Building costs in Thailand - Rural area

[Ian3005]

I would like to build a house in rural Thailand where my wife and I already have the land prepared but I don't know if they can build to western standards. The land will be in my wife's name but I want the house registered in my name and my sons name as you never know what lies ahead in the future.

I have looked at a builder BanRak and the cost per m2 is between 14-17,000/m2. I'm hesitant to approach a builder as a foreigner as I'm sure the price increases as soon as they see supposedly cashed up foreigners. 

[petermik]

https://<URL Automatically Removed>/construction-in-thailand/

I found this website invaluable when I had a house built here

[Liverpudlian]

Make sure the family arent involved in ANY part of the building work or purchasing materials FULL STOP! been there done it to my deep deep regret.

[Boomer6969]

2 minutes ago, petermik said:

https://<URL Automatically Removed>/construction-in-thailand/

I found this website invaluable when I had a house built here

14k to 17k is about right, but this can easily double (or more) once you have settled in with western style standards. Getting clean water that didn't destroy my appliances set me back hundred's of thousands, I am still thinking about a backup generator, getting and keeping green surroundings, etc, etc. Anyway look at a nice condo in Penang before you move to rural xenophobia.

[madmen]

4 minutes ago, Liverpudlian said:

Make sure the family arent involved in ANY part of the building work or purchasing materials FULL STOP! been there done it to my deep deep regret

Wise words 

[saengd]

These are the rules of thumb that I know of (about three years old):

 

15k per square metre unfinished.

 

25K per square metre finished to Thai standards

 

45k to Western standards

 

55k to top end standard.

[Antonymous]

15 minutes ago, saengd said:

These are the rules of thumb that I know of (about three years old):

 

15k per square metre unfinished.

 

25K per square metre finished to Thai standards

 

45k to Western standards

 

55k to top end standard.

In Bangkok or Phuket perhaps, BUT CERTAINLY NOT in rural Thailand. Have you actually had a house built?

 

Firstly bear in mind that 'per square metre' prices are relevant for labour only. For materials you must get a BOQ that details everything else and with this YOU can decide what quality you want. It is not difficult to find the real prices of materials.

 

That said, as a loose rule of thumb as you start to budget, 10-12K per sq.m will get you a completed house without expensive fittings: that's materials and labour. From there it is up to you. You want double layer of Qcon bricks or cheap concrete bricks for example? A tin roof or CPAC tiles or fancy tiles on your roof. Bog standard white porcelain tiled floors or something more imaginative? A Thai kitchen or a fully fitted Western kitchen? And so on.

 

Don't accept any contractor who quotes you on just a per sq.m basis. You'll be ripped off.

 

Good luck.

 

[saengd]

2 minutes ago, Antonymous said:

In Bangkok or Phuket perhaps, BUT CERTAINLY NOT in rural Thailand. Have you actually had a house built?

 

Firstly bear in mind that 'per square metre' prices are relevant for labour only. For materials you must get a BOQ that details everything else and with this YOU can decide what quality you want. It is not difficult to find the real prices of materials.

 

That said, as a loose rule of thumb as you start to budget, 10-12K per sq.m will get you a completed house without expensive fittings: that's materials and labour. From there it is up to you. You want double layer of Qcon bricks or cheap concrete bricks for example? A tin roof or CPAC tiles or fancy tiles on your roof. Bog standard white porcelain tiled floors or something more imaginative? A Thai kitchen or a fully fitted Western kitchen? And so on.

 

Don't accept any contractor who quotes you on just a per sq.m basis. You'll be ripped off.

 

Good luck.

 

We've built two, one outside Sukhothai and one in Chiang Mai, 2007 and 2013 respectively. The prices I've posted are approx. all inclusive finished prices. Whether you like it or not any builder will revert to square metres for an approximation of his quote. On the first house we supplied materials and the builder supplied labour, the costs came out at around 12k per sq metre for an 86 square metre raised house using CPAC, finished to Thai standards. Everyone needs a starting point for these things which is why I think the unfinished price is the important one. There's been loads of these threads on here over the years, maybe worth doing a search to see what has been said previously, it's a well worn topic that goes back to 2007 at least.

[gunderhill]

Built  my own "physically" 3  times  over,  piece of  cake, about 8k baht m2 double  block  walls with air  gap, cpac  tile  roof, can go even cheaper with steel  roof and insulation.

Look at  Crossys  website  www.coolthaihouse.com

Currentlyknocking  up a  single block house for  my  workers, completed  price will be about 65k baht, steel  roof, rendered painted  tiles etc, just two bedrooms and a  front room, 25m2

Breakdown of spend so  far

Concrete 240  steng with Ganzum ( waterproofer)  we  dont want rising damp

11,400

Steel 14100 Galvanised

Blocks  3100 (  so  far, which is way  more than in the photo)

Door  frames 900 each 1800

Sand  Cement stone 1650

Upvc  windows 2, 4200 baht

Ongoing will take  new photo tomorrow

Edited February 22, 2020 by gunderhill

[saengd]

Yep, that site says 15k/20k per square, 2015, unfinished or basic, that's about right I reckon.

