Monday, March 14, 2011

Queries and replies-House remodeling,construction

REMODELLING OF EXISTING HOUSE

QUOTE

Dear Thomas, I went through your blog and found you are providing advice for the above mentioned subject. I am from Chengannur, exactly Perissery, I want to renew my existing house. My plan is to convert the existing kitchen to modular one, to make a sitting out, to remove the 15 yr old mosaic flooring and to put tiles and other small associated jobs.
 
My main issue is I am not aware of any good contractors who can do this job perfectly and that should worth the money I spend. At present my father and mother are staying in the same house. I hope you can understand my needs, kindly give me advice and reference if available regarding a dependable contractor.
 
Thank you for your valuable time and waiting for the reply.
 
Thanks and regards,
Viju M Varghese.

My reply

All the work indicated by you can be done by us directly  with our expert workers.Best quality material for the work can be arranged from Cochin
If you require an approximate Estimate and my suggestions on the work to be done I can give it after site visit.

SLOPE SUNSHADE OR FLAT SUNSHADE

QUOTE

Dear Sir,

How are you? I got your ID from Facebook.

I am from Koottanad near Pattambi working at Qatar.
My house construction is under progress at native (a small one)
Give me suggestion regarding side concreting after Lintel, whether slop or straight is better. My Engineer given two designs for the roof side concreting. I am sending you the same.

hope you will give valuable suggestion

Santhosh MB
Qatar

My reply

Slope sunshade will give better look to the house.But it should be placed at 255 cm height from ground level of building
If you need i can visit site and give necessary guidance.

FARM HOUSE AT VISHAKHA PATINAM

QUOTE
Hello,

I am planning  to build precast farm house  ( 2 bed room )  in Visakhapatnam please  advise how u can  help me in this issue

Jetti

My reply

For your Vishakhapatnam property we can provide complete design details.For construction you have to engage local contractor.

NEW HOUSE AT KALLOORKAD

QUOTE

Dear Thomas,

My name is Jose Rathappillil, residing in Florida, US. I am thinking of building a home in my ancestral property, which is located at Kalloorkad, Kerala. The kind of house I have in mind is a two storied, traditional with modern amenities, with 8-10 bed rooms & about 5-6000 sft. This house will be situated at the north - eastern corner of a 5 acre property. The home site will have about .75 acres & facing north. This site has road frontage on its northern & eastern sides.

I will be visiting Kerala in early May & would like to meet you & discuss about this project. If you are interested please let me know. I am also attaching a picture of a house which I have found in the news paper.  
Thank you very much.

Sincerely,

Jose Rathappillil

My reply

A house suited to your requirements,plot,vasthu factors environment around your land will have to be specifically designed.In fact there are much better elevations done by us as can be seen from Facebook pictures loaded
Before starting design of the house I would prefer to visit the plot
 
First step in construction of house  is preparation of Basic Plan of the house
Site visit  before preparing plan will be better though plan can be prepared if you can give complete measurements of all four sides of plot, directions of each side and positions of roads near plot.

CHECKING UP PLAN PREPARED

QUOTE

Dear Thomas,
Please see the attached drawing and the plot details.
 
I want to keep the house under 3000Sqft , so there is no car porch ,
The porch is planned to be built later beside the house.
Also, I had wanted all rooms to have good sunlight and air flow.
 
Do you think, the plan is a good one or require changes ?
 
Thanks,
Aji Kumar
Dubai

My reply

Plan require not simply few changes but total revision
Even though drawing quality is good professional design and Vasthu compliance are missing.For a three bed room house,you do not require 3000 sft.By properly redesigning the plan,you can get better design with lesser cost of construction

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Queries and reply

After Feb 22,I could not post earlier due to work load and a bit of laziness.But I have replied to almost every one directly.Here are the queries and replies

SEPTIC TANK

QUOTE

Dear Sir,
 
I am asking this query for my under construction New House,
 
Is it better  to install Custom Made (Cement Ring Type) Septic Tank or I should go for Ready Made Septic Tank (Fiber Type, Branded which are available in the market).
 
What is your opinion ?
 
I would appreciate if you could send me a reply by email.
 
Regards,
Shaji Rawother
Saudi Arabia

My Reply

Just digging and putting concrete rings do not make a septic tank.It can be called as a waste pit and it will not do the work of a septic tank.So you go for either fiber type or Ferro cement septic tanks.

REMODELLING EXISTING HOUSE

QUOTE

Hi
 
I have a 3 bedroom house in Keerthi nagar, deshabhimani road, Cochin in 7.5 cents which was re modified around 4 years back. However I am not happy with the result. Also there are some fresh requirements as below.
 
Scope of the work : I would like to add 1 more bedroom to the existing house, re- do the interiors  and build a attractive unique boutique outlet on the 1st floor with separate entrance.
 
please revert in case you are interested in taking up this Project at a cost effective rate.
 
