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

For saying “yes,” now I’m attending calls

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Yesterday, a tenant requested that I collect his Flipkart order, which was supposed to be delivered yesterday.

As he went to his home, I said I would collect it.

For saying “yes” to that request, now I’m attending all his customer support calls from Flipkart.

The WakeFit mattress that was supposed to be delivered yesterday has not yet been delivered.

The guy who ordered probably raised complaints after complaints sitting in his home.

Every time he raises complaints, the support team calls me. He probably shared my number on Flipkart, I guess.

Whenever I receive calls, I am told I’m not the right person to speak with about that order, but I still receive support calls.

That too in Malayalam language.

I told them I didn’t understand the Malayalam language, and the support team told sir it was a Malayalam support team kind of response.

Today is also over, and the product has not yet been delivered.

I’m still unsure how many complaints the guy has to go through and how many calls I need to attend to say Yes to help this guy.

The point is…

When constructing your house, you get similar help requests from a few labourers.

If you say yes to their request, they repeatedly ask such requests. Your helping nature can sometimes backfire on you.

So remember this before saying yes to any help request.

I remember a few labourers who collected cash from us, saying they would return in a few days… but that return never happened.

We also never bothered to ask those.

Never say yes to such requests if you are not ready to lose such an amount.

These are all small stuff. I’m fine losing a few here and there for labourers.

When you are constructing a house, many transactions happen in a day, and some transactions may go unnoticed. Which could potentially cause a loss someday.

You should maintain a proper system to track all such transactions to avoid such loss.

If you think an Excel sheet is fine… think again. Excel sheets are never the right system to track all of those. Especially in house construction time.

You will understand its issues if you start using Excel sheets in a real environment.

Excel sheets should be part of the system. Not a whole system.

If you want to keep a proper system to manage all the transactions, here is what I used to do in my second house construction.

I explained all the tools and how I used them during my second house construction in my House Construction Tracking System guide.

This is a guide that everyone should follow during their house construction time – for easier management of finances and protection from contractor issues.

Using cotton mattress? here’s a better alternative

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Today, as soon as I woke, I got a different energy to start working on my new “Rental Property Guide” guide.

This is a guide I’m writing for someone who is planning to start house construction with rental properties in it.

After managing 16-door rental units, I’m dumping all my knowledge on this guide. I’m not sure when I’m going to release it. It will come soon.

Ok…

Today, one of our tenants (a student) asked me to collect his mattress as he won’t be available.

** My daughter came, so I took a 15-minute break **

This is the same mattress my brother is also using. After using it for a few days here and there, I can say… it’s really better to opt for a wake-fit mattress than a cotton mattress.

In fact, my mom was also impressed by this Wakefit mattress sleeping experience.

Currently, I’m using a cotton mattress.

After experiencing wake fit, I regretted getting a custom cotton mattress.

With a cotton mattress, the bed becomes uneven after sleeping for a few days, and you will get body pain from sleeping on it.

However, the Wakefit bed has not yet changed its structure after being used for a few years.

If you plan to buy a mattress, I wouldn’t recommend using a normal cotton mattress. Instead, go with any wake-fit type of mattress.

Other brands could offer similar features, but I’m not sure how long they last.

Sleeping with a wake fit is different from sleeping on a cotton mattress.

If you haven’t experienced it, give it a try. You will love it.

Oh, by the way, this is not sponsored by the WakeFit brand. I’m sharing my experience after using it for a few days (my brother one).

Even I plan to change my bed with a wake fit one. But the current one will get idle, so I’m waiting…

So I’m writing here to share my experience so you could avoid buying cotton mattress on your new building if in case you wanted to.

Arun

The struggle that I witnessed during rain

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Today and yesterday, near my home, there were a two functions.

You might already be aware of the rain conditions currently in Bangalore. For the past few days, it has been raining heavily.

Both their functions are already scheduled. I got to witness owners struggle in making arrangements for the function.

For one function, they arranged a dinner facility inside the parking area. They kept all the other tables outside the gate, using only 4.

And the house is full of wet everywhere… They kept 4 or 6 mats outside before entering their house to prevent wetness inside the house.

A few guests who came for the function also stood in the parking to avoid the rain.

That’s a story of one function.

And another function that is scheduled today? They have a little different story…

This function is a little bigger than the one which happened yesterday. So, preparation for this function started with yesterday’s rain.