[baansgr]

Don't bother with the hassle of putting house in your name. The house is worthless without the land its built on...as for protection, you can't make her sell and I doubt you would ever want to stay there if you split up...In all honestly, I really don't know why guys are still doing this in this day and age, if you have a problem about loosing the money, don't pay for a house that will never be yours

[Yinn]

2 hours ago, Ian3005 said:

I'm hesitant to approach a builder as a foreigner as I'm sure the price increases as soon as they see supposedly cashed up foreigners. 

Be strong!! Not rush it.

 

Easy.

Make the plan/design. 

 

Get 3 price. For the worker price. (For the job complete, not per day).

make 10 step by step. Agree only step by step. Pay when one step finish.  If you not happy one step, change the worker.

eg 1 step is footing, then slab, frame, roof, block, window, ceiling, out wall, in wall, bathroom, tile, kitchen.

step by step. Take more time a little, but not disappoint/angry/stress. 

 

Be strong. Your money. YOU are boss. Not be friendly to much. Better they scared you.

 

 

you buy the things to make it. Concrete, block, window etc. Again get three price everything. Three shop.

Not rush to buy or agree. Be strong.

 

The price up to you. eg. Some tile is 100 sqm. Some is 1000baht sqm. Standard size door, window etc is cheapest. You want special order = 2 or 3 time more. 

Sanitary is big different also. Some toilet = 2,000 baht. Some 20,000 baht. 

 

Not forget go testabaan BEFORE do anything. If start job before then they have power. (Can ask for money) 

Also know how much power you need. Eg water heater, air on, light, etc and go to electric office BEFORE. Sometime you must pay for transformer (can be expensive) 

 

good luck.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ChaiyaTH]

Last time I asked it came to around 6-8K baht per m2 in the north of Thailand. Guess it really depends on what you want.

[spiekerjozef]

Just give her 5 mln baht, you have a nice house.

[gk10002000]

are there any pre fab houses available?  In the USA there are some pretty well made units, assembled indoors in a factory environment, all interfaces, plumbing and electrical installed and pre built.  All you need to do is prepare the foundation per the prints, hook up the infrastructure, septic/sewer, water and electrical after you deliver the house.

[CGW]

4 hours ago, Ian3005 said:

I'm hesitant to approach a builder as a foreigner as I'm sure the price increases as soon as they see supposedly cashed up foreigners. 

Do you believe this or have you read it so many times it must be right! another TVF myth IMO!

In case you didn't catch onto previous posts - don't use "family"!

[saengd]

There's a difference between asking how much it costs to build a house and asking what the cheapest possible cost might be!

[saengd]

9 hours ago, gk10002000 said:

are there any pre fab houses available?  In the USA there are some pretty well made units, assembled indoors in a factory environment, all interfaces, plumbing and electrical installed and pre built.  All you need to do is prepare the foundation per the prints, hook up the infrastructure, septic/sewer, water and electrical after you deliver the house.

The cost to build a house here is so low there's no room in the market for prefab construction, there may be a need for it but it wouldn't be profitable.

[Sametboy2019]

14 hours ago, gunderhill said:

Ganzum

Googled it but couldn't find anything.

[topt]

17 hours ago, gunderhill said:

just two bedrooms and a  front room, 25m2

no bathroom?

[gunderhill]

1 hour ago, topt said:

no bathroom?

Built  them a separate block for  that years ago, basically  just a 6 foot by 3  foot  building with tap,  floor level bog and large  plastic  bucket full of water,Thai style

Also depending where you  live you do not  need any permissions to  build. When I did  mine they said 3km from the main road  just do what you  like, I did and have blue and yellow  books for the  various  houses here.

Updated  photos  as of today, I use concrete fence  posts as  lintels  over windows/doors, work  just fine and cheap. By the entrance door  will be water  supply and drain for washing machine, all  electrics  buried  in the  floor  in  hdpe  trunking.

[BoganInParasite]

On 2/22/2020 at 6:42 PM, saengd said:

These are the rules of thumb that I know of (about three years old):

 

15k per square metre unfinished.

 

25K per square metre finished to Thai standards

 

45k to Western standards

 

55k to top end standard.

I paid 13K per square meter in upper Nan province. The build finished in Feb last year. I'd say my build was far closer to Western standards than Thai standards and have had many comments to that regard. Spend considerable time to get a competent builder and yes indeed, make sure family are not supplying anything or working on it.

[Black arab]

On 2/22/2020 at 8:43 PM, Yinn said:

Be strong!! Not rush it.

 

Easy.

Make the plan/design. 

 

Get 3 price. For the worker price. (For the job complete, not per day).

make 10 step by step. Agree only step by step. Pay when one step finish.  If you not happy one step, change the worker.

eg 1 step is footing, then slab, frame, roof, block, window, ceiling, out wall, in wall, bathroom, tile, kitchen.

step by step. Take more time a little, but not disappoint/angry/stress. 

