Architect referral, Please.

[maderaroja]

Can someone please recommend an English speaking architect to me? I wish to build a home.

[LivinLOS]

Khun Mac

Veeravit Vongkwo

Not the cheapest.. Great comms, full 3D CAD design work... Been responsible for really high end home design.. From memory one villa was a couple of mil USD build.

Edited March 9, 2015 by onthedarkside
email removed as per forum rules. Send a PM

[jeffandgop]

Top Design & Build...He designed and constructed our home in Mae Jo...

http://www.topdesignandbuild.com

[fredge45]

Khun Mac

Veeravit Vongkwo

Not the cheapest.. Great comms, full 3D CAD design work... Been responsible for really high end home design.. From memory one villa was a couple of mil USD build.

Mac did a good job for me some 7 years ago. Hired him independently from the Brit builders he was working with which was a very good decision.

[maderaroja]

Khun Mac

Veeravit Vongkwo

Not the cheapest.. Great comms, full 3D CAD design work... Been responsible for really high end home design.. From memory one villa was a couple of mil USD build.

I would need some contact information, please.

[maderaroja]

Top Design & Build...He designed and constructed our home in Mae Jo...

http://www.topdesignandbuild.com

Thank you. That's one.

[LivinLOS]

Khun Mac

Veeravit Vongkwo

Not the cheapest.. Great comms, full 3D CAD design work... Been responsible for really high end home design.. From memory one villa was a couple of mil USD build.

I would need some contact information, please.

Sorry mods deleted it..

I will PM it..

[Greenside]

I'll second Top Design & Build. He's done two houses for us and made a great job of both.

[Beetlejuice]

Beware, that if you use builders recommended by farangs or builders associated with farangs, than you`ll be changed top whack, way over priced farang rip off prices. Possibly thousands if not millions of bahts more.

my advice is this; wherever you are deciding to build your home, talk to the local people in your area and ask who or what building company does most of the work in that area. Plus ask the locals roughly how much their homes cost to build to give you a rough price estimate. This is for reasons that being a farang they will always try to charge you more anyway, so being in the knowledge of costs is an advantage.

Take a look online at Thai house photos and tour your local area for ideas as to what style of home you desire, plus decide on the types of materials for building, cheap cement blocks, or middle range to high quality brick work. Doing as I mentioned above and getting some quotes.should be your first line of inquiry.

Some will tell you horror stories regarding Thai builders, especially those who may recommend builders to you in the hope of gaining commisions. Down my way our local area builder has always done a fine job, as most local builders rely on good reputations to keep them in business. Another point, always pay on a day to day basis, never pay too far in advance upfront.

In Thailand nothing comes with any rock solid gaurantees, no matter which builder you use, no matter how many promises of goodwill they make, so ensure that you are fregently on the scene looking over their shoulders to check what`s going on.

Wishing you all success with your new home and once completed, you can invite me to your house warming party.

PS: forgot that you mentioned English speaking. This will be a big problem when dealing with Thai builders. You will probably require your Thai wife or GF to help translate for you.

Edited March 11, 2015 by Beetlejuice

[jij]

wel put beetlejuice. might you have any recommendations in the mae rim area?

[Beetlejuice]

wel put beetlejuice. might you have any recommendations in the mae rim area?

Sorry I don`t live in the Mae Rim area.

Local builders usually only work in and around their local areas, unless they are contracted out to work elsewhere, which is not often. Also it would not be viable to hire outside builders as this would increase your costs for their traveling expenses and perhaps pitching up camp on the site Another point is that local builders can usually receive substantial discounts on building materials because they are buying wholesale in the area and know the merchants, whereas an outside builder may not have this advantage.

Referring back to the architect question; it is extremely easy to design a house yourself in Thailand..Keeping in mind that most cement block and brick built Thai homes are basic in structure. Mostly a sand and solid cement base with steel inner cement posts that are piled into the ground upright to support the roof and the walls. The walls are actually built in-between the posts, which means the design can be of any shape and size separated into rooms Once the builder gives as estimate of the amount of materials required, it is easy to visit some builders merchants to gain knowledge of prices. The roof is just a simple iron or steel structure with the roof tiles fitted on top. You can choose your own type and style of windows and how many you desire. In my opinion for a cooler more comfortable home, the larger and more windows the better, plus a good height between the ceiling and the roof top is always very important for better circulation of air and heat in the attic. About 3 metres high is average. My ceiling to roof space is 5 metres.

