Hello from Korat the home of the Korat Cat apparently

[Korat_bobby]

Hello All,

I'm Bobby a builder and project manager from Australia. I'm no stranger to Thailand, have been attached to the place since meeting my ex-wife over 10 years ago. I'm told I'm missing a few sheep in the top paddock because I've now remarried to a Thai girl (Yui). I've recently starting living in Thailand and planning my first build here soon in the foothills of Korat. I've starting researching the Thai way of building and keep landing back on this forum so decided to join. The more I read the more I feel like loading up a whole house worth of materials from Oz and building it the way we do back home! I'm sure the anxiety will settle and I'll get my head around things soon. Lovely to meet you all and looking forward to exchanging notes. Please don't hesitate to ask any building or management questions that are general and not Thailand specific in nature, I'll be happy to help.

[Roger Ramjet]

Hello Bobby and welcome to CTH.
The dingos and drop bears certainly ran wild in the top paddock. Are you sure two German Shepherd dogs didn't run loose as well. Good luck there.
As an investment on the future of your house I would suggest you stock up on spirit levels and tape measures and be on the job the whole time. Post the plans on every wall and make sure you keep the master plan in your back pocket. Check everything 5 times before you allow any of them to start anything and make sure, if the builder suggests he knows a better way to veto that straight away.
Most of all be flexible, make sure the builder's staff get goodies like Red Bull, fruit and compliments each day and it pays to buy a water cooler at the start of the build. Try to remember these kids only went to about grade 5 in Australian educational standards and that the builder is a rogue and you should get on okay. Make sure you employ no relatives unless you carry a gun. A bloody big one. Good luck.
You might like to look at some of the builds here, some are horror stories, others not so bad and at least you'll get an idea what's in store for you.

[Sometimewoodworker]

Welcome to the joys of building in Thailand. You could be successful in bringing in the materials, but would never get people to use all of them as intended.

However good luck

[Ians]

My suggestion is you look around at all the building going on in your area and close to it, visit each site and observe what is going on, what's right/ wrong, talk to the owners, ask to see any previous builds and most important don't just consider the lowest prices.
I was lucky finding a good professional builder, but even then there were issues, but luckily they were always resolved happily.
Your toughest task is to educate your wife in building terms and make sure she can get across your pissed-off comments nicely so as not to be too far off the mark with the builder.
Other than that it's easy, good luck.
P. S. If you want something done your way for good reason, stick with it. My builder at the end of the build was pleased to admit that he had picked up some good ideas on things I wanted done and got done.

[MGV12]

My suggestion is you look around at all the building going on in your area and close to it, visit each site and observe what is going on, what's right/ wrong, talk to the owners, ask to see any previous builds and most important don't just consider the lowest prices.
I was lucky finding a good professional builder, but even then there were issues, but luckily they were always resolved happily.
Your toughest task is to educate your wife in building terms and make sure she can get across your pissed-off comments nicely so as not to be too far off the mark with the builder.
Other than that it's easy, good luck.
P. S. If you want something done your way for good reason, stick with it. My builder at the end of the build was pleased to admit that he had picked up some good ideas on things I wanted done and got done.

Ditto

[Korat_bobby]

Thanks for the welcome and good advise

[frankan]

Hi Bobby. I live in the western suburbs of Melbourne and, while I know nothing of building, I know I don't want to build a Thai house nor a Farang one either.
When my wife and her kids came to Oz I bought a lovely 8 seat dining table. It's been used twice in 10 years. They sit on the floor to eat. So bin the dining room. You don't want to cook indoors in the tropics, so cut the kitchen down and make an outdoor cooking and eating area. Forget McMansions and go for traditional Oz designs. Mine will have a verandah all round. Zincalume roof, vented and fully insulated for heat and sound. The light weight roof should remove the need for that big concrete post sitting in the middle of Thai houses. Electrics.....strictly Australian, their stuff scares me. I have a huge number of questions for Queenslanders and NT folk who must have conquered most of the problems of building in tropical climes.

[pipoz]

Hello All,

I'm Bobby a builder and project manager from Australia. I'm no stranger to Thailand, have been attached to the place since meeting my ex-wife over 10 years ago. I'm told I'm missing a few sheep in the top paddock because I've now remarried to a Thai girl (Yui). I've recently starting living in Thailand and planning my first build here soon in the foothills of Korat. I've starting researching the Thai way of building and keep landing back on this forum so decided to join. The more I read the more I feel like loading up a whole house worth of materials from Oz and building it the way we do back home! I'm sure the anxiety will settle and I'll get my head around things soon. Lovely to meet you all and looking forward to exchanging notes. Please don't hesitate to ask any building or management questions that are general and not Thailand specific in nature, I'll be happy to help.

Almost, if not everything you need, to build a quality house, is here or available in Thailand, probably more so that Oz and much cheaper. Several simple benchmarks are Readymix Concrete - in Thailand TB 1600 - 2000 per m3 (or AUS 60 - 75m3), compare that in OZ. Then there is the choice and prices of quality ceramic tiles in Thailand.

You will find that the major Thai local hardware/materials stores, such as Home-pro, Thaiwatsadu, Global and Boothavorn (to a lesser extent) etc. stock more than your average Bunning's Store in Oz, plus they also have a good array of Displays, such as Kitchen setups, Bathrooms, Tiles, which far exceeds that which you will find in an Oz Hardware Store. In my view you can find a quality product equal to if not better that in OZ, given Australia doesn't make much of these products these days and now simply imports them primarily from Asia and China anyway.

If I had one criticism of these Thai Hardware stores for materials, it would ne the choice of Wooden Doors and Hardware to a lesser extent. You just have to search around for these. That and how many staff actually understand the product line they are selling and or how many can speak/comprehend English. If you want to converse in English go to Home-pro or Boothavorn

Anyway one good walk through all of them and you will soon see what you can readily find on the shelf

pipoz

[Ians]

Walk the hardware stores everyday and you will soon be known, get some idea of what you want and keep your eyes open for big discounts that happen very often, be prepared to buy on a whim if and when that you want is on special. I saved a lot of money visiting the stores on a regular basis and buying as items became specials, nothing to save over Bht 100 /m2 on floor and wall tiles.