Building Costs - Why So High?

[Filer]

Although there's a recent topic in this forum on building a house, I thought this was worth a separate topic.

Can someone explain to me why building costs in Thailand (Phuket) appear to be so high? I've spent some time this last year looking at the possibility of building my own home for retirement here but I've more or less abandoned the idea now because of:

(i) costs

the high costs that people quote me everywhere - confirmed also by some eperienced expats who have been through it themselves;

(ii) quality enforcement

the serious problems of quality of construction and building according to the spec., which appear to affect everybody.

The quality problem is something that I've progressively become aware of in talking to others (as well as through these forums). I think that I can understand that much of this is due to unskilled/untrained immigrant labour, without any craft traditions, working under poor supervision. (This does, of course, sit awkwardly in my view with some wonderful Thai standards of craftsmanship in other fields, from ceramics to textiles to clothes manufacturing (some of the best quality in Asia) to hotel management etc.)

It's the cost problem that puzzles me. Labour costs must be very low (immigrant labour). On the other hand, some materials may be on the expensive side, if imported. Energy costs, it is true, have been going up (and this rolls through into things like cement cost). But why do we end up with a typical per square metre cost for a decent spec and decent local materials (nothing luxury like marble or granite) that seems always to end up in the region of baht 20,000 per square metre for the build and finishing. I'm told that you have to expect to spend this. So, if you plan a reasonable 250 sq mtr home, this build cost will be some 5 million! I know that it's very dangerous to generalise in terms of cost per square metre between different houses, but this typical figure of 20,000 baht continues to amaze me. Am I and all the people I've spoken to being potentially ripped off as foreigners?

In Europe (again dangerously generalising) you can expect to spend around Euros 1,000 per square metre = about 50,000 baht. Does the Thailand cost really come up to some 40% of the European cost, considering all the overheads, taxes and other charges that the European cost includes?

Although I've regularly been in and out of Thailand for some 28 years now, I've never had to look at construction before (although I have worked in the industry). Just assumed that when the time came my wife and I could build a reasonably economic house here. I wish I'd studied this much sooner. Fortunately the long term rental market gives us an attractive "out" now.

So is there anybody out there with real insight into Thai building costs?

[Livinginexile]

Quotes of 20,000 bht per SqM seems very high for construction of an average cottage. Is someone getting a kick back? Is a Thai person on your side involved in the quotes?

[Naam]

But why do we end up with a typical per square metre cost for a decent spec and decent local materials (nothing luxury like marble or granite) that seems always to end up in the region of baht 20,000 per square metre for the build and finishing. I'm told that you have to expect to spend this.

So is there anybody out there with real insight into Thai building costs?

i don't know the situation in Phuket but i have completed my home in Pattaya just a few months ago. the average price per m² was around 20.000 Baht but included all bells and whistles (e.g. marble throughout, even the pool terrace) a crazy chap like me could think of.

a horrible time of ~12 months as there was hardly any supervision (except myself several hours each day) and work had to be done over and over again. the biggest problem was lack of communication and that hardly any work was carried out in correct sequence.

[Nomad97]

In my opinion 20,000K Baht per square meter is grossly over the top.

I have always thought that 5,000K per square meter is a good yard stick for a single floor dwelling without the trimmings. Good granite floors can be bought for an additional 750 Baht a square meter with a further 150 Baht a square meter to lay the floor. Marble can be more expensive and, depending on quality, anything from 1000 to 3000 Baht per square meter. Kitchen furniture and bathrooms to be added to the costs according to taste and need.

I reckon an all in price somewhere between 8,000 to 10,000 Baht a square meter for a villa to a high standard with quality floors and fittings is certainly achievable. Anything more is pure profit for a third party! Mind you, it does help to live in the countryside and away from the tourist areas. Double standards of pricing are less prevalent and the 'farang factor' is less noticeable. And building land prices at less than 300 Baht per talang wah (4 sq mtr) is a significant added advantage against land costs in the order of 20,000 Baht per talang wah in the more popular tourist areas.

