Building a house for the family

[BrooklynNY]

You need A LOT OF LUCKS to find the TRUSTWORTHY contractor in Thailand. I have read a lot of threads on a Thai website about real estate and there are plenty of complaints about contractors took off with advance money and left work undone. There are even worst cases that contractor giving a hard time by leaving construction material like cheap scaffolds and trashed the place at the site to prevent the new contractor to pick up unfinished work where the previous one left off. By law those trash and material constructions tid bits are still belong to the previous contractor and no one allows to remove them otherwise would be sued for theft. The owner had to hire a lawyer to get a court paper to allow the owner to clean up the mess left by the previous contractor and costed her a lot of money and time wasted.

[bheard]

have just completed building an aussie queensland house 100 ks from udon thani, in the bush, perfect for the hot thai climate, concrete and steel, no timber, i was involved in every stage of construction, as a 67 year old builder , carpenter, electrician, plasterer, bricklayer, and much more, it was ,for me my finest and most difficult project that i have ever attempted, most workers had never seen the materials and tools that i used, eg nail guns, super blocks, steel roof trusses, insulation and quality aluminium windows and minimal concrete posts and quality finishes, , it is finished now and many thai people want to build the same but just do not know how, it can be done, just have patience and do not get stessed out, thais learn quickly, you just have to show them what YOU want and have good planing with willing happy workers, building costs are definately on the rise in thailand, now is the time to build, once was enough for me,just got my new hip fitted after the house party, it was not easy

Sounds fantastic, 'on ya mate!!

When/if you get back to Qld how about you put a rocket under all those people in Cairns etc building concrete block houses right on the ground. Totally reliant on A/C for comfort. Crazy!

[Robert24]

I think based on my experience you can do both (yourself ot construction company).

If you do it yourself you need to have someone with engineering experience to be able to manage/guide thr construction workers.

if you use a construction company, you still should get involved yourself/or your wife to make sure quality of work and material is ok. Bear in mind they often use low quality material to maximise their profit. So what I suggest is you buy all material yourself and use a construction company to do the work. Also do make sure you put the building project in phases and only pay after completion of each phase and when you are happy with the work completed. Also keep of the price you agree until completion and only pay it when everything is done. Suggest that you put this in a contract and make sure you have a cancellation clause in the contract in case you need to change construction company.

[SlyAnimal]

A number of off topic posts have been removed.

Please try to stay on topic, and avoid trolling other members

(Also for those who were discussing the word "Farang" in the offtopic posts. It's probably worthwhile to read up online (wikipedia has a good article) about the word Farang. The word applies to most of our Forum members, and we either hear it or use it ourselves almost everyday while living in Thailand, so it makes sense that we should understand not only the meaning but also its history).

[F4UCorsair]

His darling (and her family) will want the opportunity to skim from his own build.

Sounds like you didn't chose your darling very well.

I'm not daft enough to try and build or buy a house in rural Issan.

Bought my house in CM, from a developer, who published his prices in Thai only. Paid the same as everyone else.

Just daft enough to buy it in a faring ghetto.

Probably not likely as prices were published in Thai ONLY!! That would suggest to me that the project was targeting the Thai market.

Edited September 7, 2014 by F4UCorsair

[Pattaya Pat]

This must be right up there with some of the most ridiculous ideas I've heard of over here, and that's saying something!

Good luck.

[IMA_FARANG]

Depends

I had refurbished a old house in Bangkok to my specs with the "help" of my Thai girlfriend.

She was the go between from me to the contractors.

There were certain things she wanted (mainly in the kitchen area) and certain things she agreed on for me.

(Like air conditioning, western bathrooms and shower with non-slip tiles, etc.)

Some things I wanted, some things I did not.

There were things she wanted she got, and things she didn't.

All I can say, is it all depends on how well you can get along with your wife as to whether she will work for you or against you with the contractors.

Good luck.

P.S. I lived there in that house for several years.

Edited September 9, 2014 by IMA_FARANG

[Norlund]

To be honest I can only say that I'm starting to be a little bit fed up with all the foreigners who are building all these houses in Thailand. Every time is seems to me like they are only ending up with a lot of problems one way or the other. I thought that the foreigners came to Thailand for having a easy going and stress free life. I'm certainly going to Thailand for that kind of life so I stay away from everything that has something with housebuilding to do.

[AnotherOneAmerican]

Depends

I had refurbished a old house in Bangkok to my specs with the "help" of my Thai girlfriend.

