It is a cheapy building thread, believe me! (This lot was done on a shoestring) No it is not a shoe box by any means, but you can get some pretty good bargains if you look around.
I do not want to live in an 8 x 4 house made from cheap concrete shit just to save a few Baht, all of the wood here could be torn down and resold for more than I paid - concrete is a waste of money, no one can reuse it and no one wants it!
(27 of those huge mothers of trees were bought for 250K - (about 3K GBP at the time) 12 were used for supports the rest were chopped up for floorboards.)
The most expensive thing was the damn roof, a huge mistake!
If you take the roof out of the picture, the materials, apart from the concrete can be sold and reused, I didn't spend more than 700K for all of the wood in this. I could sell the wood tomorrow for more than 3 million (depending on the police)
500K for a concrete shoebox is not cheap - it is a waste of money, cannot be sold, cannot be reused and will only end up as landfill or rubble. Bargains are where you can keep the value or sell the bits.
Thais do not want second hand concrete houses, you may as well throw your money down the drain.
I only posted this so that anyone thinking of building a new place might at least spend an hour or so and see what you can do with some old wood rather than going and throwing your money down some pit where you cannot get anything back on it.
If you don't like it, don't read it! Simple as that. If someone makes a better decision and it saves them a few bob in the long run then I am glad to help.
And the people spouting on about "Cheap" houses - I can tell you for a fact - I could get bigger, and better built up here for 150K!
And would you believe it, there is not a single aircon unit in the entire place! The wood stays pretty cool so all you need is a reasonable fan - it does however get freezing in the winter.
It is a haven for lizards which in turn eat all the mossies, and then the cats eat them. If I want to make sure it isn't sold off, I can tie a rope around one of the huge beams and hang myself, as Thais hate anything to do with death and ghosts, I guess an Anusawari Kam Gnoh!
Seriously though, if you are thinking of building here, even on a small scale - go with wood! You can always sell it - I was told by a good friend (Thai Joiner) that a 4metre teak tree about 3 foot around (old wood) will sell for 40K in BKK!!!!
You can also make friends with lots of Thais too - they love wood - I often get them visiting and they end up getting pissed and hugging the trees as they beliveve there are spirits inside of them, they only do this when they are pissed out of their heads for some reason. (and only before darkness)
When they are sober, these big trees deter them as they FEAR the tree spirits - let me just say - I don't get Thai visitors at night time! (I had one Thai guy turn up one night, a proffesor from Mae Jo university - he got steaming drunk and hugged a tree whilst crying like a baby - kind of embarrasing really - his father in law was the chief of police.
I planted about 600 teak trees, around the place which now must be 40 foot high, the wifes friends often ask - "How can you stay there with those trees full of ghosts in your house and all of those ghost trees around your home?"
I think it must be something to do with that ghost the Thais fear (The one I'd love to meet) Pee Kanon - she hides behind trees in the dark and then comes out and fucks you to death.....the ammount of time I have wandered aimlessly amongst my lovely trees but she never appears. (I even take off my shorts but she seems not to be interested) I hang around the bigger trees and shout BOO! Fuck Me Bitch! - nothing seems to work. I must admit that I do worry about enticing that other nasty piece of work Pee Sua, the ghost with a head and dripping entrails - looks like the wifes mother - doesn't fuck you in the main sense of the word - she just eats you!