mistakes

Don’t just rely on Waterman; follow best practices

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Like every month this month, the bribe-paying time came.

I saw our waterman going on bike backside of our house from my CCTV. He also goes slowly when it’s time to get paid.

Who doesn’t love to get paid? All love it.

I called him to come and collect his monthly bribe.

He came. As always, he opened our sump cover to check the water level in the sump.

This time, the sump was quite empty.

I asked him why you didn’t leave enough water this month.

He replied, “Bore is having an issue”.

I told him not to turn off the water to our line as our water level is low on our sump.

He also told Ok, inform me when your sump is full like he told me first.

He immediately realised we don’t get noticed when our sump is full because of sump automation.

To which I said, Yes. We don’t notice when the sump is full as it shuts off the tap automatically when the sump is full.

Ok, no issues. He took his bike and left the spot.

Yesterday and today, he left the water in our area, listening to my words, which filled our sump.

If we don’t pay him.. he suddenly create artifical scarcity and close valves.

We don’t have time or energy to deal with the government to fix the problem.

That’s why we promptly pay every month, and he also takes care of it without any issues, even when real scarcity comes.

One important thing you must remember is that no matter how much your waterman cooperates with you. You should follow some of the best practices to ensure water comes to the sump at a good pressure when the waterman opens the valve.

Many don’t pay attention to that point while constructing their house.

Once they notice that their sump tap water is not coming properly, that time they try to fix the problem.

Most of the problems they try are temporary solutions…It’s not a permanent solution.

And spend thousands of rupees fixing the water issue.

It happened in many of my neighbour’s houses. I already shared their stories earlier.

If you don’t want to make such mistakes, here are some of the best practices you need to do while constructing a sump and enjoy good water flow to your sump.

Arun

Don’t Let Misheard Prices Cost You — Our Story

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We were looking for Jali wood diwan cots. In sawmills, they were saying they don’t have jali wood.

After asking our carpenter, he suggested a shop where they use only Jali wood to make cots.

My dad wants to have cots with only jali wood because of the hardness of the wood, quality and cost.

We visited the shop once, enquired about pricing, and came back.

Today, my Dad and I went to order a bulk diwan cot for our rental property.

While negotiating the price, the seller quoted ₹3800 for the specification we requested.

We told ₹3400.

He said ok…

Because of the lessons we learned during our house construction time, we took one book to make it in writing.

We wrote 3400*16 on the book to calculate the 1st phase order cost.

The seller also saw the price as soon as we wrote the cost. And immediately informed us it was 3600rs.

No..we told ₹3400. “No sir, you told ₹3600”, the seller said.

This conversation went on for some time. It happened because of the sound seller probably couldn’t hear the price clearly and misheard what we said.

Luckily, we decided to put it in writing before placing the order. Otherwise, while doing the settlement, a problem could have been created.

That’s why I always tell you how important it is to have everything in writing or with proper proof.

When you are doing your house construction, you will be doing a lot of transactions. Having proper proof is highly recommended for all the transactions you do.

After learning some hard lessons in my first construction, we changed many things in the second construction to avoid disputes with contractors.

Luckily, my new system, whatever I adopted, helped in many cases.

I recommend every new house construction user follow what I shared inside my house construction tracking system to avoid the difference between you and contractors.

In that guide, I shared some of my case studies and how they helped me in problematic situations. So you will understand the importance of that guide.

Small changes in the system we follow can avoid many disputes.

Planning for G+3+1?

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I’m writing this email today after having tea with a little more sugar, which my mom always does anytime she prepares.

Today, the construction building, which is happening right in front of my home office, did a material shifting and pillar work with the gang team.

This construction is happening in half site. Today, whatever the pillar work they have done is for the 4th floor!

Yup! G+3+1 construction going on.

This is the only residential building with a G+4 floor in our area.

I don’t know if the owner knew some rules regarding building height.

Even if he doesn’t know now, he will surely come to know when he applies for a permanent power connection.

When files go to the BESCOM office, they see the building size and come for measurement with a big team.

Almost 5+ people came to take the measurements in our building, and that too after duty hours.

Our building is on the border to their rules, so they came and measured every inch of our building for 1 or 2 hours.

They didn’t find any deviation and left.

For the G+4 building, they surely wait for their extra paycheck by telling rules and violations.

To my knowledge, this building is only for owner stay. Due to the small size site, they are building more floors.

Using stairs all the time is not an easy task. And maintaining unused floors is also not an easy task. Just imagine maintaining G+4 floors…

I will wait and see what happens in their case.

When constructing our building, we also planned for a G+4 floor building.

Planning was also done for G+4; before starting our construction, we learned a few rules through our engineer.