Although this may appear as a considerable effort on inception to building a property, this method will save home buyers literally <deleted> loads of cash for a product that once completed will not have any more or less market value than if built but so-called professional home building companies and the end result will be the same.

[Dante99]

You will probably require your Thai wife or GF to help translate for you.

That often does not work out well unless the lady has a lot of experience with building houses. Otherwise she will not have the vocabulary or knowledge to translate effectively and you could be putting your relationship in jeprody.

[maderaroja]

You will probably require your Thai wife or GF to help translate for you.

That often does not work out well unless the lady has a lot of experience with building houses. Otherwise she will not have the vocabulary or knowledge to translate effectively and you could be putting your relationship in jeprody.

And, Thai women cannot speak to Thai men with the authority necessary to get the "proper" job done. So, not a good idea to use a woman translator for anything.

[eyecatcher]

A lot of useful advice above but of all the advice given the last thing I would do is to ask locals…unless of course I wanted an identical house.

Its difficult if you don’t have construction knowledge; you are on a bit of a limb and the language barrier makes that even more challenging.

So for epxats who don’t have knowledge, then familiarise yourself with techniques here, read the construction forums on T.V and the other 2 or 3 that we use. It’s a grounding and you get useful advice that costs nothing.

With regards to your plans, costs vary massively from 5k baht to 50k baht to 5% of build cost.

If you have money to burn then what the hell go and find some swanky artist who will prepare plans with isometric sketches and a scale size model in a glass box; but if like most of us then be sensible if you can (and that means using your head, and not being influenced or trying to impress the skirt) and give yourself a budget of say 10-15k to get some preliminary floor plans, and generic or your specific details incorporated relative to your site.

You can pick up free plans (well buy the books in DK for example) to give you an idea, copy them; add in your own quirks and nuances as you do and present those to someone who can CAD copy them onto your site plan.

In my particular case I prepared all my own plans; but I have lived and breathed construction for 30yrs; at the time detailed everything on paper and then found a young “architect” to copy them onto CAD for local approval. 6k baht I paid for about 20 A3 drawings inclding his very good anticipation of my electrical layout (as I hadn’t detailed that) Plans to local amphur; 3 weeks; wife paid the bill; hahaha, she managed the 80bt comfortably! Passed.

I digress. With regards to the costings for your house; the basic plan (for your 10-15k) is all you need to get an accurate costing. I have belted on the other forums about rates/m2 being <deleted> as they simply tell you nothing but they tell the builder he has carte blanche to charge you 12k/m2; build at 6k/m2 and pockets the difference…..and you are no wiser….are you??

At a rate/m2 do you know if you are getting a 5k water pump or a 10k water pump; are you getting red brick walls or aerated concrete block walls; grade 2.4 steel in your roof or grade 1.5; 400bt/m2 floor tiles or 180bt/m2 floor tiles.

Think about it; this is why you pay 12k/m2 when it should be 6k/m2

I have now spent 6 months talking to builders and getting prices and I will spend another 6 months until I get one that gets near to my price. I know exactly how much my house should cost because I have measured everything; every metre of roof steel. Every reinforcement link in the columns, every length of shera board, every aluminium window, every timber window; and I have the prices on hand for all the major building suppliers.

Let me just say; that what you will get from a quote is that 12k/m2 is only for the structure (foundations, floors, columns, walls, plastering; roof) not often will you get much more than that. But certainly from my calculations 12k/m2 should get you the whole job complete to a good standard (floor tiling, sanitaryware, electrics, decking; fittings,painting, kitchen)

I have found someone at the 3^rd attempt who I have been watching for 3 months build a property just 50m from our house. I couldn’t believe the quality, the techniques used, Western standard infact; I wont bore you with what he does that no one else does but the wife went to see him. He is from Bangkok, so are his team; they came to build a house here, and landed two more house projects and possibly mine as well.

