Alamanda villas soi 112

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Paul888
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Alamanda villas soi 112

Post by Paul888 »

Hi there,

I have bought a hous in Soi 112, Alamanda villas.
The building is going very slow. I only would like to check if anyone here have any information about the building company Waterfall Villas or the guy Liam who is running this project.

Thanks in advance.
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hhfarang
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Re: Alamanda villas soi 112

Post by hhfarang »

Building is often slow here. There are only a few reputable western builders who give you an honest time quote. I know nothing about the development or builder you mentioned but I can tell you that mine was quoted to be completed in eight months time from ground breaking. Two years later I fired my builder and finished the home myself.

Do you have a penalty clause in the contract that states a daily monetary penalty for the builder for every day, week, or month that delivery is late? Every house build should have a date of completion and a penalty clause for completion after that date as well as staged payments with milestones to be met before each payment, i.e., foundation completed, roof completed, etc., with a final (at least 20% imo) payment at the end in case you need to hold back money due to the delay or poor quality of the build.
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Dannie Boy
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Re: Alamanda villas soi 112

Post by Dannie Boy »

hhfarang wrote:Building is often slow here. There are only a few reputable western builders who give you an honest time quote. I know nothing about the development or builder you mentioned but I can tell you that mine was quoted to be completed in eight months time from ground breaking. Two years later I fired my builder and finished the home myself.

Do you have a penalty clause in the contract that states a daily monetary penalty for the builder for every day, week, or month that delivery is late? Every house build should have a date of completion and a penalty clause for completion after that date as well as staged payments with milestones to be met before each payment, i.e., foundation completed, roof completed, etc., with a final (at least 20% imo) payment at the end in case you need to hold back money due to the delay or poor quality of the build.
Even with such a clause, enforcing it could prove to be very difficult/lengthy/costly - is your developer responding to your questions regarding progress?
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hhfarang
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Re: Alamanda villas soi 112

Post by hhfarang »

Even with such a clause, enforcing it could prove to be very difficult/lengthy/costly - is your developer responding to your questions regarding progress?
The penalty clause and staged payments I mentioned are the way to enforce it. You have the option of doing what I did, fire the builder and finish the house with another builder or by hiring labor yourself using the amount of the penalty deducted from your payment(s) that have not yet been made to the first builder.

If you pay up front or too much too soon you will have to go to court to get justice which is what will be difficult/lengthy/costly.
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Re: Alamanda villas soi 112

Post by Dannie Boy »

HHFR! I was referring specifically to the penalty clause you made reference to for late completion - I know from personal experience that trying to enforce this is difficult/lengthy/costly. Of course if you have not made up front payments greater than the work completed, you should be able to use that as a negotiating tool or as you suggest/did, fire the builder and get somebody else to complete.
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Re: Alamanda villas soi 112

Post by Paul888 »

Yes, I have a 1000 baht per day penalty clause in the agreement. My lawyer is Jane(Chavalit & partner) and she wrote it in.

He is responding once in a while. Blaming different sort of things. At the moment he is blaming the supplier of windows and doors.
After the windows and doors are installed I should pay 500k and the last 400k when I get the keys.
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hhfarang
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Re: Alamanda villas soi 112

Post by hhfarang »

HHFR! I was referring specifically to the penalty clause you made reference to for late completion - I know from personal experience that trying to enforce this is difficult/lengthy/costly. Of course if you have not made up front payments greater than the work completed, you should be able to use that as a negotiating tool or as you suggest/did, fire the builder and get somebody else to complete.
^ We're saying the same thing. I enforced the penalty clause by myself by withholding the penalty from the amount the builder claimed I still owed him when we split, so he paid the penalty by default because I did not pay him the penalty amount from the work he had done.

That's why you cannot pay ahead. You always need the builder to be adding at least a half million of his own money so that the building can stay ahead of your payment should there be a problem. In my case, at the time we separated, I would have still owed him for work completed had it not been for the penalty clause so when I fired him the penalty, plus work we had paid for out of pocket because of his delays made it almost a break even to get the job finished on budget without paying him the final payment.

If I had not had that penalty clause I would have had to pay at least another 720,000 for work he had completed as that is what the penalty amounted to.

The caveat is that as soon as possible after the building starts you need to put the chanote in your (company, wife, etc.,) name and your utilities in your name with your own meters or else he has power over you. Many builders retain the ownership to the roads and utilities within a development. This is not right and I would never buy in a place that did that because then they can cut off your utilities or close the access to your house. Sadly, to many people here are ignorant enough to go into a situation like that and it frequently ends in problems. (like a shooting over a water bill).
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Re: Alamanda villas soi 112

Post by hhfarang »

Paul888 wrote:Yes, I have a 1000 baht per day penalty clause in the agreement. My lawyer is Jane(Chavalit & partner) and she wrote it in.

