Building a House

[Nayeem Hameed 0]

Hello Everyone

Myself and my missus own a small piece of land in UDON THANI close to the highway, i am Planning to build a 120 SQMT House, ideally i am looking a a decent Finishing and good structure Soil is a bit soggy so i may have to get in few trucks of soil to get the surface harder.

What do you think would cost me to build the house (Excluding Furniture and all Interior) as these i am planning to get them Shipped.

i am looking at 3 Bedroom and 2 Bathroom, With a good size living room. Thank you

 

[markeewan 56]

There are many variables associated with construction, including type of house, number of floors and standard of finish. This link to BKK construction costs may serve as a guide

[mrwebb8825 911]

2 options to explore: ThaiLanna Home, buy your own (TEAK-wooden) house in Thailand!  and: Home - Container Kings Thailand

both would give you a 1 stop/1 price option from start to finish

[bluejets 111]

28 minutes ago, markeewan said:

There are many variables associated with construction, including type of house, number of floors and standard of finish. This link to BKK construction costs may serve as a guide

 

That link comes up blocked by Malwarebytes.

[Sydebolle 3990]

No tiles and optical finish, THB 9'000/m2; tiled, painted with installed white goods (washing machine, a/c, water heater, fridge/freezer etc.) you're looking at THB 15'000/m2 - a basic rule of thumb as the variations are in the choice of building material and white goods. 
A 120m2 house will close something just below THB 2 million construction costs, land not included. 

[rickudon 1386]

Yes 2 million Baht about right. Obviously many variables so say 1.5-3 million as a range. My experience is that renovation projects always overrun projected costs by at least 50% (Thai wife ensures this happens ).

[brianthainess 2163]

16 hours ago, Nayeem Hameed said:

Soil is a bit soggy so i may have to get in few trucks of soil to get the surface harder.

This is how it should be constructed, IMO getting truck loads of soil (din) will not make it *harder*

[SomchaiCNX 680]

My next house will be small and my outdoor area will almost have the same space as the indoor.  Foreigners seems to forget that in THailand most people spend more time outdoors. As shown before you need a good foundation.  Cost is difficult to say it will depend on you and your builder. Trying to tell a Thai builder the way you want it or what he did wrong will be a challenge. Don't expect much support from the spouse, even if the construction guy is wrong. 

[thasoss 474]

17 hours ago, Nayeem Hameed said:

i am Planning to build a 120 SQMT House,

work on 10,000 baht a square metre,that will get you a good quality build,in my opinion.Built a place 4 years ago.

[itsallmine68 137]

what no Kitchen God be with you . Makesure you have pantries for groceries etc  and closets for clothes, linens. Spend loads oftime on lookin at design It is easier to change on paper  

[Aomelia 186]

I would install kitchen outside in another room keep vermin outside not in your home 

[petermik 18308]

I had this house built 5 years ago down in Trang..local builder who had built farang type houses before 3 beds/2 en suite baths 120 sq.mtres Thai style kitchen......400,000 baht for labour and we bought our own materials....total cost 1.3 million

[Thalueng 2]

1 hour ago, brianthainess said:

This is how it should be constructed, IMO getting truck loads of soil (din) will not make it *harder*

No, this is not how it should be constructed. If your soil is soggy you absolutely must pile for foundation, otherwise your house will sink at various corners by several cm over the years, resulting in a lot of cracks. Piling is not cheap but there is no way around it. Should you add a pool then pile the corners of the pool too. Many builders will tell you that piling is not necessary, well, they are wrong.

[LukKrueng 1627]

2 hours ago, rickudon said:

Yes 2 million Baht about right. Obviously many variables so say 1.5-3 million as a range. My experience is that renovation projects always overrun projected costs by at least 50% (Thai wife ensures this happens ).

3 years ago built a 150sqm 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, good materials, including a carport and before kitchen cost just under 1m. A nice kitchen added later for about 250k.

Countryside up north, local builder. Builder worked for labor, I bought materials. 

[Stevemercer 1568]

Figure on 2 million Baht for a good quality build (with western-style inclusions) by an experienced builder.

 

If you are strapped for cash, you could certainly get an acceptable build (with western style inclusions) at 1.5 million Baht.

[natway09 5434]

Ignore the soil conditions, they do not just do a footing & slab like you may be used to.

Depending on hardrock depth they will use holes dug with piers set on concrete, or if really bad dig or driven piles.

Just finished a good quality (with kitchen) 156 M2 , 2,25 million.

Fencing , gate extra

[BritManToo 46388]

24 minutes ago, natway09 said:

Ignore the soil conditions, they do not just do a footing & slab like you may be used to.

Depending on hardrock depth they will use holes dug with piers set on concrete, or if really bad dig or driven piles.

Just finished a good quality (with kitchen) 156 M2 , 2,25 million.

Fencing , gate extra

Just having a 2 storey extension done, sitting on 4 piers, pads 1.2m x 1.2m and posts 40cm x 20cm. Extension size 4m x 4m (total 32m2) for 150kbht, pouring  the ground floor at this moment. No walls the upstairs is a balcony, but tiled floors and upstairs railings included.

 

Edited Thursday at 07:13 AM by BritManToo

[Nayeem Hameed 0]

2 hours ago, petermik said:

I had this house built 5 years ago down in Trang..local builder who had built farang type houses before 3 beds/2 en suite baths 120 sq.mtres Thai style kitchen......400,000 baht for labour and we bought our own materials....total cost 1.3 million

Looking to build something similar, i Reckon 1.5 Mill Just for the house would be good enough ... Thank you

[Nayeem Hameed 0]

28 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Just having a 2 storey extension done, sitting on 4 piers, pads 1.2m x 1.2m and posts 40cm x 20cm. Extension size 4m x 4m (total 32m2) for 150kbht, pouring  the ground floor at this moment. No walls the upstairs is a balcony, but tiled floors and upstairs railings included.

