Need work in Buriram

[Jon Terry]

Hello Group,

 My wife and I are talking about maybe coming back to Buriram for good, but we would need to get an income there because we don't want to sell our home in the UK which could finance some kind of enterprise that would give us an income.
 I am very skilled in commercial interior fit out ( 20 years experience and run my own LTD company in the UK).
Does anybody know if my skills could be used in Buriram , by companies or individual projects?
Cheers Jon

[nookiebear]

Jon,
      Sorry to put a downer on your plans but I doubt very much that you will find any takers,I suggest you do some serious homework before moving up here
                                                        Nookie

[Admin]

Jon,
      Sorry to put a downer on your plans but I doubt very much that you will find any takers,I suggest you do some serious homework before moving up here
                                                        Nookie

+1 but maybe forming a company and offering your services to the expats community nationwide may be success, there is a demand for professionals but it will take much effort from you to make real money of it.

Just my personal opinion.

[Vombatus]

I have to go with Nookie on this one.

Do your research and you find that there is NO market for Farang skills. It is a difficult environment  for Farangs to operate in at the best of times but I don't see a market for your skills in Isaan.

You could try plying your trade in the Pattaya/Bangkok areas but I suspect that the market is probably sewn up.

Do yourself a proper Business Plan and see what it looks like.

[Red Jet]

Remember there are lots of things you can't do 

Here is the list of protected thai job types

Restricted professions for foreigners
Labor
Work in agriculture, animal breeding, forestry, fishery or general farm supervision
Masonry, carpentry, or other construction work
Wood carving
Driving motor vehicles or non-motorized carriers, except for piloting international aircraft
Shop attendant
Auctioneering
 Supervising, auditing or giving services in accounting, except occasional international auditing
Gem cutting and polishing
Hair cutting, hair dressing and beautician work
Hand weaving
 Mat weaving or making of wares from reed, rattan, kenaf, straw or bamboo pulp
Manufacture of manual fibrous paper
Manufacture of lacquerware
Thai musical instrument production
Manufacture of nielloware
Goldsmith, silversmith and other precious metal work
Manufacture of bronzeware
Thai doll making
Manufacture of mattresses and padded blankets
Alms bowl making
Manual silk product making
Buddha image making
Manufacture of knives
Paper and cloth umbrella fabrication
Shoemaking
Hat making
Brokerage or agency work, except in international business
Dressmaking
Pottery or ceramics
Manual cigarette rolling
 Legal or litigation service
Clerical or secretarial work
Manual silk reeling and weaving
Thai character type-setting
Hawking business
 Tourist guide or tour organizing agency
Architectural work
Civil engineering work

More info here... http://www.mfa.go.th/

[Jon Terry]

Thanks guys,
 Really appreciate the feed back I always thought it would be difficult to do ,but I am always an optimist and I am sure I'll give something a go.
With the list of prohibited trades does that mean if I set a business in my wife's name we could use Thai labour and I could run the company and do the quantity surveying/adim/book keeping for it?
To me it seems like the rural areas are getting more and more developed (not just with farangs) especially around Nang Rong and where we live  Chaleamprakit and I feel there is opportunity to be had.
Cheers Jon

[dundeemk6]

No John, even when putting your company in your wive's name you are still not allowed to do what you would want to do. And do not count on the foreign community to assist you, they will mosy likely torpedo your efforts ... just to tell you how things 'work' here ... the thai spouses don't like it foreigners to help each other out ... ot might 'cut' in their pickings !!!
Anyway good luck with you endavours ... do keep in mind that low expectations create only low disappointments.