[johnnyk]

I wonder if these costs are "Phuket price" a syndrome that seems prevalent in certain areas around the world. They charge it because they know most times they can get it.

I've bought a house on a development in Hua Hin and the January/06 contract build cost was about 11K per sq metre with fitted kitchen and air con extra. I've read and been told this is about the standard price for a decent non-luxe house although this price is now a year old and the cost now for the same house is about 13.5K.

Of course its a development with standardized plans, bulk purchase of materials, common infrastructure etc which would certainly make it cheaper than a one-off.

I'm in agreement with Dr. Naam about supervision, work schedules and unskilled workers. I've had a few glitches resulting from inability to read simple drawings and its going to take almost 2X as long to complete as first thought, but I know TiT so I'm not crazed about it.

IMO 20K sounds a bit high but not ridiculous and it does seem everything in Phuket costs more.

[billaaa777]

I am a private investor whom buys, designs, renovates and sells condos in Pattaya. I only hire English speaking sub-contractors who employee the same work force year round. They work for me pretty much on a continues basis. I do not build for other people. After reading this thread I understand even more why I don’t. There are a few high quality foreign owned builders in Pattaya you can hire though.

My condos range from standard units up to 5 star luxury depending on the market for that condo. My cost varies from 6,000 a meter to 15,000. Some of the largest contributors to the cost fluctuations are kitchens, bathrooms, quality of furniture, quality of appliances and quality of floor.

I have gone through numerous sub-contractors to get the team I have now. I have spent hundreds of thousands of baht and thousands of hours training this crew.

The quality problem is something that I've progressively become aware of in talking to others (as well as through these forums).

You should not have quality controls problems if you hire a reputable builder. But, if you do like my people do here and hire the cheapest people you can find I am sure you will find quality is going to only one of the issues you going to need to address.

a horrible time of ~12 months as there was hardly any supervision

My time frame to complete a single unit (30 to 50 SM) is 5 weeks and a double takes 8 weeks. A house pretty much irregardless of the size would not take any longer than 3 months to renovate. I have no idea how long it would take to build it, I am not in that business.

150 Baht a square meter to lay the floor

My cost to lay tile not including work in the bathroom is 250 to 350 per meter. My cost to lay marble is 375 to 500 per meter

The units I am working in now are the new View Talay’s which are 48 SM. Excluding the balcony and bathroom which already have been tiled require 33 SM of marble. At 150 per meter your suggesting you could get the marble floor laid.

To lay that floor you need a team of 2 to 3 labors spending 2 to 3 hours just to bring up the sand and cement. Then 2 days with a team of 4 to lay and grout the floor. Then a few hours bringing down the waste.

Since in Thailand quotes of tile or marble installation also include the installer purchasing the sand, cement, grout, cleaning supplies as well as delivering them to the site and removing the garbage from the unit. At 150 per meter your telling me your cost should be 5,000 baht. Good luck!!!

Marble can be more expensive and, depending on quality, anything from 1000 to 3000 Baht per square meter

My cost for what I think is the best marble available in Thailand is 800 per meter. Note: A one time builder can not get this cost, as I buy too much. A cost of 1,000 per meter would be a reasonable estimate. Imported marble can run up to 4,000 a meter.

I reckon an all in price somewhere between 8,000 to 10,000 Baht a square meter for a villa to a high standard with quality floors and fittings is certainly achievable. Anything more is pure profit for a third party!

I can’t build and furnish a high standard for 8,000 to 10,000 per meter. And this is my business. But, if you think you can I would strongly suggest you move to Pattaya and start a construction company. Condo’s are going up everywhere and there is real demand for quality contractors, I am sure you will be rich.

