Rule-of-thumb Building Costs

[anatta]

I plan to build (in a village near Chiang Mai) a two-room chalet of 13.5 square meters floor area, raised 1.2 meters above ground level, with 'standard' concrete frame, brick wall and CPAC roof construction. I have been quoted an all-in price of 173,000 baht. Does this seem reasonable? Any advice much appreciated.

[Rimmer]

That's nearly 13000 baht a square meter, look for 10,000 baht a meter maximum.

[Deke]

13.5 square meters? Sounds more like a closet.

[Artisi]

I had a builders quote recently for 280 square metres, Bht 12,000 for realy high quality.

[dickie58]

There is no doubt if your hire a Thai builder from a village, you will get it done cheaper.

But has he built quality houses for farangs before, have you seen any of them & spoken to those guys?

For 10,000 bht sqm, your going to get very cheap quality, to get any thing decent your looking at 13,000 bht sqm ++. But that wont be top quality either.

Although what your building does sounds like something very simple

I use to work in the construction industry in Pattaya until quite recently, so i am very well aware of building costs, & quality around here.

I can't speak for prices in Chang Mai though.

Edited February 6, 2010 by dickie58

[offset]

There is no doubt if your hire a Thai builder from a village, you will get it done cheaper.

But has he built quality houses for farangs before, have you seen any of them & spoken to those guys?

For 10,000 bht sqm, your going to get very cheap quality, to get any thing decent your looking at 13,000 bht sqm ++. But that wont be top quality either.

Although what your building does sounds like something very simple

I use to work in the construction industry in Pattaya until quite recently, so i am very well aware of building costs, & quality around here.

I can't speak for prices in Chang Mai though.

For house only I am paying 10,000B sq mtr not including kitchen and hot water if required grade "A" finish as many electrical points that I want and earthed the builder as done everything that I have required and changed things that I have not been happy with I pay on work completed the only real problem I have is that he is slow I see 2 farang houses that he built before I decided to use him

[mike44]

There is no doubt if your hire a Thai builder from a village, you will get it done cheaper.

But has he built quality houses for farangs before, have you seen any of them & spoken to those guys?

For 10,000 bht sqm, your going to get very cheap quality, to get any thing decent your looking at 13,000 bht sqm ++. But that wont be top quality either.

Although what your building does sounds like something very simple

I use to work in the construction industry in Pattaya until quite recently, so i am very well aware of building costs, & quality around here.

I can't speak for prices in Chang Mai though.

For house only I am paying 10,000B sq mtr not including kitchen and hot water if required grade "A" finish as many electrical points that I want and earthed the builder as done everything that I have required and changed things that I have not been happy with I pay on work completed the only real problem I have is that he is slow I see 2 farang houses that he built before I decided to use him

[mike44]

At our village in Mae Taeng, a basic two storey house with a footprint of about 80 square meters is under construction by a local builder. I am told the all in price is about 7000Baht/square meter.

[Naam]

"I plan to build (in a village near Chiang Mai) a two-room chalet of 13.5 square meters floor area"

is this "chalet" for your dog or your cat?

[trogers]

13.5 square meters? Sounds more like a closet.

Still larger than those 9 sqm student dorms in the UK....

[anatta]

Thanks to Rimmer, Artisi, dickie58, offset and mike44.

I've now had two more quotations. A builder in the village quotes at 8,800 per sq.m. with (small) brick walls, and a builder from the city at 10,300 per sq. m. using Q-con blocks. I think we'll be going with one of these.

[Crossy]

A builder in the village quotes at 8,800 per sq.m. with (small) brick walls, and a builder from the city at 10,300 per sq. m. using Q-con blocks. I think we'll be going with one of these.

Q-con will likely give better insulation (important if you're having aircon) but there are known issues with water penetration from wet-rooms (like your shower).

I'd use q-con for rooms where you'll be installing aircon and red bricks elsewhere.

Also might be an idea to have internal walls as stud-walls (plasterboard on a timber or metal framework) quick to install and relatively easily changed in future. Ensure your timber is treated against termites or your walls may stop being walls

[Artisi]

All wet areas (showers) should be fully waterproofed using a flexible membrane system which will exclude all water from your walls and floor. Not the cheapest proceedure but will pay for itself in the long run.

[hhgz]

"13.5 square meters? Sounds more like a closet."

Don't forget, that 13.5sqm for TWO rooms. Perhaps he and his guests will be sleeping standing up.

[Crossy]

"13.5 square meters? Sounds more like a closet."

Don't forget, that 13.5sqm for TWO rooms. Perhaps he and his guests will be sleeping standing up.

I agree, even the smallest of the homes (number 1) on my website http://www.crossy.co.uk/Thai_House_Plans/index.html has a total floor area 5.4 x 5.6m and that's just one room with a loo / shower with an outside kitchen and verandah.

[apetley]

Locally builders are charging between 3 and 4k bht per sq m for labour, you supply the materials.

8k per sq m should get you reasonable Thai standard.

10k up will get you good or better quality.

We built our own house to a very high standard for 10k bht per sq m but that was with the help of uncle, our builder, and being very careful with sourcing the materials.