For our very first interview we were fortunate enough to be able to talk with Mr Chris Clayton, Managing Director of Kensington Homes based in Bangkok Thailand.

If you have even just a passing interest in house construction and the luxury custom homes market in SE Asia then Kensington Homes would need no introduction. Kensington Homes are by all standards Thailand’s leading custom home designers and builders.

Interview: Chris Clayton Kensington Homes

BIA: Are the houses you build predominately for Foreign owners or Thai Nationals ?

Chris: We build homes for both foreigners and Thai’s. Our main customer base is foreigners married to Thai people.

We have built homes and/or are dealing with enquiries for homes for many nationalities including Thai, English, American, Australian, French, German, Dutch, Russian, Italian, Swedish, Swiss, Norwegian and so the list goes on however I would say most enquiries for custom home builds seem to come from German, English, French, Swiss, Dutch and Thai.

BIA: With the property laws in Thailand preventing foreign ownership of land, how do most of the owners of the houses you build for structure control ? It’s one thing to put a $ 25,000 USD home into your Thai partners name accepting in the worst case scenario a walk away proposition if it all goes wrong, but with some of your other beautiful homes such as the fabulous tropical dream and other high end builds I am sure there must be a different strategy at play.

( You can see some of Kensington’s beautiful homes in their Project Gallery )

Chris: We do not get involved in this aspect of property as we are a construction company not a developer. We are not selling homes but are contracted to construct them. People come to us to help them build their dream home. Land is dealt with by real estate agents and lawyers not by us. My advice to anyone is always use the services of a good professional Thai licensed lawyer. It is essential and most prudent to do so. Just as you would in your own countries.

BIA: Can you recommend a law firm specifically ?

Chris: There are many law firms in Thailand. My tip is to always do your own due diligence in choosing a law firm to use. Much is personal relationships between people. Some people get on well with one particular lawyer and some another. But always make sure they are a Thai licenced lawyer and have an office. Also have been practicing law for a number of years too. Bangkok has many as does Chiang Mai or any of the other major cities.

BIA: I am Australian where we have the Master Builders Association. Membership in that association is strictly controlled to licensed and registered quality builders and confirmation of membership provides some peace of mind for the customer when evaluating prospective suppliers – Is there are governing body of any kind in Thailand that membership to assures quality practices?

Chris: Not that I know of. Our construction team have over 20 years experience and we have qualified engineers, architects, project managers and foremen all of whom have experience in the construction industry. Some from overseas too. To get permission to build from the land office your architects drawings have to be signed off by both a licenced Thai architect and a licenced engineer. As far as our quality control we have experienced personnel oversee the construction.

BIA: Is there such a thing as reliable builders insurance in Thailand ? What happens if something goes horribly wrong on a build or someone is injured who is responsible, does the home owner have any liability or expectations ?

Chris: As part of our customer care policy, Kensington provide a contractors all risk insurance policy for all our customers homes, during the construction period. It covers us and the customer. Very good policy and takes care of most eventualities incase of problems such as injury and damage. Many people who build homes do not think of this and do not realize how much they are at risk. Many local builders have no insurance at all. We take it out in our name and the customer’s name on every house build. It is free of charge to the customer and part of our build service.

BIA: Thailand is a fascinating mix of social economic circumstances from extremely modest to ultra high end luxury, this also follows across to the construction industry. Are there real differences between the skills of the tradesman and craftsmen working at the high end of the market compared to the more affordable housing.

Chris: It comes down to their experience and knowledge in working on high end homes and the expectations of the customer which naturally filter down to the project manager. I have seen excellent work on lower end homes and bad work on high end. Good workers on medium range and excellent on high end. Kensington has a policy of making the customer happy and we do our best to achieve the best quality possible for them. We try to use experienced personnel who understand expectations. The finish is normally where problems can occur here. It comes down to the builder and their experience and their integrity. Some just leave and don’t care. Some have low levels of understanding what quality is and others do their best but it is not good enough. You have all sorts here and I would not say you can generalize regarding skill levels.

BIA: I understand that often Architects and Designers and Project Managers working in the luxury market are western trained so this is not so much a question about design skills but execution.

