Thread: Building in Laos

Hello One & All,

I'm new to the forum,although I have read through a lot of the posts in the past.
In particular most recently,the post's relating to building & construction in Thailand, excellent & informative reads.

I'm looking for people who have had experience in building in Laos.
My Lao wife & I have a block of land in Ban Salakham,only a few minutes away from the Beer Lao Factory,just off Thadua Rd.
We are looking to develop that block with a few dwellings including a typical 10 room/flat/unit rental accommodation first of all, to get some rent income before we move onto the other dwellings.
My wife's family live in the area and know of some locals & friends etc that can help with the design & building but I would like to pick the forum members brains for more info,pricing,contact's etc etc.
So if anyone living locally and has experience in this area, Any and All information will be greatly received & appreciated.
Looking forward to hearing from you..

Cheers!

Hi David,

Thanks for the fast reply..
I have looked at those plans you posted a link to,it's exactly the sort of thing we have in mind.
The post is 6 years old now as are many of the other posts and mostly related to Thailand,although I realize many of the construction methods in Laos are the same & there is a gold mine of quality info there,my case relates directly to Laos so I was wondering if any members living in Laos might have some recent information regarding building teams or contractors they used,latest pricing & costs etc so I can compare with the quotes I'm receiving at the moment.
I posted in the "LAOS" section so as to attract local members to interact with,I hope this is ok for now,perhaps it can be moved to the building section if it becomes worthwhile-up to you guys.

Thanks..

Hi Joe. I didn't build our houses in Vientiane. We bought it many years ago we have done extensive renovations to it though including replacing ceilings due to termites . I can recommend a Lao lady architect who is very switched on and also knows a lot of construction folk. It's been my experience that you get a better quality work by hiring Vietnamese for the construction . Pm me if you want her phone number. I also had a concrete swimming pool built and can give you some tips there if your considering one. Or read my thread on it

Hi BLD,

Was hoping to get a reply from you..cheers mate.
Yes if you can PM me the number that would be great-not sure if I can PM yet being a newbie
I've heard the Viet's work quick but the quality isn't the greatest... I can only go off other people's experiences. The wife's brother seems to think there's good & bad workers from all teams but it's up to the foreman to get the desired result.

Any other info you can offer up would be fantastic.

Cheers

Originally Posted by beerlaodrinker

also had a concrete swimming pool built

I didn't think it was possible to swim in concrete. You must be very strong.

BeerLaoDrinker,

I got your PM- thank you kindly.
I can't reply yet but will definitely give the number a call to see where it leads.
If the kiwi fella has a contact number for the builder he used to would be good if you bump into him again.
Thanks again.

Last time I saw him he mentioned he might be going to Africa for work I will see if he is in face ache or if anybody's got a contact for him

Hahaa, face ache- that's a new one.
See how you go on Stalkbook..
I just spoke to Pho, I've sent her an email already. She sounds helpful.
Cheers!

https://earth.google.com/web/@17.874...8861676h,0t,0r

We stayed at this place for 100,000kip per night. There are five individual houses and a "Hotel" type building. The folks running it I believe did not own the place.

No kitchen in the individual cabins but it was nice none the less. I cant imagine what payback at that rate would take. I have no idea what it cost to build. As I recall it is not too far from the Beer Loa brewery in Vte. Good luck with your project.

Jingjoe, be very careful spending money in lao or anywhere in SEA, your wife probably doesn't own any land, a right to use, but not ownership.

Live on the land border with Lao, can drive or walk over at some places, wife has family both sides of the border, been offered great deals on land, but the government owns it all.

Have friends who have been totally ripped off over there, spent big money setting up businesses, only to be told, bad luck F off.

Get everything checked, this no problem, no one cares is BS, once someone sees money to be made, your in shit.

Hey Fishlocker,
Thanks for that, you wouldn't happen to have a picture of the interior of the rooms you stayed in at all?

I have some pics somewhere. As aI recall this place had a queen size bed a tv and small refrigerator in the room. It also had a ceiling fan and an ac unit. A basic bathroom with a shower and sink. It had no kitchen. I think it had a microwave oven and some storage cabinets for cloths and things. It was pretty basic but for 100,000 kip a night we didn't expect much. It was a clean quiet place and was just east of the beer lao brewery.

There were five single buildings like one room cottages. No kitchen in any of them. The main building must have had a dozen rooms for rent. We chose the single cottage. I dont know what the other rooms rented for.

Just thought I put this out there so you know the competition. The couple that ran the place slept on a sort of bench/ deck just outside of the main building. They did not own the place but said they watched it for the guy that did. I know this as I tried to negotiate a lower price for staying multiple nights. They said 100,000 kip was as low as they could go because they were accountable to the owner to get that price. 8,000 kip per US dollar = 80,000 kip is ten dollars so yea about 12 or 13 usd.

It did seem like they had some traffic but by no means fully booked. It was not far from some night clubs wich may have helped with traffic. Not sure how long of payback on the investment but hey if you got it like that who cares.

Good luck with it......................the fish.

Hi Fish..

Thank you very much for that detailed information.
It looks like it's situated right at the entrance to the golf course there to accommodate golfing clientele.
Your right about being very basic.. agoda has got it going for $26 Aussie dollars a night, which seems steep to me. But it might appeal to golfers or visa runners as its close to the border crossing to Nong Khai.
Did they seem to be well built or just the cheap slapped together Lao style of build?
Thanks again for your input.

I think I know the mounts hotel location. It is indeed near the golf course. Actually they are 2 golf courses nearby. I don't see people coming over to play golf and wanting to stay near the course. Pretty sure they all go downtown or stay near the thai embassy if on a visa run. Maybe there's a niche market for quality accomadation near the golf courses besides the brewery though there's fuck all out there besides noodle stalls.some thinking outside the box might pay of

Cheers for the replies fellas..
Will definitely check them out when we're there next as it's only a couple of minutes to wife's mum's place & the brother in-laws joint.
May have to put my dancing shoes on & check these clubs out as well.. hahaa..