recently had this house built in saluang nai, 30 min n/w of mea rim, thai builder was great, no probs at all, just gave him the plans n he built it on a labour only price with me buying the materials, he wasn't the cheapest estimate but looking at previous work his finishes were the best, been living in it 3 months now n no probs even with storms n hailstones, I would recommend him to anyone, get in touch for more details

Hello Saluandnai,

Your post is too positive. The lack of Thai bashing means hat you can expect little replies to your post.

Hope you will live long and happy in your house.

R'tje

always surprised that rain gutters are not often used here

don't care about the lack of reply's I posted this as info for anyone building a house in the area

always surprised that rain gutters are not often used here

Possibly because then they would have to look at drainage etc for the downpipes. And getting good quality guttering can be quite a task....if you don't know the right people.

What was the final cost and sqm ??

I recently met a guy who was really happy with his builder.. Close on 10 million for a 140 sqm bungalow.. Without the external wall and garden landscaping.

If hes happy.. Up to him..

What was the final cost and sqm ??

I recently met a guy who was really happy with his builder.. Close on 10 million for a 140 sqm bungalow.. Without the external wall and garden landscaping.

If hes happy.. Up to him..

Amaxing what some people say, and do. Got to wonder which it is.

What was the final cost and sqm ??

I recently met a guy who was really happy with his builder.. Close on 10 million for a 140 sqm bungalow.. Without the external wall and garden landscaping.

If hes happy.. Up to him..

2 en suite bedrooms, living / dining room, kitchen, w/c off living room, laundry room off living room , 92 sq m, outside living area 24 sq m, builders total cost 700,000 builder and materials 1.8 mil

always surprised that rain gutters are not often used here

Possibly because then they would have to look at drainage etc for the downpipes. And getting good quality guttering can be quite a task....if you don't know the right people.

Have been looking in Watsadus this week for some guttering to collect rain water into my holed/replaced/now repaired & to be recycled tower water tank. Have a separate triple car car-port that's just crying out for creating free garden water stocks (not quite free of course but the white PVC stuff I eventualy found will do the job and is quite reasonably priced).

Only in my fourth one (Global House) did I find any on display. First sortie was however limited to a look-see exploration in the store and BM sheds at the back. No doubt others could have ordered something.

What was the final cost and sqm ??

I recently met a guy who was really happy with his builder.. Close on 10 million for a 140 sqm bungalow.. Without the external wall and garden landscaping.

If hes happy.. Up to him..

2 en suite bedrooms, living / dining room, kitchen, w/c off living room, laundry room off living room , 92 sq m, outside living area 24 sq m, builders total cost 700,000 builder and materials 1.8 mil

impressive, thanks for sharing. any more photos outside and in pls?

What was the final cost and sqm ??

I recently met a guy who was really happy with his builder.. Close on 10 million for a 140 sqm bungalow.. Without the external wall and garden landscaping.

If hes happy.. Up to him..

2 en suite bedrooms, living / dining room, kitchen, w/c off living room, laundry room off living room , 92 sq m, outside living area 24 sq m, builders total cost 700,000 builder and materials 1.8 mil

So the house cost 2.5M and doesn't include the price of the land. That works out at 21,500 per SqM (1.8+0.7/116).... Is it just me, or does that not look a bit steep.. I thought that the going rate for building a house was 10-15,000 per SqM depending on materials used...

What was the final cost and sqm ??

I recently met a guy who was really happy with his builder.. Close on 10 million for a 140 sqm bungalow.. Without the external wall and garden landscaping.

If hes happy.. Up to him..

2 en suite bedrooms, living / dining room, kitchen, w/c off living room, laundry room off living room , 92 sq m, outside living area 24 sq m, builders total cost 700,000 builder and materials 1.8 mil

So the house cost 2.5M and doesn't include the price of the land. That works out at 21,500 per SqM (1.8+0.7/116).... Is it just me, or does that not look a bit steep.. I thought that the going rate for building a house was 10-15,000 per SqM depending on materials used...

no, the TOTAL cost was 1.8 million

What was the final cost and sqm ??

I recently met a guy who was really happy with his builder.. Close on 10 million for a 140 sqm bungalow.. Without the external wall and garden landscaping.

If hes happy.. Up to him..

2 en suite bedrooms, living / dining room, kitchen, w/c off living room, laundry room off living room , 92 sq m, outside living area 24 sq m, builders total cost 700,000 builder and materials 1.8 mil

So the house cost 2.5M and doesn't include the price of the land. That works out at 21,500 per SqM (1.8+0.7/116).... Is it just me, or does that not look a bit steep.. I thought that the going rate for building a house was 10-15,000 per SqM depending on materials used...

no, the TOTAL cost was 1.8 million the total covered area inside and out is 135 sq m , so the cost per sq m is 13,333 baht

What was the final cost and sqm ??

I recently met a guy who was really happy with his builder.. Close on 10 million for a 140 sqm bungalow.. Without the external wall and garden landscaping.

If hes happy.. Up to him..