As a tradesman myself I spent 4 years in an apprenticeship and at trades college before I was allowed to work on my trade unsupervised. How is it possible to build houses here to this same western standard without these skills development processes in place, where does the required skills base come from to do western standard luxury builds ?

Chris: That is a difficult question to answer as what is western standards ? I have seen some terrible builds in many countries such as UK, Australia, USA. I have also seen some excellent ones. Our main construction director has over 20 years construction experience, was an apprentice and did training. So I believe he is well capable of building a home to what western people expect. What others do I am not sure.

BIA: Is there a hidden trades training or skills development system in Thailand that tradesman working on high end builds go through ?

Chris: As far as I know, the answer to this is no. But all your engineers, architects, urban planners etc are all very well qualified.

BIA: What advise can you give for owner builders that are self managing projects about managing quality ? How should they approach getting an issue fixed if they see something that is below standard given the concept of Thai face ? In the west you could approach any builder and ask questions about the quality of the work if you felt is was not appropriate is that any different in Thailand ?

Chris: Politely and peacefully.

BIA: Do you see a strengthening of encouragement from the Government towards sustainable and green building practices ? For example whilst western governments are doing everything they can to encourage the use of renewal energies include significant tax rebates there are huge import taxes on things like solar power devices here making them almost prohibitively expensive.

Chris: Thailand is doing and discussing. I think considering their economical development I believe Thailand is quite advanced in their thinking on green issues.

They are doing their best to look at new ways and with time they will make adjustments that suit their development. Every country is different and can do these things in different time frames, with considerations to economics. I think I am right in saying Thailand is actually looking to build huge solar fields and also encourage usage. Solar panel prices dropped by approximately 50% in 2009.

The Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT), which operates the national electricity grid, now pays I believe 8 baht (25 cents) per unit of electricity supplied by solar roofs or solar farms, compared with the 3 baht for other energy sources. The Energy Ministry last year invited the private sector to invest in solar farms to meet its goal of producing 500 megawatt (MW) of solar-generated electricity by 2020. By last month, the ministry has already received applications for projects that would supply 425 MW within the next two-three years. So they are certainly doing their bit.

BIA: Do you have any other advise that you would like to give other readers about approaching a high end to luxury build project in Thailand ?

Chris: Yes use a professional, experienced builder who has a registered company, an office and can provide guarantees and insurance. Otherwise you have no come back. Make sure you have proper legal contracts provided too.

For more information on Kensington Homes you can visit their website  at ThailandBuilders.com , email at sales@ken.co.th or telephone +66 (0) 2 656 7725 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              +66 (0) 2 656 7725      end_of_the_skype_highlighting.

If you have any questions, follow or comments about this interview please visit or Building in Asia Forum.

Kensington Company Limited

ThailandBuilders.com

69/14 Sukhumvit Soi 4, Klongtoey, Bangkok 10110 Thailand

Tel: +66 (0) 2 656 7725

Are you planning to include a small solar power contributor to your building project ?  Adopting a small Solar Power solutions is one the the easiest contributions you can make towards lowering your footprint on the earth’s resources in 2010 its easy, fast and affordable !

I have made no secret of the fact that I don’t agree with much of the content on some of the expat discussion forums about building in SE Asia. It was in fact my belief that many of those forums are filled with misinformation and bias from mostly well meaning but rather ” old school ” expats that inspired me to add a discussion forum to this site documenting my own build.

When it comes to the adoption of solar power my point about these forums is every bit as valid, most of the discussions that I have seen to date revolve around the “hard cost” of implementing a solar power system, that the “pay back is not there” that it “costs too much compared with the price of electricity” and whilst I am as mindful as anyone about managing costs I feel these threads are totally missing the point.

As we match full steam ahead into 2010 ( god its almost mid year already ! ) we should all be way beyond the discussion only the  cost around the adoption of green building practices. It is our obligation to implement as many measures as possible into our building projects that will reduce our footprint on the earth and the adoption of some form of renewable energy into our houses be it Solar Power, Wind Power or Hydro Power by this time should be considered mandatory for anyone that cares about their children’s or grandchildren’s future.

Don’t get me wrong I am not asking anyone to go totally “off the grid” that is just not practical, all I am asking you to carefully consider if you can remove just a small percentage of your demand on the earths resources by including a small supplemental solar power ( or wind power ) system into your build, even if the only “pay back” you get is by doing the right thing by our planet.

