1 – 7 November 2014
This is the first of what will be weekly updates on building our house in Isaan. It is a long post as a lot has happened in our first week here to get the build underway.
For those of you who are new to the blog you can read about how we came to buy land in Si Bun Ruang in the north East of Thailand HERE. Just to give you some idea of the size of place we are building, to make sense of the costs I will share with you as we go along, it has a roof and matching concrete slab size of 260 m2 with an internal area of around 160 m2.
Day One – Saturday, had us starting working through the list I had prepared for a quick start on the building project. The builder himself, a guy called Ming, came over to make sure we were still good to go as we hadn’t signed anything at this point. The calendar was consulted to work out an auspicious day to start the build. Luckily the 6th had a full moon so we had a date to kick things off!
Later in the day a more detailed analysis was undertaken with the help of the local “spiritman” and the 16th came in a winner for the official blessing of the land and house to be. I thought the build would be delayed by two weeks but wasn’t too concerned as you have to relax into the Thai schedule of things otherwise you’d end up a frustrated and alcoholic farang! However it turns out that work can commence on the digging side of things, just not on the “building” aspect, that is things coming out of the ground. Phew. The 6th was still a go’er then.
I am lucky to get Ming, my builder, as this is his last building project before he retires to grow sugar. He’s 64 but looks 80. Probably a damn sight fitter than me though. He is actually a professional builder unlike many who will take on construction in-between harvests to earn some extra income.
With the start of the build happening in five days we needed to quickly organise water and power. Water in the village is provided by a community bore and pumped to houses via small blue pipes that sit almost on top of the ground at the side of the road. There is very little pressure and showers are a slow affair unless you have a pump.
The local water supply being connected to a house. It is amazing anyone gets any water out of this system.
I set up the family home with a 1,000 liter water storage tank and a pressure pump the last time we were here so that I could get a half decent hot shower when we moved in, which is at the start of the cool season. The idea of the tank is that the Moo Baan or village water slowly fills the tank and then the pump accesses this to provide pressured water to the house. You can’t connect a pump directly to the community feed otherwise you’d stop delivery to everyone downstream!
The 1,000 liter water tank and pressure pump at the family home.
Now for someone like me used to pressured water at the turn of a tap this didn’t seem like an ideal situation. It certainly doesn’t work to if you want to water a garden where you’d use the 1,000 litres in no time.
The solution is to provide your own water supply via a bore or what the Thais call a water-down. My regular readers are used to me rambling off subject so……..Thais also call a waterfall water-down in their very sensible way of applying descriptive words where context is applied to make sense of them. If looking at a beautiful waterfall and you say – in Thai! – “that’s a beautiful water-down” you are obviously not referring to a bore! We English speakers complicate the things by applying a whole separate word to different aspects of the same thing.
Back to subject – are you still with me? Having a good water supply was especially important for us because we want to establish an extensive tropical garden, which will require watering in the long dry season here. Also I don’t see how you can build a house here based on the local water supply. Concrete is the central to the Thai building process and it is a thirsty bugger. So a bore was top of the list.
My sister-in-law Yuan called her bore digger contact and negotiated his normal 15,000 THB fee, which I thought was pretty reasonable, down to 13,000 THB because it was for her sister. No water no charge. He agreed to start the next day. Now in normal circumstances this may seem like a good outcome but the downside in a Thai environment is that nobody has warned the spirits on the land that someone was going to arrive and maybe drill through one of them.
Gaun’s mama preparing the offerings to the land spirits.
Unfortunately due to the speed of the start of bore drilling a ceremony wasn’t possible pre-commencement. However luckily for us with Thai spirits evidently a “sorry” after the event is equally OK. Gaun’s mama and another elder were on-site early Monday morning to get the spirits back onside. This ceremony also covered off the digging for the footings that would happen shortly after so we got good value from the event.
The “sorry” ceremony underway next to the borehole. It was organised by the two ladies just as part of a normal routine. It shows how strongly the spirit-world is incorporated into life here.
