Back to the drawing board...

Well, I had everything ready for our new project. All of the calcs had been done and we were all ready to break ground on the site. However, I was approached by someone who was very interested in our plot of land and who would like us to build a house for them... Great! Except that the house that I had already designed and was going to build does not fit with their budget and specification. Nevertheless, although it will mean a delay in the building work starting, it is obviously better to have a buyer lined up from the start of the project and a contract in place. So, it is back to the drawing board... I now have to prepare some concept drawings to give an idea of the sort of property we will be able to build for them to meet their budget and required spec. Once we talk through all of the options and all parties are happy, we will draw up a contract and begin the detailed design work. It is a little bit harder for me to estimate how long it will take to finalise he design when a third party involved... Obviously you have to be sure that the design is exactly as the client wants it, so it normally takes a little longer to tweak the final design. I will post some 3D renderings as soon as I have a (new) final design.

The time that I have put into the initial design, that we were going to build, will not be wasted as we will build it on another plot of land at a later date.

3D Rendered drawings

I have now passed on the plans for our next project to our structural engineer in order for him to perform all of the necessary calculations and produce all of the material we will need to pass on to the planning department.  Below are a few 3D renderings showing how the exterior of the finished home will look.








Finalised design

Having been busy with client projects over the past week or so, I had somewhat neglected our next project in Thip Thani.  However, after a couple of days of focus I have now finalised the design for our second project in Thip Thani, which we will be offering for sale once completed.  If you like the idea of moving into a brand new home, finished to western standards, feel free to <a href="http://contact.nongkhaidesign.com/">contact us</a> to discus this or our future construction projects.  If you prefer, we can also help you find land and then design a build home to you exact specification and budget.

Any way, with that bit of shameless marketing out of the way, back to the project....

The house will again be two storey in order to maximise the available garden area.  The area of the plot is 400 sq.m. and the house will have a footprint of 90 sq.m. (not including a detached covered parking area).  The total internal floor area will be about 170 sq.m.

On the ground floor will be a family room, lounge, dining room, kitchen, laundry room and bathroom.  Then on the second floor will be the 3 en-suite bedrooms.    Below are my initial plan drawings of the house.  I shall also be producing a 3d rendered view of the property which I shall post to the blog in the next few days.

Once I have completed all of the detailed architectural drawings, I shall pass these on to our structural engineer to perform all of the calculations necessary to ensure the structural integrity of the building.  He will then produce the structural drawings the structural calculation report which will be submitted to the local planning department.

You may think this would be a long process if you have any experience of building projects in other countries.  However, in Thailand, obtaining planning permission is a very simple procedure. For our last project, it only took 30 MINUTES to obtain planning permission.

I anticipate all of the structural engineering and planning to be completed by the end of next week (7th May).  We will then be able to begin to prepare for construction by digging the holes for the footings.  This should tie in nicely with work being completed on our first Thip Thani project and our workers will be able to move seamlessly from one project to the next.

Ground Floor Layout Plan Ground Floor Layout Plan

Second Floor Layout Plan Second Floor Layout Plan

The next project...

Yesterday, after a lot of searching and negotiation, we finally managed to secure the plot of land for our next building project. This plot is also in Thip Thani, about 100m from our other building project.  However, this plot of land is slightly larger and bordered on two sides by the stream that flows around Thip Thani.

I now have to get to work designing a home to fit with this land, which I shall be starting shortly.  I intend to have the design completed by the end of April so that the footings can be dug ready for the workers to get straight to work once they have finished the current build in mid May.

Thip Thani - Plot 2 Thip Thani - Plot 2

As you can see, the plot is a bit of a Jungle at the moment, but tomorrow the land will be cleared and levelled.  That should give a much better idea of what we have to work with and make it easier to visualise a property on the land.  As I mentioned, the land is bordered on two sides by a stream, however during the rainy season this can become more like a raging torrent!  In order to secure the land from erosion we will shore up the land over the next few days if it is required.  This is a job that certainly can not wait as the rainy season should be starting any day now - it will definitely be easier to shore up the land while the stream is just a trickle.