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[jazzman]

How I built my $20,000 / £14,000 home and motel
If you are new to this board and starting here, do consider introducing yourself in the introduction forum - that way you'll get a warm welcome from everyone - and don't be shy to post your first questions in the respective forums; we all had to start somewhere

Nearly two years after first starting this thread and nearly 1,000 postings later, I still love getting your dozens of emails and PMs (see the reasons below why I can't answer many of them), but please remember that my views and opinions may or may not reflect those of Dozer, whose toil and initiative we have to thank for the success of CoolThaiHouse.
You can read the full, step-by-step construction of my own $20,000 / £14,000 house with over 100 pics on the CTH gallery including our super low-budget motel project which also shows how to build a quality, low-budget home for little more than the cost of a return flight and a four-week stay in an average Phuket hotel...
In the meantime the narrow pot-holed road through the jungle has partly become a four-lane highway, but the nearest 7-Eleven is still nearly 40 km away. And we are still married.[/i]
For more updates and a BOQ, please read through to the end of this post, then please check out the rest of the thread and use any quick links to some parts of the board and recommendations.

I'm another who discovered this site and couldn't leave it alone. Now after over 30 postings I suppose I ought to introduce myself.
I came to Thailand for the fist time in early 2000 for a short vacation from a university job and liked it so much I didn't leave the country until four years later! We're in Nong Bua Lamphu province about 90 minutes fast driving over the potholes from Udon Thani and about the same distance from Khon Kaen.
I have just started building a modest house and there will also be four bungalows (coz there's nowhere for anyone tostayin this area), a little shop (coz for farangs who are fed up of travelling over 70 km to the nearest 7-Eleven to get a loaf of bread), and a small swimming pool (coz there are only stagnant ponds in the area).

Update (20 January 2007):
Firm friends have been made through this board, and the house I began on 14 Nov 2006 is now nearing completion. I have surfed just about every blog and posting on this site now to make sure I don't miss a tip or trick and in doing so I have also added a few of my own. The site with its forum and blogs is so big that there is always a risk of:
- People asking questions which have already been answered.
- People posting information which has already been adequately covered*.

*I am afraid that I too am guilty of both, and this was another reason for visiting every page on the site !

I've been asked by email and PM how I am able to contribute to so many different topics. Well, having a naturally inquisitive mind which drives people crazy with my questions. When I was three and asked "Why is the world round", not being Thai, I was not satisfied with the answer: "Because it is." and I threatened to take the family cat apart to see how it works if I didn't get an answer

Plus being an inveterate hobbyist. I have also built and rebuilt several houses inclusinding a sparawling ruin of a mediaeval mansion in France, and a few swimming pools as well as a large commercial lido. Probably my first marriage failed because my garden - Oh that wished for green English lawn - looked more like a cross between a metalworker's yard and a land-fill. I hope this recent second marriage will last at least beyond the completion of this house (Update: It did! ).

Plus 26 years of as a translator for Technical, Construction and Scientific purposes, with many of them in Asia, and with much time spent helping friends make the most out of their houses without falling prey to the rogues.

Maybe I just wanted to get away from that awful British weather, British TV soaps, and British housing estate mentality
- I do miss: tea bags, bangers, bacon, Cadbury's chocolate, Cheddar, Cheshire, and Stilton, steak & kidney and chicken & mushroom pies, shepherd's pie, and apple crumble; from the rest of Europe I am on withdrawal symptoms of Eisbein mit Sauerkraut, Frikadellen, Erbseneintopf m. Speck, Bratkrtoffeln, Holzfellersteak, Kassler, Bratwurt, Wienerschnitzel, Ritter Sport,, Couscous Royale, Fondue Savoyarde, rock-hard salami from the Ardèche, Petit Chèvre, Raclette, and Bleu d'Auvergne cheeses, the best reds in the world: Châteuneuf du Pape, Gigondas, Vacqueyras, Cairanne, and Lirac; genuine Italian pizza, Lasagne, Spanish pinchitos, and decent sea-food paella.

