"Typical" House Building Costs

C

coffeecorner

Guest
Accepting all the obvious caveats I would be interested to see the range of opinions on building costs per sq metre.

Assume a house of reasonable standard, acceptable to your average Westerner.
 
How many Bedrooms & Bathrooms needed?

I have made a promise to myself to NEVER again recommend my Thai Builder, who is also a family friend.
 
Danny boy said:
Acceptable and Nice..... are two different categories though arent they !
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Yes - that is why I pre-empted everything with "the usual caveats".

I have friends who live very comfortably in a proprty that falls into 10/15k bracket. I have other friends that would turn their noses up at that.

15k/20k has the right sort of ring to it but if you get to, say, 30k psm then you a factoring the old UK builder's 33% profit margin.

I would be happy to look at, say, 125/130 sqm and I wouldn't want to pay much more than 2m Baht for that.
 
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alan crisp said:
I would say for 2m for 125/130 squ/m Bungalow would include a European type kitchen and top quality fixture and fittings.
Its not something that everyone can do but to find a builder to build on a price and then you buy all the materials is going to save you loads of money .It is a full time job for 3 months whilst the house is being built but you have total control over the build price to an extent. You can choose every thing from door handles ,tiles,Bathroom fittings before you even start . Me, Tom and Trevor all have nice liveable Bungalow's IMO that all came in at under 1m and were all built by finding a builder to build on a fix price for labour only. For us it was quite easy, I have worked in the building industry all my life ,I helped Trevor and Tom had bought land and built houses in the UK plus had worked in a Builders merchant after retiring from the Police.( Tell me if I have got it wrong Tom ) .Tom's Bungalow is lovely and was well under 1m. So for 2m I would say you could have a very nice Bungalow indeed ....:)
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Where's the bloody thanks button ? :001_Thank_You5:
 
coffeecorner said:
Accepting all the obvious caveats I would be interested to see the range of opinions on building costs per sq metre.

Assume a house of reasonable standard, acceptable to your average Westerner.
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Sorry C.C getting off topic with your ? but for me, 1 who does not live here full time(retired/business). I only get a few weeks here every 2 months and can not possiblily keep check on the builder on a day to day basis, I have a little bit of experience by exstending the wife Yays/Moms house over the last few years and get who the family recommends at the time when Im there, up to date I would not trust any to build me a path to the outhouse (outside shitta to non Ozzy's) Good luck to the more experiences local guys and great they help other farang they know but its a sh.t fight if you dont have that, I get home last swing and the water is pouring in thru our roof, take a few of those cheap ceiling tiles off and there is 5 cracked roof sheeting, it settled and cracked the sheets..

For me its worth to pay a bit extra, IF you know you will get a fair job done.. A penny spent is a pound saved,, or some old Pommy saying like that....
 
As Ducati says if you are not standing over them all the time you will not be happy with the results..even with those that are local thai builders/rice farmers, heavy on the rice farmer.... they only know what they have seen done, right or wrong, and not proper ways. Your price range is OK, just need to be selective on who builds it...
 
Prices do vary from house to house I would say bottom line 10.000 this is if you get involved your self find local worker pick up and order(cheap) materials and so on . 12000 to 15000 is the going rate 15 should get you top line PVC windows granite/wood flooring and so on . 13000 to 13500 will get you a very good build white Insulation block walls , ,grade A aluminum windows , top notch Granito low scratch tiles ,hard wood doors , nice roof tiles , roof insulation and so on . A lot of people don’t realize there are different grades of Aluminum ,doors and tiles and most Thai builders wont tell you that ether –why would they!lose proffit . In Kho Sumui they are wanting 15 to 20 a sqm ,so location does make a difference too .The house we built in Pattaya the client spend 900.000 on his fitted kitchen (from a kitchen company),not including cookers and other electric appliances . He got central air fitted 700.00 So there really is not a fixed price it realy does depend on the quality of what the client wants. He was qoted over a million to have PVC windows, but decided to stay with Aluminum Supper grade with 6mm glass. -- Supper grade – you cant even buy this product this in Issan .
I hope my info helps .its up to you what you want to spend –Thanks Alan.
 
