In making of your own home!

The productivity of work is not the responsibility of the worker but of the manager...Peter Drucker.

And how apt are the words by the management guru as most of us feel that after booking a flat or a home & entering in to an agreement with some builder our responsibility is over towards the same! Just like many parents around who assures their kids admission to a so called good school & they think they have done their job! And many advertises also scream the same i.e. book a home with us & forget rest of the things! With all due respect to their intentions & marketing strategies adhering to the quote we have to understand a person booking the home with the builder is manager of the task & the developer is merely performing the job of worker! Unfortunately most home buyers forget this very fact & that’s why the recent published stats by "Consumer forum" mentions maximum consumer complaints registered in Pune are about developers! Not a healthy sign for the industry but below the surface some where buyer’s negligence about the product also does matter!

Here many will differ saying what an individual flat holder can do against the builder once  flat is booked & then what’s use of booking a flat with reputed name?  Agreed the brand value has it count yet first thing is not all can afford it & second is even if you have booked with a branded company it it’s your own home which they will be building, so nothing wrong if you show a little bit concern for the same! And if we look with open eyes towards the home which we have bought a lot can be done about the same when it’s in making. I have seen many a customers saying proudly they haven’t gone to site once after booking & directly went for possession! Great & congrates on their achievement but to me a home is far more than just a product & it has sentimental value higher than any thing we buy that’s why its not just  handing over a home we say its possession! Earlier days builder calling the customers at site was unheard of  ( still today many a don’t) but now a days  many reputed firms are known to carry on site get together of the customers who have booked a home with them & inform them about the site workmanship & procedures they are following for the quality assurance.

These get togethers help you to know the making of your own home more specifically & you can suggest what ever changes you want in your home in advance which otherwise will be impossible or too costly to redo later on. Because in this industry there is no undo button! For example if you want a kitchen otta has to made on other wall than whatever standard is then once a otta is made all you can do is break existing one & do again & this process can cost you triple of what it could be if you would have told the change in time! Such many changes are there which you would wish to incorporate & for that being regular in touch with the site work is a must. Not only the changes but one should be well accustomed with the basic quality norms that are followed on site about the workmanship & see that they are being incorporated on working stages.

If your developer is following them then good or you ask for same & you can always use this knowledge to share with your other family members /friends who haven’t yet bought the home for themselves. And these can be very basic questions as what kind of cement has been used? What is the method of water proofing for to terraces as well wet areas? How they assure that water proofing has been done? What are the window sizes & why they are of that size? So many things you can ask if you go to the site regularly & nothing to be ashamed of asking as its your own home which you are trying to know better! Also the joy or pleasure of visiting the on going works brings your home more close to your heart!

Unfortunate the number of developers following such good practices is a bit less yet & those who follow have a complaint that many customers ignores their such effort & remain absent for the events like such. As I mentioned earlier if your developer is not following such practice then surely you can request him so & if he is doing then it’s your duty to attend the same. It’s not only about knowing the home but you come to know your neighbors also through such events & surely it can help in laying a healthy togetherness atmosphere in future. As there may be many decisions like operating a bore well pump or lift mechanism or central solar hot water unit, where the operation may involve joint efforts later, which if you understand today then will be easier to operate in future avoiding many of society's disputes! And it’s not just about the site work but you can take information about the various types of drawings which includes sanctioned as well working drawings, specifications, sanctioning procedures about the project. This will help to avoid many future problems for the project as has been witnessed by some of the infamous cases in the city with real estate industry. Only thing is this has to be done in a friendly & systematic manner in co-ordination with the developer & for win-win situation. Or else what we saw with due respect like the Information act has been used mostly by wrong users, that thing should not happen! A knowledge has to be used to make both the parties better togethereness & should not be cause of disput.

A view which has been shared by many developers about making the customer more exposed to the working procedures is that they may tend to poke their nose unnecessarily more than what they know by the half knowledge & making the situation bitter for both parties! Absolutely agree with this as I myself have experiences with some of the customers for asking erratic questions about the construction process we followed at site & trying to cross argue with me about the same making blame on us for substandard workmanship! But my argument is such types of customers are going to be there always & if we are sure about what we are doing then why to get bothered & if we are doing something really wrong then what’s harm in accepting some good suggestion of our customer as ultimately its for them whom we are building the project & not just to make money! Any new tradition has its own good& bad side; all we have to see is what's the cause behind making it!

After all transparency is not merely a word but it’s an act which should display our intentions clearly towards the relation which we have committed to! And what better act we as a developer can put in than to make our customer fully aware about the product which is going to be his home!

At the end as the famous management Guru has said, remember its you who is manager of your home making, the developer is just a tool to achieve what you have dreamed about it!

Sanjay Deshpande

Sanjeevani Dev.

Envo-Power Committee, Credai, Pune

Please do visit my blog to know about our philosophy at Sanjeevani !

http://visonoflife.blogspot.com/

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