Building a house in Isaan, for Dummies.

[helge]

And of course, nothing can possibly go wrong now anyway, cus Mrs sab bribed the spirits -

Ha
Since when are we supposed to offer tissues to the spirits ?

[sabang]

On the home front, no problems at all- we had a lightning bolt hit very close by a couple of days back, almost shat meself. It zapped out my computer monitor too- but the house was fine. Too ashamed to show you any photos of our progress with the 'garden', because there is none. But now we have a decent water supply.

A recent visitor to the doghouse-






Token arty farty shot -



And whilst the local avian life like is nothing to speak of, theres plenty of these around locally-



The name has slipped my mind, but I'm sure someone will know.

[nigelandjan]

the pheasant or the cow ?

[nigelandjan]

your up late sabang

[sabang]

Yeh, I vary between getting up absurdly early or going to be absurdly late.

Not a pheasant- a member of the cuckoo family I think.

[a. boozer]

Yeh, I vary between getting up absurdly early or going to be absurdly late.

Not a pheasant- a member of the cuckoo family I think.

Nok Capoot, or something that sounds very similar, I believe.

[sabang]

It's a Coucal, sometimes called a 'crow pheasant'.

I had an Aussie staying here a while back who has a place between KK & Udon- near Nong Sat. He told me they catch and breed them in captivity around there- apparently they fetch 4,000 bht a bird. No way. Anyway, not around here they don't, and I'm certainly not gonna tell the locals- they'll disappear overnight.

[MuckyMan]

Hi sabang, thanks for the info, the Mrs. and I will be back in Thialand at the end of the year, hopefully she'll get the ball rolling. I'll let you know how we get on.

Cheers,

MM

[kiwinev]

Good to see progress, and water at last. Certainly a bit of a mission but worth it in the end.

[jjam]

Saybang, would you mind reconmending the name of your builder. Thanks mate.

[jjam]

Sir, would you mind recomending your builder to me. Email jshell2u[at]yahoo.com . thanks

[brian3673]

great thread sabang
i built a house for the wifes sister as the cousins next door want her land,,,,cunts..she lived there 29 years until her sister went with me..
so i built here a house for 100 bht nothing special but she has face now and they are leaving her alone...
tried to upload photo but no joy...

[sabang]

i built here a house for 100 bht

^ Thanks. If you've got a builder that can do the job for that Brian, the world will beat a path to your door.
Assume you mean 1 mill bht?

Message on it's way JJ, remember the usual rules of commerce apply- a bit of haggling doesn't go astray, and to get what you want specify it. TIT and all that. And of course good luck with it.

[Lucywu2012]

That's a great place to live!!

[brian3673]

sorry it was £1000 about 90000 bht
i will try and get a pic on but cannot yet as i am new on here.

[jacko69]

Sabang, loved this thread from start to end... if there ever is an end. Let me say that the information you dispense here is fantastic.

I too am looking to build in the Suwannaphum area (if possible) in a year, once the savings are in place.. She keeps spending what I'm saving. lol.

We are currently renting a small apartment at the mo, but if you can PM me with the builder you used and the design you used I'd greatly appreciate it mate.

The layout and size are both ideal for what I am looking at and as there has been a number of lads here employed your builder for the same construction, he'll be an asset to have.

Cheers bro

[sabang]

Well cheers jacko- it's somewhat strayed from a strictly 'building' thread for dummies to a setting it all up (gradually) and living in the Isaan sticks type thread. Anyhow glad you and others have enjoyed it- me also.

if there ever is an end.

64K question mate.

I'll send you thru' the details. No plans to be found at this end, sorry. Reckon the builders must have them though, or they surely [?] couldna done Musty's place.

[kiwinev]

Cheers Sabang, I have followed this thru and have learned alot and enjoyed it all.
I will be going thru this build phase in Isaan soon and no doubt will see some of the same problems. Your experience will certainly help me.

