Building a House

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jmhogan

Building a House

Post by jmhogan »

Looking for some ideas and suggestions.

My wife and I are looking at Purchasing a piece of land and building a house. I know all about the aspects of building a home back in Canada but this is a different deal totally.

I am seeing a lot of issues in the house we rent so want to make sure we do not have the same pitfalls in our build.

I am concerned with how much we have to run air conditioning here and how if you shut it off within 2 minutes it needs to go back on. I am not upset at the cost but the house does not stay cool at all. I am wondering what building things can be done to help keep the house cool if any. In Canada we have Central Heating and Cooling systems here using a furnace and duct work here I can't see that as a possibility with the potential critters that would get in.

Electrical here seems to be an issue. Not nearly enough outlets. Is there a standard in houses here?

Plumbing is sketchy with great pressure at some taps and others having barely a drip. ( so how can we insure great pressure at all taps in a new build? )

I have so many questions and expect to do a lot of research over the next 12 months so any guidance, thoughts, suggestions would be great.

As well I would be interested to hear the pro's and con's of a sub-division build or a private plot.
RCer
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Re: Building a House

Post by RCer »

Before I go into all the specifics, are you prepared to pay 300% extra to get a house built to the standards you are talking about? From what I've seen only custom builders can or will do the job.

Materials are available though. Go look at Thai Watsadu
perfectvolley
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Re: Building a House

Post by perfectvolley »

We build a house here in HH about 3 years ago and we are absolutly happy with all the the issues you were talking about. If you would like to have a look at it please let me know.
brianks
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Re: Building a House

Post by brianks »

It's all in the plans. Get a good set of plans for the house that incorporate all you want and you can get a builder to build it. We built our own home here in Khanom (after living in two tract houses in Hua Hin) and there were many things we learned from living in the previous houses. We had our plans drawn up with all the things we wanted. Of course I had to closely monitor the builder during the 8-10 month process to make sure all was done as to plans. There are even now things I have since learned that I would do differently if done again. There are so many things that you may or may not know that turn out to be important later. The list would be too long to list here. Also, you can pay me now or pay me later really applies. Almost everything I went cheaper on here has been redone a better or more durable way.

In late April there is a Architect show in Challenger Hall at Mung Tong Thani in Bangkok. If you attend that show you will get so many ideas that you may have never thought of previously. I go every year now and come back with something new every time.
HHTel
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Re: Building a House

Post by HHTel »

We built our house back in 2005 and have no real complaints to this day.

We don't have aircon as a matter of choice but all the walls, interior and exterior are double skin and the roof very well insulated. Even without aircon the house is always cool both upstairs and downstairs.

We have a 25,000 litre underground tank so have never had any problem with water supply.

Pressure to the taps assuming nothing wrong with the pipes is down to installing a pump man enough for the job. An under powered pump will leave the taps furthest away with reduced pressure.

I'm sure there are a million more tips.
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STEVE G
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Re: Building a House

Post by STEVE G »

Something to consider, rather than trying to cool a house, is to buy a larger plot and basically live outside much of the time, that's what we do. The house is on a rai of land with a separate kitchen and an external area that opens out onto the garden with a large covered terrace. I only go into the house to go to bed, everything else, eating, relaxing, drinking, watching TV gets done in the garden, it's a very pleasant lifestyle as long as you're not overly sensitive to the heat and the suchlike, I often sit in the garden until the early hours of the morning.
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migrant
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Re: Building a House

Post by migrant »

We have lived here now about 18 months. We have a 1.1 rai plot and have been planning, and talking, to people for that time. We figure to start next spring.

The biggest, common, suggestion everyone makes is to plan to watch over the construction. The builders here can build what you want (insulation, etc) but you need to be onsite to ensure it is to plan.
The proper function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall use my time.
HHTel
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Re: Building a House

Post by HHTel »

Absolutely agree with the above. We made daily visits to the sight and at least a couple of times a week we found the builder veering away from the spec and doing his own thing. I think he spent as much time correcting his work than actually following instructions. The final straw was when we found him putting substandard glass in the windows instead of 'toughened' glass. He got the sack and another builder (which I wish we'd known about at the outset) finished the job perfectly
RCer
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Re: Building a House

Post by RCer »

jmhogan wrote:Looking for some ideas and suggestions.

