Thai Dhupp and Princess Joy's Thai House Build

[Norton]

we have arranged part time project management for while we are not on site.

Smart move. Looks like the build crew will be building their posh accommodations soon.

Bet you are feeling good about finally making measurable progress. Good luck.

[Thai Dhupp]

Contract - water systems

There was insufficient detail about the various water systems - black, grey and water harvesting.

We discussed and drawings were completed for clarification. 3 separate septic tanks for the 3 zones, so 2 tanks for this contract. Each to have a 4m deep concrete ring soakaway for the liquor with an additional overflow to a final concrete ring soakaway and finally the drain field.

One grey water tank of about 3k litres attached to pumped irrigation system. an additional overflow i to the black water overflow line running to the drainfield.

Rainwater harvesting will be implemented when we build zone C

[Thai Dhupp]

lol you bet we are!!!... its been an epic and we not cast a slab or stuck a brick yet!

All thats changing from 1st Feb....

[Thai Dhupp]

Contract - various other.

detail about shutter opening out 180 deg and now window opening inwards also 180 deg if required

Detail about payment structure for boundary wall discussed and agreed.

Boundary wall colour agreed

Clarification that ALL windows are the same size. Elongated staircase window eliminated and replaced with standard window.

Discussion over Sala height and position resolved

Position of office bathroom discussed and agreed.

lower entrance flooring detail agreed.

[Thai Dhupp]

Electrical Issues - PEA

So we set off the see the Provincial Electricity Authority...the PEA to you n me.

2 issues to be dealt with - power to site for the build and shifting one carrier pole 'orff myy laand'

We got the usual runaround about timescales..vague and certainly not today and 'all the engineers are at lunch' etc etc but we percevered until by chance the junior engineer passed throigh the office.

Got him talking about how to make it happen quickly and what supply to go for when...in comes 'the boss'. By pure perceverance we got him plus junior to come see the site at 3pm.

We used the interveing time to visit the OrBorTor who as you know we are getting on with pretty well. Amazing what one phone call can do from the right person

.... at 3pm ' the PEA boss' informed us that they would install the meter and make the temporary connection TODAY! lovely.

The OrBorTor engineer spoke to PJ during the PEA site visit to make sure he was not trying to charge us for moving the pole which is in fact free.

ahhhh.... contacts in high places...works nearly every time.

We all went back to PEA to make the payment for the supply. the good news is... all power options from 5/15 all the way up to 30/100 3-phase are available. builder requested 15/45 so thats what we got. 6800THB. It can be uprated later.

The pole is being moved next week before the wall construction starts.

[Norton]

contacts in high places

Yep. The key to getting things done here and other countries as well.

[Norton]

Sure you have good reason but why the wall before the house.

[Thai Dhupp]

Sure you have good reason but why the wall before the house.

Good question Norton especially as I previously said...wall at the end and it was mentioned that wall at the start might be 'unlucky'

SWMBO said she not heard of the luck aspect and builder was keen because of security. Probably to keep his troops on the job too.

If you look at clause 54 of the contract he is responsible for securing all equipment and materials so hes got an interest in makimg the site secure.

Suits me too.

[Thai Dhupp]

Boundary wall

We agreed to the boundary wall at the start for security reasons and because the builder was keen so gave us a good price to do it including the removal of next doors mango trees which encroached and blocked the wall line.

Wall will be 2.5m at the road side and 2m on the other three sides. Solid reenforced foundations and posts at 4m centres. Post rebar cages to be placed and wall erected either side before shuttering and pouring the posts last. Coping beam at the top and then rendered both sides until block detail cannot be seen. Once dried, painted the closen colour.

There will be a 5m vehicle entrance gate set back from the road with an arc'ed flare on each side. Set into on of those arcs will be a pedestrian door.

One further door on the opposite wall giving us pedestrian access to walk to our plot 1 land.

[dennis4558]

Sounds like you have things going in the right direction, good luck on your start.

[Thai Dhupp]

Sounds like you have things going in the right direction, good luck on your start.

Thanks dennis...yeah..finally after a large lead in (lol) things are underway. Khun Pot (builder boss) on site today supervising the worker camp set up now that they have power supply and water

There's a shedload of photos to follow once I get back to Dubai tonight.

Thanks for stopping by...

[Thai Dhupp]

Part time project management

OK..as you know my plan was to finish working and comit to full time PM on site. that was until I was asked to join the project management team on the Museum of the Future in Dubai

That left a hole in the PM from my side and while I have faith in Khun Pot, I am acutely aware that others have had faith in their builders with less than satisfactory results.

Princess Joy witll of course be attending site during parts of the week but still that left some gaps and maybe the idea that 'things could be got away with'.

lucky we got a v good connection now in the OrBorTor office.

Discussed my concern with the OrBorTor....no problem says he. my Engineer will attend daily and check on the work. Just give instruction to your builder to call him each time a new activity is planned..

Engineer has a full set of plans and the contract and has already made his presence felt with the boundary wall!

So...for the early stages....me on rotation plus PJ weekly plus Orbortor office daily plus Khun Pot providing us site photos and update report and my team confirming it I think, although not 'perfect' has that early work covered.

