design your own house

[egeefay]

I notice some folks are looking to design their own house in Hua Hin
Google's free house design program called
Sketchup
http://sketchup.google.com/
It's not hard to learn and you can even import furniture, appliances etc. into the design.
And ...it's FREE

[Alanthebuilder]

Not bad at all! Cheers now Alanthebuilder.

[Super Joe]

Or try this: http://www.crossy.co.uk/Thai_House_Plans/

Supposed free government pre-approved house plans!?

SJ

[Jaime]

I notice some folks are looking to design their own house in Hua Hin
Google's free house design program called
Sketchup
http://sketchup.google.com/
It's not hard to learn and you can even import furniture, appliances etc. into the design.
And ...it's FREE

Sketchup is great as a quick 3-D design tool but it's not a 'house design program' and it won't design the house for you! It is merely an electronic pencil so if your design is rubbish, Sketchup won't improve it!

[Super Joe]

Agree Jaime, and furthermore you can bring over a 10,000 Dollar set of AutoCAD (or whatever it is these days) drawings but you'll still need to get a Thai Architect/structural engineer to practically design and produce a Thai version of the house (and pool), to obtain the building permit. Also for the contractor to read and work from.

But good for outlining your basic house design for the Thai Arch to work from to give you want you want. I tore a page out of a Spanish Villas Rental magazine and handed them that, bit lazy but it worked.

SJ

[hhfarang]

Me too, SJ,

I started with a photo of a house that I wanted mine to resemble on the outside, then I sat down with a good old pencil, ruler, and pad of paper and designed my own (floor plan) by trial and error using advertising booklets I had collected from new development show homes in Florida before I came here. I combined several Florida style plans to create the custom home we wanted.

After that I worked with a Thai architect/engineer from the Tessabahn to formalize the drawings. He added all the required drawings to my specification using his knowledge and we ended up with a "book" of professional drawings including things I would have had no idea about like the foundation plan, roof plan, elevation plan, electrical plan, plumbing plan, detailed plans of the stairways, doors, windows, etc.

It worked out great. Everyone who has been to my house says it is one of the best designs they've seen here.... but the whole project took over two years.

[crazy88]

If you want to design your own basic outline of a home I would recommend something like PUNCH for ease of use .This will give the architect a good example of what you wish to achieve .You should become familiar with methods of construction as much as you can first to avoid wasting your own time too much .Just the basics and then get creative with your concept before consulting a professional team .For those with enough knowledge and time who wish to supervise their own build some advice that I think anyone in the trade will agree with . View previous works carefully,be on site EVERY day,be prepared to spend a few months feeling like a cross between Basil Fawlty and yosemitie Sam, jumping up and down like Rumplestiltskin on the inside whilst maintaining a calm and cool exterior at all times .If you are not fluent in Thai then you will need a full time translator that is well educated and experienced in building matters and good at PR .Pay them well ,mine earn every baht and more .



Good luck

Crazy 88

[hhfarang]

Excellent advice C88 about the process! I do have Punch Platinum but I found the learning curve to be kind of sharp although I did do some floor plans with it.

[crazy88]

Happy to show you around it sometime as long as you are buying the beers !

Be pre-warned that I can swallow a few

Crazy 88

[hhfarang]

That actually sounds like an excellent trade-off as I have another home design to work on and I've usually got a fridge full of beers. We'll have to come up with a mutual day for that!