The slowest development thread ever.........

[benlovesnuk]

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Well ere we ave it, land is chanot and 150 talangwa plot, we have access to a small private road that extends slightly to our land. As you can see very green but not rice fields, we are 200 M from the superhighway in one direction and 600m to the river Ping. We have electric and water near by and ready for temporary connection.

1. view looking onto the land. looking from road same view.

2. on the land looking over to mountains the plot runs almost exactly West to East orientation.

3. Very close to the end of our land, we are actually in the process of buying another 100 tarangwa from the same seller as you can see in this pic a very nice tree.

So in total 250 tarangwa nice plot in pa daet(bad debt as i like to call it) chiangmai. By car it takes me 3mins to Bic C hangdong, 5 mins to Tesco hangdong, 8 mins to central airport and about 10 mins to the moat(i drive slow with a baby in te back).

I never owned land before, i still dont now, my life is complete!

more to come but at a very slow pace........

[dirtydog]

I quite like the idea of gun towers, are they legal for private land owners in Thailand?

[DrAndy]

looks like a firemans training tower!

[The Fresh Prince]

^I nearly said that when I first saw it but then noticed the barb wire looking bit around the top and realised DD was spot on with the gun tower.

[Fuzzy Bob]

Be careful showing that tower, when they find out where it is, there will be losers hanging or throwing themselves off it.

[crippen]

Be careful showing that tower, when they find out where it is, there will be losers hanging or throwing themselves off it.

Maybe rent it out for this purpose???

[Fuzzy Bob]

Mmmm, intresting business proposition, a bit like Blofeld's "Garden of Death" in "You Only Live Twice"

[Thungsongsausage]

and the nearest prison is where???

[splitlid]

600sqm only, i bet the tower belongs to someone else.

[kingwilly]

Maybe rent it out for this purpose???

make sure they pay first!

[benlovesnuk]

Yes, you spotted it (it of course not bring hard to miss) it is in fact the worlds biggest water tower for the development over the way in the distance.

Of course all these other activities are possible for it and i will be at the bottom with a ticket booth making money off of your frivolities!

The water tower was the only bad thing about the land, and i hve looked at an incredible amount of land in Chiangmai! If it were for my house then i would have to say i'd put some tnt under it at festival time and watch it fall, but its not, so there's no need for extremism.

The plot will be 1000 sqm when we buy the second plot the end of the week, the plot itself is long and narrow stretching from east to west, at the end nearest the road there is a greater width to allow car turning and parking.

The land will be used to make long term apartments, or depending on thhings in the future about 2 years it will be sold!

The condition of the sale meant that the seller had to fill the land put on temporary electric and also connect water. He is filling the land as he has a great worry about flooding (though its not an area that floods normally-checked with locals,land office and myself in heavy rain) an so is filling the land 2.5 meters from the level of the ground. This makes it about 50 cms above road level(when filled) as the road is curretly higher then the land.


However because he is filling it so high he has had to get an engineer to design and build a verged barrier wall against the government canal(which is only small-like in rice fields) that runs the length of the left side. This is all of his own will and expense and i have seen the charges for the wall and it isnt cheap (you would think filling it by a smaller amount would have sufficed and meant no wall was needed but hey ho)lets just say his bill at the moment stretches 300k+!

I will try to get some pics of the plan showing wall detail, but it is basically an underground wall which has footings about 1 meter deep below this. The wall is constructed of a cement foundation upon which rests two layers of brick and a cavity, every 3 meters or so is a post and both this and the internal cavity will be filled wit concrete. I would presume that the wall will only come out of the ground by less then a meter once filled(although this will be done about 1 month + from finish for the wall to settle in). From this as you will see in the pictures, there are another row of footings that run parallel to this. This will be where a verge of concrete will run up to the main wall protecting silt, soil and sh#t going into the canal. Thats about it, so some pics;




First job he does is fill half of one side of the land, as you can see from the slope its about 2 meters tall, this will when completed be left for a total of 2 years to settle and be pressed down after each rainy season. I might add some stone at the bottom of the fill and some stronf root grasses to old the soil at the top(obviously the wall on the other side does this).



So here is an example of the continued wall as from first development. The footing have been poured for the first wall and filled with a concrete foundation, upon which 2 walls of brick will rest. There is rebar about coming out every 3m to support the brick and will be connected within the cavity of the brick.

There is also the 2nd row of foundations that have just been dug out and poured, this is for supporting the sloped verge to the main wall.



