The House that Jan Built

[Liquid]

A little progress has been made in the past week and it's good to see that the wood has finally started to be installed.

The eaves are now just about complete and the gable end above the stairs is fixed.

The wood looks really good - will you have to treat it with any preservative?

[ossierob]

Never seen monks at the start of a house build

Common in Isaan. Once the footing holes are dug, monk show up. The owner and family throw coins and gold leaf into the footing holes to ensure prosperity. Guess they figure a money tree might sprout.

Monks were required to come and bless the construction of our house in Sampran near Nakon Pathom also. They came also as the footings were dug and tied the appropriate colors around the reo etc.....Nice thred by the way

[ossierob]

yup, insulation on ceiling if you use air con.
that wil keep the cool air in. if not, it will keep the hot air in.

Yep good advice...That method works in keeping our 2 level air conditioned home reasonably cool

[Nelly]

I haven’t posted any update during the past few weeks as I have been in Thailand for a personal inspection of the house and guess what? ……the problems have started! But apart from a few things that will have to be sorted, the house is very nice and when finished will be a lovely place to live.






The builder is no longer on the site and has taken his workers to a new project in Chang Rai! But more about that later. First I will run through a few of the construction problems and add some pics.

All the doors to the open areas open outwards apart from the bathrooms. On the original plan it shows them a double doors opening outward, but as they are now single doors it doesn’t seem practical to me. I have never seen a bedroom door opening outwards. I have looked at many Thai houses and all the external doors open outwards, but when a bedroom has an external door it just doesn’t seem right to me. I think I will get him to reverse the 2 bedroom doors, but leave the kitchen as it is.

The light switches are in very strange places and rarely next to the door. Also, each room should have 2 socket outlets and instead of putting them in each corner at low level, they are put in the same position as the light switches. See photo of light switch and sockets for dining room.





The specification insisted on an earthed electrical system, but the cables installed so far only show 2 wires and not 3!




The water pipes to the upstairs shower should be behind a false wall (see part of plan) but they went in an external wall and then bent round a beam so they end up in the middle of the shower. If they stay where they are, they will have to be boxed in and we will lose 20 cm of the shower.


The shower drain pipe is also broken and cracked rignt down into the concrete floor so unless fixed properly there will be leaks for ever.







The timber slats under the eaves are all different colours and the spaces between them are all different ranging from 5mm to 20 mm and he has used really cheap wood.

The bathroom window is to high in the wall and is half covered by the eaves board. It will probably be higher than the suspended ceiling! Through the window you can see the un-even slats mentioned above.




The detail around the windows is terrible, instead of having a nice square edge returning to the frame, he has feathered the plaster in and stuck a small piece of wood to the reveal. Whilst the photo doesn't show the plaster being shapped into the frame, it looks really lookks cheap and nasty.





Now the main problem is that the builder was advanced 60,000 Baht to buy the timber for the upstairs walls and then he promptly disappeared to start a project in Chang Rai. The normal reaction would be that he has done a runner with the money and will never return. However, when I was there, he came back from Chang Rai just to meet me and assured me the wood was on order and would be delivered mid June, at which time he would have finished the concrete of the Chang Rai house and return to Ban Dang to finish Jan’s house. Also, as he is a long time friend of Jan’s father and lives in the next Soi, I can’t believe he would risk losing face to the whole village when they know he has ran off with her money.

Investigations have shown that he hasn’t ordered the wood yet so at the moment things are a little tense. Being a positive mind, I think he will r4eturn in a couple of weeks, but if he doesn’t the tight budget will be right out of the window if we have to find another builder.

Anyway, apart from the few problem areas, which can be fixed I had a great time relaxing in Ban Dang for a couple of weeks and am looking forward to the house being finished.


Cheers,

[Attilla the Hen]

Great thread.
Firstly, how were the roof tiles secured? If it was just twisted wire, you're storing up trouble for the future as they will eventually rust away.

Surprised you left gaps between the wood under the eaves. I know that people say you need this for ventillation, but, my house has no gaps and I've never had a problem. I think it's an invitation to critters looking for a home.

Sorry about the quality of the photo.

[Isee]

Anyway, apart from the few problem areas, which can be fixed I had a great time relaxing in Ban Dang for a couple of weeks and am looking forward to the house being finished.

The issue is not whether something can be fixed, but whether it will be fixed.

It seems fair to say that your plans are being used more as a guide by the builder rather than as a blueprint.

Your eaves are a good example of a lack of care by the person doing the work and a lack of interest by the boss to ensure its done properly (attention to detail). Further, with the spacing, its my opinion that fly screen mesh should have been used rather than what looks like 1/4 inch wire. And I agree with you that the wood used looks cheap.

