HOUSE AT HYDERABAD
Dear Mr. Thomas
I have seen & read few articles that you have hosted on web. Drawing some inspiration from that, I thought it may be a good idea to share & take your advice on the house that I plan to construct in Hyderabad. Based on that, I am attaching Architect's brief for the Duplex villa that I would like to construct in Hyderabad. I have tried my best to put all what came into my mind & the key requirements for the project. Kindly take care of all these parameters while designing the house. As mentioned in my brief, would like to have a exclusive beautiful house which has a blend of traditional Kerala architecture & Modern style architecture.
Would suggest you to mail me few elevations which showcases Modern Architecture & traditional Kerala architecture, where in I could discuss the same with my family & then give you a creative brief of what we would like you to develop. Layout requirements are detailed in the attached note. Do revert back to me with your terms & the process to take this fwd.
In case you need any further inputs / clarification, please revert back to me (or) call me on my cell
Regards,
Thomas Ninan
Muscat – Oman
My reply
To start with I require details on house you are looking for,your needs ,dreams including your limitations if any.Once I get details on the plot,I can start developing plan for your house.
With the initial design developed we will have to discuss and arrive at a final plan.From there onwards we go systematically to make your dream house a reality.
BUYING A READY BUILT VILLA OR CONSTRUCTION IN KERALA
Dear Thomas,
Hope you are doing good!
I am planning to build a house but I am worried about that! could you please advice me ?
Buying a villa or building a house which is more good? I have plan for buy good second hand house also
my requirements:
2 storey 2000 to 2500 sq. ft..
normal woods for windows and doors
vitrified tiles in main areas
medium quality sanitary high quality electrical wiring and accessories
high quality paints inside and outside
can I get similar villas in the same expense of building a new home?
Sibi George,
My reply
Buying a ready built house is simply foolishness in Kerala conditions due to following reasons:
1.To increase profit ,construction by sellers will naturally be of lowest quality without bothering about following Engineering standards
2.Seller normally sells the house taking much higher profit
3.Your requirements for the house may not suit house available for buying
HOUSE AT CHENNAI
Hi,
I am Tharanitharan from Chennai. I plan to construct a house in Chennai.
Could you please provide me the complete plan of the house for Elevation shown in your blog and this will
give me some idea to proceed further.
Regards
Tharani
My reply
It will be better to design plan of the house suited to your plot rather than taking plan of the house whose Elevation is given in our blog
SLOPING PLOT LEVEL
Dear Thomas Sir,
I read your article on foundation at your blog and liked it. Can u pls answer my doubt..
We have a site of 28X26 meters size. The site is not level and slope is about 5ft from the front portion to back of the site?
Is there any method other than filling the site with soil and putting a retaining wall at the back end boundary??
Idea of giving few steps inside the house is ruled out.
Niyas
My reply
As it is a gradual slope,it can be straightened while doing rubble foundation.That is better and cheaper.At the back end boundary if you do not want a retaining wall,you can leave a slope from foundation level of house to back end of boundary.
HAVING PROBLEM WITH THE DESIGN OF HOUSE
Dear Mr. VH Thomas,
I am S P Manoharan who is working in Indonesia. I want to construct a house in my native place Alleppey. I got the house plan made by my engineer and it is attached herewith. With the normal stair case I can not have attached bath room in the first floor master bed room. The dimensions of room can not be changed as they are all agreed by my Vasthu Namboothiri.
he bottom bath room dimension can be altered. Can you please send me an offer with a wooden (Teak) spiral case so that my dining room area is not much affected. Please send me the drawing incorporated with the staircase to first floor.
S P Manoharan
My reply
Only option is to redesign the house.For that I need to know outer dimensions of the plot(all four sides),directions and position of roads.
Plan prepared by anybody for a particular plot will not be the same.Better qualifications and experience can make a lot of difference
After the design of revised plan,you can show it to your Namboodiri to check Chuttalavu Vasthu which is a practice followed only in Kerala by old Asaris.If you need proper Vasthu compliance,I can do it on my own.
