In the past, home building had mainly based on wood due to the abundance of forest resources in Thailand. The cost of wood used for construction was lower compared to other building materials such as bricks and concretes, which then were used mainly for significant official places. Carpenters passed on their skills and expertise from generation to generation in order to deliver the beauty and delicacy of home building.
Later, when forest and natural resources depleted, brick laying and reinforced concrete construction have widely been the materials of choice by many Thais due to their durability and strength for home building.
Shifting from the old wooden home buildings to newer brick and reinforced concrete construction systems required more expertise as compared to conventional carpentry processes. This is because of the architectural pattern and construction design needed to achieve better and stronger infrastructure. Architects and engineers were especially trained by public education institutes to work in these fields. Moreover, construction techniques and processes have to be monitored and controlled in compliance with academic standards in order to ensure construction quality and endurance.
However, most people and consumers in the past still lacked the understanding of such field. That misconception of house buildings has turned out to be “architectural and engineering thrash”, as seen in many urbanscapes. In addition, minor contractors and entrepreneurs were widely set up without any public agents or organizations. Construction products and houses which were built and delivered to the consumers by them were substandard mainly because of their negligence in hiring professional architects and engineers.
Home Building Business Background
The home building business saw light 40 years ago through Seacon Co., Ltd. a construction pioneer. It has delivered well- known home building to the public with full service of administration and professional architects and engineers. Because of this, home building services became more accepted and roused the interest of entrepreneurs in the construction industry which brought in new comers into home building business such as, Four Pattana co., Ltd., Royal House Co., Ltd., The Modern Group Real Property Co. Ltd., Maker & Decor Co., Ltd., Landyhome (Thailand) Co.,Ltd., Patumdesign Develop Co., Ltd. Over the past two decades, these companies have been at the forefront of home building business. As per 1994, there were over 200 home building companies which provided services for premium quality home building to support consumer demands. However, due to the large number of operators, quite a lot of unprofessional home building companies also came about.
When the economic crisis in 1997 erupted, over 100 home building service operators were seriously affected. They were forced to cease their operation and left out of the business which affected consumers who had already spent their money on the undelivered houses. Despite this economic shock, there were approximately 30 companies with professional capacity which still stayed in the business.
The positive side of the crisis has turned into an opportunity for some operators who remained to further establish their credentials. As a result, they were accredited by consumers and related business sectors such as financial institutes, construction material industry, construction material manufacturers and distributors etc. In the midst of the crisis, home building services apparently played a major role in production and employment in the construction industrial sector.
In 2002- 2004, the Thai economy started to recover. At the same period, the real estate industry and home building service sectors rapidly improved. Over 150 home building operators that previously left the business re-emerged together with new players. This brought life to a bustling competitive home building business sector. The competition was sprawling especially among newcomers who falsely claimed that they were “long term home building service operators” regardless of the lack of professional architects and engineers, which is one of the most significant qualifications that home building companies should possess. These companies also lacked professional ethics. These problems have caused negative impact on the image of home building business in Thailand.
The lesson from the past economic crisis and boom in low quality companies are the problems that the home building service leaders could not overlook. If economic and business crises happen again, unskilled and unprofessional entrepreneurs close down their businesses, then the overall image and credibility of the home building service business would again be ruined-- which would affect the level of stability of the said sector.
Because of this, a group of home building service business operators had set up a Home Builder Association that aims to set guidelines and goals for home building businesses which includes searching for networks in order to expand the growth of home building service nationwide.