2 en suite bedrooms, living / dining room, kitchen, w/c off living room, laundry room off living room , 92 sq m, outside living area 24 sq m, builders total cost 700,000 builder and materials 1.8 mil

impressive, thanks for sharing. any more photos outside and in pls?

there ya go some more pics

nice photos many thanks

Well done. Nice to build-in the closets and vent the crawl space under the house. You might need to put screens over those vents or you could wait and see what critters find homes under yours, we had a few under ours. Maybe you already have on the inside, can't see for sure.

Oh, and thanks for the selfie.

its a bit more than crawl space because of the way the land is the space ranges from 1m at one end to 1.5m at the other end where there are mesh steel gates, very handy to store my lawnmower n stuff

Is that drywall/sheetrock on the eaves? Are there any expansion joints in the concrete?

Is that drywall/sheetrock on the eaves? Are there any expansion joints in the concrete?

the eves, facia and soffit are made from smartwood, I believe its made from a composite containing cement particles amongst other things, easy to work with and weatherproof, as to expansion joints in the concrete, i'm not sure which concrete you are referring to

the porch....shouldn't be more than a ratio of 3:2 without an expansion joint, 1/4 as deep as the thickness of the slab. It's one of the top 5 or 10 things to look out for with Thai builders. The venting on the crawl space looks good..that's another box they will often not tick.

I presume you mean the balcony,no expansion joint but I have yet to see one on any balcony anywhere,ang have never seen any cracking due to expansion/contraction, however i'm not a structural engineer and time will tell

Not being an expert can I ask the reason why the vent is there and the crawl space as opposed to filled concrete like we see in England?

that's typical for wet, tropical climates, and also the soil.....the vents reduce condensation on the footers.

A word about expansion joints in concrete "flatwork." http://www.cement.org/for-concrete-books-learning/concrete-technology/concrete-construction/contraction-control-joints-in-concrete-flatwork

that's typical for wet, tropical climates, and also the soil.....the vents reduce condensation on the footers.

A word about expansion joints in concrete "flatwork." http://www.cement.org/for-concrete-books-learning/concrete-technology/concrete-construction/contraction-control-joints-in-concrete-flatwork

you will notice in the article there are 2 ways of controlling the cracking in the concrete slab, the first being steel reinforcement, during the construction of my house there was plenty of reinforcing throughout as per the structural plans so I don't think I will have any problems with that. the reason I started this post was as information for anyone new to the area ( as I was) about to build a house needing a competent builder, not really to get into the ins n outs of the actual building process

saluandnai, understood and very much appreciated

Nice looking house .Do you plan to landscape the garden ? How large is the land plot ?Where did you get the plans for the house ? ..........

What was the final cost and sqm ??

I recently met a guy who was really happy with his builder.. Close on 10 million for a 140 sqm bungalow.. Without the external wall and garden landscaping.

If hes happy.. Up to him..

2 en suite bedrooms, living / dining room, kitchen, w/c off living room, laundry room off living room , 92 sq m, outside living area 24 sq m, builders total cost 700,000 builder and materials 1.8 mil

So the house cost 2.5M and doesn't include the price of the land. That works out at 21,500 per SqM (1.8+0.7/116).... Is it just me, or does that not look a bit steep.. I thought that the going rate for building a house was 10-15,000 per SqM depending on materials used...

no, the TOTAL cost was 1.8 million

Very strange way to write it then.. 700 builder AND materials 1.8 in no way reads TOTAL 1.8.

1.8 is fine.. 2.5 would be a stretch without a lot of high end stuff in there somewhere.

that's typical for wet, tropical climates, and also the soil.....the vents reduce condensation on the footers.

A word about expansion joints in concrete "flatwork." http://www.cement.org/for-concrete-books-learning/concrete-technology/concrete-construction/contraction-control-joints-in-concrete-flatwork

you will notice in the article there are 2 ways of controlling the cracking in the concrete slab, the first being steel reinforcement, during the construction of my house there was plenty of reinforcing throughout as per the structural plans so I don't think I will have any problems with that. the reason I started this post was as information for anyone new to the area ( as I was) about to build a house needing a competent builder, not really to get into the ins n outs of the actual building process

Yep there are a lot of slabs around, properly reinforced with steel that have lasted for many decades. Shorting on the cement, steel or using bamboo instead of steel creates most of the problems. Some guys are just obsessed with expansion joints often because theirs does not expand any more, just ignore them.

What would "cement.org" know? The steel reinforcements actually cause hairline cracking, but sure you can have a slab that will last for 200 years, if it is properly reinforced, but the cracks are an eyesore and can be prevented. It depends on the use, whether or not hairline cracks would be acceptable. Front porch? Really. And BTW, the Bangkok appraisal organization shows mid level construct cost for single story concrete at 12,500 psm as of March 2016. High end at 14,300 psm....maybe an increasing land value will offset the declining value of the house.

http://www.thaiappraisal.org/english/the2001/default.php

Nice looking house .Do you plan to landscape the garden ? How large is the land plot ?Where did you get the plans for the house ? ..........

land is 2 rai, grass n fruit trees , don't need much doing, took a plan I drew up to the local gov office where the plans need to be approved n they drew the structural plans for me for 15,000 baht