 

Thanks Mate this info helps..cheers 

[DaLa 1509]

My only advice is to use a main contractor and ensure everything ( and I mean everything) is costed in from day 1. Extras can kill your budget.

[khunPer 6421]

22 hours ago, Nayeem Hameed said:

What do you think would cost me to build the house (Excluding Furniture and all Interior) as these i am planning to get them Shipped.

i am looking at 3 Bedroom and 2 Bathroom, With a good size living room. Thank you

Price of house construction is about choice of materials, which are both basic construction like concrete, bricks (cheap or aerated concrete), single or double walls, steel quality, and roof tiles; and especially decorations like floor tiles and wall tiles, windows, doors, gutters, hardware, European style kitchen etc.

 

There is a huge difference between 180 baht a square meter floor tiles and 3,000 baht and up per square meter sand stone tiles and like; same goes for wall tiles, or choice of marble bathrooms. And do you expect teak-wood floors in some rooms?

 

Generally you should count from around 10,000 baht per square meter if building Thai style, and rather circa 15,000 baht per square meter when building average for Westerners acceptable style, and 25,000 baht per square meter when up to a standard like what you expect in many Western constructions.

 

So a 120 square meter house would reasonable cost you between 1.2 million baht and 1.8 million baht, but could also costs you 3 million baht and more.

[KhaoYai 3586]

The raising of land by the addition of soil is not to make the ground harder - its done because drainage doesn't exist in Thailand so they raise their land to pass the problem on to their neighbours.

[Excel 584]

14 minutes ago, KhaoYai said:

The raising of land by the addition of soil is not to make the ground harder - its done because drainage doesn't exist in Thailand so they raise their land to pass the problem on to their neighbours.

That's very true and it is the type of sub strata and ground bearing pressure capability that determines the design of suitable foundations.  Something many local builders are not aware of - witness the common sights of multitude of cracks caused by differential settlement and/or subsidence.

[KhaoYai 3586]

1 hour ago, khunPer said:

Price of house construction is about choice of materials,

100%

 

Quite a lot of new Thai developments incorporate cheap materials - especially in the 'finish and fit out' stage.

 

However, its false economy and will result in either high maintenance costs or the need for replacement in a shorter than acceptable time.

 

If you want to see evidence of this - go look at a 'new' Thai house that's been up 5 or 10 years.

[stubuzz 1450]

7 hours ago, BritManToo said:

Extension size 4m x 4m (total 32m2) for 150kbht, pouring  the ground floor at this moment.

Is it not 16m2?

[BritManToo 46388]

8 hours ago, stubuzz said:

Is it not 16m2?

2 floors.

[markeewan 56]

On 4/8/2021 at 11:08 AM, bluejets said:

 

That link comes up blocked by Malwarebytes.

That is because they have not upgraded to https, so it is marked as insecure in terms of financial processing. Just to be safe then I have attached the pdf from the site.

used_cost_eng-2.pdf

[chrisandsu 2026]

18 hours ago, KhaoYai said:

100%

 

Quite a lot of new Thai developments incorporate cheap materials - especially in the 'finish and fit out' stage.

 

However, its false economy and will result in either high maintenance costs or the need for replacement in a shorter than acceptable time.

 

If you want to see evidence of this - go look at a 'new' Thai house that's been up 5 or 10 years.

To be fair though the tropics and especially coastal areas can really damage a house so proper maintenance is a must not matter what you do . 

[KhaoYai 3586]

2 hours ago, chrisandsu said:

To be fair though the tropics and especially coastal areas can really damage a house so proper maintenance is a must not matter what you do . 

Possibly but it depends on the materials.  Whatever, poor quality materials won't last as long as decent stuff. I'm not only talking about the effects of the weather though, I mean quality in general. For example, some things are way thinnner than they need to be. 

 

It can also depend on where you live - when carrying out renovations/alterations to my house, I struggled to even buy good quality stuff because, as suppliers told me, the locals just don't buy them.  I had to 'import' some things from Bangkok or special order them.

 

Choice of materials in the first place can make a huge difference - my  house was built around 8 years ago and the then owner chose cement fibre panels for the roof. Although my roof isn't leaking yet, the roof is problematic and I'm going to have to replace it with proper tiles before too long. That's not as simple as it sounds as the structure is not capable of supporting the weight of tiles so will need upgrading. A well fitted tiled roof on a decent steel framework would last as long as the house.

[chrisandsu 2026]

7 hours ago, KhaoYai said:

Possibly but it depends on the materials.  Whatever, poor quality materials won't last as long as decent stuff. I'm not only talking about the effects of the weather though, I mean quality in general. For example, some things are way thinnner than they need to be. 

 

It can also depend on where you live - when carrying out renovations/alterations to my house, I struggled to even buy good quality stuff because, as suppliers told me, the locals just don't buy them.  I had to 'import' some things from Bangkok or special order them.

 

Choice of materials in the first place can make a huge difference - my  house was built around 8 years ago and the then owner chose cement fibre panels for the roof. Although my roof isn't leaking yet, the roof is problematic and I'm going to have to replace it with proper tiles before too long. That's not as simple as it sounds as the structure is not capable of supporting the weight of tiles so will need upgrading. A well fitted tiled roof on a decent steel framework would last as long as the house.

I agree and sometimes it’s not the materials but the application . Many times I have seen paint peeling and things falling apart due to the poor work carried out by the builder .