Home Pro vs Baan and beyond vs ? - where is best?

[soblue2001]

I need to buy loads of paint (off white/cream), brushes and rollers.

And electricals - lighting and cable. And a gas two ring cooker. And tables and chairs.

Kitchen worktops also, and a s/s sink and drainer, plus loads more DIY equipment.

Can anybody suggest the best, most local to CM centre place in terms of price, availability and product choice.

Thanks in advance.

[Loaded]

I would visit both and compare by myself.

[Sparkles]

I would visit both and compare by myself.

No way round it you will have to do some leg work yourself and throw in Global House for comparison.All have specials.

[AnotherOneAmerican]

The cookers are always cheapest in Makro, but the regulators are most expensive there.

So buy twin burner from Makro and reg and hose from any little shop.

[soblue2001]

Thanks for the responses so far........I knew there was a third one - forgot the name Global House.

Maybe I'll have to visit them all and suss out the Special offers.

Ta.

[kaptainrob]

HomePro specials hard to beat although regular price on paint a tad higher than say Global or DOS. Forget Baan and Beyond ... hopeless staff and higher prices than Thai Watsadu, on #11 highway south.

HomePro after sales service is excellent. Staff generally very knowledgeable but beware of trainee's and seek out department head.

Wualai Road electrical shop for all cable and fittings. Light fittings from Global or HomePro.

[ignis]

For paint found the little shops are lots cheaper + many will even give a discount..

But it is leg work asking....... found one place 1 lt gloss paint is 90 baht [brand name 'National' is very good for gloss paints... bought other brands more expensive which were rubbish]... 4 shops down is 130 baht different brand and rubbish, Home pro = well over 250 baht.

same with brushes little shops less then 1/2 the price + often find the 20 baht shops have packs of 3 ideal for gloss as no need to clean just throw away...

Home Pro and places like that are good for matching paint colours.........

Big bucket of wall paint can be bought for 860 baht plain colour at little shops, up to 4,xxx baht at Home Pro depends what you want

[fredge45]

Smaller non-chain shops are usually your best for getting what you want at the best price. Shop around and you will be quite surprised I can assure you. The big ones just want you in and out and rarely do the staff know diddly squat about any of the products.

Wholeheartedly agree with the comment on Baan & Beyond... they're occupying valuable real estate and wasting electricity for what?

Also agree on Wualai Road electrical shop - my favorite for such items.

[SantiSuk]

We have 5 different watsadus in Ubon, plus Makro and I'm sure CM is the same. Experience dictates you cannot say generically which is best. As others have said you have to shop around on specific items if you want best value/best choice. Prices for the same items can vary typically +/- 10% with no trend. And as others have intimated that's just regular pricing. Always worth checking out the special offers.

[kaptainrob]

We have 5 different watsadus in Ubon, plus Makro and I'm sure CM is the same. Experience dictates you cannot say generically which is best. As others have said you have to shop around on specific items if you want best value/best choice. Prices for the same items can vary typically +/- 10% with no trend. And as others have intimated that's just regular pricing. Always worth checking out the special offers.

Only comparison between UbonR and CM is you have to shop around all stores to get what you want. Ubon Watsadu [the original] is like all of CM's stores rolled into one!

[elektrified]

Home Pro or Global House. Or Thai Watsadu.

Baan and Beyond is nothing more than an overpriced Thai plastic shop. I doubt they will make it. They are always deserted every time I've gone by there.

[DLock]

HomePro specials hard to beat although regular price on paint a tad higher than say Global or DOS. Forget Baan and Beyond ... hopeless staff and higher prices than Thai Watsadu, on #11 highway south.

HomePro after sales service is excellent. Staff generally very knowledgeable but beware of trainee's and seek out department head.

Wualai Road electrical shop for all cable and fittings. Light fittings from Global or HomePro.

Agree with the Kaptain.

Home Pro has great staff that actually seek you out to help. Paint staff in particular are very good, as are electrical and lighting. In fact, I can't remember not getting good service in Home Pro (Hang Dong). Usually good English as well. Only downside is that they keep a limited supply of light fittings, but can usually order them in. Delivery can sometimes be a couple of days for bigger stuff.

Global House has a lot of staff, but don't seem motivated and are sometimes not around when I need them. But for fittings, wood, cables etc, hard to beat

Agree to forget B&B. Very limited range of cheaper products.

Have not tried Wualai. Will take a look.

[jingjoke]

Full gloss paint, while robust, tends to highlight imperfections in a wall.

A semi-gloss, water-based paint holds up better with cleaning than a flat finish paint.

I prefer a semi-gloss because semi-gloss is easily washed of hand-prints, cat paw prints and the inevitable gecko droppings, without removing the paint.

Always buy 'exterior' quality as opposed to interior quality even when painting just the inside of your house.

Ensure the staff properly shake your cans on their paint department shaker, before you leave: as the staff can forget or are simply lazy. At your work site again stir the paint cans completely yet gently(to avoid air bubbles) every few hours, otherwise you may end up with differing depths or degrees of color. Even the allegedly 'professional' paint teams fail to do this or fail to do it properly leaving a thick glob coating the bottom, as they tend to use whatever makeshift stirrer is around such as thin yellow plastic electrical pipe curved at the bottom, or a splintered piece of scrap wood.

I recommend the Q-con adhesive mortar stirrer fitted to a powerful drill because it does a fabulous job, no mess no fuss. A picture of the stirrer is to the right of the rubber mallet here: http://qcon.co.th/products/.

Cheers

[kaptainrob]

Home Pro or Global House. Or Thai Watsadu.

Baan and Beyond is nothing more than an overpriced Thai plastic shop. I doubt they will make it. They are always deserted every time I've gone by there.

Baan&Beyond is a Central Group store, same as HomeWorks and Thai Watsadu. IMO they should get rid of the building products, hardware and tiles and concentrate more on fittings and furnishings.

[pgrahmm]

For paint found the little shops are lots cheaper + many will even give a discount..

But it is leg work asking....... found one place 1 lt gloss paint is 90 baht [brand name 'National' is very good for gloss paints... bought other brands more expensive which were rubbish]... 4 shops down is 130 baht different brand and rubbish, Home pro = well over 250 baht.

same with brushes little shops less then 1/2 the price + often find the 20 baht shops have packs of 3 ideal for gloss as no need to clean just throw away...

Home Pro and places like that are good for matching paint colours.........

Big bucket of wall paint can be bought for 860 baht plain colour at little shops, up to 4,xxx baht at Home Pro depends what you want

Don't overlook Thai Watsado....much netter than Home Pro - bigger selections of stuff than Global.....actually more impressive a store if you're a do it yourselfer.....

[soblue2001]

Thank you all for the very helpful advice

[bangmai]

To B & Bs credit; when they didn't have any 70 cm window shades, the lady told me HP had them, which they did. 700 thb for three...most helpful sales lady over there too, who was very pregnant at the time. Not thrilled with either store's selection.