toryboy1979 Posted October 14, 2014 Share Posted October 14, 2014 My Thai g/f owns a rai of land in her village which is between Nam Phong and Kraneum. The land is ex-sugar cane and cleared. I know nothing about building or where she should start or what the cost for the building would be. The two possibilities I am thinking about are: a) cost for building a Thai style house and if I decide I might want to go and live there, the cost of western style house. The house would be primarily for her and her daughter (says he hopefully!) Because of my total lack of knowledge in these matters whoever builds the house has to be trustworthy or is that asking too much? So I would welcome constructive advice/comments from those in the know. Thank you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nuddy Posted October 14, 2014 Share Posted October 14, 2014 A mate of mine just built a Thai style house for 2 million baht. Its just nearing completion. However completion is pretty bare and it will require about another million to get to the live able stage I reckon. I built a three bedroom two bathroom house along western style a few years back and to get it sorted i reckon it cost me about 6 million. Things like filling the land, building a wall fence, getting water, electricity and internet/telephone are all extra. Plans and stuff at the council office all require funds as well. If it was sugar cane land or rice paddy it will need filling of about a metre and a half preferably two metres. I ended up using three builders for the house and then subcontracting the finishing, As well three builders for the wall fence and don't forget the drainage. I too have 1 rai of land. Its a horrible process and unlikely to go smoothly even with a contract, Contracts are only good to the degree of integrity of the people making the contract. Its my experience that a Thai builder will renege on a contract as soon as he can get the baht out of you. Use a large building company from the city nearby not some local who cannot even quote properly and in the end it won't be as expensive. Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gerry123 Posted October 14, 2014 Share Posted October 14, 2014 THAI style in teak 5 mill bare shell concrete and block approx 2 mill finished complete ready to move in landscaped the lot as previous poster said beware local tradesmen/trades woman there will be lots of willing jacks of all trades please look in previous posts about the home build disasters there are far more regrets (i wish i had known before) articles than successes remember you may have to split your trades very few builders can successfully complete the task i wish you good luck be prepared for sleepless nights Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gerry123 Posted October 14, 2014 Share Posted October 14, 2014 P.S.please keep us posted photos etc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExPratt Posted October 14, 2014 Share Posted October 14, 2014 What do you mean Thai style , squat toilet and a barrel of water and a saucepan for a shower ?, cook outside ? You could build a decent house for a couple of million , doesn't have to be Thai or Farang style , whatever they are. Build the amount of rooms you want and then if you don't want a full on kitchen with oven and all that don't have one , get a couple of decent gas rings. I also wouldn't waste money on a "Thai style roof" , normal slate roof is what you want Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steveG Posted October 14, 2014 Share Posted October 14, 2014 Have a look at the website - coolthaihouse - if you want to build on the cheap. It really helped me. Bought 16 Rai 7 years ago for THB 800K and built a 200sqm two level house on it for approx. THB 1200K. Designed it myself and used local labour to get the job done with me buying all materials. Great Fun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thrilled Posted October 14, 2014 Share Posted October 14, 2014 If not look at alanthebuilder Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gonsalviz Posted October 14, 2014 Share Posted October 14, 2014 If not look at alanthebuilder Then you'll know you paid to much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gonsalviz Posted October 14, 2014 Share Posted October 14, 2014 Thai's can throw a house together with the plumbing nailed to the wall and be perfectly happy. This would be around 5-6,000 baht/ sq mtr. If you want a top end house go get a foreign builder and pay way too much. Thais still do the work and it comes with all sorts of shoddy surprises. I know from experience. Multiple problems and no warranty even if it is specified in the contract. Oh yeah they come out, play around and accomplish nothing in the end. 17000 baht a sq meter. 7,500- 8,500 per sq mtr will get you a decent house with no water heaters or a/c. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay Sata Posted October 14, 2014 Share Posted October 14, 2014 One point worth making in that the fill of ground should not support the house. I see lots of new substandard jerry built houses in Thailand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJP Posted October 14, 2014 Share Posted October 14, 2014 OP, make sure you get the foundations right. Piling isn't that expensive and it works well. I wasn't around when the last house was built and I'm forever filling large cracks. Don't go for the traditional pad foundation method, it doesn't work well at all. A Thai neighbour recently built a very nicely appointed farang style house with piled foundations, five bedroom, three bathroom, lovely fittings and the lot came in at 3 million baht. That was a building company in KK, the house about 2 hours from there. I was very impressed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theoldgit Posted October 15, 2014 Share Posted October 15, 2014 Post in breach of Forum Rules removed. 13) You will not post links to other Thailand forums, or forums which could reasonably be construed as competition to Thaivisa.com or its sponsors. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chiang mai Posted October 15, 2014 Share Posted October 15, 2014 Thai's can throw a house together with the plumbing nailed to the wall and be perfectly happy. This would be around 5-6,000 baht/ sq mtr. If you want a top end house go get a foreign builder and pay way too much. Thais still do the work and it comes with all sorts of shoddy surprises. I know from experience. Multiple problems and no warranty even if it is specified in the contract. Oh yeah they come out, play around and accomplish nothing in the end. 17000 baht a sq meter. 7,500- 8,500 per sq mtr will get you a decent house with no water heaters or a/c. +1 But that's unfinished and doesn't include any boundary walls or infill to raise the land. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Naam Posted October 15, 2014 Share Posted October 15, 2014 OP, make sure you get the foundations right. Piling isn't that expensive and it works well. I wasn't around when the last house was built and I'm forever filling large cracks. Don't go for the traditional pad foundation method, it doesn't work well at all. A Thai neighbour recently built a very nicely appointed farang style house with piled foundations, five bedroom, three bathroom, lovely fittings and the lot came in at 3 million baht. That was a building company in KK, the house about 2 hours from there. I was very impressed. "five bedrooms, three bathrooms and the lot" without mentioning size of home and lot in m² does not contain satisfying information. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJP Posted October 15, 2014 Share Posted October 15, 2014 OP, make sure you get the foundations right. Piling isn't that expensive and it works well. I wasn't around when the last house was built and I'm forever filling large cracks. Don't go for the traditional pad foundation method, it doesn't work well at all. A Thai neighbour recently built a very nicely appointed farang style house with piled foundations, five bedroom, three bathroom, lovely fittings and the lot came in at 3 million baht. That was a building company in KK, the house about 2 hours from there. I was very impressed. "five bedrooms, three bathrooms and the lot" without mentioning size of home and lot in m² does not contain satisfying information. It's quite big and very fancy. Good enough? I would say around 230sq.m. Internal area. It's much nicer than my bungalow which regularly falls to bits and gets glued back together with mastic and putty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
al007 Posted October 15, 2014 Share Posted October 15, 2014 7yrs ago i bought 7 rai of paddy field, we built one house very sucessfully and are near to completing a second, I have a good builder, I live 25kms West of KhonKaen You could have a very nice medium house for 2.oM BATT excluding land, my second house approx 100 sq mtrs will come in at 1.25M, it is built and fitted to a high standard but I have bought materials very carefully , my builder took over after I had driven 28 piles If you want to talk private message me, I am in BKK till sat late Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeffrey346 Posted October 15, 2014 Share Posted October 15, 2014 My friend recently built a 200m 1 story house here in KK for 2m baht complete. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jacko45k Posted October 15, 2014 Share Posted October 15, 2014 Someone I know estimated the final cost to be in the region of 2.5 million including the land (small plot), so numbers posted above sounding about right. Very much depends how accessible the area is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roodujardin Posted October 15, 2014 Share Posted October 15, 2014 Since living here I have completed a total renovation of an old, tired Thai house. Also built a house in teak and one in brick. The best learning experience was the renovation as it gave me insight on how to proceed with a new construction. Yes, there were heaps of problems on all the builds; expectations were not met, sacking people because of incompetence, delays, deviations from plans, etc, etc. The best advice I can give from these experiences are: * you need a good Thai network that is essential for a satisfactory outcome. * you have to be onsite and observe all work; you are the project manager. Prices will vary greatly depending on your requirements, your network and your management. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheFishman1 Posted October 15, 2014 Share Posted October 15, 2014 In your country would you buy your gf a house? Many of my friends did the same and it was a night mare RENT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
