Your Opinions?

[AjarnRichard]

I just paid for this wooden house to be raise. The work involved was to raise the house on hydraulic jacks, construct 24 pillers, and then lower the house and fix the house to the pillers. Some photos attached.

I was charged $3000 for the whole job. (does not include all the soil we added underneath to raise the ground level.)

Do you think this was a reasonable price to pay for this job or did we get ripped off?

Ajarn Richard

[bankruatsteve]

Never raised a house but that looks like one hell of a project. I doubt you got ripped off unless the structure not steady - but looks good to me. The alternative option would have been to tear down and rebuild and perhaps that would have cost less (or could have been done by whoever is living there?) Anyway... if I were you, I would be happy with the outcome and leave it at that.

[stoneyboy]

I think you got done my friend.

I watched a crew do this around 6 months ago up here in the village in Phetchabun,at the GF aunties house,local crew came took 4 days they raised the entire home 2 meters,used the existing concrete poles,reset them in concrete,used chain blocks and lots of wood/ packing as they raised the home,the din/soil was extra but in total everything came to 25,000 baht.

At current exchange rate of 30 bht to 1 dollar it cost roughly 850 dollars.Even with new concrete posts it would never go 3000 bucks.

Edited February 17, 2012 by stoneyboy

[colinp]

This is the sort of question you should never ask. Someone will always have got/done it for a better price. Not saying the poster wasn't telling the truth about $850. Were you happy to pay it? Are you happy with the result? If yes leave it at that. Looks good to me.

When I want to buy something, for instance a mobile phone, I decide on the 1 I want, look for a good price, buy it and don't look again. You'll only be disappointed when you see the same thing cheaper.

[Kwasaki]

" Do you think this was a reasonable price to pay for this job or did we get ripped off ? " My opinion !

90,000 bht no, not really, looks a good job to me and the equipment used and 24 newly constructed pillers, I assume it took more than 4 days.

I take it you had other quotes to consider and went with a firm that had the proper equipment.

This is funny :-

(quote) " a crew took 4 days, they raised the entire home 2 meters, used the existing concrete poles, reset them in concrete, used chain blocks and lots of wood / packing as they raised the home." (unquote)

existing poles, chain blocks, wood packing.

Edited February 18, 2012 by Kwasaki

[bbradsby]

it's all relative. In the US, the job would have cost you over $20,000 - but at end of day, $3k is not a lot of money for what appears to be a good job and great flood insurance!

NEVER look back!

[David48]

I'm not an engineer, though have experience in the Building trade because I am a licensed electrician.

Two questions stand out for me.

The depth at which the posts are in the ground ... the shallower the depth, the more likelihood of uneven settlement. If there were decent footings placed under the posts, all the better.

There seems to be only point 'anchor' from the structure (your home) to each post and I would have thought that 2 points would have been more prudent ... maybe it's a Thai thing and I shouldn't be pedantic.

[rgs2001uk]

I think you got done my friend.

I watched a crew do this around 6 months ago up here in the village in Phetchabun,at the GF aunties house,local crew came took 4 days they raised the entire home 2 meters,used the existing concrete poles,reset them in concrete,used chain blocks and lots of wood/ packing as they raised the home,the din/soil was extra but in total everything came to 25,000 baht.

At current exchange rate of 30 bht to 1 dollar it cost roughly 850 dollars.Even with new concrete posts it would never go 3000 bucks.

What makes you think he got done?

24 columns, probably standard 15cm with 4 rebar, lets say 4 m in height, theres probably 24k.

24 footings, dont know the dimensions, but lets assume another 24k.

Thats us at 48k already and we havent included labour or equipment hire.

Lets assume labour at say 5k per day for 5 days thats another 25k.

We are now at 73k, leaving say 17k for equipment hire to give us 90k.

Ok there are a lot of assumptions in my post, such as we dont know how many men he had for how many days, and we dont know what he paid for equipment hire, but its probably closer to the true cost than its is for the OP being ripped off.

[AjarnRichard]

To all of you who responded... many thanks, this has been great help.........

Ajarn Richard