This weekend we have the Tam Boon for our New Village House in Tak Province.

I have been a lurker on TD, CTH and TV getting useful ideas and information, and feel I should repay by describing our experiences in building the house. Since the work is complete, I propose to post pictures, with explanations, of the various stages. It has taken a fair bit of time working out how to post pictures, but I think I know how now. Since I will be posting from work, postings will depend on time available.

I am in full-time employment in Bangkok and my wife (the Manager) has been supervising the work. I designed the house, but the Manager and Builder took the final decisions. So it was a very off-hands input from me. I would have phonecalls asking for decisions, not always knowing the full story.

The reason for the new house was that since my wife inherited the old family wooden house after her mother died, it has been deteriorating. To save the wood it was decided to build A New Village House of brick and timber - using as much as we could of the timber from the old house. The house is on half a rai owned by my wife. The rai plot is shared with her sister who has her own house there. I guess when I retire we will share time in our house in Bangkok and in the village.

The arrangement with the Builder is that we buy all materials, and only pay him for labour. The Manager has kept detailed records of all expenditure, and when I get the items translated into English and onto a spreadsheet, will be able to give actual costs, and the time for construction.