Thai-style Wooden House, Self-build

[kenio]

I wish you a happy new year to, my girlfriend are building a beautiful house in her village, she is extremely handy so she have done a lot of work herself. She had the land from her late father. It´s built in typically thaistyle, not farangthaistyle but the way they built houses in the villages. It´s really good locking, big livingroom with aircond. one bedroom big bath for wc shower and washingmachine, thaistyle kitchen.

Many people at least in my country have fancy kitchen but can´t cook, in this kitchen she make the most delicious meals. One bedroom because we have no kids, and if we have visitors we can use a house other side of the street that is owned and built by an farrang relative.

Most of the money she spend on the house she earn by hard work when she was in my country, actually we worked together.We haven´t the intention to live there 12 month a year, but at least 2-4 month when it´s to cold in my country.

Now the best part of it, the price is less than 300.000 bath, she is very toughskinned, nobody cheat her, and by the way she´s 155cm very beautiful, not like an russian female wrestler if somebody think that after my description.

The moral is that it don´t need to cost millions to build a house in Thailand, hope you can read my schoolenglish.

[mossss]

Here's the link I mentioned above. http://www.dtcp.go.th/workinfo/house_model/doc_house.html

The site is all in Thai. It's not too hard to click around and find what you are looking for.

Thanks, Farma.

I am currently having a house built from plans obtained from this website (house number 30). And it is working out to be pretty well in the ball park as far as the recommended pricing goes.

The Thai builder who is handling the project was more than happy to make some plan changes free of charge and now the house is 50% completed I am impressed with the whole thing.

I was lucky enough to have a builder mate in Thailand for a visit when they were doing the foundations and columns..he was impressed with the plans and the specs.

Andy

Andy, so pleased to see your post as I am also just beginning the process of having this house constructed and its a great relief to hear that its going well and that you are happy with it so far.

Was there a problem with the foundations and columns that meant it was useful for your builder friend to be there? just wondering whether I should also invite a similarly skilled friend to take a 'holiday' here at that point.

Would also love it if you could post some progress reports here.

thanks again

richard

[londonthai]

richard, there always should be somebody from the property owner to watch what's happening at the bulding site, contractors will cut corners and you will end up with a substandard house

[khunandy]

Here's the link I mentioned above. http://www.dtcp.go.th/workinfo/house_model/doc_house.html

The site is all in Thai. It's not too hard to click around and find what you are looking for.

Thanks, Farma.

I am currently having a house built from plans obtained from this website (house number 30). And it is working out to be pretty well in the ball park as far as the recommended pricing goes.

The Thai builder who is handling the project was more than happy to make some plan changes free of charge and now the house is 50% completed I am impressed with the whole thing.

I was lucky enough to have a builder mate in Thailand for a visit when they were doing the foundations and columns..he was impressed with the plans and the specs.

Andy

Andy, so pleased to see your post as I am also just beginning the process of having this house constructed and its a great relief to hear that its going well and that you are happy with it so far.

Was there a problem with the foundations and columns that meant it was useful for your builder friend to be there? just wondering whether I should also invite a similarly skilled friend to take a 'holiday' here at that point.

Would also love it if you could post some progress reports here.

thanks again

richard

Hi Richard,

I had the land built up 1.5 metres and on the plans I think there is an option to drive piles into the ground underneath the foundations, ours were driven in at least 5 metres, I thought it was excessive but was not complaining. My friend happened to be visiting at the time and being a builder in Australia he was very interested in the plans. According to him it was a good, plan and if all specs were adhered to a good solid house would be built.

As I mentioned before I had a few changes to the plan to incorperate a farang kitchen as well as a Thai kitchen and also made the the main bedroom upstairsa lot bigger and an office.

I will start posting some progress photos in a few weeks when I am back at the site and in the meantime good luck with your project.

As londonthai mentions we have relatives as well as my wife checking on materials used etc there is also a guy employed by the builder to live on site and he is a family friend and ensures all materials are as stated, so far there has been no problems

Where are you building Richard? I am near Chumphae west of Khon kaen and will be back the first week of Feb if you want to check my house out.

Andy

Edited January 14, 2007 by khunandy

[mossss]

Here's the link I mentioned above. http://www.dtcp.go.th/workinfo/house_model/doc_house.html

The site is all in Thai. It's not too hard to click around and find what you are looking for.