In conclusion the vast majority of the people that attempt to build for themselves the first time and go about it by doing little research and hiring the cheapest people they can find are going to encounter numerous obstacles. But, you have other alternatives that don’t necessarily cost any more after you take in account the mistakes that will be made that cost time and money. You get what you pay for.

[llso]

Something I've noticed too. Sure all the laborers migrants from upcountry and some foreign workers are still making 150-200 Baht/day. It is the Thai contractor that is making the killing. They are not stupid and see the prices that many of these Falang developers and estate agents are charging the Falangs for their Bali Fusion style luxury villas and they want a piece of the pie. They have to pass on the cost or build the homes them selves as to not eat into their huge profits.

Can't blame the Thai's it is capitalism at its finest. You see them driving in their new fancy pickups and building mansions of their own. That is why you are seeing the prices you have been qouted. As long as there are some rich Euros willing to pay 15 million for a 4 million baht house it is only going to get more expensive. The raw materials bricks , mortar ,tiles are really not that expensive.

Land is another thing here in Prachuab 6 0r 7 years ago you had pineapple farmers getting 2 baht a kilo for thier pineapples now they are selling those same fields to Falang s for houses at 5 and 6 million baht a rai. Land in Thailand is getting comparable if not more than many places in the West in price.

It's progress!

LL

[Naam]

"My cost for what I think is the best marble available in Thailand is 800 per meter. Note: A one time builder can not get this cost, as I buy too much. A cost of 1,000 per meter would be a reasonable estimate."

*****

in this respect it's worthwhile to mention that the size of the marble tiles counts costwise a lot. ex cost for laying i paid THB 1.400 per m² for 60x60cm wheras identical marble 60x30cm was approximately half the price. if one is willing to go to sizes 30x30 or even 20x20 the unit price drops below THB 500.

[monty]

Price seems to be over the top for me as well...

In Pattaya prices start from 5000 Baht/sqm for very poor quality, single skinned walls and the cheapest doors/windows you can get.

Double this price and you should be able to get decent quality, double skinned walls, decent insulated ceiling etc.

To this you have to add the price of interior doors, kitchen, appliances, aircon etc, as no builder will calculate this into a sqm price!

I reckon for 15,000 Baht you can have a pretty top of the line finished house, while 10,000 Baht/sqm should still be decent place to live in....

[ThailandTony]

I'm in the middle of constructing a smallish house in Chaiyaphum. Due to a thermo-nuclear meltdown between the long-haired General in my life and her mother, my wife has had to rent a place and move the 600k worth of furniture and possessions we recently shipped back from Dubai. Now I am in Bahrain and the family will be coming here in April. We own a fair bit of land in the village and I had prepared a 2200m2 plt for construction a couple of years ago before I went back to work in the middle east. Rtaher than lock-up our stuff in a rented house I decided to build a "small" house on this land. Basically 620k gets me a Thai village house of 112.5m2 internal and 7.5m2 (porch)external, 120m2 total. As I am not there and my wife is not a builder we will get what we are given. 90 days is the construction time and looks to be on programme, we started on 22/11/06 (a good Buddah Day). I already have a kitchen and a/c plus appliances so this price is exclusive of that but inclusive of sanitaryware in identical en-suite and family "western" bathrooms. I am in construction and you should all know that all major construction materials, cement, steel, aluminium & timber have increased by over 20% in the last year, worldwide. So this will impact on cement bags, blocks, re-bar, roof structure, roof tiles, aluminium windows and timber doors.....pretty much all of the major material requirements of your new home.

I employed a recognised house-builder rather than a herd of uncles and cousins as they could not even build the wall around the land without 30m of it collapsing and having to be re-built. If I have one pearl of wisdom it is this....visit the builders house before employing him. If he lives in a timber shack on stilts with corrugated steel and matting for walls and holes for windows, turn around and go somewhere else. If he is living in something closer to what you want to live in then agree a specification, insist on engineered drawings and agree EXACTLY at which point money changes hands i.e. at what stage of the construction. I have split mine into 4 staged payments where the builder has the most comfort in the beginning but the shoe moves onto my foot at the end.