Nevertheless a diet of lab moo, keng kiaw wan, pak priaw wan, kow niaow, charcoal grilled snake-fish, and fried grasshoppers, is fine

Update (10 July 2008): The big PM problem...
I will not answer PMs for free private advice on topics that are of general interest all CTH readers, I really cannot reply to them all, and some clearly ask for information that you should be paying an expert for. If you want my professional advice, that's another matter, my prices are quoted in tea, cheese, and wine. So below are some links to find the answers to the questions that are constantly repeated, so do please search the forums and the main site before contacting me. Last year I saved one reader 340,000 baht on his contractor problems, in March I saved another one 60,000 on the price of his steel, and recently saved someone a 20,000 baht rip-off in legal fees for something that only costs 75 baht at the land office.
Very often all Dozer and I get as thanks, are bad language about the web server being occasionally slow and being told that it's about time he invested in a more expensive hosting, that some of the links are dead, that prices need updating, and there are some that just deliberately disagree with all the the advice we and other members give.
Wo kann ich Info auf Deutsch bekommen?
- Versuchen Sie: hier.
Où puis-je trouver des rensegnements en Français ?
- Essayez: ici.
How much does concrete cost?
- See this thread:
How much does a swimming pool cost?[i]
- See this thread.
Where can I find a good builder, architect or site supervisor?
- Try this.
Where can I find a lawyer in Isaan?
- Try here.
Everything you need to know about electricity is HERE.
And now: How I built my $20,000 / £14,000 home and motel
get the BOQ

[dozer]

Sounds like a project I want to do someday: House with outlying bungalows around a swimming pool. Did you start yet? Any pics as you go would be enlightening and appreciated.

[jazzman]

Hi Dozer. Yes we started already three weeks ago and it's coming along in leaps and bounds. We've poured the floors yesterday and we'll start putting up the roof truss the day after tomorrow.
Everything has been photo documented as we go, but nothing yet which can do justice to the thaicoolhouse project. Much of it is very, very similar anyway. If we come up with any new ideas - or problems even - I'll not hesitate to post about it in the respective forums.

Jazzman

[jazzman]

In the beginning was the land, and the land was without house...

[jazzman]

6 weeks later...

[Pluma]

Jazzman

Looks like the start of a very nice house.

Do you plan to document the entire conrtruction?

I am always interested in learning from others.
Please keep us all updated on the progress.

If you can include the good and bad parts of your experience, I
am sure we can all learn a bit more.

Thanks

[jazzman]

Thank you for your interest. Actually, when a house gets to this stage, the complicated stuff is practically all over. The picture show an 80% completion. The rest is just getting the tiles on the roof and floor, pulling the cables through the conduit and connecting up the switches, sockets and lights, fitting the windows and doors, painting the walls and tidying the garden so that we can get on with the next part of the project
Fortunately, up to now, there haven't been any problems. We are however a bit over the original budget having opted for more expensive materials for some things (Higher quality aluminium windows and patio doors, Granito floor slabs instead of tiles, polished natural stone kitchen tops, imported European lighting and electrical fittings, better paint, soffit and guttering.etc.).

Jazzman

[jazzman]

Update (01 February 2007):

With the big job of putting the tiles on the roof, we thought we could absent ourselves from the building site for the first time for 5 or 6 days without our presence being needed onthe site. thinking nothing could go wrong. Specific instructions were left, in Thai, English and with graphic help. So we left for BKK 800 km away.

When we returned, some of the lengths of roof insulation had been laid upside down and some of the tile battens were not regularly spaced. Just over 50 m2 of tiles AND battens had to be taken up and relaid.
More proof that you never, never, leave builders working on your house and turn your back for even a few days, let alone clear off back home for 6 months.

I have to go to the UK for 3 weeks in March. I will find my builders a perfectly harmless occupation for that time. Probably using up some of the formwork to extend my father-in-law's pig farm. There's not much can go wrong there. Is there

[jazzman]

Update 17 Feb. 2007

The builders are obviously feeling the heat, knowing I have to go to the Uk on 6 march for three weeks. tey seem to have acquired some additional help and in the last three days the ceilings have been installed, floor tiles are 50% complete.


Update (14 March 2007):
See ll pics of Jazzman's house project here:
http://coolthaihouse.com/cthpics/index.php?cat=10489

The house is still not finished and Jazzman had to postpone his visit to the UK.

