How much to build a house in village 50 kms from Khon Kaen

[TuskegeeBen]

Thai's can throw a house together with the plumbing nailed to the wall and be perfectly happy. This would be around 5-6,000 baht/ sq mtr.

If you want a top end house go get a foreign builder and pay way too much. Thais still do the work and it comes with all sorts of shoddy surprises. I know from experience. Multiple problems and no warranty even if it is specified in the contract. Oh yeah they come out, play around and accomplish nothing in the end. 17000 baht a sq meter.

7,500- 8,500 per sq mtr will get you a decent house with no water heaters or a/c.

SWMBO built a house for her grand mother 6,600 baht/ sq mtr. 5 weeks and every one is happy. She could have got the costs down to 5,000 or less, but used better quality materials. The story is on coolthaihouse.

Glad to read about a successful outcome, for a change

Edited October 15, 2014 by TuskegeeBen

[TuskegeeBen]

Far too much.

How can it be "far too much", if I share info to another expat, that can possibly save him a lot of future grief? Huh?

[Issangeorge]

11 years ago my house cost about ฿7,500 a square metre, grade A materials, but no cabinetry work. The most important thing is pay after the work is done. We paid nothing until the shootings were in, and then 20%, after the roof was on it was another 40% and then 40% when the house was finished.

[cooked]

I am at a loss why Farangs need to build the biggest house in the village, situate their parking space so that everyone can see the SUV, the second car and the motorbikes, build a perimeter wall, and finish up with something that is much too large for the people living there. Hang on, thinking about it, maybe I do know why.

We live in an 8 x 8 metres house with the wife's granddaughter, (I am building a 3 x 8 metre extension) that I reckon I could build again for ฿200 000.-, double that with a new kitchen and bathroom.

[bigjules007]

It's all sweet with ti luk until the house is completed, conduct due diligence and do not become another statistic!

[rgs2001uk]

For the OP, how many houses did you build and pay for your "girlfriend" in Farangistan?

If the answer is zero, why the need to do it here?

This girl is smart, you aint married so anything you build now you will have no claim on at a later date.

Why isnt the "girlfriend" able to get a mortgage and buy her own house, she is working isnt she?

Are you living here full time?

How long have you known this girl, how long have you spent in the boonies?

My best advice, buy a condo in Bkk before you marry (at a later date she will have no claim on it), rent the condo and use the rent to rent a house upcountry.

After knowing the girl for at least 5 years, and spending considerable time upcountry, then reconsider building, after consulting a lawyer.

Never mind, if your girl is "different" go for it.

I was told the same crap 20 years ago, I ended up buying land in Australia instead, relationship went South PDQ.

The upcountry land I was promised at the time (The Japanese and Koreans are moving in and buying everything buy now and make a fortune) is as worthless in real terms as it was then.

Anway to answer your question, Thai hovel, 50k baht, Thai mansion, 200k baht.

[rgs2001uk]

I REALLY CANT BELIEVE THE HIGH AMOUNTS BEING QUOTED HERE, THEY MUST BE MANSIONS OR SOMEONE IS REALLY GETTING RIPPED OFF.

WHEN BUILDING A PLACE IN THAILAND THERE ARE A FEW THINGS YOU MUST DO SO YOU DONT GET SCREWED OVER..

1. WHEN SELECTING A BUILDER NEVER USE A FAMILY MEMBER, THEY ALL AHVE FAMILY MEMBERS WHO KNOW HOW TO BUILD AND WHEN IT COMES TO TIME TO BUILD THEY CANT.

