Setting standards where there is none

Design and construction of houses in Kerala is one area where there is no standards,no quality level to be maintained,no restrictions,rules and legal constraints except those which can be overcome by paying bribe to always willing officials of the local administration .No agency or arrangement by government to ensure structural stability of buildings under construction.It is in short a free for all area.

And look at the customers.They simply believe every word uttered by crooks positioning as building contractors.When they say so called square feet cost of construction and tell that key will be given for certain amount they simply believe.When they say that no Architect or structural consultant is required they simply believe it.”If you bring those people in the work”,contractor will say “you can only increase cost” and the client believe him fully.

Now what will qualified experienced Architects and Structural Engineers will do if no customer need their services?They cannot say lies like “square feet cost” and promise to give key for a certain amount if they have to ensure quality construction as per engineering norms and standards.An ordinary contractor can do anything and get away with it and say”When you entrusted house construction work to me,did you not know that I am not an Engineer.Then why are you complaining now?If you wanted good quality,nobody prevented you from going to an Engineer.At that time you did not want to pay an Engineer and save that money also.”

Everyday I hear people calling me or sending email to me asking for my square feet rate.Even after building more than 200 houses in Kerala and designing much more I never ever found out answer for that question which assumes that there is a uniform square feet cost of construction wherever you construct and whatever may be the work involved.People think that building a house is like going and buying rice from the market.You will get to know the price of one Kg of rice.But if you ask that rice seller what will be the cost of one Kg of rice after one year no shop fellow will reply to that question.Still all my clients want me to predict square feet cost of construction for a house construction to be completed after one or two years.

So me and other professionals in this field of designing and constructing houses are trying to set standards where there is none.We are even struggling to establish why we are needed in this business dominated by non professional contractors without any standards for anything they do.