Built To Build Group is aiming for 1 billion baht in sales this year, up from 900 million baht in 2024, as it pursues steady growth after a 40% surge two years ago led to a work overload.
Sutee Ketsiri, the homebuilder's managing director, said the sales target of 10% annual growth is appropriate for the company's capacity, ensuring sustainable growth without overloading the company.
"Even though more than 10 construction teams worked with residential developers such as Land & Houses, Supalai, SC Asset Corporation and Sammakorn, taking on our jobs last year during the housing market slowdown, it was still not enough," he said.
These teams were only temporary, stepping in during lulls. The group's workload surged in 2023 when it hit a record sales peak of 1.2 billion baht, up from 900 million baht in 2022.
Given the sudden increase, the group faced a shortage of construction teams and encountered challenges in scaling up operations, said Mr Sutee.
As a result, it experienced significant work overload last year, leading to construction and delivery delays of 3-5 months for 40% of its customers. These delays are expected to persist until the first quarter of 2025.
The group delivered 200 units and generated 900 million baht in new sales last year, falling short of its 1.1-billion-baht target. This underperformance was primarily due to a market slowdown during the second and third quarters.
Each year the group, which operates three subsidiaries catering to different segments -- Small House Builder for the low-end market, Bangkok House Builder for the middle class, and Built To Build for high-end -- has a total capacity of 200 units.
Built to Build has 10 permanent large construction teams capable of handling the construction of entire units, as well as 30 smaller teams specialised in specific tasks such as painting and tiling.
The average price per square metre is 18,000 baht for Small House Builder, which accounts for 50% of total annual sales, 22,000 baht for Bangkok House Builder (30%), and 25,000 baht or more for Built To Build (20%).
In 2023, the company recorded 250 units with a combined sales value of 1.2 billion baht as the pandemic had no impact on self-built home customers, who typically plan their home construction well in advance.
"During the pandemic, consumers shifted to homebuilders with strong brands, reputations, responsibility and reliability, as they lacked confidence in individual contractors who might abandon jobs during a crisis," said Mr Sutee.