Help Knowing Costs Of Renovations

[telstrareg]

I live in a small town in Chiang Rai so I don't have a large choice of tradesmen. I don't know the prices of things so I have no way of knowing if a quote I have been given is reasonable. Below I list some repairs/changes to our home and if you can give an estimate on ANY ONE or all of these Items I would appreciate it. Please, if possible, separate the estimate into materials and labor. I have uploaded a picture of the front of the house.

1. Fix leaks in a roof. Approximately 20 leaks, mostly small, on a roof area of 90sqm. The roof is corrugated concrete tile sheets.

2. Install 9m of galvanised rain guttering on roof plus 3m down pipe. Paint guttering and downpipe.

3. The labor cost only (as the cost of insulation varies) for installing foam foil sandwich roll insulation in the ceiling space with a ceiling area of 55sqm. The ceiling is plaster tiles gridded in a metal frame which is suspended by wires.

4 The cost of an electrician installing 6 ceiling fan-lights in the ceiling. I have already bought the fan-lights and there is already a light at each location so I assume the necessary wiring is all in place. I assume the ceiling I described in point 3 can support ceiling fans and if not it's just a matter of adding some extra suspension wires.

[wayned]

1,2 and 3: Where I live in Nakhon Sawan Province, if I were supplying all of the materials, I would pay 2 guys 200 baht each for doing all the work in one day and by a bottle of Lao Khao when they finished.

For number 4, your drop ceiling can not support the weiegt of the ceiling fans so you will have to have structure installled above the ceiling to support them. I have 7 ceiling fans with drop ceilings and the structure is made of wood bolted to the metal joists. Again I would pay 2 guys 200 baht to do the installation in 1 day with a bottle of Lao Khao when they are finished. However, I know how to do the installtion correctly, If you do not, you might have to pay more to have a qualified engineer design the attaching structure.

[telstrareg]

If anyone else could provide a quote on any one of the items I listed, it would be appreciated.

[jamescollister]

If anyone else could provide a quote on any one of the items I listed, it would be appreciated.

You are pushed to find an electrician and you won't find one for 200 Baht a day and a bottle of Lao kow.

Go to the local power company line yard and hire them on their days off, back yarders as we say.

As to hiring people at 200 0Baht a day, dreaming, they quote by the job.

We have rubber, can't get workers long term at a 1,000 a day.

You may get the village idiot cheap, but you won't get a decent job done. Jim

[wayned]

If anyone else could provide a quote on any one of the items I listed, it would be appreciated.

You are pushed to find an electrician and you won't find one for 200 Baht a day and a bottle of Lao kow.

Go to the local power company line yard and hire them on their days off, back yarders as we say.

As to hiring people at 200 0Baht a day, dreaming, they quote by the job.

We have rubber, can't get workers long term at a 1,000 a day.

You may get the village idiot cheap, but you won't get a decent job done. Jim

Just depends on where you live. I live in the sticks in Nakhon Sawan Province and that is all that I would have to pay and I guarantee that the job would be done corectly and safely as long as I was there to oversee the work.

1. If the leaks are in corrigated concrete tiles, most likely the tiles are cracked and have to be replaced. Depending on the attachment method, it would take one guy on the roof and one guy inside. I have this type of tile on my roof and have to replace them from time to time.

2. Assuming the house has a facia board installed on the roof rafters of the house. 9 meters of gutter would require installing 19 gutter hangers, 2 screws/hanger, the gutter and the downpipe, I would overlap the gutter 20-25cm and seal the joints with silicone sealant. If you want the guttter soldered, I would suggest hiring a gutter installation service. I soldered mine myself. I have over 50 meters of gutter on my house.

3. 55sqm of roll installation is approximately 23 rolls (1 roll = .6m x 4m = 2.4sqm, 55sqm /2.4 = 22.92 rolls), Not really a big job just getting the rolls to fit between the wires for the hanging ceiling. Install the fans first.

This all could be done in 1 day with proper supervision, but, maybe 2.

4. This installation is not just a simple electrical job. The drop ceiling structure that you have can not support the weight of the fans and above ceiling structure would have to be designed and installed. I designed, bulilt and installed all of the attaching structure for the fans myself using bolts, screws and wood, but If you do not have the expertise to design and build the structure then you should hire an engineer that does. I have no idea what those costs would be. As far as the electric, I think most ceiling fans are less than 150 watts, so I would connect to the power line, above the ceiling, suppling the wall outlets for each room.

I quoted what it would cost me in the small village where I liave using local labor with my instructions and supervision. The laborers wpuld not be "village idiots" but mostlike would be farmers who had the choice of working for me at 200 baht/day or cutting sugar cane at less thhan 120 baht/day.

[jamescollister]

wayned

No one lives further out than me, land border Lao. Last season rice was left to rot in the fields, no workers. 350 Baht a day plus food was the going rate.

Never heard of any builder out here quoting day rates, everything is by the meter or job. Jim

[wayned]

wayned

No one lives further out than me, land border Lao. Last season rice was left to rot in the fields, no workers. 350 Baht a day plus food was the going rate.

Never heard of any builder out here quoting day rates, everything is by the meter or job. Jim

If you read the post, I never said that I was going to have any builder come in and do the job. If the OP is supplying all of the materials and the proper tools to do the job then all he needs is qualified labor or qualified supervision to see that the job is done correctly. To replace my a roof tile on my house all it takes is a 10mm open end wrench, a 1/4 punch, some ingenuity and the guts to get on a roof with a 60 degee slope! It doesn't mater where you live, if you are supplying all of the material, the tools and the plans you should not be paying anyone more than 200 baht a day, and why are paying for their food.. if you want to hire someone to take you to the cleaners then all bets are off, take the lowest quote and ignore what the costs actually should be.

