After the ground clearance and marking out, described in the previous post, the next task was…. no not pile boring. The workers would be living on site throughout the build so they needed accommodation. Enter the travelling site camp accommodation for 15 people, lovingly referred to as the ‘Chonburi Hilton’.

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Now that the building footprint was established the workforce knew where they could place their camp so as not to interfere with the construction timetable. The pre-fab camp – raised flooring, corrugated sides and roof, cooking facilities, toilet (to connect to a separate septic tank also brought along) and vehicle parking as delivered and the crew got to work erecting what would be their home for approximately 1 year.

Electric was hooked up to the temporary meter we had had installed, water was  T’eed off an existing local supply to the neighbour, by agreement and there it was… all creature comforts and a cosy camp for the team, and of course, basic provision for the build itself.

The start of any build needs the agreed plans, in particular the building ‘footprint’ to be accurately marked on the plot as this will show where to dig the piles, place the plinth beam, and lay in the services.

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K.Pot himself was on site to ensure the mark-out was accurate. Because the house is large, it has to be built at an angle to the road in front, so it was important to get this correctly marked out – once the build started there would be no going back.

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The team took time to ensure the mark-out was accurate, before placing the markers that would guide the pile bore machine on site.

We were lucky in that K.Pot had most of the machinery and equipment needed to complete the build – see his pile bore attachment for the crane in the next post!

Once the plans had been approved and the builder engaged, it was time for land preparation on site.

The builder brought his team over to begin cutting back the new growth on the raised land. Literally, hand cutting (no machines) until the plot was cleaned up. Once the building work commenced, the foot fall and excavation would ensure the growth did not return during the construction.

A couple of hearty bonfires were had to get rid of the cut vegetation.