The Construction of your dream home – Part 1
Every one wants to have a home of one’s own. It is very expensive to have a ready to move home as well as it does not generally fulfil you requirements. Moreover you are not sure about the quality of construction and material used in a ready home. At the same time it is too difficult to construct a home of your own choice. But it is not impossible if you can find a good
team and guidance from some sincere and experienced person. You can construct a home step by step if your budget is not yet enough to complete it.
I have passed through all experiences to have my own home without sufficient funds. Six years ago we dreamed to have our 5 marla home till year 2010 as we had arrangement of only Rs. 200,000/= at that time. It was grace of Allah and assistance by friends due to that we were able to shift in an 8 Marla Safari Villa in one of the best housing project of Lahore in 2006 instead of 2010. We financed it from a bank as Bahria Town was providing this facility at that time. Its true that one of the main problem of our age is that our vision and targets are too small which are achieved much earlier than our expectations.
We are happily living in our home and are fully satisfied with the quality of construction after repairing made by Bahria Town in this price. There was no need to think about constructing a new home but one of my friend and visitor of this page (Abbas from UK) insisted (as well as financed) me to involve myself in construction for gaining experience to assist many of friends who want to construct their home but have no idea how to go ahead. I would like to thank brother Adil Saeed and Kashif Chohan Sahib who really encouraged and guided me a lot to say YES to constructing a home. In this series I will share my experiences and knowledge (as a student of construction work) which I am gaining during process of construction of an 8 Marla home in Bahria Town Lahore (210 Ali Block). Quality is our main concern and the same time we are trying our best to control the cost. Knowledgeable friends are requested to correct me if my information and observations are not correct. Also you can add your views in this regard.
THE FIRST STEP for constructing your Home is selecting a housing society if you have not yet bought a plot. It is a very difficult decision and should be made after visiting all available options within your budget. It will be better if you can meet at least three residents (owners of the home NOT the renters) before making final decision. If you have an option please meet the owner of neighboring home/plot to know if there is any negative point related to this specific plot. When you finalize it then the procedure needs to be adopted as per Society rules and regulations. The approval of a map is only possible if the society is approved either by LDA or TMA in Lahore so make sure that Soceity is properly approved. When buying a plot you must physically examine it thoroughly as it should not be much deeper than the road level. If possible it should have a place free of construction so that you may store your material and make a temporary room for storing items like cement etc and your labour/Chowkidar will use it for their rest and stay. Otherwise your cost will be increased in shifting material as per requirement.
THE SECOND STEP in construction is to get possession of your plot. The process or steps may bit change from society to society but generally you need a possession (or demarcation or site plan on paper) from the society. It will show the length and depth of your plot as well as its
location from the surroundings. You need exact specification of your plot before planning of map. In Bahria Town Lahore the owner deposits a form along with a prescribed fee and this procedure generally takes a week to complete.
The friends who are really interested to construct a home on their plots should get the possession as fees, rules and regulation keep on changing in the benefits of developers.
Third Step in Construction is to get a map of your home which we will discuss in next part of this series.
:pkf {{{You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, ‘I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.’ You must do the thing you think you cannot do.}}}