wildoates said:
As Ducati says if you are not standing over them all the time you will not be happy with the results..even with those that are local thai builders/rice farmers, heavy on the rice farmer.... they only know what they have seen done, right or wrong, and not proper ways. Your price range is OK, just need to be selective on who builds it...
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Agreed 100% :Chokdee5:

Just like to add, for those who do not speak Thai, you also need an interpreter who can translate what you say to the builder AND NOT what he/she THINKS YOU MEAN to the builder(note:FACE).

Also one word in Thai/English has 2 different meanings.
That word is GOOD.

English translation = pleasing standard/high quality
Thai translation = Cheap

p.s. I say the above in general terms and not direct it at Ray(CC), as he is a Smart Cookie
p.p.s. Why not get Alan the Builder to quote you?
 
We did price a job for 1 of Rays friend this week , 356 sqm build the cost worked out around 4.7 mill for a high quality build .
 
ducati05 said:
I have a little bit of experience by exstending the wife Yays/Moms house over the last few years and get who the family recommends at the time when Im there, up to date I would not trust any to build me a path to the outhouse (outside shitta to non Ozzy's) .
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Hi ducati,

Some of us Poms do know what a Dunny is greetings

Regards

CC
 
alanthebuilder said:
We did price a job for 1 of Rays friend this week , 356 sqm build the cost worked out around 4.7 mill for a high quality build .
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Thanks Alan,

The whole point of this thread was to test out that quotation (and also for my education as I will want to do something eventually).

My mate told me he asked for a quote for a 12m x 12m house. My naiivity calculated that at circa 150 sqm as I thought a "3 bed with 2 baths" would fit comfortably within that footprint.

Based on that I suggested your quote was double what I THOUGHT he may have to pay. Based on 356 sqm (and I know what quality will be required) the 13k psm represents good value.
 
wildoates said:
As Ducati says if you are not standing over them all the time you will not be happy with the results..even with those that are local thai builders/rice farmers, heavy on the rice farmer.... they only know what they have seen done, right or wrong, and not proper ways. Your price range is OK, just need to be selective on who builds it...
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Seconded, WO! Think1
 
alanthebuilder said:
We did price a job for 1 of Rays friend this week , 356 sqm build the cost worked out around 4.7 mill for a high quality build .
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That was the whole point of this thread. My friend told me he had been quoted an excessively figure - which I agreed with.

Unfortunately, my friend told me he was thinking of building a 12m x 12m property (this is a second home near his wife's parents) - he failed to mention that it was 2 storeyswith a veranda and car port totalling 356 sqm. I had been working on 150 sqm max !!

The benefit of this thread has been two-fold:-

1. Many members can give a sound opinion on local prices and service - I particular thank those who took the effort to PM. Their experiences are invaluable, especially to anyone building on a tight budget.

2. Alan the Builders quote at circa 13,000 psm was good value for the quality of build that I know would have been required.
 
coffeecorner said:
That was the whole point of this thread. My friend told me he had been quoted an excessively figure - which I agreed with.

Unfortunately, my friend told me he was thinking of building a 12m x 12m property (this is a second home near his wife's parents) - he failed to mention that it was 2 storeyswith a veranda and car port totalling 356 sqm. I had been working on 150 sqm max !!

The benefit of this thread has been two-fold:-

1. Many members can give a sound opinion on local prices and service - I particular thank those who took the effort to PM. Their experiences are invaluable, especially to anyone building on a tight budget.

2. Alan the Builders quote at circa 13,000 psm was good value for the quality of build that I know would have been required.
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Thanks Ray for putting my name forward .You friend is now working on a new plan and will be sending me details soon .
 
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Not to try to resurrect this old thread but I thought I would use it to ask:-


"What planning consents (if any) are required for building out in the sticks and, are there any other considerations before you start to build" ?
 
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