We asked him to price the structure only foundation, columns, roof and roof tiling; I was going to do the rest myself. His price was 2.5 times my price just for this. So because I asked him to quantify the columns, the ring beams; the concrete floor areas, the roof area it was a simple task to compare with my own measurements. We had a meeting shortly after; I decided to eliminate a lot of unnecessary ground beams and the roof steel was over specced. Lets just say the new price is similar to mine after saving 400k on simple measuring areas.

Its not easy, even for experienced building pros but if you need some help preparing a budget costing from a basic plan then let me know.(any of you infact) It really is too late to redesigning after they are approved without further stress. At least with a budget costing you know whether you can afford to upgrade spec, increase the property size; or as in our case throw it straight back to the wife and tell her sorry love I just don’t have the money to build what we want.

Incidently my build is about 77m2 liveable area, and 40m2 external 1^st floor decking. The first price I received was 1.8m for labour only!!!......i couldn’t help but burst into laughter when he showed me the numbers. He rang us afterwards for 4 consecutive days making excuses.

My nett price, accurate to the last plug socket and 5m of cable is 950k that’s everything complete.. I will place order at 1.2m but more work required.

OP as said above; it all depends on your budget as to whether you need to spend time carefully planning or let someone just keep writing your cheques.

I am obviously bored today.......anyone want any buidings costings doing?

[LivinLOS]

While the advice to know your costs is correct.. Using locals can backfire horribly when it comes to high quality expectations.

Its not to be unfair.. But if you have grown up your whole life seeing houses built simply, electric lines run outside and tacked on walls, the kind of almost disposable construction so many Thais homes are.. And then some farang comes along with a 600sqm villa build, with pools and the like, is it any wonder its cracking apart in 5 years ??

Not a single house I have lived in here has had a solid foundation or a good pool.. One villa ended up at the bottom of the cliff, my current home had the garden dug up last year and the most stupid amateur attempt at pretending they reinforced the foundation (quickly burying to after I started to document the affair in pictures) etc etc.. If you want to build a quality home built, your going to have a very tough time finding the guy to do so in the village you live.. If you just want a simple thai build quality place, theres 100s of them already built or to rent, the sole reason I can see to have the problems of building is because what you want isnt on the market.

How often do you see, even in the big budget builds, proper techniques like center point tiling on floors and walls ? Such a simple aspect but not a 'tradesman' out there gets it right. Electric systems are designed in mind blowingly complex ways (often trying to share a ground line to save that strand of wire).. Water systems without thought put in for cut off valves (my current home is 'leaking water' somewhere in the system but no one can find where) or service accesses.

Local builders build local quality.. Fine of thats what your after but I wouldnt go to the effort of building if thats all I wanted.

[Dante99]

Local builders can build fine quality if someone manages the job, telling them what needs to be done and how. But without someone there managing full time.........you likely have a lot of rework and downgraded expectations.

The problem is unrealistic expectations, people coming here expecting a Beverly Hills build while paying less than $30 per day and often $10 for the workers.

[LivinLOS]

Local builders can build fine quality if someone manages the job, telling them what needs to be done and how. But without someone there managing full time.........you likely have a lot of rework and downgraded expectations.

The problem is unrealistic expectations, people coming here expecting a Beverly Hills build while paying less than $30 per day and often $10 for the workers.

Doesnt matter what your offering to pay, if your trying to only find local village workers as per some of the above recommendations, your highly unlikely to find the skills for a build thats not low end IMO. Sure you can get the structure up, but great tiling, nice stonework, polished or acid etched concrete, etc etc..

Sure you can knock up a basic home, but I wouldnt bother with the work for that.. Theres many around..

[jeffandgop]

Beware, that if you use builders recommended by farangs or builders associated with farangs, than you`ll be changed top whack, way over priced farang rip off prices. Possibly thousands if not millions of bahts more.

my advice is this; wherever you are deciding to build your home, talk to the local people in your area and ask who or what building company does most of the work in that area. Plus ask the locals roughly how much their homes cost to build to give you a rough price estimate. This is for reasons that being a farang they will always try to charge you more anyway, so being in the knowledge of costs is an advantage.

Take a look online at Thai house photos and tour your local area for ideas as to what style of home you desire, plus decide on the types of materials for building, cheap cement blocks, or middle range to high quality brick work. Doing as I mentioned above and getting some quotes.should be your first line of inquiry.

