The conclusion

Let me now clarify the title of my first blog :-)
Yes building a house is a challenging task. But you enjoy every single bit of it. And yes the feeling of achievement once you complete the project is some thing you can understand only once you experience it.

So make sure that you celebrate the  achievement with a big party. Don't forget to keep Rs 50,000 to Rs. 100,000 for this.

Happy building house :)

Finishing work and the interior.

What gives a home its personality is the interior work. When I started the construction, the first thing I told the architect was

"I am not too much interested in the elevation bit. Let it be very simple. The exterior look is for the outsiders. I want to spend more on the interior so that I can enjoy it".

Is it not a fact? How long will your house have that identity in it's appearance? may be an year? when a new house comes in the street, your house will lose it's charm. So spend on what you enjoy, spend on the interiors.

A very open design with very few walls in the common areas

 The open design helps every one in the house stay connected, even if they are busy with their own businesses.

View of the sky light. No need to switch on lights till late evenings

View of the court yard from living room.

Open staircase landing with a provision for seating. A view from the court yard

Another view of the court yard

The open nature of the stair case makes the living room appear bigger

I started my hunt for a good interior designer. First I inquired with my friends. All had one or another negative point - at least. So I again sought help from the net. As in the case of the contractor short listed 3 of them. After that I shared my house plan with the requirements marked in it. Asked them to give their quotes in the same excel format, compared them and then again shortlisted two of them.

After shortlisting I went and saw at least two works done by each of them. One completed work and one in progress work. I looked mainly for the below listed 10 things.

1) The way large wardrobe doors are closed. Checked if the gap between the doors from top to the bottom is the same.

2) The way edges of the doors are finished. Checked if they are finished in a straight line.
3) The way laminates are pasted. Checked there are no air gaps or bulgings
4) The smoothness of the polished veneer.
5) The smoothness in which the draws are closed.
6) The firmness in the doors and draws.
7) The quality of the hardware used (ebco or hetich). One thing you can make out from the in progress works.
8) The body language, confidence and passion towards the work. Interior designing is some thing that needs a lot of imagination. Only a passionate individual can do that better.
9) The relation between carpenter and the interior designer. Another thing you can make out from the in-progress work.
10) Finally the level of professionalism.

After rating both the shortlisted individuals, I decided to go with Sapna from 13th Haven (http://www.13thhaven.com/)

We had a couple of good discussion where Sapna tried to understand the interests of my wife and my self. The way we want our wardrobes to be organized and the way we would like our kitchen to be done.

And this is what she did for us

Open kitchen with trendy red color

Kitchen counter top and over head cabinets

I did not go for the built in hob. I thought in case you need to go for a replacement, you will have to search for a hob with the same measurement. Instead I went for a slim looking cook top from glen.

Book shelf plus work station in the master bedroom

False ceiling with spot lights in the living area

 The living room ceiling is at a height of 13 ft. 3 feet more than the usual ones. The false ceiling helped to get the focus off the long ceiling fan shaft.

Dining area with concealed lighting

Concealed lighting will give a different mood to the room. Especially with warm yellow lights

Foyer and shoe rack

Think the biggest shoe rack you believe you would need. Add two more shelves. You will still end up thinking I should have gone for a bigger shoe rack
 

Entertainment unit.

 All the cables are concealed. This will give it a neat look. The TV is mounted on a swing-able arm that gives a lot of flexibility.

Thanks a lot to Sapna and her amazing group of carpenters and polishing workers. I was really happy at the end.

Tips and learnings....

There are so many of them.....
Just listing down some which I can remember easily.

Always remember that the paint you see on a computer screen is different from what you see from a color card and that is again different to the actual paint. So before applying, you get the painter to apply it on a small area and confirm that, the color is same as what you thought.

You dont need to go for wooden doors every where, Go for a good teak wood main door and then use ready made doors every where else.

While going for safety grills, the rates are dependent on mainly two factors, 1) the thickness of the rod, 2) the spacing between the rods. Depending on the areas, you pick the best suitable ones, an easy saving of 10K is expected.

