How much house (sq./m) do you really need in Thailand?
We see rural Thai’s getting by with almost nothing and we see expats building giant houses in rural Isaan taking up the whole plot, but how much do you really need?
Do you really need a huge amount of interior space?
One could reason the more people in the family the more room you would need for additional bedrooms.
Having a wife and 3 or 4 children would require more space than just you and your wife.
What about an upstairs?
We see many houses that are 2-story and I can never understand why someone in Thailand would choose to build a 2-story house.
The upstairs will get ridiculously hot, meaning higher utility bills.
Also, when you age, you might find getting upstairs is near impossible.
The reason for the 2 story may be due to limited plot space, but definitely not for me.
I would rather advocate for a large single story ranch home.
How much time do you actually spend indoors, besides at night to sleep?
A 1 story ranch with an outdoor kitchen and entertainment area may be the way to go if you are finding yourself spending the majority of time outside.
Another issue no one ever thinks about when they have a house built, is the amount of cost driven when following housing plans that are NOT open floor plans.
Honestly you don’t need 80% of the walls we see built in a house if you use an open floor plan. This can keep the cost way down and provide more space.
Each family has their own requirements for space.
Some foreigners who have never owned or built a house might want to show off in their giant house in rural Isaan?
If you stop and take the time to figure out exactly how much time you spend in the house, you may realize you do not need that much space.
Then you can use the leftover money for a pool, waterfall, outdoor kitchen area, guest house, multi-garage or many other things.
Remember you can build ANY kind of house you want.
You don’t have to stick with an off the shelf house plan.
Understand YOUR requirements and have it built to meet your needs.