Sunday, April 21, 2013

Free Consultation,22,April,2013

Elevations for houses recently designed by us

Three dimensional Elevation for house designed by us for USA Based NRI at Angamaly ,3300 sft with four bed room attached,Office room,Home theatre and all usual common facilities.

justine-18-04-13

Three Dimensional Elevation for four bed  house 2400 sft for gulf based NRI at Ettumanoor

ajaykumar-01-01-13

Design and Construction of house

Query-1

Dear Mr. Thomas,
My name is Muthu.I'm from Kannur district and currently working in UAE. I've read many of your blogs and online interactions and found them very informative and interesting.
I'm planning to build a house in Kannur and would like to get your architectural professional Service. Kannur being away from your office location, I presume it wouldn't be possible for you to inspect the site before the design or supervise the construction at later stage. However, I would like to check with you if you can help me get the plan/design drawings and an elevation for the house.
I can send you the site map with directions and all my requirements through email. I need to know the professional services you can offer me in this case Basic Requirement: 2 storied 4 bedroom traditional Kerala style house, approximately 2500 sq. ft..
Appreciate your time and valuable reply.

My reply

We can design a house for construction anywhere in the world.There is no harm in me visiting site at Kannur.But due to distance it will be better to restrict visits as much as possible.If you can provide me outer dimensions of all four sides of the plot clearly indicating directions,position of roads near plot and details on your requirements of house,we can design the house for you.Later we can also give detailed architectural and structural engineering drawings ,instructions and guidance through out construction of the house

Query-2

Hello,
I am looking to build a house of about 1500 sq. ft., 15 lakhs estimate in Calicut. ( if possible a 3 BHK house). Please send me some good plans.

Akshaya

My reply

Square feet plinth area of the house to be built and cost cannot be simply fixed like this by you.At first you have to discuss with a qualified experienced Architect on your house construction planned.Tell him what all you require in the house as facilities.You can also indicate your budget constraints if any.Let him decide on what can be done to meet with your requirements and budget.

House construction is not that simple to go and buy so much square feet  of house at price fixed by you.It involves hundreds of materials with increasing cost and different type of labour.Without assistance and guidance of a good professional,non professional contractors will simply cheat you to make maximum profit for them using your ignorance on quality of construction and technical details on construction technology

Query-3

Dear Mr. Thomas Viruvelil
Greetings to you. My Name is Subin  and I am working in Ethiopia. Please find
herewith the House Plan of mine with Area of 1250 Sq. ft. and is in 5.5 cents. Now
I request you to give me exact figure of Construction cost in square feet in the
interiors of Trichur As I have not got enough time to enquire about the
Price and market changes as I was on leave for 20 days only. I Think the Price
varies from Rs.1000-1600 in the interiors as it was also informed by the Local
Contractor (Construction) only. It was finally agreed to construct @Rs.1500/- per
square feet. As my earnings are meager now the amount seems to me in a higher side.
You are kindly requested to advice me in this scenario that the construction cost
of RS.1500/- per square feet is admissible / justifiable or not. And if it is more
kindly advice me how to get rid of this.
Your kind consideration on my above request will be highly appreciated. Hope that
you will see in to this matter seriously and reply me soon.
Waiting for your reply.
Subin

Query-3

Dear Sir ;

I was reading your expert opinion http://www.keralaarchitecture.com/Architectural_guidance.aspx which helped me to understand the do's and don'ts in constructing a good house. I have small doubts which i need to consult with you

1) You have mentioned that we need to first estimate on the structure part , will this structure include flooring, electrical points and fittings ,kitchens initial fittings like slabs,etc.

2) I was approached by many contractors and many have a fixed cost per square feet.Will I get item wise description on the items which they are going to use.Most of them are not mentioning on the materials included in the sq feet . Can you please share the detailed format on the list of materials used so that I can ask them to fill and submit.

Appreciate if you can revert back with your views. Can you please share your number to have a quick chat with you.

Regards;

Prakash

Query-4

My uncle's house is being constructed in Kalady . Its almost finished. When I enquired, he said that clay bricks are easily available in that area, costs about Rs. 4 to 5 per piece depending on the time of the year( during rainy season the price goes up).. I have my cousins ,uncles in the locality. My wife's house is also in Angamaly. As per conversation with all my family members, they can buy and provide the materials for construction and also monitor the progress as they live close by. Please let me know in detail about your interest in taking the contract of building the house (materials will be provided) or supervision/guidance/site visits as necessary. I would like to know the details of your fees for the services in advance. My intention is to complete the work with the minimum time possible without affecting the quality.

Justine

My reply

I have made enquiries about red clay bricks.At present they are available for delivery at Angamaly at Rs.5.6.But as time passes cost will increase gradually as bricks are manufactured only during Jan Feb in every year.As brick in stock get sold they will keep on increasing cost of brick.

