Variances should I worry - Build and Make Part 6

After a long break I am back on the series .. Take a look at previous posts of this series
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5

In this post let's see the options of tracking and controlling the project of building your house.
There are several things you need to track as construction is started. For anything to be tracked we need to have some baselines. So first thing is establish the baseline with your builder as well as your Architect. Am I sounding too technical here. Yes! may be, but things to do are very practical and needs basic common sense. No big deal!

Following are the areas you need to establish the baselines

1. Time lines
2. Cost
3. Quality

Talk to builder and architect and come up with high level schedule. Define few stages. Like Foundation, Lintel, Roof, Flooring, Plastering, Painting, Interiors etc.. Ask them whats the best shot and worst case when these can be achieved in terms of time lines. And map it with your and your and your family's expectation. This is your schedule baseline. Most of the project dont have this. If your builder can not give this, its ok. Not mandatory, unlike cost baseline.

On cost, its a little different and more stringent. Depending on the type of contract with the builder (Discussed in Part 3 ) he should provide cost estimate per item or per square or per labour. It needs to be agreed by all the parties upfront to avoid any conflicts later. The agreed cost estimate would be the cost baseline for your tracking.

Calculating the variances:
You being the sponsor/owner of the project it your responsibility to have eagle eye on the project. You dont need to do micro management if you had given for full contract, but still it is needed that you know where it stands in terms of Time, Cost and Quality (However, it's not so easy to perform quality checks by you alone, you architect might pitch in for help).

For time, you have review your baselines where you builder had committed to finish stages in certain time. Review the same and see if he could achieve the same. If not see if there were any change in plans or he is really stuck in getting things done. You need to talk to your builder highlighting the slippage. BUT
Maintainign time lines in construction area is not as same as Software or any other area. Your builder tend to slip the timelines. If it is really ok to you, and time is not that you are looking for, DO NOT make a big mess for this. Just inform that he is slipping and get more practical date and update the baseline. Pressurising builder usually have adverse effect on your cost and quality. What you need is a good home, you can wait for a while for the same :). If work has really stopped and you observe no labourers working, you can make it a scene :)

When it comes to cost, I suggest you to be little stringent in tracking. Review the bills provided by builder/ architect yourself for any errors and correct it then and there itself. You should not wait for final settlement. Most of the times you may have to make payments in advance even before work is done. It's ok to do that. But once the next bill is raised, adjust the advance payments. DOCUMENT all the payments made and bills provide separately. It will help you to consolidate later. Also document any corrections to be made if not done immidiately.

If you are overpaid, talk to builder and explain that you have overpaid as per estimate provided by him and you can make next payment after some stage is completed. Always measure the payment with respect to work done rather than with respect to time consumed. This was you are benifited.

Bottom line:

Overshooting Cost: you are overshooting budget by 5 to 8 % its OK. Dont worry. We all overshoot :). But make sure you get what you have paid for. Anything beyond 10% is a RED flag.

Overshooting schedule: Dont not worry too much. Make sure they progress and not stuck

600 Comments to my Photoblog

Thanks to all friends and co bloggers for commenting and supporting me.. I started my blog in Aug 2008.

Capturing Autumn

Capturing Autumn
Originally uploaded by Karthik C S

Leaves Weaved

Leaves Weaved
Originally uploaded by Karthik C S

Captured during drive back from Tirupathi.. Near Chittoor

Where things can go wrong - Build and Make Part 5

Hello folks,
Welcome back for Build and Make series, an experience sharing posts for home makers.

Link to the prequels
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

You have an architect, you have planned everything with him. You have short listed a builder who has done miraculously great job before. So you think there can be nothing to go wrong. There can be many stages/ situations where things can go wrong. So be cautious and alert and monitor.

1. Make sure that communication is established properly.
   * Avoid phone meetings
   * Giving instructions over phone.
   * Make sure your builder has understood the drawing provided
   * Make sure builder and architect are in touch instead you being the interface between them, after all you are a layman
   * Make sure that only final versions are given to the builder. There are lot of chances that multiple versions of the same drawings are released due to changes/ corrections
   * Always have a copy of drawing with you. I am sure your laborers or contractor himself might lose or carry old versions of the drawings
   
2. Make sure that thorough quality check is made by the supervisor/ builder/ architect at time to time.
   * This should be enforced by you and also make sure that they are doing at right time.
   * Should be done at all various stages like - After marking has been done for earth excavation, Plinth, one course brick work, Lintel, during roof, during plastering, during flooring, After marking of the electrical points and conduit, water points and conduit,
   * Ask questions thinking they have not done quality checks. Be pessimistic, to find as many defects as possible at the early stages. It saves you time and money
   * During roof, if concrete is prepared with a mixer machine, make sure that you know the ratio and you count number of bowls sand/ cement/ jelly mixture. It is always better. It's not that you are not trusting builder, it is just to make sure that no human error happens. If it is RMC (Ready Mix Concrete) Make sure that you get have computer reports for mixture which was loaded in the vehicle.
   * Be aware that you can perform lab tests for concrete which tells you the accurate strength.
   