The final thing we achieved on Saturday was the purchase on a sala or bamboo hut, which would eventually be located on the land under the two mango trees at the front as my “site office”! We had seen a good solid example of sala for sale on the way to Udon Thani, the closest major city to us, last time we were here. A return visit had us selecting a large sala 2 x 2 meters, big enough to hold small parties, and it was delivered that evening.
The sala temporarily situated in the driveway of the family home next to Gaun’s imported garden prior to its relocation to the block of land.
Day 2 – Sunday, the morning had us clearing the land ready for the build. I have to admit that a lot of the work was done by Gaun, who has incredible energy and can last in the heat far longer than I can. In the 12 months since we bought the land a lot of rubbish vegetation had taken it over especially with vigorous growth during the wet season. Very kindly Yuan and Lud, my sister and brother-in-laws, has got in there before we arrived with heavy duty cutters and taken it all down to ground level again. Now the dead growth needed to be collected up and burnt – there is no recycling of vegetation in Thailand that I have seen.
Our land being cleared. Concrete mixer already on site.
Just out of interest, as I alway report on the small things, it had rained the night before and everything was damp. Lighting the fires was done with a used motorbike inner tyre, which can be bought for 3 THB, and then cut up to act as a fire starter. Environmentally unfriendly but did the job.
In the afternoon the bore drilling equipment arrived on site and set up.
The bore drilling rig.
The first step was to locate the water in the general area that I had selected, which was right at the back of the land where our water tanks would eventually be located out of sight. A high-tech computer scanning device was put into action and the precise spot determined for the bore – or not!
Dowsing Thai style – two metal rods in the hands of the bloke in blue used to locate water.
The drilling system is really basic and requires constant human attention to make it work, which I will explain later. Firstly a small trench is dug to the side of the rig. The bore head uses water to lubricate and cool plus the residue from the drilling is pumped up to the surface keeping the hole clean. The water is provided from this trench and a constant supply is required for the system to work. Although what’s pumped down comes to the surface again in a constant cycle, water is lost in porous levels of the dig and a surprising amount is needed. This is a bit of a catch 22 situation as what you are looking for is water but need water to look for it!
The solution in this case was to truck it in using four plastic barrels on the back of a ute. The water is being sourced from the farm pond of one of Gaun’s nieces about a ten minute drive away.
The drilling rig in the front and the water supply pick-up at the back.
Ready to go.
Thanks for reading.
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The income from my eBook pays for the upkeep of this blog, which is otherwise commercially free unlike so many others.
Hello
My name is Jim. I am currently renting in Ubon Ratchathani. I want to buy some land ( a Rai ) so I can get a house built. I have not been long in Thailand and I have no idea where to starch looking for land to buy. Could you help me with this?
Thank you for your time
Jim Rock
Hi Jim.
Welcome to Thailand and Isaan. You are having the same problem so many farang have with the more informal nature of real estate sales here outside the bigger centres. Rural land tends to exchange hands based on word of mouth rather than any formal listing or even signage, although you will see signs roadside for larger more commercial type blocks of land. DD Property is the only farang online national Thai site that I know of. There may be plenty of Thai script options but unless your partner is computer savvy that’s not much help. Try this link for Ubon HERE. I have bought two blocks of land in the village and both were offered to me rather than the process we are more used to from back “home”.
If you know the area you want to base yourself I would suggest talking to village heads (I presume you have a Thai partner) as they will know what’s available. Beware of farang inflated prices although I didn’t have any problem although the vendors were friends of the family and my wife Gaun and her sister did the negotiating. Pure rice land without improvements off main roads should be around 100,000 – 150,000 baht a rai. We paid 300,000 baht for half a rai of Village land close to the town of Si Bun Ruang. Remote villages should be less.
Have you got the huge candle festival in Ubon on your calendar for late July? If you haven’t done it before it is amazing and well worth seeing.
Good luck with the land search and let me know how you go. If you have any other questions you know where to find me.
Cheers.