Solid blocks are manufactured using concrete material without reinforcement and hence manufacture goes on through out the year

When we take up construction directly we insists on arranging both material and labour for the structure part up to plastering

After plastering for Electrical,plumbing,Flooring painting wood work etc. we advise the client to buy the right material and arrange labour.In case client entrust the purchase of material at that stage we give the client both technical support and better price due to our contacts

Arranging material through your contacts during structure stage will demand presence of your person who has knowledge of building material and contacts to arrange materials at short notice at site every day as the workers who will be working on rate basis cannot wait for material to come as it suits the person concerned.

If we do not directly involve in construction we will give all detailed drawings for construction(both Architectural and structural engineering drawings) as required at each stage at charges which will be informed to you in a package offer.We will also charge for each of my visit to site for giving instructions to workers and to monitor work.

It is observed by experience that workers not directly engaged by us will not bother much to follow our drawings and instructions properly which will demand more labour costs for them as a labour contractor will always try to reduce labour inputs to save his cost.Quality of construction will only for lip service as his prime motive will be profit and nothing else.

As a reputed professional organisation ,even though we also work for profit,we ensure that the best professional practices and quality standards are ensured in quality of material used and labour practices.

If your relative have simply engaged a labour contractor and arranged material for his house construction( if the relative is not a qualified experienced building professional )the contractor might have misguided him to ensure his profit at cost of quality of construction which will start showing up in years to come.

In case you are very particular about getting work done on labour contract by your relative arranging material,there is no point in taking Engineering Estimate from us as it will have no relevance.If you are not going for Bank loan,a formal estimate from a professional is not required even for bank purpose.

When we take up construction directly we do not charge separately for all architectural/structural engineering drawings required for professional work . My site visits as required for work will also not be charged separately.

Plan of the building is only a starting point of drawings required for the house.Just by using this plan and Elevation no contractor can build house as planned by us as the design is different from usual house construction done by non professional contractors which unfortunately form more than 90% of house construction in Kerala mainly due to ignorance of house owners about need for professional design and monitoring through out construction

There is no such thing as fixed square feet cost of construction.Each contractor does construction in a manner which suits him.His only objective is to make profit.As no two contractor does construction in same manner you can never compare so called "square feet cost" given by contractors.When you construct house without plan from a qualified experienced Architect without using detailed drawings and continuous supervision and instructions from such an expert you are bound to be cheated by the contractor in every manner

No professional body or govt has fixed cost of construction as so much rupees per square feet.Cost of construction for each house will differ from place to place,depending upon design and also depending upon contractor.One contractor may use about 1000 Kg steel for concreting 1000 sft roof of a house.Another may use only 400 Kg of steel.When 400 Kg of steel is used problems will start coming up in the building after some time.I have seen contractors reducing height of house to save money as customer will only bother about square feet plinth area.Every effort will be done to use inferior quality material to increase profit of contractor.He will also try to use short cut methods to reduce labour cost which building owner may not notice.

In short entrusting construction to a contractor on square feet basis is the best way to have the worst built house for you.

If you also do not have the best professional design for the house,you will start noticing defects in design after house is completed.At that stage even the best Architect in the world cannot help you to solve defects in design which you might have obtained at “low cost “and  felt proud of your smartness about it!

Building Materials

Query-1

Dear Sir,

Please suggest as I am planning to lay my flooring,what do you suggest for the entire floor to be tiled with Granite tiles or Vitrified tiles(Which is better and why?).For sit out and stairs I am planning Granite slabs.

Kindly suggest.

Manish

My reply

Granite and marble are out of trend,slippery and costly.You can use much better antiskid tiles of Nitco or Johnson at lesser cost with the latest trendy designs

Query-2

Sir, can i use solid cement blocks 6'x8x12 ''for two storied building construction?is is need support by pillars.local units use chips ,quarry dust and metal sand for making blocks.

Joseph

Query-3

Dear sir,
I would like to build a house with 2 bedroom, living room, kitchen with
attached bathroom. Recently i came to know about a construction
company which provides solid bricks.  Is anything wrong with
building a house with these solid bricks?

My reply

There is no harm in using concrete blocks properly manufactured with proper curing.quality of construction is more important

Building rules ,Real Estate Assistance and guidance

Query-1

I was reading on your website about Legal Verification and Documentation when selling/buying a house. I would like to speak with you in regards to a house my mother is trying to sell in Trivandrum. I currently reside in USA so there is an issue with time difference but I would really like to get more information on the formalities and possibly hiring a lawyer.

My reply

Reply me with specific queries.We have our Real assistance team which can take care of verification of legal documents of properties,preparation of legal documents and follow up with related govt offices.You can expect professional reliable services from us

Sashidharan

Query-2

JUST FOUND YOUR BLOG ON INTERNET , REALLY APPRECIATE YOUR EFFORTS.

SIR I WANT TO KNOW THE DETAILS ON LUXURY TAX , IS IT TRUE THAT ITS RS 2000 PER YEAR PAYING IN ADDITION TO THE BUILDING TAX, (<3000 SQ FT)

SO IS THIS LUXURY TAX ANOUNT FIXED RATE OF 2OOO RS ?

PLZ NEED YOUR OPINION ON THIS.

THOMAS KOSHY

My reply

It will be better to check with concerned official at your local authority office.I do not think it is a big issue in house construction as you seem to get frightened about

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