Difference between custom built house construction and commercial building projects

Designing as per your requirements and constructing a house in your land is not exactly similar to buying an apartment or villa from a builder. In the case of buying a house from a builder you have no say or control on the following
1. Design of the house
2. Structural design for the building
3. Quality control on construction
4. Price of the finished product
5. Specifications of all input materials, items used for construction
6. Payment schedules
For any such builder who offers an apartment or villa, all specifications including detailed bill of materials are available with him. Just like any other manufacturer he prices his product with margins as high as 50 % to even up to 200% or more against his input costs which are under his control to a great extent as he is not liable to be cross checked or inspected for any aspects of construction till finish of project with specifications already frozen by the builder and accepted by buyer. In most of the cases builder gets more than adequate advance of funds from the buyer. A buyer who books the apartment or villa before commencement of construction gets a price less than the price which a buyer on completion of project is offering. That does not mean that the buyer before construction gets price with very low margin to the builder. Builder in turn gets much higher margin from buyer approaching him on completion or nearing completion stage of the project.
In situation where the demand for the house is in excess of construction projects available, naturally the margin of the builder goes up. This enhancement of margin is treated as price increase by the buyers when actually there need not necessarily be a cost increase in inputs of construction. Another point to be noted here is that almost all builders form a cartel just like any other organized business sector so that price levels are kept at a higher level to maximize profit for that class of builders or business group
In India there is not exactly an economic recession. May be there is an economic growth slow down with GDP growth coming down from 9% to as low as 6%.This economic slowdown has not produced any price reduction in the case of cost of inputs to any industry. Huge margins of business segments operating with cartelized pricing has come down as a result of lesser demand for their products and services. That does not mean that basic prices for construction inputs have come down. In fact basic raw material and labour costs are always gradually increasing with time.
When we take up construction of your house, we are not acting like a usual builder of apartments or villas.
We design your house specifically for your plot considering its peculiarities and specific features and your requirements to the extent possible considering limitations of plot, architectural, structural and Vasthu constraints.
Estimate we prepare is based on the available data considering present basic input costs. Unlike usual builders we are not operating with frozen design and specifications. Design parameters and specifications can be changed by mutual discussions and as per professional suggestions from our side to improve quality, utilty and better appearance and finish of the house at any stage. Initial estimate prepared may not have considered many aspects like details of exact specifications works after completion of structural work like Electrical, plumbing, flooring, painting, interior wood work, landscape work, compound wall work etc.Initial estimate simply gives you an indication of cost that can be expected based on data available prior to construction.
Basic input costs for construction can go up or come down depending upon market conditions (These market conditions are not cartel pricing changes by a small business community) During one year or more required for completion of the house basic input costs can vary and therefore even rates indicated by us in initial estimate for various items of construction can also change.
In clearer terms you are actually acting as a manufacturer of the house with complete freedom to suitably modify specifications for construction of the house at every stage of construction. Unlike a builder in the building business class, we ensure that every design details are fully correct and the best possible without limiting or compromising to bring down input costs to maximize profit.Infact unit costs for each item in the construction indicated in the estimate has not considered not more than 10% margin for our work. Unlike a commercial builder operating with huge margins, we may not be able to absorb input cost increases and increase or decrease in input costs will have to be passed on to you. This is precisely why we give stage estimates prior to each stage of construction which are binding on us for the billing to take place immediately after that particular stage of construction.
A commercial builder can give a square feet cost for construction as he is operating with frozen specifications and quality not counter checked even by his customer and margin of operation known only to him protected by his competitors due to cartel pricing. In reality if you look at cost of building construction on the basis of input costs, there is no meaning for the term, square feet cost. For details on this you can refer to my blog entry on square feet cost
Initial estimate given naturally cannot correctly quantify or assess data for finishing work for a custom built house .Data for these will be available at that stage based on our mutual discussions and finalisation considering also your funds availability at that stage
Contractors do not give an almost realistic costing indication to the prospective client in the beginning as the client is likely to seek alternative arrangements thinking that the cost indication is high. Alternate contractor will also try to mislead the potential customer with less cost indication in the beginning as the client will have no other option other than sticking to the contractor after commencement of work and realizing the fact that no builder or contractor is insulated from varying basic cost inputs except when quality of construction can be compromised.

