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Storekeeper

DD,

Do you do any consulting when it comes to house construction ? Specifically, when I start building another in late 2007 what's your
charge to come check out a project once a month to make sure I
ain't getting screwed ?

SK

dirtydog

It would depend where it was,it wouldn't be a lot though, that's why us builders are poor

Marmite the Dog

It also depends upon the customer's nationality, or so I hear....

William

yep - I heard he doesn't work for Americans, but that may have changed now he is looking to build el casa de dog

Storekeeper

DD,

It will be up around Phichit. I'll call on you after Marmite has delivered my "extra" passport. :>)

SK

Marmite the Dog

Here you go, mate

LeedsLeedsLeeds

DD, do you ever take on projects in other provinces? I'm looking to have a house built late 2006 early 2007 in Surat Thani and I'm not sure if I can trust a Thai person to build something foreigner-friendly.

dirtydog

It would work out too expensive for you, I would have to ship my staff down there, set up a camp for them, ship tools down there, plus there i wouldn't get the discounts that a local builder would get.

LeedsLeedsLeeds

No worries DD, still got plenty time to hunt down decent builders.

Sanuk Canuk

I think this is actually a gem of an opportunity for you DD.

If you set up as a primary contractor and sub contracted all the work you can normally take in 5-10% of the total value of the project with your only cost being that of advertising, a bookkeeper, a layer on retainer and a little office space. Not only that you could have 10 projects onthe go at a time.

Many expats would love to have an expat look after this kind of thing as they would be scared that a Thai would rip them off or that there would be communication problems. Also many expats do not have any experiance with the local isses related to construction and they would be willing to pay big for the peice of mind.

I had a G/F whose father was a civil engineer and he was a project manager. He had an office, 2 staff and he routinely charged 8% off the top on all contracts. When you are building 4 or 5 multi million dollar buildings at once this turns into pretty big money fast. Even if you can't get accredited as a project manager you could alway set your self up as a "buiders agent" or some other meaningless title and do the same job.

I know if it were me I would be willing to pay an extra 500k Bhat on a 5m bhat house for the peice of mind that it would bring.

Just a thought.

smullenpe

Project Management/Construction Management fees are based on many things. If the client wants just construction management to monitor the job and do a control inspection, it's about 3% to 5 % of the construction project. If they want the engineer to put together a bid package and make report of the progress and do the CPM, it's more like 10% to 15%. Bigger the job, smaller percentage of the fee. That's how it is in the states.

MeMock

I agree - it is a great idea. I mean not that I would use you DD but I'm sure others would!

dirtydog

Memock we dont build shacks

Sanuk Canuk, erm I have been doing that for a living here in Thailand for about 14 years so far, the last big job we done was about 15 million baht, but for most of that I used my own staff, but now I only do one job at a time as I really don't like working that much.

__________________

Marmite the Dog

Well if anyone wants a profesional English architect/projet manager, just PM me.

MeMock

So what sort of moolah am i looking at if, actually not if but when i decide to build a house in the village?

Typical 2 story half decent place, at least half of it a/c.

2 million? 3 4 or 5?

dirtydog

6 to 9,000 baht per square meter of floor area would be a figure to work on not including aircons.

friscofrankie

IS that typical concrete post & beam with brick/plaster walls? If one wold to build a concrete bottom floor with wood topside (not the typical shack top but a proper home) what would the difference be? I'm sketching up a rough draft for our property and am considering steel for the bottom floor posts and beams cheaper or more expensive?
If I go concrete I figure I'm gonna have to stand over 'em and make sure they vibrate. Just hate seeing all those voids that Thai concrete structures are plagued with.

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dirtydog

wood, especialy teak is too expensive now, a 3 bedroom house we recently fitted teak skirting boards all over the place, that alone came to about 150,000baht.

Marmite the Dog

What about those ones you posted about recently. Couldn't they be adapted to fit Frankie's needs?

friscofrankie

I've been looking at those... I've an acquaintance here that imports whole teak homes from Laos by the truckload. They build new homes out of the parts. Way too expensive. In the north here we've got teak salvage yards that sell old dead-fall teak logs 10, 20 even 30 ft long about 40 inches diameter. Old stuff. You can even get Asian rosewood logs (these are used quite a bit in older elevated homes as the columns).
There is an abundance (relative) of old world craftsmen. These guys are making hairline dovetails and mortise/tenon joints with hand saws and chisel. Lot of teak here in lumber yards too. Most of it green Burmese teak; guy could buy a couple of units and sticker out under a shed, let air dry.
I love the smell of teak and it is so easy to work.
I've seen concrete vibrators in tools shops but have never seen one on a job.. I wonder mostly about using steel as columns and beams.
My sketches entail a lower area about a meter below grade, for a recreation/entertainment area. i want it open without central columns so was thinking of using steel, or glue-lams. Could do a monolithic pour for the entire lower area but I'd probably have to import some Mexicans to do the formin' and pourin'.
Wood is definitely more expensive. Bt if you're building a home for living. The extra expense in making a place you want to spend your remaining days is well worth it. I think.
This is way too over the top for me but a modernized, (less guady)larger version is something I'm lookin' at.

This place is being built by carvers not joiners. It's show case of the carvers work and not house building for sure.
All old, recycled teak. guy were all too happy to take a break and dig through the cared panels yet mounted and pose them for me. Share a couple smokes and some bottles of M-loy-ha-sip with me. Wouldn;t let me go until i convinced them my digital camera was out of film.

In the above pic you can see the shit concrete work. and the narrow spans. Even covered with wood or some other siding I just couldn't abide the shoddy work in my home. I'd want a bit more elevation for the lower area maybe with folding shutters...