She was the go between from me to the contractors.

There were certain things she wanted (mainly in the kitchen area) and certain things she agreed on for me.

(Like air conditioning, western bathrooms and shower with non-slip tiles, etc.)

Some things I wanted, some things I did not.

There were things she wanted she got, and things she didn't.

All I can say, is it all depends on how well you can get along with your wife as to whether she will work for you or against you with the contractors.

Good luck.

P.S. I lived there in that house for several years.

What was her commission on each transaction?

[rgs2001uk]

To be honest I can only say that I'm starting to be a little bit fed up with all the foreigners who are building all these houses in Thailand. Every time is seems to me like they are only ending up with a lot of problems one way or the other. I thought that the foreigners came to Thailand for having a easy going and stress free life. I'm certainly going to Thailand for that kind of life so I stay away from everything that has something with housebuilding to do.

Wow, whats with the negativity there young grasshopper?

These houses should be viewed as an opportunity for you to pick up something on the cheap.

Pity they didnt build them in Joho Or KK, would make them much more marketable and attractive.

[DILLIGAD]

To be honest I can only say that I'm starting to be a little bit fed up with all the foreigners who are building all these houses in Thailand. Every time is seems to me like they are only ending up with a lot of problems one way or the other. I thought that the foreigners came to Thailand for having a easy going and stress free life. I'm certainly going to Thailand for that kind of life so I stay away from everything that has something with housebuilding to do.

Wow, whats with the negativity there young grasshopper?

These houses should be viewed as an opportunity for you to pick up something on the cheap.

Pity they didnt build them in Joho Or KK, would make them much more marketable and attractive.

Your idea of "picking up something cheap (house)" is like buying a car without getting it registered in your name. Could be no problem until there is a problem, then it well and truly hits the fan.

[swissie]

To be honest I can only say that I'm starting to be a little bit fed up with all the foreigners who are building all these houses in Thailand. Every time is seems to me like they are only ending up with a lot of problems one way or the other. I thought that the foreigners came to Thailand for having a easy going and stress free life. I'm certainly going to Thailand for that kind of life so I stay away from everything that has something with housebuilding to do.

An old Isaan-Folk Song goes like this:

...."All the Farang-Mansioneers, are they not like stranded whales. Stranded on a beach, they never really wanted to end up in the first place? Wanting to swim free, if only they could, if only they could......."

Cheers.

[Norlund]

To be honest I can only say that I'm starting to be a little bit fed up with all the foreigners who are building all these houses in Thailand. Every time is seems to me like they are only ending up with a lot of problems one way or the other. I thought that the foreigners came to Thailand for having a easy going and stress free life. I'm certainly going to Thailand for that kind of life so I stay away from everything that has something with housebuilding to do.

Wow, whats with the negativity there young grasshopper?

These houses should be viewed as an opportunity for you to pick up something on the cheap.

Pity they didnt build them in Joho Or KK, would make them much more marketable and attractive.

If you ask me we are more like "sitting ducks" ready to get "plucked".

[loongdavid]

have just completed building an aussie queensland house 100 ks from udon thani, in the bush, perfect for the hot thai climate, concrete and steel, no timber, i was involved in every stage of construction, as a 67 year old builder , carpenter, electrician, plasterer, bricklayer, and much more, it was ,for me my finest and most difficult project that i have ever attempted, most workers had never seen the materials and tools that i used, eg nail guns, super blocks, steel roof trusses, insulation and quality aluminium windows and minimal concrete posts and quality finishes, , it is finished now and many thai people want to build the same but just do not know how, it can be done, just have patience and do not get stessed out, thais learn quickly, you just have to show them what YOU want and have good planing with willing happy workers, building costs are definately on the rise in thailand, now is the time to build, once was enough for me,just got my new hip fitted after the house party, it was not easy

Great to hear someone with a bit of sense when it comes to building in Thailand. I too have almost completed my version of a Queenslander and can't wait to move in. Although an engineer by profession, unfortunately, I was unable to participate in any of the work due health reasons. Fortunately, I had a good builder who had some qualifications behind him and knew a lot of people so money worries did not eventuate. I had to import my workers from Ubon and the first week was spent building their accommodation and facilities. They frequently do things contrary to western practice but they usually get to the end result ok.

The work you have done sounds as though we had consulted each other as I insisted upon having all the goodies you have described. A lot of locals were awestruck that I had installed gutters and a full water harvesting system complete with 20,000ltr tank with 80M bore backup.