Thailand’s energy consumption is estimated at 1,352 kilowatt-hours of electricity per capita, currently, renewable energy, which includes biomass, small-scale hydroelectric plants and solar power, contributes only about 1 percent of Thailand’s energy production if we could improve that by just a few percent at the grass roots level that would be an amazing achievement.

Check out some of Thailand Solar Power Generation Plants here.

Basically there are three ways you can do this, if you are the hands on type you can go the ” home brew ” setup, which is exactly what I will be doing home made all the way down to making my own solar panels and wind turbine.

The next step up are “solar power kits ” and very easy and reliable today or if that to much effort you can bring in a professional PV consultant to assist you with a managed solution.

If you are a Solar Power Product Supplier or Consultant and would like to added to this list please send an email to admin@buildinginasia.com.

Here are a few links for your consideration.

1, How to Make your Own Solar Power.

Solar Power Companies in Thailand

3K Batteries Deep Cycle Batteries

387 Moo4, Soi Patana 3, Bangpoo Industrial Estate, Praekasa, Muang District,

Samutprakran Thailand 10280

Telephone +66(0)2 709-3535(16lines)

Website: 3kbattery.com

Bangkok Solar Co., Ltd.

39/1 Moo 1 Bangpakong-Chachoengsao Road, Tambol Sanpudas, Amper Banpho, Chachoengsao Thailand 24140

Telephone: +66 38 577 373

Website: Bangkoksolar.com

Bangkok Solar Co., Ltd. is Thailands first amorphous Silicon (a-Si) photovoltaic modules manufacturing plant, established in May 2003 as a Bangkok Solar Co., Ltd.

Business type: manufacturer of a-Si thin film solar modules

Product types: photovoltaic modules.

Service types: Selling PV Modules, Turnkey Projects

Renewable Energy Experts

11/1 Pradiphat Soi 15 #414, Ket Phayathai, Bangkok  Thailand 10400

Telephone: 08 2331-7878, 08 0556-6327

Website: Renewable Energy Experts

Product types: solar electric power systems, photovoltaic systems, packaged power systems, energy efficient lighting, home automation, portable power systems.

Service types: design, installation, construction, engineering, project development services, contractor services

ECOigo Co.

496-502 Amarin Tower 10th Floor Ploenchit Rd, Lumpini, Pathumwan, Bangkok Thailand 10330

Telephone: +66818030760

Web Site: Ecoigo.com.au

Business type: manufacturer, retail sales, wholesale supplier, exporter, distributor

Product types: photovoltaic modules thin film amorphous silicon, solar water heating systems, wind energy systems (large), electric cars, alternative homes and buildings, batteries renewable energy system.

Service types: consulting, design, installation, engineering, project development services, research services, architectural design services

Alpha Synergies Co., Ltd.

Sukhumvit Soi 36, Bangkok, Thailand 10110

Telephone: 026612874

Web Site: synergies10.com

Synergy Development is a company that develops, finances and operates photovoltaic projects 1 to 10 megawatts. Our goal is to design, build, and own the most effective solar electricity generation projects possible in two areas of solar technology ? Photovoltaic (PV). Synergies combines the experience of organizations: a leader in financing and developing large-scale solar projects and Alkia a system integrator in Thailand.

Product types: photovoltaic systems commercial, photovoltaic systems.

Service types: project development services, site survey and assessment services

Tecol Co., Ltd

56/3 Moo 3 Sanklang, Sankampaeng, Chiang Mai Thailand 50130

Telephone: +66-53-338040 to 6

Website: Tecol

Business type: retail sales, wholesale supplier, exporter, importer

Product types: heat pumps, solar water heating systems, waste to energy systems, solar water heating components storage tanks, water storage tanks.

Service types: consulting, design, installation, engineering

There are two main type of vibration elements used in the placement of concrete – external and internal. This post discusses the correct use of  “internal” or “insertion ” vibrators – so called because of because the vibrating head is “inserted” into the concrete.

Handheld concrete vibrators are used to consolidate concrete by forcing  the coarse aggregate in the mix down and away from the insertion point of vibrator.