My wife and I are looking at Purchasing a piece of land and building a house. I know all about the aspects of building a home back in Canada but this is a different deal totally.
When you say you know the aspects of building a house in Canada, are you saying you have construction experience that you can use to ensure quality work is being done and being done to specification?
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Chazz14
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Re: Building a House

Post by Chazz14 »

Sound advice from Migrant...
When Chazzville was being built 4 years ago, Mrs C spent a couple of hours onsite every day keeping an eye on things.
If she saw a problem she raised it with the builder immediately... I think that if the builder knows that you're seriously on the ball, they also understand that any messing about by them is a waste of their time.
No problems with the house itself, (but when adding a leak-proof asbestos-type sheeted roof to cover the front yard, sealing the gap between main roof and extension is an ongoing saga!).
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crazy88
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Re: Building a House

Post by crazy88 »

I have designed and supervised the build of numerous houses here.

I have visited and watched literally thousands of others go up as I work in real estate.

Employ an architect that will make regular visits.

Scrutinise the plans with the architect as they will not include enough electric points or lights. They think 1 double socket is enough in a kitchen FFS. Rice cooker and a spare not cutting it.

On insulation; Many do not use any. The foil I use is almost like a neoprene. Costs a bit more but worth it. Make sure you have airflow through the roof. Cavity double walls cost more than just using the larger 14 cm blocks. Supablock is so much quicker and you make the extra cost back on labour from experience. Need a good plasterer though as it cracks like a spiders web if not done properly.

Aircon go overkill. You will need it come hot season. If the home is designed properly to take account of the climate and seasonal winds you will find you do not use it very often other than the bedrooms.

Other than that have a good look at what your builder has done before. They may have thrown up hundreds of shop houses with pink tiles and squat toilets but can they build what you want to the standard you want?

Crazy 88
BrianT
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Re: Building a House

Post by BrianT »

RCer wrote:Before I go into all the specifics, are you prepared to pay 300% extra to get a house built to the standards you are talking about? From what I've seen only custom builders can or will do the job.

Materials are available though. Go look at Thai Watsadu
Definitely agree with this, Thai Watsudu is a good place for building materials.
jmhogan
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Re: Building a House

Post by jmhogan »

I will definitely check out the architect show.

Thank you all for your feedback too.

The longer I live in the rental the more things I see wrong or poorly done and to ensure we do not do the same thing.
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hhfarang
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Re: Building a House

Post by hhfarang »

No matter what you do things can and will go wrong if you don't hire the right builder and have an iron clad contract and a very good lawyer (for when things do go wrong).

We built two homes in Thailand, one with a European builder and one with a Thai builder. Both times I designed and drew the homes but then got a civil engineer to do official drawings. I was very careful and either me or my wife (or both) were on site every day of the building and still there were lots of problems. The Thai built home turned out much better quality than the farang builder's and was delivered on time, but it had almost 100% cost overrun which we did not cover for properly in the contract. The farang built one had huge cost overruns, serious quality problems, and took three times the length of time promised to deliver (two and a half years!). In fact it would probably still not be finished (12 years later) had I not fired the original builder and finished it on my own hiring sub-contractors. Luckily on that one my contract covered the cost overruns with a daily late penalty clause so the initial cost was contained and the only overrun I had to pay was for the sub-contractors to fix the mess the original builder made.

Just be careful who you hire. Do your research and homework on the builder and materials (insist on a detailed bill of materials and follow up by checking that the quantity and quality matches the list), and get a contract written to cover anything that can go wrong. Then either you, if you are knowledgeable, or a trusted hired professional must monitor the work daily.

One additional point. Be careful where you build. Make sure there is nearby access to utilities, and if there is any empty land adjacent or nearby be very cautious. We built our home in Hua Hin with empty grazing land around it. For the next 7 years there was construction going on on all sides. There was constant noise and dust and they ruined a good sealed road which got so potholed by the end that my wife's sedan could barely make it to the house. The walls they put up caused flooding (mudslides) to inundate my driveway every time it rained hard that would take days to shovel/wash out. Also, as there are no building codes you could end up with a chicken farm or fish sauce factory next door.

Good luck! :wink:
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kun Tam
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Re: Building a House

Post by kun Tam »

plan your house : house face to north side (sunrise), celling 2.8 meter high, take some foil layer under your roof, make your house high 40 cm at least from ground level, roof level at least 30 angle. install some air vertilation on celling.
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