[Jon Terry]

Cheers Dundee,
 That's sound advice, my wife and I have a few other ideas that could work and far different from my skills, I think your right about help from other farangs as there are not many in the surrounding area were we live that I trust much the new generation of foreigners around don't seem to have the same mentality as the couple that were already there when I first came to live at my wife's parents home and one has now died and the another got ripped off my his wife there are few I really like but it has changed so much.
They loved the area for it's tranquillity like myself, I used to love not seeing a white person for months at a time and really getting in to the village life. But things are changing fast and I would rather be involved in business that would be fair to the locals and not big myself up like I have been witnessing on my last few visits back.
There really are a few unsavoury characters around in my area now and my thought is better the locals do business with me than them.
Cheers Jon

[Prakhonchai Nick]

Beware Jon.

Another unsavoury character is threatening to build a house in your neck of the woods soon . ......Not sure whether you have met CoCo ...Ray...Mr Coffee Corner!

[Jon Terry]

Not met him yet, spoke on this site a lot, seems cool to me though. Given me sound advice and was supposed to come and meet you guys at coffee corner last time I was there but the misses had other plans, and for once all the family had come back to village at the same time so it was quite a riot anyway. And I could not get away.
It would be good to have a decent farang around as I feel there is only a few here, but I think an Italian guy  is moving here with his wife and they are lovely gentle people, so look out for them a true love couple. They have just finished building there home in tapek. Had been living in  Italy for years and travelling with his job(something to do with oil) but they are selling up and moving to Buriram for the slow life.
Anyway you lot have been here a long time and I think we all see Thailand in a similar way and fell comfortable talking with you lot.
Cheers Jon

 

[Red Jet]

As dundeemk6 says Jon " Anyway good luck with you endeavors ... do keep in mind that low expectations create only low disappointments" .....but its not all doom and gloom.Even on this site we have people running successful businesses ( or they say they are  )like Building Company's,Food manufacture,shops ,bars,Computer Shops,Organizing tours to Cambodia,farming,Pig farms,Fish farms...the list goes on. Most do under their partners name or have work permits or  fly below the radar .If you have a good idea don't be put off by others trying to bring you down.....Good luck in whatever you decide to do Jon.

[Jon Terry]

Cheers Red,
 I hear what you and the group are saying, everything is a gamble but here in the UK my business in construction is such a big gamble with such little reward if the odds were in a book makers I would never risk such amounts of money for such little rewards, I just feel relief when the cheques come in, not joy. I'm not a gambling kinda guy but in retrospect what I do everyday here is a huge gamble and it is starting to run against the grain a bit.
My wife runs an out door Thai street-food stall which is doing well, but we feel we could risk less and maintain the same standard of living back home in Buriram and be in a much nicer environment.
Anyway the winters here are staring to get to me. I'm also sure that Asia is going to be where it's financially at when the kids grow up and there would be more opportunity for them in Asia being Bi-lingual and having easy travel around the globe with duel nationality's.
What do think?
Jon

[Vombatus]

Red Jet makes a good point about 'low expectations'.

The cost of living here (Buriram particularly) is significantly lower than the UK, you can therefore cut your income expectations. It sounds like you have already become attracted to the rural/village/simple way of life - make sure your expenditure reflects that and remember that you cannot survive living here if you are spending like a tourist.

If I had stayed with my old career job I would be earning in excess of GBP 100,000 p.a.  I am now living on a fraction of that and do not regret the decisions that caused me to find my way to Thailand. I can no longer live in the UK - because I no longer want to do the things that I did before  the winters are certainly part of it as well.

When I started Coffee Corner I did my business plan and concentrated on the MINIMUM amount I needed to take each day to break-even. That was the simple objective and once I was satisfied that break-even was achievable, I then spent some money making the business what I wanted it to be.

Low expectations is not just a negative concept - it protects you and puts you nearer to what is really likely to happen

[Jon Terry]

CoCo,
 You have hit the nail on the head, we are not looking at making our fortune in Buriram, as my wife and I are not really money oriented people but we are realistic and know that we would need an income generated in Thailand for at least the next 15 years before our UK mortgage is paid off, then the rental income could support us quite easily.
I'm am sure we could survive back home and we do have  lot of different ideas, but none would get us rich.
We just want a full life not a materialistic one.
Cheers Jon