Documents.
For Cameron & Sunny.
The first response to your enquiry, sent in May 2026: indicative scope, sizing guidance, price ranges, and a clear next step. Kept here on record.
What you told us.
Before drawings or numbers, here is what you shared, reflected back so you can confirm we heard you correctly.
Building in Laos this year. You are Australian, Sunny is Lao, and the build is residential in Don Dok, Vientiane.
Plot selected. Lot D2, deposit paid; purchase contract to be completed on your next return to Lao, expected within a week or two.
A direction, not yet a brief. No fixed square-metre figure or budget yet. Early discussions point to a small pool and, if possible, a separate mother-in-law suite. The full programme is what we work through during design.
You asked for a conversation. You offered to pay for it. We do not charge for the first call.
A visual language, taking shape.
You shared a one-minute reference sketch on 12 April with the note, "something like this style." Nothing is fixed; this is a conversation in pictures, so we can confirm we are looking in the same direction before drawings begin.
We read it as a direction: stone-clad volumes, arched openings, a courtyard pool, terraced gardens, an indoor-outdoor life, translated into a tropical, Vientiane-buildable register.
Treat the early studies as questions, not answers. They exist so we can agree the vocabulary, the materials, posture, and relationship to the plot, before we commit to a plan. The brief, the plan, and the budget are written together, not handed down.
Three useful ways to think about size.
The right square-metre figure depends on how you intend to live, not only on bedroom count. Three configurations our foreign-resident clients tend to fall into, indicative and for discussion only.
+ design fee
+ design fee
+ design fee + pool
Indicative per-square-metre ranges.
Final pricing depends on site, design complexity, and finishes. The ranges below, by tier, give you a working budget to plan around.
- Local hardwood frames, standard tile finishes
- Lao-market kitchen and bath fittings
- Standard glazing, mid-range hardware
- Basic landscaping
- Imported hardwood, quality tile, quartz countertops
- Imported kitchen and bath (Thai or Vietnamese mid-range)
- Double-glazed openings, soft-close hardware
- Designed landscaping with drainage
- European hardwood, stone or porcelain throughout
- Imported European appliances and fittings
- High-spec glazing, premium hardware, smart-home wiring
- Full landscape design + irrigation
Ranges are illustrative, indexed to the Don Dok lot. Final pricing follows your detailed brief and site survey.
Three illustrative homes.
Three worked examples to make the ranges concrete, the kind of figures you would see if you proceeded with us.
| Configuration | Tier | Construction range | Plus design fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| 160 m², single-storey, 3 BR | Designer | USD 88,000 to 120,000 | + USD 3,000 |
| 240 m², two-storey, 4 BR + study | Designer | USD 132,000 to 180,000 | + USD 3,000 |
| 340 m², two-storey, 5 BR + pool | Premium | USD 255,000 to 340,000 | + USD 3,000 |
Construction-only. Land, government fees, soil testing, topographical survey, and pool engineering (where applicable) are quoted separately. Most builds land in the 200 to 280 m² range; smaller, simpler homes are achievable.
What happens from here.
Why the design contract, before a construction price.
An honest builder cannot quote a construction price before there is a design to build from. Anyone who does is guessing, and the guess will be wrong.
The Design Contract gives both sides something concrete: a complete drawing set, structural calculations, and a materials specification. Only then can we put a fixed construction price on the table and stand behind it.
The design fee is USD 3,000, paid in full on signature. USD 1,200 of it is credited toward your build.
-
What you get for USD 3,000
- Conceptual design, 3 variations
- Three rounds of revision
- Full architectural drawings
- Engineered structural plans
- MEP layouts, electrical and plumbing
- Permit-ready drawing set
- 3D rendered visualisations
- Materials and finish specification
A thirty-minute call, this week.
A thirty-minute call with the Modern Lao Homes team. We go through your situation, the land, your sense of size and budget, and any outstanding questions.
To book, reply to the email this proposal arrived with, propose a couple of times, and we confirm one. We are in Vientiane (UTC+7) and take calls outside Lao business hours when needed.
clients@modernlaohomes.com