Thanks, Farma.

I am currently having a house built from plans obtained from this website (house number 30). And it is working out to be pretty well in the ball park as far as the recommended pricing goes.

The Thai builder who is handling the project was more than happy to make some plan changes free of charge and now the house is 50% completed I am impressed with the whole thing.

I was lucky enough to have a builder mate in Thailand for a visit when they were doing the foundations and columns..he was impressed with the plans and the specs.

Andy

Andy, so pleased to see your post as I am also just beginning the process of having this house constructed and its a great relief to hear that its going well and that you are happy with it so far.

Was there a problem with the foundations and columns that meant it was useful for your builder friend to be there? just wondering whether I should also invite a similarly skilled friend to take a 'holiday' here at that point.

Would also love it if you could post some progress reports here.

thanks again

richard

Hi Richard,

I had the land built up 1.5 metres and on the plans I think there is an option to drive piles into the ground underneath the foundations, ours were driven in at least 5 metres, I thought it was excessive but was not complaining. My friend happened to be visiting at the time and being a builder in Australia he was very interested in the plans. According to him it was a good, plan and if all specs were adhered to a good solid house would be built.

As I mentioned before I had a few changes to the plan to incorperate a farang kitchen as well as a Thai kitchen and also made the the main bedroom upstairsa lot bigger and an office.

I will start posting some progress photos in a few weeks when I am back at the site and in the meantime good luck with your project.

As londonthai mentions we have relatives as well as my wife checking on materials used etc there is also a guy employed by the builder to live on site and he is a family friend and ensures all materials are as stated, so far there has been no problems

Where are you building Richard? I am near Chumphae west of Khon kaen and will be back the first week of Feb if you want to check my house out.

Andy

Thanks for the hints. I will be building in Krabi, and fortunately I already live here and have a rented house only a few kilometres away so will be on site pretty much every day myself to hopefully make sure everything moves along. I have some building experience so I'm quite happy about keeping an eye on the above ground stuff myself but as a house is only as good as its foundations this is really where I think I need to draft in some expert help to make sure its done properly. I have a Thai architect friend in Bangkok who will be coming down from time to time at critical points so its just matter of working out what those are

The site is not entirely flat and there will need to be some work to flatten it out but fortunately not a vast amount of building up.

The current job is selecting the right building company so several of them have the plans and I'm just waiting to hear back with quotes. I have a feeling that around here, the quotes will be quite a bit higher than your part of the world, but I should find out soon. Will be very interesting to see if there is a north south divide on building costs here. I'm getting a quote from one in Phuket and couple of local companies, these should be back in the next weeks or so.

I'll be watching with great interest for any photos of your house Andy, and again all hints are greatly appreciated. Thanks for the offer of checking your house out but my wife and I are expecting our first baby to make an appearence in the next week so its going to be a busy time and I don't think she'd thank me for disappearing off right now. Also hope everything is as you expect when you get back in early feb.

richard

[mossss]

Here's the link I mentioned above. http://www.dtcp.go.th/workinfo/house_model/doc_house.html

The site is all in Thai. It's not too hard to click around and find what you are looking for.

Thanks, Farma.

I am currently having a house built from plans obtained from this website (house number 30). And it is working out to be pretty well in the ball park as far as the recommended pricing goes.

Hi again, just got quotes back from builders today and all are coming in quite a bit over the recommended pricing, just wondered if you had economised on any elements, like roof or parquet floor?

The Thai builder who is handling the project was more than happy to make some plan changes free of charge and now the house is 50% completed I am impressed with the whole thing.

I was lucky enough to have a builder mate in Thailand for a visit when they were doing the foundations and columns..he was impressed with the plans and the specs.

Andy

Andy, so pleased to see your post as I am also just beginning the process of having this house constructed and its a great relief to hear that its going well and that you are happy with it so far.

Was there a problem with the foundations and columns that meant it was useful for your builder friend to be there? just wondering whether I should also invite a similarly skilled friend to take a 'holiday' here at that point.

Would also love it if you could post some progress reports here.

thanks again

richard

Hi Richard,

I had the land built up 1.5 metres and on the plans I think there is an option to drive piles into the ground underneath the foundations, ours were driven in at least 5 metres, I thought it was excessive but was not complaining. My friend happened to be visiting at the time and being a builder in Australia he was very interested in the plans. According to him it was a good, plan and if all specs were adhered to a good solid house would be built.