Make sure that quality materials are used for wiring. Check the cables and confirm that they are the promised one's This can be done by checking the printing on the cables.

When the contractor or sub contractor knows that you are checking every thing, its very unlikely that they may do some frauds. So keep on asking questions. And make sure you do some checks in front of them.

Make sure that you fill the water tank and check pressure at all water outlets before the plumber leaves. Also make sure that there are no leakages. Just fill the water tank and leave for a couple of hours. Confirm that the water level is not reducing with all outlets are closed. You never know, there might be leaks happening under ground.

While selecting locks, select them sensibily, never put a lock that can be opened without a key from inside near to a window. Thieves can break open the window glass, put their hands in and then open the locks.

Make sure that enough plug points are provided. Especially in the kitchen, bedroom, and near the TV point.You need at least four points near the TV.

There is a provision to provide a master switch in the master bed room. This will switch on all key lights in the house both inside and out side.

White bathroom fittings do have that elegant look. But thinking from a practical side, its better to use its nearest cousin, the ivory color.

Wall mounted water commodes are slightly expensive than the floor mounted ones. But on a long run they are good to have. You have the flexibility of cleaning under the commodes. They also make the bath room appear large.

Normal flush tanks are almost out of the trend, concealed flush tanks or flush valves are the new stars. The save a lot of space in the bath rooms.

Make sure you design the bathrooms in such a way that the wash basin comes first, followed by the commode and then the wet bath area.

It is always better to give a light above the wash basin mirrors, really helpful while doing the shaving.

Make sure you connect the hot water to the wash basin of at least one bathrooms. Old people will find it really helpful.

It is better to have the hot water supply from solar heater connected to the kitchen sink via a mixer. Really helpful during winter and while washing oily utensils.

If you have a utility connect a shower head to the tap on the sink. This will save a lot of water while washing big utensils like pressure cooker.

Big TV units are out. A simple highlight wall with a wall mounted LED/LCD TV or a simple wooden panelling behind the TV is good enough.

Make sure your internet connection point is placed in a proper location to get maximum wifi connectivity in the house.



I will keep on adding points as I remember them....

Progress of the construction

The initial days of the construction gives you a really nice feeling.
You can see the building coming up as you pay. Once the structure is complete, you feel that the construction is at snail's speed. You can see that the money is flowing out but you feel nothing is happening,

But yes there are many things that happening at that stage, the plastering work which can take more than a month, then the plumbing, electrical wiring, after that flooring.......

One thing that I realised during the construction is that, its always better for you to be present during the key days, like the days of concreting.

While the concreting is happening you need to take care of a few things.

1) if the casting is going on for an exposed slab, make sure that water proof solution is mixed. They normally mix it in the water that they use during mixing
2) Make sure that the sand is clean, any foreign decay-able things like wood piece cloth piece etc can cause leak if they get in to the mixture, they normally get in to the mixture from the sand.
3) Make sure that the labors are using vibrators properly to get the concrete in to all corners. the vibrator should touch the steel rods so that the concrete gets below them
4) Make sure that proper curing is done.

Its an un-written rule that you should  provide food for the labors on that day. The supervisor normally collect some money towards that (around 2500/-) Or if you are comfortable you can very well arrange for the food. You never know what %ge of the money goes to the actual food expenses.

So my house is now slowly getting it's shape.

Week 2

You can see that the sump is the fist thing to be built (or rather dug) it is because you need water, a lot of water during construction so you got to keep the sump filled always.

Week 4

 During the walls are built, if you are using clay bricks, make sure that they are soaked well before they are taken by the mason, if you can get a big concrete tub to immerse the bricks the best, or at least make sure that you spray plenty of water on to them before they are picked. This is very important for proper grip and it will avoid cracks in the future

Week 6 - ready for first slab casting

Better to use the steel sheets instead of wooden planks for centering work. This will help in saving on plastering cost.

Ready for Second slab casting

Final slab casting done

Curing is a very important factor in construction. Make sure that curing is done at least twice a day. once in the morning and once in the evening.