3. Think many steps ahead as in the chess game
   * Always think ahead, think big picture during execution
   * Think if certain work happening is going to spoil something later, is going to have a problem to something else.
   
4. Set the expectations with Architect/ Builder with respect to your schedule. When you need your home ready.
   * Don't surprise them by saying you need it in 6 months. More the time they have neater the work they do.
   * By hurrying things, your schedule may be met, but not the cost and quality. So be informed and keep all stake holders informed
   
5. Review your electrical and plumbing drawing with electrician / plumber at site
   * Civil work is usually done without much problems by the builder. There is not many inputs that you might have to give to the masons. But its electrical/ plumbing you need to review all switch points, taps, think about 2 ways needed, out lets you need, traps you need. You might have discussed the same with Architect offline. But when u are in the site, you might get more ideas and you will have accuracy.
   
6. Always think that your masons, carpenters, electricians, plumbers are not co-coordinating their work
   * There are hundreds of scenarios where there should be absolute coordination between these folks and please don't assume they will always coordinate. They always think about their job. They don't have big picture. Your supervisor/ builder should have it. But make sure that they are coordinating in time. Otherwise raise flag.
   * There is usually trade-offs between schedule and coordination. :)
   
7. Make sure one's work is not spoiling others'
   * Usually there will be delicate items, make sure they are properly protected or covered. May be the flooring, fittings etc. Masonry work may spoil them. You can protect granite / marble with POP, and cover plumbing/ electrical/ wood fittings with covers/ tarpaulins etc. May be you can instruct carpenter to put a ply wood sheet where ever he is working. May be you can instruct painter to put a soft bush to the stool he is using.
   
   
   

Recent updates in my life - Grihapravesha

Wow.. Its done.. I had been constructing my house from past one year and I just completed house warming last Wednesday. What an experience. What a relaxation now.

We started planning in Nov 2008 ; did Bhoomi pooja on 5th Feb 2009; House warming was on 3rd Feb 2010. I can say we have taken almost a year to complete the project. It was a looong way during construction of our sweet home, dream home. We have really spent a lot of time energy thought process to make it happen.

Now its all done but the interiors. I would take this opertunity to thank each one of them who have helped in making our sweet home.

I have learnt a lot during constructing it. I dont want to use the words "Build" or "Construct", rather I would prefer "Make". Homes are Made, rather built I think!! I have started a series to share those learning. Hope it helps some one.

Series of Build and Make

I would share you the Photo Album of my friends who helped in capturing the House Warming function. Please have a look..

MS Anil's Album

Gauthama's Album

Services Architects offer - Build and Make Part 4

This is the fourth post of the series.. You can access the previous ones by clicking links below

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

There are many services that an architect can offer to you. I think few are on-demand and few you can customize as per your requirement. Let me list down services my architect rendered.

1. Preparing Concepts - It's nothing but your house plan. What comes where, which materials to use, and all other details
   
2. Providing SOQ (Schedule of Quantities ) - Providing list of things to be done with quantities. For example - 900 cft of brick wall masonary, 1200 Sft of plastering with 1:4 mixture sponge finish, 1000 Sft of flooring with granite etc
3. Checking the quality of the work being done - This is done at many stages. Before earth excavation checking the markings, at plinth level, at sill level, lintel level, before roofing, plastering, flooring, finishing.
4. Providing working drawing for:
   * Masonary work
   * Structural work - Beams, Roofs, Pillars, Stairs
   * Wood work - Doors, Windows, Frames etc
   * Electrical work - Piping, Light and heat points etc
   * Plumbing work
   * Fabricating work
   * Elevation
   
5. Checking the bill provided by Builder - At all stages
6. Providing consultation/ suggestions on various approaches
7. Providing valuable consultation on ventilation and light - Options for hot air exit, sky lights etc
   

Hope this helps you while discussing/ negotiating agreement with your Architect

Regards

Types of Contracts and Agreements - Build and Make Part 3

Links to my previous posts
Part 1
Part 2

It is very important to know different types of agreements and contracts while building house. You need to have agreements with Architect and builder. And with any other parties if you directly deal. It is preferred to have all the agreements in writing. Few small agreements can also be oral. But with architect and builder I suggest to have a written agreement. Following are the high level items to be taken care in the agreement.