When the cook came, it was raining heavily.

The owner arranged an outside space to prepare food. Because of heavy rain, first owner diverted all the water entering the selected space by digging the earth.

The next challenge is… arranging a shamiyana tent to protect against wind and rain.

As it’s raining, they have to arrange a special waterproof tent.

This is the first time I saw a waterproof tent being used. This waterproof tent did a wonderful job protecting the cook from rain. I was seeing all these from my house.

Somehow, both owners managed and finished the function.

These are all the headaches you will face if you arrange your housewarming function during rainy times. Make sure you keep functioning in the non-rainy seasons.

Or else, on those function days, you will face a hell of a lot of problems for sure.

Suppose you are still in the construction phase. In that case, I have one important suggestion you should implement to have a better experience in your house during the rainy season.

Which I explained in my Rainy Days guide. (no dedicated sales page or more infomation, sorry!)

If it’s raining in your area, I recommend reading this guide today so you can experience the feeling and avoid making similar mistakes in your construction building.

When constructing for the first time, these points are easy to ignore. That’s why I’m writing these guides so others can be aware of them and avoid making mistakes.

I have written this email while sipping hot coffee and listening to the rain sound outside my home. What better topic should I talk about apart from Rain, isn’t it?

If you think a contractor agreement will be fine… think again

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All experienced contractors know where the difference between owners and contractors comes from. Because they have already built at least a few houses.

When you ask them to bring a building contract agreement, they bring the agreement, which is important to safeguard their interest. Not the owner’s interest.

Most new users planning to start construction don’t know about those insider construction points that must be included in the agreement.

So, to make their job easier, they go with the whatever the contractor bought agreement and deal done.

We also did the same thing. But while picking contractor, we filtered a lot. It helped! So everthing went well in our case.

Now… if everything goes well between you and the contractor, the agreement doesn’t matter.

If… you and your contractors have any differences, the contractors start ignoring your project, and you get angry.

Not just that…

Sometimes, even disputes arise depending on the contractor’s nature.

If you have a solid agreement mentioning the most important points in the agreement regarding work scope, payment terms, responsibility, etc.,

You have something to speak to your contractor regarding work scope and all… your contractor will listen in that case. Because it’s in writing. There is nothing to hide.

Suppose this is the first time you are trying to start house construction. In that case, I recommend at least discussing with a few of your friends who have gone through house construction experience recently so they can share their thoughts with you.

Before signing any agreements, show them to your friends and ask their opinion… if they give some suggestions, you can request the same from your contractor to make changes.

By doing this type of exercise, you will avoid making a few mistakes.

(or) You can also learn from my experience by taking a ready building contractor agreement template & guide on picking a good labour contractor by visiting the URL below:

https://houseconstructionguide.com/building-contractor-guide/

Whatever the option you choose, don’t take a decision in a hurry or alone.

Happy Weekend.

Arun

remember this

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Choosing a good contractor is definitely more important than choosing a good agreement.

A good contractor can make a lot of adjustments to his work scope.

Still, it’s always better to have a proper responsibility in written format than just taking it for granted.

We don’t know what happens once the work starts.

I remembered one bad incident in my first house construction experience for this context.

We picked an electrical contractor based on the recommendation of my dad’s very good friend, who is his own brother.

Everything was good until we started questioning his work quality…

Slowly, our relationship with our electrical contractor started falling apart.

We had a few verbal fights during the construction period.

During the final settlement, he simply demanded extra payment, saying, This is extra, and that is extra….

He even questioned what proof we have.

That’s when I started implementing House Construction Tracking System in my second building.

Thankfully, it also helped in a few such incidents during the construction of my second building.

After learning lessons from my first construction, I implemented everything in written format.

Only my building contractor has an agreement format; the rest are written in a diary with important contract details.

Because building contractors is one of the most expensive things, we went with the agreement format, which was bought by my contractor.

If you see my agreement, it contains only a few details and favours my contactor.

It is not an owner-friendly contract.

In my building contractor guide, I explained all the important points that must be included in the agreement.

Now, I have prepared the Labour contract agreement template itself. All you need to do is modify the template according to your requirements.

The agreement comes inside my building contractor guide. If this is something you are interested in, visit the below link:

https://houseconstructionguide.com/building-contractor-guide/

Sir, can you give me a receipt?

