Building A Hut, Shack, Bungalow Cheaply

[deejah]

i am under the impression

if you have the land or location

one can build a dwelling

pretty cheaply

it doesn't have to be fancy

about the same as many 300-700 baht a night rooms in thailand

must be solid, cement or cinder or brick

ventilation for maximum comfort without air con

running water would be nice for a sink and shower

must have electricity but alternative or self sufficient

at some point ideal

what are your experiences?

how to build the best quality for the lowest price?

[apetley]

You could build a bungalow for 100k, a Thai friend has recently done just that, but as for quality or western style amenities forget it.

We will soon be adding a Thai style kitchen on our land, approx 20 sq, metres, block walls, hopefully aluminium windows and doors, composite roof tiles, very basic cooking facilties inside and cold running water.

A local village builder will provide the labour for 600 bht per sq metre. Hopefully the whole thing will come in at around 50k bht.

To build at the lowest price, get a quote for just labour from somebody you can trust and source all the materials yourself.

[Soutpeel]

Bl**dy H*ll.....the exchange rates must be really hitting now....no more houses for farang teeraks....a hut or shack in Isaan will have to do

[rgs2001uk]

Bl**dy H*ll.....the exchange rates must be really hitting now....no more houses for farang teeraks....a hut or shack in Isaan will have to do

Ah the infamous Issan mansion may well be added to the UNESCO heritage list of endangered buildings.

Maybe he not love Thai lady ching ching.

[Boater]

Bl**dy H*ll.....the exchange rates must be really hitting now....no more houses for farang teeraks....a hut or shack in Isaan will have to do

or

[tim armstrong]

I recently saw a doco. on building with mud brick - in Thailand, but didn't see the location. I have several friends who have built them in Oz to a quite good standard. They are cheap to build, look good and have two big advantages - you can build in some of the furniture like beds,sofas and kitchen structures. But best of all they are really good insulators, so very cool.

You shouldn't have too much trouble with clay as most of thailand has good soil depth. There are also many websites on the subject. Also search for Working Weekends on Organic Farms WWOF. Its an organisation of travellers who will work for free in exchange for accomodation. Its been around for many years and often has people who have done this type of work. Good Luck

[Carib]

Member Crossy made a page about free Thai government house plans. Some fancy ones, some more basic. But the design and drawings are free.

http://www.crossy.co.uk/Thai_House_Plans/

[Boater]

Member Crossy made a page about free Thai government house plans. Some fancy ones, some more basic. But the design and drawings are free.

http://www.crossy.co...ai_House_Plans/

very interesting, seems Lersuang and Land and Homes get there designs from here

[DougLee]

step 1) get job

step 2) pay for something livable.

Building a traditional thai house in wood costs under 1mil for 3br. It looks quite nice too. If i was broke or had a huge land for retreats i would build this as its very fun to live in a few days at a time

[deejah]

add toilet to the list of somewhat necessary

thanks folks some inspiring replies

Edited December 8, 2010 by deejah

[tartempion]

Must be easy, why ask?

Pay me a visit, see houses two neighbors each 100m left/right from my Western style house.

Must be 4x6m, left house was without windows for 2 years, just plain open to the winds (natural airco), recently they added wooden panels allowing them to close it all whenever needed. Both brick an mortar houses, no cement structure with wooden house/rooms on top, must be too expensive (such houses can't be built for less than 200K I guess these days)

The right hand neighbor is better off, one year ago he added a 4x4 room to his house with a door and a window.

This week he painted all of it in a soft peach color.

No doubt both houses cost less than 100k, first one probably max 50K

Edited December 8, 2010 by tartempion

[Will1]

Bl**dy H*ll.....the exchange rates must be really hitting now....no more houses for farang teeraks....a hut or shack in Isaan will have to do

Yeah, sounds that way the farangs do not want to go home.

Living in shacks and a room with no ambitions.

They will be living in caves next.

[Soutpeel]

Bl**dy H*ll.....the exchange rates must be really hitting now....no more houses for farang teeraks....a hut or shack in Isaan will have to do

Yeah, sounds that way the farangs do not want to go home.