As I mentioned before I had a few changes to the plan to incorperate a farang kitchen as well as a Thai kitchen and also made the the main bedroom upstairsa lot bigger and an office.

I will start posting some progress photos in a few weeks when I am back at the site and in the meantime good luck with your project.

As londonthai mentions we have relatives as well as my wife checking on materials used etc there is also a guy employed by the builder to live on site and he is a family friend and ensures all materials are as stated, so far there has been no problems

Where are you building Richard? I am near Chumphae west of Khon kaen and will be back the first week of Feb if you want to check my house out.

Andy

[mossss]

Here's the link I mentioned above. http://www.dtcp.go.th/workinfo/house_model/doc_house.html

The site is all in Thai. It's not too hard to click around and find what you are looking for.

Thanks, Farma.

I am currently having a house built from plans obtained from this website (house number 30). And it is working out to be pretty well in the ball park as far as the recommended pricing goes.

Hi again, just got quotes back from builders today and all are coming in quite a bit over the recommended pricing, just wondered if you had economised on any elements, like roof or parquet floor?

The Thai builder who is handling the project was more than happy to make some plan changes free of charge and now the house is 50% completed I am impressed with the whole thing.

I was lucky enough to have a builder mate in Thailand for a visit when they were doing the foundations and columns..he was impressed with the plans and the specs.

Andy

Andy, so pleased to see your post as I am also just beginning the process of having this house constructed and its a great relief to hear that its going well and that you are happy with it so far.

Was there a problem with the foundations and columns that meant it was useful for your builder friend to be there? just wondering whether I should also invite a similarly skilled friend to take a 'holiday' here at that point.

Would also love it if you could post some progress reports here.

thanks again

richard

Hi Richard,

I had the land built up 1.5 metres and on the plans I think there is an option to drive piles into the ground underneath the foundations, ours were driven in at least 5 metres, I thought it was excessive but was not complaining. My friend happened to be visiting at the time and being a builder in Australia he was very interested in the plans. According to him it was a good, plan and if all specs were adhered to a good solid house would be built.

As I mentioned before I had a few changes to the plan to incorperate a farang kitchen as well as a Thai kitchen and also made the the main bedroom upstairsa lot bigger and an office.

I will start posting some progress photos in a few weeks when I am back at the site and in the meantime good luck with your project.

As londonthai mentions we have relatives as well as my wife checking on materials used etc there is also a guy employed by the builder to live on site and he is a family friend and ensures all materials are as stated, so far there has been no problems

Where are you building Richard? I am near Chumphae west of Khon kaen and will be back the first week of Feb if you want to check my house out.

Andy

[AjarnJohn]

I'm looking at building a house in the south, in Hat-Yai.

Just been reading the thread and would like to know typically how much land costs to buy.

I've heard that in the South it's a bit more expensive.

My budget is 2.2 million baht for everything from purchasing the land to getting the keys to the property when finished.

Many thanks.

AjarnJohn

[khunandy]

Richard[/color]

Hi Richard

In one of my few quiet moment at work I came across a couple of photos I had on a thumb drive. I will be home next week to check it all out but the wife assures me all is going well. all the upstairs and downstairs walls are up and they have started to tile the roof.

On the shot of the column foundations you will see the stub of the driven pylon. This is a metre below ground level and then built on for the house colums.

All the downstairs colums are bricked around then rendered, I dont know if this is for looks or for strength.

I will post more photos in series when I get myself organised in the next week or two.

Andy

[Swelters]

Here is a picture of the house that we dismantled (it was on condemned land) and rebuilt in Bangkok. The story of this project and a good deal of commentary on issues of comfort of an old thai house are presented on our blog at:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/blog/swelters/index.php?

Edited January 24, 2007 by Swelters

[mossss]

Hi Andy, great pics and look forward to hearing new progress, looks like you have a beautiful location also. Getting variable quotes from builders in krabi but noone getting close to the 2 million. did you make any changes to the materials used in the original plans?

[khunandy]

Hi Andy, great pics and look forward to hearing new progress, looks like you have a beautiful location also. Getting variable quotes from builders in krabi but noone getting close to the 2 million. did you make any changes to the materials used in the original plans?