You can get to see the perspective of the land looking to the road, where the fill has been laid and where the brick wall is no starting to come together. Obviously this wall will be mostly underground. You can see where the road joins the land and this provides extra room for cars to come in and park (parking will be under the apartements and also in a separate designated area if needed. The width is at this largest part from the road about 17m, this comes all the way down to 12 meters where you see te big column and end of the brick wall currently.

Like i said long and thin! For me ideal for apartments.........i hope?



Here is a close up of the wall, you can start to understand the layout of what is going on, i am standing on the fill and you can see where this puts the wall in relation to the fill. Mr and Mrs bricky, he was rolling a fat cigarette shhe just stared at me like i was some kind of freak(she might have her reasons).



A view to the road, you can see the neighboring house which is very small, lovely people (he has already tried to sell me his sisters house). Looked after me my wife and baby as it was very hot. First to note is Electric is at the gate of our land, so no problems with future building and also for mains when we connect. The pole is not in a stupid location like it might first appear and as i have seen on various plots
but tucked behind on top of the canal where a pipe runs deep under the road.

You can see the wood for shuttering and also the mixer and pourer which Mrs bricky works mixes and takes to Mr bricky in the bucket.



Looking from the road down on to the land, you can again see a btter perspective of it. There has been some heavy rainfall of short but the only thing to retain water are the first few holes( tis migt because they have got water seeping from below as well or its hard underneath so nowhere to drain). Apart from this the place is bone dry and its been raining all of yesterday and in the morning before i came.

All in all im happy with the progress and with everything thats going on of course even though its our land, he is paying for it, and i just want to make sure he doesnt do something silly, but we seem to be reading off the same page. He checks in most days with any news on development and we goto see on weekends what is actually happening.

The process for all has been very easy going, and very very cheap to us so far.

The land we brought is half the price that all other land is selling for in that area, my wife got a mean discount she asked he accepted that simple. All that you see upto the completion of the wall water and fill will be up to the seller. We are now currently buying an extra amount as stated before for 1/3rd the going rate, this is because it only has direct access from our land, so again the wife did a bit of bargaining! All in all we have brought 250 tarangwa(1000sqm) for the same price it would cost to buy just 100, the reason for mentioning this is to make the point that;

1) Im cheap, i believe that not everything has to cost what is the given price, and yet you can still have reasonable to decent quality.

2) I want to get into making small business's that work to a budget( i have seen that it could be possible), and so this part of the story i hope that will develop, or not in which case it will blow up in my face!

So there we are i hope to get more pics soon of a more completed wall and fill, an some plans and diagrams to do with designs of the apartments, but as you see from the title this will indeed be a very very slow process. I hope you stick around to give me your thoughts and advice, of which all will be appreciated........most will!

[splitlid]

so how wide and long is it exactly?

[Thungsongsausage]

Big enough to cram a few apartments onto it!! start small then build up..

[benlovesnuk]

Size is 1000sqm, its an obscure shape not exactly rectangular but length is 75 m long on one side slightly less on the other, at its smallest width its just 11m but extends out to 16m to the road and 12.5 to the end near the tower.

The idea is to have separate buildings which contain a limited amount of people in each one, maybe something like 2-3 floors 9 x 7 m and penthouse on flat roof at top. My idea is the less people the lower the hassle, and the better experience for all neighbors (more homely secure and spacious).

Each one can be done as an when money comes through(we can section into three main areas so disturbance would be minimal), they will be separated by gardens and maybe side terraces on the west elevation(that might adjoin each building together). The idea is to make about 3 and then add as an when necessary if the demand picks up. This should mean i have a greater room capacity rented as im not building a high room ratio to economize building cost(low quality cramped etc), but instead a layout that resembles a house and a price that grabs people on the fence of buying their own. This should allow for creating demand by exclusivity by a smaller amount of modest high quality apartments at reasonable prices. I hope both the style, increased space/lower price and access to superhighway make this a good option for those that dont want to be caught up in the pollution of city living and still be close to all major shops and amenities.



We might even create a small moat with bridge across the small depth to separate the plot a bit more (as the fill is so big from the main plot) and only fill 1 meter to build another building that we be our house for a time that we are in Thailand and not Europe. Though this might also be a city apartment but obviously wit all the bells and whistles, and have enough room for family and friends.

so thats a plan i guess, not anyway near complete havent started any design ideas need to talk to an architect and then maybe get some ideas posted.

