Time to build something great!
You finally secured a land and now you want to build a beautiful house to complete the full picture? At Gold and Tree Real Estate Chiang Mai, we know how hard and stressful this process can be so we created this Ultimate Guide with the top tricks and tips on how to build a house in Thailand.
The Land Boundaries
First and foremost, be sure that you have the right to build where you want to build, and be aware of the limits of the land. If you are just under the Usufruct right or one of the lower title deeds, you should make sure before elaborating any plans.
Make sure that you are not taking any risks to build something going over the real limits of the land. If you don’t want to stress out for nothing with the boundaries, it is recommended to invest extra money to be sure to get that little extra of space so you won’t get caught off guard later on or to upgrade the land rights to a better title deed like Chanote.
How to find reliable builders
Now that you all your paperwork, land boundaries and rights are in order, it is time to search for reliable Thai Nationals house builders. If you are limited in your spoken Thai language, then you should have someone with you that will help on this front because you don’t want to overpay for a house that will end up with issues. On the opposite side you don’t want to feel like you got a good bargain but in the end it is actually a bad deal and the workers will just cut corners all the time during the construction, making your future house subject to problems later on. Ask people around, to find a reliable team that has a good tracking with other house owners.
What are the cost for building a house in Thailand
The prices in Thailand and in Chiang Mai more specifically range from 10 000 baht to 16 000 baht per square meter. Try to find a balance between the price you are ready to pay and the quality that you are looking for. It is highly recommended to go in the 13k baht and above per sqmt if you want something of good quality. A house of 250 sq mt at 12k each would need around 3M baht to start with. After that think about the extra costs; countertops, fences, driveway, electricity, aircons, water pump, appliances etc. You are looking at maybe 5M in total for a small house.
Your presence during the construction
It is quite possible that if you don’t check the construction of your Thai house close enough, there will be some things that won’t be right. Thai builders are known to not use spirit levels and set squares for example. If you want your kitchen to be made a certain way to make it look like a western kitchen as much as possible, then hire somebody that will overlook the building process or if you can do it yourself then it is even better.
Timing is the key!
Have a good timing for the beginning and the end of your construction plans. Try to commence the process during the cool season, Thai builders will be more productive in general when the weather is on their side. Also be careful with the holidays left and right, there are a lot of holidays in Thailand and you don’t want to be stuck over the deadlines because of them. Avoid the rainy season and Songkran and of course, the very warm/sticky season.