We started our new village house build 4 weeks ago.

We looked at renting and buying a used or new property, but there was nothing we liked that was close enough to the village and we didnt want to move too far away at the moment as our young daughter only started at school last year.

Over the last 18 months we have looked at various plots of land until we settled on a 1 rai plot just outside the village (but not too far from the village power and water supplies!)

The plot had been raised 1.5 metres already, 5 years ago so the site is stable.

We negotiated a price of 190,000 baht. More than I wanted to pay, but it seems to be the going rate, plus the premium of having been infilled 5 years ago.

The actual owner of the land is in Germany, so we did the deal with the owners Mother (and extended family!) and to be sure there would be no funny business, we had a temporary agreement drawn up by the Head man of the Village allowing us to start building now without the full paperwork. My GF and the owner will sign the papers on her return to Thailand in March and pay the final figure.

I can see you rubbing your hands together and grinning with glee at the prospect of another fallang being sucked dry (financially!) and then losing it all!, but after two and a half years together, I am more than happy to make a commitment to our future together and I also want a place of our own here. I am tired of staying in the family home (no privacy!!!)

The builder we chose is a fantastic guy from the village. He works for a building firm from Nong Khai, but seems to be able to leave and do his own jobs when he wants. He has just finished a big fallang house on the other side of the village and done a great job. He has also just started building a house, similar size as ours, for the Head Monk of the village at the local Wat.(thats him pictured below!, he saw our design!)

The land has a 35 metre frontage to the road and is 46 metres deep.

The initial budget was 500.000 baht including cost of land and building. This is not a final budget!, only for the land and construction of a small basic home. Garage, swimming pool, hot tub etc not included!

The blessing ceremony


The first steel column in place


And the rest are fixed and concrete poured.

Hey Charlie, we are at the same stages of build in Ubon. Good luck, mate and above all; enjoy the whole project ... we certainly are, and learning heaps aswell.
Cheers
Chris

Good luck Charlie and I like the price of 500,000!Not to project any negativity,but if village life gets tiring on a full time basis,500K is not to much to leave behind or use as a temporary visiting module!

I was going to spend about that for temp quarters that the wife could expand on later if she chose,but we decided living in the family village was not what either one us prefer and we found good accomodations about 10KM away for visiting!

Thanks Chris, good luck to you as well!
We are 3 weeks down the line from this now, I am just going through my stuff today to bring this right up to date!I can list the list the costs of everything if it would be any help for you?

End of week 1 and the concrete beams are up to floor level. We are having a crawl space of 1200mm beneath the house. I like the thought of being up off the ground and it also gives me some secure storage space.

The floor beam steels are made up and shuttered. More concrete! all hand mixed, no C-Pac!
Unfortunately, although we had the village water supply put in, it has proved to be very unreliable. (no water!!) So we had a 100mm well drilled to 48 metres and an automatic pump installed. Now we have reliable(?) water.
The well cost 8000 baht to drill and 8000 baht for pump, pipe and fittings. All done and dusted in 2 days.

Thanks Stan!
I actually enjoy the village life at the moment. I still have to work in Europe so getting away from it all is exactly what I want when I get back! And I must give full credit to the locals for making me feel welcome (without stuffing me for money all the time!!)

End of week 2 and things are going well.
Conrete slab floor laid on.


Meshed and concreted over.


Columns taken up to roof level and brickwork started.

The same photo 'Buddha.jpg' appears in all of your attachments.

What about the soil pipe for the toilet, drainage pipes and incoming water supply - do they intend to smash through the floor and walls to install these?
IMO these pipes should have been installed before the floor slab cast.

I dont know what you mean Lee, I have looked from 2 different computers and see different pictures( as I loaded them)?

Should I upload the pictures using a different method?

End of week 3.
Costs mounting up faster than I want!!! Luckily the Euro was ok and I have had to bring more money over!
Anyway all going very well. Never this smooth when I work!!
Roof steels are going on and the brickwork is progressing well. Went to Homemart in Udon to choose the roof tiles. I like terracotta but the price was too much for my pocket and I settled on a C-Pac painted cement tile. Only 14 baht each.
The entrance steps are now being formed ready for concrete, and the widow openings are being formed.


The bathroom floor was cast as a seperate unit and spacers set in the floor for services. It is cast lower than the main floor and will be a 'wet room' with a floor drain.

So far up to 195,000 baht! for the build.

charlie wrote:I dont know what you mean Lee, I have looked from 2 different computers and see different pictures( as I loaded them)?

Mmmm! It's working via Internet Explorer. It's either a problem with the forum, FF browser or my computer! Anyone else having problems?

how far are you from the nearest electric utility pole. this will be a opportunity for your haggling skills, as an excellent opportunity for a little extortion for electric service. hindsight, never depend on local water supply. that's deep well, do you know the pump stats, so it will handle that. though they are rather good. had a 25 meter well, with a 9 meter pump for quite some time before i realized and changed to a 19 meter rated pump. more than enough pressure.

good luck, looks good.

Anyone else having problems?

fine here, Vista/FF or IE

Up to date!
End of week 4 yesterday and only 1 major issue to deal with last week.
The electrician who normally works with the builder was dropped in favour of my GF's uncle, (who I know is in dire financial straits).
This would not normally have been a problem, but this was done without my consultation! and I have lived long enough to know that working with family is always a minefield.
The uncle came around and we discussed what we wanted and where and how high. I even gave him a drawing and took him on site to further impress upon him what I desired.
Unfortunately after a couple of days we all realised that he was not up to the job and we had to let him go. We now have the normal sparky who is going great guns. However the whole experience cost us 2000 baht and a bottle of whisky!
Roof steelwork now completed (labour only- 13000 baht for 150m2) and the timber put in place and cut ready for the cement board. Plumbing first fix in, cesspit dug and concrete rings put in place and connected.
A small section of the crawl space has been concreted and walls have been blocked in (leaving a door for my storage)
We have had some glass blocks put in to give some light and add a little decoration to the house. The small blue tube running around the perimeter under the house is for the anti termite stuff.
The external rendering was started yesterday and they will continue all the way round this week.




Lap, we are only 35 metres from the nearest pole, so we dont foresee any problems. With regards to the well, yes it is deep and even though we have a good pump, we are putting in a water storage tank that the well can lift into, then use a seperate pump to power the house etc.

To date, as of last night the total spend is up to 243,630 baht for the build. We have made a few alterations and have upgraded several items which is going to put me over budget by (I predict!) 100,000 baht.

we are putting in a water storage tank

well thought out, excellent, continue on, very interesting.

We have made a few alterations and have upgraded several items which is going to put me over budget by (I predict!) 100,000 baht.

yea, that happens..........

Charlie,

Could you tell me how many cm of concrete they put on the concrete slab floor? (5 cm - 10 cm - 20 cm???)

And what kind of mesh did they put in this concrete?

Was it mesh from a roll of 2 or 2.5 meter wide steel mesh ( 4 mm - 6 mm???) or did they made the steel mesh themselves?

I am thinking about making an extension on my house in this style, on poles with a concrete floor made of concrete slabs as you did with mesh and then concreted over it.

I am just wondering how thick the concrete has to be and what kind of steel mesh you put in there??

The slabs had steel mesh from a roll put over first then a covering of 50-70mm of concrete poured over the top. I thought the steel was rather on the small side but builder insisted that it was adequate for the floor.
The house is 12m X 6m and the flooring slabs cost 16,000 baht from a local manafacturer. The bathroom is 2m X 3m and has its own cast floor.