Three brick-sized pieces of foam, rubbish paper and candy wrappers recently found inside the wall of a condo at The Base Sukhumvit 77 may not physically harm the unit's owner, but they have already wrecked the developer's reputation overnight.
Kristopher George Houston, owner of the condominium unit developed by Sansiri Plc (SIRI), found his wall stuffed with foam, paper scraps and candy wrappers when he tried to fix a rainwater leak. This is definitely not the first such case for a housing development in Thailand, but it could serve as a wake-up call for consumers to pay more attention to protect their rights.
Mr Houston bought a condo unit in The Base Sukhumvit 77. But once he moved in, he described the continued water leakages during rain as a nightmare. After Sansiri's after-sales staff tried unsuccessfully to repair the leaks many times, Mr Houston decided to ask an outside technician to do it.
To his surprise, when the technician tore into the wall, Mr Houston saw three pieces of foam, some Ole candy wrappers and brown, wrinkled papers packed inside the wall instead of concrete or bricks.
Sansiri staff at the scene verified these should not be there.
Mr Houston notified the after-sales service team again, noting his dismay, but received no response.
He decided to post about the problem on Sansiri's Facebook page last week, which quickly went viral and led other unit owners to post their concerns about The Base Sukhumvit 77, while others wondered about Sansiri's construction standards.
Sansiri customers who made a down payment for future units also posted their shock, while investors voiced their concern that Sansiri units may be difficult to resell.
A potential expat buyer who asked for anonymity has been looking at The Hive Sathorn condominium developed by Sansiri but said he was seriously re-examining the unit and will recheck the unit with an engineer friend. "I am a bit worried and feel uncertain about Sansiri's project after reading the news about the poor construction quality at The Base Sukhumvit 77," said the potential buyer.
Uthai Uthaisangsuk, a senior executive vice-president of Sansiri, yesterday admitted this problem will have a negative effect on the company's sales and reputation but insisted the company has never failed to support a customer throughout its 29 years of business.
"We feel sorry about what happened and are visiting other units at this project to inspect the wall strength to reassure the unit owners," he said.
The company will use a rebound hammer to inspect each unit, which will take 15-20 minutes per unit to complete. Since last weekend, it has tested 300 of 1,200 total units and found nothing unusual. All units will be tested by Sept 20, said Mr Uthai.
He said the pieces of foam and other rubbish were the error of the subcontractor that took the job from main contractor, RTH Construction Co.
"We told RTH to exercise the most serious punitive measures against the subcontractor," said Mr Uthai.
He added that RTH is still scheduled to build another project for Sansiri.
Mr Uthai said the aluminium window frame on the wall is an architectural feature, not related to the structure or the building's strength.
This part should have been completed using conventional construction or brick and cement, as precast techniques, which Sansiri uses for all its high-rise and townhouse projects and some single-house projects, cannot be applied here.
An engineer who asked for anonymity said using construction foam for jobs is normal, but the foam found at The Base was not the foam used in construction jobs.
Kamolwat Praprutitum used to think a leaky ceiling could only happen to a house, not a condo. But he was dead wrong.
A condo unit he bought three years ago in the Sutthisan area started to leak water through the ceiling.
It took several repairs by the property developer over the course of many months to straighten out the problem.
His unit is on the seventh floor of a low-rise, eight-storey condo (not developed by Sansiri). He was baffled two years ago when he awoke one night to find lashing rain seeping through the ceiling, with water running down the wall.
"I heard the water trickling. It was really a nasty surprise," he said.
The engineer sent to repair the leak explained the rain came through a horizon crack in the condo's outer wall above the ceiling.
"The crack has been mended for now. But there's no telling if the problem will crop up again," said Mr Kamolwat.
Shares of SIRI shares closed yesterday on the SET at 2.06 baht, down eight satang, in trade worth 381 million baht.