Image of  a commercial grade gasoline powered internal vibrator.

When an operator is using an internal vibrator they should insert the head it at intervals of approx 18-inches apart for 5 to 10 seconds a few seconds longer into nonair-entrained concrete. However the exact period of time that you are required to “vibrate” for is dependant on the slump of the mix.

Try to overlap the previously vibrated area with each new insertion. Always lower the vibrator under gravity into the concrete vertically taking care that the vibrator not only pass through the concrete layer that has just been placed, but also penetrates down through several inches to create a good bond between the previous layers of placed concrete.

With normal use vibration will not damage the lower layers provided that the concrete that in these lower layers is plastic under vibration.

You will know that the concrete is properly vibrated when a line of mortar shows on the formwork near the vibrator head, all of the coarse aggregate disappears into the concrete, or a paste appears near the vibrator head.

When this happens you should withdraw the vibrator at a similar rate to the speed gravity descended.

Some degree of hand spading should accompany all use of vibration with concrete placement.

Do not vibrate mixes that you can consolidate easily by hand, this will result in segregation and do not use vibrators to move concrete around the formwork.

Driving home from the construction site today I saw a group of Thai builders using Bamboo as reinforcement in a concrete floor and also a driveway and stopped and took these photographs.

Whilst I am always interested in alternative and traditional building techniques and practices and the use of bamboo as a reinforcing material in concrete construction is rather well documented – I was rather surprised by just where this technique was being used, the brand new shop fronts where very  “modern” and although perhaps I have grown too cynical in recent months about the standard of building and builders in SE Asia I could not help but feel the only reason that this was being done was to cut a few dollars from the build with the hope that it will hold together long enough that they are long gone before any number of potential problems arise, one of the reasons that I just could not buy a “finished house” here in SE Asia.

I was also unimpressed by the lack of “aggregate” in the mix, just glad its not my house !

For those interested in 1966 US Naval Engineers Francis Brink and Paul Rush wrote a report about the potential application of Bamboo Reinforced Concrete.

The report was originally intended to assist field personnel in the design and construction of bamboo reinforced concrete and includes comments on the selection and preparation of bamboo culms for reinforcement, construction principles of bamboo reinforced concrete, and design procedures it even and includes several structural charts and conversion criteria for translating from steel reinforced concrete design.

The Brink Rush Report on Bamboo Reinforced Concrete Construction is here.

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Dealing with Power Fluctuations

This post is going to briefly touch on the challenges of dealing with power fluctuations in SE Asia.

I would start by saying that with so many power generation and management solutions on the market today there is an available solution to most power problems, now it may not always be the perfect solution ie the one where it all “just works” like it should but chances are you will be able to find a solution.

In my opinion the starting point for a power management solution is to begin by deciding what the real problem is … so we agree that the power is not ideal but how is it impacting on you ? Perhaps your “real” frustration is that your PC keeps rebooting when the power drops in and out. One solution might be as simple as purchasing an uninterrupted power supply or a UPS.  You can purchase a UPS for under 1000 baht in Thailand.

If the problem is basically the same as described above but you want to provide protection for more than just youp r PC you might consider buying a series of deep cycle rechargeable batteries and an AC inverter and setting up a separate circuit- this is basically building a large scale UPS where the batteries act as a buffer between the power supply and the demand.

If you running a larger amount of “critical” demand equipment you might consider running a diesel genset with an automatic cutover from the consumer mains if there is a sustained delay however in my personal experience  Thailand doesn’t really suffer from those extremes of power loss.

This article explores how to build a Water Sand Filter.

One the most common simple water filtration devices for rural areas is a simple sand filter.

Slow sand filters are very easy to construct and can be built from commonly  available materials. They use a medium coarse sand which is similar to the one that builders use for fine concrete aggregate as the filtration medium.

Increasingly sand filters are being sold as filtration package kits for “ready to go off the shelf filtration solutions”.

The slow sand filtration process improves not only the physical characteristics of the quality of water but also a significant in the reduction of the number of micro-organisms (bacteria, viruses, cysts etc) and in the removal of colloidal matter.

These bacteriological impacts occur due to the growth of a thin layer of algae, and bacteria on the surface of the sand bed. This layer is called the schmutzdecke. It is here that these micro-organisms go to work to break down the organic matter.

