All things building
- PorkPiePorn
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All things building
Hello Guys. I'm sure theres exhaustive info here regarding building your own house, right from buying the land to hanging the curtains. Can you please direct me to these resources or threads? Thanks.
The problem with the world is stupidity. I'm not saying there should be a capital punishment for stupidity, but why don't we just take the safety labels off of everything and let the problem solve itself?
- PorkPiePorn
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Have any of you built your own home?
The problem with the world is stupidity. I'm not saying there should be a capital punishment for stupidity, but why don't we just take the safety labels off of everything and let the problem solve itself?
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I built three over the years..
First a small thatch cottage that was eventually blown away.
I then built a dwelling from sticks and twigs.
That two blew away.
Latest was a proper house with bricks and cement. Took a little longer but was with it. It's stood for a few years now.
Bugger of a Wolf problem though.
First a small thatch cottage that was eventually blown away.
I then built a dwelling from sticks and twigs.
That two blew away.
Latest was a proper house with bricks and cement. Took a little longer but was with it. It's stood for a few years now.
Bugger of a Wolf problem though.
- Jacked Camry
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I did. Took about 6 years. Went way over cost. Got a nice house in the end. Too late though for me to move into it so I just rent it out. C'est la vie.PorkPiePorn wrote:Have any of you built your own home?
Here's what you need to know. Do your designs, research your costs, price your basic building, furniture fittings. Add in 50% additional for cost overruns and shit you've forgotten. This is then your cost.
Then triple it.
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Haha, was going to say, sounded familiar. but seriously ... did you?Chuck Wow wrote:I built three over the years..
First a small thatch cottage that was eventually blown away.
I then built a dwelling from sticks and twigs.
That two blew away.
Latest was a proper house with bricks and cement. Took a little longer but was with it. It's stood for a few years now.
Bugger of a Wolf problem though.
The problem with the world is stupidity. I'm not saying there should be a capital punishment for stupidity, but why don't we just take the safety labels off of everything and let the problem solve itself?
- PorkPiePorn
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Why 6 years. Did you lay every brick yourself? Seems they build a house here in 6 weeks.Jacked Camry wrote:I did. Took about 6 years. Went way over cost. Got a nice house in the end. Too late though for me to move into it so I just rent it out. C'est la vie.PorkPiePorn wrote:Have any of you built your own home?
Here's what you need to know. Do your designs, research your costs, price your basic building, furniture fittings. Add in 50% additional for cost overruns and shit you've forgotten. This is then your cost.
Then triple it.
I know how to build in the west, and the order of operations and the trades to hire. Because buildings are build differently here than I am accustomed, i need to figure that part out. then I need to figure out the list of trade, i.e. who does what?
Is it better to hire a builder to do the whole thing from start to finish, or is it better to be your own contractor, with a local building manager perhaps, who will help with acquiring labor, while you project manage?
I think hiring for a fixed fee per job is smart the people are more motivated than if you hire per hour.
I'm thinking it will be a pain (but it was a pain when I first did it in the west also) but over time, the learning curve gets less steep, if you do it a few times.
Still cannot figure out if the money in the bank earning good interest would offset the rent you would pay for something decent.
However, renting is renting, and you are limited in making it your own, for obvious reasons, why spend money on someone else's property?
Is there property tax?
The problem with the world is stupidity. I'm not saying there should be a capital punishment for stupidity, but why don't we just take the safety labels off of everything and let the problem solve itself?
- Jacked Camry
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Because I started when building materials and labour prices were low, and then the building boom hit and costs went through the roof and I didn't have enough to finish it. So I did it bit by bit whenever I got some extra cash.PorkPiePorn wrote:Why 6 years. Did you lay every brick yourself? Seems they build a house here in 6 weeks.Jacked Camry wrote:I did. Took about 6 years. Went way over cost. Got a nice house in the end. Too late though for me to move into it so I just rent it out. C'est la vie.PorkPiePorn wrote:Have any of you built your own home?
Here's what you need to know. Do your designs, research your costs, price your basic building, furniture fittings. Add in 50% additional for cost overruns and shit you've forgotten. This is then your cost.
Then triple it.
I hired what at that time were the best construction, electrical and plumbing contractors available, all of which were partially or completely owned/run by Expats. It was significantly more costly, and I probably saved an equivalent amount of money in terms of saved problems as a result. If you want to run as the overall contractor and sub-contract everything yourself, it can be done. Just don't leave the site, sleep or otherwise turn your attention away for a couple of minutes or it's all going to go to shit.PorkPiePorn wrote:I know how to build in the west, and the order of operations and the trades to hire. Because buildings are build differently here than I am accustomed, i need to figure that part out. then I need to figure out the list of trade, i.e. who does what?
Is it better to hire a builder to do the whole thing from start to finish, or is it better to be your own contractor, with a local building manager perhaps, who will help with acquiring labor, while you project manage?
I think hiring for a fixed fee per job is smart the people are more motivated than if you hire per hour.
