Thread: Building our Retirement Home in Nan Province

Site Visit 3 November 2018

Well the wife and I admitted to each other yesterday we were both quite bored so rather than wait for Monday for our next site visit we did one today. From the outside it doesn't look much different to last Thursday however on the inside there has been a lot done. The brick laying is now at 99%, much of the electrical cable has been done on level 1, all of the bathroom counters are now in, the storage accessed from the living room has been defined and much to our delight, the cement rendering had commenced. Mark the builders supervisor arrived onsite and I took the opportunity to discuss the electrical grounding. He was on top of it and even went to his car and retrieved the copper earthing rod that will be buried next to the house.

On the pay TV front we seem to have moved True forward quite a bit to the extent that the technician said he will come out early next week and lay fibre optic cable in a trench from the road to the house and then to the three television points in it. A day or so ago True didn't seem to want to know us until we had a formal address and to date we've not signed up to anything with them. I don't think any palms have been greased and I checked with the wife who said we hadn't yet told them we were interested in the 3,999 baht per month package. I'm assuming there will be one trench from the road to the house and that both power and this fibre optic cable will be in it by the end of next week.

With the kitchen expected to be rendered in the next day or so the western kitchen supplier from Phrae is going to send a couple of folks out to do an onsite inspection in order to confirm the design still works. Likely that inspection will be Thursday or Friday next week.

The storage accessed from the level 2 living room has now been defined. The wife and I had a slight debate this morning as to whether this was a linen or cleaning materials storage cupboard. I want linen...I think I won...

Pondered the kitchenette counter top height today. I wanted it at 90cm above the floor. It is at 80cm like the bathroom counters and plans. It seems my request to Mark the builder for this to be at 90cm was 'lost' in a subsequent discussion he had with my wife about counter heights. While she knew what I wanted here, she thought she was responding on bathroom counters only. The reason I wanted the higher counter was to maximize the small refrigerator size that will go under it. Anyway, while the offer was there to knock it down and redo, we've decided to stay with 80cm. It was a nice/prefer to have item, not an essential element in any great plan.

Next site visit will be Monday. It is a seven day a week job until finished. I'm convinced we will move in in early January.

Site Visit 5 November 2018

Headed out to Pua after a two day break. From the front outside not much has changed, the focus is on the inside at the moment. Mark the builder, his supervisor and a smaller team then usual were onsite. Since our last visit there has been more cement rendering on level 1 and more electrical prep and cable running. There may have also been some more plumbing in the bathrooms. The primary focus of the team today while we were there was cement rendering in the kitchen and they had also made a start on the external wall of the level 1 covered deck. It would appear a few of the regular team were off rice harvesting and if they did work yesterday (Sunday), it may have been a small team also.

We had a good discussion on a range of items with Mark and his supervisor. They continue to demonstrate interest and competence. We regularly get the impression and I've mentioned it before that they and the build team demonstrate that they know what there are doing. And they are keeping busy. As we left today I noticed the energy drinks and biscuits we provided when we had arrived this morning had not yet been touched. That's a first.

One change we made today came from a good comment from my wife. She was concerned any chairs and table on the level 2 covered deck in front of the central living room sliding doors would clutter that exit. So we discussed with Mark changing the top rail of the railing in the central part of the covered deck to be flat and the same width as the columns (20cm). Mark was okay with that and we'll formalize it with a picture and Line message in the next day or so. I'd expect a modest cost may be involved. The upshot will be the chairs can be next to the railing which will provide room for a book, a mobile phone, tea/coffee of something a little more cooling.