P K Arun

Hi, I’m P K Arun the guy behind this blog. Our family constructed a house in Bangalore and I thought to share our house construction experience with this blog so users can avoid those common mistakes they do while constructing their house. Read Our Story

Repainting work going on in rental property

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Today, I was handling one of our rental property repainting tasks.

Feeling a little tired going and coming from the 3rd floor to the 1st floor. Luckily, I got a good painter who handled all the tasks from cleaning to painting.

All we need to do is show the work, bring the painting materials and remember if he missing some task. Thats all.

He handles the rest of the work.

Anytime repainting work comes, I check if any small pending work is left during construction time and execute such work now.

When you’re doing construction, it’s really difficult to notice small things. Because you’re quite busy with a lot of work already…

You should also be thinking about finishing as soon as possible. So, any small stuff goes unnoticed.

That’s why when repair tasks come in rental property, I check small things I couldn’t give attention to during construction and ask my painter to fix such issues.

When verifying such small attention to detail, I noticed Our Painting Contractors didn’t paint any outside window grill.

Which we cannot easily identify…

I need to put my mobile or any mirror outside the window to see if the outside window grill painting is done.

I didn’t notice that at construction time. Now I see that.

It’s difficult to paint the outside grill without a painter’s rope. But still, I asked my painter to do that painting from inside the house as much as possible.

No matter what, some mistakes always happen.

Another issue I’m actively watching in all my rental property is shared inside my Electrical Work Guide at 5.63.

I also got that issue in this unit as well. Once my brother comes, we will go and fix that issue.

It’s an important thing many electricians don’t care… but you have to.

I have a few things to share about rental property construction. I will write a guide (paid) once I’m in the mood.

Arun

Contractors are not ready to sign the Agreement

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Today, I was chatting with one of my customers on WhatsApp. The customer questioned me…

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In my experience, no contractor signs an agreement before the work is assigned to him, do you agree?

And how can this situation be handled?

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I was a little confused about what this customer was saying. So I suggested:

First, have an oral discussion. Once You and the Contractors agree to the Contract Terms, Both sign the Written Agreement and Start the Work as I suggested.

To which the customer replied:

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They don’t sign after verbal discussion and refuse to take that work

They are okay working without written agreement

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A clear RED FLAG.

Now, I clearly understood what my customer was saying. None of the contractors are ready to sign a written agreement before starting work.

After listening, I was shocked to see the fact.

At least I never got such a contractor here. Moreover, the customer I was chatting with has done good research and is aware of a few scams and how they work.

Based on a chat discussion I had with this customer, he is quite knowledgeable.

Because of his knowledge, he is struggling to find an ideal contractor for his house construction. (When you know some facts its difficult to cheat/scam and red flag contractors also shows less interest in such projects).

Most contractors he encountered were not ready to sign the agreement before starting the work. (He knew what would happen if he started work without proper written agreement).

Now he said… “Then hunting contractors is a big pain.”

If you pick the right contractors in the beginning, the rest of the construction job becomes much easier.

Really… even if you took 2 or 3 months to find the right contractors, it’s still worth it.

Reason? You won’t face headaches, verbal fights or issues while at the time of construction. Speak to someone who has gone through it so you will understand better.

If you also come across similar situations, don’t work with contractors who are not ready to sign before starting work.

Once they start work without proper agreement, it’s really difficult to deal with when issues happen.

One my good suggestions to all first-time house construction users is to implement what I shared inside my House Construction Tracking System Guide to easily deal with contractors when any issue happens.

Arun

They are in the business to make money

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This morning, I got a WhatsApp message from some guy saying —

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Good to see u r regular updates on home construction

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Based on the construction image DP, I guess he is in the construction field. Possibly some contractor, I guess.

Whatever may be…

Today, I want to share a small tip related to contractors. This applies to all contractors.

The thing is, I recommend you to always keep in mind that they are in the business to make money.

I see some owners treat them very differently.

I saw one of my dad’s friends here. They think they are paying the contractors and must extract as much output as possible.

It doesn’t work like that.

If someone is doing work, you should remember that contractors should save money on your project.

If their labourers are not properly working in your building? are their labourers coming daily late?

If you notice such stuff, you must notify your contractor and stop all such activities.

If you think it’s the contractor’s responsibility and not yours… and he is the one who will lose money. No no…

Don’t think or treat like that.

If Contractors didn’t save much money at the end of your construction, Give some extra money depending on his nature.

Our construction was never finished within the agreed contract amount for both constructions.