Buying land in Kerala for house construction

When you want to buy land in Kerala for the purpose of constructing a house, several aspects has to be considered and verified before you make a decision on land purchase
1. Technical aspects
First of all, try to buy original land without any filling during the last ten years. Construction cost especially foundation cost can go high with concrete piling even for two storied building if you buy filled up land which was originally marshy land with clay . When you buy land in Cochin most places of Cochin are filled up land without even a trace of sand for several meters depth
Plot should have free access to road with at least seven feet width and preferably not less than 10 feet width. If you buy land without road wide enough for easy passage of truck, transporting construction materials to site will become very costly
As per building rules you have to leave 3M from front road and from sides 1 or 1.2 M if the side of the plot does not have any road or even private passage. In the case of passages ending with dead end coming in sides, you will have to leave minimum 2 M in that side. Otherwise for a regular road on sides, you will have to again leave 3M on the sides also. Thus a plot having roads on all sides will have much less space for building when you have to comply with Kerala Building rules. In the case of a normal two storied building you will have to leave 1.5 M on the rear side also
Plot should preferably have larger length in the side where it faces road. Do not simply go by area of the land usually referred in Kerala as cents. One cent is an area of the land which is equal to 435 square feet. A plot with lesser dimension in the side facing road with larger depth will be inconvenient for construction of the house and due to lesser frontage your Architect will not be able to design a house with better front appearance for such a plot
A plot should preferably have not less than 12 M frontage for small plots. But for bigger plots frontage length of about 25 M will be better. Even though too much depth will not be of much use, for smaller plots again 12 to 15M depth is preferred when you have an almost equal or nearer frontage length. For bigger plots again depth of about 20 M is preferred
You have to check up with local authority whether the plot is included in any of the government schemes. If so you may not get building permit after buying the land for construction of house
As you may not be fully aware of all aspects it is better to get the plot inspected by a technically qualified person experienced in construction of houses before you decide to buy the plot
2. Vasthu aspects
As per Vasthu plot with road facing the following directions in that order is best suited for construction of house
1. East
2. North
3. West
4. South
However Vasthu stipulates ideal positions for rooms for houses facing each direction. Even for house s facing south, there is no problems expected if you follow instructions for South facing house as per Vasthu while preparing Plan of the house by properly placing each type of room of the house
You should avoid buying plot where a road or passage ends. This plot is expected to bring all sorts of problems and misery to those who live there
There are several other aspects to be considered as Per Vasthu before you buy a plot of land. Hence it is better to get the land inspected by a Vasthu consultant before you decide to buy the plot
3. Legal aspects
You have to get all documents related to the land verified by a lawyer experienced in civil cases. The following documents will have to be obtained in original before making payment for the land in addition to what additional documents a lawyer may call for after examining documents related to the land which you plan to buy
1. Original deed
2. Original previous deed if the property was not divided earlier and copy of previous deed if the property was divided prior to earlier transaction
3. Land tax receipt in the name of seller issued by concerned Village office
4. Possession certificate issued by concerned village Office in the name of seller
5. Location certificate issued by concerned Village office in the name of seller
6. Non encumbrance certificate for 14 years issued by concerned Registrar office
You will also have to get services of a reliable document writer for carrying out all formalities related to purchase of property. If you can get the services of a professional agency like ours who will arrange and coordinate all the above by various agencies together, it will be better and less troublesome for you as a buyer of land

Elite citizens protected from laws of land

If you happen to become a minister in any of Indian state governments or central government or even if you are a government employee, during your period of employment or period of being minister you can do any illegal activity. You will never be prosecuted for your crimes.