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It was raining outside.

Today three college students came and called me. One guy asked, “Sir, can you give me the receipt for paying the token advance?”

Me, “Receipt? What receipt are you asking for?”

Guy: “I paid a token advance to book the house for that one.”

For your information, this guy paid a token advance a few weeks before itself. Now, all of a sudden, came again to ask for a receipt.

I informed him we don’t give any such receipts. You paid through UPI, so transaction details are available in the app. 

I also confirmed the token advance received in a WhatsApp text message. You can check once. 

That should be fine.

To which the guy replied, let me check… “Ya. I have those messages. Ok sir”

I asked, “Why suddenly asking for a receipt?”

I had an issue with the PG guy, so I’m asking for it to avoid the same issue here.

Now I remembered why this guy was asking for a receipt.

Don’t worry. I have confirmed payment details in a WhatsApp text message. Keep those. Moreover, once we give the house, we will make a written agreement that contains all the payment details.

The student felt somewhat relieved after listening to my words. 

He waited until the rain stops and left for his PG with his friends.

This type of issue is common in my area. 

Most of the students join PG by giving Advance. Some PG owners play games when students planned to vacate the PG.

I have one such student who is staying in our building. He told me once he lost 15,000rs from one PG owner.

Now that the PG owner blocked this guy’s number to avoid communication with this guy. This student kept quiet from asking for his advance to avoid problems with the PG owner.

He is an outsider… so he doesn’t want any trouble from the local guy.

I guess the upcoming receipt tenant story is similar to this guy’s. 

When the student was ready to vacate, the PG owner created some issue with the advance amount. When he realised his mistake, he came here to avoid the same issue in future.

That’s why it is very important to have proper written communication to avoid such disputes.

In our rental property, all new tenants get detailed written rental agreements. Having such a proper agreement helps avoid disputes at the end stage.

Similarly, When you start house construction, ensure a proper agreement with contractors.

It should include all the important things in writing so both don’t get disputes when issues arise.

After dealing with two different building contractors in our building, I learned a few things about framing a good building contractor agreement. 

I have explained all those important topics in my Building Contractor Guide. However, after receiving a few requests from my buyers for an agreement template, I recently decided to create a Building Contractor Labor Agreement Template. 

This detailed template comes in a Word document, which you can easily modify according to your house construction requirements.

This agreement template is designed for house construction owners to safeguard from potential issues that few contractors make during construction.

Most new users won’t know the issues they face from their building contractor when they start. 

Once the project starts, they will realise their mistakes when they face issues with their contractors.

To prevent Most such issues, having a proper agreement helps.

If you plan to build a house using a labour contract method, here is my recommended building contractor agreement template. 

Building Contractor Agreement Template in English

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After the long festival break, I worked on creating products for my customers.

A few days back, I got a few customers requesting a Building Contractor Agreement Template. I avoided creating a template for quite a few days.

After noticing many of my buyers asking the same questions, I decided to sit and do the work for them.

For the past 2 days, I have sat and prepared this Building Contractor Agreement Template.

This is not some random template that you see anywhere else. This is the agreement that I created, putting all my knowledge and experience into it.

Whatever the tips and suggestions I shared in my building contractor guide, I implemented them in this agreement.

This is quite a detailed agreement.

It contains 8 pages of detailed instructions by keeping Owner Favor.

That doesn’t mean I ignored the Building Contractor’s point of view. I take care of them as well.

It’s a balance between the owner and contractor type of agreement. However, the agreement mostly favours the owners’ safety more than the contractor.

Not just that.

This agreement is written in simple English, making it easy to understand and make changes. Moreover, instead of creating a big paragraph of type of text, I created a point-wise. Hence, it’s easier to modify according to your requirements.

If you need to customise anything, it’s very easy to edit.

I’m providing the Word Document. You can download it to your PC and modify the agreement as required.

I highlighted a few places in the agreement. You need to look at those places and make changes to meet your needs.

This agreement comes in the English language. I created two popular versions of the payment structure agreement and will offer both versions for you to play with.

I’m offering this agreement template inside my Building Contractor Guide in the 2.4 section. If you have access to the building contractor guide, please download the latest version of the guide to see the download link.

If you don’t have access, you get it by buying the Building Contractor Guide here:

I still have not updated the Agreement template on the above sales page, but you will get access inside the guide.

