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[toenail]

My Thai wife and I plan to build a small 3 bedroom house in the Roi-et area. She has a relative that does a lot of constructionn which I have seen and he does a good job. We will build the house on her property. The question I have is what is the cost per sq. meter for a house being built in Isaan? How do I know if I am getting a fair price or not?  I realize  what is put in the bathroom or Western kitchen is a factor, but is there an idea out there how much something for a basic house this would cost? 7M x15M. (one level, rectangular in shape, simple roof line) The fee he charges will be 80,000 baht to build the house (with his crew) and then another est. 500,000 baht for the materials and such. Thanks

Edited by toenail, 2012-02-09 06:25:18.

[sezze]

For this size vs price it is ok . Problem most times is the finish you want , to give it any kind of pricing . Houses are from roughly 4000baht /sqm until 12k or higher depending on finish wanted . for example , kitchens are from 2000 baht to 500k , bathroom around the same area . Tiles from 120/sqm to 2000/sqm .
7 by 15 is not a small house in Isaan area, and neither is your price . For this price/size a decent farang style house is something i would expect . It wont have the high class things but better then standard isaan style finish .

[necronx99]

Yup, it depends.
If it helps my inlaws just had a bungalow built for about 5000 baht per sqr meter, which gels somewhat with his quote.
Quite tidy it was too.

Edited by necronx99, 2012-02-09 06:48:19.

[toenail]

My Thai friend says that the land fill will cost around 30,000 baht...it is a small lot so how does one figure out this cost. Next, he thinks they can build one month after the dirt has been leveled off and pressed down by the trucks. I don't think so. Doesn't it have to settle?

[sezze]

toenail, on 2012-02-10 18:16:29, said:

My Thai friend says that the land fill will cost around 30,000 baht...it is a small lot so how does one figure out this cost. Next, he thinks they can build one month after the dirt has been leveled off and pressed down by the trucks. I don't think so. Doesn't it have to settle?

30000 baht is roughly 100 truckloads ( depending on various factors ) , and correct me if i'm wrong but i think it is 6m3 /truck . If my estimate is correct that would mean about 600m3 , spreading it out on 1/4thof a rai means about 1.2m higher . On 1/2 rai it is 60cm and on 1 rai 30cm . Not that difficult calculating how many truckloads needed .
Settling , the longer the better , that is true . But since it is pressed down , and you build with columns which are on stable ground then 1 month is not rare . I do not know if your groundfloor is raised above groundlevel or not . If not then the sandfill does not carry any loadbearing structure . In the other case ( groundlevel is poured on filled sand ) , use enough concrete as it is not resting on settled ground . Thais in small towns are using 5cm or less concrete , while western houses use 10cm as a minimum ( 15cm is about standard ) .

[cardholder]

toenail, on 2012-02-10 18:16:29, said:

My Thai friend says that the land fill will cost around 30,000 baht...it is a small lot so how does one figure out this cost. Next, he thinks they can build one month after the dirt has been leveled off and pressed down by the trucks. I don't think so. Doesn't it have to settle?

The response from sezze is excellent. Bear in mind that if they are digging out ponds nearby you will get a better rate. I got the rate per truck down from 250Bt to 180 Bt because the soil came from only 1km away. I paid uncle 2,000 Baht to use his tractor to level/pound the soil.

[Diablo Bob]

sezze, on 2012-02-10 21:44:22, said:

Settling , the longer the better , that is true . But since it is pressed down , and you build with columns which are on stable ground then 1 month is not rare . I do not know if your groundfloor is raised above groundlevel or not . If not then the sandfill does not carry any loadbearing structure . In the other case ( groundlevel is poured on filled sand ) , use enough concrete as it is not resting on settled ground . Thais in small towns are using 5cm or less concrete , while western houses use 10cm as a minimum ( 15cm is about standard ) .

You are confusing Consolidation  (Settling) with Compaction. In general,consolidation (No matter how much time has passed) itself is not sufficient to provide adequate bearing capacity for typical foundations. Mechanical effort and moisture control needs to be performed to bring the soil to a density that will provide you the required bearing capacity for any given foundation. Every soil type has a different bearing capacity, where a sand/gravel mixture has a fantastic bearing capacity and a clay/silt mixture (Typical farmland soil) has a poor bearing capacity even when compacted. In this case a soils/foundation engineer can re-design your foundations to the in-situ soil conditions.

