House Builder In Chiangmai

[manccm]

Have been looking at land around CM now over the last few months and finally agreed on a suitable plot of 3 rai.Heard so many stories ( mostly but not all bad) about local Thai builders wondered if anyone has personal experience of farang owned operated companies.Looked at Kensington website but have the impressionrightly or wrongley they are very much an upmarket operation. This would be a full housebuild from clearing the site to laying the lawn.

Only recently discovered TV but hope those of you with experience can point me in the right direction.

[zippydedodah]

Try Jasmine Homes... check out their website to see their listings, but Steve, the owner, is a British, engineer, who develops 5-10 units at a time and does it from fill to finish. You might find a good match there and you can go see properties he has done in the SanSai area as examples.

[DavidOxon]

Hi

Kensington are a very reputable company, they are 100%

reliable and very professional. Give them a call, ask

to speak to Graham ands take it from there, an exploratory chat costs nothing. If you try another builder, odds on you will go back to Kensington to finish off your house after the other builders have done something stupid, ripped you off, put your roof on upside down, done a runner with your money etc etc etc.

Kensington have been here for 8 years and have a reputation second to none

David

[Lobin]

Try Jasmine Homes... check out their website to see their listings, but Steve, the owner, is a British, engineer, who develops 5-10 units at a time and does it from fill to finish. You might find a good match there and you can go see properties he has done in the SanSai area as examples.

I have not used JH but know 4 people who have and their answer to my question would you use him again? A resounding NO WAY! Was the cry. From fill to finish unfilling the wallet.

Kensington would be my choice, a lot of the build price will come down to the goods used.

[ThaiPauly]

I have only heard good things about Kensington also

[zippydedodah]

well, everyone has different experiences, for sure. I was at a dinner party not long ago, where several folks had bought from Jasmine homes, one couple recently bought their 2nd home from Steve... My suggestion to the OP is check out any reputable builder/contractor and make you own judgement as to if they are expensive or not. The folks i have talked to did comment on price, but for the quality they got, they felt it was worth it.

[gotlost]

well, everyone has different experiences, for sure. I was at a dinner party not long ago, where several folks had bought from Jasmine homes, one couple recently bought their 2nd home from Steve... My suggestion to the OP is check out any reputable builder/contractor and make you own judgement as to if they are expensive or not. The folks i have talked to did comment on price, but for the quality they got, they felt it was worth it.

You say bought their 2nd home from JH. Was that an existing home ( JH has about 800 lisitings) or was that a contracted built home?

[jez56]

"I have not used JH but know 4 people who have and their answer to my question would you use him again? A resounding NO WAY! Was the cry. From fill to finish unfilling the wallet."

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On the other hand, Steve has plenty of customers who have returned to him for a second design and build project, or to add an extension to their Jasmine home, etc.

He built my place for me in 2007 and I have no complaints. Finished the job a little late, mostly because the builder's merchant delivered a substandard truckload of parquet flooring and Steve rejected the lot, and we had to wait a while for a fresh batch. He charged me EXACTLY what he said he was going to charge me. And I remember that we walked round the place together when it was finished so I could point out a few little niggles that I had, and he spotted one or two that I'd missed. And spoke up. All fixed as part of the agreed price, of course.

He's a forthright sort of chap and won't be everyone's cup of tea, but in my view, it's that same forthrightness that keeps Jasmine's standards high. I also get the impression that he actually prefers the awkward or difficult or one-off jobs to the straightforward ones. I've no doubt you could find someone cheaper. Finding better value for money would be more difficult, in my view.

I count Steve and his wife Aae as friends these days, so I should probably say so.

www.jasminehomes.co.th

[zippydedodah]

well, everyone has different experiences, for sure. I was at a dinner party not long ago, where several folks had bought from Jasmine homes, one couple recently bought their 2nd home from Steve... My suggestion to the OP is check out any reputable builder/contractor and make you own judgement as to if they are expensive or not. The folks i have talked to did comment on price, but for the quality they got, they felt it was worth it.

You say bought their 2nd home from JH. Was that an existing home ( JH has about 800 lisitings) or was that a contracted built home?

it was their second contracted home. They bought one of the first steve built about 8-10 yrs ago... and then bought a more recently contracted home over in the one rai lots that he just finished developing.

[manccm]

Thankyou all for your imput.Will be doing a lot of legwork on my return from UK in the New Year.Let you all know when we have the house warming! Chok dee krap

[WinnieTheKhwai]

This looks super Farang: http://www.buildsabai.com/

Personally I don't believe that means anything. But as per the question, it's Farang.

[Flatouthruthefog]

<br />Thankyou all for your imput.Will be doing a lot of legwork on my return from UK in the New Year.Let you all know when we have the house warming! Chok dee krap<br />

<br /><br /><br />

I have reservations about both the British-run outfits mentioned herein, and I am a householder who has been here rather longer than either of them.

This weekend I toured a brand new city centre mansion constructed by a Vietnamese-Thai builder which could not be faulted. The totally professional electrical work was a masterpiece.

I will post again soon, here, with his details, and have no axe to grind other than placing a very high priority on value for money - and people who look you in the eye when they speak to you.