Our law makers have made such laws that if ex ministers and government officials do not voluntarily agree to be charge sheeted and proceeded against, nobody can do anything against them whatever may be their crime,as they can easily prevent specific permission from the ministry in power

Look at the now infamous Pinaray Vijayan case. Present advocate general has appeared for him to oppose CBI enquiry against SNC lavlin looting case. Somehow court did not show kindness to agree to his escape efforts. After the CBI enquiry, same man was asked to give his opinion whether CBI should proceed against culprits including his present and previous boss. Naturally he did not feel it necessary to proceed against culprits in the case who were govt servants and minister while committing the crime. Now government of Pinaray Vijayan cannot think differently and the case is being dumped due to the silly reason that there are two laws in this country for ordinary citizens and these elite officials and ministers. While being ministers or officials they can do any crime or looting and unless they agree to be proceeded against, law cannot do anything against them

I wonder why UDF leaders who call Harthal only for torturing common man did not think of changing this ridiculous law while being in power at centre for so many years. Why these looters get this ridiculous benefit of sanction from them to proceed against them legally? Why common man in this so called democratic country do not rise to revolt against this unjustifiable discriminatory rule which protects ministers and govt employees for doing any looting or crime?

Law will never catch our politicians

Advocate General of the state of Kerala is a political appointee for the period of the ruling government. He is normally an experienced senior advocate chosen for the post considering his knowledge, experience, loyalty and attachment to the ruling party. His job is mainly to advise government on legal matters and act as head of an army of lawyers to represent govt in court cases. Hence it was not surprising when he delayed legal advice on SNC Lavlin case for more than three months so that Election will be over. After the voting for Election in the state, he again took about one month to give his advice as expected. Nobody can expect him to advice to proceed against his party boss, Pinaray Vijayan whatever he might have done by exercising his legitimate right to loot the country during his period as minister of the state.
Several earlier ministers like K. Karunakaran, R.Balakrishna Pillai,C.V.Padmarajan and T.M.Jacob have all escaped being caught and punished for corruption while being in office. If not for doing corruption and amassing wealth why these capable persons come to politics instead of taking up much difficult jobs in their earnest effort to becoming extremely rich ?
Look at what happened in SNC Lavlin case. It is not Pinaray Vijayan who found SNC Lavlin Company based at Canada to do renovation work for old Electrical power generation houses. It is another minister in opposing camp of UDF who brought SNC Lavlin to Kerala. But the poor fellow lost power by the time he could do anything to make money by playing with SNC Lavlin. So naturally Pinaray Vijayan used the golden opportunity gifted to him by the opposition camp.Trichy based public sector Bharath Heavy Electricals Limited has offered to do the renovation works for those old power generation houses at a meager Rs.100 crores.CPM party committee headed by dead and gone E.Balanandan has recommended to accept offer of BHEL.Then SNC Lavlin has given a counter offer of Rs.347 crores for the same work. Naturally the work has to go to SNC Lavlin as BHEL cannot give any kickbacks being an Indian public sector company. Now I can predict one thing quite confidently even though I am not an astrologer. Pinaray Vijayan will happily have the last laugh just like our old Rajiv Gandhi laughed away Bofors bribe case and even his Italian benami Mr.Quttrochy is now freed by CBI as an innocent.
When you are a politician you can only be an innocent whatever you may do. Opposing CPM ruled state of Kerala when Kunjalikutty of Muslim League was caught in a sex scandal. In spite of their public outcry against each other politicians see to it that people belonging to their tribe ruling or opposition never get caught in any cases of looting or other scandals. So they can do all these laughing loudly with the firm belief that in spite of verbal opposition and outcry to mislead general public, they will help each other to ensure that the holy politicians never get caught for any wrong doing.
May be that is why all big criminals try to enter politics to continue their criminal deeds with impunity