No mate, no changes to materials, just more of them with the enlargement of one "wing". The only changes I made were to some room dimensions and I decided to get rid of the internal stairway and one of the bathrooms in exchange for a farang kitchen upstairs (thai one downstairs). That is the beauty of these plans, if they are followed correctly they don't leave much room for discussion about the Thai way and the farang way. My builder friend from Aussie said they were "up to spec" as far as he could see and it was blind faith from there.

It is a bit hard not being there but my wife is doing a good job and from previous experience there will always be the "I should have done that differently" factor but I tend to go with the flow a lot easier these days. Mai Pen rai and all that.

The builder also wants to treat our house like a bit of a sample to his future clients and I dont mind, I will probably get a nicely finished job due to this.

The wife sent me a couple of updates today.

Maybe I should start a new topic or thread on the progress.

Andy

[khunandy]

I feel like I am off the topic here, new topic started :

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=103520e

Andy

Edited January 28, 2007 by khunandy

[PalmWoody]

i have a question, the link http://www.dtcp.go.th/workinfo/house_model/doc_house.html does not work , anybody knows where i can get the floorplans.

[Crossy]

i have a question, the link http://www.dtcp.go.th/workinfo/house_model/doc_house.html does not work , anybody knows where i can get the floorplans.

Yep try here http://www.crossy.co.uk/Thai_House_Plans/ there's also a link to the government site, for some unknown reason they keep moving it

[Frotting]

Hi everyone.

We are intending to build a modest (1-2 bed, lounge, kitchen) wooden house on land in Chantaburi. We will be doing this on a pretty tight budget so are looking for (hopefully local) suppliers of 2nd-hand construction timber. In addition, I would like to do most of the work myself. I know this may sound odd to many people considering local labour costs but I'm a carpenter myself and it's what I enjoy. We'll hire labourers for the hhe hole digging, heavy lifting, etc; I've done enough of that in this life!

I'm wondering if anyone reading this has actually built their own house (as opposed to having one built.) If so, did you engage a Thai carpenter to help you or did you go it alone and figure out the Thai joinery techniques yourself? (If so, do you know of any good resources on the subject apart from the book 'The Thai House'?) Or did you use farang joinery methods? Where did you get your wood and how much did it cost you? Importantly, what are the pitfalls? (there always are!) I'd be very interested to hear about your self-build experiences or if you know of a 2nd hand timber supplier in Chantaburi that would be great.

Thanks a lot

Rods

Rods

When you say 'Thai style house' do you mean the traditional wooden Thai house, as in the book you mention? If so, I'm building one based on this style and have travelled practically all over the country trying to source the correct materials.

Regarding the carpentry. I've found a carpenter who doesn't want to totally shaft me, totally by accident one day. He was in the process of building a wooden Thai house in Bang Lamung. The best carpenters that are capable of building these houses are around the central (Bangkok, Ayuttaya, Ang Thong, Phetchaburi) area, since the style is different in the north as you know. My advice would be to tour around and find a relatively new one and find out who the carpenter was. Hire him and work alongside him.

I've tried to study the traditional Thai joinery techniques and know a little more than I did 4 years ago. As you imply by your message, the traditional Thai home exists on a totally different concept of joinery as does, for example, the English timber framed homes of the middle ages. The way Thais construct a roof is totally different to our trussed system. I believe the European joinery to be superior in terms of engineering and distribution of loadings, but the Thai system is by far more elegant and aesthetic.

The book you speak about (Thai House) is quite good as far as it goes. But my problem with it, I found it no good drawings and explanations of the joinery methods. For example, how the overhangs are supported and the 'false' gables constructed at each end. You'll need to see an existing house incomplete and photograph the framing. That's why I intend to find an old boy whose been doing it for years and work alongside him and learn the methods whilst helping out.

The cladding is not so much a problem. These are built modular from frame and panel construction usually of teak. The carpenter I spoke of in bang Lamung had these made by a joinery for him. My guess is that they used spindle moulders and other machinery to speed it up. All the joints were mortice and tenon and pinned with dowels - I didn't notice any glue. Perhaps this allows for movement/expansion/contraction without the warping and cracks that would develop using glue when you get differential expansion.

