Plan for your house

Preparing plan for your house is not  that simple.Many people think that it is so simple and insist on drawing some lines on their own and telling the Architect to draw the plan as per that sketch.For most of these people Architect is some one who draws plan of the house as directed by the client.Mostly Architect for them is some one who can draw a good Elevation using line sketch prepared by client.

A day back some one from gulf contacted me and asked for my rates for designing plan of the house.After hearing my rates he said,being a Civil Engineer,he can prepare all the drawings by himself and I only have to tell my”square feet rate” for building the house.

Any person whether he is a civil engineer or not  cannot prepare the most appropriate plan for your house.It require more than just five years study in an Engineering College.

First of all the designer should have the ability to visualise the house to be built in the land chosen like a dreamer.So the Designer, first of all should be a dreamer.In Engineering Colleges they do not teach anyone to dream.What they teach is only the craft of how to draw.Creative capability is something which is and cannot be taught anywhere.

Another person (again an Engineer) once wrote me saying that he is well versed in Auto CAD drawing and then sent me a plan of the house drawn in Auto CAD.I said if you have already finalised the plan what should I do? He said-“prepare a good Elevation  for the Plan”.In spite of being  an Engineer he thinks that Elevation is not dependent upon Plan.Finally some how I made him understand that the plan prepared by him need not necessarily be the most appropriate plan for the plot and when I finally prepared the plan after visiting the site,he could understand that any Engineer or any one trained in preparing  AutoCAD drawing cannot  make that all important plan of your house.

See what all inputs I use while preparing a plan for your house.

1.Data obtained by observing your site and surroundings

2.Kerala Building Rules

3.Your requirement details

4.Traditional Kerala Architecture features

5.Modern Architecture inputs

6.Vasthu factors

7.Structural Engineering aspects.

Most important inputs are

1.My creative capability in designing most appropriate house for you

2.Treasure of my experiences in building and designing hundreds of houses in Kerala .

In my opinion even if you take second and third consultation before finalising  plan of the house,it is worth it as Plan of the house is the most important document for your house construction.

A good Architect will be able to discuss with all family members and find out from  them what they really need or dream for the house and make them understand what all among those dreams and needs can be fulfilled in the house within the budget constraints if any.

Designing a house-Different types of houses

There are basically four type of houses in Kerala scenario.

1.Functional House

2.Status symbol house

3.Farm house

4.Luxury house

If you are having few cents of land just sufficient to build your house to meet your basic needs for a house,you will have to think in terms of a functional house.

If you want to construct your house in your native village with sufficient and more land for house construction and if you want the house to be built to establish a new identity of affluence to all those neighbors and local people who till today considered you as a small fly,you have to get a house which will speak loudly for you about your newly acquired financial status.This house can be called as a status symbol house

If you have cultivable large piece of land which can be used for agricultural use and if you simply want to have a farm house to spend your holidays and vacation once in a while ,when you come for a holiday from your job abroad,it can be called as a Farm house where  bare minimum facilities with more emphasis on comfort and convenience rather than on show is required.

Luxury house can be built in towns/cities or even in village areas when money is not your constraint.You need facilities,comforts and splendor to show off to talk of your prime position acquired in society using your hard earned money.House should have all modern facilities to talk of your affluence and to make you feel happy and comfortable about your financial achievements in life

Financial planning for house construction

How much a house will cost?Do I have the money to construct a house? These are questions which come to the mind of any person thinking of building a house

About ten years back if you had with you about Rs.6 lakhs,you could have constructed a 2000 sft house with not less than three bed rooms attached with all the usual common features like Living,dining,sit out,car porch etc.But in 2010 after about ten years you need at least Rs.30 lakhs to complete the same house.I think you will now get a feel of how much increase take place in construction cost in Kerala.