Anyway more pics of development and hopefully plans to come soon.......

thanks for your interest and advice chaps!

[benlovesnuk]

Here is the wall and supports that will be underground, this is to prevent the piled high infill to stay in place and out of the government canal. The road corners at this junction and so this is our access point on to the land.


This is the view ontop of the raised site, looking over a small portion of the land raised (plot 1) and the other plot which extends about 3/4 to the end line of tree's. We are slightly raised to the road( 20-30cms) but from the surrounding land we are about 1.5 to 2 meters higher currently, this will settle over the 2 year period and we will maintain compressing and landscaping in that time.


Here we have the wall from the goverment canal side, it still needs to be rendered in parts, and you can see pipes for drainage from rainfall as it will be underground. The rebar sticking up is ground level and marks the support colums underneath.


This picture shows the length of plot 1, as you can see the wall and its construction are still on going as of yet. In fill will be added 1 month after the wall has been rendered to level the land and then we can get a better look at the prospects for building.



Here we have plot 2 looking onto plot 1, it runs directly straight from the left side(all the way from the start), and jutts out slightly on the right to continue straight along. At the moment i am not going to fill this and go throught the expense of raising the land and building a wall. We might indeed raise the land slightly to about 0.8- 1 meter and have it sloping gradually towards the canal. This is going to be decided later when we have more concrete ideas about design and layout.


Finally surveying the plot from the road, we hope to get the tree's moved that in the way of the mountain for a small fee(of course) as they rest on neighbouring land. We also might consider buying up the buildings to the left they occupy a small space of about 100 sqm and then build and connect to the larger plot, maybe a gate house or other?

Anyway for now that is about it, any suggestions or information would be greatly appreciated and any other funnyiness to boot!

cheers 2 years to go.............

[benlovesnuk]

Hi, the latest update is that the seller of the land is still giving us free earth and managing the fill under rainy season. We are now looking to buy the final plot of land at the rear next to the prison tower. We then hope to be able to control the view by growing some very large trees there!!!!!!







All filled! The 2nd plot which goes just past the big tree will start be filled middle of next year, this will be graded down to about 60 cm high (120 cm below above)this is to save on the cost of a structural wall, and help to screen apartments from other business's like restaurant and gallery at the road end etc. We will continue to fill to the end of the plot we are about to buy at the back by the treeline.

This will make the land 324 talang wa running over 100 m long and 12 m wide.

unless we decide to make it terminal 3 runway?

back in Chiangmai in feb!

[giggs]

any new developments ..such as yours .. as a business..investment. outside the inner city limit .. are are like nine pins in a bowling alley ..given the present climate conditions in chiangmai.. a slow development as u say...and a very meagre return ... if any.. that u have invested...i am sorry to say

[kingwilly]

noice. thanks for the piocs.

[benlovesnuk]

any new developments ..such as yours .. as a business..investment. outside the inner city limit .. are are like nine pins in a bowling alley ..given the present climate conditions in chiangmai.. a slow development as u say...and a very meagre return ... if any.. that u have invested...i am sorry to say

Yes, i see what your saying and no i dont agree with you, why cause your talking so generally it has no real point but to be negative rather then critical!

If its a failure it will still be far less then a house in the uk, which i wouldnt expect to be a fantastic investment.

Instead having the land, and being where we are is a perfect place for the market we plan to have for custom.

However as you mentioned we arent going to be building for at least 2 years and probably finished within 3-4 so this would stand well with some recovery and general growth for me.

I hope this helps you.

[benlovesnuk]

just trying to find some 3d plan builders does anyone know of any decent ones? where maybe you can overlay photos with plans etc?????

cheers chaps

[DrAndy]

If its a failure it will still be far less then a house in the uk, which i wouldnt expect to be a fantastic investment.

House prices in the Uk have been a fantastic investment

[benlovesnuk]

If its a failure it will still be far less then a house in the uk, which i wouldnt expect to be a fantastic investment.

House prices in the Uk have been a fantastic investment

yes im talking about now. If i brought one now i would have to stump up at least 150,000 pounds where i live for a small house, if i got a mortgage id be paying on it for 40 years, and within 5 years i might make 10 to 15000 pounds profit.

not for me.

im only young and so missed that ship of the 70's, 80's and 90's!

ive started from nothing so every penny counts.

but i get your point DR.a! (hows the house?)