Ajarn Forum - Living and Teaching In Thailand - View Single Post - Thai "Handymen" The Good, The Bad, The Ugly, and The Truly God Awful

Welshman · 10th August 2008, 15:56

I live in quite a big house in the boonies. Luckily, my landlord is quite good and will respond to my SOSs regarding problems with the house.

I find that, yes, you can get very patchy service here. The first guy the landlord arranged to cut my grass duly cut it, left all the cutting where they lay and buggered off for a 200 baht fee.

Landlord not happy and got someone else to come in. There's four of them on the back of one of those tractor things with the tools on a trailer. They usually cruise past my gate (I can hear that tractor for miles) and slow down. If I wave to them, they stop, come in and do the job. The first time they cut the grass, trimmed all the bushes, swept up all around the house and took all the debris away. They charged me 250 baht. Call me stupid if you want, but if I find someone who does a good job, then I like to show my appreciation, so I gave him 300 and said keep the change.

Now, when they come, they also trim all my private plants around the outside of the house, on the verandah, around the side patio etc, so it pays.

When I wanted some jobs done around the house, I asked the Thai woman who runs the mooban restaurant. She's married to a Danish guy and speaks excellent English. I'd had some bad experiences with the actual mooban supervisor who'd done some pretty crappy jobs. This woman recommended a guy she uses. I had a burst water pipe, he fixed it. I wanted my windows cleaned - he quoted 1,000 baht which I thought was a bit steep but he was at it for three days. Cleaned the windows, cleaned all the insect screens and even cleaned the window frames and behind the security bars.

I'm also pretty happy with a couple of happy chappies who run a garage opposite my mooban. Once again, I tried them, found them honest and did a good job so now I always go to them. If I have a small problem like a slipping air-con belt or bulb replacement, they'll usually do it and, when I get my wallet out, they say 'No money - free'. I always make sure that I give them 50 baht or so and say 'Beer Chang'.

I find that way, I can keep relying on them.

10th August 2008, 15:56	#5 (permalink)
Welshman Welshman is long in the tooth Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Garden Homes Village, Minitmai Road Posts: 3,329 vCash: 500 Rep Power: 391	Re: Thai "Handymen" The Good, The Bad, The Ugly, and The Truly God Awful I live in quite a big house in the boonies. Luckily, my landlord is quite good and will respond to my SOSs regarding problems with the house. I find that, yes, you can get very patchy service here. The first guy the landlord arranged to cut my grass duly cut it, left all the cutting where they lay and buggered off for a 200 baht fee. Landlord not happy and got someone else to come in. There's four of them on the back of one of those tractor things with the tools on a trailer. They usually cruise past my gate (I can hear that tractor for miles) and slow down. If I wave to them, they stop, come in and do the job. The first time they cut the grass, trimmed all the bushes, swept up all around the house and took all the debris away. They charged me 250 baht. Call me stupid if you want, but if I find someone who does a good job, then I like to show my appreciation, so I gave him 300 and said keep the change. Now, when they come, they also trim all my private plants around the outside of the house, on the verandah, around the side patio etc, so it pays. When I wanted some jobs done around the house, I asked the Thai woman who runs the mooban restaurant. She's married to a Danish guy and speaks excellent English. I'd had some bad experiences with the actual mooban supervisor who'd done some pretty crappy jobs. This woman recommended a guy she uses. I had a burst water pipe, he fixed it. I wanted my windows cleaned - he quoted 1,000 baht which I thought was a bit steep but he was at it for three days. Cleaned the windows, cleaned all the insect screens and even cleaned the window frames and behind the security bars. I'm also pretty happy with a couple of happy chappies who run a garage opposite my mooban. Once again, I tried them, found them honest and did a good job so now I always go to them. If I have a small problem like a slipping air-con belt or bulb replacement, they'll usually do it and, when I get my wallet out, they say 'No money - free'. I always make sure that I give them 50 baht or so and say 'Beer Chang'. I find that way, I can keep relying on them.