Both our contractors are good. None of them asked for any extra money. We understood they didn’t save much in our contract, and we happily paid some extra at the end of construction.

Both are happy.

Even today, we sometimes call our building contractor labourers for some labour tasks. He promptly sent them.

These days, it’s very rare for owners to have such a good relationship with their contractors.

It’s because owners just think about themself.

Nothing wrong with that.

But I recommend keeping contractors’ profit also in mind while doing your construction, and they will happily assist even after your house construction work is over.

Oh.. by the way, we executed our building contracts differently. That’s why both contractor didn’t save much money.

If we simply went with what the contractors wanted in the agreement, then I’m sure both could have saved from our construction.

My dad is knowledgeable about this agreement framing and wanted to go only with what he suggested. Because of such conditions, contractors didn’t save much.

I shared all such contract framing tips inside my Building Contractor Guide.

That’s for it today,

Happy weekend,
Arun

I locked the room, keeping key inside 🙁

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A few months back, I went to our relative marriage. For staying, they gave us 3 room Keys.

The management installed a Europa cylindrical lock for the main door.

While in a hurry, I turned the lock knob inside the room and pulled the door without verifying the door key.

For this cylindrical lock, you don’t need a key to Lock.

Before pulling out the door, I checked my pocket. I had one Key with me. I thought the key was this room key itself and locked the door.

After some time, I came back and noticed the door was not opening with my key.

It’s the other room key.

I mistook this key for my room key, and now I locked the door by keeping my room key inside the room.

Now, I need to look for the management guy to ask for the duplicate key to open the door.

Fortunately, after waiting some time, I got the guy in charge.

I informed him I kept the room key inside, and now the door is locked. I need a duplicate key to open the door.

He asked, “What’s the room no?”

I informed my room no…

His face immediately turned dull as soon as he listened to room no.

I asked why? What happens?

He replied, “Someone lost that room key a few days back. Now, we don’t have a duplicate key for that room.”

I also felt a little upset. I thought maybe I needed to call a locksmith to open the lock.

He replied no need. I will open it.

How? I asked.

He said, “With a screwdriver.”

Hmm… come, let’s try then.

He came. Within 3 min, he opened the lock with only a screwdriver without damaging the door or lock.

I was surprised watching this scene.

I informed him to get a duplicate key from Europa. He was also shocked to hear that he could get an original duplicate key from the company.

I explained the application process, and he thanked me for sharing this information.

I also thanked him for opening the room key.

When I came back to Bangalore, I searched YouTube about cylindrical locks. Multiple people showed different ways to unlock them very easily.

So… I want to remind you that if you plan to install a cylindrical lock for the backside door or any outside door, keep in mind that — it is dead easy to open the lock without key.

Avoid installing Locks that don’t require a key to lock. You may accidentally get locked out. Which is not something anyone wishes to be in the situation.

In fact, in the lock box itself, they say don’t install outside door kind of warning.

If you install it, use it only for convenience. Not for security purposes.

Help Out with a Building Contract Draft

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Today, I got the below WhatsApp message from one of my customers:

Customer: Hey good morning Arun.

Customer: I bought one of your expense calculators, and it is very detailed. Thank you very much.

Customer: I am right now signing a contract with my contractor and just getting quotes.

Customer: I wanted to check if you could help out with a contract draft that I use.

No. I don’t offer 1 on 1 support.

Instead, you can go through my Building Contractor Guide, where I shared many tips for framing a good building labour contract.

I don’t have any standard contractor agreement format.

Most of the time, your building contractor won’t understand my language. And I cannot make an agreement in all the languages.

So, Instead of giving a standard contractor agreement format, what I’m doing is… I’m sharing some important points you must mention in the agreement.

By this way… No matter what the agreement, your contractor can bring. Include the points I shared in my guide inside your building contractor agreement.

By including those points, you will safeguard yourself.

Those are the points where the difference between you and the contractor usually arises.

And most first-time owners aren’t even aware of those things. This is a plus for the contractor to make more money or trouble owners (depending on the contractors) once construction starts.

Apart from framing contract tips, I also have a lot of general construction tips as well. Learn and avoid making them when you are constructing your building.

Hope it helps.

Arun

I got soo much angry with this customer

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Few days back I got a below email from one of my customers.

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Even after sending repeated e mails you have not sent the link. What is the reason?

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I didn’t receive any such emails from this guy. This is the first email I got.

That time, my wife’s parents also came home. I spoke to them in the hall when I saw the above email.

