Dear Shahid,

On my last vacation to Pakistan, I considered building a house in Lahore on turnkey basis. I did some research and heard some views from (i) people in the business of contracting; and (ii) people who have recently built their houses.

The overall result of my discussions and research is that a turn key contract solution is not a good one. They will use third rate materials and charge you for first rate material. And their profit margin is on top of all that.

The ideal way to build a house is to go for a Labor Contract solution. You have a contract with labour and Mistri; but you arrange for buying materials yourself. You do a separate contract with Architect for (i) Design (including drawings for Civil Works, Electrical & Mechanical and approval of design) and (ii) Supervision (No. of Minimum Visits agreed) at site.

If you cant do that because you are out of the country, then simply buy 2 plots instead of 1. Build the house when you come back to the country by selling one plot and building on the other plot.

Dear PK1,


Thanks for you reply and good advise. You are right now a days it's difficult to trust someone. Sometimes I think it is better to buy a constructed house because its very difficult to construct a house for a common man.

But I am agreed with your idea to built a house with a Labor Contract. Do you know the labour contract cost/sq.feet? Also if you know the approximate cost of modern house/sq.feet?

I can help you.

Regards
Architect Syed Furqan Ali

@PK1

I may not agree with you, its not that all the construction companies are the same, many are just not professionals which makes the difference. There are few construction companies who would take all your pain and do everything honestly with all the right materials.

One should compare apples with peaches .. major fault is at the client end when he choses the wrong guy to do a professional job. At the beginning it looks cheap but eventually its gets costly.

A professional firm will never do any unethical malpractice that would harm his repute. Contractors if left unsupervised do alot of fraud but in case of good construction company, you sign a contract with them binding them in written.

A good construction company will hand over a complete finished house in 8-9 months max if the flow of funds is good and if funds is not a concern then you can put the same in writing with the company and few would also accept a penalty clause in case of any delay cause due to the construction company.

In our case as i remember with one of the big NGO's we had a dead line of 30days for a warehouse handing over which included repairs, additions and other civil work and the penalty was 500,000/- for a delay exceeding even a single day, but the same was handed over within the said time frame.

Having said that, please remember that its not one sided play, you can get the company to mutually address your concerns in writing beforehand. Put every thing down in writing.

Ali
MEYAAR Builders

Ali,

Please I want some information from you, I have a plot, the plot is in depression from 4 to 8 feet back. The back plot is about 8 to 9 feet deep but that on is level with its front road. what I have to do fill the depression or built a basement. Second please can you forward me the construction rate

Labour only, labor with materiel up to gray level?

Turnkey, good quality of construction, may email address is shahidsop@yahoo.com

Thanks

Ali,

Am quite impressed with your elaboration on Contractors and Turn Key / Cost Plus business ways of working. I am going to initiate construction of my house in Bahria Town phase 8 and am looking for a reliable contractor. Appreciate, if you can share your profile and contact on ali.mirza@ats-ksa.com; ali_zaheer20@hotmail.com.

Looking forward for your response.

Thanks.