Buadhai's home in progress...

[buadhai]

Here's how her lot looks now. Picture taken October 19, 2006:

[buadhai]

Here's the overall house and land plan:



Getting the corner lot with some extra land was a great idea. The house is nearly three meters from the wall with another couple of meters to the neighbor's house. And, we have a nice big hunk of land for a pond, some trees and a little patio in the corner created by the living room and bedroom number two.

[ChiangMai noon]

that's almost identical to my floor plans, except we recently added a kitchen along the back end of the house.
good luck.

[buadhai]

that's almost identical to my floor plans

My Dad's house plan is very similar as well. He likes the fact that the kitchen and master bedroom are on one side of the living room and the other bedrooms on the opposite side.

We paid the down payment today and they promise to start work early next week. We'll see.

They still insist that the house will be done at the end of February.

[tuferguson]

it will be done or you will be?

just remember the builders official warning.

Plans may change as and when we sit fit, run out of materials, bring the wrong flat level, change materials for a cheaper variety, the only guy that can read plans is off today and what you see may not be the finished article but you will pay us extra for any mistake we make.

[ChiangMai noon]

They still insist that the house will be done at the end of February.

sounds about right in the dry season.
did you insert a penalty clause?

[buadhai]

sounds about right in the dry season.
did you insert a penalty clause?

I'm not smart enough to think of things like that....

If I were clever I wouldn't have been living with eight people in a two bedroom house for the last year and a half....

[William]

They still insist that the house will be done at the end of February.

sounds about right in the dry season.
did you insert a penalty clause?

while a penalty clause is always good to have, because it is called a "penalty" clause usually means the Thai courts are reluctant to enforce it. Far more benefical in making sure you get the job done on time is to have water-bench/staggered payments, i.e. 30% on signing the contract, 15% on foundations, etc. You may even have an early completion bonus

[buadhai]

The payment schedule is like this:

Up to now we have paid 120K baht. Beginning December 1st we make four equal monthly payments that will bring the total up to 20% of the purchase price. Another 40% is due upon completion and 40% more 60 days later.

I'm not sure what happens if we withhold payment if construction hasn't proceeded as expected.

[Thetyim]

I would have added two extra clauses.
A divorce clause and a sanity clause.

a) If arguments over the standard of construction results in you getting a divorce then an additional house will be provided free of charge.

b)If you go mad due to trying to get the house built the way you like it then all hospital expenses to be paid by the builder.

(B4 you even think about it. I know the one about 'There ain't no sanity claus)

[ChiangMai noon]

my penalty clause actually worked.
the fine was 500 baht a day and we were in 4 days after schedule.
they did give us the 2,000 baht too.

[buadhai]

You know, I'm going to just let this happen. It's not big money. It's bound to be an improvement. And, Ms. B is way more precise, exacting and demanding than I'll ever be. It's all up to her. I'm just along for the ride and the payments.

The key to sanity is to avoid angst and the key to avoiding divorce is to avoid marriage.

[Sir Burr]

Buadhai,

Before they start the foundations, it might be a good idea to put in a very large water-holding tank.
You can collect rainwater from your roof, or, have a place you can store bought water.
Just in case.

[buadhai]

^
Probably a good idea. I like having a bunch of rain water for the plants, anyway.

The moo baan has it's own water system with a huge tank up in the air. But, you never know....

[Sir Burr]

Exactly.......you never know.

[Thetyim]

The moo baan has it's own water system with a huge tank up in the air.

So did the moo baan I lived on for a short while.
The water went off regularly and often went brown for days on end.

[buadhai]

My house in Saipan had two water supplies:

- An elevated rainwater tank that fed a third tap in the kitchen. We used that for cooking and boiled it for drinking.

- A ground level storage tank that stored the "city" water which was supplied to the house and garden via a big pump and captive air tank.

[friscofrankie]

- A ground level storage tank that stored the "city" water which was supplied to the house and garden via a big pump and captive air tank.

I would definitely opt for a system similar to this in any MooBan in Thailand. here in Chiangmai some people are on the Public water system and pressure seems to be surprisingly even and strong. Actually the first place I have ever seen this.

My experience throughout the country makes this one of the first questions I need answered. In a new mooban the problem may not present itself for a while until the population increases beyond the ability of the delivery system to cope.

Getting up inthe morning unable to shower because the entire moobaan is showering is no fun. Lettng the "public" water trickle in all night and day and having a nice pump to move the water when you need it works great. Water outages were all too common in almost every Moobaan I have ever stayed in.

In a this Moobaan how is sewage handled? individual cess pits?

[ChiangMai noon]

In a this Moobaan how is sewage handled? individual cess pits?

in my village, it is.

[buadhai]

In a this Moobaan how is sewage handled? individual cess pits?

Yep. Big ones....

[buadhai]

They're supposed to start construction this week. The curbstones have been delivered and they have surveyed and put in stakes to show where the roads go.

[daveboy]

Good luck with the build BH look forward to seeing this thread evolve

[buadhai]

Don't you just love it when a new moo baan puts up a big fancy entrance gate and then waits for buyers to come up with money before actually building any houses?

At least this place started work on half a dozen homes before putting up the entrance gate and kiosk. I hope that means they're not strapped for cash:



Our house will be located behind and just to the right of the big two story job with the red tile roof.

[buadhai]

So, the constructions was supposed to begin this week. But, as of today (Thursday) it had not. Ms. B called to ask when it would begin. She was told that Sunday is an auspicious date so it will begin then. I've never seen them work on Sunday and since this Sunday is Loy Krathong I'm actually doubly surprised by this.

Ms. B called her Mom and asked about the date. Mom called back later and said that the 10th would be much better. Ms. B went on line and consulted some auspicious date sites which confirmed that this Sunday is good.

Apparently there is some sort of conflict between the Chinese calendar consulted by Mom and the Thai sites consulted by Ms. B.

The issue has yet to be resolved....

[RandomChances]

Who's going to live in the tiny bungalow on stilts at the front