I have bulit 2 houses in the US and have a contractors, an electrical and plumbers liscense and have built 3 buildings since moving to Thailand 15 years ago and have never hired a builder! I will contract work out to people that have the knowledge and specialized tools to do various things (and still have to watch them like a hawk), but the only problem that I can see with the OP DIY is mounting the ceiling fans. If I lived near him, I would do it for free and he could learn for future reference! I'd even supply the tools. All he would heve to do is buy the beer at the end of the day, but, in hind sight, that could be more expensive than hiring a builder, might take 3 months, not 1 day!

Edited February 26, 2013 by wayned

[telstrareg]

For what it's worth I've posted the quote given to me by a large local hardware store. Note that the items in bold are the ones I mentioned in my original post (the other items I thought were too difficult to estimate without seeing the house so I left them out)

What got me wondering if I was being overcharged was that if you calculate the labor, it's 60 man days at 300B per day. That just doesn't seem possible.

-fix leaks in roof 9,000

-rain guttering front of house + paint 6,000

-doublefoil foam sandwich ceiling insulation 12,000

-install ventilated soffits all around roof + paint 17,000

-ceiling insulation for kitchen, white board covering + paint 7,200

labor 17,920

profit (15%) 10,368

total 79,488

Edited February 26, 2013 by telstrareg

[wayned]

For what it's worth I've posted the quote given to me by a large local hardware store. Note that the items in bold are the ones I mentioned in my original post (the other items I thought were too difficult to estimate without seeing the house so I left them out)

What got me wondering if I was being overcharged was that if you calculate the labor, it's 60 man days at 300B per day. That just doesn't seem possible.

-fix leaks in roof 9,000

-rain guttering front of house + paint 6,000

-doublefoil foam sandwich ceiling insulation 12,000

-install ventilated soffits all around roof + paint 17,000

-ceiling insulation for kitchen, white board covering + paint 7,200

labor 17,920

profit (15%) 10,368

total 79,488

As you must know, I'm a DIY guy.

1. the corregated, red concrete roof panels that I use are 55 baht each, so 20 x 55 = 1100baht. the installation hardware can be reused, so whwere does the other 7900 baht go if he is also going to charge labor and profit?

2. 6" rain gutter is 260 baht/ 2 meter plus end caps, attaching hardware, down pipe and paint. 3000 baht maybe in the ballpark, but 6000 baht and additional labor and profit, BS.

3. Roof insulation 23 roll x 300 baht = 7000 baht. Where is the extra 5000 baht coming from.?

4. Install ventillted sofits all around roff, 17000 baht. I have plastic softits installed that match the corrigated roof panels where they cross the facia board on all sides of the house. To install them properly after th house is built you would have to remove and replace the existing facia board, or install an additional narrower facia board on top of the existing one In addition if ventilation sofits where to be installed at the eves some existing material would have to be removed. The price seems high but it would depend on how much of the existing material coul be reused. But if there are no ventilating soffits already there most

likely they ventilate without screens. I have never seen the facia board cut to match the roff contour.

5 Kitchen ceilieng indsatllation. You don't say how many square meters. But if they will use gypsum the current price for 2'' x 8' sheet is 155 baht. If your kitchen was 4 square meters yoiu would need 8 panels plus the wood to attach it which is expensive.

But then they are adding an additional 17929 baht labor and charging 15% profit on everything including the materials that they already have included profit. I think that you are being taken for a ride, but I do it myself and others think that it's acceptable to pay. If you could get it done without the labor charge and profit, it would be in the ball park! Don't forget they will add 7%VAT on the final bill but won't mebntion it up front because it is out of therir control!

My opinion and I'm sure that others have theirs!

Edited February 26, 2013 by wayned

[rattler]

wayned

No one lives further out than me, land border Lao. Last season rice was left to rot in the fields, no workers. 350 Baht a day plus food was the going rate.

Never heard of any builder out here quoting day rates, everything is by the meter or job. Jim

interesting you say that as I advertised for anyone who could lay blocks at 350 baht a day, no takers, The guy who was laying them for the builder was getting 400 a day.

[jamescollister]

wayned

No one lives further out than me, land border Lao. Last season rice was left to rot in the fields, no workers. 350 Baht a day plus food was the going rate.

Never heard of any builder out here quoting day rates, everything is by the meter or job. Jim

interesting you say that as I advertised for anyone who could lay blocks at 350 baht a day, no takers, The guy who was laying them for the builder was getting 400 a day.

I bang my head trying to get workers, good rubber tappers can make 1,000 Baht a day and I was 6 short most of last season.

Why work if you have food and a house, no bills, no taxes.

the only time you can get good workers, is when they buy a big silver 4 door pick up and have to make payments. Jim

[wayned]

wayned

No one lives further out than me, land border Lao. Last season rice was left to rot in the fields, no workers. 350 Baht a day plus food was the going rate.

Never heard of any builder out here quoting day rates, everything is by the meter or job. Jim

interesting you say that as I advertised for anyone who could lay blocks at 350 baht a day, no takers, The guy who was laying them for the builder was getting 400 a day.

I bang my head trying to get workers, good rubber tappers can make 1,000 Baht a day and I was 6 short most of last season.

Why work if you have food and a house, no bills, no taxes.

the only time you can get good workers, is when they buy a big silver 4 door pick up and have to make payments. Jim

If you offered 350 baht/day where I live,they would be lined up wanting to work. The sad thing is that after you trained them and they got a few baht in their pockets they would be "missing in action" and the men would be off lying around drinking and the women gambling.