My sister in law and her husband live in an extremely basic shack on their rubber tree farm, Here in Australia we would call it a humpy!! As they look after their farm and the two adjoining farms of her sisters ( both in Australia ), My aussie brother in law and I have been talking about getting them something more comfortable to live in. We have discussed this with our partners and the ladies have done a bit of research and number crunching. We have been advised that 40,000 to 50,000 Baht will build a reasonable building for them to live in. This sounds way to cheap to me even for a shed type construction in the outskirts of a small village, 30 kms east of Fao Rai. Does anyone have any experiance in this area. I will be over there in 3 weeks and we were planning to get things under way, but don't want any financial surprises.

Thanks

You are talking a tappers hut here 4 or 6 concrete poles 800 to 1000 baht each. Either wood walls or concrete bricks and a tin roof.It's not a house in our terms, but you can live in it. Thais are not house proud they would rather spend the money on a pickup truck. Jim

Your amount will build them a mansion of a tapper's hut.

I spent 18,000 baht on this hut and it's high end for a tapper's shack, even has a seperate bathroom. Don't have a finished picture but it looks quite nice.

I'm east of Ban Dung so we're in the same general area, cost should be comparable. Just don't say you'll build it though, tell them they have x amount of money and that's it. You'll be suprised how far they can make a baht strech, couple bags of cement, a truckload of cheap bricks, a truck each of sand and river gravel and they build it themselves. Instant home amoung the trees.

Ken

thanks guys for the comments, I have attached a picture of what they are currently living full time in, so you can see what we are wanting to improve on.

Your amount will build them a mansion of a tapper's hut.

I spent 18,000 baht on this hut and it's high end for a tapper's shack, even has a seperate bathroom. Don't have a finished picture but it looks quite nice.

I'm east of Ban Dung so we're in the same general area, cost should be comparable. Just don't say you'll build it though, tell them they have x amount of money and that's it. You'll be suprised how far they can make a baht strech, couple bags of cement, a truckload of cheap bricks, a truck each of sand and river gravel and they build it themselves. Instant home amoung the trees.

Ken

Looks pretty up market to me, i'd live there. Jim

You are talking a tappers hut here 4 or 6 concrete poles 800 to 1000 baht each. Either wood walls or concrete bricks and a tin roof.It's not a house in our terms, but you can live in it. Thais are not house proud they would rather spend the money on a pickup truck. Jim

Bit of a broad brush, Jim.

My long experiences might suggest the opposite. Every situation differs, of course...

Most Thais that I'm familiar with would concentrate energy and resources towards creating resident beautiful - be it mansion or lean-to.....a motored vehicle is an optional luxury [regardless of class], only if one can afford the down and monthly payments.

Wazzi

It's not only a tapper's shack - it's where they're living as well.

I suggest you and your Aussie BIL support them with 20.000,- each. = 40.000,- that is if they want to spend the money on a new hut.

The amount will not build them a luxury home, but will provide something better.

If they're nice people and are doing a good job - why not - you might also see the favor returned over the years!

Bergen,

Yes that is the actuall plan, we wanted to do something for them as a thankyou, even though they are paid a small amount plus costs for looking after our rubber trees,

Not being familiar with building costa I wanted to make sure that they could build something suitable for that 40 to 50k figure

Not completely trusting of the family's figures I thought I would run it by the experiance on here.. Didn't expect to build a house just something weattherproof and much better than what they have.

Chers wazzi

You are talking a tappers hut here 4 or 6 concrete poles 800 to 1000 baht each. Either wood walls or concrete bricks and a tin roof.It's not a house in our terms, but you can live in it. Thais are not house proud they would rather spend the money on a pickup truck. Jim

Bit of a broad brush, Jim.

My long experiences might suggest the opposite. Every situation differs, of course...

Most Thais that I'm familiar with would concentrate energy and resources towards creating resident beautiful - be it mansion or lean-to.....a motored vehicle is an optional luxury [regardless of class], only if one can afford the down and monthly payments.

Guess it all depends on the local culture. Here the car is first and house improvements a long second. Though in saying that, there is a new rich here from rubber and they are building new homes, but the big silver twin cab was originally parked under the one room stilt house first. Jim

Have to agree with Jim on this one. In our area, not your area, (Surin instead), the truck will definitely come before the house beautiful.