After getting to know them, we immediately dropped the plan and went with G+3.

I shared more details about this in my Electrical work guide.

Make sure to know what you need to know before starting a construction work.

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?

How to Spend More and Make Building Look Old

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We went to ask about cot pricing for our rental unit a few days back. I noticed a construction building…

The building installed a Granite Wall Cladding all over it.

Do you know how it looks? BORING. Like an old building look.

Granite is good for flooring work, not for wall cladding work. It won’t look good.

I recommend using 2 by 4 Double glazing Tiles for wall cladding for a premium look.

Still in confusion?

Watch any YouTube videos where sale buildings or interior work is done.

They all use Tiles.

In our first house, we also did granite wall cladding, thinking more expensive == more premium looks.

It won’t work like that.

Granite wall cladding costs more than tiles. But look-wise, nothing beats Tiles.

Don’t keep thinking spending more makes your building look more beautiful.

Nope. Not always.

I still see many new buildings with granite wall cladding, which most older generation prefers.

Don’t make the same mistakes as others do.

Think and make decisions.

Granite is a good choice for maintenance-free flooring.

Suppose you want to use granite flooring and want to know the granite pricing and labour charges we paid. In that case, I have shared all those details inside my Our House Construction Expenses product.

Sometimes, it helps to know the price on average to better negotiate with the sellers.

Arun

Help to check the strength of a building

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For my email yesterday, I got the below reply from a subscriber:

Hi.

Can you suggest someone who can help to check or strengthen a house building?

We have purchased a old
Building & added a heavy floor on top. Structural and architects were involved though.

The house has load bearing walls.

Regards,
Vixxx Hxxxx

Can you suggest someone who can help to check or strengthen a house building?

I don’t have any such contacts apart from my building structural engineer.

Moreover, even if I give our engineer contact details, It would cost you more for him to visit your location for a consultation.

Instead, I recommend you search for a structural engineer near the building and do a consultation.

We have purchased a old Building & added a heavy floor on top. Structural and architects were involved though.

It looks like you have already involved a structural engineer. I hope they did bother checking old building plans and verified pillars (or) added additional pillars before giving yes to construct.

If not. Why not search on Google Maps so you can pick an engineer near your building to do a consultation, which could help.

If you just built one floor on top of an old building, it may not add much stress. But you are also mentioning “Heavy Floor,” something I wouldn’t dare to DO or Think about doing on any sale building.

For sale buildings or any existing building, they never construct a building while keeping future floors in mind.

The reason? It would significantly increase the building construction cost.

Why would anyone invest now when they don’t have a clear picture of their building?

No one would.

Anything invested in foundation work doesn’t add any value while selling time. Instead, they could invest the same in their interior, which significantly increasing the building’s value.

That’s why all sales buildings come with good interiors. Not with extra addable floors feature.

Anyway… I highly recommend getting in touch with some or a few structural engineers and consulting once.

Ask any building contractors, labourers, or engineers how well-sale buildings are built. They will give a clear picture of it.

If you are building a house using the labour contract method, check my guides, which will help avoid a few first-time user mistakes.

Arun

A building collapsed in Bangalore

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I hope you have already come across the building collapse news in Bangalore today.

After seeing the building falling clip and images, I noticed it’s mostly foundation and pillars fault.

If you properly notice the pillars on that building, only a few can be seen there. And the pillars size? Too small for a G+3+2 building.

Who is to blame?

Engineer or Owner or Contractor?

In this case, it seems the owner is at fault.

I don’t think any engineer would give such a low-quality plan for a G+5-floor building.

After reviewing the news, I noticed one contractor built G+3 floors. And nobody shared who built the remaining 2 floors.

Maybe the contractor also got scared while building itself and left the work partially?

It happens.

Contractors also don’t show interest in building sub-par quality buildings. If something goes wrong, they are also held responsible…

Or the contractor might had a dispute with the owner and left the project without finishing?

Whatever may be the reason.

When you are planning to construct, clearly share how many floors you need to build so engineers can properly calculate load and design plans accordingly.

If you want to build 1 floor now and a few floors later, share the same with engineers.

They plan for all the floors and provide the plan.

I got a few user queries about users who bought a sale building and now planning to extend one or two floors.

I straightly tell them, don’t bother doing that.

If you still want to do it, then consult the engineer. They will add a few pillars before raising the floors.

Because of such low-quality construction, all the users involved in that property will now suffer.

Whatever the project you handle, don’t mindlessly build cheap quality buildings. This statement applies to Owners, Engineers & Contractors as well.

Lots of users suffer because of this.

Don’t get involved in such projects if you don’t have control.

Arun

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.

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.

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?