PART III
© Andrew Truswell
9 The Building Contract
I started writing the building contract in the air on a trip to California. There were many detailed parts I wanted to clarify. There were now a number of changes since the drawings. I wanted to be as clear as possible. For example, the smaller house wasn’t big enough for a 3 metre balcony to be built using its timber, so a different design was needed. I also wanted to clarify how the sleeping area upstairs could be made bigger and for a day bed area to be built on the western side of the balcony. When I got to San Francisco, I included scans of the drawings into the actual building contract, as I had amended them by hand, and pictures I had taken. The building contract slowly became a working manual for the builder.
Will translated the contract into Thai.
At that time, the political situation in Thailand came to a head. While Prime Minister Thaksin was in New York for a UN Meeting, the army under General Sonthi Boonyaratkalin seized the opportunity, and the tanks rolled into Bangkok in a peaceful coup. The Western leaders somewhat patronisingly announced how this was a major step in the wrong (i.e. undemocratic) direction for Thailand, which of course, was true. Thaksin’s record of interfering with judicial appointments for political ends, his rough treatment of the Muslims in Southern Thailand, the way he had rushed to the polls with limited campaign time earlier in the year, the shady Shin Corp-Temasek deal and a long list of other self-serving tactics had not endeared him to the people, in Bangkok in particular. While Thaksin resigned from Thai Rak Thai (his political party) whilst in exile in London, the military established a council for democratic reform and appointed a new Prime Minster, Surayud Chulanont and a bunch of new judges, including Panya Thanamrod as Constitutional President. General Sonthi had said that the coup had received endorsement from the King, and that a new constitution with fresh elections would be held in a year.
In the meantime, in Sydney, I had another meeting with my step-father, the retired engineer. I asked him for his professional views about the foundations. This time, I was concerned about the foundations being strong enough to support the house through the wet season. I was concerned about the weight of the ceramic roof, the salt air and its corrosive power, and I was concerned about the house not blowing over in a storm.
My step-father and I discussed the foundations at length. This was not a difficult exercise for him, as he had consulted on major building projects throughout his professional life, building all sorts of things from office towers, bridges to unique private houses where engineering was a challenge. We discussed a number of things unique to the site, including the composition of the soil (a mixture of sand and clay), the very heavy rainfall during the monsoon season, the fact that the site had now been cut and filled by the earth mover.
His conclusions were simple. The piers had to be sunk as deep as possible. They needed reinforcing with steel. A frame of reinforced cross-beams needed to join the beams near the soil surface. The piers should be single poured concrete from their starting position in the earth to where they were to join the timber uprights supporting the frame of the house to protect the house in a storm. The steel reinforcing should be galvanised and have concrete clearance of ideally 75mm to reduce the risk of concrete spalling. Ideally, galvanised steel bracing should connect the piers at 45 degree angle, and this bracing was to be fitted at floor level. This engineering consultation was extremely valuable and somewhat reassuring.
Will and I rang the builder, Kaveewat to talk about the contract and confirm arrangements for meeting in Phuket to proceed. Kaveewat seemed to know what to do. I explained, through Will, that the piers needed to be sunk deeper where the land had been filled after being graded. Kaveewat understood this.
By the time I returned to Thailand about 2 months later, I had two copies of the contract bound and translated ready for Kaveewat’s signature. I had also made some pen and ink drawings clarifying the earlier computer drawings.
At that time, the global warming awakening film by Al Gore (Vice President under Bill Clinton) had produced called “An Unfortunate Truth” was having its impact. It was a very frightening warning on global warming. It predicted melting of the solar ice caps and sea levels rising 20 to 40 feet. This frightened me, and just about everyone who saw it – as it would cause my dream house to be under water.
I arrived in Phuket from Rome via the new, vast and chaotic Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok. I had been at a meeting in Boston and had taken a ‘round the world’ ticket. I was met at the airport in Phuket by Nan, Chia and ‘A’.
The first stop was to the ‘Spirit of Siam’, where ‘A’ had taken me last time, to arrange for payment of the balance owing for windows and doors and shipment to Laem Pho. When we got there, I found 2 very good old solid doors which would be very nice back doors – so I added them to the collection.
We then found another second hand shop, where the guys started buying up all sorts of stuff. ‘A’ bought a neon Pepsi sign, Chia bought a large cooler for ice cream, and Nan bought a whole lot of tables and chairs for Gecko Bar. I bought 2 rectangular basins for the house.
We met Kaveewat and went over the revised drawings and the translated contract. I gave him a deposit, and we signed in a café in Phuket Town Central Shopping Mall.
Last stop was a shop selling used building materials from the Tsunami. I bought bathroom fittings, and a big mirror which we piled on to the truck.
We headed back to Krabi stopping for a great dinner in Pang Nga. So – finally the building project was underway.