I think you've got an indication of what may be coming and you must be thinking how you are going to handle it. If you read my building thread (which has been deleted), you may recall that when things progressed to requiring attention to detail, things went down the drain pretty quickly. I recall cjustice saying he's got a good handle on dealing with thais so maybe he could provide some suggestions in that regard.

Good luck with it - its always enjoyable reading a honest building thread.

[Nelly]

It has been a few weeks since I provided and update on Jan’s house and the reason for the stoppage is simple…….nothing has happened and the project has stopped for two months!

The builder went away at the end of April after taking an advance of B100,000 to pay for the wood panelling and promptly started a new project in Chang Rai. He has persistently promised that he will return and finish the job in a few days, but has never arrived. After him telling so many lies and breaking so many promises, and despite him being a family friend, we are now in a situation where no one in the family will ever trust him again.

So to bring things to a head, Jan has been to see a Lawyer who will be writing to him in two weeks time (if he doesn’t show up before then) claiming breach of contract and threaten to start court proceedings to recover the money advanced to him and to claim compensation for the extra costs in completing the house. Hehehe and I only thought they did that in the States! The Lawyer is confident Jan will get her money back quite quickly as both the builder and his wife signed the contract so their house and farms will be at risk.

In order to make the claim, she has to value of work he has performed already and get a price for completing the house. Getting a new price isn’t a problem and she should have the price this week, but assessing the value complete is. My view is that based on the original Contract, she should have paid 70% when the roof was on and all wood panelled walls complete, but as the panelling hasn’t started yet and will cost about B100,000, I think 60% is a reasonable assessment. Anyone wan’t to give their opinion as to how much is complete, if so here are a couple of photos taken today when the rain eased off for a couple of minutes.





I am trying to be optimistic and still believe he will return when he gets paid from the Chang Rai project but the close relationship that existed at the start of the project will be gone forever. Even if he finally does return, he is likely to think that Jan will try to get revenge by not paying the final instalment and as if this is the case, it will be very hard getting him to perform well.

I cannot deny that my main concern is the overall cost of the house as I am helping with the funding. A low budget was set at the beginning for a smaller version of the house, but when the Builder (an old family friend) agreed to drop the price for the large version by 25% to fit within the budget, the deal was made. But if he walks away and another builder comes in, then the budget will be well and truly shot to bits.

Strange how things change…..the builder himself encouraged me to start this thread as he thought it would be good advertising and he would get plenty of other farang clients….bet he doesn’t think the same now!

Cheers

[pet coon]

Then wooden slats besides being irregular spacing do not appear to have netting to keep varmints/flying insects, etc out. The electrical outlets/switches need to re installed at points of your choice. Both need to be corrected, windows/doors installed floor/bath tile, install ceiling, bath fixtures. lighting system, exterior cement work, etc. Find contractor to correct/finish project, get firm quote from him, then deduct his bid from original bid for completed house and you can figure % complete from the numbers. With the complete lack of material on site, your builder is very neat or des not plan on coming back. Good luck.

[ootai]

Nelly
I can only speak about what I know is in the contract my missus agreed with her builder which was worked by both of then and her lawyer.
The arrangment is for 5 staggered payments and there are agreed points which stipulate when these payments are due.
In her case the third payment is due once the house has a roof on, floor laid and walls up so I would make the asumption that that is the 60% complete point. Looking at your picture that is about where you are at right now.
I think that for the first 60% most of the money is for materials and a little bit for labour I might estimate that to be a 75% material / 25% labour split perhaps. However I would see that the last 40% of the total cost (the work you have left to do) would be mainly made up of labour cost and a little on material cost.

So I am of the opinion that your builder has made the decision that he can use his labour somewhere else where he will be making more money out of them because he has realised that he dropped his quote too low to get the job in the first place.

You may be better off just getting labour in to do bits of the work and you buying the materials, say get someone to fit the windows and then someone else to do the rendering etc.

My thoughts anyway and I hope you get it successfully sorted out.

[Chong Boy]

Such a shame this has happened and I hope this guy turns up with a good excuse and a keen mind to finish the job he started.
Doesn't seem to be the case but I am hopeful it will turn out ok and not cost you a fortune to get new teams in to complete. Good luck

[graym]

I've only just come upon your thread and read it from the beginning (often a good place to start) with a great deal of anticipation as this is the same design that the Missus and myself have decided upon (house 29 I believe in the Thai govt. house plans).
We will also have one or two alterations to make from the original but it'll be a good starting place as it has the potential to be built upon and extended later.

So sorry that your project has come to a temporary halt, it will be good to see further posts from you once you're up and running again; I think it will look great in the end.

We're looking at starting towards the end of the year and will be posting our own epic accordingly...

All the best Nelly and Jan

[painthong]

we are looking forward to see more post of your house Nelly

[UdonThani Pete]

Hi Nelly, it has been a while since your last post, I sincerely hope things are going better for you both! any update?