We no longer need any Dish or DTH setup

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To this day, we have been using a non-smart TV.

For this sale on Amazon and Flipkart, we ordered a good smart TV and a home theatre to go with it.

Both came.

We installed our smart TV and plugged our 400 Mbps internet cable to see its performance on a 4K TV.

I was slightly sceptical about its performance as my single internet connection is shared with all my rental property (16 doors + 2 owner house).

And that all our tenants are college students. If you know college students… you know they always have something to download.

When I play some 4K videos on our new 55-inch TV, that video comes without any buffering.

We have removed the DTH we were using with our old TV.

Usually, only my dad and mom watch TV. And they have few requirements.

They watch a few serials and some Kannada news channels. Now, with our internet connection, their serials come with some OTT apps.

And regarding Kannada news? They are now watching it on the YouTube app.

So their requirements are finished. They are watching it in HD video on the internet without any buffering.

They enjoy TV on the Internet rather than on the DTH connection.

Moreover, with plenty of OTT apps, they can also watch some good serials and movies of very good quality whenever needed and whatever movie they want.

Some have even 4K quality videos.

When asked about the dish/DTH setup, they said we don’t need it now.

The picture quality 4K videos on TV are simply awesome. Watching videos itself is a pleasure.

By the way, we didn’t connect our Smart TV with the WiFi option. We used a LAN connection.

That’s the recommended way to get a good-speed internet connection.

If you think wifi will do its job… You are wrong.

A wired connection always beats a WiFi connection anytime and every time.

I never expected I would be able to replace DTH with an Internet setup. But I did plan to have an internet connection all over the building.

It looks like it’s helping us stop the DTH recharge.

By the way, it’s already almost 1 week, and we have not yet connected our DTH cable to the TV.

Our Smart TV runs completely on the Internet without any signs of buffering.

I guess I won’t be going back to any DTH service anymore.

If you are building a new house, plan the right way to have a proper network setup all over the building.

This is another advantage I’m experiencing because of having a proper network setup all over my building.

I will soon be selling my old TV with my DTH setup. We no longer require both of them.

If you also want to implement such a setup in your house, I shared all my knowledge in my Internet Everywhere Guide.

This setup requires some internet service provider with high-speed internet and unlimited data, or you won’t be able to enjoy this.

Fortunately, Excitel internet service is available in my area, and I’m using it fully.

Oh.. by the way. Don’t be disappointed if no Internet service provider offers unlimited internet in your area.

None of them were available in our area when we were constructing our house. Still, I implemented Internet all over my building.

Now, Excitel has come, and they are offering an awesome plan.

You cannot implement it once construction work is over, even if you want to. So implement at the time of construction itself, and when it comes, you can also enjoy…

After watching movies on my TV, I’m already falling in love with it. I’m the guy who never watched TV for almost a decade.

I fell in love after enjoying the video quality with sound effects with the new home theatre system.

From now on, I plan to watch new movies weekly once with my family.

Everyone sitting in the same room and watching something is a different feeling.

Oh… It’s too much to explain all of this in an email.

Anyway, don’t forget to install Internet Allover in your building.

A smart TV without High-Speed internet is like a smartphone without internet/mobile data.

Arun

Ayudha Puja collection

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Today, I saw our area waterman on the backside of my house going on his bike.

I called him to come and collect his monthly bribe…

He came and opened our sump cover to see our water level and collected ₹1000.

After collecting, he should leave. But this time, he asking ₹1,000 extra.

I was quite confused at first as to why he was asking ₹1000 extra.

When I asked why, He said, “Sir Ayudha Puja collection…”

People never stop asking for money when an opportunity arises.

After a little discussion, I paid ₹500, and he left.

Even our Bescom meter reader will come to collect the ayudha pooja fund.

When he came for this month’s meter reading, he asked about the Ayudha pooja fund. While he was leaving our house, I spoke with 4 to 6 of our tenants (college students), so he left without asking.

My guess is he will come once again.

Last year, he came and collected with us.

You will also get such extra expenses when you are constructing your house.

I shared a tip at 3.10 in my Building Contractor Guide to prevent this type of unexpected expense.

Keep those tips in mind while speaking to contractors.

This type of extra expenses added up a little bit in your construction budget. Depending on the owner, they collect such funds.

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