Having been in the building industry I always look at construction sites with a critical eye. I saw many shoddy practices around Phuket: poor formwork, out-of-plumb walls, sub standard materials etc. All was covered up by render and paint to look quite smart upon completion ... but if you look closely the tell-tales are there. Conversely, our Kamala house (and Chobs) was built to a very high standard.
Isaan construction appears to be more old-world high standard albeit with least use of modern materials due to cost. eg: Q-con aerated blocks, and aluminium joinery are not as commonly used in Isaan. Nothing wrong with workmanship... generally top quality!
Chiang Mai is all masonry and steel construction and I seldom see brick homes although one is u/c nearby. It's a 4m Bt 2-storey house using interlocking bricks as the owner wants an earthquake proof house!
This method may survive a minor quake without walls collapsing and save injury or death but comes at a high cost. Minor tremors have never (to my knowledge) caused any damage in CM. He's also installing double glazed PVC framed windows, to guard against heat ingress, a/c loss, yet the flat-profile roof tile used had NO sarking to prevent water ingress. In the West, Monier will not guarantee such roof tiles unless (inexpensive) sarking is used.
The quantity of steel going in footings, beams, piers etc in the house (TOP) is startling. All load-bearing concrete is pre-mix, delivered, not hand mixed. All roofs are constructed out of steel, not timber.
Around us, house construction and quality of finish is excellent. 3 builders we've talked to are all professional and have quoted ~ 2m Bt for 300 sq/m 2-storey house. We're still looking at options and await feed-back on a
renovator I'd really like to buy as a project house.