happy new year from ko phangan, south thailand

[stevehaigh]

hi all,

i build houses in the resort island of ko phangan, thailand. most of the houses i build, also have pools so i've become a self taught pool builder and maintainer (not very good at the latter!).

here is one i finished a couple of weeks ago. very nice pool. i'll upload more pics of my pools when i have time.

steve

 

[stevehaigh]

here is a pool i built last year. we pump seawater directly into the pool, no filter or anything. after a couple of days, we dump the water back in the sea and refill. no problems so far and zero maintenance.

steve

 

[JohnT]

Really interesting Steve. Welcome to the forum. How in the heck did you wind up building houses in Thailand?

 

[compass123]

That is a beautiful looking house, just love the windows and the wrap around balcony Steve what's the approx price in US to build, BTW welcome to the forum.

 

[The Mermaid Queen]

lovely home and pools!

Welcome to TFP!

 

[stevehaigh]

i moved here about 4 years ago because i love thailand, met my new wife (thai) after getting burned out with my old job computer programming in silicon valley CA and my old wife!

i built my own house here (designed and supervised), and pool, and i wrote a book about it called "how to buy land a build a house in thailand" using my pen name, philip bryce. that book is the 4th best selling english language book in thailand.

people started asking me to build houses for them which i now do for a decent profit and many many headaches!

the house in the first picture cost about 7.3 million baht (about $200,000US) to build inc. pool. it's in a fairly remote part of the island, very difficult and expensive to get materials on site. i usually build 3-4 bedroom, 200+m2 houses for about 5 million baht, (about $150kUS) including pool. ko phangan is far more expensive to build than most of thailand because everything has to get here by boat.

steve

 

[divnkd101]

Welcome to TFP. I have spent many of summer months in Pattaya. My parents were Ex-Pats working a Joint Venture for several years. I took every opportunity I could to visit and learn the Thai culture. Wonderful friendly people and a beautiful Country. Pics look great. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Butterfly]

Steve, Welcome to TFP and thanks for the pics and info! Impressive and fascinating. Hope you send more pics!