Building My Duplex House - Part One - Commencing Work...

Folks, Finally the good news is here to announce. I have started construction of my dream house in Bangalore. It all started early this year (2008)! I visited my daughter's friend Janani on a weekend and shared her father's experience in building their duplex house in a 30x40 sqft plot. I liked the house especially the sun-light passing staircase. That's when I decided to go for my own house. Luckily I bought a 30x40 plot near Electronic City - Singasandra village in the year 2003 for a throw-away price (now). After 4+ years the value of the land in those areas have skyrocketted - almost 7 times. 

Then I got in touch with my architect - referred by Janani's father - in March 2008. Went through couple of round of discussions on the plan, saw some basic samples and then confirmed his services in April 2008 by paying a decent advance. (The cost the architect's charge is based on the building costs - but I negotiated for a fixed cost as the actual costs will vary widely...with steel and cement costs spiralling sky-high).

It all looked very easy still I started planning for the KHATHA certificate which has to be procured from the Bommanahalli CMC. I was under a strong belief that I had a Khatha already which we procured through an intermediary who is capable of getting things easily done with "baksheesh". But when I learnt that the one I procured earlier was a CMC certificate and by now Bommanahalli CMC has been promoted as BBMP! The hurdle? I have to get the BBMP certificate by paying additional betterment charges to the same!!!

Hmm... I was assured a maximum of 15-20 days timeframe for achieving this. Okay! I initiated it with charged up mind. After going through circles for several weeks (actually months) I got the Khatha on one fine day - when I almost gave-up :) It was end-of-July 2008 already!

Ok! What next? It's the FLOOR PLAN APPROVAL from the same office. Time frame? 20 days max. Great! Go for it man.

The floor plan approval drama started exactly in August 2008. In this process you are supposed to submit all the papers along with the building floor plan. Here I had really touch time with my architect and the intermediary. Silly mistakes, multiple printouts, corrections, modifications etc etc etc etc.... Oops it took so many trips for me to architect's office and my plot and a good 3 months (QUARTER of an year). It was during 1st week of November 2008 I got my approved floor plan in my hand. Another milestone. Excellent. The plan was to build a beautiful DUPLEX HOUSE with stilt floor for car parking. 

Bhoomi Pooja: In the meanwhile, we did the bhoomi pooja on 22nd August 2008, as it was an auspicious "Vaastu Day" for initiating building construction

BANK LOAN SELECTION: I was already doing multiple rounds of analysis and prioritization (what words can you expect from a hardcore Product Manager LoL) with the banks and their interest rates. Here honestly, I was banking big on Nationalised Banks like SBI, Canara Bank, Corporation Bank and the likes... The interest rates have climbed to an all-time high (10.75% to 11.75%). Hmm...

I went with a private bank first and had horrible experience. Now applying with Canara Bank and hoping to get it soon.

During 3rd week of November, I decided to go for a BOREWELL.

Googled-out details on Water-diviners, borewell service providers, costs involved (a well-informed customer, you know). The water-diviner kept me waiting near Singasandra petrol station for an hour and finally came around sunset to mark the place for digging borewell in the North-east direction mf my plot. He used a tree branch and coconut for identifying the right location!!! 99% reliable they say. My BRAIN 2.0 failed to accept this belief but had to go with it after the borewell owner, an-Ex professor in a city college explained about the water-diviners and their precision in predictions.

And today, 16th November 2008 we started out borewell digging exercise early in the morning. 8:30 am we were sucking the sand out of the marked spot with ELGI drilling machine. While digging I had some visitors from around my area - and some experiences I heard from many of them induced jitters in me; In one place, they had to dig more than 800 feet deep, still failed with water; abandoned due to silt in another place; etc.

By 4 pm after 320 feet of drilling and hitting a good water table, I have my mission complete for the day.