🏗️ Building Our Dream Home in Koh Samui: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
We didn’t come to Samui just to dip our toes in the warm water — we jumped right in.
After falling for the island, we made the bold call to sell up in New Zealand, pack our lives into a few suitcases, and move here to build a home from scratch. Not just buy a house - building one - in Thailand - with contractors we’d never worked with - in a language we didn’t speak… What could possibly go wrong?
Turns out — plenty. But also, plenty went right.
💡 What We Did:
We bought early in a development, redesigned the layout to better suit our lifestyle, and oversaw the build ourselves. This enabled us to put our own stamp on the property, have it built as we wished to live in it, and learn the ins and outs of building on the island.
😬 What We Weren’t Prepared For:
The kitchen from the developer was, frankly, crap - they literally cut it, built it and even spray painted it inside our newly tiled and painted living room - not impressed. The quality was crap and ultimately we had to rip it out and have a new one designed and installed - which we are very happy with.
Communication was challenging and changing costs for variations we requested meant we had to stay on top of everything, every step of the way.
Building takes time. Sometimes the speed of build amazes you and other times it just seems to completely stall. Patience is not optional.
😎 What Was Worth It - Totally:
We ended up with a beautiful home, designed and customised to our tastes.
We gained a deep understanding of how the building process really works here - which is now allowing us to help others we meet who want to do the same.
Despite the headaches, it’s already proving to be a sound financial decision with an almost identical property next door selling for 50% more than what it cost, and an estimated rental income of 15% ROI.
🔍 Thinking About Building in Samui?
Building is not for everyone, but if you are thinking about it, I’d be happy to share the details of what we learned, what we’d do differently, and what to avoid or watch out for.
Feel free to message me anytime. No charge, no pressure. Just some honest advice from someone who’s done it (and survived to tell the tale).