[Nelly]

we are looking forward to see more post of your house Nelly

Hi Nelly, it has been a while since your last post, I sincerely hope things are going better for you both! any update?

Yes it's been an age since I last gave an update and there is a good reason for me not giving one........nothing has happenend!!!

The builder has continued to promise he will return and when I was last month the contract completion date came and went. As he now owes Jan B2,000 per day in penalties, we had a meeting with the village headman and the builder’s wife and she signed an agreement stating that if he doesn’t return within 3 weeks, then we will employ another builder and he will pay the difference.

Latest rumour is that he will return this coming weekend. If he does actually show up, then the posts will resume and we will see how he gets on.


Cheers

[hillbilly]

Sorry to hear about your run of bad luck. I have seen many 'falangs' in the same boat.

Your sorta of between a rock and a hard spot right now. Any builder that you can get will want more money than the original cost. They got you by the short hairs.

My advice? Find a home in the area that you like and find out who built it. Tell him the truth and see what you can work out.

I have been lucky in the sense that my wife knows about Thai construction and I know about building in the states.

Good luck guy!

[DrAndy]

you will lose out whatever happens; the guy will never pay you the difference, even though his wife signed a bit of paper

maybe he is not interested in continuing as it was too cheap?

[Nelly]

you will lose out whatever happens; the guy will never pay you the difference, even though his wife signed a bit of paper

maybe he is not interested in continuing as it was too cheap?

Very true and now I am 100% sure the original price was too cheap. But if it can be completed for 20% more than the original price, I will be very pleased.

BUT NOW ON WITH THE UP-DATE

It was seven months since the Builder walked away from Jan’s house and despite many promises and failing to comply with his written undertakings, an agreement has been reached.

After two further broken promises, the police called him to Police Station and after a few hours of negotiation he agreed pay Jan B 200,000 and she could get someone else to finish the house. The bad news is that he has to pay B50,000 every two weeks starting 15 November, but the good news is that both the Police and the head man witnessed the agreement and warned him of the consequences. The Police have assured Jan that if he fails to make one payment, it should be quite a quick job to get a court order against him and then she can take his house or farm.

I was reasonably happy with the result as with the money not yet paid to the builder, it would give Jan B400,000 to finish a house that only has a few repairs and the finishes to complete.

As she does not want to trust another builder, she has employed the local carpenter and a gang of workers who will complete everything for B70,000 while she pays for the materials. Her dad is helping, but it’s an enormous job for a young girl who also has to try to run her shop at the same time…….or as my old dada would say, it’s all good character building stuff.

The past couple of weeks have been spent organising the window construction, ordering the external wood, wood stain, preservative, nails, sand, cement, etc. But finally there is some progress as they started on the last bit of structural work, which is the staircase.




So over the coming weeks I hope to be able to provide a report on how an Issan girl manages to complete her house.

Cheers

[Loy Toy]

All I can offer is good luck to you and Jan and one day hope that she has her dream house.

[Marmite the Dog]

Good result there Nelly.

[Yemen]

Hope everything works out for your lady as she has had a tough time.

[graym]

Looking forward to your updates and a happy ending...

[Nelly]

It’s been four months since I last posted, so I thought I’d give an update.

It has been an eventful time and Jan's house is finally nearing completion but, it’s not good news anywhere.

Jan finally got the builder to Court and the Court ordered him to pay B150,000 out of the B200,000 she claimed. Not bad, except he has 2 years to pay and must pay a minimum of B2,000 per month, which is useless and would not allow her to finish the house.

To pay for the house Jan is raising money elsewhere and getting credit from a local builders merchant.

We are no longer together, but this is not the forum for that! however we do remain in contact and I get regular updates on progress and give advice where I can.

There is only one major problem and that is a leak from a pipe buried somewhere in concrete below the bathroom, which has already been tiled. I have told them to break out the area where water comes from, but the workers appear reluctant as it will be a difficult job and they don’t know exactly where the leak is!

A few pics of the house as it is today.




















Cheers

[sunsetter]

keep em coming mate, you'll/she'll get there in the end

[graym]

Sorry to hear that you're no longer together to enjoy the house but it's great to see it finally coming together.
I had been following your thread with interest because I like the same basic design and will hopefully be able to get a start myself in the near future.
The timber finish topside looks great, the Missus has some timber squirreled away in Isaan which would do the trick...
I am thinking to go for the roof in the original plans (Thai Govt 29?) and perhaps put the stairs outside somehow to allow another room upstairs?

Anyway, all the best and I hope your ex enjoys the place...

[Nelly]

Well, the house that Jan built is just about complete....one year late but at least it's done, apart from the garden and driveway, but that will have to wait until funds are available.

There has been a few quality issues, but not too serious considering it was supervised by a girl with no construction experience.

Here are a few pics of the end product






Thanks for your all the comments and cheers for now

Nelly