About ten years back,river sand was available freely at price which you cannot even imagine these days.Foundation of building was even filled with river sand ,those days.Now even if you are willing to pay anything ,river sand is almost impossible to get.You have to use crusher sand which nobody was even willing to use about 5 years back.One mason used to be paid Rs.100/- per day about ten years back.Today he will demand nothing less than Rs.500/-..Even then you may not get a mason.So if you plan to construct your house after five years,even with Rs.60 lakhs,you will not be able to construct 2000 sft house.

Look at land prices.About ten years back you could buy one cent of land in Kaloor at Cochin for about Rs.50,000/- Now even if you are willing to pay Rs.15 lakhs per cent you may not get the land.After five years from now unless you are a very rich person you cannot buy land in Cochin and build a house.You will have to think in terms of buying a flat only after five years.

So everyday you delay for buying land or starting construction of house is going to literally push away those dreams forever from you.So the most important golden rule is-Buy that land and start construction immediately with whatever money you have and whatever money you can get from banks as house loan.If you delay or keep the decision pending,you will never be able to construct house.I tell my clients usually to start construction even if you money for foundation only.At least that part will be over.If you do not have money to buy land,banks are willing to give loan for buying land also.Grab opportunity in front of you today.DO NOT WAIT FOR TOMORROW.

Building your dream house in Kerala-How to start

Even though all of us see several houses on our way while moving around state of Kerala,most of us never bother to study or understand how to build a house.Even when your Father constructed house where you now stay,you might have simply not bothered to worry much on how your Father went about building your house.Of course while living in the house,you might have found out many insufficiencies in the house and might have simply dubbed it as carelessness or incapability of your Father.

Building a house is not that simple.After designing nearly thousand houses and building more than 200 houses directly in Kerala state,I am still learning about house construction with every new projects.I come across problems and issues which I never faced earlier and new developments are always thought of and considered while improving on what I did earlier.

I am going to take you through steps from beginning about how one need to go about building your house

Teak wood-use in Kerala house construction

Many people think that there is only a single type for teak wood available in Kerala.But there are so many varieties of it.Depending upon the place where the teak tree grows the nature,quality and finished appearance of teak wood changes.

Just like any other tree, teak also will have better quality of wood if the tree grows in a place where water availability is less.If the water availability is more naturally the tree will grow faster.If you cut the tree ,cross section of it will show an outer ring which is called soft core.This is not good for using in manufacture of wooden items used in house construction.When you cut a tree growing very near to a river or any other water sources or in locations where water is available close to surface of land,that tree will have comparatively more soft core.This soft core normally look nearer to white in colour and hence in Malayalam it is referred as “vella”.This vella or soft core portion will get eaten away by pests as years pass by.Hard core of teak will not be eaten by pests even though hard core of other wood commonly used in Kerala like Anjily or Plavu will be eaten by pests.Reason for this protection of hard core of teak against pests is due to the fact that teak has got lot of oil in the hard core and that is one reason why teak lasts for hundreds of years when used in  any form for house construction.But even this oil get depleted over years and if you use old teak items removed  from old buildings  chances of it lasting again hundred more year is not so good as with passing of years oil in teak wood get reduced and once oil content reduces to low level teak also get deteriorated like any other tree.

I have found Anjily also lasting long as I have found one old house built about 120 years back still having Anjily wood parts remaining strong.But then that Anjily must have been quite old and strong in hard core when used.Many people think that rosewood is stronger than Teak.Even though it is true,as it has more oil content than Teak,it gets damaged fast when it come into contact with cement mortar.That is why rosewood(Eetty) is not used for manufacture of doors and windows for house however rich may be the owner of the house.Eetty(rosewood) is normally used only for furniture, if the person can afford cost as it cost higher than Teak.

Eetty(rosewood) if planted today,can be cut for use only after 120 years as it grows very slowly and will attain sizeable dimensions(normally referred by wood sellers by its diameter)only after about 120 years whereas Teak will attain size suitable for cutting after 60 years.I have planted a teak tree in my plot near Alwaye periyar river about 13 years back.Due to availability of plenty of water in soil ,teak has grown very fast and has acquired a diameter of about 60 inches(a size wood sellers consider decent enough for cutting) but rosewood planted together has not even got one fourth of that diameter even after 13 years.