Elevation work in progress

 

Elevation work getting completed

Even though its the responsibility of the contractor to make sure that the labors are safe. Its always better you too check the scaffolding's are strong and proper. The last thing you want to happen during your construction is to see some one getting hurt during that. And there is a payment that you need to make to the labor board during the plan approval process. That goes towards to the welfare of the labors.

Plastering done and ready for the painting

Never rush during plastering, let the labors take their own time and pace. And yes make sure proper curing is done here as well.

After plastering they give rough finish for the exterior walls and walls on which any types of cladding or tiles are to be applied.

The interior walls are finished with lime (a calcium mixture). it is better to get this finishing work is done in the night, when the work is done with a strong artificial light source kept in a corner, it will give a better understanding of the finish and smoothness of the wall. With the putty applied on the wall this will give satin smoothness even with normal wall paints.

The final product

Selection of the paint is a big challenge, I got the free paint guide from asian paints. That really gave some ideas.

Loan, Plan Approval etc

I should have added this post before the previous one....
Once you finalize the plan and design of the house, you need to go for a plan approval and construction license.
For the plan to get approved you got to make sure that you plan follows all the offsets and other norms that are specified by the authorities. They vary from area to area I guess.
Any ways in a 30X40 site building a house with the specified offsets is next to impossible, so what do you do? you follow them as much as possible ;-)
What most of the people do is to draw the plan and then shrink it in a way that it meets the specifications, then submit the shrunken plan for approval.
I was very particular about leaving space around the house. So I believe my plan is some what OK.
Another thing that you need to specify in the plan that you need to submit for approval is the details of the Solar heater and rain water harvesting.
There are approved architects who normally do this for you. And yes agents as well.
My contractor helped me to get these contacts. I guess the guy was slightly expensive. I ended up spending around Rs. 65,000/-  for the plan approval.
With the plan approval you also get a license for construction that authorizes you to build a house as per the approved plan. There is a validity period for the license.
You get 5-6 copies of the blue prints of the plan with the details of the license specified. They are for various uses.
The first copy is for the home loan.
The construction license and the approved plan is mandatory for loan, along with other documents like sale deed, Khata, EC etc.
I had shortlisted SBI and LIC HF for the loan. LIC had better offer with 5 year fixed with 9.25% interest rate. Fortunately with the help of my LIC agent I found a very good service executive in LIC HF office. Mr Badrinath. He is an amazingly helpful person with an always willing to help attitude. He helped us in getting the work done very fast. Still it took around 4 weeks.
I had the initial capital to start the work so that delay did not cause any damage in the construction schedule.
The LIC executives visited the site before giving the approval and I made sure that I was available at the site when they came. By the time they came the ground floor concreting was almost ready to go.
Later at various stages of the construction, I had to call the engineer from LIC to do inspection and then release the money. And yeah one most comfortable thing, the cheques from LIC were issued in my name. So that gave a better control on the payments. I guess it is because the loan I took was only for construction.

Starting the construction.

So the plan was ready and we are ready to start the construction
Ram has a group of structural engineers who works on the layout of the pillars and their other details like how wide, how thick etc.
To start with I got a soil analyst to check the condition of the soil in the plot. They get a small drill and drill to some 20-30 feet below the ground and collect samples. They charged Rs. 5000 per point. I got them to collect samples from 4 points.
The soil analysis report was then sent to the structural engineer and they designed the depth of the excavation to be done and the design of the pillars
Dinesh is not a too fussed about the poojas and other things. So was I. He said 'its all about the work we do sir, you do it well and good god will support you' and thats what even I think.
Now with all preparations done we are all set to go for the actual work.
One fine convenient day we did all the markings, both Dinesh and Ram were present there that day.
The contractors normally get a sub-contractor to do the excavation. because they need special tools and skill to do the excavation. It took almost a week to complete the excavation work for all the required pillars and foundation.
That really gave a picture of what I am getting in to... My thought was that the excavation will not take more than 2 days... But trust me, there is a lot of work involved in it... it was a 100% manual work and the guys used to pour gallons of water in each pits to soak the mud so that they could easily dig..Some contractors go for JCB's (poclains) but Dinesh believes manual work has a better finish.