Chok dee to all self-builders out there.

[johnnyk]

Nice post and very sensible.

Chok dee to you Tony.

Don't forget to salute the General!

[Bangkokbob]

I'm in the middle of constructing a smallish house in Chaiyaphum. Due to a thermo-nuclear meltdown between the long-haired General in my life and her mother, my wife has had to rent a place and move the 600k worth of furniture and possessions we recently shipped back from Dubai. Now I am in Bahrain and the family will be coming here in April. We own a fair bit of land in the village and I had prepared a 2200m2 plt for construction a couple of years ago before I went back to work in the middle east. Rtaher than lock-up our stuff in a rented house I decided to build a "small" house on this land. Basically 620k gets me a Thai village house of 112.5m2 internal and 7.5m2 (porch)external, 120m2 total. As I am not there and my wife is not a builder we will get what we are given. 90 days is the construction time and looks to be on programme, we started on 22/11/06 (a good Buddah Day). I already have a kitchen and a/c plus appliances so this price is exclusive of that but inclusive of sanitaryware in identical en-suite and family "western" bathrooms. I am in construction and you should all know that all major construction materials, cement, steel, aluminium & timber have increased by over 20% in the last year, worldwide. So this will impact on cement bags, blocks, re-bar, roof structure, roof tiles, aluminium windows and timber doors.....pretty much all of the major material requirements of your new home.

I employed a recognised house-builder rather than a herd of uncles and cousins as they could not even build the wall around the land without 30m of it collapsing and having to be re-built. If I have one pearl of wisdom it is this....visit the builders house before employing him. If he lives in a timber shack on stilts with corrugated steel and matting for walls and holes for windows, turn around and go somewhere else. If he is living in something closer to what you want to live in then agree a specification, insist on engineered drawings and agree EXACTLY at which point money changes hands i.e. at what stage of the construction. I have split mine into 4 staged payments where the builder has the most comfort in the beginning but the shoe moves onto my foot at the end.

Chok dee to all self-builders out there.

Tony,

I have been in construction for 25 years. Mostly large projects like berths, runways but also residental buildings. My wife and I went to Hua Hin with the idea of building or purchasing a home. I am sorry to say that few to none of the buildings or construction I saw came anywhere near the standards I would want. There were a few houses already lived in for a year or more that I would buy but the prices were 50 to 100 % higher than comparable ones in the USA. There were other problems besides the quality, the same builder who built the house I would buy also built a house where the land was not packed correctly and the foundation was cracking and sinking. I met several buyers who had their homes 90% completed and could not get the construction company to complete the remaining 10% and give title. I also saw a condo in Bangkok that matched my standards but the price was something like US$400 K yet I could rent the same unit for $1500 a month. Lastly I offered to provide engineering drawings ( mechanical, structural,and electrical) with specifications for everything but no company would touch it as they have plenty of customers to fleece who have no document in hand. I also saw an entire housing project, half built, all units paid for in advance bu the contractor ran out of money and ran out of town too. Given all of what I have described, I would highly recommend renting which in Thailand is about 5% per year of the construction costs, or buy a home already built that is not falling apart. While having a home built to exact specifications and engineering drawings is the only way I would do it, there is no contractor I found who would commit to this method. In fact I am sure that 80% of the contractors I met could not read an engineering drawings. I hate to be as negative as I present myself but I would hate to read your email a year from now where you spent your money and were in a jam. Rent and observe, and learn from others mistakes.

BB

[Filer]

Thanks to all who have given me (the original poster) their thoughts and experience. This cross section of views has really helped. It has definitely reinforced my impressions of the inflated costs that I and other foreigners seem to have experienced in Phuket and the need to be ultra-cautious over the quality of construction. I think that my wife and I are definitely going to take a good long term rental right from the start when we retire permanently in Phuket this coming summer - and just keep a relaxed open view for any construct/convert/purchase options which may come up.