I opened my WhatsApp. The same guy texted me there as well.

Angry Customer: I have not yet received the link. I check my email box, including spam. Send it immediately. 

[email protected]

ME: If you already paid, then product access details is sent to your email inbox. 

Please check Inbox/Spam folder for it. 

If you didn’t notice then search for email from [email protected] to find product access details email.

If you need more help feel free to reach me on WhatsApp: 8088xxxx76

Arun

Angry Customer: Don’t reply mechanically. I check everything.

ME: K. I will check and update here before 10 pm 

Angry Customer: Very cheap attitude.  After receiving fees you tell a story?

ME: Share screenshot

Angry Customer: See your email

I Tried speaking to him directly. The tone was not good, so I disconnected the call. 

Angry Customer: Return back the payment immediately

ME: share me where should i send the payment

Angry Customer: GPay 98xxxx4372

ME:  Refunded instantly without hesitation 

When I check my email system, it clearly showing the product access details email has already been sent. But this customer doesn’t know how to properly check email and complaining to me.

I find many customers complain about not getting the product. 

The main reason is that they missed my email containing product access details.

I try to explain by sending a standard replay to all such customers. Sometimes, I directly speak to them to solve their issue.

Similarly, I tried to call and speak to this guy as well. It looks like his and my standards of speaking don’t match.

I Instantly Refunded his Full Purchase Amount.

After he got his refund amount, he went on my Facebook ad and commented below with a fake facebook account:

Angry Customer: Not genuine guy. Received Payment. But not send the link and tell different story. Finally if we ask the reason, he return back the Payment. Buyers be aware. Such peoples bad attitude we hesitate very much to send money. Really pity guy. What genuineness we expect from his product????????

I kept this comment there. 

Why should I don’t send the product to buyers? It’s a digital product. I don’t lose anything by giving access to my product to those who have paid. 

Let’s assume I haven’t gave him a product access. If he ask politely, I could have resent him again. He simply shouting… and not ready to listen to me at all.

I don’t understand where this type of person is coming from to complain.

I keep my product price a little higher to get better customers. 

I cannot do that in ads.

I need to make a good offer so people buy instantly, or else I will lose money on ads. 

When we keep low prices, I need to deal with this type of customer patiently. 

Mine is a single-person business. 

I only need to do all A to Z issues. If I get a few such customers, my whole day will get spoiled. 

It’s better to eliminate such customers in the initial stage itself.

So, I instantly refunded and added his email to my block list on my email sending server. 

He no longer receives any further communication from me on this Brand.

It’s not just about the money… I don’t want your money if you are not the right fit for me.

My Products are not all for all. I don’t offer refunds on my products. Read the sale page properly, and if it makes sense, then only buy from me.

One thing I hate about these special sale day

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I love special sales days like The Big Billon Days or the Great Indian Festival sale.

But I hate these types of sales because they limit how much users can purchase from any bank card or on any one day.

Yes.

We cannot shop as much as we need with discounts on these sale days.

That’s disappointing for many users who are looking to buy a lot of things.

That’s something that applies to us as well.

We buy lots of items. But to buy all those things, we must ask many friends for debit/credit cards to shop.

This time, my brother collected almost 5 different colleague’s debit/credit cards in order to get the maximum discount.

On top of both our debit and credit cards as well.

Whatever the products we ordered yesterday, its delivery also started. From morning onwards, my job is only to collect those delivery items.

This will continue for me for the next few days.

If you still have not started ordering anything yet… go ahead and open the Flipkart and Amazon apps to grab some deals.

If you are planning or constructing your house, here is a list of house construction-related items that I recommend you shop online instead of offline shops to save more money.

Arun

Things to Keep in Mind while Shifting Materails with Gang team

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A few days back, a new construction building near my house shifted materials with a Gang/Machine to the 2nd floor RCC.

This method is what I recommend for 2nd-floor and above-floor construction.

They were shifting Concrete Blocks for the construction of the 3rd floor.

I remember once my dad and I roughly calculated the cost of material shifting with the Gang team and with manual labour. We noticed both costs are almost the same.

So, going with the Gang team, you lose nothing.

But with a gang team, you should know a few good and bad things.

Good things –

1) You don’t need to watch the gang team. They will shift whatever material they want to shift without monitoring

2) As they use machines, it’s a faster way to shift materials

3) If all construction materials are readily available, construction speed also increases

Bad things –

1) Blocks can get damaged

2) If you don’t plan properly, you will slow down construction work

3) Stress on RCC is something you should keep in mind

The good thing is there is some workaround to prevent those bad things.

