No problem seeing the pics down here in Australia BiP 555
No problem seeing the pics down here in Australia BiP 555
TD
It was only last year that I finished working and the job was located in West Papua in Indonesia. I'm a Mining Engineer. I didn't quit but was made redundant, like you I was always wanting to leave due to dealing with numpties and I said so, so when it came time to choose who went I was one of the many. Probably a good thing as I was always putting off retiring as I thought "have I got enough saved to last the rest of my life". The problem is when you're older getting another job when you discover you didn't have enough might be impossible.
BiP
Sorry for going off track in your thread.
Cheers
Thanks for dropping that ridiculous bold text.
Welcome to Nan, Pua is gorgeous country.
New Aussie restaurant opened up just north of 'Elephant corner" on the west side of 1081. Very good food, decent prices. It's called Crossroads.
Can’t really see it being a success.
The locals won’t really be into burgers with beetroot and Chiko rolls I reckon.
;-)
I took my wife into an Aussie highway roadhouse for the ‘dim sim in a food warmer since yesterday’ experience - priceless.
The look on her face said ‘do these people really eat this shit ?’
Hi Folks,
Yesterday I promised a posting on the financials of this build. There is a little bit involved but I'll try to keep it simple and clear.
The design by Mark the builder was 26K baht (all values in the rest of the post are in thousands of baht). This gave us a proper set of plans and engineering docs which he submitted for approval with the local authority. If we walked away at that point we owed him a further 26K. So really his design price was 52K rebated by 50% if we continued the build with him which we have.
His contract price is 3,100 (3.1M) and comprised at the highest level of:
- Material 2,060
- Labour 635
- Profit 405 (he used 15%)
Total 3,100
Mark gave us a very detailed cost sheet which detailed material and labour costs by individual elements.
There is a range of owner supplied items where his labour cost to install is included in the contract. These costs are generally firm because we have purchased most of the items:
- Bathroom fixtures/fittings 66 (includes the hot water heaters)
- Floor tiles 50
- External water tanks 31
- Four split system aircons 114
- Curtains & hangers 36
- Security doors 9
Total 306
Outside of the contract we have also paid:
- Water connection 16
- Fill for foundations/yard 32
Total Paid Extras 48
The western kitchen is being supplied and installed by a company working out of HomePro in Phrae. The kitchen appliances including electric oven, gas cooktop, hot water heater, faucet and hob/exhaust fan we have purchased direct from HomePro.
- Kitchen supply/install 265
- Kitchen fixed appliances 72
Total 337
Further I've estimated 165 for fences, driveway and spirit house stand and actual spirit houses. And a further 40 for permanent electricity and communications connections. (Might get some change back out of these items.)
So total investment (excluding the land cost) looks like:
- Design 26
- Builder Contract 3,100
- Owner Supplied Items 305
- Paid Extras 48
- Kitchen 337
- Estimated Extras 205
Total 4,022
Calculating a cost per square meter probably requires some adjusts to total cost first. I would not include the Estimated Extras of 305 nor the covered carport cost of 256 which is in the contract. So my calculation of it would be:
(4,022-305-256)/260 sqm = 13,300 baht per square meter.
I'm pretty happy with that for what we are getting.
An interesting note on the contract payments to Mark the builder. I rejected his first contract outright because it didn't contain an installments schedule and other important elements. He came back with a really good contract that addressed all of the points I required. His installment schedule was nine payments, the first being 15%, one other at 15% and the other seven at 10%. But the amazing thing was no money upfront. To get his 15% initial payment he proposed he had to mobilize to the site and complete the foundations. It wasn't me badgering him to get this installment schedule, I'd already told him I'd pay up to 20% upfront if required.
And one other item...another 300 being spend on extra furniture and appliances.
Regards,
- BiP
Looks like a great piece of land and house too. It's nice to visit the job and see the work going on. Looks like you have a great crew out there.
Thanks naptownmike, yeah I think they are pretty good too. For the first five weeks there was the same 6-7 onsite and the wife ascertained they had worked together for many years. Then three weeks ago 4 more turned up so we had 10 onsite, apparently another job had finished. Then a week later two ladies were added but the crew numbers dropped to 7-8. It is the early rice harvesting season here and that is done by hand atm. It seems many in the team have rice farms and if not working on their own farm they are helping others. In a month or so the mechanical harvesters should arrive. So far the work they have done has been very good, not perfect, but structurally sound. The first glimpse I've had of finished work is the roof frame and that really does look good. Today I'm expecting they may have made a start on the roof tiling. Probably the litmus test for me is when I start to see the quality of the wall cement rendering and the wall and floor tiling. Mistakes or unacceptable finishes there are going to be seen for a long time and hence I'll be casting a critical eye on it. BTW, the two ladies hold their own in the team. Mainly by mixing cement and bricklaying. - BiP
It's amazing how hard the ladies work. We had quite a few on our job doing it all mixing cement, laying block, installing tile, digging holes. You don't often see any women on jobs here in the U.S. except the architects and designers. As you said the real test is when the finishing starts, like you I had a bit lower expectation than back home. I'll find out in a few months when we get back. Anyway good luck with your project I'll look forward to watching the progress.
I second this. my build crew under K.Pot is 6 guys and 4 ladies.
I swear sometimes, its the ladies doing all the work!!
The ladies are married to some of the guys in the team so its good the family units are together, hence I have a couple of kids in the Chonburi Hilton as well...happy families!
Site Visit 18 October 2018
We headed out to the Pua home site this morning after resisting the urge for two days. On the off chance they had started the roof we went through the rice fields and were finally able to see it. (Circled in the photo below.) We were not too far off. Since our last visit they have progressed the brickwork on level 1 but the main activity and what was being exclusively worked on today was laying the foil insulation and roof tiles. The roof looked really good when we got our first close up view of it arriving at the site.
Last edited by BoganInParasite; 18-10-2018 at 02:26 PM.
Our first full view of the roof this morning. Really like the colour and texture.
Another load of roof tiles arriving. Not sure of the number but they said each of the two pallets weighed 1.5 tons. They were unable to lift them direct to level 2 so the poor team will have to carry them up the stairs.
Noticeably cooler under the roof shade today.
We dropped more owner supplied items off again today. Had them inventoried and accepted by the supervisor. Then sent him and Mark the builder the photos.
Last edited by BoganInParasite; 18-10-2018 at 02:27 PM.
The small level 1 guest room is taking shape. It will be big enough for a double bed, two bedside tables and a lowboy dresser with mirror. And small enough not to encourage long stays.
This is what I like to see. They haven't laid a single brick on level 2 but already have the window and sliding door reinforcing ready.
Next trip to site will be Saturday.
You know I pondered that on the drive back to Nan today. Don't know. Will find out on Saturday. There were many boxes of some type of tie near the storage shed this morning but I wasn't curious enough at that point to think of and ask the question. In any case, the climate data for Pua indicates a very benign environment when it comes to strong wind and/or hail, both very very rare.
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