Build a house in Thailand

[Julian2]

I originally set out to do a post for this forum giving a few personal hints on building a house in Thailand but personal anecdotes started intruding so it turned into a short story on thailandstories.com as ?How to build a house in Thailand with out cutting your throat?.

The response was more than gratifying; I had several requests for more photos and information, so I decided to go back to the original format.

I am not a builder and have limited tradesman experience; I have been involved in a number of domestic building projects in Australia but professionals in the field will probably not agree with a few of my opinions. This is merely a ?been there, done that? post. And yes, I did make mistakes. This advice is mainly for those of us that don?t speak Thai, or that little to be useful.

 

1) This project was undertaken in a rural area in a village where most of the residents were related to my wife therefore we had no pilfering problems and a ready supply of labour for the more labour intensive bits.

2) Buying the land is your problem, as is obtaining any title to the resulting house. There are far more experienced guys than I in this field on this forum. My wife owned about a total of about hundred rai in three or four blocks when I met her; we picked the position with the best view of the mountains.

3) Using village labour is the way to go, there are usually experienced builders around and a lot of them are good tradesmen within their limitations. I wasn?t happy with some of the finishing off but one day I can do it over, for example pull those four inch nails out of the staircase and put screws in. One day.

4) First and foremost, ranting and raving if things don?t turn out exactly the way you want is disastrous. It?s better to grit your teeth and bear it than have half the work force take a week off and every body else sulking for three or four days. You lose face (respect) too.

5) I found a sure fire way of getting my point across, I would take my wife to the problem and made sure the builders saw me talking to her. Most of the time she would have no idea what I meant, but at the next break they would be straight over and want to know what the Farang was on about. Something about colour matching the timber for the front of the house she would say. Sure, they could do that.

6) Before you start check out the nearest major city for a home centre. Most of them have one and you would be surprised at what they carry. Spa tubs at half the price they are in Europe. Stoves and cookers with an oven should be available. Air con is up to you, personally I don?t like it and have fans everywhere. Take the head builder there, show him what you want so he can build it in. Show him the insulation for the ceilings so he can measure up. Don't forget to buy him lunch.

7) Timber is expensive and make sure you buy it off reputable dealers. Illegal timber cutting is a big no no in Thailand and if you?re caught buying it they?ll bust your arse big time too. I bought a solid timber Thai style house nearby and nearly all the timber and roofing sheets were reusable. If you do this check for white ants before you buy. Being able to push a finger through a 2x4 is a sure sign of them.

8) I used the term 2x4 there, I?m sorry; if you come from one of the back water countries that don?t use the metric system learn it. Telling the builders that you want a bathroom three centimetres wide by four centimetres long could lead to a big surprise.

9) Work out what YOU want in a house, what?s important for you, you could be living the rest of your life there. My specifications were big rooms, a huge bathroom and acres (sorry, hectares) of upstairs balcony area. Then let your wife/girlfriend and the builders handle the rest. My Dutch neighbour proudly presented the builders with a bundle of plans in the original German and spent the next six months yelling at them. Four years later his roof still leaks.

10) The best way to pay them is on a daily basis. I paid the top tradesmen and the builders B200 a day, the labourers and painters B150 a day and a couple of women B100 a day. Some of the women work as hard as the men so if they?re doing a man?s job pay them accordingly. I raised one?s pay when she spent weeks mixing mortar and hauling bricks for bricklayers. Her sister, my wife, never even considered it. Promise bonuses at the end of the job; I used a sliding scale with a maximum of a thousand baht depending on days worked. Get your wife to keep a time book and pay wages on demand. The big drinkers will want to be paid daily, the family men weekly. The obvious problem with this system is they will take longer; towards the end the job will seem to drag but this is probably because of your desire to move in. It?s far better than them running out of money before the job ends, they will disappear and come back to finish off when they have nothing else to do. Also they will take greater care if they are not in a hurry to get to the next job.

11) Don?t go with them when they go to buy building materials. One look at you and the dealer doubles the price. When they come back look at the invoice and check the materials. If you can?t do it fake it. Same as you do with a check bin when you?re drunk, dopey. This doesn?t apply to home centres with marked prices of course but you can still get discounts there Your wife should be right into this project, mine loved it she never left the site during working hours and her 75 year old father appointed himself site supervisor and manager in charge of religious ceremonies. You should find that your wife?s family have you?re interests at heart. If they haven?t you shouldn?t be doing this for her any way.

12) It?s the tradition in Thailand for the contractor (you) to put on refreshments after the day?s work. Ours consisted of lao khau and bowls of pork gristle in volcano sauce. Total cost about B10 a night per head. We bought a pig and threw a party a couple of times; Christmas, end of job, etc. Join in: a sip of lao khau and a spoonful of fiery pig?s testicle won?t kill you and the team will really appreciate it.

13) I loved doing this, I made my first Thai friends on this job; I can?t walk past the builder's house with my dog at night unless I?m prepared to be dragged in and have half a pint of lao khau poured down my throat so I usually take a couple of bottles of beer if going in that direction.

