Many staying abroad have an aspiration to come back to India eventually to their own dream home. They set out this task in one of the several ways.
1. They have a plot of land that they have inherited or invested earlier.
2. They invest with a builder who develops the community for them and allows them to build their own property.
3. They invest in a readymade or ready to build villa or a row house that is closest to their requirement.
We are discussing here about the first two scenarios. So what are the few things that you need to keep in mind when you want to build without the availability of your physical presence? How do you go about the herculean task of building with minising delays? What to compromise and what not?
While building a house is always going to be an intensive effort these follow pointers may help you cross this hurdle a little easier.
Location
If you have not yet invested in the land, then doing some research on the location will go a long way. While you definitely need to see your convenience & budget, you will need to keep other parameters in mind like the connectivity of the site to the other parts of the city, how easy or tough it is to source material and labour. Because these are some reasons that the contractor will give you for the delay in work.
Team
Having a well coordinated team to see through your project is a very important investment that you need to make. Starting from who is designing your house (Architect) to how strong an execution team (Civil contractor) you employ goes a long way in a smooth progress. Get references of their previous works if required, check how responsive they have been with other clients. This will give you an idea how updated you will be during the progress.
Make your own team
You may think it is an additional expenditure, but having an engineer to monitor the progress on your behalf(payroll) is a huge benefit when you are not physically available. While an Architect or the contractor may provide you with regular updates, your engineer at site, monitoring everyday work is happening as per the schedule committed by the contractor will definitely minimize any delays or concerns. This investment will definitely have a payback in the form of the shorter project duration and better quality of materials and finishing's.
Finalize your design
While you maybe tempted to get a head start on the construction with a misconceived notion of saving time, you may in reality end up delaying the progress if you haven't finalized your design before you start. By design, I mean the detailed planning and the massing/form/3d of the building. So conclude your design with your architect and arrive at the final figures before you start the execution.
Item rate or square foot rate?
The contract you make with the civil team for execution can depend on two payment terms. If you (and your Architect) can make a detailed bill of materials and quantities and arrive at the rate for each item, then you can opt for the item-wise contract wherein for every item of execution will be paid individually. For instance, the masonry walls of 8", 6" & 4" thick will each be an item and so will be wall, ceiling, external & internal plastering - to state a few examples. As per the quantity executed, the payment will be made periodically to the contractor. This is workable when you can afford to micromanage the project. The second option is the square foot rate contract wherein you decide the overall specifications for the building and then pay the contractor by the square footage of built space. This works when you have largely finalized the civil work materials and have a reliable team to execute.
Keeping all these parameters in mind while setting out to build will make it a smoother journey in making your dream a reality.
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