building contractor

A player and our Solar Tube… A point you need to keep in mind

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I have a good and bad opinion about installing solar water heaters in the home for various reasons.

My personal preference is to go with solar panels. However, due to its low popularity, users are going with solar water heaters.

I didn’t install a solar water heater in our second building because of some lessons that I learned in our first building.

Today, I’m sharing one more incident that happened a few days back in my home.

While playing football on our terrace, a student accidentally damaged one solar tube.

This is not the first time our solar tube has been damaged.

This is the 3rd tube which got damaged.

Once, while doing tube servicing time

Second, due to heavy wind, the plywood we kept next to the solar panel fell on the tube and got damaged.

And third now.

We were using Supreme Solar. Whatever the model we are using is not available in the market now.

We need to wait a few days. We need to pay whatever the cost demanded by the seller because it’s a rare stock that is difficult to get.

If we don’t get the same model solar tube, then we won’t be able to use the solar water heater itself.

Somehow, every time damage happened, I still got a tube from the official service guy within a few days. But they are demanding a little more each time I order.

Solar tubes are very delicate items. It easily gets damaged. Even service engineers damage while they trying to clean.

It happened to us.

If you plan to install a solar water heater, keep this availability of solar tube point of view as well.

If you still choose a solar water heater for your house, you must know a few things during construction.

I shared all those things inside my building contractor guide with photos. Read those tips before or during construction time to avoid alternative options.

No. Most contractors don’t guide you such things.

Oh.. did you imagine what could have happned if we didn’t have CCTV on terrace?

Real life Rain lesson that I learned from Yesterday rain…

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Today at 10 Am, I came to my home office to start work.

I noticed something.

I called my Dad to discuss about it. We both went and verified the root cause of that issue.

Later, we learned that it had happened due to yesterday’s rain.

We went back to the first house to have breakfast. While my dad and I were discussing about the issue, my mom also listened to our conversation about the rain problem that we noticed recently.

She also shared something similar she noticed in one of our neighbour’s houses a few days back (as it’s raining now).

I updated my Rainy Days guide after noticing our and our neighbour’s issues.

If you have access, please download the latest version to learn from my and our neighbour’s mistakes.

I added images to explain the concept that happened in our house.

Regarding our neighbour’s mistake, I just shared a guide to avoid that mistake so you can be careful during your house construction.

The updated sections are in 2.7, Example 2, and 2.9 in the Rainy Days Guide.

No matter who you hire for your house construction work, it’s your responsibility to properly take care during house construction time.

Or else you are the one who pays the price later.

That’s why I’m sharing all my lessons inside my guides so smart people who invested in my guides can learn and avoid making my mistakes in their building.

Whatever problem we noticed in our building is mostly fixable… but in our neighbour’s case, it costs a lot to fix permanently. That’s why they do manual work every time it rains to prevent further damage to the building.

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.

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.

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

—

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

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

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