• Scope of work - What is covered and what is not covered in the work
• Time - Schedule deliveries
• Total cost or item rates or estimations etc
• Payment modes, payment frequency
• Criteria of completion - When do you consider the work is completed
  

With builder there are several types agreements

• Full contract (Turn Key contract) - You tell builder to build your house as per your basic requirement. In this case you have very less options or choice. Builder has all the risk of managing cost, scope, schedule and any type of coordination. But at the same time, builder has highest profit margin. Owner has very less control in this case and as well as very low risk. Usually this kind of agreement is suitable, if owner is not in the town of construction or if owner is not too specific about the way how this are built. Another situation where builder has built similar houses (may be flats or something like that) in prior. In this case builder takes care of all the major areas of construction - Civil, Carpenrty, Flooring, Electrical, Plumbing, Painting, Fabrication etc
  
• Labour contract - In this case, builder provides only Labour. It might include all areas of construction as mentioned above but only difference is that, owner has to provide all the raw materials like - Sand, Brick, Cement, Pipes, Wires, Fixtures, Wood and other fittings. In this case owner has medium risk and builder also has medium risk. But the problem would be of coordination. If owner is new in this construction industry, it might be a big challenge in buying raw materials. Negotiating quality/ cost / supply with suppliers will be again a challenge, if owner is newby in this industry. There might be a lot of chances of getting cheated by suppliers, middlemen sometimes also by contractors.
  
• Blend of above two : In this case, you give full contrat to the builder but not turn key. Owner keep few areas for choice during the final stages. Major areas of Civil, Carpentry etc would be done completely by builder and he gives options for owners for selecting colors, quality and others for fittings, paint colors, vinear/lamination selections during final stages. Any differencial cost will be adjusted later. Here owner gets benifit of "his-choice" during finishing stages with some "Cost" invovled.
  
• Item rate billing: In this case, arhcitect plays a major role. Owner and architect have multiple sittings/ meetings during planning stage and arhictect provides a exhaustive list of specifications of each areas. This is called as SOQ - Statement Of Quantities. He gives a complete list of items and quantities to be used for building. Builder quotes his price and provides estimation for the entire house for the provided specification. Owner can get the quotation from multiple builders and select the best preffered one based on cost, prior experience or any other factors.
  Once the project execution is started, its Architect responsibility to check the quality as per specification and approve the bill provided by Builder. Once approved, the payment would be done to the builder by owner at multiple stages.
  In this case cost would be more. In terms of Architect fees etc. But highest quality levels are achieved, with lowest risk to the owners as well as builder. Builder also can have his profit transparent so that it is a WIN-WIN situation to all.

Mine was Item rate billing. I figured out a new risk of clashes between architect and builder :). I had to smooth them several times. But over all I am very happy with this model, as well as with my arhictect and with my builder.

Its all about planning - "Build and Make" Part 2

Welcome back folks. This article is continuation of my series of posts regarding experiences of building house in Bangalore

Link to Part 1

It is very important that you spend very good amount of time for planning your house. Better to get it planned by an experienced Architect. Finding a good architect is again a challenge. Better is through reference, as if happened to me. One of my good friends and colleague Harinath suggested his Architect - Sathya Prakash Varanasi. My wife and I just called him and got an appointment and met him one fine day. We had still not decided when to start building. It was Oct 2008. Sathya gave a big list of houses he had built and asked us to go and visit them. This was before even discussing what kind of house we need. It is very important to apply your mind and imagine your self in the new home starting from day one to D-day. Better you can imagine, greater will be the output. Its all about thinking and a lots and lots of common sense.

Any architect will ask you few basic questions without which he will not be able to design a house for you.

1. What is your budget - Usually you dont know what he is talking about. Its tooo early to decide. Isnt it ? But you should definitely know what is the maximum money you can spend on it
   
2. What do you need in your house : This is mostly like - A living, A drawing, A Dining, A Kitchen, A Foyer, A court yard, A pooja, A Car porch, A Garden, A swimming pool, A Library, A Study room, A sit out, A jagali, A stilt, A Balcony, A rental unit and a number of Bed rooms and bath rooms. You need to really think what you definitely need and what your really don't need. Usually an Architect will study your lifestyle, your needs, your site characteristics and designs accordingly. But its YOU who should make him design what YOU need. As per me- An Architect is a facilitator for planning, executing the project of making your home. If an architect forces you to accept his design, he is a very poor at his profession. Good designer gets into an interrogation mode and asks you a lot of questions before even starts to write any lines on paper. Few questions really put you into too much of deep thinking that you have to really think for days and discuss with all family members to answer him.
3. Observe: Have you really observed what is compound design of your neighbor ever? Have you really seen deeper what kind of flooring that your friend has done? What could be the dimension of your cousin's bed room ? I am sure, if you have never built a home, you would have not observed them. You have to observe a lot before planning your home. Building a home transforms you, for sure.
   
