Udon Thani Thailand Forum - Udon Thani, Thailand

Over the past year and a half I have used a builder who I have found to be very reliable and his pricing is very good too. In the past couple of years, he's built a couple of apartment blocks (mine included) and a factory, you're welcome to visit my apartments any time to see the quality of the work, no cracking, no faults just a good solid job. However with the housing market slowing he's not finding it easy to get work and as it's notoriously difficult to find a decent builder I have told him I will put him on here. He will do any job, big or small, he will price it competitively and HE WILL DO A GOOD JOB. Anyone have any work? Please let me know and I'll pass it on to him. Just as a foot note, he can also design, have drawings made up and get them passed at local government level if required. Vince 091 057 5550.

Vince.. you have experience now of building stuff in Thailand.. and you are recommending a bloke. All good.. Can you advise for my learning.. the term "snagging".. after six months.. which would usually be included in a UK building contract FOC.. how we stand here? I'm sure others would be familiar with this term and process.. as we learn how it applies for our stuff in Thailand mate.

I can only vouch for my builder Liam, I'm confident that if something went wrong and it was his fault he would snag it (put it right), I might not be so sure about other builders, I have heard some real horror stories. I've always found that although me and my builder didn't always agree, ultimately he did things my way without too much fuss, I think my apartments are the only ones in Udon with a damp proof course for example. As for building regs/law here, I can't comment, I don't even know if it exists.

vincemunday wrote:I can only vouch for my builder Liam, I'm confident that if something went wrong and it was his fault he would put it right, I might not be so sure about other builders, I have heard some real horror stories. I've always found that although me and my builder didn't always agree, ultimately he did things my way without too much fuss, I think my apartments are the only ones in Udon with a damp proof course for example.

Oh yeah.. a DPC is good.. ok.. so do we agree in forum that "snagging" here in principle doesnt exist? So we should factor that rather than presumption?

Reference DPC.. was that a vm contingency or did it exist in your builders concepts? You are doing good here Vince.and I appreciate your contribution. I have plans on the horizon despite my grizzles of cash flow.. and happy to run with your man on your recommendations.. It REALLY is hard to find reliable Thai workers.. sadly.. and maybe you have a fella who "gets it".. THEY are the ones we should ALL work with.

Yes I'm pretty confident that as a general rule you won't get snagging done for free, when they walk off the job that's pretty much it, I'm lucky that my builder has come back and corrected the little things that needed doing (grouting and mastic), apologised and didn't expect to be paid.

Damp proof courses here don't really exist, my apartments are built on a piece of land with quite a high water table and thus i insisted it was put in. Of course my builder argued at first, he'd never heard of it, but when I explained why I wanted it he thought about it, bought it, and put it in for me. To be honest I paid about 5000 or 6000 more to cover the material cost but it wasn't in the original spec and he hadn't allowed for it so I didn't mind.

Good info.. yes its not easy to find good builders... I will possibly have some work for him in a couple months..

There is no better recommendation than from personal experience,,,, so long as it's not family??

Liam Dale wrote:Vince.. you have experience now of building stuff in Thailand.. and you are recommending a bloke. All good.. Can you advise for my learning.. the term "snagging".. after six months.. which would usually be included in a UK building contract FOC.. how we stand here? I'm sure others would be familiar with this term and process.. as we learn how it applies for our stuff in Thailand mate.

Just a note , i have a friend who does building work for Gov departments here ,every contract has a retainer for 6 months ,they keep a % of the cost ,,he goes back in 6 months and if all is well they pay him the retainer ,

No, he's not family, he's just a builder I've used and more importantly TRUST, all work will be appreciated. Please feel free to pop round and take a look at my apartments that he built for me. 37/5 Soi Kaojan 4, Moo 14 Taharth Road.

fatbob wrote:There is no better recommendation than from personal experience,,,, so long as it's not family??