The house posts (called 'Sao') are usually minimum diameter 10" (250mm) at the bottom and taper to 8" (200mm) at the top. Depending on your design will be from 8 to 10 metres long. I bought 12 of these second hand and cost me 75,000 Baht. They had been used before and repaired. Remember that traditionally these were planted in the ground on a wooden support. Not a good idea in my opinion, so I used pyramidal sandstone blocks 500 x 500 x 300 on a concrete footing to stand the Sao posts on. These posts are really heavy and needed 6 people to man-handle them.

Our place is still in construction and is on hold as I can't be there all the time (work). But I have sourced a lot of the materials, which I think is really the hardest part if you want to do it right.

Roof tiles. If you want the real thing (same clay tiles that are used on temples) you are really lucky to live in Chantaburi. There is a tile works as you come into town from Rayong on the left side of the road. They have lots of different styles and colours outside. Buy from the manufacturer and cut out the middle man.

Second hand wood. I bought some of mine in Ang Thong. There's a few places on the road from Rang Sit to Ayuttaya. Phrae in the north of Thailand is another good place for teak. It really isn't easy finding good second hand timber now. My place I will use Mai Deng and teak (Mai Sat) only. If you don't know already, Deng is a very good structural wood but not easy to work. You'll be sharpening your chisels every few minutes.

There are sources of teak in the very West that come over the border from Myanmar. A dodgy old game though, personally I wouldn't get involved but it is an option for teak.

I can tell you of a lady who wanted to sell me her Thai style building a while ago - I go to the site, take it down, put on back of lorry, pay her, go back to our land and erect it. I didn't do it as the size was not applicable to my design. I can give you details but I won't post here.

I don't want to make this thread too long. If I can give you any more information, send me a message.

Good luck with your project.

[Goinghomesoon]

Back to the OP's long-ago question. We are building a small traditional Thai style house near Phon Phisai (Nong Khai) and this week filled the site and laid an access road. We have our own 20 year old trees - mai daeng and mai praidoo - which are being felled for timber and will keep the cost down considerably, although we will still need to buy a few specific pieces. We won't begin construction for at least 12 months to allow the wood time to dry out. My other half (who is Thai) is picky about joinery and plans to spend all his time on site during the building so he can ensure his home-grown wood is treated with due respect

Our love shack will be a small 1 room affair raised 3m off the ground. The major farang concession is to put folding doors in the long wall opening onto the front balcony to double the living space and look out over the mature mango trees nearby. We also plan to tile under the house and have an open-air informal area there (with the entire design brazenly copied from another farang's Thai house nearby). Since this is only a weekend place and has no electricity we will be using eskies/ice for beer and wine and a BBQ for the odd meal (most food is eaten at the in-laws). The bathroom is a simple splash'n'dash outdoor affair water coming from the raised storage tank. We have yet to solve the drainage issue for the bathroom but maybe into the septic (very naughty I know).

Thai partner is keen to make furniture out of wood offcuts so I'm expecting rickety benches and the occasional splinter but should be good fun. Total budget is 300,000 baht - in a year or so we'll be able to tell you if that was a reasonably guess or whether we had to sell some organs to get it finished. cheers guys

[jaideeguy]

I built a small thai wood house [6mtrX12mtr] a couple of years ago for a guest house in the garden and was able to get by cheaply by using salvaged wood that came fron 2 old rice barns. lots of thow away wood due to rot and insects, but the main posts [mai dang] were in good condition...but the holes and beams determined the denensions of the house....luckily it was about the size that i wanted. we had to buy maybe 15% more wood to make up for the waste. still only cost 60kbaht for wood.

Look around your mooban and you may find some old rice barns for sale.

two tips i would add....

1] do a proper ring beam under ground for good foundation. wood houses are light weight [compared with cement, so unless you are in a marsh, you shouldn't need pilings.

2] DON't bury your posts in cement or soil!! instead, make a raised footing with steel straps to secure and place a moisture barrier [sheet galvanized steel] between cement and wood for prevention of bugs and rot.

if you don't know what i'm talking about, i'll post foto.

good luck,

jdg

[SarahPJ]

I too am about to start building in Krabi, so RIchard from Krabi - any recommendations would be very much appreciated - especially architects and contractors...................in fact, any advice!

Thanks

The site is all in Thai. It's not too hard to click around and find what you are looking for.