[tsicar]

great thread sabang
i built a house for the wifes sister as the cousins next door want her land,,,,cunts..she lived there 29 years until her sister went with me..
so i built here a house for 100 bht nothing special but she has face now and they are leaving her alone...
tried to upload photo but no joy...

something doesn't make sense here.
not trying to make waves, and i won't say that you have been had (yet) but how does your investment in a home for your sister in law have any bearing whatsoever on the fact that her cousins wanted her land and how did the investment prevent them from getting what they wanted?


perhaps you could expand on this so that we could learn something about thai legal matters that have not previously been posted on here by people that actually know what they are talking about.


...not suggesting that you were ripped off or conned, just hoping that you can shed more light on the subject so that the rest of us can avoid been taken for a ride, too!

[brian3673]

fair comment tsicar
are you married? i now am,we have a 19 month old boy and are happy,this might be strange in the los..but as long as i have nown my wife we have visited her sister and been made felt like more than welcome.
i have seen there shack they call home and how happy they are,she has a 8 year old girl who i adore.
when we made plans to get married,i offered,not asked to pay a dowrie.
the land her house was on was owned by the people next door,they wanted to make new biulding so made life hard from her,they even stopped her going to the only toilet next to her house.luckely the lady on the other side of her let her go to her one.i asked how much to move her,not my wife..i offered the house as a dowrie.i have done this for them and the diffrence in there life has been amazing..her daughter came home from school with what they had drawn that day..picture of a house her and mum and a big heart.even the falang was on the paper...for me that was worth the money.
i now of the horror stories you read and hear!!!
i could wright a book with my life in thailand so far,and maybe one day i will...
maybe we could start getting stories on td of the positives not just negative ones.
but as my wife would say.....UP TO YOU....

[Thaigerwan]

Great thread and thanks to all for some excellent info. I am in the process of designing a house for myself and the good lady about 20 klicks from Kumpawapi off highway2 Khon Kaen Udon road.
Sabang those builders of yours are not to far away, any chance of a contact please ?.
I intend to build (or oversee) the project myself but will need specialist work for the roofing and footings, allso never been good at plastering ( Some cruel people may say I make getting Plastered look easy ) so the rendering is another.
Dont worry I dont intend getting sweaty digging footings, there are younger options available for that. I only have to pick up a hammer and I start leaking, dont know about you guys but the slow Thai approach to work seems ok for me...
btw... Have any of you Brits thought about getting a UK electric socket from home and installing just one..for the odd time your mates turn up with no adapter

[sabang]

I'll PM you with the details Thaiger- I assume you've got a Thai speaker handy? You'll certainly need one, to explain the bits you do and don't want quoted. Good luck- sounds an interesting project. A building thread would be great.

UK electric socket from home and installing just one.

Great idea- and why just one? If you're bringing stuff in with you to Thailand from a 220-240V country, bring a few local plugs points along as well and you're able to plug in whatever electrical appliances you've brought- no need for adapters. If an when they become redundant, dead easy to change back to local points. I wish I'd thought of that.

[johpam]

I installed an Ozzie socket in a couple of rooms when I did my extention. No fcuking arround if some friend forgets to bring an adopter. Also I brought a 4 way Qzzie inletboard and put a thai plug on it so when we travel arround Thailand we can plug a few Ozzie electrical appliances.

[Thaigerwan]

After12 years travelling in SEA mostly LoS I can speak enough Thai to get by but I will have to check up on tool names etc.
I am currently working out costing.( Hard from UK) and what tools I can get away without or need,can hire/borrow.
I am used to getting out the SDS or Chop saw/planer.
Or.. do I just make sure I am on site and contract out... £££££££ I will let you know as soon as I do

[dirtydog]

Have any of you Brits thought about getting a UK electric socket from home and installing just one..for the odd time your mates turn up with no adapter

The back boxes are a different size to the Thai ones, they are very expensive in the UK, and you can buy multi socket outlets here that will take UK and Thai plugs for less than 6 quid for a double.