Tony
Hi Tony , looking at building a house in Thailand , and come across your article , I have been fortunate with land etc . I was looking at your house plans and was wondering about how efficient it is weather wise , ie : are you going to reliant on aircon ( Thais love it ! see you have water sorted ) . I spent a lot of time in northern Australia , and was thinking about a Kimberley style house , indoor outdoor , in Thai style , your thoughts ? ps , Shane from Phimai
Hi Shane. The house is super-efficient, and we hardly use air conditioning even during this hottest period of the year. All it requires is some simple planning around design and siting, and minimal additional cost. A cool house might cost you 10% more than a hot house but you get a return on investment for a lifetime. On days when it’s 40 degrees plus outside the house sits on 30 degrees without air. You will have seen the section promoting my e-book on building in Thailand. It covers everything you need to know in great detail. Essential reading before building. Have a look at this link for more information HERE It’s the 2020 edition so just updated. Let me know if you have any more questions. Cheers.
G’day mate, loved your blog. We are about to start building after purchasing an acre approx 45km South West of Buriram. My wife’s sister and brother will supervise the build. The sister has experience in this and has all the contacts needed. We are hoping to build a single story home of around 26 m2 including verandas and carport but with cement tiles for the roof for under 400,000 baht.
Cheers Wayne. I haven’t made it that far south yet but I hear from a few farang that way via the blog who are setting up home around the Buriram area.
All the very best with your build. I hope it goes as smoothly as mine did and you enjoy the outcome as much as I do every day.
Happy Christmas and a big new home New Year to you and family.
Tony
Hello
Very interesting – i plan do build a house in Warin – so like to get all info i cab get – is there a part two of the building process?
Regards
Charly
Hi Charly. There are 26 (?) parts of the building story or you could just buy the eBook which gets great reviews from readers here https://tonyinthailand.com/building-in-thailand/
The book is far more useful if you are actually looking for a reference document with lots of hints and ideas.
Thanks for the positive feedback and good luck with your build.
Tony
Hi Charly, we built roughly the same time as Tony (though not as large) I followed Tony’s blog at the time so so similar what we experienced however he logged it all down so I reckon his e-book would definitely come in useful. We live just outside Warin so you’re welcome to pop round for a chat and a coffee or beer,let me know. Good luck with the build. Andy.
Thanks for that Andy. I hope he gets in touch.
Tony
Tony, just was given your site address. Read the post discussing well drilling. You didn’t mention the price per meter? Would you be willing to share that information with me?
In the US, I was triangulated, centered by three wells around me on other properties. They all were in the 30 meter range. Mine was 127 meters! When all was said and done, I had a 15cm hole in the ground for what I was hoping to spend for the entire water system. Do you have any idea how hard I had to suck to get a drink from that well???
Hi Bryan.
I paid a fixed price no matter how deep they had to go, which may or may not be normal (it certainly wouldn’t be in Australia). As I mentioned in that post they guarantee a three hour flow rate otherwise it is free and they dig another one, which is what happened with us. My well is around 30 meters deep, which is about average for the village but that is such a local thing it isn’t of relevance to you. My expenses sheet will have the end cost – I think 14,000 baht? I paid him an extra 1,000 baht bonus. I recommend finding a contractor who uses compressed air to flush the hole rather than water, which slows things down a lot especially if there’s not a reliable source of it around.
Wow. 127 meters would required quite a pump to extract water wouldn’t it. I suspect that Thailand may be more consistent with the results your neighbours have achieved but that’s pure speculation.
Good digging and if you have any other questions just let me know.
Tony
Hi Tony. Thanks for the feedback.
Yes, the 127 meter hole in the ground was 5,000USD more than 30 years ago. The entire system, again, 30 years ago, was 13,000USD. And my city friends would tell me how lucky I was to have free water.
In Mae Taeng where my property is, the developer was asking 100,000 Baht for a well (that he thought would be 30-50 meters) and if water wasn’t found, he would charge again to have another well drilled. He seems to double his price (as farang pricing?) when I told a Thai friend who is involved in residential construction.
Appreciate the idea of using compressed air to flush the hole.
I am starting to build outside of Udon on the way to Nong Bua at soi 18. I just had it cleared and fill brought in and next is the well…now or later either way. I plan to let the fill set through rainy season which gives me time to settle on the rest of the project and to locate a builder. Any names and numbers would help. And since I am close I can pay a visit too.
