Re: *** Building a house in Thailand ***

Zag,

i thought I would add my tu'ppence worth to this thread, although I
think the earlier replies are generally correct. Your budget will get
you 2000 sq metres rather than the size you originally planned. I add
some notes in no particular order.

(1) It sounds to me as though you would be best advised to go for a
brick and concrete house. The basic design involves building a
steel-reinforced concrete frame. The floors are then added iusing
concrete laid on pre-formed panels. Then brick (typically plastered
over with cement) is used to fill in the unfilled squares on the walls
of the frame. A steel frame is fabricated to accept a tiled roof. One
dilemma is whether to have a concrete floor inserted above the bedrooms
(i.e. the attic). This will add to the expense but make the house much
cooler.

(2) If you have an architect or specialist firm to manage the building
of your house, it will put the cost of the project over your budget.
You can buy a plan from a company or more economically from somebody
who has already built a house of the kind you want and will sell on a
copy of the plans. Many local builders will know where to go to
'borrow' a plan at reasonable cost. My suggestion is that you get a
local foreman (chang) to manage your project but buy the materials
yourself and get him to quote for labour only. This way you will not
end up getting inferior fittings at inflated prices.

(3) One thing to clarify is what is in the labour quote. Certain jobs
- the installation of interior ceilings, electrical wiring, supply and
fitting of windows, external decorative concrete moldings for windows,
etc - are likely to be left out and you need to get an idea of what
these will cost. Probably the chang will also omit to include the cost
of a concrete drive and exterior wall. If you want a Thai style wrought
iron or (better) a steel and alloy fence set into a low wall at the
front this too will be quite expensive - perhaps another 100,000 baht.

(4) The water supply will probably have low and variable pressure.
The typical rural set up is to have a large external aluminium or
plastic water tank, which supplies the house via an electric pump.
Usually there is no separate Western-style hot water system. Here most
people use mini-electric boilers or instant water heaters. The latter
range from a simple shower to an 8KW multi-outlet electric heater
suitable for a kitchen or bathroom. All these items cen be bought in
many places in Thailand. Trying to get a conventional Western hot
water system installed would be expensive and the parts difficult to
get. One tip is to get your Thai labour to put any short runs of water
pipe from heaters to hot taps in using metal pipes rather than the
usual uPVC water pipe. Local firms can put threads on these metal
pipes for joints. Another possibility is to have a second tank in the
attic, which will give you gravity-fed water in the event of a power
cut. However this will need careful planning so that you do not lose
the pressure coming from your pump and necessary to drive showers
properly. Some urban Thai houses have a water tank beneath the floor
but I wouldn't recommend that in a rural house.

(5) The sewage system will involve septic tanks made up from round
concrete sections, and with a pre-formed concrete lid set into a
concrete surface. Usually people use a separate one for each toilet -
though this may not be strictly necessary. Thai people often put these
very close to the house. In my experience there is less of a problem
with odour than one would imagine, but it may be worth insisting on
getting them set back a bit. There will need to be access for the 'rot
dtoot suum' - the sewage truck - to run a pipe to empty the septic
tanks. Incidentally this is inexpensive.

(6) Electrical wiring is a difficult problem in rural Thailand because
the typical tradesman is not very expert. The typical Thai system has
no earth, which is problematic. This is easily rectified by fittingf
one or more earth rods plus a modern distribution panel (perhaps with a
RCCB cutout and separate MCBs for each circuit). This is one area
where some expats find that DIY is better than local labour. It is
also a struggle to get Thai workers to cut channels into walls to
conceal untidy wiring (with appropriate insulation). It is essential
to plan the wiring in advance because it will need to be run inside
ceilings etc. Again extra insulation using either proper plastic
electrical conduit or even cheap water pipes is worth considering
because this will avoid problems with nibbling rodents (something I
have suffered from). It is quite difficult to get good quality
electrical fittings in some rural areas - even down to things like twin
cable with earth (most local suppliers stock twin only). I found Home
Pro in Korat a good place to buy electrical gear and found that the
Thai made Siemens consumer unit was good value for money. The top-end
Thai 3-pin sockets (e.g. National) are okay (don't buy too many 2 pin),
but it may be worth importing European switches. Don't forget to
design wiring with the right capacity cable for different circuits -
especially water heaters and aircon, if you are going to use high
wattage units. Even specialist Thai aircon firms will tend to use an
inadequate size of cable and have a nasty habit of dispensing with an
earth connection, even where you may have supplied it for them.

(7) Such a house typically has no damp course or interior plaster work
beyond smoothed over and painted cement. Typically houses do not have
cavity walls on the European model. If you want more elaborate
decoration it will cost you money. It may be worth considering
interior 'dry-walling' using gypsum sheets on a timber frame.

(8) The earlier contributors are right to say you need an outside
Thai-style kitchen - perhaps under an lean-to roof at the rear of your
house. However, you may also want a vaguely Western-style kitchen and
this too is likely to be expensive (and over the budget you set). In
my opinion it is a very expensive option to buy a fitted kitchen from
one of the firms marketing Western brands. The cheaper alternatives
are (a) to have a local joiner make kitchen units from wood, which I
have seen work well, or (b) get you 'chang' to make the 'carcasses' for
the units and buy ready made hardwood doors. The latter may be a
little hard to get in the size you want and drawer fronts will be
almost impossible. There is no shortage of Thai style doors intended
to be fitted into a concrete frame (e.g. from local Home Mart stores or
builders' merchants), but to my eye this is not attractive and these
doors are really a bit too small for a Western-style wooden cabinet.
The best I could find were hardwood doors again from Home Pro.
European style worktops which are cheap at home are expensive and hard
to get in Thailand. One alternative is tiled tops on thick plywood and
with hardwood moulding at the front, but here it is best to use epoxy
grout which is also not cheap. There are some nice gas hobs that can
be set into a top and look similar to the Western option. Ovens are a
rarity in Thailand and a built-in unit will be expensive.

(9) You already have quite good advice on wooden floors, usually set on
concrete. However, the cheaper and acceptable alternative is ceramic
tiles or a proprietary granite- effect flooring treatment available
from many local firms (charged per sq meter). Some people go for tiles
downstairs and wood upstairs.

(10) The main alternatives for ceilings will be (a) gypsum tiles (e.g.
panels) which rest in a suspended metal frame (the cheaper option) or
(b) gypsum sheets (i.e. plaster board) screwed to a suspended
alluminium frame and skimmed over to look like a conventional
Western-style plastered ceiling. If you want plasterboard on wooden
joists, this can be negotiated with many local firms but will come at a
higher price. As mentioned, one problem is that once the ceilings are
in you will have a problem getting access to wiring above a solid
ceiling. If you don't want mouse problems in the cavity above the
ceilings, it may be worth sealing up the holes between rooms that you
have drillled to feed through the wiring. The mice seem to get in
through any single-storey sections of the house that exist and
especially rooms with panel/tile ceilings. It is tempting to put these
panel ceilings in some rooms like bathrooms (where there may be water
pipe access issues) or say a TV room where you might want to change
aerial or satellite cabling over time and again benefit from the access
- but the mice are the downside.

(11) You will find that some economy measures favoured by Thai builders
will not be to your advantage in the long run. For instance, it is
worth offering to pay a bit extra to get thicker concrete for the
internal floors (under the tiles), the path that is usually laid around
the walls of the house, and the drive and hard-standing. If you don't
do this one visit from a delivery truck is going to be enough to crack
up your nice new drive. It also pays to have an active approach to
project management - and to look over shoulders and offer guidance as
work proceeds.

.

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