Thanks, Farma.

I am currently having a house built from plans obtained from this website (house number 30). And it is working out to be pretty well in the ball park as far as the recommended pricing goes.

The Thai builder who is handling the project was more than happy to make some plan changes free of charge and now the house is 50% completed I am impressed with the whole thing.

I was lucky enough to have a builder mate in Thailand for a visit when they were doing the foundations and columns..he was impressed with the plans and the specs.

Andy

Andy, so pleased to see your post as I am also just beginning the process of having this house constructed and its a great relief to hear that its going well and that you are happy with it so far.

Was there a problem with the foundations and columns that meant it was useful for your builder friend to be there? just wondering whether I should also invite a similarly skilled friend to take a 'holiday' here at that point.

Would also love it if you could post some progress reports here.

thanks again

richard

Hi Richard,

I had the land built up 1.5 metres and on the plans I think there is an option to drive piles into the ground underneath the foundations, ours were driven in at least 5 metres, I thought it was excessive but was not complaining. My friend happened to be visiting at the time and being a builder in Australia he was very interested in the plans. According to him it was a good, plan and if all specs were adhered to a good solid house would be built.

As I mentioned before I had a few changes to the plan to incorperate a farang kitchen as well as a Thai kitchen and also made the the main bedroom upstairsa lot bigger and an office.

I will start posting some progress photos in a few weeks when I am back at the site and in the meantime good luck with your project.

As londonthai mentions we have relatives as well as my wife checking on materials used etc there is also a guy employed by the builder to live on site and he is a family friend and ensures all materials are as stated, so far there has been no problems

Where are you building Richard? I am near Chumphae west of Khon kaen and will be back the first week of Feb if you want to check my house out.

Andy

Thanks for the hints. I will be building in Krabi, and fortunately I already live here and have a rented house only a few kilometres away so will be on site pretty much every day myself to hopefully make sure everything moves along. I have some building experience so I'm quite happy about keeping an eye on the above ground stuff myself but as a house is only as good as its foundations this is really where I think I need to draft in some expert help to make sure its done properly. I have a Thai architect friend in Bangkok who will be coming down from time to time at critical points so its just matter of working out what those are

The site is not entirely flat and there will need to be some work to flatten it out but fortunately not a vast amount of building up.

The current job is selecting the right building company so several of them have the plans and I'm just waiting to hear back with quotes. I have a feeling that around here, the quotes will be quite a bit higher than your part of the world, but I should find out soon. Will be very interesting to see if there is a north south divide on building costs here. I'm getting a quote from one in Phuket and couple of local companies, these should be back in the next weeks or so.

I'll be watching with great interest for any photos of your house Andy, and again all hints are greatly appreciated. Thanks for the offer of checking your house out but my wife and I are expecting our first baby to make an appearence in the next week so its going to be a busy time and I don't think she'd thank me for disappearing off right now. Also hope everything is as you expect when you get back in early feb.

richard

[eddiemonster]

I too am about to start building in Krabi, so RIchard from Krabi - any recommendations would be very much appreciated - especially architects and contractors...................in fact, any advice!

[londonthai]

those are luxury foreign style villas and not thai style self build wooden houses

[cambtek]

Just found this site,very good.

I live in cambodia and i have just bought a block fronting the bassac river about 30 ks from phnom penh.Block faces east and it is 14 by 75 metres,typical narrow khmer block.

We have already done a rough set out and the family have cut down several coconut trees and assorted other stuff.We still have several coconut trees,two mango,pineapple,bananas and jackfruit.

Next week we will construct perimeter fencing but i am still unsure of what sort of house to build.I have drawn up plans for a nine by six metre pool near the river with a house behind ten metres wide by seventeen deep with two big bedrooms with ensuites and one small bedroom and another bathroom.

the khmers are good at building cheaply with reinfroced concrete and masonry using the crappy khmer brick.I am going to have columns with a suspended slab but as to the masonry and roof I am not sure.there is an asutralian company here now making a 190mm thick hollow core block and a 90 mm thick block for internal walls.

The big blocks are great thermally and i would like to use them but the khmers do not know how to lay them.I want a steel colorbond roof instead of tiles with lots of insulation under the steel and on top of the ceiling.

I expect the pool to cost 20k and the house 30k,it is very cheap to build here.