[Naam]

I offered to provide engineering drawings ( mechanical, structural,and electrical) with specifications for everything but no company would touch it as they have plenty of customers to fleece who have no document in hand.

While having a home built to exact specifications and engineering drawings is the only way I would do it, there is no contractor I found who would commit to this method. In fact I am sure that 80% of the contractors I met could not read an engineering drawings.

*****

except for structural i provided all other drawings (rough and detail), a total of more than one hundred drawings on which i worked for weeks! however, i soon found out that nobody gave a flying fart for my drawings so i had to spend several hours a day at the site to make sure that a minimum of my demands were met. as i mentioned before it was more or less 12 months of pure horror as it was neither possible for me alone to supervise the different workgroups and make myself understood in sign language.

i moved in august and expect another 1-2 months of ironing out some hitches and glitches. the mistakes made were incredible and big money (fortunately not mine) was wasted by work not carried out in sequence.

just one of dozens of examples: rough construction was up. house was plastered inside and outside. electrician hacked slots put his pipes, plasterer patched up. airconditon chap hacked slots, put the pipes, plasterer patched up. plumbing chap hacked slots put his pipes, plasterer patched up.

my (single story) home has different levels and although these levels are two steps only all five sets of steps had to be done FOUR times with the result that even then all steps are different.

by the way, had no problems with the electrical and aircon subcontractor who followed my plans to the last detail.

my only consolation is that for the end result achieved i would have had to pay a multiple in Europe or the U.S.

[taxexile]

some very interesting ideas , experiences and advice here.

a couple of years ago we had ideas about building a house on a piece of land on samui , it wasnt part of a development , just a plot of land next to a few other plots by a recently constructed hillside road with water and electricity provided.

we found it impossible to get accurate quotes from any builder , we were continually told that prices for steel , fuel and cement were going up all the time , within the space of 3 months the price per sq. meter had risen from 12,000 to over 20,000.

building companies were taking on too much work , had staffing problems , were having to import completely unskilled labourers from wherever and we kept hearing horror stories about quality , rising costs and delays from others who were self building. half built homes were left for weeks with no work done , concrete was poured during heavy rainstorms and flaking rusty steel was used for rebar. walls were plastered before the wiring runs were installed , walls were put up , taken down and put up again , land was filled and levelled , but the soil was not pressed down , building started immediately.

we persevered looking for reputable and competent builders and were determined to go through with it , until however we encountered problems with the architect , who just couldnt get round to finishing the design off.

in the end , after months of consultations with him we decided to call it a day. we looked briefly at "second hand" houses , but were appalled by the quality and pricing , and decided for these and other reasons to look on the mainland.

we are very glad we did , on subsequent visits to samui we have seen houses that were built near to our plot deteriorate terribly. huge cracks in the walls , leaking roofs , collapsing retaining walls , subsidence and undermining due to storms last year that exposed pitifully inadequate foundation work , added to that the unbelievably high costs for the water and power (controlled by the land seller .... who brought power and water to the area ).

and the road he built has deteriorated , is never cleared of fallen branches and rubble , does not drain rainfall properly , it cascades down into homes on the lower part of the slope .

we count ourselves lucky that our architect was so slow.

all in all , the lack of control of implementing any standards , the cavalier attitude and the impunity of developers who seem to regularly fail their customers make any transaction a minefield. yet some of these properties are up for resale at 20 to 30 million baht , and more.

given all the uncertainties , i just cant understand why anybody would pay that kind of money for a property in thailand .

over the years we have watched developments go up in samui and phuket , and all they seem to succeed in doing is uglifying the once beautiful landscape , degrading forever the environment , becoming dusty ghost towns , disappointing the owners and making the mostly unscrupulous and shady developers into millionaires.

we ended up buying a condo , we could see what we were buying , we rented in the block for a while before buying and then re furbished it to our tastes after buying , and so far it seems to have been the right decision.

