House Builder

[mikekim1219]

I am currently in China. I invested in apartment in Chongqing and trying to liquidate all my assets. I will be back to CR next month regardless of the outcome.

[krobert6]

The test is in the living in it for a while. Hope you will be happy with it when you finally get some time to live in it. Keep the pictures coming. Maybe you can get some others to post their pictures too.

Hopefully some more today if the wife can figure the attach process in gmail

[krobert6]

well I received some shots from my wires (borrowed) phone. They are not very good and do not reflect the scale, and there are no full house shots - sorry. I will do these and post when I return in July. The lounge is 17x4 metres long but the shots do not reflect that. Still for 1 million baht is cost less than my garage

Unfurnished as yet . That is a 50 inch tv in the lounge with the dual channel satellite at 4000baht landscaping next

[krobert6]

LOL sorry ,had to post this.

My wife , who is staying the house while I am in OZ, was on the phone during our thrice a day regular calls. was complaining that with13 windows and sliding doors, off white tiles and walls, that the house was "too big to clean" - I offered her the services of a live in Burmese maid/nanny and she quickly replied "no problem, I will manage"

[villagefarang]

LOL sorry ,had to post this.

My wife , who is staying the house while I am in OZ, was on the phone during our thrice a day regular calls. was complaining that with13 windows and sliding doors, off white tiles and walls, that the house was "too big to clean" - I offered her the services of a live in Burmese maid/nanny and she quickly replied "no problem, I will manage"

Too big to clean, or something to that effect, can be heard in our house as well. Keeping those porcelain finished Granito tiles shiny with a huge golden retriever slobbering all over them is not easy.

The wife has tried domestic help but they always ended up more trouble than they were worth. So our 16x6 main living area, plus the rest of the house, gets swept and mopped everyday by my wife with me doing my best not to get in her way.

[mikekim1219]

She won't need to go fitness to keep in shape.. The house looks really nice. I also want to build house with high ceiling. I want to set up a screen golf room for rainy day.

[krobert6]

LOL sorry ,had to post this.

My wife , who is staying the house while I am in OZ, was on the phone during our thrice a day regular calls. was complaining that with13 windows and sliding doors, off white tiles and walls, that the house was "too big to clean" - I offered her the services of a live in Burmese maid/nanny and she quickly replied "no problem, I will manage"

Too big to clean, or something to that effect, can be heard in our house as well. Keeping those porcelain finished Granito tiles shiny with a huge golden retriever slobbering all over them is not easy.

The wife has tried domestic help but they always ended up more trouble than they were worth. So our 16x6 main living area, plus the rest of the house, gets swept and mopped everyday by my wife with me doing my best not to get in her way.

Keeping out of the way is a good skill:)

She won't need to go fitness to keep in shape.. The house looks really nice. I also want to build house with high ceiling. I want to set up a screen golf room for rainy day.

Thatr and the Wii sport I gort her

[rafish]

Krobert6,

I just found this thread while looking for contractor's in the Chiang Rai area. What part of Chiang Saen are you located? Looks to be North of the city? Shrimp ponds.

I have 4 rai that I am planning on building on in 2013, but located about 21 kilometers east of Chaian Saen. Plans call for a elevated structure with all concrete and brick construction. Main house and then seperate kitchen and bathroom from the main structure on the same elevation.

We paid far less for our land than yourself, but thats the way it is sometimes. Depends on lots of variables.

We have had the land office officially survey the property limits and have filed for Chanote title in the wife's name. That is due this month. We cleared the land last month cutting down overgrowth, trees and hundreds of bamboo clusters. Family is burning it off as we speak.

Questions:

I'm not sure how long you're build took? Did the contractor stay on your property or commute? Did you consider paying by day rates? Did you purchase all your materials or let the contractor do it? The overall price seems about right, but just wondering if it could have been improved? I assume that you or your wife followed the contractor through the entire project?

Thanks,

[krobert6]

Krobert6,

I just found this thread while looking for contractor's in the Chiang Rai area. What part of Chiang Saen are you located? Looks to be North of the city? Shrimp ponds.

