Hi

What I am planing is simply to buy some land and build 3 or 4 houses for sale on it, possibly to continue on to more projects after completion.

I am in Pattaya and have been with my GF for 4 years although not married. We currently own a small house 2M Baht (in my GF name with a 30 year lease) we will sell this and buy the land and build a basic house to live while completing the other 2 or 3 houses once sold we will complete the last house in which we are living and either keep as our home or also sell.

I have a friend also from the UK, he is an experienced builder and I will be his apprentice he is retired and is not necessarily looking to make money out of it (although I will obviously give him a percentage of the profit) he just wants to help me out to the point that I may be able to continue further projects on my own. We will be designing planning sourcing and delivering materials and will use Thai labor.Now obviously we will also be doing some building work our selfs. I will be financing probably an additional 3M/4MB Baht plus the 2MB from the sale of our house total approx 5MB/6MB.

Now if I could own the land I would simply do privately and hope to fly under the radar, now I do trust my GF but 100K+GBP is too much to have in her sole name and anything could happen in the 2 years or longer required to complete the project.

What are my options?

Start a company?

What dose that involve?

What are the requirements eg number and nationality of staff directors etc?

What protection dose this afford me eg 49/51% Thai has control?

Would we both need work permits?

Is all this just overcomplicating things, incurring extra expenses tax etc and drawing attention to myself.

I really know nothing about all this so ANY advise would be great.

Many Thanks

Ps Please be gentle with me.

Start a company? Yes

What dose that involve? There is a lot of info in this forum...keep reading

What are the requirements eg number and nationality of staff directors etc? 4 Thais and 2 Mio registered (and paid-up!) capital per work permit. Director can be Thai or foreigner. For practicality one of the directors should be Thai.

What protection dose this afford me eg 49/51% Thai has control? non-voting shares

Would we both need work permits? yes

I'd like to add that you would not get a work permit to perform actual construction work.

Don't skimp fellow....

Use a qualified atty.... to avoid subsequent implication and complication....

Thaivisa is not exactly a place to seek sort of legal advices, but we all will happily give anyone legal counsel free of charge.... to entangle up and tie up and use up.... all your hard earned savings....

Don't try to skimp, many things will come to haunt you or blackmail you.... if or when you become successful....

Speaking from several others' personal experiences.... involving multimillion usd projects in PhiPhi and Phuket....

Pay in full up front.... and enjoy the hopeful assurance that nothing illegal will tarnish your investment.... at the end of the rainbow.... Good luck....

Lastly, remember.... to be successful in Asia, you definitely need more than hard work and money on your part.... Just a free advice for potential future investor....

OK thanks for your replies.

Guess I need to go see a lawyer.

Raro I know you are in Pattaya any recommendations on who to talk too?

Thanks

why not considering opening a business together with some fellow farang. My brother in law did this several times and made these very

profitable businesses, the network resulting from this is creating other opportunities and when it goes wrong the pain is less.

You also don't have to put everything in your Thai spouse name and take the risk to loose it all

As Raro already pointed out, people which do not hold thai citizenship cannot work as builders, it's a restricted occupation only for thai citizens, also the farang teaching you those skills will incur in the same problem even if he does it for free.

I believe you can do things like repairs in your own home or even build up your own home, as long as it your place and you do it for yourself (as a private person and not as a company), what you will do after with it is another matter, what is the opinion of the local law's experts on this matter? i believe is often referred as the gray area of the law, so, not illegal.

The problem I see is you counting on the sale of your current property to start up this company, the market is depressed right now and getting both your price and in a time frame of your choosing is definitely not a given..

I know several companies that have directors listed as consultants so it can be done but it's always on a slippery slope.. You are allowed to guide your staff and to own a construction company just not participate...

Anyone looking at starting a business in Thailand (or anywhere) should certainly start with an honest PESTEL (or PEST) analysis (and maybe a SWOT as well).

Just in the immediate glance at the considerations of what the OP is suggesting, it would be an absolute "no-go" for me.

Just in the immediate glance at the considerations of what the OP is suggesting, it would be an absolute "no-go" for me.

Well, i believe if he's not in a hurry to sell, as there are no shortage of houses/apartments for sale right now

he might be able to to sell, maybe you can try to sell taking monthly payments, or just create the conditions for which a buyer should choose one of your properties instead of the remaining gazyllions available out there and everywhere, possibly without making a loss.

Just in the immediate glance at the considerations of what the OP is suggesting, it would be an absolute "no-go" for me.

Well, i believe if he's not in a hurry to sell, as there are no shortage of houses/apartments for sale right now

he might be able to to sell, maybe you can try to sell taking monthly payments, or just create the conditions for which a buyer should choose one of your properties instead of the remaining gazyllions available out there and everywhere, possibly without making a loss.

All the while, competing against local builders with larger budgets and fewer legal restrictions. I am not saying that doing something like that is a bad idea (ok, I really AM saying that) but should the OP find an idea that is both different and in his budget for a starting project and work within some kind of 'niche market' .. then by all means do it!