I'm thinking it will be a pain (but it was a pain when I first did it in the west also) but over time, the learning curve gets less steep, if you do it a few times.
Still cannot figure out if the money in the bank earning good interest would offset the rent you would pay for something decent.
However, renting is renting, and you are limited in making it your own, for obvious reasons, why spend money on someone else's property?
Is there property tax?
Yes, there is property tax. It is relatively cheap though. There's also a more significant tax on rental income which people tend to lie about. This is supposedly 10% of the total rent.
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Thank you for your answers.Jacked Camry wrote:Because I started when building materials and labour prices were low, and then the building boom hit and costs went through the roof and I didn't have enough to finish it. So I did it bit by bit whenever I got some extra cash.PorkPiePorn wrote:Why 6 years. Did you lay every brick yourself? Seems they build a house here in 6 weeks.Jacked Camry wrote:I did. Took about 6 years. Went way over cost. Got a nice house in the end. Too late though for me to move into it so I just rent it out. C'est la vie.PorkPiePorn wrote:Have any of you built your own home?
Here's what you need to know. Do your designs, research your costs, price your basic building, furniture fittings. Add in 50% additional for cost overruns and shit you've forgotten. This is then your cost.
Then triple it.
I hired what at that time were the best construction, electrical and plumbing contractors available, all of which were partially or completely owned/run by Expats. It was significantly more costly, and I probably saved an equivalent amount of money in terms of saved problems as a result. If you want to run as the overall contractor and sub-contract everything yourself, it can be done. Just don't leave the site, sleep or otherwise turn your attention away for a couple of minutes or it's all going to go to shit.PorkPiePorn wrote:I know how to build in the west, and the order of operations and the trades to hire. Because buildings are build differently here than I am accustomed, i need to figure that part out. then I need to figure out the list of trade, i.e. who does what?
Is it better to hire a builder to do the whole thing from start to finish, or is it better to be your own contractor, with a local building manager perhaps, who will help with acquiring labor, while you project manage?
I think hiring for a fixed fee per job is smart the people are more motivated than if you hire per hour.
I'm thinking it will be a pain (but it was a pain when I first did it in the west also) but over time, the learning curve gets less steep, if you do it a few times.
Still cannot figure out if the money in the bank earning good interest would offset the rent you would pay for something decent.
However, renting is renting, and you are limited in making it your own, for obvious reasons, why spend money on someone else's property?
Is there property tax?
Yes, there is property tax. It is relatively cheap though. There's also a more significant tax on rental income which people tend to lie about. This is supposedly 10% of the total rent.
All in what did it cost you? Is it worth a lot more now? Why didn't you move into it yourself?
The problem with the world is stupidity. I'm not saying there should be a capital punishment for stupidity, but why don't we just take the safety labels off of everything and let the problem solve itself?
- Jacked Camry
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The first question is a "how long is a piece of string?" question. If you build a modest local house or a McMansion, obviously there will be an enormous range of costs. I built my dream house to a Western standard. It probably cost on the order of $250,000 all in and including furniture and fittings. It was very nice (still is, actually).PorkPiePorn wrote:Thank you for your answers.
All in what did it cost you? Is it worth a lot more now? Why didn't you move into it yourself?
But the value of the house is zero basically, even if you build it nice like I did, simply because the value of land in the city is so high. I don't care if Frank Lloyd Wright designed and constructed it himself, whomever buys it has the aim of knocking it down and putting up some condo or other large multi-story building. With the cost of land there's not much sense to do otherwise so long as there's any demand at all in the condo-apartment market.
Didn't move into it because by the time it was ready, we'd already moved to another country. I've since realized that planning is stupid and no longer waste my time on such endeavours.
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I'm confused. You no longer live in Cambodia, or you didn't build in Cambodia?Jacked Camry wrote: Didn't move into it because by the time it was ready, we'd already moved to another country. I've since realized that planning is stupid and no longer waste my time on such endeavors.
And I am also confused about your planning comment, how is planning anything really, stupid in the least?
The problem with the world is stupidity. I'm not saying there should be a capital punishment for stupidity, but why don't we just take the safety labels off of everything and let the problem solve itself?
- Jacked Camry
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I no longer live in Cambodia but am married to a Cambodian for 20 years now, having lived the last 10 years outside of Cambodia in the region and now in Canada.PorkPiePorn wrote:I'm confused. You no longer live in Cambodia, or you didn't build in Cambodia?Jacked Camry wrote: Didn't move into it because by the time it was ready, we'd already moved to another country. I've since realized that planning is stupid and no longer waste my time on such endeavors.
And I am also confused about your planning comment, how is planning anything really, stupid in the least?
I've noticed that people do spend an extraordinary amount of time preparing plans with great levels of detail. Then they're completely ignored, or change to the point of being unrecognizable within a short time, hence you've basically just wasted your time preparing plans that never materialize. In the West, things are more predictable and planning makes sense, because you have a reasonable chance of expecting what will happen and systems and a culture in place that both expect and refer to plans along the way, and evaluate how they worked. Here, planning seems an end to itself, a finished product that gets submitted and then forgotten. And for good reason - still waiting to see one that goes as expected here.
