Thread: Building a house in Maha Sarakham

So... Today we got a call from the wife's sister, People in the village are complaining that some of the crew are always drunk and causing problems, Don't want to keep there mouth shut more than anything by the sound of it. So I sent an email to the contractor to let him know what was happening. (He is in Pattaya and has 2 foreman on site)
1 1/2 hours later I get a call from him, 8 guys have been sent home and he well be on site next week to sort out the rest, Including the foreman that can not control the crew. He was a lot more pissed off than me so with any luck this well keep them on the straight and narrow.
I was very impressed with how quick he got back to me, Problem solved.

Originally Posted by Edge

Codfish, nice thread, I am looking forward to following it as I'll be starting out on our place in the next year or so depending on the cash and exchange rates!
I know you favor the video format and I enjoy them but would be interested to see if you have any plans so I know what it will be like when it is finished.
Glad you are on the concrete road, another coupla hundred meters and......
Nice looking, rural area. Don't worry about everyone up at the crack of dawn because they may well be asleep soon after dusk.
Good luck Codfish.

I have been waiting for the exchange rate to go up for the last 2 years, It just keep going down, down, down. That's just my luck.
The concrete roads ends about 50 meters pass the house, Then it dirt road all the way to town which takes about 20 minutes on a good day.

Originally Posted by codfish

People in the village are complaining that some of the crew are always drunk and causing problems,

Take the spirit level with you on your next visit mate to check out those uprights ,,,, oh and don,t leave that lying around incase any of these clowns drink the contents .

Originally Posted by codfish

Including the foreman that can not control the crew. He was a lot more pissed

Sounds like a right party !

[youtube]Sme0oM4JnFY[/youtube]

Well after having more than enough problems with the first crew they have finally been replaced by a smaller crew and so far things are going good. This video is the 2nd day they worked, The first day was mostly cleaning up the garbage left behind by the old crew.
There as been a few screw ups but all easily fixed, What pissed me off is the lies to try and cover up the screw ups.
In the last week things have have been good, I hope this continues to the end, Wishful thinking I know.....

Well done Codfish looks like those guys are working mate ,lets hope it keeps going forward now for you ,,thanks for the updates

I was just thinking back Cod, can you vid on your construction layout plan (design draft) so we can from our viewpoint, when viewing your vids, gain a better perspective and from whichever angle we can focus on, to better see what is supposed to be where and how it will eventually materialize?

that way, we can also add in our inputs too just by looking at your vids as to how it was approached and constructed. Thanks mate...

Codfish, jai yen there. The Thais like to have the kitchen and bathrooms lower than the rest, probably just did it by instinct as they spread water everywhere in their houses! Kitchen? They'll probably just put a hole in the wall with a blue pipe in it. The hassle is, where will it go? Got a drain, sink hole, what? same for the toilet but probably have a hole in the floor to a sorta sess pit thing.
Hey, they are moving, don't sound so despondent, gonna have these builder hassles when we build!

Originally Posted by Edge

Codfish, jai yen there. The Thais like to have the kitchen and bathrooms lower than the rest, probably just did it by instinct as they spread water everywhere in their houses! Kitchen? They'll probably just put a hole in the wall with a blue pipe in it. The hassle is, where will it go? Got a drain, sink hole, what? same for the toilet but probably have a hole in the floor to a sorta sess pit thing.
Hey, they are moving, don't sound so despondent, gonna have these builder hassles when we build!

It all can easily be fixed so not a big deal but I don't like being lied to and I spent alot of money on blue prints, Be nice if they used them.
So far no problems with the new crew, Hope it stays like that.

codfish.. just a little tip, tell them you want the pipes fixed to the walls /inside.. outside/ other wise thai will build the pipes in the walls ...block/brick ...cement ...pipe...block/brick .....if and when you get a leak,you wont have too knock a big hole in the wall to repair.. also if your not going to slab or pave around the house, put down some waterproof lineing/ rolls of black poly is the best .. about 1500 baht a roll, 2 rolls should do you,,when the rain runs off the roof it wont seap back under the house, and cause subsidence. make sure you camber away from house.good..luck with your build.. the build might take a few months but you will age 5 yrs ..llf

ps... dont forget lintels,, above/below windows and above doors,if you dont tell they wont do...save you time and money in the long run ....

Originally Posted by spikebs4

codfish.. just a little tip, tell them you want the pipes fixed to the walls /inside.. outside/ other wise thai will build the pipes in the walls ...block/brick ...cement ...pipe...block/brick .....if and when you get a leak,you wont have too knock a big hole in the wall to repair.. also if your not going to slab or pave around the house, put down some waterproof lineing/ rolls of black poly is the best .. about 1500 baht a roll, 2 rolls should do you,,when the rain runs off the roof it wont seap back under the house, and cause subsidence. make sure you camber away from house.good..luck with your build.. the build might take a few months but you will age 5 yrs ..llf

That I believe lol, I have faith right now that things well work out just fine, Tomorrow might be a different story.

