Handyman needed

[dthomasss 1]

Deleted post

Edited February 24, 2010 by dthomasss

[torrenova 644]

I am looking for someone who can do some basic things: install bathroom cabinet, washing machine etc.

Any recommendations?

 

I'll be honest and say that you are better off doing it yourself unless it is the plumbing for a waste water outlet. If you have to get someone in, work out what you need, work out exactly with your Thai speaker what is to happen and you stay there to supervise as they will mess it up given a chance. For instance, I'd get a Thai in to drill a hole through the wall to put in an exit waste pipe but then I'd finish it off as they haven't a clue and any shoddy crap will do. The internal plumbing of a washing machine is child's play but perhaps get some PTFE tape to secure the joints http://www.screwfix.com/prods/30961/Plumbi...0Pack%20of%2010

 

Bathroom cabinets ? a level, screw driver / drill combo, some wall plugs and decent screws. Tape and pencil. If drilling through into tiles, put masking tape over the tile first to avoid cracking.

[dthomasss 1]

I'll be honest and say that you are better off doing it yourself unless it is the plumbing for a waste water outlet. If you have to get someone in, work out what you need, work out exactly with your Thai speaker what is to happen and you stay there to supervise as they will mess it up given a chance. For instance, I'd get a Thai in to drill a hole through the wall to put in an exit waste pipe but then I'd finish it off as they haven't a clue and any shoddy crap will do. The internal plumbing of a washing machine is child's play but perhaps get some PTFE tape to secure the joints http://www.screwfix.com/prods/30961/Plumbi...0Pack%20of%2010

 

Bathroom cabinets ? a level, screw driver / drill combo, some wall plugs and decent screws. Tape and pencil. If drilling through into tiles, put masking tape over the tile first to avoid cracking.

 

Deleted post

Edited February 24, 2010 by dthomasss

[Dr Mick 111]

If I could do those things I wouldn't have asked for a handyman...

 

I know i can Garden but in Khon Kaen i have gardner once a month costs me 400 bhts

Why get hot

[torrenova 644]

If I could do those things I wouldn't have asked for a handyman...

 

Do you think I am a handyman ? Of course not. It just isn't rocket science and trust me, unless you get really lucky, you are going to end up with the Thai equivalent of Laurel and Hardy doing it for you and you will later say, "I could have done better" and you would be right. Thai workmanship is terrible in the main and they will never turn down work that they have no idea how to complete. They will just fuck it up and smile at you and still want paying.

 

Seriously, you will save yourself a heart attack and upping your blood pressure if you learn to do some small things yourself. I appreciate that some things seem difficult but you can find this website so you can find out how to put up cupboards from google.

 

I know it sounds great. Low wages, a handyman to take care of all those small jobs for a pittance. Great if you can find one. Many expats I know have another expat or a couple of them who can do stuff like this because Somchai and his merry men are bloody useless.

 

Best of luck finding a decent one.

[nam-thip 1]

I agree wholeheartedly with with what torrenova has to say in that many Thai’s are ham fisted fck up merchants.

Taxi driver today, airline pilot tomorrow, and DIY expert every day of the week.

 

I’ve yet to meet a Thai who will openly admit that he doesn’t have the necessary skill or ability to do any job asked.

Don’t wait for the fck up to happen acquire a few skills yourself as it’s cheaper in the long term and more rewarding.

 

The last DIY (taxi driver guy) my misses used was when I was overseas who came with no tools and asked if he could borrow my drill, some spanners and a hammer.

To this day two of my spanners are still missing.

 

And never forget.............You pay for any mistakes they make.

[dthomasss 1]

Do you think I am a handyman ? Of course not. It just isn't rocket science and trust me, unless you get really lucky, you are going to end up with the Thai equivalent of Laurel and Hardy doing it for you and you will later say, "I could have done better" and you would be right. Thai workmanship is terrible in the main and they will never turn down work that they have no idea how to complete. They will just fuck it up and smile at you and still want paying.

 

Seriously, you will save yourself a heart attack and upping your blood pressure if you learn to do some small things yourself. I appreciate that some things seem difficult but you can find this website so you can find out how to put up cupboards from google.

 

I know it sounds great. Low wages, a handyman to take care of all those small jobs for a pittance. Great if you can find one. Many expats I know have another expat or a couple of them who can do stuff like this because Somchai and his merry men are bloody useless.