Have to agree with Jim on this one. In our area, not your area, (Surin instead), the truck will definitely come before the house beautiful.

Seems to be a contradiction of priorities.....even when we are in Surin.

In the summer months the farmers round about are so hapy living on the land , on stilts and so on . Hell even my son wants to sleep by na with the troup . Ye and if I go out to see em eve the whisky and sticky rice feels right ,but keep me away from the lights . All they need is a big shed that will cover a tractor and house a few cows . Extra money I see now goes into the education of the girls .

Just spent a week in the village, (an experience in itself ), The building now has all supports and iron roof up, cocrete strip footings around the walls poured and a stack of building materials on site , so all is progressing, Sister in law was eager to tell me how much everything has cost so that we can see where the money has gone. I feel a lot more confident that our budget will more than cover it, Labour is so cheap .

Thanks guys for your feedback

wazzi, that was very nice of you.

Just spent a week in the village, (an experience in itself ), The building now has all supports and iron roof up, cocrete strip footings around the walls poured and a stack of building materials on site , so all is progressing, Sister in law was eager to tell me how much everything has cost so that we can see where the money has gone. I feel a lot more confident that our budget will more than cover it, Labour is so cheap .

Thanks guys for your feedback

Good news!

Have to agree with Jim on this one. In our area, not your area, (Surin instead), the truck will definitely come before the house beautiful.

Seems to be a contradiction of priorities.....even when we are in Surin.

Same experience here in Korat with our workers. When they start working for us, the first investment was for a brand new motorcycle to drive the kids to school and to go to the market. Recently they bought a second hand pick up truck. Their house is a bit similar to the posts above but it seems they have no interest in home improvement. With a pick up truck they can do some more business and earn more money, it seems it's more a priority for them than new curtains in the bathroom.

Are you sure you mean 40,000 or do you mean 400,000? Just asking because 40,000 seems extremely cheap even for Thailand.

40,000 is doable. We did one for that. Basically one room for sleeping and one for everything else. Slab floor, open wire window openings and tin roof.

Seems to be a contradiction of priorities.....even when we are in Surin.

I don't understand the contradiction...all I'm saying is that the our locals favor truck over house beautiful, and I was simply agreeing with what Jim said. Not anything difficult,,,huh?

Be it 40k or 400k, let them be. You owe them nothing. Let in-laws live their own life, and you live yours.

Last year we had a small weekend house built. It is block construction and the totally enclosed room (bedroom) is 3 by 3.5 meters. There is a covered front porch and a covered cooking area. The outhouse is a separate small block building. The roof is painted metal. No plumbing and very little wiring. It cost over a hundred thousand baht with most of the cost being the material. The only thing cheap is the labor.

Some of you must be using thatch roofing, bamboo and twine to tie things together. Our little getaway place could possibly be lived in but it wouldn't be very pleasant living in a shoe box.

Hi Guys,

Yes it is $40.000 THB, It has an iron roof , Block walls , slab floor, second hand timber windows and doors, seperate room under attached skillion roof for kitchen and bathroom, At only 650 Aussie dollars for my brother in law and I it is a small thankyou to the couple who look after our rubber trees and Mother in law while we enjoy Australia.. I was very skeptical of the price as well gary and xybaddog, but after having been there and seen the progress, all is good.

Glad to see you have satisfaction in your endeavours. Of course the majority of TV forum members ;iving in their posh condos in Bkk and Pattaya would scoff at your efforts. I say well done.

Glad to see you have satisfaction in your endeavours. Of course the majority of TV forum members ;iving in their posh condos in Bkk and Pattaya would scoff at your efforts. I say well done.

How would you go about getting mains electricity to a house like this and is it expensive ?

How would you go about getting mains electricity to a house like this and is it expensive ?

How would you go about getting mains electricity to a house like this and is it expensive ?

Depends how far you are from the mains line. If you're close connection is not all that expensive.

Barry,

OK nearest mains electricity pole finishes 500 meters away. Any ideas on cost to extend the line ?