4. When do you need your house: This is another important factor. Time. If you have a deadline you need to discuss during planning stage itself. But I would suggest to have no constraint over time. Mine took almost a year starting from execution. More than a year starting from planning
5. Any other constraints and Discussion: THINK about any other constraints, like - Cost, Schedule, Number of rooms, Rental unit, Income from your home, Home loan, EMI pay backs, Parking lot, Garden.
   
6. THINK about site conditions: Less light, less Air, Water, Slope on wrong side, Un-even dimensions, Uneven surfaces, Corner, Dead end sites. All these factors your should keep in mind while designing
7. THINK about what materials to use. Whether you need to use bricks, cement blocks, hallow clay blocks, wire cut bricks, stones, mesh walls. What kind of doors and windows you go with - Wood, if so which wood. Fiber, Steel and many new materials that are coming up in market. Discuss about flooring options - Granite, Wood, Marble, Clay tiles, Ceramic tiles, Vetrified tiles etc. You need to discuss pros and cons of all.
   
8. THINK of 6 factors always -> Cost, Aesthetics, Safety, Durability, Maintainability, Usability
   
9. As a ball park estimate keep at least 3 to 4 months just for planning. And have as much discussions as possible with your family members and your architect. Be a THINKer, OBSERVer, MANAGer
   

During planning stage, there are few other things that comes into picture.

• Agreement with Architect and fees: There are many ways that architect charges you the fees. Better to fix the amount based on ball park estimate and agree to it on paper. I suggest that it should not be based on the total amount of expenditure. If that is the case, there might me chances that architect tries to enlarge your cost so that he can make more money. My architect did a ball park estimate and fixed 5.5% of that amount as his fees. There were 6 parameters he considered to arrive at the figure. It is pretty accurate, I am realizing now :)
  
• Selection of Contractor: This is another important stage. Most of the times architect would suggest the contractors that they have been working before. Its good to choose one. So that they both are in synch. But the risk is, both can make a team and deeply fry you by increasing the cost. If you have another contractor the risk would be that Architect and Contractor might not go well.

If you know Edward Deming's Quality model, apply it.. PDCA - Plan Do Check and Act. Planning is everything about building new home. Because it reduces a lot of re-work.

Build and Make - Experience sharing

There is a saying in Kannada - "

Mane katti nodu, maduve maadi nodu

",
which means, Experience building home and Perform a marriage function. Both are not-so-easy tasks in India.

I started the project of making our sweet home a few years back. Spent more than a year in search of good plot and finally got a plot in Padmanabhanagar. But I can say at that moment we had nothing in our mind regarding our home. We just bought a plot.

After around two years when our finance got little stabilized, many close relatives forced us to build a house. It took around 4 to 6 months to decide whether to build at that moment not. It's in Oct 2008, that we decided to build and make our new home.

Now that our sweet little home is almost ready, I wish to log all my experiences during making of the same. It might be useful for some of you who want to build and make your new home :)

It will be a series of posts that concentr

Oh My Blog..

I started my blog "cerebration" sometime in mid 2005. I was in the US and stayed in the remote village of Endicott. It was my first visit and was alone. To kill my loneliness I used to socialise with Kannada Friend in the US and used to converse, discuss about many things. Movies, Literature, Kannada Online radio, Kannada discussion forum. Wow! I had so much time.

During my initial days, blog posts were mostly on Kannada poems. Yes I used to write many poems. Wow! It was so nice. I also used to put lot of effort to make that poem as per chandas (Rhythm) . Another favorite topic for me to write was about my trips in the US. I used to write in for my mom, sisters. Used to paste the same on the blog

My blog started many visitors for poems as well as travel posts. I used to feel so happy to see the comments. I started tracking the visitors from Aug11th using stat counter. I get weekly updates and used to compare them with previous week an so on.

Just an analysis of yearly posts:
2009 - 35
2008 - 46
2007 - 16
2006 - 27
2005 - 115
2004 - 94

Total - 333

Recently cerebration has moved towards photography. In 2009, out of 35 posts 20 are on photography and 6 are on my trips.

I am not sure why I am writing all these things. May be I will be more regular on cerebration soon ? May be I click more and post here? May be I post more Photoshop Workflows, May be may be may be..

Keep you posted..