DRIVE AROUND THE AREA AND LOOK FOR WHAT APPEAR TO BE WESTERN STYLE HOUSES WHICH HAVE NICE CONSTRUCTION ( SELECT AT LEAST 5), ASK THE OWNERS TO LOOK AT THE HOUSES THEY LOVE TO SHOW OFF THERE HOMES, ASK IF THERE WERE ANY PROBLEMS WITH THE BUILDER? THEN IF THERE WAS NOT ASK WHO THE BUILDER WAS...ONCE YOU HEAR THE SAME BUILDER S NAME POP UP A FEW TIMES THEN YOU KNOW HE MAY BE AN OK BUILDER. ONCE YOU HAVE FOUND AT LEAST 2 BUILDER WHICH YOU MAY CONSIDER HAVE THEM GIVE YOU A QUOTE. THE QUOTE SHOULD BE BASED ON A BUILDING PLAN WHICH YOU SHOULD PROVIDE ( MANY PLANS ARE AVAILABLE ON LINE OR AT THE LOCAL BOOKSTORES) HAVE THE QUOTE BROKEN DOWN INTO 2 PARTS THE LABOR SECTION AND THE MATERIAL SECTION ALSO HAVE EACH PART OF THE CONSTRUCTION BROKEN DOWN SUCH AS CEMENT, ROOFING ELECTRICAL PLUMBING ETC......THEN YOU WILL HAVE A GOOD GUIDELINE TO FOLLOW. ONCE YOU HAVE BOTH QUOTES BACK YOU CANS ELECT YOUR BUILDER.

2. THE NEXT TRICK IS ONCE YOU HAVE A BUILDER AND A MATERIAL QUOTE YOU THEN MUST SOURCE THE MATERIALS YOURSELF...THIS ALONE WILL SAVE YOU ABOUT $200,000 BAHT.

I BUILT A HOME IN A SIMILAR AREA 2 YEARS AGO USEING THIS SAME METHOD AND SOURCED ALL MY MATERIALS AND I BUILT A NICE 125 SQUARE METER HOME WESTERN STYLE (3 BEDROOMS AND 2 BATHS/ INDOOR KITCHEN THROUGHOUT FOR $842,000 BAHT ALL IN.

MY FRIEND USED THE SAME PROCESS TO BUILD A HOUSE THIS YEAR AND HE SPENT A LITTLE OVER $1,000,000 BAHT.D35 3 bdr sm.kitch.car.png CLICK THIS ATTACHMENT TO SEE THE FLOOR PLAN.

HOUSE PICTURE: DSC03523.JPG.

THE LAST THING I CAN ADD IS WHEN SELECTING THE BUILDER IF HE ISA FULL TIME BUILDER WITH A FULLTIME DEICATED CREW YOU ARE IN LUCK AS THINGS WILL PROCEED SMOOTHLY.

GOOD LUCK AND IAM SORRY ALL YOU OTHERS PAID TO MUCH , BUT THIS IS THAILAND ..LOL

NEVER USE A FAMILY MEMBER, THEY ALL AHVE FAMILY MEMBERS WHO KNOW HOW TO BUILD AND WHEN IT COMES TO TIME TO BUILD THEY CANT.

Aint that the truth, I wouldnt employ a bunch of potato farmers to build me a house in Farangistan, why the heck would I employ rice farmers to build me a house here?

[siamsomjit]

6000 to 8000 thb SQM Thai style

10000 for fully fitted western style house

[MJP]

Please notice:

-first think do you want make the house in small village and live rest of your life there

-near city where is more shopping possibilities is better?

-rent the house first and live the village two - to three years

- if you still want to built make usufruckt for your life time, this means you can life in the house so long when you live.

- I know many falangs make house and then lose everything

- but all cars in your own name

-never trust for Thais, make paper agreenment with builders

and good luck because you need lot of it in Thailand wenn you are falang

I have built three houses and if you want more advice I give free for you

That's a department store not a house!

WOW, that's way too much to clean!

[rgs2001uk]

Please notice:

-first think do you want make the house in small village and live rest of your life there

-near city where is more shopping possibilities is better?

-rent the house first and live the village two - to three years

- if you still want to built make usufruckt for your life time, this means you can life in the house so long when you live.

- I know many falangs make house and then lose everything

- but all cars in your own name

-never trust for Thais, make paper agreenment with builders

and good luck because you need lot of it in Thailand wenn you are falang

I have built three houses and if you want more advice I give free for you

That's a department store not a house!