Originally Posted by spikebs4

ps... dont forget lintels,, above/below windows and above doors,if you dont tell they wont do...save you time and money in the long run ....

Good point, Something else to watch out for.

My contractor is building 4 houses right now in 4 different provinces. 1 of those houses is located in Bang Saray which is only 30 minutes from my house in Pattaya. There about 1 ½ months form completion (Still have to make the pool and car park) so this is a good time to go take a look at the quality of the work they do.
So we drove down yesterday with the contractors engineer for a look around and I have to say everything looks good. The house is built, Most of the tiles are done, Most of the painting is done, the wiring is almost done and they were putting in the windows when I was there, which they make themselves and install. The only thing I wish I could have seen is the built in furniture but they have not started that yet.
The only thing that I do not like is the windows, the walls are about 170mm thick when finished but the windows are only ½ that thickness (Made for the normal wall thickness), It just don’t look good IMO with the thin window frames, Not sure what I am going to do about this.
But all in all if my house comes out as good as this one I well be very happy, they are doing very nice work. I can now sleep at night. lol
The progress on my place is moving along. Almost ready for the steel for the roof, this should be on site tomorrow.

Thanks Cod and you certainly deserve a loud "Chok Dee" for yr update!!!

If all's well that's moving well, the window thickness then shouldn't be a worrisome concern altho I can relate to your personal desire in preferably seeing a much thicker window frame installed.

Perhaps its because the standard ones in Thailand, in light of the temps there, a single glass window is more than adequate but if sound pollution is yr argument, I'm sure you can find a specialist retailer to customize it later on.

Just where do you plan to locate the pool and what size are you considering?

Originally Posted by spikebs4

ps... dont forget lintels,, above/below windows and above doors,if you dont tell they wont do...save you time and money in the long run ....

Wondering what the translation would be re 'lintel'.

Hmmm; Maybe easier to draw a picture.

BillH52

Originally Posted by Cruiser

Thanks Cod and you certainly deserve a loud "Chok Dee" for yr update!!!

If all's well that's moving well, the window thickness then shouldn't be a worrisome concern altho I can relate to your personal desire in preferably seeing a much thicker window frame installed.

Perhaps its because the standard ones in Thailand, in light of the temps there, a single glass window is more than adequate but if sound pollution is yr argument, I'm sure you can find a specialist retailer to customize it later on.

Just where do you plan to locate the pool and what size are you considering?

No pool for me, The pool is at the house I looked in Bang Saray. I don't want the cost of keeping a pool clean and maintained.

Originally Posted by BillH52

Originally Posted by spikebs4

ps... dont forget lintels,, above/below windows and above doors,if you dont tell they wont do...save you time and money in the long run ....

Wondering what the translation would be re 'lintel'.

Hmmm; Maybe easier to draw a picture.

BillH52

sounds good why dont you try it ..google sketchup ..free download ..

Originally Posted by codfish

The only thing that I do not like is the windows, the walls are about 170mm thick when finished but the windows are only ½ that thickness (Made for the normal wall thickness), It just don’t look good IMO with the thin window frames,

Is it because it's missing a window sill?

Originally Posted by Marmite the Dog

Originally Posted by codfish

The only thing that I do not like is the windows, the walls are about 170mm thick when finished but the windows are only ½ that thickness (Made for the normal wall thickness), It just don’t look good IMO with the thin window frames,

Is it because it's missing a window sill?

Yes, But Thailand windows don't have a sill or any kind of frame around the window for that matter. Not that I have seen anyway.

c/f..get the builder to make them on site for you ...make lintels wider than thickness of wall and at least 12 inch longer than window frame then you have 2 in 1--lintel/sill job done ...dont forget rebar.../you could also run inlay along length of lintel/sill to stop any water/rain running down walls ....no forget that builder would not understand..llf..i should have explained fully when i first posted to you lintels/sill .2 in 1....hope this helps a tad more ...good luck..

Originally Posted by codfish

Originally Posted by Marmite the Dog

Originally Posted by codfish

The only thing that I do not like is the windows, the walls are about 170mm thick when finished but the windows are only ½ that thickness (Made for the normal wall thickness), It just don’t look good IMO with the thin window frames,

Is it because it's missing a window sill?

Yes, But Thailand windows don't have a sill or any kind of frame around the window for that matter. Not that I have seen anyway.

True, but there's nothing stopping you getting them to do something properly for a change.