 

Best of luck finding a decent one.

 

Deleted post

Edited February 24, 2010 by dthomasss

[ozboy 31]

Wow all I did was ask for a recommendation and instead I get a lecture in the poor workmanship of Thais etc etc. Interesting, but in my seven years here I have found a few great Thai workers willing to help on very short notice...

 

 

So did you approach any of them before posting on here?

[torrenova 644]

So did you approach any of them before posting on here?

 

Seems he has thrown the dummy out of the pram and taken his toys home !

 

Seriously, if he has been in Thailand for 7 years and has found loads of tradesmen, then as you say, what on earth is he doing here asking for help to find one ?

 

In all my years in Thailand, 99% of those I've found are crap. He must live in a special village somewhere ?

[jacko 8,822]

Seems he has thrown the dummy out of the pram and taken his toys home !

 

Seriously, if he has been in Thailand for 7 years and has found loads of tradesmen, then as you say, what on earth is he doing here asking for help to find one ?

 

In all my years in Thailand, 99% of those I've found are crap. He must live in a special village somewhere ?

I must agree, they are hardly artisans.

If you need holes digging, trenches, drain pipes laying they can do. But any concreting will be shoddy and look like hell. They will leave wet concrete in your guttering or pour it into your drains rather than clean up properly. They are often not Thais but casual Cambodian labour picked up on street corners.

Oh, and some are quite good at standing around telling you at the top of their voice how much they know while throwing cigarettes ends all over your garden, leaving rubbish everywhere and treating your home like their personal doss house. (They bring their wives and kids who run around unwatched.)

 

I have found a good electrician, a rough but cheap general contractor who I have to stand over and nag, but plumbing, which is mostly gluing together prefabricated plastic parts I take on myself. It's a piece of piss.

Oh and gardeners steal all your hose fittings too!

Edited March 1, 2010 by jacko

[torrenova 644]

I must agree, they are hardly artisans.

If you need holes digging, trenches, drain pipes laying they can do. But any concreting will be shoddy and look like hell. They will leave wet concrete in your guttering or pour it into your drains rather than clean up properly. They are often not Thais but casual Cambodian labour picked up on street corners.

Oh, and some are quite good at standing around telling you at the top of their voice how much they know while throwing cigarettes ends all over your garden, leaving rubbish everywhere and treating your home like their personal doss house. (They bring their wives and kids who run around unwatched.)

 

I have found a good electrician, a rough but cheap general contractor who I have to stand over and nag, but plumbing, which is mostly gluing together prefabricated plastic parts I take on myself. It's a piece of piss.

Oh and gardeners steal all your hose fittings too!

 

I found a decent sparky in Buriram but had to keep on at the spec and argue about the mathematics of which breakers I needed. Zero knowledge of physics and Watts/Volts=Amps etc. I got some help from a UK sparky on another board and just insisted on this and that. Once he picked it up, he went with it, but probably still tells his mates that some stupid git did this and that. At least I know that the place will not blow up because the wiring is dodgy.

 

I plumbed in our outside kitchens in both Buriram and Pattaya as I'd seen what utter shite the local plumbers could do. I let one of them cut through the wall with a circular saw thingy. Then I took over. In our second house up country I just got everything laid out and went at it myself.

 

Even back in the UK I would ask contractors whether they did jobs for the council. If they did, I would not hire them as they would be too used to cutting corners and shoddy workmanship.

[joekicker 53]

Seems he has thrown the dummy out of the pram and taken his toys home !

 

Crazy man!

 

In all my years in Thailand, 99% of those I've found are crap. He must live in a special village somewhere ?

 

The longer you stay, the closer to 100 you'll get. I've found some very fine tradesmen over the years, but gee zeus what a trial to find them and how nerve-wracking to actually confirm they're good. Some of the rejects made my leaking roof turn from drip to deluge, and there are places in the kitchen and bathroom I'm STILL cleaning up the slopped concrete. The rejected electricians I simply don't want to talk about.

 

I don't believe I've ever even heard of a "handyman" in the sense they mean that in the West, a guy who can do all basic maintenance and rudimentary building. Everyone here's a specialist -- a tile-destroying roofer, and non-ground expert electrician, a "whoops, sorry, maybe we can get a darker colour" painter.....

 

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