WOW, that's way too much to clean!

I have built three houses and if you want more advice I give free for you

LOL, built 3 houses, not sure I would want to be getting any advice from you.

Once bitten twice shy, then goes back yet again to build another, great stuff, you are da man.

After being cleaned out twice, builds yet another, i salute you sir.

[CNXTim]

About the only posts here that made any sense (2) gave estimates of 8,500 to 10,000 THB per square metre, does any other TV poster have some useful data to add?

[rgs2001uk]

About the only posts here that made any sense (2) gave estimates of 8,500 to 10,000 THB per square metre, does any other TV poster have some useful data to add?

As some one who lives here, speaks and reads the language, and knows Thai who build houses for a living, and knows Thai who have built house upcountry, your figures are way wrong.

What does the OP propose to build, a farang mansion or a house for his girlfriends parents, please dont confuse one with the other.

Have seen way too many Thai style upcountry houses, they consists of, outside cooking area, one inside toilet, one private bedroom for parents, one large room that doubles as a tv room, living room, come bedroom at night when the rice mats are rolled out for the family members to sleep on.

Be aware these Thai style houses dont have, stay cool or foil reflectors fitted, they aint brick built, they dont have sit down toilets, they dont have double glazing, they dont have a/c, they dont have mai daeng wooden floors fitted, they dont have stainless steel gates and fences, etc etc etc.

How long have you actually lived here, 8.5 to 10k per sm, yeah right. LOL.

Go to my BILs house, living area of about 80sm, total cost, 300k baht, only because it was raised about 1 metre.

[Tim2000]

B800,000 for 200 sq M - reinforced concrete 1 floor treated wood 2nd floor - bath & kitchen in house - nice tile 1st floor & beautiful, craftsman, double doors entrance - EZZY to get RIPPED OFF by girl friend's EXTENDED FAMILY - Do one stage at a time. SLOW BUT SURE - They will want to do it FAST - take 2-3 years.

[tullynagardy]

Good lord, people on here saying you need 2 or 3 million baht to make a good house in Thailand These people are getting rogered by their wife financially but are so blissfully unaware they actually boast about these figures online.

Assuming you have the land already you can build a house in the UK for 3 million baht, so why the hell would it cost the same in Thailand where labourers get £6 a day instead of £150, and where you only need single brick instead of double brick with insulation!?

I recently visited the Mrs aunty who proudly showed us around her new build 3 bedroom bungalow. It looks fantastic and i could comfortably live in it - it cost 500k baht all in. For 1 million baht you could do something really quite swanky. This is of course if you are paying local prices instead of what your wife and the builders tell you which is marked up by 200% by the time everyone gets their cut.

If you want to spend 5 or 6 million baht on a house like so many above why do it in Thailand? Do it in a first world country where you`ll get capital growth on it instead of it likely depreciating in value before being taken off you altogether as it`s in the wife`s name.

[MJP]

Please notice:

-first think do you want make the house in small village and live rest of your life there

-near city where is more shopping possibilities is better?

-rent the house first and live the village two - to three years

- if you still want to built make usufruckt for your life time, this means you can life in the house so long when you live.

- I know many falangs make house and then lose everything

- but all cars in your own name

-never trust for Thais, make paper agreenment with builders

and good luck because you need lot of it in Thailand wenn you are falang

I have built three houses and if you want more advice I give free for you

That's a department store not a house!

WOW, that's way too much to clean!

I have built three houses and if you want more advice I give free for you

LOL, built 3 houses, not sure I would want to be getting any advice from you.

Once bitten twice shy, then goes back yet again to build another, great stuff, you are da man.

After being cleaned out twice, builds yet another, i salute you sir.

I think it must be a hobby.

[CNXTim]

Really, it is quite pointless to talk about projects older than the last few months since material cost have increase rapidly over the last two years. And why not give that in cost per square metre, that way the original poster can compare apples with apples in his area of Thailand.

