Making a construction thread has been in my good intentions drawer since I started building the house 7 years ago. Finally found the time to squeeze time into my busy schedule.
I designed the house myself using a 3D design package. Google sketch-up not available at the time.
The land was owned by the missus. Decided to go with a comfy single story built to "western" standard. Not to big, not to small. A bit under 200 sq meters.
Floor plan:
Once the plan was in place, started to layout important stuff such as:
All materials sourced locally - did a lot of shopping in local area and made a detailed list of suppliers who had what I wanted.
Get a work crew with experience in building "western" quality houses - I knew a crew who worked building resorts in Phuket and got them to do the job. They were happy to do it as they were from a nearby Isaan village.
Make sure I had the time to be on site throughout the construction of the house. - Was able to do this as the MiL's house was directly across the street.
Wife not involved in any aspect of the build. This was easy. She left all to me and quite happy with the result.
Anyone building a house in Isaan note the above.
Total cost for all, 1.8 million baht and 7 months to build.