Vince n I dont get along.. but he is a man of integrity.. and wouldn't promote family for sure..
If VM says the bloke is ok.. I would have NO hesitation in using him for sure. And I will be. It is soooo hard to find reliable Thai workers here.. the bloke who looked after my mrs for 15 years suddenly went pear shaped.. in desperation for work.. took me 6 months plus to install a frigging bath.. f.f.s... THEN.. my bathroom was full of water! Another 4 months to sort THAT.. according to MY design.. n I am no expert builder.. just followed a chain of logic n pvc..

So.. Yeah.. vince's dude should be added to everyone's phone.

Liam Dale wrote:.. so do we agree in forum that "snagging" here in principle doesnt exist?

Snagging does exist, it depends on the builder. A handful of years back I oversaw a property conversion
(10+ mil Baht range) and staging contracts were written up from start to finish, staging payments were also made on completion of each stage. The final stage contract included a snagging period of 6 months and 100,000 Baht was retained from the final stage payment. In the event that repairs were needed within the 6 months period (and they were) then monies were deducted from the 100,000 retainer.

Stevo wrote:

Liam Dale wrote:.. so do we agree in forum that "snagging" here in principle doesnt exist?

Snagging does exist, it depends on the builder. A handful of years back I oversaw a property conversion
(10+ mil Baht range) and staging contracts were written up from start to finish, staging payments were also made on completion of each stage. The final stage contract included a snagging period of 6 months and 100,000 Baht was retained from the final stage payment. In the event that repairs were needed within the 6 months period (and they were) then monies were deducted from the 100,000 retainer.

Excellent.. a baht hold back for "snagging".. total sense.. cheers Stevo.. girth in reality and girth in experience

LOVING your picked onions fella.. SO appreciated.. Rock on T Bar..

Yes we did staging too, I wouldn't have done it any other way to be honest and whilst I'm sure retainers happen I would wish the average joe blow good luck with that, there aren't many Thai builders who would agree to it as far as I have seen so far but I'm not saying it's impossible. My builder has done the little bit of snagging I've had so I'm quite happy recommending him.

Thanks for the info, I will be meeting a Home Builder from Udon to Build a house in Nakhon Phanom next week I will also add in this snagging deal into the payment.. Though I have had 3 houses built here already in Thailand we always learn things..thanks again

Liam Dale wrote:

Stevo wrote:

Liam Dale wrote:.. so do we agree in forum that "snagging" here in principle doesnt exist?

Snagging does exist, it depends on the builder. A handful of years back I oversaw a property conversion
(10+ mil Baht range) and staging contracts were written up from start to finish, staging payments were also made on completion of each stage. The final stage contract included a snagging period of 6 months and 100,000 Baht was retained from the final stage payment. In the event that repairs were needed within the 6 months period (and they were) then monies were deducted from the 100,000 retainer.

Excellent.. a baht hold back for "snagging".. total sense.. cheers Stevo.. girth in reality and girth in experience

LOVING your picked onions fella.. SO appreciated.. Rock on T Bar..

Wrong Steve.

Here's a house my builder has just finished, he's done a lovely job.

Here's another picture from his last job, I have quite a few more if anyone is interested, in them you can see his brickwork with staggered joints etc, not something that always happens here, please send me your email if you'd like to see them.

PM sent with my email..thanks

Just putting together a response, I will answer soon

Liam Dale wrote:

fatbob wrote:There is no better recommendation than from personal experience,,,, so long as it's not family??

Vince n I dont get along.. but he is a man of integrity.. and wouldn't promote family for sure..
If VM says the bloke is ok.. I would have NO hesitation in using him for sure. And I will be. It is soooo hard to find reliable Thai workers here.. the bloke who looked after my mrs for 15 years suddenly went pear shaped.. in desperation for work.. took me 6 months plus to install a frigging bath.. f.f.s... THEN.. my bathroom was full of water! Another 4 months to sort THAT.. according to MY design.. n I am no expert builder.. just followed a chain of logic n pvc..

So.. Yeah.. vince's dude should be added to everyone's phone.

Thanks for the kind words Liam and yes integrity comes top of my list, if a man hasn't got honesty then what has he got? Sorry it took me so long to respond, I missed the post. Please check out my latest website www.aconudon.com I'm sure you'll find something to criticise