Thread: Photo reporting the build of the house we bought in a walled village complex

here is a small example, so yes, change it when you can!

I know this kind from Switzerland but I have never seen that here in Thailand... !

Do you know where we can buy it ?

Thanck's

Originally Posted by DrAndy

here is a small example, so yes, change it when you can!

It certainly adds "Class" doesn't it !! .. (Love the gloss) ...

[quote=neilandmeechai;1670089]

Originally Posted by Davis Knowlton

Nice thread. It's a very attractive complex..

Included the first three years service costs, which I think worked out at about THB 1.500 per month, which is not bad for Swimming Pool, Gym, street cleaning, street lighting, 24 hour security and servicing of all public ammenities.

...........

1500B the month is very reasonable !
Neilandmeechai..your house is beautiful ! and your small village is "suay mak mak "
Wish you the best

^^Prices I quoted were in US dollars. My compound has a very nice, Olympic-size pool and a good clubhouse; no gym, however that's not a problem as I have a good-sized one in the house. The compound I live in is also much less homogeneous than yours, as people buy a lot, and then are free to put up just about anything they want. There are one story bungaloes, mostly two story houses, and even a few three story. The land area of the lots is normally about 125 square meters, but I bought the land five years before I started building (I was at that time renting a house in the same complex), so was able to buy four adjoining lots. I disagree with several other posters on the teak parquet tiles versus the laminated wood you have. I also have the laminated wood flooring in the upstairs of the house (marble downstairs); and find that it holds up better, and looks better longer, than the teak parquet (which I have in my other house here). What makes me cringe is the cost you must be incurring changing things around. If it cost $100 to build it; it usually costs $300 to change it. My wife or I was on the building site 12 hours a day, six or seven days a week, for the entire nine months it took to complete our house. That way, we could adjust as we went along, and prior to actually doing the building in final form. I also have a lot of very old antique oriental carpets from my years in Southwest Asia and the Middle East, and find that the laminated wood flooring sets them off much better than the teak parquet glossy finish. The compound area of my compound is also very large, thus houses tend to be further apart and there are a lot of vacant lots which will probably be built on one day, but I hope not for a while.

[QUOTE=Mamasun;1670110]

Originally Posted by neilandmeechai

Originally Posted by Davis Knowlton

Nice thread. It's a very attractive complex..

Included the first three years service costs, which I think worked out at about THB 1.500 per month, which is not bad for Swimming Pool, Gym, street cleaning, street lighting, 24 hour security and servicing of all public ammenities.

...........

1500B the month is very reasonable !
Neilandmeechai..your house is beautiful ! and your small village is "suay mak mak "
Wish you the best

Hi Mamasun,
Very nice to read your reply and thanks for your compliments and lovely words.
I believe that our monthly "Service Costs" will be increasing this year in March/April as the developer has now completed the project and signed everything over to our own management company that we (the residents) have elected and employed.

Although we haven't received the full statement yet we are of the understanding that it will be about THB 2.000 per month which we still find very reasonable.

Thank you again ....

Originally Posted by neilandmeechai

our next door neighbour is Uk National married to a Thai

Oh dear, there goes the neighbourhood.
Hope he is a decent one

Originally Posted by Davis Knowlton

^^Prices I quoted were in US dollars. My compound has a very nice, Olympic-size pool and a good clubhouse; no gym, however that's not a problem as I have a good-sized one in the house. The compound I live in is also much less homogeneous than yours, as people buy a lot, and then are free to put up just about anything they want. There are one story bungaloes, mostly two story houses, and even a few three story. The land area of the lots is normally about 125 square meters, but I bought the land five years before I started building (I was at that time renting a house in the same complex), so was able to buy four adjoining lots. I disagree with several other posters on the teak parquet tiles versus the laminated wood you have. I also have the laminated wood flooring in the upstairs of the house (marble downstairs); and find that it holds up better, and looks better longer, than the teak parquet (which I have in my other house here). What makes me cringe is the cost you must be incurring changing things around. If it cost $100 to build it; it usually costs $300 to change it. My wife or I was on the building site 12 hours a day, six or seven days a week, for the entire nine months it took to complete our house. That way, we could adjust as we went along, and prior to actually doing the building in final form. I also have a lot of very old antique oriental carpets from my years in Southwest Asia and the Middle East, and find that the laminated wood flooring sets them off much better than the teak parquet glossy finish. The compound area of my compound is also very large, thus houses tend to be further apart and there are a lot of vacant lots which will probably be built on one day, but I hope not for a while.

Hi again Davis ...
I did warn you I was easily confused! ... Ha, ha ...
So, you are also in a "Compound" (as you call it), but I thought you were on your own land with a huge house somewhere "Not" in a village complex.
It sounds great that you were able to buy the four adjoining lots! (Being in the right place at the right time!) ...

We were at the time of building (and still are!) "part time expats" and were only able to be on site for part of a four week period. We were however very lucky having Meechai's familly close by and they followed the build (and took photo's) for us. You on the other hand were able to follow every brick as it was laid which I would have loved.