Cleaning Slow Sand Filters

Whilst their close cousins the ” rapid sand filters ” require cleaning by a  complicated backwash procedure, slow sand filters can be easily cleaned by the relatively simple regular removal of the top of the filter bed, including the schmutzdecke.

Slow Sand Filter Design

The dimensions of a slow sand filter should be decided after its mode of operation and output have been established to achieve a filtration rate of about 0.1 m/h.

Preassembled packaged sand filtration kits are increasing in their availablity on the  market. These kits allow for a rapid and easy installation of slow sand filtration solutions even in the most remote locations.

The most typical filtration kit is made up from two untreated water storage tanks and two slow sand filtration tanks and approriate pump sets, if required.

Both filter units would be designed to operate in parrallel to facilitate cleaning where one unit would be left in operation while the other one is cleaned.

One of the biggest improvements in slow sand filtration in recent years is the introduction of a synthetic filter fabric which fitted above the top layer of the filter bed. This fabric layer makes it possible to clean the filter without the  need to scrape off the upper layer of sand.

The two best articles I have read about how to build a sand filter are located  here and here.

Thailand has two commodity Portland cement products hand mixing as well as several other specialist products.

Red Branded Portland Cement ASTM 1

Commonly branded as Cement Red there are several major brands of this “type” including TPI, Rajasri and Elephant Brand – all of these brands are considered equivalents products as they are all are manufactured to ASTM C150 Type 1 making them more than suitable for any high compressive strength construction requirement.

All of the “Green” Branded Portland Cement products from TPI, Rajasri and Tiger are actually portland cement blended with an inert product usually limestone that improves plasticity is cheaper but also reduces the cured  strength of the finished concrete.

In practice the cost difference between Green and Red cement products is a tiny, only a few baht and on a normal house this extra cost is very small  however it should be pointed out that the difference in the finished strength of the concrete is worth noting.

The compressive strength tests after one full week or curing are as follows:

Green – Tiger Brand @ 173 kgf/cm2

Red – Elephant brand @ 290 kgf/cm2

That is more than 40 % stronger for Red “brand” at only extra bath a bag, certainly worth considering.

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A few new photos to document the progress of our Interlocking Block Wall

With the birth of my son Jack things have slowed down almost to a stop over the past six weeks, enjoying our time with him in this first few weeks at home as definitely been the priority around here recently.

However with Thailand’s wet season fast approaching I am determined to get the house walls up at least to the point that we can suspend several tarps over the slab area a create a “dry” area that we can use to to fabricated the steel roof trusses. So with all that in mind we have enough interlocking bricks for 8 course of blocks around all the walls both internal and the exterior walls up to about mid waist height – the height of the second “ring beam”

Interlocking Block Walls 8 courses high awaiting concrete mortar fill.

Once the original ring beam is down the additional courses of interlocking blocks go together quite quickly ( and with minimal skills ) once the ring beam is set, they literally just stack onto each other like lego blocks and once you reach the desired height you fill the cavity with a concrete mortar mix.

We make the concrete mortar mix by hand Thai style and used a plastic funnel and a bucket and a lot of poking and prodding to “channel” the mortar in the block wall cavities.

This is one of the areas that if you decide to use this blocks that I would suggest that you “supervise” closely. It is possible to put a lot of concrete mortar or a little concrete mortar down those holes and once the mortar sets  is done its virtually impossible to tell how much when down there. We spent considerable effort ensuring the cavities where completely filled and it used a surprisingly large quality of mortar to do so.

As usual working with Wang provides me with real insight into how the job would normally get done if I wasn’t building the house myself.

It took us several bags of cement and a few days to complete the first level doing it “my way”

This is one of those areas that is so “variable” like the analogy I always go back to of a custom made suit – the real cost here on the walls is the interlocking blocks, a high quality cement mortar mix is comparably inexpensive and doing the job right is only a matter of an extra day or so of labour but I can see the opportunity for big time corner cutting here if giving the opportunity.

I will providing a more detailed “data sheet” on how to assemble the interlocking blocks when the walls are complete, if your interested you might like to book mark this page and come back when its finished.