Living in shacks and a room with no ambitions.

They will be living in caves next.

A new tribe in the jungles of Thailand perhaps ?....The "Westus faranga".....imagine the documentaries on Discovery by the future explorers who find this tribe ?

Edited December 9, 2010 by Soutpeel

[Will1]

Bl**dy H*ll.....the exchange rates must be really hitting now....no more houses for farang teeraks....a hut or shack in Isaan will have to do

Yeah, sounds that way the farangs do not want to go home.

Living in shacks and a room with no ambitions.

They will be living in caves next.

A new tribe in the jungles of Thailand perhaps ?....The "Westus faranga".....imagine the documentaries on Discovery by the future explorers who find this tribe ?

No one knows how long they have been there, rumishing around in the jungle. The tribe known as the "Westus faranga" hiding away from society.

[Soutpeel]

Bl**dy H*ll.....the exchange rates must be really hitting now....no more houses for farang teeraks....a hut or shack in Isaan will have to do

Yeah, sounds that way the farangs do not want to go home.

Living in shacks and a room with no ambitions.

They will be living in caves next.

A new tribe in the jungles of Thailand perhaps ?....The "Westus faranga".....imagine the documentaries on Discovery by the future explorers who find this tribe ?

No one knows how long they have been there, rumishing around in the jungle. The tribe known as the "Westus faranga" hiding away from society.

It is believed the orignal "Westus faranga" migrated to the jungles of Thailand from the colder climes of Europe and North America as very mature examples of their species as they were unable find suitable mates within their local tribes.

They were drawn to the area by stories of the of young availible females in the local tribes....

[Forethat]

I remember a thread some time ago in which a member told the story of how he built a bungalow in Isaan. He included pictures as well, and if I'm not totally incorrect he had the total cost in there as well. I remember I was very impressed with the bungalow at the stated cost (2-300k??).

Can someone remember who the member was, or remember the thread? I cant find it.

[Carib]

I remember a thread some time ago in which a member told the story of how he built a bungalow in Isaan. He included pictures as well, and if I'm not totally incorrect he had the total cost in there as well. I remember I was very impressed with the bungalow at the stated cost (2-300k??).

Can someone remember who the member was, or remember the thread? I cant find it.

Yes, remember that thread too, and...couldnot find it either.

[keestha]

A small basic bungalow with bathroom should be about 100k Baht. Wood is more expensive and more difficult to maintain, use C-pack (the concrete blocks) or bricks. Bricks as a material are cheaper, but labour costs are higher, it works out about the same. If the guy supervising the construction purchases the materials, a percentage will be added, that he pockets. Don't pay the construction crew per day, but agree on a price for the total job. If you pay them in installments payable once a certain stage has been reached, they might keep asking for advance payments, till a lot of work but little money is left, and then stop showing up. Good luck.

Edited December 9, 2010 by keestha

[sezze]

Yes it is possible , 50 to 100k .

A ,use a basic rectangular layout , do not use an architect unless you have to from government . lets say a 6 by 6 meter building . Build on floor level or slightly raised but keep the bottomplate on the ground . and put about 7 to 10 cm of concrete on it . You need 9 concrete pilars , 6inch ones are less then 1000 baht for 4 m long ( lets say 800 baht) Dig them in at 3 m from eachother and put about 10cm concrete in the bottom. Fill the pit with sand and then raise your landlevel 1 stone ( 20cm ) . After that the concrete .

B use standard roofplates ( zink plates ) They are dirtcheap . More expensive are coated steel sheets and fibrecement . I prefer iron as roofconstruction . Keep the angle of the roof as low as possible ( less steel /fibrecement needed ) .

C fill in your concrete floorplate as needed . with cinderblocks ( between 2.5 and 4 b each 20/40cm )

D Toilets + basin + shower together with hot water ... if you look around should be less then 7000 baht .

OK let's count allraedy

9 concrete pillars 7200 baht

concrete , 5000 baht

stones lets say livingroom / 1 bedroom / 1 bathroom . / about 3 m high 1500stones =6000 baht

roof construction . The expensive part . roughly 15k is possible ( can be even cheaper is you take the cheapest possible or even 2th hand ) .