The excavation is completed and the Pillars are getting shape..
The site looked some thing like this then

 

Finalising the design of the house

You must be thinking that the first thing any one who want to build a house will do will be finalizing the design. I thought a bit different here, I wanted to see where will my borewell come first and then design the house accordingly. But yes I had the requirements ready.
Now it was to get that requirements in to a workable design.
Again I contacted my contractor Dinesh and asked if he can design, he said he has an architect friend who will do it. I did not think about going for a different architect even though I could find some more economical.
There is a reason for that,
It is always better to go with an architect who is suggested by the builder or the builder who is suggested by the architect.
The logic is simple, both of them are professionals and normally there will be an ego factor coming between these guys.
These normally leads to screwed projects. And there will be a blamig game as well. The architect will say "your contractor did not do what I said and that caused this issue"  and the contractor will say "the drawing your architect gave was wrong..." and you end up struggling getting them to agree for what you want
when they are friends and they are known to each other, they will work as a team. And yes they did work as a team for me.
My requirements were simeple ;-)

I want three bedrooms which are at least 12X12
Want parking for a big car (who knows what car my son is going to buy ;-))
Space for a garden or courtyard
Space for a small kitchen garden to grow curry leaf etc.
A kitchen where 3 people can work without rubbing each other's shoulder
A dining area were I can put a 6 seat dining table with enough space for people to walk around even if the chairs are pulled out
A decently large living area.
The house should be open enough where every one can communicate with each other.

I initially had plan to build two units where I can give one for rent. But I dropped that plan because the privacy factor changed my mind and yeah you never know what kind of people will come as your tenants.

Any ways after some 4 or 5 sittings with Ram (my architect)  we had a finalized design.

He came up with this amazing plan where I had the dining and kitchen at the ground level and a bedroom 2.5 feet below ground level. The living room comes on top of this bedroom. there is a court yard as well. that comes at the same level as the living room and above the car parking.
And yes 3 bedrooms. two bedrooms are 14X14 in size and the master bedroom much bigger with a work station and book shelf area in it.
And yes it did have big kitchen dining area and kitchen garden..
A very open plan with a lot of ventilation and light....
Thanks to Ram and his team...

Starting the work - Borewell

The first step in starting the construction is yes arranging the water source. you guessed it right, drilling the borewell.
With Dinesh's help I found a qualified geologist. Mr Hegde the geologist works with the government and he knows or claims him self to know the ground water conditions of various locations of bangalore as he is withe the Govt for decades.
Any ways he got this special compass and walked around the site and marked two point in the south east corner. Basically most of the geologists are driven by Vastu. Normally they mark the points in such a way that it is not against Vastu. So I asked Hegde how ans why he picked this point.
He asked me to walk with him as he walked on the edges and then diagonally the site. He asked me to check the reading as we walked and he explained that the reading shows the slope of the rocks underground. the corner with the lowest point in the slope is supposed to have more water. And yes he also told a 30X40 site is too less in size to have some difference in the ground water level. How ever I decided to go with these points even though they are behind the site. The geologist will also give you suggestion on the depth till you will need to put casing for the borewell. Casing is the MS pipe that u insert in the borewell to support the walls of the well till the loose sand ends and the hard rock starts.
My friend later told me, If I am not fussed about vastu I should have gone for a point near the gate, according to him that would have helped un any future maintenance. A valid suggestion that you can take. I got this suggestion a bit late though.
After finding the point I logged in to the net and searched for borewell drillers in Bangalore. Got quote from some 5 of them and worked out the cheapest one  thinking I will have to drill a 600 feet with the required casing.
And I took that fist step...

It took almost 24 hours to complete this 555ft deep borewell because of some mistakes from the rig operator..their mistake so they pay for it..