VILLA IN MUMBAI
Hi Thomas
need to know if you can help with house in Mumbai, planning to build a weekend home on the outskirt of Mumbai, river touch plot about 23karea, I have sort of managed to plan the look and feel of the house but not satisfied with the roof of the house.
you based in Kerala and my project is based on the outskirt of Mumbai,don’t know how well it will work, anyhow I am giving you the brief of what I am looking at and also attaching some plan which I have already worked on.
Will you be able to help with the same ?
Rajan Pillai
V.P Leasing
My reply
Why not in Mumbai or for that matter anywhere in the world?
After going through what you have sent to me I would like to comment as follows:
1.It appears that you have purchased a plot in a Villa Project
2.It is not clear whether you are free to design Villa as per your likes by your own Architect or the promoters have their own Architect designing villas to give villas in the project similar appearance.
3.Do you already have a Basic Plan of the villa designed?If so send it to me in pdf format
4.What you have sent me in pdf format is two dimensional Elevation of the Villa which is not impressive or professional looking
5.To start with I can improve upon the plan (if you have one) or design plan of the villa fresh with your requirements/desires for the house as input
6.I need to know outer dimensions of all four sides of the plot and also direction to which house will be facing.Also I need to know where all roads come near the plot
Plan comes first.Elevation comes next.But we can give you a professional Elevation which will have almost photo quality
Now it is your turn to respond
LOW COST HOUSE
Dear Sir,
I am Ajay Nair from Palakkad, Ottapalam, Kerala. I am currently working in Saudi Arabia. I have a plan to relocate from my native village in Palakkad to somewhere else. So I am searching for good ready made homes as well as the possibility to build a home in cheap budget. My budget ranges between 5 lakh-10lakh. I prefer to have a home with one floor where two average sized be rooms with attached bathrooms, a kitchen and a drawing room cum dining hall are available. Some variations can be made from this view. I came to know about a cheaper European style Eco-friendly homes lying between my budget range. I would like to know about that. Also i would like to see the possibility of "temple top" or "taravadu" model homes, but small area. I don't need a wide space also. So please check the possibilities of this and let me know the status whatever may be the answer. You can tell me if it is not possible also. I have attached two snaps along with this mail which I got from one of my friend. It seems good for my concept of "temple top" or "taravadu" model homes.
Waiting for your early reply.
Ajay Nair
My reply
Buying ready built house will not be cheap.In fact it will cost much more than building a new house and you will get a low quality construction as seller is primarily interested in profit only.
Two bed room attached house even with a bit small room sizes will be at least 800 sft if you build in a single floor.With present cost it may cost about Rs.12 lakhs and as you intend to construct in future cost can only go up.If you do not have land,land cost will come in addition.
Plan for a house prepared by any one will not be the same
Quality of design depends to a large extent on the professional training and exposure obtained through experience.
Basic Plan of the house is the most important and critical element of house building
A well designed plan prepared by a qualified professional with experience can save you lakhs of rupees and it can provide you better facilities within your budget.
So simply trying to save few thousands of rupees towards design can put you in to greater trouble which you will be able to understand at least to a lesser extent only after construction of house is over and at that stage you cannot correct it even if you spend any amount of money.
Now you tell me whether you need us to design your house
Cost of construction of your house to be built cannot be predicted by any one.Contractors may tell attractive figures just to get work knowing very well that you cannot do anything other than agreeing to their revised demands after work starts and even on engineering and quality of construction a non professional contractor may do any compromise simply to increase or protect his profit
RENOVATION OF EXISTING HOUSE
Hi Mr. Thomas,
I found your e-mail Id on one of the housing construction blog and would like to understand few things from you.
My parents are thinking of renovating our ancestral home, which is situated in a village near Trichur, Kerala. While I understand the quote greatly vary depending on the type of contractor, the current rate from one of the local contractor is Rs. 1800 per sq.ft. This quote is only for renovation and doesn't include foundational work. As my parents and family do not stay there and have little knowledge about the current construction cost,your input/suggestion will be valuable. What is the general range of construction cost per.sq. ft. for renovation or for a new construction. Honestly, I don't want my parents to be fooled by anyone.
Thank you so much!! Looking forward to hear from you.
Ranjini
My reply
Getting quotation from contractors and fixing up lowest bidder is not going to get you quality professional construction of house with proper guidance and assistance to achieve the best without some one pilfering your money.For that you require not a contractor but professionals like us
