phone a manufacturer or distributor, make an appointment and go see the actual product in person.

#8 SERIOUSLY consider "Top Hat Solutions" from Cement Thai Home Services" to INSTALL your roof. They will come back and FIX your leaks without a "run around". Your builders staff really is NOT trained in the same manner.

#9 Send your building staff to any free training seminars for wall blocks, etc.. Talk to your Home Mart owner about when the free seminars are offered to Thai Construction workers.

#10 You can hire professional electricians. Who do you think does the electrical installation at a Big C or a shopping center, even Up Country? Track down the electrical contractor.

#11 Before you shell out big money for expensive door locks, expensive steel security doors, window bars, CCTV, consider getting a bid from one of the four electric fence companies in Thailand. I've visited the booths of three of those companies at the Bangkok Architect Expo. They will all give you a price bid which when you consider other fence toppings, window security bars, good quality door locks, it is a FRACTION of the cost.

#12 Buy your own good quality "spirit level" and see them in use for pipe runs, floor installations, etc..

#13 There are high quality pipe systems possible to have purchased and installed in Thailand for hot and cold water. Items you NEVER see at a local hardware store, but you can see displayed at an Architect Expo.

#14 Remember that MOST good building materials stores can "special order" items you do not SEE on display.

#15 Avoid HDF and MDF doors.

#16 If you are like most of the expats building a home in Thailand, a large number of relatives children will be running around (not necessarily living with you) so spend the minor baht extra for "safety shutter" grounded electric outlets.

#17 Molding / baseboards near the tile, granite, laminate, wood, floors are crucial since Thai women love to mop with damp mops every day.

#18 Get a good Independent Air conditioning dealer to install your AIR CONDITIONING tubes in your wall PRIOR to any rendering or painting of the walls. Early in your building process consider where the drainage of your air conditioning will go.

In your architects electrical plan will be where the wires go for each possible air conditioner.

#19 Use electric conduit not only for electric wires, but RG6, speaker cables, cat5e or other cables you might need at some point in your walls. I spaced on the future "need" of speaker wires in my daughters room, and boy does it look stupid to have speaker wire running on her walls, when it could have at a very minor cost been installed months ago in conduit in the same walls prior to rendering the walls.

#20 Research on google and wikipedia any item or process you are uncertain. Your Thai builder is not stupid, they just do not always research every item the way you might consider appropriate.

#21 Consider a larger diameter water supply PIPE and larger water meter for your home municipal water supply. It is a minor difference to have a better supply of municipal water.

#22 In EVERY area is at least one "pump shop" which sells and services the water supplies for hospitals, hotels, villages, and schools. These "pump shops" can come and help you with the design, purchase, installation and service of your water supply, for LESS MONEY than you buying the items at a Modern Trade retailer. In Buriram the "pump shop" sells and installs over 200 Mitsubishi SUPER PUMPS in villages each year. These Independent shops will have the lowest prices on tanks, pumps, FILTERING SYSTEMS, etc.. and staff that can properly install your water tanks, pumps and filters.

#23 In our area COTTO / TOTO after sales service was better than other brands of plumbing / sanitary ware.

#24 Not all Home Marts have the same selling price. Some have WAY BETTER after the sales service.

#25 1.5 meter is a good OVERHANG distance. 3 meters is a good Veranda width in my opinion when you condiser SHADE, SUN, RAIN.

#26 make suitable rain gutters with downspouts part of your house building contract.

All of the previous posters had valid suggestions, but it need not be hel_l to build a home. Challenging and time consuming yes!!

definitely also follow the above advice. great suggestions in a (pretty big) nutshell.

[eddiemonster]

Again, I must live in an alternate-reality Thailand. Only the roofer messed up, and another roofer fixed the broken tiles for 500 baht. My partner had also never built a house, and I left it to him. He is Thai; so was everybody else. I made no decisions or suggestions, and the Thais did it right. I was lucky. Then again, some Thais can build Thai houses.

Definitely dont listen to this.

I have known a few farang women with Thai partners going down this route. One is still building 2 years, and many tears, later and the project is very small. Get INVOLVED.

Some might translate "alternate-reality" as cloud cuckoo land. Everyone can get lucky once in a million, but I wouldnt like to rely on those odds with my hard-earned!

[Naam]

the bright side: after building a house in Thailand you'll be able to sin for the rest of your life as you are not afraid of héll anymore

[Dawn]

You can buy Phillip Bryce's book here if you're located in Thailand:

http://www.paknambooks.com/index.php?page=...rt&Itemid=1

Or there's another site to order from if you're outside of Thailand:

http://www.buythaibooks.com/index.php?opti...ge&Itemid=1

[Pash]

As said, make sure the toilet is not in the middle of the bathroom.

As for earthing the electrics? 90% of Thai builders will tell you "Not need" The earth wires from our Electric showers just went into the roof and went nowhere.

They will never understand why you want more than one electric socket in every room.

Had the same problems in Oz & the Middle East as in Thailand . Its not just the Thais and as one other poster pointed out - you see it in the UK.

Got to keep an eye on the materials as they will try and save you money that will end up costing twice as much in the long run. They always try and do what they think you want or is better for you (& isn't) even when you tell them, explain and draw. The communication isn't Thai - Thai or Thai - English it is conceptual.

As another poster intimated modern tools and such are not in use much - WHY? - because of the cost! They don't use spirit levels much of at all but if necessary will have a water level handy.

Always remember labour is cheap.

[katabeachbum]

Install dual lightswitches for the lights in the ceilings in the bedrooms( next to bed 90 cm over floor, next to door 120 cm over floor). Woke up last night, because I realised I had forgotten to make that in the electrical plans for my next build.