[Thai Dhupp]

Mango trees / boundary / mango tree land

When we discussed the boundary wallwith the builder he pointed out that 4 mango trees affected the boundary and proposed wall. through our connections, finally, we managed to talk to the owner of the mango tree plot.

Remember...I want to buy that land but until now we could not trace the owner.

We told about the trees. No problem says she (owner) and actually...I'm hopibg to sell the land!

OMG Christmas came again. how much? im checking value at land office says she but what do you think? lets see...about half a rai and covered in trees? umm 400k says we. After a few days she calls. 600k no less. lol. I'm not paying that so we are letting her stew and meantine chopping her trees down on the boundary. I would max at 450k but soneones put a crazy idea in her head.

Hopefully she sees sense.

[Norton]

soneones put a crazy idea in her head

Plenty of that going on.

[Thai Dhupp]

Norton...

So true...sadly.

We discovered it was the same guy who sold the land to her originally... the same guy who we bought our 2 plots from.

Could there be some angle for him or is he just firing her up?

[Norton]

Could there be some angle for him or is he just firing her up?

99% there is. She will be talking to him for advice and good chance he is in for a small commission. She will know what you paid for your land and will be looking for more to sell hers.

[Thai Dhupp]

99% there is. She will be talking to him for advice and good chance he is in for a small commission. She will know what you paid for your land and will be looking for more to sell hers.

She gonna be howling at the moon a long time then cos its not going to happen at 600K!!

K. Pott had the chain saw oiled up this afternoon by all accounts. Workers site camp now completed.

Next up...wall, followed by piles.

I'm back in Dubai now so will try to remember how to upload photos to the thread via Imagur.

[dennis4558]

I think the wife would love to find land for that price, right now she bought a piece of land about 1/4 rai and it cost her more than double that in RoiEt. It would be nice to be able to buy 1 more plot next to the one she has but they won't sell just 1, she would have to buy 4 plots about 1 rai at 2 m. baht. Now her daughter is looking for something else for sale before we start to build in oct/nov.

[Maanaam]

I think the wife would love to find land for that price, right now she bought a piece of land about 1/4 rai and it cost her more than double that in RoiEt. It would be nice to be able to buy 1 more plot next to the one she has but they won't sell just 1, she would have to buy 4 plots about 1 rai at 2 m. baht. Now her daughter is looking for something else for sale before we start to build in oct/nov.

Yeah, I'm surprised at the low cost Thai Dupp is referring to.
Here, way down south, a plot of dirt out of the city by 30-40 minutes in the middle of rubber plantations will still cost a million for a hong (hong = between 5x20 and 5x 30 metres; enough to build a townhouse type dwelling). Closer to the city proper it's 2-3 million per hong.
You have to drive at least an hour out of the city to get those prices TD is balking at. But he obviously knows the values where he's at.

[Norton]

Land in Roiet city is expensive. Have to get 15 to 20km outside the ring road to find cheap land these days.

[Thai Dhupp]

I'm judging that cost based on what we paid for plot 1 and plot 2. Plot 2, the one we are building on was 680k and its a road frontage plot of just over 1 Rai. The lady who bought the adjacent plot to us paid 500k latter part of last year, but of course its smaller. It is level, cleared and road frontage though. Power and water available on all plots.

600k for a thickly tree-covered plot that is half the size of ours is I think too much. It's not square - one side is a semi-circle, and its at the lower part of the shallow slope we are all on so water will gather there a little before running on to the lower levels further down.

In case new readers are unaware of location, we are in Chonburi province (not Chonburi city), about 45 minutes from Pattaya, about 90Km from Bangkok and about an hours drive to Reyong. Its rural - there are no big developments nearby! nearest biggest 'development' in Bo Thong

[Norton]

600k for a thickly tree-covered plot that ishalf the size of ours is I think too much

Your thinking is good. Let her stew.

[Thai Dhupp]

In case anyone is interested to know why I delayed my 'retirement' and stayed in Dubai (a city I'm not a big fan of due to full on and endless enticements to give all your money back to the city (!), limited parking and atrocious signage on the one way system, compared to Abu Dhabi), here is the link:

Museum of the Future - See the future, create the future

It looks small because its surrounded by Hi-rise but from ground level to the top is getting on for 90 metres.

The windows are in the shape of arabic letters and at night they light up in sequences to spell out poetry from the Ruler of Dubai, HH Sheikh Mohammed.

oh... Dubai is clean, safe and has an excellent metro so its not all bad news!

[dennis4558]

Wow that museum is going to be quite the building, when is it going to be completed?

[Loy Toy]

Once dried, painted the closen colour.

Seems you have most scope of supply things covered but what about the grade and or quality of paint you will be using.

Good, long lasting paint such as Dulux, Berger and Nippon paints are great in these conditions but are very expensive.

I have seen some paints fade within 12 months and obviously those products are the cheaper alternatives the contractors love tp use.

Also make sure they do not dilute the virgin paint too much and to gain more initial coverage.

Good luck with your project.