Building A Home

[MH2]

This is my first post, and it's a long one, so please bear with me.

I'm an American married to a Thai wife. We have been living and working overseas for the past 6 years. We plan to retire to Thailand next year. I am hoping to locate a suitable property and build a custom home, mainly because I don't like small rooms. I am also concerned about the quality of matierials, and this would be easier to determine during actual construction. Unfortunately, it seems locating a reliable builder who will not gouge me because I'm foreign is a non-trivial prospect. Given my limited funds, I'm considering doing most of the work myself (I worked construction when I was young).

The design I have in mind is a simple frame house on a concrete (floating) slab. I would have to hire a contractor to grade the lot and pour the slab, but most everything else I can do myself if I have to. I would need to hire an assistant, and I'd prefer to hire someone to complete the drywall once the framing is done, as that is really back-breaking work. I hope to find a lot as close to 1 rai in area as possible for no more than 1.5 million baht. Ideally, I would like a location within 1 or 2 kilometers of the ocean, but that may not be possible given the budget I'm working under. Also, it would be nice to have a sewer connection, but I could always install a septic system if necessary given the size of the property I'd be interested in.

I would have an additional 2 million baht to construct a 2000 sq/ft (185 sq m) wood-frame home (2 bed / 2 bath), and another 1 million baht for appliances/furniture etc. Is this plan realistic? Pitfalls? Comments? Suggestions?

[dave111223]

I think you're price range is about right for a basic house of 185SQM, 2Mil seems about doable.

But some of things you mentioned seem like you are thinking about American construction not Thai?

- Wood frame

- Concrete slab

- Drywall

Normally concrete piles as the foundation, with concrete frame structure, and walls filled out with brick rendered over with concrete.

And i've never seen drywall used on walls (only ceilings).

[Crossy]

I'll move this to DIY where most of the construction threads end up, but a wood frame home to US standards will make a delicious snack for the local termite population

[dave111223]

Also i'm not sure where you are building but have you looked at some of the bigger builders:

http://www.landyhome.co.th/

http://conventure.co.th/

http://www.fourdevelop.com/

They will not charge you any extra for being a foreigner.

[sezze]

Wood frame is not done , unless you want your house to be eaten in 2 years . Sewer connection is probably non existent , unless you are in a big city .

You can build on slab , that is what everybody does , but you work with concrete poles and fill in the walls with some kind of stone ( breeze blocks , q-con , red brick , single or double ...) . That is the easiest and probably cheapest method as it is known for every builder .

Your price is very doable but not when building with a company IMHO , since they charge huge extras . Like somebody said , they do not charge extra for foreigners because their price is high allready ( as far as i know of ) .

Also 1 million for furniture is on the very high side , but it is up to you what you want to spend on it .

[David006]

Seen some nice wooden houses here but not using typical US standard framing woods ie pine and the like softwoods..gets eaten pretty quick unless pressure? treated and don't know if available here..many Thai houses still have hardwood roofing frames....

...our framed type house in tropical north Queensland Australia was wood as they are in the southern US states and many tropical and subtropical areas so treatment or type of wood is THE factor I guess. Do some digging around ...lots of related info probably available in the US?

...maybe consider using steel as many Thai houses use this for roofing , steel studs as used in commercial buildings are widely available too..less expensive too methinks..good hardwoods are sold here by the cm!!

[bankruatsteve]

Just to add to the previous posts: you really don't want to try to build a frame house via USA standards. It just won't work and nobody will know how to do it. And, that kind of wood will just get eaten up even if you can find it. Where you want to build will a large factor in the type of house you end up with. Research the Thai construction and look thru a LOT of threads on this forum and you will get a good idea what you can do vs what you might want to farm out.

[petertucker48]

Hi,

Checkout :

http://www.coolthaihouse.com/

Everything you have ever wanted to know about building you own house in Thailand well worth a look.

[petertucker48]

Hi,

Checkout :

http://www.coolthaihouse.com/

Everything you have ever wanted to know about building you own house in Thailand well worth a look.

Also :

http://sketchup.google.com/

Many a happy hour spent designing my own single story 3 Bed/2 Bath !!! and getting it built fairly cheaply (฿1.2M)

[bbradsby]

As an American architect & construction manager, I advise you to build using local means & methods: concrete, plaster, brick & mortar, and steel. Much cheaper & better in Thailand vs. wood framed construction - that is, unless you have big money for a teak house. The thermal mass of these materials will not work against you in the air conditioning effort, if properly designed in response to the climate & site-specific conditions.

All the best,

-bdb