Tips:
1) Measure one drill bit with a tape and confirm that its length is as they specified.
2) Make sure that all drill bits are of the same length as that of the measured ones. you don't need to use a tape but just see that the length is similar
3) You should count the drill bits when they are mounted to the rig, but you may always miss the count. So count when they are removed this is very important.

Initial Works For Construction - Finding the contractor

Immediately after I bought the site I had to go for an overseas assignment from the office. That was not a very long one..I came back from my assignment and then again again after an year I started thinking about construction.
The first thing was to find a reliable contractor. I contacted the same person who built my brother's house. He is a very good builder. But unfortunately he was way too busy, his business has grown and he was struggling to even reply to my emails.
So I thought if he is that busy how will he attend the work?
My next option was to check with neighbors and friends.. still some how I was not convinced.
Finally I posted a request in Sulekha.com and got some 10 calls.
My conditions were simple. I wanted some one who is an educated person and preferably not very old. The reasons are simple, it will be easy for me to interact. I believe educated people will be more reliable and a young person will be able to understand our needs easy as the wavelengths can (be made to) match.

It was from the experience of one of one of my friends friend I made these conditions.. He had a really bad experience. After the completion of the construction the contractor asked for an extra 5L. He refused to give. And on the previous night of the day he had planned to move in, the contractor got some 5 local goondas and got them to stay in the house... Imagine some goondas staying in your new dream house doing all their dirty business...I believe an educated person will never do some thing like this

And an old contractor will very rarely listen to you his mentality will be "Son I have seen 100s of houses you don't teach me!!" no offense .. but I wanted to avoid even a simple possible conflict.

How ever I spoke to some 7 of them asked for quote per unit from some 4 of them and analyzed them.

So I shortlisted my contractor Dinesh. He is a civil engineer with MBA and runs his own small company. He appeared very professional. He came for the first meeting with his laptops with pictures and details of his previous projects.

I went and saw three or four of his projects, checked the quality of construction (What I looked for is the quality of brick, the sand and finish) A couple of sites has his clients there and from the way they were interacting with him I could make out that they are happy.

So I short listed the contractor and the next thing was to sign the agreement. We had some chats around the specifications and after a few discussions we signed the construction agreement.

Buying the site

So you finalised the site. Now what next..

Yes you need to make sure that you are buying a safe site. which does not have any litigation or other legal complexities.

The easiest way is to take the documents to an advocate specialized in this and get his/her opinion. I went to one M/s Kumar Associates in Koramangala to do this for me. They are slightly expensive and charged me 7K that time. But I was OK. One reason I knew they will have contacts in the bommanahalli BBMP office under which the property comes and in Koramangala registrar's office where it will be registered. So thats one thing you have to think when you select the advocate. Make sure he is familiar with the locality. and yes for a property on which I am going to spend 25Lackhs I was fine to spend 7K.

The advocate had a check list of different documents and he asked for each and every document in it. I got it from the owner and handed them over to the advocate. He had some 10 Jrs under him and they used to go to the BBMP office and cross check the documents..

Finally he said the property is 85% buy-able and thats the best you can get in Bangalore. Any thing above that according to him is like a kohinnor diamond. only kings has access to it.

So I decided to go for this site...And registration is the next thing...and yes arranging for the money obviously..

My plan was to get the site first and then clear of the financial commitments around that and then later say after 3 years go for construction... So I did not go for any loans, all the savings, a surrendered LIC policy some pledged gold,  help from parents and in laws and a small personal loan I made it. remember if it is not a composite loan (land + construction) you won't get the tax exemption.

My advocate assisted me with the registration as well. It was funny when he showed and explained the expenses around registration. there was an entry called "bribe" and ha\e had put some 10-15K for that. Trust me if you are ready to pay that every thing is just a 30 mins job. Otherwise it can get delayed for ever....

I am not at all a supporter for bribes. but in bangalore, you can't survive without that...and yes a life with out this corruption at the lowest level is what I am dreaming from an "India against corruption"

Any ways the registration is over and yes I am a land lord now :-)

Searching the site

This is a biggg challenge, People say getting a perfect site is like getting a perfect life partner... you enjoy every bit of positive in it, and you end up cribbing for every bit of negative in it...