[SamSipEt]

we ended up buying a condo , we could see what we were buying , we rented in the block for a while before buying and then re furbished it to our tastes after buying , and so far it seems to have been the right decision.

This is exactly what we did and, like you, are also very happy with our decision. The only real downside is no garden but with some carefully selected plants inside and on the balcony it can be a pretty close second best. As to the purchase price we paid just over 30,000 baht a square meter which is very high compared to the build prices mentioned above but we got what we paid for with no deterioration in value in the last couple of years. On the contrary the going rate in our building is now over 40,000 per square meter

[Naam]

"The only real downside is no garden"

*****

i know of one downside which prevented me to even consider a condo. lived 15 months in a rented penthouse 19th floor and had to listen 23½ hours a day to noise from all sides except from top.

[taxexile]

"The only real downside is no garden"

23½ hours a day to noise

that may be the case in bangkok , but here in hua hin although all units have been sold , for most of the time the building is relatively empty. maybe 10% full time occupancy and no rentals. weekends are a little busier but at songkran and this weekend the place is heaving , as bangkokians come down for their twice yearly visit. very noisy.

its a similar story for most of the beachside condos here , peace and quiet for 95% of the time , pool and gym only used by a few people and we get to know the management , security, gardeners and other staff.

we feel very pampered here , and would thoroughly recommend it.

[ThailandTony]

Just registering agreement with earlier members on an interesting thread with sensible responses (for a very pleasant change).

I have lived in the tourist mecca of Pattaya for a couple of years before moving full time to "the village". In the 2 years I spent there we progressively renovated mama's house so that it was a comfortable for our regular monthly visits. I relocated to the village a couple of years ago and as I mentioned in my earlier post, we have gone to defcon 4 since mama & papa started waking up with a bottle of Laos Khao in both hands. In that time I have engineered drawings for a "large" house, prepared the land, organised power and water so that we are ready to go. Just one thing is missing from the equation, ME! Every member of this and other forums will tell you that the more time YOU are on the site, the more dsasters you avert. A simple acknowledgement. My house is designed to deal with all of the environmental impacts, poor substrate (piling), poor insulation (double skinned walls, double glazed windows and every single south facing surface naturally shaded by an architectural feature from sun up to sun down), water shortages (big water tank 10,000l), power outages (generator with 16 hours stand-by capability). So do I want to put all of this in the hands of someone I don't know....errrrrr, no.

When I finish here in Bahrain I will go back to my village, employ 4 guys I know who have all worked in construction overseas (and received there instructions from a non-Thai boss) and then I will build the house myself with sub-contractors for roofing only. I will be there from dusk to dawn and nothing permanant will be done without inspection and approval from me. It was another key decision to build the small house I refer to in the earlier post. It is on the same plot so supervision should be a doddle, I can keep an eye on all of the materials and nip "home" for a beer at lunch times!

Coming back to the original theme of this thread I think 10-12 months and 9-10,000 per m2 with some additional lump sums for kitchen, a/c and appliances plus the pool should do it. The house is about 300m2 and will be about Bt3,000,000.

Sawasdee pee mai to one and all!

[ThailandTony]

I forgot to mention.....of course I am in construction which helps alot!....for those of you who aren't....you probably have a mate or 2 who's a drinking buddy who has a lifetimes experience in construction and alot of time on his hands during the daylight hours. Cook for him, feed him beer and stand the occassional night out for him and he will gladly rock-up on site for a few hours each day and avert said disasters. I did this for a couple of friends in Pattaya who were doing small scale developing and were great at their other business interests but knew nothing of construction techniques and sequencing. It was refreshing to put the old grey matter to work and whilst I respected the builder I gave him a programme of construction every week with clear marks where I should be present during construction. It took a bit of getting used to but he would call me before every concrete poor, after shuttering was struck, before finishes were laid or applied and so on. I marked out cable runs, plumbing routes etc so that he could see what I wanted and supervised the start of every new element of construction. That way if anything was done wrong then I could always refer back to the initial instruction. Also, never yak yak at the workers. Always have your conversation with the same supervisor and build your relationship with him. By talking to his guys direct he is losing face and after you are gone he will countermand your instructions to regain face and only confrontation will ensue.