Hi Marc.
I have had a few requests for recommendations for builders. I didn’t do any research on builders prior to moving here as we already knew we were going to be using a local builder, who has since retired. This meant that I don’t have a “fallback” list of possible builders I can pass on. I can only repeat a reply I gave a reader who was looking for someone to do some roofing and renovation work as follows:
“I am also sorry to say that I can’t help with a recommendation for someone to do the work you require. I have had many people contact me as a result of the building side of the blog but those who will end up living locally aren’t at the building stage yet.
I know the team that did a lot of the subcontracting work on my place are willing to travel but as we put an aluminium roof on I can’t tell you what their work is like for a tiled roof or for renovations rather than straight construction.
Have you tried looking at the building forum in coolthaihouse for someone constructing locally?
http://www.coolthaihouse.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=3
I know an English guy called Jerome who writes under the name “sometimeswoodworker” is building at Non Sa-At, which is on the way to Khon Kaen. We have been to his place a couple of times but he has a Colorbond roof. Maybe his builder, who I think is Udon based, can help you. Worth a try?”
Good luck with your project.
Tony
Hi Tony, I’m Tony!…:)
I have stumbled upon your blog while researching planning/building in Thailand. I am looking to buy some land, and I will be starting a project in Hua Hin with my girlfriend this year. I will continue reading your ‘Building in Thailand’ articles and I’m sure judging by your comprehensible writing skills, and the content of your ‘Week 1’ article, I will enjoy reading the following acticles and learn a lot from your work here. So thank you in advance!
PS – I may even start my own website just like yours, ‘Tony In Thailand II – The Younger One’ 🙂
Maybe we will chat directly in the future…..
Chok Dee!!
Welcome to the blog Tony two the younger.
I hope you are able to gain some insight into building here through the posts I made. Your design will be different but the process and some of the challenges will be similar. I was in Phuket for a little while but never made it to Hua Hin. I believe it is a popular destination these days with farang and not just Thais.
Good luck with the build and if there is anything I can help with from a distance please let me know.
Cheers. Tony one (older).
Hi Tony. I am in NZ but my Thai wife is in Takfar arranging the construction of a small house for my step daughter and child. The power company quoted 28000 baht to connect the power which runs right outside the section.This would be a permanent installation not a temporary connection during the build. The tempoary power came from grandmothers house nearly next door. The cable run would be no more than 20 mtrs. This would be the total amount and may or may not include a power pole. This seems rather expensive?
your comments? Thanks Tony– Stuart
Hi Stuart. I went back to see what we paid to have mains electricity connected from the meter box, which is located across the street, to the edge of our land, which was done by a subcontractor of PEA. The meter box was 10,605 THB, concrete electricity pole 920, electrical wire 7,400, installation of electricity (labour) 1,700, temporary fuse box 580 (for construction purposes only). I have just been out to measure and it is roughly a 20 mtr span across the road plus the drop to meter box and fuse box. We bought a 30 amp meter box, which is more expensive. A typical Thai house would easily get by with 15 amp or less if they offer them smaller and cheaper. 28,000 THB with a smaller meter box sound a bit expensive based on my experience. I would have thought maybe around 20,000 THB or a bit less? Our powerline goes underground from the pole to the house and isn’t included in these costs. Does that help? I will send you a couple of photos to your mailbox to illustrate out set-up. Cheers. Tony P.S. Our electricity pole ended up being too short and we extended it. For anyone reading if you are bring power across a road make sure the pole is high enough to keep your wires from getting hit by any trucks passing through.
Hi Tony
I’m thinking of building a 2 bedroom single story for my GF she has the land about 30 minutes. From Ubonratchathani,
What sort of house no you think I can build for £10 k, if I keep on top of things,, I,ve never built in Thailand, but 30 years in .Canada, which realy won’t help at all,.
