Home-builder revamps to meet diverse demands
Built-to-order home-construction firm Four Pattana has restructured its group by establishing four new companies to cover seven aspects of its business, including building houses priced at Bt5 million and up, building houses for less than Bt5 million, home decoration, interior design, gardening, distribution of construction materials and media.
As a result, the company expects sales growth of 25 per cent this year, rising to Bt500 million from Bt400 million last year. Managing director Pramote Teerakul said a new company with the original name, Four Pattana, would be responsible for building houses valued at Bt5 million and above, as well as specially designed houses costing Bt10 million and more. These two aspects will cover the upper end of the housing market. In addition, Four Pattana will also be responsible for designing and decorating gardens, distributing construction materials for Easy Truss, a stainless roof structure, and representing Shell of Thailand in marketing a protection system for tennis-court surfaces called Shell Flint Coat Mastic. The second firm, Four Develop House, will cover the middle-income market by specialising in building homes with a value of less than Bt5 million. A third company, Four Pattana Interior, will take care of interior decoration and design, and the final company, Four Pattana Colour Line, will be responsible for media and website development. The group decided to establish the four companies directly to address the demands of each target group, Pramote said, adding that the market was growing more complex in terms of pricing and home design. The new structure is also aimed at future expansion and offering a greater variety of products. "Construction quality is still our primary concern, as it has been for more than 27 years," he said. The new product and business groups will help delivery to the market of such services as decoration and gardening and focus more closely on distributing construction materials, including Easy Truss. Easy Truss is a stainless roof structure that is gaining popularity in home-building projects, because it takes less time to construct. "Our business restructuring will boost our sales to Bt500 million this year and help us compete with other home-builders in the market," he said. The company expects the home-building market to grow 5-10 per cent this year, to reach a total value of Bt8 billion. He said slow economic growth had not affected the home-building business, because it had not made an impact on the purchasing power of home-owners who build their homes by selecting construction companies to build on their behalf.
Somluck Srimalee
The Nation
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