How much to build a house in village 50 kms from Khon Kaen

[toryboy1979 60]

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

[Nuddy 299]

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.

[gerry123 1,061]

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

[gerry123 1,061]

P.S.please keep us posted photos etc

[ExPratt 3,174]

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

[steveG 44]

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.

[thrilled 884]

If not look at alanthebuilder

[Gonsalviz 807]

If not look at alanthebuilder

Then you'll know you paid to much.

[Gonsalviz 807]

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.

[Jay Sata 1,967]

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.

[MJP 7,066]

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.

[theoldgit 5,300]

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[chiang mai 12,654]

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.

[Naam 14,105]

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.

[MJP 7,066]

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.