recycler Posted October 15, 2014 Share Posted October 15, 2014 Hard to say based on what you provide for info, but 500,000 Baht for something very simple and up up up. We are building a house for my wife's parents in a similar remote location and I guess in the end we will be spending around 800,000. Make careful considerations on deciding to live there yourself and if not than you'd better keep it as simple as possible and spend your money on a place where you do want to live. In many cases the bigger these houses are the more people will be living there at your expense, there are a many professional hammock operators ready to join the party! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laobali Posted October 15, 2014 Share Posted October 15, 2014 In your country would you buy your gf a house? Many of my friends did the same and it was a night mare RENT It's more likely that the gf and her existing family will become the nightmare. I agree. Rent and keep all options open. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueSkyCowboy Posted October 15, 2014 Share Posted October 15, 2014 A man with "a good heart" as they say in Thailand. Of course they are referring to the mans generosity. For a GF I would build a one room (4 by 8 to 10 M) house. It will cost less then 500K, give you some experience with contractors and u can always add on more rooms. She may not be too happy, but u will feel better if the relationship goes South. I have seen a few funny things in Thailand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueSkyCowboy Posted October 15, 2014 Share Posted October 15, 2014 Hard to say based on what you provide for info, but 500,000 Baht for something very simple and up up up. We are building a house for my wife's parents in a similar remote location and I guess in the end we will be spending around 800,000. Make careful considerations on deciding to live there yourself and if not than you'd better keep it as simple as possible and spend your money on a place where you do want to live. In many cases the bigger these houses are the more people will be living there at your expense, there are a many professional hammock operators ready to join the party! My wife and I spent money on improving her parents house. Now they have glass windows and an AC etc. We also bought a good water heater and insulation for the ceiling and other stuff. Most of the stuff is still in the box some place. I finally came to the conclusion that whatever they do not have now, they do not want or need. I wish that I had read a few things before we bought all the gadgets. It would have saved us some money Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
godden Posted October 15, 2014 Share Posted October 15, 2014 my mate just built a 8 bed mansion all for 150 baht Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mercman24 Posted October 15, 2014 Share Posted October 15, 2014 have you thought about going the PREFAB route, i have a lady friend (yes friend) who is always posting on my f/book page gorgeous prefab looking houses. i think she is obsessed, he he, but they do look rather nice, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve73 Posted October 15, 2014 Share Posted October 15, 2014 If you must build, be as far away from the outlaws as possible, and don't put in too many "spare" rooms...! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert24 Posted October 15, 2014 Share Posted October 15, 2014 If she owns the land already and no significant amount of soil is needed as it was a Sugar cane field before, you can build a very nice house for anything between 1 and 1.5 million. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maximus101 Posted October 15, 2014 Share Posted October 15, 2014 Im Just finishing a thai style house but to a bit higher standard and western bathrooms (2) and basic western kitchen I didnt skimp on good materials eg good cement and higher grade steel for roof roof is 252 m2 house is 125 m2 about 190 m2 of Tiling Contract for labour was fixed cost 125,000 baht cost is arount 600,000 total depending on what you include Mistakes I made was with roof design and the electrical sub contractor was awful But I could have had what i wanted for the same price if i understood it better. Best of luck feel free to ask any questions a friend has just finished a much nicer 2 storey place for a bit over 3 million but did all the purchasing and designing himself We are over 100km from khon kaen but have most building supplies near by Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thaiguzzi Posted October 15, 2014 Share Posted October 15, 2014 People who've seen my house (220 internal sq m, 2 x floors) say "wow, must have cost 3-4 mil". It was finished in 05 and cost me 1.7 mil. I paid a set price labour bill per sq meters, purchased everything myself, bi-daily runs into town or the big city 80 kms away, with a list of wants from the builders who knew i only wanted grade A rebar, cement, paint etc. And i was on site pretty much most days over the 8 month build.The only way to do it. No probs in 9 years. Very happy with their work. Obviously land fill, perimeter wall, car port, w/shop area were extra. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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