Anyone here who has built with blocks in thialnd who can advise me?

[Goinghomesoon]

Thai partner is keen to make furniture out of wood offcuts so I'm expecting rickety benches and the occasional splinter but should be good fun. Total budget is 300,000 baht - in a year or so we'll be able to tell you if that was a reasonably guess or whether we had to sell some organs to get it finished. cheers guys

Update on my post from last year. We are about to start building next month, having let our clay foundation dirt settle through 2 rainy seasons. In the 18 months we've been planning this the cost has increased and we now think it will be closer to 400,000 THB all up for a traditional wooden house done nicely. This doesn't include the cost of wood as we have our own timber. We milled the wood & painted it with termite medicine last year. It has been stored in the eaves of the pig-shed to season since then. It's going to be a small place but hopefully one we can stay in for holidays during most of the year - I've already ruled out hot season though!

(edited for really, really bad spelling...)

Edited August 24, 2009 by Goinghomesoon

[JoanMilkshake]

I found this house plan in the Ban Lae Suan magazine, and when I emailed the editor to ask where to buy plans he said that these house plans were free for use and did not require a purchase. I love this house:

Dear Sbk, we're new on this website as we're searching to get our dreamhouse built in Thaïland. We saw all of the gov. houses but yours amazing. How could we get the plans? Thanks for your reply along with specs and all you have concerning this house. Joan and Eric

[choppertony]

Here,s a site you may be interested in , they supply and erect your house , you can choose your style or design your own , all electric , wiring , plumbing etc , ready to move in . thailannahome.com and all made from Teak and hard timbers , Chok dee .

[JatujakShopper]

Here's a picture of the house that my wife built for us. She hired a contractor and told him and his 3 buddies exactly how to build it. We've done some of the work on it ourselves too. It's been a fun project. We have one more room to add on and the garden between that new room and the carport, then we're finished. We talked about building a new and bigger home, but neither one of us want to leave this one.

That's gorgeous! I am now faced with this myself and think... I want to hire you two!

[JoanMilkshake]

Here,s a site you may be interested in , they supply and erect your house , you can choose your style or design your own , all electric , wiring , plumbing etc , ready to move in . thailannahome.com and all made from Teak and hard timbers , Chok dee .

Thanks a lot Chok dee,

I had a look at the website, prices seem a bit expensive especially as I'm architect and we have a couple of freinds, building contractors, back here in Belgium willing to live this experience with us. In all, we'll end up with 3 houses to build all together for 3 families establishing in the south.

We'd like to handle this as it's part of our jobs and not just wait for the keys when everything's finished. We're ready for the hasstle of dealing with Thaïs.

As one had posted about his wife, I'm just a 1.62m light-weight woman but when I go on site, men always end up doing what I want and, I'm used to negociating with Asians...

Anyhow, this is why we're looking for free plans to build ourselves with local labour.

Any hints about this dreamhouse posted by Sbk? Or any other according to what we're looking for.

Bye

[choppertony]

Here,s a site you may be interested in , they supply and erect your house , you can choose your style or design your own , all electric , wiring , plumbing etc , ready to move in . thailannahome.com and all made from Teak and hard timbers , Chok dee .

Thanks a lot Chok dee,

I had a look at the website, prices seem a bit expensive especially as I'm architect and we have a couple of freinds, building contractors, back here in Belgium willing to live this experience with us. In all, we'll end up with 3 houses to build all together for 3 families establishing in the south.

We'd like to handle this as it's part of our jobs and not just wait for the keys when everything's finished. We're ready for the hasstle of dealing with Thaïs.

As one had posted about his wife, I'm just a 1.62m light-weight woman but when I go on site, men always end up doing what I want and, I'm used to negociating with Asians...

Anyhow, this is why we're looking for free plans to build ourselves with local labour.

Any hints about this dreamhouse posted by Sbk? Or any other according to what we're looking for.

Bye

Your Welcome ,

Chok Dee - thai for good luck !

have a look at this site , plancival.com You can download plans for loads of thai style homes for free

Tony .

EDIT Corrected website http://www.plancivil.com/ Crossy

[steven100]

Has anyone ever shipped a thai style wooden house to there home country ? would the transport cost & import make it to expensive ?

I love this house below & would like to ship one similar home and build on my land in Australia.