Bamboo House Construction

The people of Asia and South America have been Building with Bamboo for centuries. Still considered a marginal “alternative” building material in all Western countries is it is widely believed that as traditional wood sources become a more and more expensive resource that we will see a renewed surge of interest in the use of Bamboo as a main stream construction material.

As with all construction materials there are pros and cons to its use.

Some of the advantages of building with bamboo include:

• Bamboo has a very high strength to weight ratio – Bamboo is remarkably strong for such a light weight material.

• Bamboo produces very little waste material for example it does not have any bark removal issues and can be easily handled

• Bamboo fits nicely in the self sufficiency niche ie just a handful of home grown bamboo plants can provide enough bamboo for small DIY projects – some advocates have even grown their own house !

Some of the disadvantages of building with bamboo include:

• Bamboo generally grows in uneven proportions and dimensions. It is usually necessary to have a rather large oversupply in order to remove culms that not suited to House Construction.

• Bamboo culms have an uneven surface. The variations in the diameter of the shaft of a section of a Bamboo culm, ie the prominence of the nodes, and in the rate of tapering at the end make certain building applications difficult with Bamboo. Inversely long culms can often be divided up into sections using the tips for one purpose and the thicker shafts for another.

• Bamboo tends to be rather brittle and does not lend itself to being nailed, therefore most bonds and joins in Bamboo need to be made with wire, hemp lashings, dowel or bolts.

• Bamboo construction using traditional methods has very low durability. Bamboo culms are susceptible to cracking if exposed to UV light, attack from insects including termites and to rot. With the adoption of some western building practices and treatments both insect decay and rot can be chemically retarded but even in the best scenario bamboo doesn’t usually last much more than 5 years in load bearing applications.

Many of the traditional methods of working with Bamboo are skills that are still  very much alive and well in countries like Thailand, where I live and slowly but surely we are seeing a blending of traditional know how with Western building practices by some of the more innovative designers to produce strong, sustainable and long lasting Bamboo structures.

Just about the only components of a building that cannot be made from bamboo are the fireplaces and / or chimneys however in practice bamboo is rarely used as the only construction material for a whole building.

In traditional construction bamboo is is usually used in combination  with other materials such as wood, palm leaves, thatch etc.

This is a Bamboo House currently under construction in the Nakhon Nayok district of Thailand.

Full story of the Bamboo House build is here

There are many different bamboo species they vary in culm thickness, strength, flexibility, and insect resistance. Each species is generally useful in only a few parts of a building for example, a species that makes good supporting columns is not usually the same species used to make screen matting for a window.

Bamboo is basically an above-ground material. Unless it is treated with a preservative, it will last only 2-3 years underground.

However, bamboo will serve as a supporting post: for a house on stilts, for example. Use the largest diameter culms possible with closely spaced nodes for stiffness. If only smaller shafts are available, they can be bound together to make “columns”.

In earthquake areas, bamboo’s flexibility makes it a good choice for construction of a frame for floors, walls, and roofs. Such a frame may then be finished by weaving bamboo to form the solid parts of the building, or by using other materials such as clay, mud, or thatch.

Property Perfect announced this week that it will be partnering the Siam Cement Group to create several new modular homes project sites in 2010 / 2011 worth an estimated 2 billion baht.

Chainid N. Sirimanee, CEO of Property Perfect said that the proposed partnership will provide a turnkey service for the design, assembly and installation of the homes on the land.

Property Perfect will develop the tracks of land and oversee the design whilst the modular homes will be built by SCG at its Saraburi factory.

The companies have launched 26 plots of land at a site at Rama IX worth a combined 250 million baht that will feature two styles of modular home.

The orginial two designs will be 275 and 319 sqm houses on  150-square-wah plots priced at under 20 million baht.

President for distribution at SCG, Kajohndet Sangsuban,said the new modular homes will cost approximately 20-30% more than traditional style of a similar size and finish homes but cut energy usage by 25-50%.

Production capacity for the SCG modular homes is approximately 220 units a year with a building and assembly time of only four months compared to the eight months it takes for a home constructed using the traditional methods. Once the components are delivered to site assembly takes a mere two days.

Property Perfect is the first property developer in Thailand to use SCG modular homes however last week Siam Cement Group also signed a contract to build units for Tararom Enterprise.