I have 4 rai that I am planning on building on in 2013, but located about 21 kilometers east of Chaian Saen. Plans call for a elevated structure with all concrete and brick construction. Main house and then seperate kitchen and bathroom from the main structure on the same elevation.

We paid far less for our land than yourself, but thats the way it is sometimes. Depends on lots of variables.

We have had the land office officially survey the property limits and have filed for Chanote title in the wife's name. That is due this month. We cleared the land last month cutting down overgrowth, trees and hundreds of bamboo clusters. Family is burning it off as we speak.

Questions:

I'm not sure how long you're build took? Did the contractor stay on your property or commute? Did you consider paying by day rates? Did you purchase all your materials or let the contractor do it? The overall price seems about right, but just wondering if it could have been improved? I assume that you or your wife followed the contractor through the entire project?

Thanks,

The build took 5 months all up, the build was delayed due to Songlan. ONce the house shell was completed and materials like roofing, tiles etc were delivered the builder had 2 workers stay on sit for around a month. The price was all inclusive, I had about 6 quotes and all were at lease 300,000 more. Yes, we visited nearly every day to see what was happening - we did not live far so it was not a hassle.

The labour used was a mixture of thai and (mostly) burmese workers - a good friendly lot. The mix of the team changes as different skills were required.

[rafish]

5 months, that's amazing. Sounds like a great contractor. Appreciate the feed back.

[sceadugenga]

I can't see that 4 or 5 months would be a problem for an experienced builder, ours was 4 to lock up.

There was no problem paying a day rate, sure they slowed down a bit the last couple of weeks but the overall cost was acceptable and we get the same guys back for painting and other maintenance.

The father in law came down and hurried them up as the most propitious date to move in got closer.

[villagefarang]

Our build was eight months and we have become longterm friends with the contractor and his family.

Now as for when everything will be finished, after five years living in this house, I cannot tell you with any certainty when that might be. A home can easily turn into a never ending project.

[rafish]

I see we have anywhere from 4-5 months to 8 months to turn key.

1.Were your houses at grade or elevated?

2. Were they wood frame or concrete, block/brick and mortar construction?

3. Have been reading that one can go to the local Tesseban Abotor's office's and either get your personal pencil design plans converted to formal drawings or that they have pre-designed house plans on offer. I checked with the local Tesseban and shure enough they do have these facilities. Did anyone here utilize these services?

4. Materials will be selected by myself, paid for and delivered to job site. Did any of you do this?

5. Do any of you have complex electrical systems? If so where did you find qualified electricians?

6. Did you dig a septic tank using no tank? (Local Thai way) Only earth, and concrete pipe RCP with concrete pour into the bottom.

7. Water supply: Storage tanks? (multiple)

Appreciate all the feed back.

[sceadugenga]

VF's house and mine are vastly different in both design and cost, I could well believe his took twice as long to build.

Most of the regulars here have heard this story before so I'll PM you some photos with a few details.

[sunholidaysun1]

Dont forget to add some Doors as well

[sceadugenga]

The files are too big to load, Gmail won't even consider emailing the hinges let alone the whole door.

[klikster]

The files are too big to load, Gmail won't even consider emailing the hinges let alone the whole door.

Irfanview is an excellent, small, free, image editing download. You can resize, rotate, etc ..

[harrry]

The files are too big to load, Gmail won't even consider emailing the hinges let alone the whole door.

What do you expect,,,,,it is a big house...

[sceadugenga]

I'd have said one door alone was over a gigabyte.

[PhayaoPete]

Our house took 9 months....just over 194 square meters. Total cost with me buying materials and paying out labor was just over a mil and a half. I did every cm of plumbing myself and also wrapped all the columns, piers and beams in plastic, myself... to insure proper curing...something that is not done here in LOS...usually. I can only tell you that you have to be on top of everything at all times, otherwise...it is a half-assed game of seeing what the workers can get away with while you aren't bird dogging them. Thankfully, I was a custom home builder in another lifetime and knew <deleted> was supposed to be done. I pity those that come here and have to rely on a Thai builder to get things done. I wish you lots of luck on whatever side of the fence you happen to be on. pp