Hi,

I am thinking of purchasing some land in Phuket - I am right at the beginning of this project and so only starting to do my research. My plan is to build two houses on the land - one to keep for myself as a holiday home and one to rent out to tourists. Both should have 4 or 5 bedrooms and so be around 300 Sq. M. Some questions I have:

1. Location - does anyone have any advice on living in the different areas in Phuket, any recommendations? Being close to a golf course, busy night life and good beaches are important.

2. How many Rai of land would I need for these two houses?

3. What would the approximate building costs be for each house - both would be finished to a reasonably high /western standard.

4. Approximately how long should I expect the construction period to be?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Since a foreigner cannot own land in Thailand how do you plan to secure ownership of the land and houses? Before you go any further you need to sort out that most basic of questions.

Since a foreigner cannot own land in Thailand how do you plan to secure ownership of the land and houses? Before you go any further you need to sort out that most basic of questions.

Why do you assume I am a foreigner? I have a Thai passport along with a British one.

Since a foreigner cannot own land in Thailand how do you plan to secure ownership of the land and houses? Before you go any further you need to sort out that most basic of questions.

Why do you assume I am a foreigner? I have a Thai passport along with a British one.

Interesting. Apologies if offended.

Why do you assume I am a foreigner? I have a Thai passport along with a British one.

Whats wrong with been an foreigner maybe if you give proper information members might not ASSUME!!!!!

OK if your Thai then you should know !

Location. Golf and beach not that easy, choose one priority and then locate more distance to the other

Size of land, you dont need rais for 2 x 300 sqm villas, 1-200 Talangwah each is fine. Shared pool inbetween?

Building cost, 4-5 bath on 300 sqm, approx 20.000 baht sqm, ad some for expensive decorations.

Planning time/buildingpermit depends on price, but 30-120 days after you have desided on design/drawings

Construction time depends on storeys and builder and design, but 4 to 12 months

Location. Golf and beach not that easy, choose one priority and then locate more distance to the other

Size of land, you dont need rais for 2 x 300 sqm villas, 1-200 Talangwah each is fine. Shared pool inbetween?

Building cost, 4-5 bath on 300 sqm, approx 20.000 baht sqm, ad some for expensive decorations.

Planning time/buildingpermit depends on price, but 30-120 days after you have desided on design/drawings

Construction time depends on storeys and builder and design, but 4 to 12 months

At last - someone posts a useful reply! Many thanks Katabeachbum.

"My plan is to build two houses on the land - one to keep for myself as a holiday home and one to rent out to tourists. Both should have 4 or 5 bedrooms and so be around 300 Sq. M."

From my professional experience, if you assume four bedrooms per house, you'd need about 165 sq. meters to get a reasonable, but comfortable sized 4 bedroom - 2 bath house. So plan on 330 sq.m. for budgeting purposes.

Then add for some common spaces, including allowances for wall & circulation space, for each house:

14 sq.m. for that additional bedroom you mention to take it to five bedrooms;

10 sq.m. for an additional non-master bathroom, often on the list for a 4 bedroom house to take it to three;

10 sq.m. for a real laundry room;

15 sq.m. for a maids room & bathroom;

37-40 sq. m. for a two-car park/carport at about 75% of the per-sq.m. cost of conditioned space.

XX sq.m. for covered veranda/terrace at that same 75% cost factor.

I would also encourage you to research the market for 4-5 bedroom vacation rentals. Seems very large, but I'm an architect, not a real estate magnate, so you might be right on the money. Just don't build too much, else you'll prolong the payback period and have a smaller target market interested in your size house -meaning a higher vacancy rate & again hurting your cash flow.

"2. How many Rai of land would I need for these two houses?"

I agree with KBB on the land area. More is better! But if properly designed, you can get quite a lot of privacy in a small setting.

All the best,