 

Be strong. Your money. YOU are boss. Not be friendly to much. Better they scared you.

 

 

you buy the things to make it. Concrete, block, window etc. Again get three price everything. Three shop.

Not rush to buy or agree. Be strong.

 

The price up to you. eg. Some tile is 100 sqm. Some is 1000baht sqm. Standard size door, window etc is cheapest. You want special order = 2 or 3 time more. 

Sanitary is big different also. Some toilet = 2,000 baht. Some 20,000 baht. 

 

Not forget go testabaan BEFORE do anything. If start job before then they have power. (Can ask for money) 

Also know how much power you need. Eg water heater, air on, light, etc and go to electric office BEFORE. Sometime you must pay for transformer (can be expensive) 

 

good luck.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Good advice yinn, pretty much what i did

[kensisaket]

I built a house in Sisaket last year. Single story, approximately 20 X 9 meters (180 SQM) all in including qcon walls, decorative red brick inner walls, 12 foot ceilings, blue scope roof, 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, all in 1 million BAHT. That includes 5 AC units, large refrigerator, washing machine, stove, hood vent, 3 large ceiling fans,  2 shower stalls, built up toilets to Western height, high end fixtures; and, insulation in ceilings. I bought everything. Labor for the complete job was around 400k. I know it sounds impossible but I kept a spreadsheet for every purchase including buying lunch for the building crew every day.

[BazzaJames]

Take the advice given re Condo in Penang. Some make a success of rural Thailand but the xenophobia you will be confronted with daily will wear thin.

[lanng khao]

On 2/22/2020 at 7:21 PM, gunderhill said:

Built  my own "physically" 3  times  over,  piece of  cake, about 8k baht m2 double  block  walls with air  gap, cpac  tile  roof, can go even cheaper with steel  roof and insulation.

Look at  Crossys  website  www.coolthaihouse.com

Currentlyknocking  up a  single block house for  my  workers, completed  price will be about 65k baht, steel  roof, rendered painted  tiles etc, just two bedrooms and a  front room, 25m2

Breakdown of spend so  far

Concrete 240  steng with Ganzum ( waterproofer)  we  dont want rising damp

11,400

Steel 14100 Galvanised

Blocks  3100 (  so  far, which is way  more than in the photo)

Door  frames 900 each 1800

Sand  Cement stone 1650

Upvc  windows 2, 4200 baht

Ongoing will take  new photo tomorrow

I'm a bricklayer, be proud of that myself, decent job.. 

[Sergeant]

If you do this? You need to know Immigration does not care what you do in support to live in Thailand, At a moment notice you might be ordered to leave Thailand even it is over administration of paper work. The only way out if you pay a bride and then you are a number 1 man at immigration. Do you wish this to happen? Type "O" marriage visa is just waiting to make us all have Health Insurance regardless of age. Make a claim, they will hit you with higher premiums, Cancel policy and then you will be forced to leave? Then if you have difficulty with your wife and divorce, You will not get any Thai to buy and then Thailand Govt. will not allow you to split even you paid 100%. You might get a Userfrut (?), meaning a agreement to live in the new home for ever, but would you like to live in a home with your Ex and immigration rules?

Good Luck and much more  happiness always be with you.

Thank You.

[Cake Monster]

On 2/22/2020 at 6:38 PM, madmen said:

Wise words 

Prepare to pay at least 35% more than the quoted price

For sure you will have " unexpected " cost over runs where the Builder is concerned.

Also being a " Farang " you will be a target for a rip off.

Stage payments only are the way to go, and dont change your plans with the Builder, as this will give him the green light to gouge you.

Also try to buy the materials for your house yourself, and keep a tight control on their usage as stealing is a real issue.

If the builder buys expect at least a 50% mark up

 

[KC 71]

15 minutes ago, Sergeant said:

If you do this? You need to know Immigration does not care what you do in support to live in Thailand, At a moment notice you might be ordered to leave Thailand even it is over administration of paper work. The only way out if you pay a bride and then you are a number 1 man at immigration. Do you wish this to happen? Type "O" marriage visa is just waiting to make us all have Health Insurance regardless of age. Make a claim, they will hit you with higher premiums, Cancel policy and then you will be forced to leave? Then if you have difficulty with your wife and divorce, You will not get any Thai to buy and then Thailand Govt. will not allow you to split even you paid 100%. You might get a Userfrut (?), meaning a agreement to live in the new home for ever, but would you like to live in a home with your Ex and immigration rules?

Good Luck and much more  happiness always be with you.

Thank You.

I wish i had your positive outlook.

[m Stender]

I have build a house in rural area here, an architect and close friend of mine has done all the calculations and drawings, and I have a beautiful house in thai style build after european norms, BUT you need to be present all the time in order to oversee that everything is correct done after the drawings, and please DO NOT involve any family member. If you want a copy of those drawings you are welcome to contact me, the prize was 1.5 mil Bht back 10 years all inclusive