And yes just like in case of a perfect married life only a few privileged get that perfect site...it all depends of how much back ground check you do ;-) and yes how lucky you are..

Any ways for me it was not that difficult. I was staying in my brother's (he is abroad now) house when I started looking for a site for my self. So my first criteria was to find a site near to his house... that removed one big confusion on the locality.

Still when you are looking for a property what you should consider?

1) Price: You should not end up spending a lot on the site, that means later you will end up having a tough time during construction

2) Locality: Once you are clear about the price, you can start thinking, for this price where can I get a property in Bangalore?

The factors that you should consider, are accessibility to good schools - the first thing. And yes accessibility to your work place finally Accessibility to good hospitals. Trust me any area that has the above three met, will have these below specified i) Shops and super markets ii) Scope for future development iii) Good public transport

One thing that I always struggle to understand is why people worry about easy access to airport or railway station? That should be based on how frequent do you travel? for some one who uses airport say even once in a month, I don't think you need to worry about that accessibility. You have so many taxis to take you there from any corner of Bangalore. But yeah if you use that say once every week, you may think in that way.

So finally you found that site that you think is the right one.. Congrats..

Independent house or Apartment ?

When ever some one thinks about an investment in real estate, the first question that comes in to mind will be whether I should go for an apartment or for an independent house...I would say going for an apartment is like buying the food from a restaurant where as building your own house is like cooking your own favorite food. And when it comes to a villa from a villa project... I guess its a blend of that...and yeah I am a bit struggling to define it, but trust me its an expensive affair for a middle class person like me...

Any ways after a lot of paper works and calculations I decided to go for the toughest one. To buy a site and build a house..tough decision I know.. but this is what lead me to that...

Say you pay Rs. 2000 per sft for the 2000 sqft site. that means your total investment is 40,00,000/-
And lets say its after 20 years that you are selling it off... what ever be the reason. With the current trend which ever place you are in Bangalore the rate after 20 years will at least be 10,000 per sft. that means after 20 years your property is worth 200,00,000/- lets forget the inflation for time being

Now lets pick an apartment of the same rate... you are spending 40,00,000 on a 2000 sft apartment. and after 20 years the only option for you and all your neighbors is to demolish the building and build a new apartment complex. Say you want to take your share and move out. Lets say the apartment is built in a 20,000 sft plot and there are 40 apartments in the complex. that means each of you will end up getting 20,000 divided by 40 =500 sft of land. yes that is the parking area you had and your share in the common area. So what rate should you expect to get back that same 20,00,000? 20,00,000 divided by 500 yes it is four times. ie 40,000/-  or in other words the value of your investment after 20 years is 500X10,000 50,00,000/-.  And yes getting those 40 inmates in the apartment to agree for that plan after 20 years? thats another headache...I was convinced...And I started searching for a good site...

Still why people go for apartments?

1) You get an off the shelf product.-  My argue point was why to live in some thing that some one else designed as per his/her ideas?
2) The community living factor - how much time do you get for that these days? and if you are living in a developed locality you still can build it
3) You are not alone in solving any issues - this is a big advantage, when you are in a house, a leaking drain or an empty water tank is only your headache. Thats ok I am ready to take that risk.
4) Security - Yes a big advantage in the apartment. My solution was to put strong safety grills for all doors that open out.
5) In an apartment you will have some one to receive your child when she or he comes from the school. I sorted it out by finding a good post school day care.

And yeah when you are living in an dependent villa your son is not restricted from jumping or dancing in front of the TV by that person living in the below floor. Your after noon sleep is not broken by that pressure cooker weight dropped by that lady staying on the apartment above yours.

And yes you will not crib telling, I wish the bathroom was a bit more bigger or the kitchen was like this. You will not say I wish I could see whats happening to my dear car afterI leave it in the basement and come. You will not say I wish I had a bit of land to grow a tulsi plan or a curry leaf plant....

 I love freedom and that is what drove me in taking my decision...