day labor rates for construction in Isaan

[Dave Phuket Sisaket]

Hi everyone,

My father in law is going to hire some workers to help him put a roof on our house. Obviously everyone within a few villages knows his son in law is a farang and as he has no experience hiring workers I worry they will try to ask too much.

Does anyone know what a fair day rate at this time would be? I obviously don't want to be a total cheapskate, but also hate finding out later we overpaid due to a lack of having done some homework ahead of time.

Thanks in advance everyone.

Dave

[barrybankruad]

300 baht day for skilled work (someone who knows what they're doing) 200 to 250 baht a day for labourers. Lunch and cool drinks also provided.

[wayned]

I pay the local farmers 200 baht/day + lunch and a bottle of Thai Whiskey at the end of the day.

[transam]

300 bht BUT, if there is a middle man............ ................

[sezzo]

300 baht day for skilled work (someone who knows what they're doing) 200 to 250 baht a day for labourers. Lunch and cool drinks also provided.

Who determines if they are skilled or not. I pay my brother in law 200 baht per day plus a feed. He is happy with that plus I throw him the occasional bottle of beer (I refuse to buy the Lao Khao for them).

[barrybankruad]

There is generally a 'foreman' type with experience. He may well supply his own labourers. In general it is usually wise to avoid using family members to get work done unless you are sure they know what theyare doing. Always buy building materials yourself or get your wife to do it. This will avoid any 'padding' of the bill. Get more than one quote from different suppliers.

[Cam Khao]

It also depends on the time of year.

At rice plating, or harvesting time, you will be lucky to find anyone to work, and if you do, expect to pay more.

At other times of the year, if they are simply sitting watching the rice grow in the fields, there is usually a surplus of labor, so pay less.

If you can, try and avoid the ones you know for a fact spend half the day drinking shots of Lao Khao in the local shop.

And above all, don't be too friendly. Remember to be the boss, not their best buddy, otherwise they will end up taking the piss, learned this the hard way.

Best of luck, it is pretty pot luck a lot of the time whether you get good diligent workers, or piss head wasters. So fingers crossed

[MobileContent]

300 bht BUT, if there is a middle man............ alt=whistling.gif> ................

Never heard of a middle man. You hire this villagers/farmers directly.

Its a village and normally no snake heads present. (From my experience)

The FIL is hiring local peoples to make and fix the roof. What has the farang to do with it actually besides paying the bills maybe.

250 Baht plus free food and a bottle of Lao Khao should get the job done.

[MobileContent]

It also depends on the time of year.

At rice plating, or harvesting time, you will be lucky to find anyone to work, and if you do, expect to pay more.

At other times of the year, if they are simply sitting watching the rice grow in the fields, there is usually a surplus of labor, so pay less.

If you can, try and avoid the ones you know for a fact spend half the day drinking shots of Lao Khao in the local shop.

And above all, don't be too friendly. Remember to be the boss, not their best buddy, otherwise they will end up taking the piss, learned this the hard way.

Best of luck, it is pretty pot luck a lot of the time whether you get good diligent workers, or piss head wasters. So fingers crossed

You really seems to be hiring the wrong people.

Rice planting was 5 month ago and harvesting takes only 2-3 days. You can be a great body with the guys you hire and have a great party after the work is done. I understand you learned it the hard way but maybe you look for your Mrs. If you you a good wife and good family you should be ok. Never had a problem and I am considering building another house.

[MJP]

So short of labour and skilled workers round here, me and my neighbour Pete are having to do it all.

Want a bathroom refit by a skilled builder? That'll be a three month wait.

[Jip99]

I pay my builder 400 Baht a day (he has his own tools!).

Experienced labourers get 300 Baht and the ladies doing the donkey work get 250 Baht.

We only provide alcohol one day a week - payday - but water and the occasional somtam etc is readily available.

[hansnl]

Under Thai law the minimum daily wage is 300 baht.

Never mind the kind of work, plainly and simply 300 hundred baht a working day of eight hours

Of course, being Thailand, not everybody is upholding the law.

Being a farang I would be very careful, do not hire yourself!

[davetrout]

300 baht day for skilled work (someone who knows what they're doing) 200 to 250 baht a day for labourers. Lunch and cool drinks also provided.

spot on

[barrybankruad]

Under Thai law the minimum daily wage is 300 baht.

Never mind the kind of work, plainly and simply 300 hundred baht a working day of eight hours

Of course, being Thailand, not everybody is upholding the law.

Being a farang I would be very careful, do not hire yourself!

I'm pretty sure you will find that the 300baht rule applies only to companies that employ full time a certain amount of persons. If the law was enforced that everybody had to be paid 300 baht whatever the circumstances, then the rice in Thailand would never get harvested.

[khwaibah]

Under Thai law the minimum daily wage is 300 baht.

Never mind the kind of work, plainly and simply 300 hundred baht a working day of eight hours

Of course, being Thailand, not everybody is upholding the law.