The following day I did nothing and re-charged, after all the flying, at the Krabi River Hotel, where the owner, Chai, now recognised me. Chai has a garden in the old town of Krabi. He agreed to get fruit trees for me to plant on Koh Pu for the garden. That night we met three government officials for dinner at ‘3 Mango Trees’, and they looked at the building drawings.
After dinner we went to listen to local Thai live bands. I was the only farang there.
10 Official Business
Next day, Nan had business in Koh Lanta. He agreed to stop at the government offices in Laem Kruat on the way.
I had brought a copy of Will’s passport to identify him for official papers. We provided a copy of the revised drawings to the government and they prepared the consent for the construction of the house or “Baan”. We gave a copy of the survey produced at the time of sub-division of the land. This was attached to the Por Bor Tor Ha, which was now recorded in Will’s name. The village chief for Koh Pu – or Gam Nan – was at the government office. He signed the land papers.
The Gam Nan wanted to talk to me about selling me 2 Rai of land at the coconut beach headland. I was reluctant, but said we could talk more. I then paid the BHT60 land tax on the land. After all this official business I agreed to pay Nan a further payment for the land. Later on the beach on Koh Lanta I found a beautiful ornate carved piece of timber which would fit well in the house.
That night I stayed at Nan’s house at Laem Kruat for the first time. I got to see SiRaDa again, now walking and much less shy.
The Gam Nan came and stayed too – he told me where his land was. I knew it would have a good view, and if it was a good price, waterfront and fairly steep, it could be an answer to the global warming ocean rise fear.
The next morning I drew up a hand-written contract which Nan and I signed for the next payment. Then we headed to Nakhon.
11 Return to Nakhon
Joy drove Nan A and me to Tha Sala to meet the owner of the big house, and the dismantling contractor. The balance was paid and a price agreed for dismantling the beautiful big old house.
We then went to Joy’s family for a drink and a chat. Later we did the same transactions for the small house.
After that I had a swim at the same place as last time as the locals drank the ‘Regency’ Thai whiskey.
We met Nan’s Mum for dinner in Nakhon, then checked into a local hotel and went to see an excellent southern Thai live band. The hit song “Sip See” (14) – was sung with great feeling. I loved it.
The following morning I met the guys for breakfast. Since Will now had pretty clear title, I transferred some more money to Nan for the land. I had now paid him 5/6ths of the price.
Nan showed me a very old Southern style monastery dwelling house. He said he used to play there as a kid. It had a very beautiful ceramic roof. One of the best preserved in the region.
We went back to the monastery, Wat Se Ma Muang, Nakhon – where I had bought the doors and I found two more for the bedroom. Joy’s brother would collect them for me.
We needed to collect the engine, but they had to get it ready for a test run. So we went shopping first. We got life jackets for the boat from a big shopping mall, and a cute pink dress for SiRaDa.
We had a delicious lunch at a local place built above a big fish pond. The Tom Yum Plah was very fresh and tasty.
The last task was collect the boat engine. The engine was wired up and started for us. It sounded good to me. It was loaded up on the truck.
We headed out of Nakhon in a huge rain storm lasting hours. The engine was getting a clean!
Joy dropped me at Laem Kruat pier and I took the boat to Koh Pu arriving late.
I was met at the pier by Joe, who had found long timber pillars for me. He had also prepared a drawing for a relaxation deck for the beach front. I told me we may need to think of building a boat house as well.
He needed to go to Satun (near Malaysia) in the morning, so we agreed to look at the timber early in the morning.
I slept that night in Ann and Nat’s new bungalow. It was made ready the day before and I was the first person to sleep there. It is so nice with a sleeping area in the roof looking out to sea. The bungalow occupied a spot where a previous building had been taken by the Tsunami.
12 Saat
The Gum Nan dropped me back at Lubua Hut and joined us for lunch. We enjoyed some fish and ‘sweet and sour’ vegetables, with rice.
There were 5 of us for lunch, Ann and Nat, Gum Nan, Saat and me. Saat, a local kid from Klong Tom, has no father, two sisters, and only his Mum in his immediate family. He was then about 15 years old and working for Ann and Nat.
Saat was very shy. Ann told me he had done a great job getting the new bungalow ready in 1 day when Jo had told them I was coming.
I needed the front area of the land cleared – between the house and the beach. Also I wanted Saat to clear and plant the fruit trees which Chai was getting for me. Saat and I shook hands on both. I paid him for clearing the front of the land.
I took the boat back to Laem Kruat. The boatman was Saat’s uncle.
I met ‘A’ and Chia at ‘3 Mango Trees’ in Krabi, which although closed, the owner opened specially for us.
I gave ‘A’ some money for the extra boat engine fitting costs. I showed him the bathroom drawing.
They dropped me at the airport and I headed back to Sydney via Suvarnabhumi.
