Why the build stages matter more than handover
By handover day a villa is finished on the surface. The membrane under the terrace tiles, the fall of the shower screed, the bonding cable to the pool and the fixings behind the cladding are all out of sight. A handover inspection can find the symptoms of those faults — a damp reading, a hollow tile, a missing earth — but the cheapest moment to correct them was weeks earlier, when they were open.
If you are buying off-plan, ask in writing whether you may visit, or send someone, at agreed stages. Many developers allow it; it is far easier to agree before contracts are signed than after.
Foundations and structure
This is the stage where you are checking that the building is what was drawn, not judging the engineering — that belongs to the developer’s engineer. What a buyer can reasonably ask for and look at:
- The approved drawings and the building permit for the plot you are buying
- Column, beam and slab positions matching the plans, including any changes you agreed
- Concrete that looks consolidated rather than honeycombed, and steel that is not left exposed
- Site drainage in the wet season: water standing against new walls is a warning sign
Waterproofing: the visit that pays for itself
If you only make one stage visit, make it when the roof, terraces, balconies and wet rooms are waterproofed but not yet tiled. Water ingress is the most common and most expensive defect in Phuket villas, and almost all of it traces back to details that are visible only at this point.
Look for a continuous membrane with no gaps at corners, upstands that turn up the wall well above the finished floor level, membranes dressed into drains rather than stopping short of them, and falls towards every outlet. Ask whether the areas were flood-tested before tiling and ask to see the result.
First fix: pipes, cables and air conditioning
Before walls are closed, the pipe and cable routes are on show. Photograph every wall and ceiling before it is plastered — those photographs are worth a great deal later, when you need to hang a cabinet or trace a leak.
Check that air-conditioning condensate pipes fall continuously to their outlets, that the pool has an equipotential bonding cable in place before the shell is finished, and that wet-room pipework has been pressure-tested.
Fit-out and finishes
Once tiling starts, spot-check by tapping: a hollow sound means an incomplete adhesive bed. Check that doors and windows are fixed into the opening properly and sealed, not just foamed in. Compare materials, brands and fittings against the specification attached to your contract — substitutions are easier to challenge before they are installed than after.
Keep a dated record
Write down what you saw at every visit, with dated photographs, and send a short email to the developer after each one listing anything you want corrected. It costs nothing, and at handover it turns “it was always like that” into a documented history. Then finish with a full pre-handover inspection a few days before you sign.
A note on advice
This guide is practical experience from site, not legal or structural engineering advice. Stage access, retentions and what the developer must correct depend on your contract: ask a Thai property lawyer to check those clauses before you sign. If you would like a stage visit carried out for you, tell us your build programme.