Friday, October 17, 2014

Kerala House Construction: Free Consultation,17,October,2014

For faster response to your queries, please write to

vhthomas@viruvelil.com

You can call me on

9388701702

9388701700

9388701707

House Design

Query-1

Mr.Jos has copied an Elevation shown in our website and wanted a similar house but with different needs

My reply to him is that it will not be wise taking elevations and plans from websites to save cost of design .You may save a few thousands. House construction involves lakhs of your hard earned money and unless you are wise enough to get experienced professional to design and construct your house you may land up in a defective designed house which cannot be corrected at all and you may loose lots of your money simply due to your eagerness to avoid professional design

Query-2

We have 1 acre paddy field 90% already filled, we need to built some houses for sale, what all the things i have to do in the time of foundation, will u please advice me. i am planning to built 800 sft home.

Jayanmon 

My reply

Quite a lot of people think of constructing house as a simple affair which can be done by them if they can find a contractor who can give lowest “square feet cost”

It is not a simple affair. For most of the people it involves almost their entire life savings and practically no house building person is an expert on house design and construction. Acquiring expertise need not only careful technical study but also experiences in designing and building houses especially in Kerala environment where both labour and material are costly with each day adding up cost

It is not within the control of a contractor to reduce cost. Most important cost reduction possible only by appropriate design of house by an expert. He can avoid wastages, cost increases and get you better facilities at lower cost. Contractor reduces cost not for you but for his profit putting quality of construction at risk

Without even getting design of building done, here he is asking about foundation. Foundation design will vary from place to place depending upon soil conditions and also depending upon design of building. Nobody can blindly advise you on foundation without site study and finalisation of house design

Query-3

Came across your highly useful informative write up on Kerala house construction.

Planning for a house please find attached model plan. Few doubts on modifying room sizes.

1, Could we use bed room sizes as 11 x 12 (Master), 11 x 10, 9 x 12 and 10 x 12 with Vaasthu compliance?

Master bed on South West corner in model plan.

Thanks in advance. Hope you are an expert to help us.

Britto

My reply

On quick perusal following defects noticed in your plan

Plan not a professional design

Lots of wastage of space. Adequate ventilation and lighting not available for most of living spaces

Toilets are too narrow with 120 cm width.

Plan is the most important critical part of house design. Do not try to save money on it to loose lakhs of your money and a house which will not give what it can with professional design

As per Vasthu bed room at South east is harmful

Bed room at North east not good for regular use

If you are interested in me designing your house, please let me know

Query-4

I would like to send you my house plan for your comments as soon as possible.

Rajesh

My reply

On quick perusal of plan, following are defects noticed

As per Vasthu, toilets at North east, South west corners are harmful

Kitchen at South east(Agni Konam) is better .North east is Easana Konam ideal for Pooja.As the house is facing East it is better to provide Kitchen at North West

Dining room is completely dark with no light or ventilation

In modern kitchens with modular Kitchen Store is a waste of space. Second kitchen is also dark with no light or ventilation

I have checked only ground floor plan which itself have several serious defects

Plan of the house is the most important critical part of house design .Do not try to get it done by some one who simply know Auto Cad drawing only

If you want me to design house, please let me know

Query-5

I am one of your website follower. My name is Arun Mathew, I have just started construction of my house (foundation & basement completed), it is 2900 Sqft and my budget was 60 lakhs, however my builder has given an approximate estimate which is coming around 88 Lakhs, which is of course based on the specifications I demanded (materials, brands etc).

I believe I can cut the cost considerably if I get a professional advice and review of the material quantity quoted by the contractor. Therefore I request your service to review the Estimate and advise me of cost savings wherever possible. Would you please review the BOQ if I send and I will be more than happy to pay your fees

My reply

There is no generally accepted material, quality and engineering specifications when a nonprofessional contractor builds a house. His objective is simply to make maximum profit and all his talk of quality will be only to please your ears and nothing more than that

No two contractors build a house in similar manner and hence rates of one contractor cannot be compared with that of another contractor

Only method of ensuring quality of work and saving money without compromising quality is to have an experienced building professional who will not take money from contractor and will ensure professionally acceptable design, engineering standards and quality of work

You do not seem to have taken professional assistance from design stage and simply believed false promises of the contractor

All that I can do now is to visit the site and assess work done and give suggestions on future work to obtain better utility and to save your money on future work.