Elek , simple elek will set you back max 5000 baht .

windows and doors . Simple construction , so nothing fancy . 4 doors at 700 bath each and lets say 3 windows at 1000 baht each ... roughly 6000 bath .

Tiles ... if needed 100 baht sqm ( it will bring up the price , but will also improve the look . ) and another 10 k on small things like cement , pipingwork etc .

7200+5000+6000+15000+5000+6000+10000 = 54000 without labour . I did never take the cheapest of cheapest . Tiles are your own choice , but you can do a lot for 15k ( the complete house ) . If you want render the walls will set you back another couple of 1000 .

For roughly 100k you have a very nice bungalow . Basic basic for around 50k . If you really want to go basic Isaan style it can go even lower but i cannot imagine any farang do not want to spend 20k more to have a decent bungalow .

I'm building myself and so far this cost me around 160k . Any spec of the building so far is higher then needed and this is a lot bigger then the 6 by 6 mentioned .

Edited December 10, 2010 by sezze

[Beardog]

If you are a craftsman & not a hobby horse kinda guy you can do portions & save on price & more so increase the quality of build 1000 fold. 3 pictures . House built 220,000 baht approx. 66 sq.meters A true piece of <deleted>. Next picture of house 2 years later (living like a Cockroach)We knocked down the agony of defeat. 3rd picture for a few baht more 1.6 mil. with all the trimmings. So worth it. I did 35% of the work all the plumbing stubbing up the underground cable for the elec. Some of the welding Paint & trim. Even though my agreement was not to do more than stub up the elec plumbing & septic so all he had to do was hook up the interior.The new house 176 sq. mtrs with another 63 sq.mtrs outside patios . Really for next to nothing you will get next to nothing. Way more tales of woe than how happy the people are about the Khemer shack they built.The govn houses that Crossy posted have gone up at least 30% & if you are thinking at all about security forget about it. The komoes will be having a field day.

Houses that are crap are good for a weekend or a week in Koh Chang.....but you got to ask yourself is this how you want to live better to go home & make some bucks & do it right than having to tear it down later & not get to enjoy your house for the time you had it.For 220,000 baht I can truly say I have had more campsites that were better.

If your not good at being an architect best bone up. I reconstructed 3/4 of the plan due to the nimrod never really went to school. The house is quite a bit larger than I first envisioned but I like luxury instead of a crampsite.

The original plan was to just build a 50,000 baht pile on the first shack.

[Will1]

Yes it is possible , 50 to 100k .

A ,use a basic rectangular layout , do not use an architect unless you have to from government . lets say a 6 by 6 meter building . Build on floor level or slightly raised but keep the bottomplate on the ground . and put about 7 to 10 cm of concrete on it . You need 9 concrete pilars , 6inch ones are less then 1000 baht for 4 m long ( lets say 800 baht) Dig them in at 3 m from eachother and put about 10cm concrete in the bottom. Fill the pit with sand and then raise your landlevel 1 stone ( 20cm ) . After that the concrete .

B use standard roofplates ( zink plates ) They are dirtcheap . More expensive are coated steel sheets and fibrecement . I prefer iron as roofconstruction . Keep the angle of the roof as low as possible ( less steel /fibrecement needed ) .

C fill in your concrete floorplate as needed . with cinderblocks ( between 2.5 and 4 b each 20/40cm )

D Toilets + basin + shower together with hot water ... if you look around should be less then 7000 baht .

OK let's count allraedy

9 concrete pillars 7200 baht

concrete , 5000 baht

stones lets say livingroom / 1 bedroom / 1 bathroom . / about 3 m high 1500stones =6000 baht

roof construction . The expensive part . roughly 15k is possible ( can be even cheaper is you take the cheapest possible or even 2th hand ) .

Elek , simple elek will set you back max 5000 baht .

windows and doors . Simple construction , so nothing fancy . 4 doors at 700 bath each and lets say 3 windows at 1000 baht each ... roughly 6000 bath .