[sezze]

Diablo Bob, on 2012-02-11 22:27:51, said:

sezze, on 2012-02-10 21:44:22, said:

Settling , the longer the better , that is true . But since it is pressed down , and you build with columns which are on stable ground then 1 month is not rare . I do not know if your groundfloor is raised above groundlevel or not . If not then the sandfill does not carry any loadbearing structure . In the other case ( groundlevel is poured on filled sand ) , use enough concrete as it is not resting on settled ground . Thais in small towns are using 5cm or less concrete , while western houses use 10cm as a minimum ( 15cm is about standard ) .

You are confusing Consolidation  (Settling) with Compaction. In general,consolidation (No matter how much time has passed) itself is not sufficient to provide adequate bearing capacity for typical foundations. Mechanical effort and moisture control needs to be performed to bring the soil to a density that will provide you the required bearing capacity for any given foundation. Every soil type has a different bearing capacity, where a sand/gravel mixture has a fantastic bearing capacity and a clay/silt mixture (Typical farmland soil) has a poor bearing capacity even when compacted. In this case a soils/foundation engineer can re-design your foundations to the in-situ soil conditions.

You are probably more then right . However we are talking not about a multimillion home but just a nice place . Sure , you can hire consultants , architects , and plenty of manpower etc etc , but his home would not even be close to 500k finished ( maybe even started ) .  Just build some columns in stable ground and fill in the space in the middle with beams and concrete as any normal house in Thailand does . In you do not have stable land , ask around for piles which are also common in Thailand and they will provide the stable foundation .

[Diablo Bob]

sezze, on 2012-02-11 23:17:23, said:

Diablo Bob, on 2012-02-11 22:27:51, said:

sezze, on 2012-02-10 21:44:22, said:

Settling , the longer the better , that is true . But since it is pressed down , and you build with columns which are on stable ground then 1 month is not rare . I do not know if your groundfloor is raised above groundlevel or not . If not then the sandfill does not carry any loadbearing structure . In the other case ( groundlevel is poured on filled sand ) , use enough concrete as it is not resting on settled ground . Thais in small towns are using 5cm or less concrete , while western houses use 10cm as a minimum ( 15cm is about standard ) .

You are confusing Consolidation  (Settling) with Compaction. In general,consolidation (No matter how much time has passed) itself is not sufficient to provide adequate bearing capacity for typical foundations. Mechanical effort and moisture control needs to be performed to bring the soil to a density that will provide you the required bearing capacity for any given foundation. Every soil type has a different bearing capacity, where a sand/gravel mixture has a fantastic bearing capacity and a clay/silt mixture (Typical farmland soil) has a poor bearing capacity even when compacted. In this case a soils/foundation engineer can re-design your foundations to the in-situ soil conditions.

You are probably more then right . However we are talking not about a multimillion home but just a nice place . Sure , you can hire consultants , architects , and plenty of manpower etc etc , but his home would not even be close to 500k finished ( maybe even started ) .  Just build some columns in stable ground and fill in the space in the middle with beams and concrete as any normal house in Thailand does . In you do not have stable land , ask around for piles which are also common in Thailand and they will provide the stable foundation .

I would say that a building is only as good as it's foundation! The cost of constructing correctly is a fraction of the cost for repairing a distressed structure. Just imagine having a house that has foundation failure...... underground piping breaks, windows and doors won't close and walls &flooring crack etc.

Columns is NOT the way to go if building on suspect ground. As you mention, a pile foundation or a mat foundation would work better. Columns generally have higher loads that the other two options consequently they would fail on bad soil before the other options.

Any way you look at it, it is the owner of a less expensive home that can afford least the costs associated with skimping during construction.

[rfukata]

are you going to erect a small retaining wall to hold the dirt/fill?  I would.  Rainy monsoon season will soon arrive and wash away
your fill.  Also, I would wait on the building until after the rainy season - so your dirt fill will settle and then begin building.

[Naam]

rfukata, on 2012-02-12 15:20:51, said:

are you going to erect a small retaining wall to hold the dirt/fill?  I would.  Rainy monsoon season will soon arrive and wash away your fill.  Also, I would wait on the building until after the rainy season - so your dirt fill will settle and then begin building.

if the fill is washed away how can it settle?