How to choose a builder on Koh Samui: the questions to ask
The questions to ask any builder on Koh Samui before you sign, and our own answers, backed by buildings you can visit and dates you can check.
To choose a builder on Koh Samui, judge them on finished buildings, not renders. Ask to see completed work with dates, and who will actually be on site.
Ask how you will see progress, how they handle delays and the rainy season, and whether they will still be here after handover. A good builder answers each question with something you can check: a building you can walk into, a dated photo, a guest rating, a name.
Below are the questions we would ask, then our own answers. We design, build and run villas, a boutique hotel and restaurants on Koh Samui, and we build for clients too.
The questions to ask any builder
Take this list to every builder you speak to, including us.
- Can I see finished buildings, with dates on them?
- Have you built for clients, not only for yourselves?
- Who will actually be on site?
- How will I see progress?
- What happens when the build runs late?
- How do you handle slopes, drainage and the rainy season?
- Do you respect local practice?
- What will I get in writing before work starts?
- Will you still be here after handover?
Our answers
On Instagram: See this on Instagram
1. Can I see finished buildings, with dates on them?
Yes. These are standing buildings on Koh Samui you can visit or book:
- South Beach Inn, our 8-room boutique hotel on Thong Krut Beach. We renovated an older building into the hotel, and it opened in March 2025.
- Portofino Village, our hillside villa development above Lipa Noi. Villa Emerald and the first Villa Pearl plot are completed, and another villa there is finished and let.
- The Laem Sor villas in Taling Ngam, five villas on one road, built or rebuilt by us and run as rentals. They rate 4.7 to 4.9 on Airbnb. Villa Malibu is one of them.
- MARS Eatery & Art, the restaurant, café and art space we renovated in Lamai. It held its soft opening, a quiet first opening to the public, on 4 July 2026.
- Villa Picasso Ko Samui, a villa we built in Taling Ngam in 2022 and later sold to its buyer. It is not the same house as Villa Picasso Tulum, our villa in Mexico.
2. Have you built for clients, not only for yourselves?
Yes. Building to someone else's brief and deadline is a harder test than building your own.
- An extension we built for a client's gym in Lamai: a new gym area, pool, training area and café.
- A 14-unit hotel we are building for a client in Chaweng.
We do not name clients without their permission. We cover hotels, gyms and restaurants in more depth in commercial construction on Koh Samui.
3. Who will actually be on site?
Our own crews. The same teams that build our own villas and hotel build for clients.
Ask any builder the same question. If the answer is "a subcontractor we use", ask who that is and whether you can see their work.
4. How will I see progress?
We photograph our builds week by week and post them. You can follow a whole build, start to finish, on our Instagram.
The Lamai client build shows what that looks like. We posted the excavation of the road and car park in January 2025, the laterite fill and drainage in January and February, and the land blessing in March.
Laterite is a compact red clay-and-gravel fill used to firm up a site. Foundations went in in April, the roof in July, and we shared the finished extension once it was complete.
5. What happens when the build runs late?
Island builds often do, and a builder should tell you so at the start. We hold ourselves to that.
- South Beach Inn was planned to open at the end of November 2024. It opened in March 2025.
- MARS Eatery & Art was announced in January 2026 and ran later than we first planned. It held its soft opening on 4 July 2026.
We would rather show you those dates than promise a short build to win the job. A quote with no allowance for weather or ferry deliveries moves the risk onto you.
6. How do you handle slopes, drainage and the rainy season?
By doing the ground first. At Portofino Village the villas sit on levels up the hillside. On the Lamai client site, we laid a drainage system sized for rainwater coming off the mountain before the main structure went up.
In November 2025, during the rainy season, the crew there worked late to keep the build moving.
We explain the mechanics in building on an island: slopes, soil, rain and permits.
7. Do you respect local practice?
We hold a Thai land blessing before every build. At Portofino Village, Villa Pearl Plot 3 was blessed on 10 February 2025. The Lamai client site was blessed on 28 March 2025.
We tell the story in why we hold a land blessing before every build.
8. What will I get in writing before work starts?
A written scope and timeline, not a one-line quote. It should say what is included, what is not, who handles the permits, and how payments line up with stages of work you can see.
If you are buying before a building is finished, the same care applies to the developer. Our guide to whether off-plan is safe on Koh Samui sets out how to check one. Off-plan means buying before the building is finished.
For what a build costs and how long it takes, read what it costs and takes to build a villa on Koh Samui.
9. Will you still be here after handover?
We live with what we build. We run South Beach Inn and MARS Eatery & Art, and our rental team, ATS Luxury Stays, runs the Laem Sor villas. We keep working on our buildings after they open: the hotel's Rockstar Room was refreshed in May 2025 and its entrance renovated in April 2026.
A builder who also runs buildings has to fix their own mistakes. That is the strongest guarantee we can offer, and it is one you can check.
Questions people ask
How do I check a builder's track record on Koh Samui?
Ask for finished buildings with completion dates, then go and see them. Look for public records you can check yourself, such as hotel and villa listings with guest ratings, or a developer profile on property portals. Our profile is listed on FazWaz, Hipflat and HomesThailand.
Should I use a builder who also designs the house?
It often helps. One builder in charge of design and construction leaves no gap between the drawings and the site when a problem comes up. The trade-off is that you trust one firm with more, so the track-record checks above matter more.
What are the warning signs when choosing a builder?
A very short timeline for an island build, no finished buildings you can visit, vague answers about permits, and pressure to pay large sums before work you can see. Any one of these is worth a second question.
Can a foreigner hire a builder on Koh Samui?
Yes. Hiring a builder is separate from owning the land. How you hold the land matters, so read how to buy or build property on Koh Samui as a foreigner before you commit.
Ask us the same questions
Bring this list to a first meeting and hold us to it. See how we build with you, or ask about building.