Services offered by NKD relating to building a home in Thailand

We have always had an overview of our services on our website, but today I have added further detail relating to the three core strands of our business: Architecture, Construction & Consultancy.

Designing a new home in Thailand

You can find out more detail of the typical flow of a design project with NKD, and the steps involved in designing a dream home in Thailand on a new page: Design, Engineering & Planning Process

Building a new home in Thailand

Another new page, "Construction services" goes into more depth about the various steps involved in building a home in Thailand and how our workflow is structured.  This page also details our project management roles and responsibilities in our construction projects.

Construction consultancy in Thailand

The final new page added to our site today "Consultancy services" gives further detail on the consultancy services that we offer to people who are self managing their project to build a new home in Thailand.

Apart from above, links to these new pages can be found on our "What we do" page from the main menu.

Before we begin... Part 4

This post is the final part of a series of extracts taken from a brochure that we give to clients prior to commencing construction.  If you are planning to build your own home in Thailand and it is all new to you, then I am sure that the content of this series of blog posts will benefit you as much as it will our clients.  

Expecting The Unexpected

So far, we have talked about the sort of things that are in many ways common to most projects. They are not issues that need resolving. They are just facts that we understand and are accustomed to working with.  However there is always the possibility that a problem may arise unexpectedly during construction.   In some cases these can be rectified swiftly with little or no impact on the project, whilst in other cases, they can cause delays.  The love we have for construction is born out of the varied nature of our projects and the new challenges that we face with each one.  If an issue does arise, we take it in our stride and resolve it with the minimum of fuss.  Obviously, we cannot predict the unexpected.  Though we can give a little insight into the sort of issues that we have faced in the past and what effect they had on the project.

WEATHER ISSUES

No matter how much planning and how many resources are put into a project, we cannot control the weather.  Whilst we can generally work all year round we are sometimes at the mercy of the elements and there are times when work is forced to stop.  With one particular project we needed to drive piles in a particularly muddy plot of land.  A "tracked" pile driver was not available and so we had to use one on wheels.  We needed three clear days without rain for the ground to dry out sufficiently for the pile driver to move around on the site.  We did not get that break in the weather for 2 months.   We had done all other possible preparation work that could be done whilst waiting, but it still meant a total slip of 6 weeks in the project.  Extreme cases like this are rare, but when they occur there is not much that can be done and, however frustrating, has to be accepted.

MATERIAL STOCK ISSUES

It was at about the same time as the example above that Bangkok was faced with the worst flooding in years, with much of the city cut off.  The effects of this were felt all the way up to Nong Khai, with many local suppliers being out of stock of the items that would usually come from the factories and warehouses in Bangkok.  We had a project that was using thermal insulating blocks, but we only had enough for part of the home.  The factory in Bangkok had advised that it would be two months until they were operational again.   In this case we gave our client the option of waiting or continuing with a different type of block, and they chose the latter.  We used the insulating blocks in areas that were more critical and standard blocks in others.  As the alternative block was cheaper, we reimbursed the difference to our client.

MATERIAL QUALITY ISSUES

We make every effort to select the best suppliers, selling highest quality materials, but in some instances, we have had sub-standard materials delivered to site.  Of course, every delivery is checked and poor quality materials will not be used on our projects.   In cases where sub standard materials are delivered, they will be sent back.  Materials are ordered in advance of when they are required and so occurrences such as this will usually not have an affect on the project.

Always remember that if problems do arise during construction, we have the experience, capacity and responsibility to resolve them, so you can rest assured that you are in safe hands.

In this series of posts we have covered a range of things to expect during your home build project. What we have not revealed is all of the wonderful moments during construction.... We will leave those for you to discover and experience for yourself, as the surprise is what makes them special!

I hope that you have found this series of blog posts useful, whether you are building your own home or if you are interested in using our construction services.

Before we begin... Part 2

This post is an extract from a brochure that we give to clients prior to commencing construction.  If you are planning to build your own home in Thailand and it is all new to you, then I am sure that the content of this series of blog posts will benefit you as much as it will our clients.  

Project Work Flow

There is a certain flow to projects that gives rise to a variation in the perceived pace of work.   At times there seems to be a lot of progress, but then there are also times when progress appears slow, even on a project running perfectly smoothly.   If you are unaware of this and things suddenly seem to slow down, it can be disheartening.  It is therefore worth giving an overview of the general flow of an average project.

Presumably, you have started with an empty plot of land.  You are full of excitement and anticipation.  Work begins.  Suddenly, there are excavators digging holes, there are workers preparing re-bar for the concrete structures.  Within a couple of days, the site has been totally transformed from an empty plot into a site buzzing with activity! First the footings go in, then the columns that come up from the footings to the ground floor beams, then the footing holes are filled in, then the steel work for the beams, then the concrete beams are poured, then the floor slabs go on..... Take a breath!   That was quick.  It seemed like every day was something new.  You can now walk around in the ground floor space and imagine the rooms.   If there are more floors to add on, work will still progress quickly, but adding second floor structures is slower than ground floor structures.  You obviously have to add in all of the necessary support to cast structures suspended in mid air, so there is already a change of pace.

Next may be the roof frame.  It will take some time to prepare all of the metal required for the frame and so progress may appear slow.  The excitement of seeing the structure shoot up out of the ground may have settled a bit by now and so the relatively small change in roof structure might seem like a bit of an anticlimax. However, once the roof frame and purlins are ready, the roof tiling will take no time at all and it will seem like a sudden spurt in progress.

Depending on the project, brickwork may start before, during or after the roofing, but whenever, progress will also appear quick during this stage.   It is very quick to put up block walls, but then things will appear to slow down as preparations are made for rendering.  All edges of surfaces to be rendered have to be carefully prepared to give a straight corner up to which rendering can be applied.   It is also in this stage that we have to chase all of the electrical conduits and plumbing pipework into the walls.   This is all a very labour intensive process, but it is barely visible, compared to the rest of the structure, so expect some time with not much noticeable impact. 

You have now got used to the sight of the new large structure on your land.  Even though the rendering process that comes next is relatively quick and turns bare brick into smooth walls, it still might not feel like such a big or exciting step.   It hardly matches the excitement of the initial structure appearing.

We now move on to the the tiling and painting.   This is exciting.   Now we are breathing life and character into the bare shell.   You are now seeing the tiles and paints you have chosen spreading throughout the house.  It is starting to feel like your own home.  Even so, some parts are quick and some slow.  Large expanses of floor tiles go down quickly, but intricate mosaic work in bathrooms may be slower.

It feels so close to being finished now, with tiles and freshly painted walls. Surely it will be complete any day now?   As we add in all of the fixtures and fittings, things will be really coming together and you will no doubt be eager to move in, now that all of your personal finishing touches are being applied. Well, there may well still be a lot of small jobs to complete, each one small in itself, but time consuming to complete in total. 

It is also worth noting that some exterior work such as boundary walls, may also be left until towards the end so that it does not interfere with interior work and hinder access to the house during major construction. So, whilst your home may appear close to completion, there could still be a lot to do outside, which may become more of a focus of attention, thus slowing down progress on the house itself.

We hope that by understanding the flow of the project and the natural changes of pace that occur, it will help eliminate any frustration that may have otherwise been felt during the slower periods of the build.

This is the second of a four part blog post... part three coming next week.

Project complete