[jazzman]

Update 22 March 2007

Twenty-two days over schedule and still not finished, but that's par for the course. it has taken some people over a year to get a small house this size built. The interior is nearly finished apart from connecting and testing the electrics and the plumbing. What's left to do outside can be done once we move in.

This thread should really be in My Building Story, I suppose. But it sarted here and there it is.

More pics and more details on my album at http://www.coolthaihouse.com/cthpics/index.php?cat=10489

[jazzman]

Update (10 July 2007)
The house is finished and we've been living in it for nearly three months already!
Everything has worked out reasonably well with a minimum of fuss, and finished with good relations with the builders whom I can heartily recommend. Now we can relax a little and wait for the rainy season to end before starting the next phases: finishing the swimming pool and building the bungalows. living in the house is great, our small compact design (from the outside) is bright, roomy and cheery on the inside and everything works, fits and is in the right places. We've not bumped our heads, stubbed our toes or snagged our clothes on anything. Many Brits would dream of a kitchen and bathrooms like these.

Most important was the cost.
We set out to prove that:

- The prices of ready-built houses
- Contractors' quotations

are, to put it mildly, utter bullshit.
We achieved our goal.

Read all about it and see the pics here.

[thaifly]

[quote="jazzman"]Update (10 July 2007)[/b]
The house is finished and we've been living in it for nearly three months already!
Everything has worked out reasonably well with a minimum of fuss, and finished with good relations with the builders whom I can heartily recommend. Now we can relax a little and wait for the rainy season to end before starting the next phases: finishing the swimming pool and building the bungalows. living in the house is great, our small compact design (from the outside) is bright, roomy and cheery on the inside and everything works, fits and is in the right places. We've not bumped our heads, stubbed our toes or snagged our clothes on anything. Many Brits would dream of a kitchen and bathrooms like these.

Most important was the cost.
We set out to prove that:

- The prices of ready-built houses
- Contractors' quotations

are, to put it mildly, utter bullshit.
We achieved our goal.
Read all about it and see the pics here: http://coolthaihouse.com/cthpics/thumbnails.php?album=6[/quot
its a GIDDAY to u JAZZAMANand family i have been on to coolhouse now and it would be remiss of me not to mention a hearty congrats to u on your sucess...in my view u have been a breath of fresh air to coolhouse..with your vast experince which i am sure it has been a great help to people including my self..i am sure the rest of your project will also be a success with the wealth of knowledge u have....good on u JAZZMAN its a BIG GIDDAY...from the thaifly from mae rim

[dwagner]

Jazzman,

Nice pics of the house from conception thru to completion - we are in the same province - NBL - however, I am 60Km Northeast from NBL center. Very rural, very nice and very quiet.

I would like to see the current state of the "estate" especially the pool since that was the topic that led me from the "other" web site to here.

New to the site so if there is a way to PM me, please do.

...dw

[jazzman]

Finally got round to heavily editing the lead posting. All the information about the jazzman house is now on the album, see the link below, and again please understand the reasons why so many PMs I receive don't get answered.

[jazzman]

Update (04 February 2009): The Motel
After having been extremely busy on other projects, like a couple of trips to the UK and France, visiting ThaiFly and some other CTH members in Chiang Mai, Attila, Dozer and a few others near Pattaya, Geordie in the depths of Chayaphum, and Paul in Na Klang, and yet others in more obscure places, we now finally have time (and thanks to my publisher, the money) to build the long awaited bungalows.

We started three days ago, and this project is being documented day-by-day in the photo gallery. This is a fairly simple, straighforward single construction of four rooms with en suite bathrooms, and an extension that will include a utility room/linen store, and a WC/shower for the pool. Built in much the same way as the Thais build their modern houses, using pre cast concrete columns, a lightweight steel roof truss, and composite panel roof tiles, it will be interesting to see if we complete it within our projected small budget. The whole thing is 125 m2 which is the size of an average single storey house, so be ready for a huge surprise if I manage to prove yet again just how much it is possible to save when I tell you how much it cost.

The photo comments also include up to date prices for the materials we are using. We have five workers on the job and there is no time limit for completion, but we hope to get it all finished before the rains start. By then, we hope we'll still be rich enough to furnish and equip them