Thread: New Home in CM

Hi to all

We plan to retire in CM (doi saket?) and build a new home

As I have seen there is a lot of knowhow this forum
So I like to here all your comments about our Project

as soon as i have 5 Posts i can show you the plan

Come on then, two more!

I live in Chiang Mai. Sansei District.

me too.

i'm looking for a plot in sansai or doi saket

Here we go
that is the idea

First of all welcome to the forum!

Did you design the house yourself or did you hire an architect / bought it from the Internet? I like the floorplan, especially the location of the master bedroom and dressing room.

One suggestion, maybe you dont need it but I guess your wife would like to have an outdoor kitchen? Even with a huge cooker hood and all windows open your house is going to smell bad when your wife is going to make phad satah (สะตอ). Just think about an outdoor kitchen!

One of the keys to a successful build is finding a good builder who can understand what you want. Even though you have some pretty plans, that does not always mean the builder will follow them. There seems to be plenty of members in your area, so I would recruit their suggestions for a builder, if I were you.

You may have read that building in Thailand is much different than building in the western world. The more knowledgeable you are, the easier things will be. There are threads on this site that cover every aspect of building and the pitfalls to beware of. Absorb all you can from these threads and you should be OK. Not a guarantee, but a very good start.

Welcome to TD and don't be shy about asking any questions about your build. I assure you that the members will give you plenty of food for thought.

Good Luck

Welcome. Floor plan is excellent in both form and function. Lots of good builders in CM so you should have no problem finding one.

Look forward to seeing build here.

Very nice plan Swissrobert. Good use of space; although the master bathroom looks a lot bigger than a bathroom needs to be....) It all seems to have nice flow to it.

As had already been said. Finding a good reliable builder and crew is the key to building a good house....and there's lots of threads on this forum that will help prepare you for the experience..... Best of luck with it all.

Welcome Swissrobert,

Plan looks good to me, bit of a palace! Looks very comfortable

Welcome! Do you have any previous building experience? Do you speak Thai? I suggest you be the General Contractor and hire out your own specific builders by trade. No need for a Thai G.C. Buy all materials yourself. Do not let the Thai's do it.

Your design looks beautiful. Lots of space - for living and for storage of all kinds. It's the biggest 2 BR house I've seen here yet. As you can see, there's no shortage of opinions about how to go about it. A good Thai builder in CM will cost you, and to do it yourself may cost you - your sanity. Either way you go, best of luck to you!

thanks for your compliments on the houseplan

i spend a lot of time in the Forum to get ideas _thanks to all writers

i did the design myself(with help/comment of my wife
A outdoorkitchen is part of the landscaping plan, also a Garage/Workshop and maidquater

At the Moment i am in contact with
- Jasmine home
- build sabai (yet no Feedback)
- house Chiang mai

Hi SR,
As you can see from my thread I used a local builder who had built a few Farang homes around the spot I am building. The beauty of doing this rather than a big builder is that he is very accessible when I need to make small changes. I have my SIL on site and pass any requests through her. I have seen on some sites using large builders that there is often a problem getting hold of someone who speaks English. Check out Stevefarangs thread for instance, although he seems happy enough with the final outcome he did have some communication problems during the build. He is also very reasonable price wise, and as I am in no hurry for the house to be finished we didn't have a completion date with penalties on the contract, everything was very low key and easy. Investigate all avenues and choose what suits your needs.

From time to time I have doubt whether it is the right decision to build a house and retire in CM
It has a lot to commend it BUT ???
What are your experiences, would you do it again?

Waiting in anticipation for details of your build, Robert.

oldgit
what details are you interested in.

Originally Posted by swissrobert

From time to time I have doubt whether it is the right decision to build a house and retire in CM
It has a lot to commend it BUT ???
What are your experiences, would you do it again?

I would rent if I could. My wife wanted a house; she is very traditional in that respect. So, under my circumstances, I don't regret it, so far.

To rent a nice house with pool and 1-2 Rai of land is very expensive as far i have seen

Any reason for picking Doi saket. - what sort of budget do you envisage for the land?

I like Doi Saket but I prefer Hang Dong and for the mountin views Mae On.

for the land i calculate 5MTHB for ca. 5 Rai
Hang Dong is there not a lot of airplain noise
Mae On is a bit far i think

Easy to get to Mae on, I found it quicker to get to than D.S from town.

Have a look at DD property for your land, many private sellers, some good prices out there.

Kensington builders will look at your plans and give you price for building.I would expect them to be at the top end of pricing, but at least it gives you a comparison.

If you're looking to compare builders, then throw in PD House into the mix. They do have some designs, but their results have been mixed. I'm generally satisfied with what they did. I really liked how the way they framed our house and our roof seems pretty solid. But I'm having problems with some attention to detail issues with them on finishing stuff. They are slowly fixing them though.

Another (former) TD member had a totally different experience with PD House that went very poorly. He was expecting framing similar to ours, but they ended up doing a lot of on-site concrete pours with mixed results, including bits of the concrete bags left in the pour. He canceled the build shortly thereafter and went home to Canada.

So, if you do consider PD House, make sure it's clear whether the concrete columns and beams are coming from a factory somewhere or if they workers will be doing a lot of on-site concrete pours.

Also, consider using Q-con block, minimum 10 cm thickness. We have 9 cm and it's not bad. But others have the 7.5 cm and I think they wish it was thicker. If I had known more about Q-con block before, I would have gone with 10 cm as a minimum myself.

Be sure to post floor plans so we can maybe give you some constructive feedback. Some folks here have extensive experience dealing with the Thai construction teams or can point out some potential problems that you have not foreseen.

Good luck !

Steve

can't find PD House in the web