Teak which is growing in places where water availability is good is called as country teak and do not command good price.When used it tend to get darker over a period of time.But remains almost intact if properly polished.Teak from Nilambur is so good to see especially after polishing as it has got marvelous grains giving the wood excellent design look.I have built a house at Nilambur and used Nilambur teak for the entire work of the house.Second in quality can be Teak available from Konny forest nearer to Pathanamthitta.Most of the Anjily tree is also coming from Erattupetta nearer to Pathanamthitta.

Lot of people use an imported wood called Pingoda which is available through wood sellers at price nearer to that of Anjily.They call it “Cheruteak”just to cheat people who may think that it is a variety of teak.It has nothing to do with teak and these grown in western countries and imported is not suitable to Kerala climate and conditions.

Teak normally available for buying from wood sellers is again imported Burma Teak which is more whiter in appearance with lesser grains and comparatively cheaper.Best teak wood available in Kerala are Kerala Plantation teak and in that Nilambur Teak is superior.

There is a Teak museum in Nilambur worth seeing.It shows different classification details of Teak based on diameter of log like B1,B2 etc and also many details of Teak.Old teak plantations in Nilambur were planted and grown by British people when they were ruling us.

Look at the picture of front side of Teak Museum at Nilambur.

What we can do for you

1. Architectural Services
For building your dream house in Kerala or for building any other type of building, we can design your building by providing you effective guidance and design for
a)Preparation of Plan of the building
b) Elevations both two dimensional and three dimensional
c) Submission drawings to local authority
d) Engineering Estimate specifying cost for each item of work
e)Structural Engineering drawings for execution of the work
f) Detailed architectural drawings for the work
g) Interior design
h)Landscape and exterior work details
i) Site visits as and when required for guidance and supervision
2. Real estate assistance
For purchase of land or building in Kerala, we can provide you the following services:

a) Locating land or building for purchase with the assistance of our Real estate division ( in and around Cochin only).
b)Architectural, structural and legal evaluation of the property to be purchased
c) Verification of title documents of the property by legal experts
d) Documentation of the property purchase
e)Assistance for registration of the property and after registration formalities
f) Periodic maintenance of the property if the property is in and around Cochin
3. Construction of the building
We can take up construction of the building with complete professional care and guidance anywhere in Kerala and outside state(on case to case basis) subject to acceptance of terms and conditions of our construction division directly by using our trained work force, with complete supervision and guidance by our architects and engineers.
4. Vasthu consultancy
We can guide you on Vasthu before developing plan of the house and during construction also.
We can also inspect your existing building for Vasthu compliance and suggest suitable modifications to obtain better Vasthu compliance.
5. Interior design
We have a team of experienced and qualified Interior designers with complete man power and infrastructure to implement interior work with all the goodness of traditional Kerala Architecture and with modern technology and innovations.
6. Remodeling, Interior and furnishing of your existing building
Your existing old building can be made new(renovated) with remodeling, interior modifications and furnishings by our experts
7. Land scaping and other services
Our experts can convert your vacant space into more useful space and enhance its appearance and utility. Land around your house can be converted into more useful space with better appearance and aesthetic look.
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Any other services related to your building also can be referred to us.
We have qualified experts with experience in building more than 200 houses in different parts of Kerala and outside state and we have designed and remodeled much more houses.  
Mail your enquiries for our services to

vhthomas@viruvelil.com
info@viruvelil.com

Or call us

HELP LINE-
00 91 9388701702
00 91 9497736072
00 91 9388701707
00 91 4842536895
00 91 4846571155
Fax-00 91 484 2531671

Kerala Style House Elevation

Look at three dimensional view of house designed by me for an NRI with traditional Kerala Style.If you like this Elevation write me for the Plan and other details to

vhthomas@viruvelil.com