Thread: How can I avoid builders ripping me off?

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Originally Posted by nedwalk

on a different tangent, i notice on your floor plan,3.5 mtrs for carport/garage, i,m building also at the moment the original garage was about the same,i opened the car doors and ran a tape 5.2m tip to tip, i widened my garage to 4.8 at least you,ll be able to have room to move, get stuff in and out of car etc, i made the mistake with the lean to i put on me shed only 3 m i should of went at least 4m

Noted and i agree with you, i'll get this changed. Cheers.

Tools have already been mentioned to me. This last lot of builders have said i'll need to supply them with tools. Luckily we have quite a lot already but will certainly need to buy more. The trick will be to try and get them back when the builders are done with them.

The price of all this is beginning to bug me.

Obviously i'm trying not to pay over the odds but at the same time i don't want to go too cheap and get a house that looks like it was built by rice farmers.

It's worth remembering that expensive houses here still cost a fraction of what i'd pay in the UK.

Originally Posted by AntRobertson

Ahh righto, hammer drill would suit me though. I only need it for less manly jobs, putting up pics and the like.

Black & Decker hammer drill will do the job, about 1,000 baht.

I hung 11 curtain rods with a standard B&D drill. Between 11 and 14 screws each -- all into rendered brick with a mansonry bit. Never again.

Don't forget kitchen cabinets, bathroom cabinets, mirrors, soap dishes, toilet paper holders, and other necessities probably aren't included.

If you let the builder buy your materials, you'll be given an option of shitty pastel bathroom tile, thin aluminum door handles and locks, crappy windows with no screens, one dim flourescent light for a massive living room, a bare-bulb bug-catcher in the carport, toilets with no bum gun, no exhaust fans in the bathrooms, etc.

Thai builders have a very different concept of a finished product than I do.

Originally Posted by Texpat

How about electric and water hookups to the street? My damn elec meter was 3,000 baht. That's half a month's wage for one worker.

You are crying over 3.000 baht for electric hook-up........Try 310.000 baht and see how that feel....

Originally Posted by NickA

Black & Decker hammer drill will do the job, about 1,000 baht.

It wont last a day if it used a lot...it's a hobby tool..

Originally Posted by lom

True Spin.
But 7 month? I reckon 5 should be more than enough.

Would be interesting to get DD's input on this..

My house is scheduled for a 9 month building time. After 2 months it looks like this.

Yours looks considerably bigger than mine BosseO. Not that size is important but i'd be expecting a shorter build time. 5 months is the max i've been quoted.

Originally Posted by Dalton

Originally Posted by NickA

Black & Decker hammer drill will do the job, about 1,000 baht.

It wont last a day if it used a lot...it's a hobby tool..

I basically only want to use it to put pics up, should survive that. Surely?

Originally Posted by Dalton

Originally Posted by Texpat

How about electric and water hookups to the street? My damn elec meter was 3,000 baht. That's half a month's wage for one worker.

You are crying over 3.000 baht for electric hook-up........Try 310.000 baht and see how that feel....

Three-thousand baht just for a single dwelling electric meter -- the little box with the spinning disc -- not the hookup, not the pole, not the wires to the house, just the poxy little meter (that's free where I come from, owned by the Electric Co) Not wiring an entire farm, not several utility poles spread out over several rai. Just the meter.

Dalts, my good man, if you paid 300K for your meter you're dumber than you look!

My point is there are dozens and dozens of hidden costs that I assumed were part of building the house. They're not included.