Cost of building a house in Thailand

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Last udate: August 2009

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Since it is possible for a foreigner to legaly rent a piece of land for at least 30 years in Thailand, ist is also possible to build your own house on that land. Then, the question comes up about how much does it cost to build a house in Thailand?

Generally we can say that it is cheaper to build a house somewhere in the province than somewhere near a tourist place, like in Pattaya, Koh Samui or Phuket. It is also true, that it is cheaper to build a house somewhere in the North of Thailand than in the South, due to lower labour costs. Most foreigners however prfer to build their houses at tourist places anyway, but a significant number also moves to the North East, in the Isaan, because of their Thai girlfriends or Thai wives.

There are two ways to build a house in Thailand, after you have solved all necessary paperwork and planing:

You look for a "building team" and arange a "price per square metre" with the foreman, that can be with or without the material. Doing it this way, might be a little more expensive but causes certainly less trouble.
You build or manage the building of the house by yourself and also look for the workers and the matreial by yourself. Might be less expensive but causes more trouble.

Prices for building a house in Thailand also depends on the style you want to build. It is the cheapest if you build Unit Style Apartments, which is basically a big garage with some more internal walls and a bathroom.
Most expensive of course is to build a Bungalow Style Villa, with all western style equipment.

So, the cost of building a house in Thailand ranges from about 4000,- Baht per m² for a unit style building, with Thai style (simple) bathroom up to about 15,000,- Baht per m² for a luxurious villa.
If you build two or more floors, multiple this prices by the number of floors.
This prices should include all building material like cement, blocks, roof, tiles, windows, doors, electric and bathroom but of course not the furniture.