Thread: Consultant

What about those ones you posted about recently. Couldn't they be adapted to fit Frankie's needs?

I've been looking at those... I've an acquaintance here that imports whole teak homes from Laos by the truckload. They build new homes out of the parts. Way too expensive. In the north here we've got teak salvage yards that sell old dead-fall teak logs 10, 20 even 30 ft long about 40 inches diameter. Old stuff. You can even get Asian rosewood logs (these are used quite a bit in older elevated homes as the columns).
There is an abundance (relative) of old world craftsmen. These guys are making hairline dovetails and mortise/tenon joints with hand saws and chisel. Lot of teak here in lumber yards too. Most of it green Burmese teak; guy could buy a couple of units and sticker out under a shed, let air dry.
I love the smell of teak and it is so easy to work.
I've seen concrete vibrators in tools shops but have never seen one on a job.. I wonder mostly about using steel as columns and beams.
My sketches entail a lower area about a meter below grade, for a recreation/entertainment area. i want it open without central columns so was thinking of using steel, or glue-lams. Could do a monolithic pour for the entire lower area but I'd probably have to import some Mexicans to do the formin' and pourin'.
Wood is definitely more expensive. Bt if you're building a home for living. The extra expense in making a place you want to spend your remaining days is well worth it. I think.
This is way too over the top for me but a modernized, (less guady)larger version is something I'm lookin' at.

This place is being built by carvers not joiners. It's show case of the carvers work and not house building for sure.
All old, recycled teak. guy were all too happy to take a break and dig through the cared panels yet mounted and pose them for me. Share a couple smokes and some bottles of M-loy-ha-sip with me. Wouldn;t let me go until i convinced them my digital camera was out of film.

In the above pic you can see the shit concrete work. and the narrow spans. Even covered with wood or some other siding I just couldn't abide the shoddy work in my home. I'd want a bit more elevation for the lower area maybe with folding shutters...

Sorry about the mistake DD I thought you were a general contractor type not a consultant/project manager type. Stay in business for about 5 more years and I may be giving you a call .

Originally Posted by Sanuk Canuk

I think this is actually a gem of an opportunity for you DD.

If you set up as a primary contractor and sub contracted all the work you can normally take in 5-10% of the total value of the project with your only cost being that of advertising, a bookkeeper, a layer on retainer and a little office space. Not only that you could have 10 projects onthe go at a time.

Many expats would love to have an expat look after this kind of thing as they would be scared that a Thai would rip them off or that there would be communication problems. Also many expats do not have any experiance with the local isses related to construction and they would be willing to pay big for the peice of mind.

I had a G/F whose father was a civil engineer and he was a project manager. He had an office, 2 staff and he routinely charged 8% off the top on all contracts. When you are building 4 or 5 multi million dollar buildings at once this turns into pretty big money fast. Even if you can't get accredited as a project manager you could alway set your self up as a "buiders agent" or some other meaningless title and do the same job.

I know if it were me I would be willing to pay an extra 500k Bhat on a 5m bhat house for the peice of mind that it would bring.

Just a thought.

Project Management/Construction Management fees are based on many things. If the client wants just construction management to monitor the job and do a control inspection, it's about 3% to 5 % of the construction project. If they want the engineer to put together a bid package and make report of the progress and do the CPM, it's more like 10% to 15%. Bigger the job, smaller percentage of the fee. That's how it is in the states.