More details can be provided thereafter

Thanks and regards
 
Jiju Mathew
Doha, Qatar

My reply

House to be remodeled will have to be visited by me first,take measurements,discuss with you on your needs and then I can give you suggestions and a plan of the remodeled house to start working on

NADUMUTTOM HOUSE

QUOTE

Hi Thomas,
I liked your house http://kerala-houseconstruction-sunny.blogspot.com/

I'm working in US and interested to construct similar house at
Kottayam. How much does it cost? Do you have the pictures of
Nadumuttom and surroundings. Please let me know.Regards
Jijo

My reply

Cost of a house depends on location,land conditions,design of the house,features of the house etc. .These and many factors contribute to cost and in Kerala conditions it goes up very fast.You have not even started on design of the house and even if you start construction activities now  house may get completed after about 18 months.By that time technology and trends in addition to input costs will change and hence a professional like me cannot give you a cost figure without any data.
I can design and build your house meeting your requirements and hopes
QUOTE

Hi

Thanks for the response.. I understand that the price vary during
construction. I would like to know how much is the approximate rate as
of today.. I can consider 20% variation on that cost due to inflation
or cost variation.

The reason is i don't want to take a loan to construct it. I don't want
to think unless i know I'm financially good to start constructing it.
So i would appreciate if you can tell me like to how much it required
to construct the property at
http://kerala-houseconstruction-sunny.blogspot.com/ with todays
price..

regards
Jijo

My reply

In the case of house construction you should never wait for construction till you are ready with entire funds.Both land purchase and house construction should be attempted at the earliest possible.Taking loan with interest rate of nearly 8% is better than wait and pay more than 100% in cost escalation.If you go on waiting for land purchase and house construction till you  have sufficient funds,you will never be able to purchase land or construct house.

CHANGE IN BUILDING RULES FOR PANCHAYATH AREA

QUOTE

Panchayat Permit not needed for residential house construction

http://www.townplanning.kerala.gov.in/Pages/pdf/go44_2011.htm

10. Permit not necessary for certain works.- Notwithstanding anything contained in
these rules no building permit shall be necessary for executing the following works which do
not otherwise violate any provisions regarding applicable general building requirements,
structural stability and fire safety requirements of the rules, namely:-


Buildings in Category –II Village Panchayats under Group A1-Residential
occupancy with total built-up area on all floors up to 300 sq.meters (including existing and
proposed within the plot) and number of story's limited to two and all single family
residential buildings.

Buildings in Category –II Village Panchayats under Group A2 and F
occupancies, poultry farms, livestock farms, traditional coir works, handloom units, cashew
processing units, lime kilns, carpentry and smithy units; all of which with total built-up area
on all floors up to 150 sq.meters (including existing and proposed within the plot) and
number of story's limited to two, except those for religious purpose and /or worship.

CONCRETE MIX RATIO AND STEEL REINFORCEMENT

QUOTE

Dear Sir,

I am planning to build a house and I am making an initial estimation
for budgeting in order to make a budgeting idea.

For this, could you advise me on the following ?

1. Concrete Mix Ratio (cement:sand:metal:water) for lintel, sunshade
and first floor slab (I am planning a two-storey villa)
2.Reinforced steel bar dia and approx. qty (in Kg) of steel bar for
one M3 of lintel
3.Reinforced steel bar dia and approx. qty (in Kg) of steel bar for
one M3 of beam (9x12")

Your early reply will be highly appreciated

Haris
Abu Dhabi

My reply

For house construction you need services of an Architect and Structural consultant not only at the beginning to prepare plan of the house.You need continuous drawings,design details ,instructions of professional experts till completion of the house.Without professional involvement and guidance,contractor will do construction in a manner which will give him maximum profit.He will be bothered only about  structure remaining in good condition till he leave the construction site(In some cases that also do not happen)He will misguide you on quality and Engineering standards for his benefit.

Concrete mix ratios and steel reinforcement details can be given only after studying your case details properly.Just like a contractor I cannot give vague ,incorrect answers.

RUNNING IN TO PROBLEMS AFTER STARTING CONSTRUCTION

QUOTE

Respected Sir,


I am NRI.Name Sebastian Fernandez settled in Oman with my family . In India I am settled in cochin and now I am building a new house in Thoppumpady.
Started the work on 16th Jan 2011 .Till now the foundation work has not finished we have only the labour works in contract , we buy the material.In this mail I am sending the house plan  its about 2500 sq.feet and the land is just 5.45 cents we saw in net all your work and we liked  one picture from  photo gallery-gothic style house,till now we have not confirmed the front elevation so we want your help to draw a good front elevation for our house and guidance, supervision ,interior design now my uncle Aloysius is supervising the work but he need some guide like u . 


So I kindly request you to sent me the reply in this mail id for this mail.

regards

Sebastian Fernandez

My reply

House Construction require professional guidance right from beginning to end.Only after visiting site I can comment on your construction so far done.You cannot have any type of Elevation for any house.Elevation is dependent on plan of the house.If you need impressive Elevation,plan will have to be prepared with that intension by the Architect.

PLAN TAKEN FROM A WEBSITE
QUOTE

Dear Thomas
 
We are planning to construct a house in Vallarpadam, its a 9-10 cents plot. We would like to build a low cost 2 storied house with 3 bedrooms. attached is a plan I found in another website. Could you please look into it and let me know your costs (per sq. feet) etc.??
 
Look forward to hearing from you.
 
Regards
Lucy

MY reply

Plan taken from any website may not suit your plot,requirements,Kerala Building rules and Vasthu.To avoid paying an Architect for the plan,if you simply take plan from a website it will make you loose more money.You have to take professional guidance from beginning to end.Your Architect can plan your house in a manner to save your money.