Most if not all Thai houses these days are built with a single wall of rendered cement or lightweight blocks. A photo or quite a few would also help the poster to judge the finished result.

The poster could take his plans along to Siam Cement and get a materials cost using pre-streesed pillars and beams provided by a real Civil engineer.

As for taking a few years to outwit a rapacious family, lots of luck with that!

[Naam]

OP, make sure you get the foundations right. Piling isn't that expensive and it works well. I wasn't around when the last house was built and I'm forever filling large cracks. Don't go for the traditional pad foundation method, it doesn't work well at all.

A Thai neighbour recently built a very nicely appointed farang style house with piled foundations, five bedroom, three bathroom, lovely fittings and the lot came in at 3 million baht. That was a building company in KK, the house about 2 hours from there.

I was very impressed.

"five bedrooms, three bathrooms and the lot" without mentioning size of home and lot in m² does not contain satisfying information.

It's quite big and very fancy. Good enough?

I would say around 230sq.m. Internal area.

It's much nicer than my bungalow which regularly falls to bits and gets glued back together with mastic and putty.

"very fancy" is indeed a precise description. especially because it defines that the lot size is somewhere between 1/8 of a Rai and 32 Rai.

[Naam]

Really, it is quite pointless to talk about projects older than the last few months since material cost have increase rapidly over the last two years. And why not give that in cost per square metre, that way the original poster can compare apples with apples in his area of Thailand.

Most if not all Thai houses these days are built with a single wall of rendered cement or lightweight blocks. A photo or quite a few would also help the poster to judge the finished result.

The poster could take his plans along to Siam Cement and get a materials cost using pre-streesed pillars and beams provided by a real Civil engineer.

As for taking a few years to outwit a rapacious family, lots of luck with that!

[MJP]

OP, make sure you get the foundations right. Piling isn't that expensive and it works well. I wasn't around when the last house was built and I'm forever filling large cracks. Don't go for the traditional pad foundation method, it doesn't work well at all.

A Thai neighbour recently built a very nicely appointed farang style house with piled foundations, five bedroom, three bathroom, lovely fittings and the lot came in at 3 million baht. That was a building company in KK, the house about 2 hours from there.

I was very impressed.

"five bedrooms, three bathrooms and the lot" without mentioning size of home and lot in m² does not contain satisfying information.

It's quite big and very fancy. Good enough?

I would say around 230sq.m. Internal area.

It's much nicer than my bungalow which regularly falls to bits and gets glued back together with mastic and putty.

"very fancy" is indeed a precise description. especially because it defines that the lot size is somewhere between 1/8 of a Rai and 32 Rai.

This was build cost not including land.

[Naam]

lovely fittings and the lot came in at 3 million baht

[MJP]

lovely fittings and the lot came in at 3 million baht

Yes to build it. He'd owned the land for many years.

This is about build costs.

[ChrisB87]

We just finished our house 35 km away from Ubon.

1.4 million for the house construction, including mod cons. (though the architect / project manager later told us that in the future for a house like ours he would charge 1.7m cos he didn't make as much profit as he expected)

By the time we built a car port, put up a fence with gates, and bought decent furnature for the whole place, we were up to 1.8 million. And a retaining wall and extra earth, included in that as well.

If anyone wants more details or is interested in the guy we used PM me.

Here's some pics

Edited October 16, 2014 by ChrisB87

[thaiguzzi]

DO NOT BUILD A HOUSE!!!!!!!!

Cost estimates are just that,... ESTIMATES!!! My house, ...hahahaha, the house I paid for, .... was supposed to cost 1.5 to 2 million baht and take 6 months to build! Two years and more than 6 million baht later, ...... get the idea???

If you want to own a home, .. buy a condo in your own name! I was sure my wife was devoted to me, .. her family too, .. but the minute my money was spent, I was of no further use to them. They got everything! Do yourself a favor and only buy something that is already existing,.... so you can see what you get for your money, ..and only buy a condo in your name, ... then you are in control. Why give everything to a girlfriend. You can own it yourself and share it with her, .. but I bet she will bitch a moan about not caring about her if you do not build the house for her.

