Building costs in Thailand

[JasonB]

Hi All,now this is another,probably,provoking,and thoughtful question.In my early business life,I "spec built houses" on land I brought and sold them at a profit(most of the time)...in total about 50+ homes,so I know the building game fairly well in Oz.I spoke to my sister in Oz today about costs to sub contract and build NOW,in Oz,as she still builds and has for about 20 years...the last one she spec built was only about 6 months ago,and it cost her,in the old terms,$7500 a "square",which is about 10feet by 10feet or 9.4? square metres in area...that equates to about,lets say $700 or 21,000BAHT a square metre...IN AUSTRALIA,good quality,but not top notch....so my question....with labour here,on average a 6th or even 10th of Oz,and for example,premixed cement,say 15KPA being 1500 Baht a cubic metre,can these builder prices be justified  that I have read???Or are we being conned,labour in Oz is always half the buibing cost,rule of thumb...let me know your thoughts,JasonB.

[toffo]

The reason its so cheap here is the minimum wage is nothing compared to OZ... Thats why its so chea here.. I think 10,000 baht here for a decent house...

[toffo]

I think labour costs here are 1/3rd of the build..

[JasonB]

You know Toffo,that a plumber or electrican in Oz now is about $75 per hour,or 2500Baht per HOUR,not per day or per week....so why are builders here charging 75% of the cost of building in Oz? AND  don't forget the Oz price includes a "proper"kitchen and bathrooms etc.

[Murtle_71]

Mate they have no idea about a fair price to build and will quote what they think they can get away with...

as for materials the same goes the moment they find out that a falang is involved getting a bargain is just not going to happen.

Try and find a real builder that just builds is like finding a needle in a haystack. most thais work in what ever they can find work and a lot will go do rice when its time....

i'm still looking for well priced land.......