Tiles ... if needed 100 baht sqm ( it will bring up the price , but will also improve the look . ) and another 10 k on small things like cement , pipingwork etc .

7200+5000+6000+15000+5000+6000+10000 = 54000 without labour . I did never take the cheapest of cheapest . Tiles are your own choice , but you can do a lot for 15k ( the complete house ) . If you want render the walls will set you back another couple of 1000 .

For roughly 100k you have a very nice bungalow . Basic basic for around 50k . If you really want to go basic Isaan style it can go even lower but i cannot imagine any farang do not want to spend 20k more to have a decent bungalow .

I'm building myself and so far this cost me around 160k . Any spec of the building so far is higher then needed and this is a lot bigger then the 6 by 6 mentioned .

Just what I need to park my car, how much would a garage door cost?

[sezze]

Depending on material used etc ... i'd say somewhere between 5 and 10k a piece . I would choose the roll up types like you see in shopdoors . Maybe they are just above 10k a piece.

I think you need 8 columns , might be 12 , depending on the size of the garage . I would not go bigger then 4m between every column.

I would put between 12 and 15 cm concrete on floor . and just leave it like that . Roof , make it the cheapest possible , while still strong , would be for this somewhere in the 15k area . This is a 40k to 75k max building .

Edited December 12, 2010 by sezze

[Artisi]

You want something cheap and nasty - see the following link, one advantage is that it is easy to de-construct and move elsewhere if and when required.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humpy

[sezze]

You want something cheap and nasty - see the following link, one advantage is that it is easy to de-construct and move elsewhere if and when required.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humpy

Yes , possible and a lot cheaper but it wouldn't stand 1 rainy season . Not everybody is going for the overinflated farang price building projects , with swimming pools , 7 bathrooms and 4 bedrooms etc . A normal house with normal building materials ( marble and granite , if not imported are also very cheap ) is not expensive in Thailand . Even a swimming pool is not very expensive if you stay away from the places who are really for the farangs . You can do and build a lot for 100.000 baht.

[wandrinstar]

From what ive seen here the Ferang normally pays around 2 Million,and gets something worth 200K.,on free land hes bought of her Mom,with no Paperwork.Yet still they fall for it.

[sezze]

From what ive seen here the Ferang normally pays around 2 Million,and gets something worth 200K.,on free land hes bought of her Mom,with no Paperwork.Yet still they fall for it.

It's not that bad ... but yes . If you pay around 1 million baht you get a real value of 200k . I've seen houses build for 700 to 800k who are exactly the same as the ones priced at 3 million . The only difference between the 2 is that the 700 to 800k ones have better quality fittings .

[wandrinstar]

I Hear what you say,But its allways near the Family.Ferangs normally avoid the M.I Law at home, but here shes in the Fridge,or the Builders Truck the Ferangs call a Car.

[kropotkin]

Having a house (bungalow) built right now.

12m X 4 m - so very small, but with fully equipped bathroom and european kitchen, and tiles.

And "unlimited" garden...(rambutan orchard with wild orchids, and some other trees) - no need to spend too much time inside the house.

About 350.000 baht plus 50.000 for water (from well) and electricity connection.

I will report more later.

[sezze]

Having a house (bungalow) built right now.

12m X 4 m - so very small, but with fully equipped bathroom and european kitchen, and tiles.

And "unlimited" garden...(rambutan orchard with wild orchids, and some other trees) - no need to spend too much time inside the house.

About 350.000 baht plus 50.000 for water (from well) and electricity connection.

I will report more later.

I'm qurious about the pics . It is not very small , only not big . I'm very sure you have a perfect building for that size/amount , and your surroundings seem very nice .

[Naam]

Yes , possible and a lot cheaper but it wouldn't stand 1 rainy season . Not everybody is going for the overinflated farang price building projects , with swimming pools , 7 bathrooms and 4 bedrooms etc . A normal house with normal building materials ( marble and granite , if not imported are also very cheap ) is not expensive in Thailand . Even a swimming pool is not very expensive if you stay away from the places who are really for the farangs . You can do and build a lot for 100.000 baht.

sure you can!