You married the wrong bird. Simple. You got ripped. I have heard of plenty similar stories, but there are also plenty of good stories too. Don't judge every Thai the same, just because you married into a wrong 'un's family. It aint our fault, it's yours. Should have done due diligence on the family and their habits before spending your wedge. Me, my farangland money ran out 4 years ago, but the business i set up for me and the missus here, keeps me here, puts the kids into school, food on the table and beer in the fridge. House and truck paid for. You make your own luck in life.

[kmcken]

I just built a house 20KM outside Sarakham for 500,000bt. It's a 2 bed, 2 bath bungalow, roughly 12 x 10 mtrs. It's no mansion but it has a big living room and the bedrooms are more than acceptable. My girlfriends parents and her son live there, she lives there while I'm at work overseas and I spend about 3 - 4 days every 2 months there and I'm delighted with it. If I was going to live there I would've built something bigger but I'm happy and they are delighted.

Her family own the land and it cost 70,000 to build up, the drive was an extra 40,000 and it took 3 months from start to finish

[mercman24]

very nice place CHRIS respect to you,

[thehelmsman]

very nice place CHRIS respect to you,

I second that...looks nice.......................The method of construction greatly dictates cost. You can build a nice looking house with pre-formed posts with steel headers and a slab foundation, labor cost is minimual. You build a nice sized home with hand bent rebar, raised foundation, tile roofing, all materials grade A and the cost for house greatly increases. A quality built home could take say 5-6 months to complete. Say a 5 man crew was needed, average 10,000 baht a month per man, some more some less, you're looking at roughly 300.000 baht labor and that doesn't include the profit the contractor hopes to make on the deal.

A home built in typical Thai fashion with cheapest grade materials can be built much quicker and still look very nice. Up to you..............

[malct]

would it not be better buying a house on a development or looking at homes for sale? less stress and you know the final price

[thehelmsman]

would it not be better buying a house on a development or looking at homes for sale? less stress and you know the final price

If you've done some looking you'll know many are overpriced for what you get. The upside would be not having her family within daily reach.

[Tim2000]

Best way to KEEP COSTS DOWN is to keep the FAMILY UNDER CONTROL. Build house Slow but Sure over a period of 2-3 YEARS. UR the one with the MONEY so DON'T BE BULLIED. Plan EACH stage separately & pay as U go. INSPECT EACH STAGE.

U can say that every year U need to KEEP ur $$$ in Baht in a Thai BANK before you get ur next VISA. Come up with a reasonable STORY.

I just FINISHED a Beautiful 200 SqM MODERN Thai Style house, near Khon Kean for about B750,000 - Built over the last 3 years. Reinforced Concrete, Treated Wood, in house Bath & Kitchen, beautiful Tile 1st level, CRAFTSMAN Double Doors ect, ect.

I would NEVER BUILD a WESTERN Style House in THAILAND - I think it is "OBSCENE" & In BAD TASTE...!

I micro managed this project via Smart Phone from BKK where I have lived for over 30 years.

GOOD LUCK.

Edited October 16, 2014 by Tim2000

[tullynagardy]

I just built a house 20KM outside Sarakham for 500,000bt. It's a 2 bed, 2 bath bungalow, roughly 12 x 10 mtrs. It's no mansion but it has a big living room and the bedrooms are more than acceptable. My girlfriends parents and her son live there, she lives there while I'm at work overseas and I spend about 3 - 4 days every 2 months there and I'm delighted with it. If I was going to live there I would've built something bigger but I'm happy and they are delighted.

Her family own the land and it cost 70,000 to build up, the drive was an extra 40,000 and it took 3 months from start to finish

Good man yourself!

Finally a TVF member that doesn`t seem to have paid a farrang penalty when building his house of about 300%. Your picture is similar to the house I described in my last post for the same cost.

Looks nice