DISCLAIMER:

The information contained in this blog/website is purely advises by Thomas Viruvelil/Viruvelil Group on building design and construction in Kerala. Those who follow these advices without active involvement, guidance and close monitoring by Thomas Viruvelil or those assigned by him do so at their own risk and responsibility. Thomas Viruvelil will not be held responsible in any manner for losses/damages arising out of such use of information from this blog/website.

Any dissemination, use, review, distribution, printing or copying of this message in whole or in part is strictly prohibited. Viruvelil Group of Companies or Thomas Viruvelil do not accept responsibility for loss or damage arising from the use of the information which may be creative work/technical data (which are solely owned by us and protected by copy right acts) without our consent/involvement and guidance..

Thursday, October 2, 2014

Kerala House Construction-Free Consultation:03,October,2014

For faster response to your queries on house design and construction in Kerala and even outside,write to

vhthomas@viruvelil.com

Or call me on

9388701702

9388701700

9388701707

Thomas Viruvelil

Few house Elevations

1.Four bed room house for client at Ettumanoor,Kottayam

ajaykumar-01-01-13

2.Three bed house for client at Kottayam

benny thomas-22-07-11 copy

3.Four bed house for client at Thoppumpady ,Cochin

frazer antony-30-07-11 copy

4.4000 sft house for client at Adoor

jacob thomas-22-04-10

5.Three bed 2000 sft house for client at Palghat

MURUGADAS-14-11-12

6.Four bed house for client at Haripad

roy john-18-06-12

7.1400 sft 4 bed house in 3.5 cents land at Edappally,Cochin

seetha-24-11-12

8.3500 sft house for client at Cherthala

Tomi thomas-12-04-10

Cost of construction

Query-1

My name is Mahesh, from Kannur.

I would like to construct a house of 2500 sft

Can you please advice how much budget should I consider for the subject house

with granite flooring including a semi luxurious interiors.

My reply

Most of the mails I get and telephone enquiries I get ask me the same question;”What will be the cost of house which I am planning to construct?”

Is house construction that simple for any one to answer this question? If I ask you what will be cost of 1 Kg of rice after one year will any one can answer me?

Any house construction normally will take not less than one year.Hundreds of materials are used in house construction.All of us know cost of these materials will only go up in Kerala conditions during this period.

Labour is difficult to get for any type of work in Kerala even though govt statistics still talk of unemployment and govt funds are wasted as unemployment wages to be used by those who get it for alcohol.

Again technology and trends change a lot in house construction with each day coming.

Then why non professional contractors always quote a square feet cost of construction? It is simply because that is the only way of getting work from you.Have you ever thought of the fact that these non professional contractors who do not know anything about Architecture or structural engineering follow strictly engineering standards and quality? Not at all.They build as they please simply to make profit.Do one contractor build exactly in same manner as the other? Not at all.Then how can there be a uniform square feet cost applicable any where irrespective of site ,soil conditions and design? This talk of square feet cost is simply a lie to cheat house owner who think of himself as smart if he find a contractor who promise to build at lowest square feet cost

Have you ever checked whether these contractors complete house construction with quoted amount? Will they give you exact square feet area? Answer for both these questions is a simple No

For cost reduction,what you need is not a contractor who quote lowest square feet rate.You need a qualified experienced professional in building construction.Tell him your budget restrictions if any.He will design the house in such a manner so that you will be able to complete construction with quality,better utility for space inside house.Just getting a drawing from him will not be enough.Let him continuously monitor your house construction with engineering drawings for each stage of construction and proper supervision to ensure that your contractor build as per Architecture and Engineering specifications

Lot of people think an Architect is required only to give a better appearance for your house.It is wrong.You need him from beginning to end of house construction to get better value for money and to save lakhs of your money in house construction

DISCLAIMER:

The information contained in this blog/website is confidential and may be privileged. Any dissemination, use, review, distribution, printing or copying of this message in whole or in part is strictly prohibited. We do not accept responsibility for loss or damage arising from the use of the information which may be creative work/technical data (which are solely owned by us and protected by copy right acts) without our consent/involvement and guidance. VIRUVELIL Group of Companies and Thomas Viruvelil as a person will not be responsible in any manner for use of information.advise/technical data given by this website without close supervision and guidance by the originator of such data/message/advise