Being a farang I would be very careful, do not hire yourself!

I'm pretty sure you will find that the 300baht rule applies only to companies that employ full time a certain amount of persons. If the law was enforced that everybody had to be paid 300 baht whatever the circumstances, then the rice in Thailand would never get harvested.

Even the rice labors are demanding and getting 300 baht per day. You comments on the rice not getting harvest is totally false.

[barrybankruad]

Under Thai law the minimum daily wage is 300 baht.

Never mind the kind of work, plainly and simply 300 hundred baht a working day of eight hours

Of course, being Thailand, not everybody is upholding the law.

Being a farang I would be very careful, do not hire yourself!

I'm pretty sure you will find that the 300baht rule applies only to companies that employ full time a certain amount of persons. If the law was enforced that everybody had to be paid 300 baht whatever the circumstances, then the rice in Thailand would never get harvested.

Even the rice labors are demanding and getting 300 baht per day. You comments on the rice not getting harvest is totally false.

Just checked. Going rate here is 200 baht a day. There must be a labour shortage in your part of the woods.

[khwaibah]

Under Thai law the minimum daily wage is 300 baht.

Never mind the kind of work, plainly and simply 300 hundred baht a working day of eight hours

Of course, being Thailand, not everybody is upholding the law.

Being a farang I would be very careful, do not hire yourself!

I'm pretty sure you will find that the 300baht rule applies only to companies that employ full time a certain amount of persons. If the law was enforced that everybody had to be paid 300 baht whatever the circumstances, then the rice in Thailand would never get harvested.

Even the rice labors are demanding and getting 300 baht per day. You comments on the rice not getting harvest is totally false.

Just checked. Going rate here is 200 baht a day. There must be a labour shortage in your part of the woods.

No woods about us. Still 300 baht and that's Thai to Thai. If you can get them for 200 better hog tie em so they don't escape.

[KhunBENQ]

Even the rice labors are demanding and getting 300 baht per day. You comments on the rice not getting harvest is totally false.

Very true. That fits with what I was told from a farang farmer in my province (Khon Kaen).

In my own family they employed 21 people for the harvest in 2012 and they got 6300 per day all together.

This year the family will try to activate all members for the harvest to save money.

Skilled laborers are on short supply as others said.

The crazy building boom in Khon Kaen absorbs a lot of both skilled and unskilled laborers.

Nearby apparell factory offers 300 to 500 per day depending on experience.

Isan has become a do it yourself place.

Edited November 3, 2013 by KhunBENQ

[SlyAnimal]

I think the rate will vary a lot depending on how skilled they are + how much demand for builders/labourers there is.

If you're in a remote village you can probably easily find the 200-300฿/day workers, in an amphur town or city you might find very few willing to work for that much.

Sent from my iPhone using ThaiVisa app

[Jip99]

Under Thai law the minimum daily wage is 300 baht.

Never mind the kind of work, plainly and simply 300 hundred baht a working day of eight hours

Of course, being Thailand, not everybody is upholding the law.

Being a farang I would be very careful, do not hire yourself!

I'm pretty sure you will find that the 300baht rule applies only to companies that employ full time a certain amount of persons. If the law was enforced that everybody had to be paid 300 baht whatever the circumstances, then the rice in Thailand would never get harvested.

Even the rice labors are demanding and getting 300 baht per day. You comments on the rice not getting harvest is totally false.

Just checked. Going rate here is 200 baht a day. There must be a labour shortage in your part of the woods.

They probably slipped in from over the border Barry

[diyer]

It depends on location and the availability of labour.

My fiancée is looking at building a new house in a rural village.

Labourers demand 300bht a day, the skilled workers 500bht a day.

[transam]

300 bht BUT, if there is a middle man............ alt=whistling.gif> ................

Never heard of a middle man. You hire this villagers/farmers directly.

Its a village and normally no snake heads present. (From my experience)

The FIL is hiring local peoples to make and fix the roof. What has the farang to do with it actually besides paying the bills maybe.

250 Baht plus free food and a bottle of Lao Khao should get the job done.

, if you have never heard of a middle man OR known there was one, weeeeeeeell.

[Dave Phuket Sisaket]

Thanks everyone!

I really appreciate all the different viewpoints and it seems we are likely paying market rates. The wife says my father in law will pay 300 plus lunch or 50 Baht. They apparently know what they are doing and we buy all materials. It seems reasonable to me. So far it has been pay as you go and it is amazing how cost effectively you can build in Isaan.

[khwaibah]

They are had cutting rice in back of me as I post 6 people, 300 baht per day, Kap Choeng.

[bunnydrops]

Price here has gone up a lot. Just a little over a year ago 300 for the lead builder. Some of the girls were making less than 200. Now it is very busy, some wanting 500 or they turn it down. One skilled builder working for the family gets 350 now and his helper gets 200. They are both relatives of the family.