Monday, August 12, 2013

Free Consultation:29,July,2013

Design of house

Query-1

While searching building construction details in net I have seen your website and would like to take an opportunity to ask your advise for our new house construction.

My name is Nizzar .I am planning to build a new house and basic lay out is made by a relative.Its attached here with.Its facing to north side where a panchayath road is passing.Land is muddy and people saying piling may be required even we planned to build in single story.

Kindly look in to the plan and advise .What are the things to be considered before starting the house.I am planning to give a turn key contract once design finalised.

I may be required your assistance to develop a interior design for this house.I am working abroad and don't know even much more to ask.So kindly advise in details.

Nizzar.

My reply

Getting the most appropriate plan of the house is the most critical aspect of designing  and building a house.A Plan made by a relative need not be that good.Plan attached by you is  not good in every aspects.For developing a good plan,apart from professional qualifications,wealth of experience gained by designing and building houses in our land is essential and that cannot be foregone just to keep a relative happy.In most cases house is the most important investment in life of a person.Lakhs of your hard earned money cannot be wasted simply to keep a relative or friend happy.

We can revise the plan or rather prepare a fresh plan for your house,provide complete detailed drawings and instructions from beginning to end of construction

Query-2

Sir
I am going to buy an apartment in Calicut...it is under construction and floor plan can be changed... Can you help me to arrange the rooms in proper position if i send my floor plan to you?
Binish

My reply

Yes.Send your existing floor plan in pdf format.

 

Vasthu aspects

Query-1

I have a plot, that approach road(only to my plot) around 180 ft. long ending at north side of northeast corner. Also northeast corner degree is 110 deg. ( that can be corrected if required). pls.give your reply

Rajesh

My reply

Plot at the  end of  a road is not auspicious as per Vasthu.If you can ,try to avoid building your house there

Architectural guidance

Query-1

sir

I am a third year student of Architecture from Nagpur.Content in your mail helped me a lot in my project...

I wanted to know some of the modern buildings in Kerala which are climate responsive...or traditional features of Kerala architecture are very well depicted in it .

Waiting for your reply sir

Shraddha

My reply

Climate plays an important role in designing of dwelling house.Architecture of the land takes inputs from climate,terrain and living habits of people in the area.Kerala has south west monsoon starting in June going up to June with continuous rains.Also,another spell of rains starting in October.This call for sunshades  around the building above window level,preferably slope sunshades.Continuous rains is the reason why Kerala Architecture preferred to have slope roofs with clay tiles on top of it.Clay tiles reduces heat inside house.More windows provide better lighting and ventilation and make living more comfortable in humid atmospheric conditions of Kerala summer

Remodeling of house

Query

Hi Sir,

I have gone through some of your blogs and tips and thought it is ideal to seek guidance from you for my needs.

My house is near Tripunithura and my primary aim is to get professional help in modifying / beautifying (of course to know the possibilities too) my house and to get the estimate for the same. It's a 3 bedroom , two storey house and I would like to add a study and upper living room to it plus interiors.  

I'm not sure if you or your company take up such low budget work  :) It would be great you do ! 

Praveen

My reply

Without visiting the house, no one can give an estimated cost of modification. Square feet area of construction will not give you exact cost prediction. It has no technical basis even though  non professional contractors work on that basis to get business as they have no other choice

We can take up Interior work. We have complete man power and capability for taking up all type of work related to house. Here again, I can comment on possibility of we taking up work only after a site visit .If you have limited budget, you will have to select more essential items of work to get the work done within the budget.

Remodeling/Extension of a house can be attempted only after you get the house inspected by a professional Architect and discuss with him on your requirements of modifications,additions.In most cases,remodeling work will be costlier than the estimates you get as it will be practically difficult to estimate cost involved correctly.As you dismantle portions of old building,new problems and defects in earlier construction will come out and rectifying such problems can push your budget up!

Query-2

Dear Mr. Thomas,

I got your reference, while doing a bit of R&D on house construction in Kerala and found blog to be absolutely informative. I recently bought a plot with an under construction house and I am planning to complete the construction.

Attached herewith is the layout and the current pictures of the house. Looking at the layout itself, I could make out that the house is not designed by a professional architect, which turned out to be true. In any case, I cannot complaint about it, since I knew about it before buying the house.

I would like to engage your service hereon in completing the house, including construction, tiling, plastering etc.

Pramod

My reply

We can take up balance work on the house including following type of works:

You need advice and guidance of a qualified and experienced person to know various options available to you, latest trends and ways and means to decrease cost while improving utility and appearance of the building.

Look at some of the pending works

1. Putty finish for walls and painting

2. Flooring and toilet wall/floor tile laying with latest trend designs/patterns

3. Plumbing and sanitary works

4. Electrical wiring and fittings

5. Interior woodwork like modular Kitchen, cupboards and Interior lay out design

6. Furniture work with woodcarving

8. Land scape design, arrangements and much more

To assess work already done in the house and to suggest/advise on pending works to be done I would like to visit your site.

After the  site visit, we will give our suggestions on work to be done, modifications possible and Estimate for pending works to be done. If our proposals are accepted, we can take up balance work using expert workers from Cochin

Construction of house

Query-1

Respected Sir,

my proposed house is 1800 sq. ft. ground floor 1200 sq. ft. and first floor 600 sq. ft.

i need some advice on roof. how much mm tore steel and concrete overlay is needed

for ground floor to accommodate a first floor and and how much it will cost per square feet.

John

My reply

Engaging work of construction of your house to a contractor who have no professional qualifications or expertise, will land you in trouble

When you engage work on square feet cost basis to a contractor you fail to understand following facts:

1.No two contractor will do construction work in the same manner with same quality standards. In fact they simply do not bother about quality of construction or professional correctness of the work

2.Primary object of a contractor is to gain maximum profit within the agreed cost figure agreed. Price increase of input materials and labour during construction period will reduce his profit margin and to save his margins he will have to compromise on quality of construction

3.Contractor do not know professional specifications of work involved, engineering standards and  even on structural engineering aspects which deals with reinforcement required for beams, columns and roof slab

Only option before you is to have continuous monitoring of construction work by a qualified experienced professional who will give detailed Architectural/structural drawings for each stage of construction and occasional site visits to ensure that drawings and instructions of work are followed correctly by the contractor

We can take up such consultancy work for your house construction. If interested, we can give our terms for such work. Please let me know location of your site

Query-2

Individual Villa or gated community Villa

Dear Mr. .Thomas Viruvelil,

When I searched for the plots two options were available

1, individual plots

2,Gated /walled community type plots of developers 

Which one is better?

Please give your valuable opinion

Dr.Geevus

My reply

Both individual villa and gated community villas have got advantages and disadvantages.Gated community provides common facilities provided by developer like community hall,park,swimming pool,gym etc. and gives security for the residential villas in the colony.

Disadvantage mainly is that the Villa will be practically constructed without much quality checks as most of the builders act like a marketing office subcontracting entire work to agencies who are not answerable either to ultimate user of the house or even to the builder as they simply do not bother about quality of construction.In addition such villas are usually over priced as clients without patience to buy plot and construct villa will be using this gated community facility.

Even when you build independent villa in any part of Kerala,there will be a residential association or neighbour hood group who try to help each other by joint community activities.

By buying plot suited to you ,designing house as per your needs with professional guidance and constructing house by taking assistance from professional agencies,you will get better value for your money, lesser cost and better quality construction

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