Your doing a great job I will be following it right to the end, I hope to start in October, just aiming for a new hip,
Thanks good luck with everything,
Hi John. I’m Australian so pounds sterling is just another foreign currency to me 🙂 but that converts to around 500,000 THB. That will easily get you a modest two bedroom house built I would have thought. Try to include some silver foil insulation under the roof as this is a small investment that will drop the reflected heat into the house. Get some with the foam backing from Global House and it will help cut down the noise of tropical rain, which stops all conversation. Aluminium windows with insect screens are a must and not hugely expensive. If you aren’t a sit on the couch and watch TV all day guy then try to plan plenty of undercover outdoor space as you will spend more time there than inside (well I do). Try to lead the project with what standards YOU want and not leave it all to your Thai partner. She will most likely just follow village convention and that’s not a path you need go down. The building posts on my blog will give you a great idea of what the process looks like. Whatever the size or design most House here are built to that schedule and sequence. If you have any questions send them through.
Good luck. Tony
Hi Tony,
Just to say your blog super very nice photos,i enjoyed reading it,i am not in The same level about houses,my self and my lady we just making à old small house to à livrable home for 2 of us,Thank for those infos.
Roger.
Thank you Roger. Home is home whatever the size. I hope you enjoy yours as much as I am mine. Good luck. Tony
Dear Tony. Your blog is amazing. I will certainly be following your adventure from now on.
We are planning on buying land in Khon Kaen and build a house in the near future. At the moment we are in the middle of price negotiations on a piece of land just outside of Khon Kaen center. Building and buying land, prices, contractors etc. … do you have any good place to start?
Regards,
Kenneth (DK) + Wife (TH)
Hi Kenneth. Thank you for your comment. If you read the building side of the blog from start to finish you will get a pretty good idea of the steps involved in building a house here, which are different from Australia where I come from. The expenses spreadsheet also gives you an idea of where your money will be going and the timing for the various major costs as the house takes shape.
I was lucky in getting a local builder from the village, who is a fulltime builder rather than a rice farmer off-season. The subcontractor team, who I call the A Team were excellent, and are in fact starting a build for a blog reader out your way mid-September. Get them to quote to build your place! In saying that I didn’t have to do a lot of searching for builders so I can’t give you any clues other than to avoid the part-time builders if possible.
You are lucky to be building close to a major centre as you will become very friendly with places like Global House, Home Pro and Living Index if you are intending to build a place with farang comforts.
We are in Si Bun Ruang, which is one and a half hours easy drive from Khon Kaen, so if you would like to come over for a lunch, a building chat and a look round you would be most welcome.
I will send you my email address and you can contact me that way if you have any questions.
Tony
Hi Tony
I am finding this very helpful there are a few differences of course. I have just started building my house after all the ceremonies have been completed. I am not sure where you are exactly i am 37k from Kalasin.
I managed to get the price of the builders down to a cracking price of 190000.00B but we supply there food every day ( sorry i should say my wife got the price down and she does the cooking.
I will be very interested to see the photographs and the progress of the roof as this is the next phase of the build by the way the floor area is 120m2.
Dave
I am pleased you are finding the blog useful Dave. We are in Si Bun Ruang, which is between Udon Thani and Khon Kaen, just under Nong Bua Lamphu on the West side of Lake Ubol Ratana on the map. You’re East of Khon Kaen?
That’s a good labour price for building. Your wife providing the meals shouldn’t be a hardship for an Isaan lady 🙂 I think they are at their happiest either planning to eat, preparing something to eat or of course eating!
Our house is a bit bigger at 260 m2 under the roofline and about 160 m2 inside the walls. Things like the wider spans between columns and the double AAC block walls was a self-inflicted extra cost.
You will find the roof build starts about Week 6 in the blog and fills a few weeks. There’s plenty of detail there but if you need any more info just let me know.
Good luck with the build.
Tony
Hi again Tony
Can you remember the price you paid for the purlin and what lengths they come in i am finding it hard to source them at the moment.
Regards
Dave
Hi Dave. I will send you a scanned copy of the invoice tomorrow and your wife can decode for you! All our steel was ordered through one of Gaun’s sisters who works for a Chinese family in Udon Thani who own a building supply place. Some of it was a bit cheaper as a result. Certainly the quality was the best. You might be able to downgrade and get cheaper elsewhere. Tony
OK Tony thanks i could not see it on your spread sheet but their again my lamp oil is not so good even with the glasses on.
