Villa Construction Costs?

[skipdivils]

I just received two quotes for building a villa on Samui. The first one was for 15,000 baht per square metre and the second on was for 25,000 baht per square metre.

I am wondering if the first one seems cheap and will result in a poorly finished villa, or is it that the second one is high and I am overpaying for construction. Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks.

[taxexile]

about 8 months ago we were being quoted about 15 - 28,000b/sq.m. for a house (on a hillside plot that needed a lot of concrete work for the foundations and pillars)

the architect couldnt guarantee the quote beyond a few weeks , due to all the uncertainties re. fuel and steel prices etc.

for 15,000/sq.m. the interior materials (flooring , window frames , bathrooms and kitchens) would obviously be a lot cheaper than if you were paying 28,000/sq.m.

as for the concrete and quality of re-bar , its anybodys guess as to whether they use different grades of cement and steel.

those figures seem to be about the going rate for samui , but when you compare what you can get for that kind of money elsewhere in thailand (apart from phuket) , you do begin to wonder exactly why the prices are so high.

just about all the construction firms and developers on samui have a falang contingent and i wonder if they are responsible for the prices.

that makes building a 250sq.m. floor area house round about 7 million baht.

thats before landscaping and furniture and excluding the cost of the land.

thats almost up at european price levels for building , and with european work you can get some guarantees.

in the end , the figures didnt add up right for us , we found it was poor value for money compared to elsewhere and we are not building there now.

[loong]

That sounds very expensive to me. Obviously if the builders can get that on Samui, then they will.

Maybe worth while looking around outside of your area, get some quotes from a non tourist area. Then offer a premium for the team to go to Samui.

Usually it is cheaper to have a team build the house supplying labour only and you arrange and pay for the materials. Unfortunately build quality can be pot luck, so pay extra for a project manager to oversee everything.

[The Skipper]

Be sure to personally inspect and interview previous clients of these contractors.

Check and double check on the work. Guarantees mean zero, zilch, nada.

Morals and integrity are very rare in this country. Sad but true.

[Eric Davis]

http://www.mapleleaf-land-house.com/

Give these guys a buzz.They seem fair enough and have built some fine buildings on Samui.

[Nomad97]

In my humble opinion, basic building costs should be in the order of 5,000 baht per sqm. Add to this the type of flooring you require; ceramic tiles from 300 to 900 baht per sqm, granite tiles or tropical hardwood at 1,000 baht per sqm or grade A marble at 3,000 baht per sqm. Wall tiling in the bathroom with cermic tiles at 300 to 500 baht per sqm. Basic construction cost with quality materials should be no more than 8,000 baht per sqm. In addition, bathroom and kitchen fittings costs according to taste and fittings used.

By my rule of thumb, a quality house with top quality fittings should be no more than 10,000 baht per square metre. Typical 150 sqm house would/should cost in the order of 1.5 million baht. Cost of land excluded.

[Nepal4me]

It seems the construction cost is now between 25 and 30,000 / sq met. on Samui. Much higher than anywhere else in Thailand. That is for a super high end villa. The people that are paying this level of pricing are typically building 300 to 500 sq met (under roof) villas. It should be dam nice but you need to be careful who you use and ensure you have somebody trustworthy and knowledgable monitoring the work. If you leave it up to some company and don't show up there from start to finish, you're likely to pop down to Samui and find a product that you're not happy with.