Some will tell you horror stories regarding Thai builders, especially those who may recommend builders to you in the hope of gaining commisions. Down my way our local area builder has always done a fine job, as most local builders rely on good reputations to keep them in business. Another point, always pay on a day to day basis, never pay too far in advance upfront.

In Thailand nothing comes with any rock solid gaurantees, no matter which builder you use, no matter how many promises of goodwill they make, so ensure that you are fregently on the scene looking over their shoulders to check what`s going on.

Wishing you all success with your new home and once completed, you can invite me to your house warming party.

PS: forgot that you mentioned English speaking. This will be a big problem when dealing with Thai builders. You will probably require your Thai wife or GF to help translate for you.

[jeffandgop]

My experience with Top Design in no way comes close to your generalization that "builders recommended by farangs or builders associated with farangs, than you`ll be changed top whack, way over priced farang rip off prices."

Prior to contracting w/Top we contacted 3 other builders in CM experienced with Western expectations. We met w/their management, presented our design/build requirements, interviewed other customers...all provided a target price with cost details.

With Top that was the same...with his detailed BOQ we independently verified the reasonableness of the unit pricing and verified the adequacy of the quantities and volume.

Whenever their were issues during the build- mistakes or quality problems do occur- Top always remedied these and in most cases was the one who identified the problems and told us about them.

Our end price for the quality of build and materials installed were quite in line with what we expected for a per SM price.

In the 5 months since our home was completed all problems we have experienced (mostly plumbing) have been promptly attended to. Top honors his warranty.

You write "as most local builders rely on good reputations to keep them in business" how is that any different for builders that market to faring? Surely their are good as well as bad builders period. Your generalization does disservice.

The only comment of yours I would agree with is "ensure that you are fregently on the scene looking over their shoulders to check what`s going on"..that's commence sense.

[jimmym40]

Ref above post.

JEFFANDGOP - What is the size of your home build and how much did you pay per square meter?

Thanks.

[jeffandgop]

that's nonsense....my wife & I extensively research & learned construction techniques and materials before we started to build and all along the way she communicated quite effectively with the builder and their supervisors...they demonstrated total respect and adherence to her comments and instructions..and not just the builder but key suppliers as well.

[LivinLOS]

I am half and half on that.. My wife is quite forceful and can handle herself..

But on a subject like building, where she doesnt have experience, she would 90% of the time demur to 'Pee' whoever who told her this is how its done.. Even tho she can be strong, its that situation of male dominated subject shes unsure of where she would maybe accept explanations or excuses.

[mascarabertha]

top built two houses and 4 condo conversions for me and we're still talking

[maderaroja]

top built two houses and 4 condo conversions for me and we're still talking

He sounds good, but I am not wealthy enough to do the big construction jobs. He probably would not be interested in mine.

[mascarabertha]

top built two houses and 4 condo conversions for me and we're still talking

He sounds good, but I am not wealthy enough to do the big construction jobs. He probably would not be interested in mine.

try him he's approachable

[Rancid]

that's nonsense....my wife & I extensively research & learned construction techniques and materials before we started to build and all along the way she communicated quite effectively with the builder and their supervisors...they demonstrated total respect and adherence to her comments and instructions..and not just the builder but key suppliers as well.

Agree, my wife does the same with builders now she knows what she's talking about. Two tradesmen left as they claimed she was harassing them, they were in fact doing things incorrectly or slowly.

Nice to use architects if you can of course. I used a design program on my PC and did it myself, the builder then had the engineer do his structural thing. Place turned out great, an alternative for those that know what they want.

[mascarabertha]

that's nonsense....my wife & I extensively research & learned construction techniques and materials before we started to build and all along the way she communicated quite effectively with the builder and their supervisors...they demonstrated total respect and adherence to her comments and instructions..and not just the builder but key suppliers as well.

Agree, my wife does the same with builders now she knows what she's talking about. Two tradesmen left as they claimed she was harassing them, they were in fact doing things incorrectly or slowly.

Nice to use architects if you can of course. I used a design program on my PC and did it myself, the builder then had the engineer do his structural thing. Place turned out great, an alternative for those that know what they want.

I'm sure that works for a basis cookie cutter one story house, however If you want more your way will likely not work