The building, which was shifting blocks, made 2nd and 3rd mistakes. 1st mistake, I cannot see it from home, so I cannot confirm that.

After seeing those mistakes, I added a Material Shifting Tips at 4.69 section inside my Building Contractor Guide.

In this section, I shared a few things you should keep in mind before and while doing material shifting with the gang team.

Download the latest guide to see the updated content if you have access.

Ok my daughter came now. I need to play cartoon on my PC now.

Arun

My Consultation requests

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Got the below email from one of my All-Access Pass customers few days back:

Hello Arun

In one of the post I saw that you have given guidance to one of the user on a physical meeting. I am also planning to build a house which is west and north corner plot and I got plan from an architect but I just want to show you the plan and take the recommendations. Kindly let me know if it’s possible for a meeting. You can charge for the consultation. Kindly let me know. I strongly believe that your recommendations will definitely help me.

Regards

Pratap Bxxxx

In one of the post I saw that you have given guidance to one of the user on a physical meeting.

Yes…. yes… 🙂

I remember that.

One guy did call me to take guidance physically… I informed them I would do it at a cost.

The guy immediately agreed and informed me in full Josh that he would happily pay more than what I asked. Seriously!

I Said okay and told him to prepare his questions and fix one day we would meet.

After that, I didn’t hear anything from that guy. I don’t follow up on such requests.

I guess the user probably dropped meeting me. We never met yet.

The good thing is, this guy didn’t waste my time that much. I guess we spoke for 5 to 10 minutes on a Phone call, and after that, we never communicated.

I had another similar incident happen a few days back.

One guy requested 1 hr of my time for consultation. This user has tried asking me twice already. Once, a few months before, I said no.

He contacted me again a few days back.

This time, I said yes.

I shared that my fee for 1 hr consultation is ₹5000. He also agreed, but he didn’t make payment after wasting some time.

This was also cancelled. I didn’t follow up as usual.

So, based on my previous experience and my personal preference, consultation is not something worth it to me at this moment.

Maybe it may also not be worth it to other party as well, based on my Fees.

I am also planning to build a house which is west and north corner plot and I got plan from an architect but I just want to show you the plan and take the recommendations.

Good, you consulted Architect.

I hope you already went through my guides. I’m sharing all my knowledge with my All-Access Pass. (still not yet completed)

I recommend you to go through those guides multiple times and apply them to avoid making many mistakes and save money in your house construction process.

Kindly let me know if a meeting is possible. You can charge for the consultation. Kindly let me know. I strongly believe that your recommendations will definitely help me.

Thanks for Trusting me.

It definitely means a lot. That, too, someone who paid for my product and asking for consultation is not something I take easily.

Based on my past consultation time-wasting request experience and my personal preference, I have to say no.

Moreover, My charges are quite high. I’m not sure I can deliver the valve for what I charge.

Charging less is also not worth considering as my personal time is involved, and it’s not scalable.

So, from both user’s points of view, I would say no for now.

Product was missing

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A guy I follow on Twitter today tweeted that the product was missing from the box he ordered from Amazon.

The product cost 45K. But still, the guy seemed very cool and raised a support ticket with Amazon regarding this issue.

I believe within one week, they usually finish their investigation and inform the result to the buyer of the status of the complaint.

Once, I also had a similar experience.

In my case, the product is missing instead of items inside the box.

Both are different cases.

Mine is easy to solve for them.

I believe I ordered a CCTV system from Amazon during a similar sale event. In that order, one camera was missing.

When I noticed the missing item, I didn’t get much tension like most users do…

I know about Amazon.

I simply made a complaint with the Amazon support team on their website. They promised within 7 days, they would share an update about the complaint.

After the investigation, they updated me, and the case was solved in my favour.

They asked if I needed the product or if I should get a refund for that product.

As I ordered on the product on sale day, I got a discount, so I requested the product.

They sent me the missing product.

I believe the same thing will happen to the above guy.

I order almost all products online. This is the first product which came missing in my case.

In extremely rare cases, mistakes happen. If you are not bothered by such things, then online shopping is something I recommend everyone to try.

You save a lot online instead of offline shopping.

Visit this Great Indian Festival sale page or my recommended products category that you should buy online for your house during or after house construction to save money.

From yesterday onwards, I’ve been tired of attending delivery calls back to back.

Now, the home theatre installation service guy just calling me.

I’m going to watch the product demo now. Which was also bought online during this sale.

Bye for now
Arun