Portrait Workshop ..

Naughty Looks
Originally uploaded by Karthik C S

Last weekend attended a portrait workshop conducted by renowned photographer Dr. Prem Muttu. I loved it.. Enjoyed a lot .. Learnt a lot.

Here are few pics...

Trying out Embedding Wave in blogger

My Life, My way

My Life, My way
Originally uploaded by Karthik C S

From the last week shoot.. Model Gowri Sri.. Post Processing by GIMPShop

Deepavali ....

Bekal Fort

Continuation from my previous post

Bekal fort is one of the biggest forts of Kerala. It was constructed in 17th century on the beach of Arabian sea. it is currently under the maintenance of Archeological Survey of India (ASI). The nearest town to stay is either Kanhangad or Nileshwar, which are 10 KM from 20 KM south of Bekal respectively. Kerala Govt has also started Bekal resort development corp which was still not ready when we went.

Just beside fort, there is Bekal park and Bekal beach. There are entrance fees, but all are very nominal. Very nice bathroom facilities are available for after beach bath at Bekal Part.

Enjoy few pics

From Bekal Valiaparamba

From Bekal Valiaparamba

From Bekal Valiaparamba

From Bekal Valiaparamba

From Bekal Valiaparamba

From Bekal Valiaparamba

From Bekal Valiaparamba

From Bekal Valiaparamba

From Bekal Valiaparamba

From Bekal Valiaparamba

From Bekal Valiaparamba

From Bekal Valiaparamba

From Bekal Valiaparamba

From Bekal Valiaparamba

From Bekal Valiaparamba

Splashy Waves

Splashy Waves
Originally uploaded by Karthik C S

We had been to Bekal and Valiaparamba backwaters and beach. It was a drive of 950 KM drive to and fro. It was good trip

Sowmya enjoying in the beach of Bekal while a wave splashes her

Trip to Bekal and Valiaparamba - A summary

Initial plan was to go around Sirsi, Yana, Gokarna, Murudeshwara, Jog and back. But due to circumstances we had to change the trip destination. We chose to drive to Bekal and near by places. Initially I thought I should go to Mangalore and drive 50 KM southwards to reach Bekal. But, after discussing with few people, I came to know that the road to Mangalore is very bad and hence decided to take following route

Bangalore - Srirangapattana - Ilawala - Hunsur - Madikeri - Sullya - Jalsur - Cherkala - Bekal/ Kanhangad. Total distance was around 380 KM.
View Larger Map The road from Bangalore to Hunsur is a heavenly. You can just rip at 120 without a problem. After Hunsur there is no road divider, but still road is excellent till Kushalnagar. From there to Madikeri, the road is very bad. Again from Madikeri till Bekal the road is very nice. Bekal fort is biggest in Kerala under the maintenance of ASI. Its adjacent to the beach and lovely scenic place. Photo and video cameras are allowed. But tripod was not allowed. :) They charge very nominal entrance fees, I think its Rs. 5 per person and Rs 10 for cameras. Be prepared for a lot of perspiration. There only one small juice shop inside the fort. You get easily tired of walking. There is an entrance to the beach at the other side of the fort. You can enjoy the splashy waves there. You get some wind there. Other than this there is nothing much to see. Few shots for famous movies like Bombay, Galipata and others have been shot in this fort. Just about a KM from fort, there is a beach park and Bekal beach. Again there is a nominal entrance fees and parking charge and fees for cameras. Very nice and clean beach. You can enjoy the sun set there. Good thing is there is a very well maintained bathroom/ Change room. After the beach you can take a clean water bath there before you drive off.

Accommodation: There a resort just beside the fort called Bekal Resorts. But it was not yet ready to be occupied when we went. Another place was Bekal Beach Camp just beside Bekal beach Park. But its little expensive. They provide tents on the beaches. Should be exciting :). We stayed in Hotel Bekal International in Kanhangad, which is around 10 KM from Bekal. This is an economy hotel, which was clean. But restaurant was terrifically bad. Being vegetarian we searched and found a nice eat out called Vimala Upahar in Kanhangad town. Another excellent place to stay is Nalanda Resort in Nileshwar town, just beside the backwaters. Not that expensive too. If I go again, I will stay there.

While coming back, locals suggested another short cut route to Madikeri. Route was Kanhangad – Panattur – Bhagamandala – Madikeri. Though it was short, the road after Panatthur till Bhagamandala was a nightmare. I suggest to take Jalsur – Sullya – Madikeri, even though it is longer.

Places nearby: Hosdurg Nityanandashram with caves, Hosdurg Beach, Valiaparambha Backwaters and Beack

Will write more with pics later

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