I'm wondering if anyone has used this company to build a house, and if so, what your experience with them was. Any info will be appreciated.

Keep in mind that they probably rely on a contractor to do the actual construction work, so when you get to that phase of your investigation, find out who their contractor is and then ask what else he's done so you can check up on his work. I'd have to say that most if not all of hte problems I have had and am having with my house is because of poor quality or careless work or skimping on materials to save a few baht.

I went there once just to have a look at what house plans they had and the first thing they did was put a contract in front of me and started explaining the conditions of payment.
They were very pushy and I finished up walking out, I was very disappointed.
BB

Dream Up are presently building a house for me. They started in early July 2006.

If I included the period for negotiation of the plans and final cost of the house which took about 3 months plus the 12 months building so far, I could say I have gotten to know the builder very well.

I would not hesitate to recommend Khun Mee (the builder) to build a house as he is very easy to talk to and he has never been pushy to me or my wife. He wants to build a quality home, however as Rick Farrang said above, it is the contractors that he chooses that may or may not be the problem. If the contractors are just village workers you may get a sub standard job.
There is no real way to check these people until after they begin the work. You then see the quality of their work and if it is unacceptable, which some of mine has been. The section must be or as in my case has been removed and redone with out any acceptance problems to do that by the builder.

I know Khun Mee checks this forum so if you want any details about this builder I can PM or email you.

Urrr?? 12 months a-building?? That's a bit of a stretch isn't it?? How big is the place??

Does seem a long time, the one on the link below, estimated time from start to finish 4 months, 3500 sq ft currently being built in Udon.

http://www.isarapix.com/pix21/11943901

Oooops, try again

I have contributed to the time it has taken to build as I have made many changes which affected the builder

Thanks for the info guys.

The guy from Dream Up made the decision easy. We had an appointment to meet at my land. Ten minutes after the appointment time my wife gave him a call to ask where he was. He said he forgot about it. We said that was what he could do.

We've now decided to go with another builder and our work should start on 11/19. All in all, I'm quite satisifed with our decision at this point.

"He said he forgot about it. We said that was what he could do."

Wise choice.

Franco wrote:http://www.isarapix.com/pix21/11943901

What the picture shows is typical standard thai style. Missing insulation under the roof tiles. Standard bricks instead of (nearly same price) Q-Con blocks. No shadow for the walls and windows to prevent heating-up. 12 million for this?

Techland,

I think you confused, The pic you are looking at is an example to show the size of house that can be built within 4 months, The actual price of that house is 2.5 million for 3500 sq ft , Mashallb66's house is costing 12 million but is 5000 sq ft, being built by Dream Up.

Now I am confused,

Marshallb66's is 6000 sq ft

My effort will be much more modest than the ones previously mentioned. 185 sq meters. One floor, 3 bedrooms, 2 toilets, in and out kitchens, one car cover, dining room, study, and living room. About 1520 sq feet of interior space.

The foundation includes 23 piles driven into the earth and then the beams are built off of them. Super block (Q-Con) on all exterior walls (red brick for interior walls), dual pane vinyl windows, wood doors, tile roof with reflective foil and 3" of stay cool in the ceiling. Three roof peaks with vents. Roof overhang is one meter.

Granite counter tops in both kitchens, and marble walls in the toilets. Non slip floor tiles throughout. All driveways and walkways will have the pebble covering on the cement which will be premixed truck delivery. Master bedroom and living room will have ceiling treatments with multilevels and recessed lighting as well as accent lighting. 30 amp electric service with house-wide ground fault safety switch and 12 designated grounded receptacles and about 36 non grounded receptacles.

The water system includes a tank and pump. About 30% of the roof drainage flows to a flat roofed car cover and then down inside the two front support columns and then underground to the drainage in the street. The land will be graded to flow away from the house and to the street in front. The house will be 500cm above the the grade level of the 800cm of fill we put in 6 weeks ago as the rains started. The porches 400cm above and the car park 50cm above grade.

The wall will be 2 meters high with about 1/4 of it being one meter of cement and one meter of wrought iron to allow a view out and a breeze to come in. The land is 160 talang wa. The street is on one side and a klong is on another. The other 2 sides will eventually have houses, but are now unimproved.

The price for the house and wall is under 1,850,000 baht. We will have to pay additional for any built-ins we want in the bedrooms. The kitchens will use the typical cement counter supports and wooden inserts for drawers and shelves which we will have to purchase ourselves and the builder will install (Toilet sinks the same). No appliances are included.

The builder is taking care of all permits and connections for water and electric, as well as plan drawings, etc. I pay at 5 points in the construction process. About 12% to get started and then at major completion points. The final payment when I say I'm satisfied with the job. The guy has been building for about 12 years and I've looked at 2 of his jobs. Both impressed me. He speaks no English, so my wife has a headache dealing with this. Oh, well.

Just for the future, whats the builders name andtelephone number