From your description of your house it sounds very nice but I agree when you mention about vacant lots that "probably will be built on some day" ... I wondered at this point if the extra plots that you bought were adjoining your own plot, or if you have built on all five of them?

Have a nice day ....

Originally Posted by Thetyim

Originally Posted by neilandmeechai

our next door neighbour is Uk National married to a Thai

Oh dear, there goes the neighbourhood.
Hope he is a decent one

Hoi Thetyim ....

Normally I would agree with you (We watch a lot of BBC!), and I follow Eastenders but they couldn't be nicer neighbours!

The price of land here is just crazy. Is it as high in the Philippines davis? I know just the 105 Sq wah we have is worth right at 2 million baht itself.

Originally Posted by neilandmeechai

Hoi Thetyim ....

I will give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you don't speak thai

^^^ and ^^: Neil: All four of my lots adjoin and I had them resurveyed and re-registered into one, 612 square meter, lot. I have corner lots, so I have roads on three sides of me, and one house next to me (separated from my house by a 25 foot high firewall). I have a house behind me, and a vacant lot in front of me which is also about 600 square meters and owned by a Filipino Air Force Colonel. Once he builds on it, I expect I will lose some of my view of the surrounding mountains but, then again, that's exactly what happened to the people who live behind me when I built.

AO: I paid $50,000 for the 612 square meter lot about six years ago. I expect it would cost more today, if you could find four adjoining lots.

Wow davis what a deal. A steal compared to here.

Originally Posted by aging one

Wow davis what a deal. A steal compared to here.

Do you mean a good deal for 612m2 land ? 50000 $ is about 1 600 000 Bahts
or 3 200 000 for one rai ! if I am right ?

^^AO: Actually, that's really steep for the area I'm in, however I live in the only place that could be described as an upscale compound in the province. As far as price goes, you have to remember that I am about 90 minutes south of Manila, and about an hour south of Alabang, which is the only big suburb to the south of Manila. So, city prices haven't gotten down here yet. Manila is spreading south, and within a few years, I expect more folks will be trying to escape the ridiculous prices of Manila and Alabang and be heading south. Development has been very slow over the past five years due to road construction between here and Manila. Now that the roads are finally finished, and it is now a 90-minute run, this area is much more attractive. If you could find a 612 square meter lot in Manila or Alabang, which you can't, the price would be ten times higher than what I paid. My Filipino partner just bought a lot near Alabang, but not in the city, and paid almost what I paid for less than half of the area.

Thanks for clarifying just where you are davis. Makes sense. And Mamasun, yup thats the price of land in BKK.

Continuing on my theme of Floor coverings, Tiles, Laminates etc. I will now show you our new exterior doors wich we replaced (front and back) after learning from the guy that came to service the alarm system that they were the weakest point of entry to the house.
Apparantly it is a quite widely used practice in Thailands Condo builds to use composite doors (Cardboard filled laminated hardboard faced) according to the security guy (?) who has to fit sensors into the tops of the doors.

Whilst these type of doors are widely used (also in Europe) they do not have the deterrent strength if anyone wants to kick a hole through them.

These are our original double doors on what was our small front porch before we built our extension https://teakdoor.com/construction-in-...d-balcony.html

The new hardwood doors needed to be filled, sanded, varnished and glazed but we were very pleased with the end result.

^Hardwood is certainly the only way to go for exterior doors. Since you are out of the country for long periods of time, and gated community or not, you need to make sure that the glass panes in the door are located high enough in the door that a thief cannot simply break a pane of glass and reach in and unlock the door. One way to beat this is to install door locks which require a key to unlock the door, from either the inside or outside, rather than just reaching in through a broken pane and flipping a tumbler lock. When you are in residence, you just leave the key in the lock inside the door. When you are gone for long periods, take out the interior lock key, and key lock the door from the outside. These locks may not be available in Thailand; I bought mine in the US on a trip and brought them back with me.

Originally Posted by Davis Knowlton

^Hardwood is certainly the only way to go for exterior doors. Since you are out of the country for long periods of time, and gated community or not, you need to make sure that the glass panes in the door are located high enough in the door that a thief cannot simply break a pane of glass and reach in and unlock the door. One way to beat this is to install door locks which require a key to unlock the door, from either the inside or outside, rather than just reaching in through a broken pane and flipping a tumbler lock. When you are in residence, you just leave the key in the lock inside the door. When you are gone for long periods, take out the interior lock key, and key lock the door from the outside. These locks may not be available in Thailand; I bought mine in the US on a trip and brought them back with me.

those locks with both sides key are for sale at home pro and home works , i see them there as i need them as i travel home for 3 months , those hotel knob doors are a joke for a peace of plastic.......

Originally Posted by Davis Knowlton

you have to remember that I am about 90 minutes south of Manila

So about 5 klm then? I know what the traffic can be like.