Regards
Dave
Hi Tony, stumbled across your blog I really enjoyed the read and can relate so much to what you wrote. We started our build house on 2nd Jan this year and I too have been through the land rituals, electric connected to a tree and the bore hole (although I guess we were very lucky as our bore cost 3,500 Baht). Like you we are building in a very small village about 27 km outside Ubon Ratchathani. Nice to know I’m not the only one currently undertaking this adventure. Good luck!
Andy
Great to hear from you Andy especially as you are on the same building journey. Thanks for your kind comment. 3,500 THB for a bore sounds like a win. I hope the rest of your build is equally impressive financially 🙂 I haven’t been South of Khon Kaen yet but will once we get established in Isaan. Good luck with it all. Tony
Thanks for posting this Tony. I hope to be starting my build shortly on a similar type house. Mine will be a smaller interior but a larger covered exterior area. So having you break down the costs is especially helpful. I have committed to 400,000 B for my wife’s brother and his team to build it so we seem to be in the same zone.
The bore well description was very informative. I just paid to have a totally inadequate water supply piped to my land as I assumed a well would be north of 100,000 baht.
I will be following your build closely. I hope all goes well.
Thanks again.
Chris.
Hi Chris. I am pleased you found it helpful. If I can help in any way please get in contact at eastmead@gmail.com. We are lucky here that the ground water is pretty close to the surface and drilling isn’t through rock. I have read of some very challenging and expensive bores being dug. Good luck with it all. Tony
Hy tony good information i am in loei and started to build a 2storey house 3bed. 240 sq.m. we are doing same as you they build we supply materials We are not lucky as you to have family etc. to help and being a first build in thailand on a budget is a challange I have been asked to buy steel for footings and beams and for floor not for roof we asked the supplier he said about 260000 baht the house floor plan is 10 by 12m. with 16 posts without plans etc to see is difficult but could you give me a guess if this figure for steel is near the mark I would be very grateful.freddy
Hi Freddy. Good to hear from you. I can’t give you an expert opinion but I think I can help.
The house I am building has a concrete slab footprint of 260 m2 so around the same size as yours, although ours in on the one level. The internal house size is around 160 m2 with 13 columns. For the purpose of comparison I presume you have in effect 32 posts, 16 on level 1 and 16 on level 2. For us the steel for the roof arrived separately from the rest of the steel so I can provide you with a split of costs. The total invoice for all steel was 133,110 THB and of this pretty close to 85,000 THB was for the roof steel, leaving about 48,000 THB for the column, slab and horizontal beam reinforcing steel. We are using 6 mm rebar, 4 in the columns, which are 20×20 cm as we’re having double block walls, and 7 rebars in the footing beams. Even allowing for maybe a lot heavier steel for the second floor slab reinforcement if you double or even triple my costs you end up with a range of 100,000 – 150,000 THB. 260,000 THB seems very high using this logic.
I qualify this by saying that we bought the steel through one of my wife’s sisters who works for a Chinese/Thai family and they own a steel supply business in Udon so we got family rates. What difference that made I don’t know but even allowing for a 10 or 20% discount it still makes your quote look expensive.
I will scan and send you a copy of my invoice to your email address. It is in Thai but if you have someone who can translate it will show you the exact breakdown for my steel. Maybe you can then make a direct comparison between your quote and mine.
Good luck with your build and drop me a line if you think I can help. I am learning as I go but am a step ahead of you. Tony
Thanks for taking the time to post Tony. I will follow closely. Great pics and a great narrative. The cost sheet gives a good idea as to current costs!
Thanks Charles. Much appreciated. Tony
At least the green plastic chair has proper legs on it and you aren’t ‘squatting’ two inches (oops 5cm) above the ground!!
It all looks very exciting – at this rate I can’t believe it will take 4 months. You should be in by Christmas….
The chair is reserved for me I like to think because of my executive status but I suspect it is more to do with my age! The last three days have seen good progress too but you know what builds a re like. Just as you start getting excited it all comes to a stop. If I am in by March I will be pleased.