Here "planning" means compiling sufficient resources, knowledge and contacts to do something then proceeding stepwise while expecting things to go South in ways you'd never foreseen, then dealing with it as best you can.
- PorkPiePorn
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Wow, I am assuming your wife is with you now in Canada? Was it hard to get her there? How does she like it? Do you have plans to return to Cambodia? My planning is to return to the west when I reach senior citizen age, for reasons of medical insurance and access to health care. I m hoping Darling will be able to come along by then. Just wondering how she is adjusting, and if you have any much age difference, how you are being accepted and perceived at home.Jacked Camry wrote:I no longer live in Cambodia but am married to a Cambodian for 20 years now, having lived the last 10 years outside of Cambodia in the region and now in Canada.PorkPiePorn wrote:I'm confused. You no longer live in Cambodia, or you didn't build in Cambodia?Jacked Camry wrote: Didn't move into it because by the time it was ready, we'd already moved to another country. I've since realized that planning is stupid and no longer waste my time on such endeavors.
And I am also confused about your planning comment, how is planning anything really, stupid in the least?
I've noticed that people do spend an extraordinary amount of time preparing plans with great levels of detail. Then they're completely ignored, or change to the point of being unrecognizable within a short time, hence you've basically just wasted your time preparing plans that never materialize. In the West, things are more predictable and planning makes sense, because you have a reasonable chance of expecting what will happen and systems and a culture in place that both expect and refer to plans along the way, and evaluate how they worked. Here, planning seems an end to itself, a finished product that gets submitted and then forgotten. And for good reason - still waiting to see one that goes as expected here.
Here "planning" means compiling sufficient resources, knowledge and contacts to do something then proceeding stepwise while expecting things to go South in ways you'd never foreseen, then dealing with it as best you can.
The problem with the world is stupidity. I'm not saying there should be a capital punishment for stupidity, but why don't we just take the safety labels off of everything and let the problem solve itself?
- Jacked Camry
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Yes, she's in Canada with me. The process is long and arduous, and the fact we'd been together 20 years and had two teenage kids didn't seem to matter much. You're better off if you can acquire refugee status nowadays. But if you document everything and keep your nose clean for 20 years and spend months preparing a bulletproof application, it only takes 9 months for your wife to get a permanent residence visa.PorkPiePorn wrote:Wow, I am assuming your wife is with you now in Canada? Was it hard to get her there? How does she like it? Do you have plans to return to Cambodia? My planning is to return to the west when I reach senior citizen age, for reasons of medical insurance and access to health care. I m hoping Darling will be able to come along by then. Just wondering how she is adjusting, and if you have any much age difference, how you are being accepted and perceived at home.Jacked Camry wrote:I no longer live in Cambodia but am married to a Cambodian for 20 years now, having lived the last 10 years outside of Cambodia in the region and now in Canada.PorkPiePorn wrote:I'm confused. You no longer live in Cambodia, or you didn't build in Cambodia?Jacked Camry wrote: Didn't move into it because by the time it was ready, we'd already moved to another country. I've since realized that planning is stupid and no longer waste my time on such endeavors.
And I am also confused about your planning comment, how is planning anything really, stupid in the least?
I've noticed that people do spend an extraordinary amount of time preparing plans with great levels of detail. Then they're completely ignored, or change to the point of being unrecognizable within a short time, hence you've basically just wasted your time preparing plans that never materialize. In the West, things are more predictable and planning makes sense, because you have a reasonable chance of expecting what will happen and systems and a culture in place that both expect and refer to plans along the way, and evaluate how they worked. Here, planning seems an end to itself, a finished product that gets submitted and then forgotten. And for good reason - still waiting to see one that goes as expected here.
Here "planning" means compiling sufficient resources, knowledge and contacts to do something then proceeding stepwise while expecting things to go South in ways you'd never foreseen, then dealing with it as best you can.
As to Canada, she's okay with it, but given our druthers we'd be living still in Chiang Mai. Once we've managed to get what we need done there, we'll return to the region I'd expect, but have no real intention of living here again. But I expressed my opinion on the value of plans already.
I'd reckon that by the time I'm truly an old fart the medical services here will be on the level with present-day Thailand, at which point I see no reason whatsoever to return to the West permanently. As to her adjustment, there's the usual sorts of day-to-day frustrations, culture shocks, etc. but she's getting along quite well. My friends and family have known her for a long time, enough to realize that just because she doesn't speak so much or so loud that this correlates to being either dumb or shy or weak. But at first there were numerous points where things went pretty bad and she got pretty pissed off.
I still think that taking my wife out of Cambodia was a brilliant move, it's made her far more independent and more widely read, and has also toughened her up and given her confidence. We enjoy coming back, but don't really want to live here long-term. We like traveling.
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