Quality Problems with the to be new house

[Teddy]

We did buy a House in a Housing Development. At the beginning everything did go well. But now we are more and more concerned about the Quality. Walls are not properly set up and a lot of breaking down did take place.
Because they are already behind schedule by more than one month we are afraid they will cut corners at the end to meet the timetable.

Can anyone recommend an "Architect" who can help with supervising the Builders?

[mykthemin]

Quite simple really, don't pay for it until everything is correct, but remember this is thailand and the standards here are not the same as in the west.

[JR]

Have you paid everything yet? If not, you should withhold a suitable sum until the house is built as it should, according to what you have been promised . Promised in writing, I hope). If you see things they do, stop their work immediately and confront the responsible person in the office. your money, your house, you shall decide, not an incompetent worker. Sorry, son't know any architect in udon. And you are right, they will cut any corners they think they can get away with. That is also why it is cracking even before it is built! Which development is it?

[Prenders88]

Its a project manager you need.

[maaka]

agree...a project manager schooled in on site construction, and one used to standing over contractors until they meet the projected goals as intended in their contract...' allan the builder ' might know of someone to fill that position..

[American]

Having gone through five building projects here in Thailand, I can tell you truthfully that if you do not supervise it personally YOURSELF, you will not achieve a structure that comes anywhere close to the word "quality." I've hired bums off the road and highly schooled architects and engineers. In the end, the "quality" (I use the word loosely) of work is about the same. One project ended by calling a construction crew from the US to finish and fix a job that was messed up by Thai "quality." Don't get me wrong. I'm not dissing Thai people. I am actually a Thai hybrid myself. But if it's quality you seek, you should build you house yourself, or build it in some other country. That being said, the best you'll get here is your personal final inspection. If the house doesn't meet your approval, don't pay until it does. It also helps to have been in the construction business most of your life.

[parrot]

Our daughter's father in law is a custom home builder (45 years in the business). The stories he tells of half to million+dollar homes that he sees with major problems is frightening. Improper work, incomplete work, substandard.......I thought those problems were only in Thailand.

One of the personal joys of living in Thailand is not worrying about the minor imperfections in workmanship. Give me a strong house that won't collapse when I'm sleeping and only shows its imperfections if you look closely......I'm a happy camper.

[WBU ALUM]

I love to rent, and this is another good reason to do so.

[douglas]

Keep a landlord happy, and rich, and rent.
Bought my new house, 3 bed, 2 bath, in 2005, inside the ringroad, for 980KB. Valued now at 1.900KB. Wife is starting a bussness and went to the bank for a loan. They sent someone to value the house, and this was the figure they quoted. If i had been paying rent i would have nothing, and still paying 10,000B a month rent.
I had a clause in the sale agreement that if anything was wrong due to faulty materials or workmanship, in the first 12 months, it would be fixed free. The only fault i had was a leaking pipe to the shower, inside the wall. It was repaired within 2 days.
IMO with the new ringroad coming??? prices are going to rise sharply, for land and houses, and rents increase.
Also when you own you can do what you want to the house.

[harmonyudon]

For what ever reason one wants to own a house or apartment, is it wise to buy in Udon while under construction??

[WBU ALUM]

Keep a landlord happy, and rich, and rent.

If back in the US, that might be true. Renting here is very inexpensive, gives me mobility and is less of a hassle. After watching so many foreigners regret living where they live or having so many issues building, I'm escaping that grief. So far, I haven't seen where the purchase of a home in Thailand is much of an investment like it was in the US.

In my case, I'm keeping ME rich by keeping my assets invested and making more money for me to use to live. I'd rather live off of my liquid assets -- that replenish themselves every month -- rather than plant them in the ground into some concrete and wood.


When I die, my bride can do whatever she wishes with her windfall.

[mrgman]

Can I contact you?
I have Architect, Engineer Team and I can help with supervising the builders for closed project

[jai yen yen]

Keep a landlord happy, and rich, and rent.
Bought my new house, 3 bed, 2 bath, in 2005, inside the ringroad, for 980KB. Valued now at 1.900KB. Wife is starting a bussness and went to the bank for a loan. They sent someone to value the house, and this was the figure they quoted. If i had been paying rent i would have nothing, and still paying 10,000B a month rent.
I had a clause in the sale agreement that if anything was wrong due to faulty materials or workmanship, in the first 12 months, it would be fixed free. The only fault i had was a leaking pipe to the shower, inside the wall. It was repaired within 2 days.
IMO with the new ringroad coming??? prices are going to rise sharply, for land and houses, and rents increase.
Also when you own you can do what you want to the house.

Maybe this will work for you or maybe not. You may own the house but you will never own the land it sits on. If your wife gets tired of you what can you do? Take your house
and carry it away with you? It stays with the land you don't own so in effect you have nothing and you have spent 980,000 baht as well as maitenance and repairs for 8 years. You could have invested the 980,000 and made money with it for those 8 years and still had the cash. Just another way to look at things.

[Frankie 1]

...I can tell you truthfully that if you do not supervise it personally YOURSELF, you will not achieve a structure that comes anywhere close to the word "quality."

I agree, and even then.... you have to babysit them all the time, and I mean all the time. The moment you leave them alone for five minutes, they start to work in their own way (=doing everything wrong).

I had a contract with the best builders in the region, but halfway the building of our house, it became clear that they had no idea what they were doing (and clearly had no interest in doing a reasonable job). At one moment I was so fed up with them that I fired them and finished the house myself. I had every detail written down in a contract, payment in parts, deadlines, etc., so I didn't lose any money.

[Teddy]

Thanks for all your input. After some discussion with my family we decided to do the supervising by our self. We agree with most of your comments that if we want a "quality" house we need to get more involved in the building process.
Hopefully it will work out.

[tamada]

When there isn't a construction boom, there's maybe 1 supervisor for every 8 labourers. When there's a housing boom,... well, you work it out. You may have a great supervisor or project manager but chances are he has several projects cooking and while he's away, the labourers goof off and screw up. Close daily supervision is a must with anything substandard being stopped until the supervisor comes back and it is resolved. Holding back on instalments is always a viable option but when the basic build and fit out is completed and it's down to the detailed 'finishing' of the house, be prepared for even the best of supervisors and workers to either start not showing up or walk off the job when it's down to the last 10-15,000 baht. There's enough new-start construction with bigger payments to pull them off what they may be seeing as nit-picking and overkill. My advice and experience is to hold at least 50k or even 100k baht until it is ALL done to your satisfaction.

[old-timer]

Do a two week look ahead program with the builder from start to finish, get the builder to sign it - you've now entered into an agreement, base his payments on it, hold a decent retention in cases of bad workmanship, when he has fulfilled his obligations - pay him.

OT...................................