He is responding once in a while. Blaming different sort of things. At the moment he is blaming the supplier of windows and doors.
After the windows and doors are installed I should pay 500k and the last 400k when I get the keys.
Paul, since you are in a development you are probably going to have the problems I mentioned in the caveat. The builder probably still owns the access to your home, the utility supply, and maybe even the land if you have not had everything signed over to you already, so you are stuck negotiating with the builder to finish the house quickly or deduct the penalty from what he says you owe.

Foreigners should never buy a house here as they cannot own it. This kind of situation is what you run into a lot of the time.
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Re: Alamanda villas soi 112

Post by brianks »

Now what was that about "(like a shooting over a water bill)." ? A good reminder about the rouge farang builders in Hua Hin.
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Re: Alamanda villas soi 112

Post by hhfarang »

^ A reminder of what can happen if you get into an argument with the wrong builder. Anybody who has lived here for a few years knows what I was referring to. I want rehash it again but there was a posting about it finally getting a court sentencing in the last few days.

All I can say is that when I came here there were few if any reputable western builders here. Nobody I knew of in those years bought or built a home without having major delays or problems with the house and builder.

Now many of those are still around and still building new communities and I don't think a tiger changes his stripes, however, there are some good and reputable ones here now like the one who has done all the Orchid Palm developments. (I think they're on number 6 now and they all sell out before ground is broken on the first house). :thumb:
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Re: Alamanda villas soi 112

Post by JW »

There is nothing wrong with a foreigner buying a house in Thailand, there are thousands who have done so and live very happily. Things go wrong sometimes but this is a very small minority.
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Re: Alamanda villas soi 112

Post by JamesWest »

Image [Mod edit: Please stick to the subject in question which is Alamanda Villas, this incident has been discussed countless times on here already.]
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Re: Alamanda villas soi 112

Post by The Rascal »

Hi Paul,
What nr do you have at Alamanda?

My house has just been finished, it was handed over a few weeks ago,, I was panicking, worring about the build etc,,but it worked out fine,,yes a little late,,but they got,,,however Liam is not about anymore,,which is good,,his heart was not in it anymore,,so they have a new PM,,she's a Thai girl and she is marvelous!!!

I am a builder in the uk,,i know the frustrations involved,,but it was all worth while.
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Re: Alamanda villas soi 112

Post by petercr »

The Rascal wrote:Hi Paul,
What nr do you have at Alamanda?

My house has just been finished, it was handed over a few weeks ago,, I was panicking, worring about the build etc,,but it worked out fine,,yes a little late,,but they got,,,however Liam is not about anymore,,which is good,,his heart was not in it anymore,,so they have a new PM,,she's a Thai girl and she is marvelous!!!

I am a builder in the uk,,i know the frustrations involved,,but it was all worth while.
Would be interested to know if you have taken ownership of the land and if you have had permanent electric supplies installed. The last time I looked at Alamanda (January 15) all the properties were being fed by cables slung along the external walls from pylons outside the development............IE no permanent supplies had been provided!!

I was in a similar situation on a development close by and it took us nearly 3yrs through the courts to throw the developer out and get a court ruling allowing the residents to install their own infrastructure, including electric. The developer in question had contracted to provide infrastructure with the initial build but instead (and some years later) tried to sell us the common area for an inflated figure and meantime held all owners to ransom by refusing to maintain the development and withholding permission for permanent electric supplies to be installed.

The collective cost to each resident was about 250k in increased electric charges (Permanent V Temp Unit Rate over the three year period), legal fees and of course the costs to install permanent infrastructure. Worthwhile to get rid of him but even now some owners waiting to get title to their land seven years after signing the initial purchase contracts!!

In my experience a change in PM makes no material difference as they are still reporting to the same owner/developer :(
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Re: Alamanda villas soi 112

Post by JamesWest »

is this anywhere near the rows of half finished abandoned looking houses on soi 112. i think i saw a for sale sign for the entire neighborhood. sorry but it is getting hard to keep track of the half way finished projects.

maybe near the dozen and dozens of new and completely empty unsold and unleased shop houses?

you think anyone will move into the new condo tower at the base of 112? i am hoping to become a squatter there because i think the view will be nice.
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