When R K Lakshman visited Australia, an acquaintance once invited him to his home. When the cartoonist was admiring the latter’s home he told the author that he had built his home all by himself — brick by brick!!!
Back home in India, when people say they have built their “own home” they mean they have got their home built with the help of masons and builders. Building homes can be an exhilarating experience, but can be exhausting too! There is a very famous Kannada proverb which says, “Maduve Madisi nodu and mane Kattisi nodu” which when interpreted will reveal that a lot of challenge lies in building homes or conducting a marriage as there are infinite number of little details that have to be attended to, when one sets out to carry out any one of these activities. Moreover, owners of homes, both old and new, will concur that not a single day has passed when they can consider that every aspect of their home can be considered complete. 

Realty cakewalk

Of late, people who intend to build their own homes; especially in urban areas, are finding the exercise a cakewalk because builders and architects hand over the keys of the completed project if one can afford the product which usually includes real cost and hidden costs. The ‘completed home’ consumer satisfaction quotient at the end of the day remains a debatable issue. The prospective owners of the homes have little or no say in the matter as the broad blueprint of the home is decided by the builders who take water connection, electric connection and sanitary connection as the basic criteria while charting out the basic pattern of the building such that these lines run through the building commonly. This arrangement helps in maintenance of these facilities in the long run. The owner of the house gets to decide the interior designing of the home within these parameters.
Considering the fact that the prospective owner pays for his new asset, it will be in his best interest to know the rudimentary lessons of the building industry.

Lesson time

It is obvious that builders and contractors will not work without a decent profit margin for themselves and their workers.

Nevertheless it will help to know the arithmetic and the logistics in construction work whether you are getting the house built under contract or through a builder so that you are not taken for a ride.
Once the blueprint of the house is complete, make sure you have the approval of the local authority concerned. Remember, it is best not to flout the rules however negligible they may appear because it can hamper your peace in the long run.

Do not scrimp on the amount of money and the quality of material invested in building the foundation of the house or building. The material charges are always higher in the initial stages of construction.
The wages of the masons and workers are relatively lower till the building reaches the lintel level of the ground floor of the building, and the labour charges increase as the building grows taller.

Usually builders and masons opt for labour and material contract separately because it cuts their cost to a large extent. Carpenters, electricians, plumbers and masons usually share an ‘understanding’ with the hardware dealers and prefer to buy from shops which will give them a commission of anywhere between five to twenty per cent on the net purchase.

It is not enough if one is just aware of the cost aspect, constant inspection of the building work will ensure better results and it will be possible to make small changes as and when necessary. Even if a tight schedule keeps you away from the building site, make sure you are present on the day the foundation, lintel and roofing levels are under construction. Besides, once the roof of the house is laid it is best to supervise whether the area is water locked for the next twenty one days to ensure a fissure free ceiling.

It is advisable for the owner to take off from his routine to personally get the electricity, corporation water and sanitary connection approved by the authorities concerned and also attend the ‘road cutting’ to oversee the process lest there be trouble in future on these counts.

When the house is ready for painting and polishing, be there and see to it that every unevenness and fissure is packed before applying primer followed by your favourite colours.

This exercise will not only give you a sense of involvement in your pet project but will also make you ruminate over the verse of Phillip Larkin who said,

To put one brick upon another,
Add a third, and then a fourth,
Leaves no time to wonder whether
What you do has worth
 
But to sit with bricks around you
While the winds of heaven bawl
Weighing what you should or can do
Leaves no doubt of it at all.

Especially if you have been conscious while choosing your bricks  (read as building process)!!!  

The table given will give you an approximate idea about the wages that are invested in the labour sector.

Wages for men........................Rs 200/- per day 
Wages for women............ ......Rs 100/- per day 
Plumber...................................Rs 250/- per day
Electrician (groove cutting ).... Rs 150/- per day
Electrician (wiring )..................Rs 400/- per day
Carpenter/ Plumber ................Rs 300/- per day