Finally, every Saturday I would come at the end of the day with a box of beer and a couple of Khao Loas and wish them all a great day off on Sunday. Sanook mak mak!

....time to nip down the pub and find a blocke with hands like shovels and a face with a texture like your favourite old leather coat and ask him if he fancys a beer!

Chok dee khrap!

[chownah]

The real reason why building costs are so high is that people will pay it.

Chownah

[jinjok]

dude- you are getting ripped. no matter what white guys are working on it.

my parents just built a custom in states - entirely their design and quality interior. they paid about us120 per sq foot.

further, you cite building issues - yeah, believe it and white guys are just as dodgy as thais when it comes to shaving material/labor to put more money in pocket.

ask yourself why would a successful whit guy who has a stand up business sell it off and move to thailand to build one off cottages?

rent dude - esp given the political/visa situation

[Big Guy]

Prices seem way too high, have just finished building a 2 story block of units in phuket, to a western standard, myself providing materials and sub contracting the labour, total cost was 1.3 mill on 210 sq m which is just over 6100bt per sqm. I have built several times before over here so know the ins and outs but don't see any reason why a novice shouldn't be able to get a place built to a good standard minus kitchen for less than 10000 per sq m

[Naam]

my parents just built a custom in states - entirely their design and quality interior. they paid about us120 per sq foot.

that's 46,000 Baht per square meter. a year ago it would have been >50,000 Baht per m². what are you trying to tell us?

[Naam]

The real reason why building costs are so high is that people will pay it.

and the real reason people are willing to pay is because most of them would have to pay a multiple in their countries of origin. not only for the building but for the land too.

example for the latter. we were looking for bulding plots in my country of origin 2 years ago. result... utmost wilderness, 120km from the next international airport, 85km from the next city with >100,000 inhabitants, price per square meter 120 €URos. based on the given exchange rate at that time it worked out to 24,000 Baht per Tarang Wah, i.e. 9.6 million Baht per Rai.

of course i am bitching about the finish, waste of material and manhours due to incompetence of builders but i don't complain about prices.

[Nomad97]

Just to say I fully endorse the comments made by ThailandTony. His comments make a lot of sense and the key to success is being on-site to control and direct the build sequence, specification and quality of the project.

[ThailandTony]

Just to say I fully endorse the comments made by ThailandTony. His comments make a lot of sense and the key to success is being on-site to control and direct the build sequence, specification and quality of the project.

Thailand Tony takes a low but dignified bow.......or is he hungover and calling Huey down the porcelain telephone....lol

Sawasdee pii mai everyone!

[ThailandTony]

I tell you what I would like to see more of.......sharing of construction drawings between us poor Falangs, anyone wanting to donate drawings PM me and I will happily administer. You pay a small fortune to architects or house builders and they don't give you the Thai versions, you then pay someone to incorrectly to correct them or re-draw them and then translate them into Thai.....what gives! Anyone else think sharing is good?

[ThailandTony]

......by the way, my project management services are available at the very reasonable rate of 300k per month....any takers......lol.....?

[ThailandTony]

Prices seem way too high, have just finished building a 2 story block of units in phuket, to a western standard, myself providing materials and sub contracting the labour, total cost was 1.3 mill on 210 sq m which is just over 6100bt per sqm. I have built several times before over here so know the ins and outs but don't see any reason why a novice shouldn't be able to get a place built to a good standard minus kitchen for less than 10000 per sq m

Hey Big Guy! Where did you build?