Does anyone have the contact details for a company to draw up my house plans? There are two companies that advertise widely but I have tried on several occasions to contact them, and sent drawings but they have not got back to me. I don't mind where the company is I just want to be sure that they can complete the work.

Thank You

Steve Dench

Try Kensington Homes, based in Bangkok but design for anywhere.

I have found the prices are very high for companies, some charging upto 200k for a basic villa.....go to your local Tessabhan, ask for plans of previious buildings and then photcopy them, if nothing is available, ask the architect there, cost will be appox 20k, plans will be ready in a week or so and will include signing off the building permit and application for blue book...its worked for me on a few occassions but supose depends where you are.

IF... one is building it him/herself and can knowledgeably design & engineer and produce/modify construction drawings for construction in LoS, maybe none of this matters. This IS the DIY Housing Forum, after all! Lots of guys here have many years' experience in the trades back home. Others are best advised to get professional help, as building in Thailand is a minefield, as many of this Forum's threads will attest.

FWIW, the Thai plans on-file in the govt offices don't add up to anything useful unless you don't need to change anything.... not bloody likely! And Thai architects generally don't 'get' Western Expat expectations, culturally, as embodied in what the Expat thinks of when they think: "Home," and their designs reflect this. Neither do many of them understand what we consider a professional standard of service.

YOu also have no idea of the level of competence of the engineering/design represented in the 'free' drawings, as youre just picking them up and using/modifying them... that's Russian Roullete with a pretty big investment.

Then if you materially change the design, you have to get the drawings re-done, period. And it better be by someone who knows (generally reinforced concrete on piles) design & engineering in Thailand. Else youre pretty exposed to building systems failure and/or getting ripped off by a builder due to incomplete drawings & specs.

As in all things, its important to know one's strong suites, and the weak ones, and act accordingly.

Have you thought of going to a uni or tech college and find a student or with the architectural ,CAD and engineering skills?

I was lucky /unlucky enough to find a guy through the local boonies builder....great job and just from my fag packet drawing. Think it cost about 4000bt. Final design a lot better aesthetically and better layout than my concrete box hen scratching.

'Course once we started building I changed lotsa stuff on the fly with builders....ain't fell down yet