Unless the contractor you choose is highly experienced with a broad vision and the eagerness to keep up with the changing world, it will help a great deal if you check out new technology and innovative construction materials that have emerged over the past few years. You may be surprised at how little you'll have to compromise. In other words, with modern technology at hand, you can have it all.

Consumers today require better-quality products that must be simpler yet make their lives more convenient at more affordable cost.

To secure a corner in the sophisticated lifestyle of young homeowners, home material producers need to come up with products with style, usually in neutral colour schemes such as natural wood or beige.

"A stylish design is the key element of innovative products, while technology must help people feel more comfortable," said Tinakorn Rujinarong, the president of Interior Designer Association.

"This is a technology-driven era as people are surrounded by innovative products," he said.

Think of the simplicity of Christian Liaigre, Europe's most renowned industrial architect, whose work is characterised by simple lines and minimalistic details. Such is the design for the young generation who will gladly trade Louis XIV-styled furniture for a contemporary bedroom set with the right colour.

"So most of our innovative pieces at home blend well with other items as they are simply chic but not too plain," Mr Tinnakron explains.

Among the hot picks today are substitutes for natural building materials, which have been developed as cheaper alternatives yet offer greater ease in the production process.

Moreover, the limited quantities of natural resources like wood and stone have encouraged a number of building material manufacturers to develop artificial materials to tap customers' demand as most home owners still prefer natural looks in their interior decorations.

Like everywhere else, a wide range of building materials designed to replace natural products, particularly artificial stones, is gaining popularity here. Although in some cases the prices of imitated products are equal to those of natural products, the advantages they offer are a variety of colours, lighter weight, and ease of cleaning and installation.

"As they are artificial products, they tend to look cheap because they could never match the quality of natural materials," said Sompop Jiswala, an architect.

But thanks to advanced technology, a new product from Italy, artificial rock tiles that could provide the look of natural stone, may change all that.

To create a natural look, producers cut the artificial materials the same way they did real rock to give a rough surface.

"Because they can eliminate the artificial stones' weak point, it becomes highly popular in the market," Mr Sompop said.

Meanwhile, medium-density fibreboard (MDF) is taking the world by the storm. MDF is a type of fibreboard made from wood or other lignocellulosic materials, refined into fibres and reconstituted with glue at elevated temperatures. It is resistant to warp, moisture and compression. With proper selection of equipment and cutting tools, MDF can be machined into intricate patterns as easily as natural wood with the advantage of minimal or no grain telegraph.

The laminated products can be used as exterior and interior walls, partitions, ceilings, eaves and flooring.

There is also a new kind of ceramic which looks almost exactly like marbles and granite.

The wood-replacement materials, mainly made of polymer, offer the same or worse features than artificial stones.

Mr Sompop added that structural materials were also becoming more innovative, with a large number of the structural materials being introduced in the market.

Currently, construction companies are mainly focused on using pre-fabricated concrete components, precast-concrete components and lightweight concrete blocks in their projects.

The distinctive characteristics of the products are their lighter weight, ease of production and installation and cheaper costs compared to traditional brick and cement products.

In addition, the products' qualities are strictly controlled to be in line with international standards. They could thus help minimise damages resulting from man-made mistakes.

At present, lightweight autoclaved concrete blocks are used in 23% of local construction projects, while clay and brick products are used in the remaining 77% of the projects.

Over the next few years, the share of lightweight autoclaved concrete block products in the local market is expected to climb rapidly to 50%, as its current capacity is inadequate.

According to research conducted by Superblock, a lightweight concrete producer, one cubic metre of space can be filled by five lightweight blocks with a total weight of 90 kilogrammes compared to 180 kg by up to 200 conventional clay blocks.

Consequently, lightweight block helps cut the construction costs in terms of materials and labour even though the price of the product is 3-5% higher.

Meanwhile, pre-fabricated products are made for almost every part of a building or a house including the roof, ceiling, walls and floors.

"We've reached the end of the traditional style. Project owners today don't want any flaw or defect caused by inconsistencies," says an architect.