14) Experienced builders will find many a technical flaw in this post- it?s not meant to be technical just helpful. If you want to build in the city you will find building companies that work similarly to the way they do anywhere else in the world. Make sure it is a reputable company. No, I don?t know how you do that.

15) Build in the dry season.

 

 

 

Sorry about the pics, to hard for me to do, there's a couple on thailandstories.com.

[SoiledCowboy]

Hi julian2, have you visited

 

www.coolthaihouse.com

 

might also be of some help.

[Nervous_Dog]

I've built two houses now, I've learnt to listne to the locals, and not get caught up in tiny details, however much it shits me.

 

Just not worth the effort, over time the realize what I wanted, kinda got it right,

 

Given the final cost each time was about $10 000 US I am very happy with what I got, and dont give a dam I haven;t got any of it in my name, I loose it, no big deal,

 

That said I DO have a bathtub AND a sitting toilet!

 

DGOG

 

DOG

[dean]

I think that the illegal timber cutting mainly refers to teak. I am building a house in Chiang Mai and, thankfully, I know enough people in the area that have built teak houses (or, I shuold say, that my Thai business partner knows them) and they know where to acquire used teak. There is an area that just has used teak logs, that are used for supports. They were able to find a large abandoned house/wherehouse in the Chiang Rai area that I bought, had it taken apart and will have the lumber bourght to my building site. Even though it is used teak, they still expect to pay bribes at the checkpoints in Chiang Rai when they transport it. Teak isn't cheap. The 22 logs cost me 280,000 B and the teak building cost me 550,000 B (which includes transportation). But I do like the look of teak, which will include exposed beams and support on the first floor ceiling and teak siding, along with teak doors (not sure about windows yet). The most important reason for using it is; teak does not rot. I can be assurred that insects will not eat it and water doesn't harm it. I did expect to have the house built for 2,000,000 B but with the cost of teak, it will probably be closer to 2,300,000 B (which doesn't include the cost of the 1.5 rai of land, which is 1,500,000). My business partner owns the land next door and has promised to watch the land while I am in the U.S. Hopefully, the house will be built from May and finished by the time I am back in Thailand, the first of October. I do have reservations about not being there and I do expect some things to be done not according to my tastes/wishes but I am in the construction field and can fix just about anything that I don't like. The general contractor has built teak houses before and my business partner will be there everyday. I must trust her because she has access to my bank account, with 2,300,000 B in it, to pay the laborers, probably weekly but if they want to be paid daily, I have no problem with that. Hopefully, this will be the kind of house that I will want to live in for the next 30 plus years. Its big enough, with 2 floors and 3 bedrooms/baths and a large master bedrrom/bath (that would be the one thing that I would be pissed off if they didn't do, but I empghasized it at least 20 times while I was there over the winter). I'm using a 30 year lease but, if I get married, I'd put it in my wife's name after a suitable period of time. I'm really looking forward to next October.

[Nervous_Dog]

Thats more than I pay for a house in Aus a few years back, but it does sound nice.

 

One thing about Thailand which even the Thais seem to forget is that it is a great climate for growing things, start planting now!

 

DOG

[whosyourdaddy]

Interesting. In Bkk prices are much more. Burmese labours about 250 per day. Up to the really good guys who got 800 per day.. But there is no fooling around and the job gets done right. I basically sat with them or worked with them just to advise them on what to do.

 

Yes whisky once a week and party days helps

 

U would definately go to the builders yourself. I found when I gave the guys the money the bills were always inflated when they came back. so I like to buy all the supplies myself. Mind you I use homepro and homework alot and the local building company knows me by name.

[Julian2]

Perhaps if you're building regularly you will get a good deal you're self but mine was a one off job and I found that the timberyard I went to charged me twice as much per metre as the one I sent the guys to in another village. Because we all lived in the same village and my wife was related to the builders we had no problem with bill padding that I could see.

Wages wise my wife's niece with University degrees in French and business studies earns less than B800 a day with one of the airlines, (about B20,000 a month) so I couldn't see any one paying plumbers or carpenters that up here.

[Nervous_Dog]

have to agree, family of mine are lucky to make 250 baht a day! I don't pay my engineer 800 baht a day and she has a degree from the tom 5 Uni's in Engineering!

 

DOG

[whosyourdaddy]

pay peanuts get monkeys. I have seen the shit that some workers do. No pride in their work and you have to do the job twice. When I pay 50,000B in tiles I dont want to save 4000B on a ten day job and the house look like crap. Yes I could get cheaper, but I am very happy with the quality of work and dont worry about a few thousandbhat more. Piece of mind and less stress is worth it for me. These guys have worked on my house for over a year *on and off * and I have been happy with 99% of their work.

 

Well your Engineer has to get a new job. I know of some Thai engineers that are over 150K per month. Never heard of an engineer getting paid less than 35000B a month. At 800B a day she would be making 17000B a month. Wonder if she has to work the thermea also?

[Julian2]

At 800B a day she would be making 17000B a month. Wonder if she has to work the thermea also?

 

I worked it out over thirty days, Daddy, sure I know she has days off, unlike building workers in the north.

I started this thread in an effort to help people building in the country, not to get into a slanging match over Thai wages. So if you want the last word here's your chance coz I'm out.