Not bad!

Check the graph of people who have been visiting us. It is very encouraging. Its been 4 months we launched. Last month( April 2012) more then 3000 people visited us.

Looking at statistics and sample data, most of the people who visited us were people who were looking for information related to Home Renovation.

Here are top 10 things we want to do for sure on ContractorBhai.com

1) Anyone who visits website should find some useful information.
2) Anyone who writes email or message to us, should get complete answer to query
3) Anyone who fills form for Free Estimate, must get helped.
4) Anyone who asks us to refer Contractor/Architect/Interior Designer will get best contacts.
5) We do not want to focus on selling service, instead we want to focus on interest of home owners
6) We want to promise little and outperform our promise. Honor what we say.
7) We want to focus on Quality. Stay small and lean.
8.) Keep away from corporate bullshit but at the sametime provide high quality customer experience.
9) Respect others. Stay open to criticisms
10) Have fun!

Thank you to all Home Owners who got in touch with us in last 4 months! Irrespective of whether you have given business or not, you have helped me and this project in growing stronger.

Keep in touch with us on facebook and twitter

In most of the cities and towns of India, Vastu Shatra is given heavy importance while planning Interior of Kitchen. 9 out of 10 times kitchen plan is discussed with female member in the house. Lady of the house has stronger say in how kitchen gets designed. Things like dish self, oil pull out, ghar ganti (Mill) etc. Sink gets considered in planning.

Nowadays in modern kitchen, parallel kitchen, is in trend. Idea is, to have platform by two opposite walls. Until long long time we made our kitchen in L shape. However in L shaped kitchen, corner always gets under-utilised. Instead parallel kitchen allows you work with more freedom and space gets utilised effectively.

What is difference between “L” shape & parallel kitchen?

In old designs we didn’t have trend of using chimney, hence Gas/stove was placed near window. But with chimney things have changed. Now many a times parallel platform is placed on two opposite walls. Chimney takes care of missing window.

Wall between two platform wall has arrangement of duct pipeline of gas also has space extension for placing washing machine.

Imported Vitrified Tiles are cheaper then the Indian brand like Johnson’s Tiles and  others. Why so?
Imported Vitrified Tiles you are talking about are made in China they are cheap. The reason for low cost is no different from lot of other China made stuff which comes for Cheap. There is a company called NIPCO, it makes products in China sells here for cheap
and have a very successful brand

How is the quality of Marble over last few years. Is it getting better?

We get good marble only the Makrana. white marble is less in market now a days because this type of Marble they are mining it since years now. So good quality of this type is less. Only after Marble is been Mined and brought out on surface, you come to know it’s quality.

What is Italian Marble?

It is Marble, imported from Iatly. It is soft marble. Most of this Italian Marble are with figures and colours.

What is more in trend nowadays?

Marbles are been used less now a days. Vitrified Tiles are more popular for flooring

What is good – Marble or Vitrified Tiles?
Marble is life long.vitrified tiles has a coating like a color coating, if u have seen in these malls , offices, showrooms etc where more people come with their shoes and sandles, sometimes coating comes out and mud like surface becomes visible on surface. But for an average if you use it in home it stays for 10 to 15 yrs.

vitrified tiles can be used just after 1 hour of fixing it. There is no need to Polish it like Marble. vitrified tiles comes in many designs and colors. You can select Size. It has a gloss effect so it looks good even at home and also in office and showrooms

Marble is life long.vitrified tiles has a coating like a color coating

Marble, in India, come in different colours – Green Marble, white Marble, Pink marble. White marbles have figure inside commonly called Moorwala or Janjarwala. Some Marble have the design like plywood they are called ONEX. There are many other varieties so any stone which gets cut in to slab, gets used for construction.

From where does Marble come out of India?

Rajasthan – near Udaipur. There is place called Rajnagar, around this we get white marble. White with figure from the khaan(mines). Now a days Banswada is not in trend but even this you get in the district beside this place. In jaisalmer you get Jaisalmer Marble which is called Ita gold. Near Udaipur there is place called Kesariya, here we get
green and pink marble. You also get Makrana marble this is white marble.

If my Home is a 500 square feet 1BHK Flat – What Interior Ideas should I opt for and what should I avoid?

Knowing Budget, kind of puts rest of the thing in place. Budget plus requirement decides whole plan of action. All your requirements and made to fit in to your budget.

There are always changes in Interior plans as per your budget. For example if your budget doesn’t allow you to spend much then you have to adjust, say instead of POP (Plaster of Paris) or False ceiling you have to opt for normal painted ceiling. Do away with some furniture, couple of tables.

Howe Owner has to decide where to adjust. Interior Designer or Contractor will give you recommendations but finally Home Owner makes a call. For this to work correctly.

Unfortunately some builders have now adjusted these costs in to rates of the house. Legally they cannot ask you to pay for Parking.

before you buy house, ask for blueprint which mentions exact built up area and Carpet area. After this have a Professional person to measure things inside house. It could be anyone who has experience of such things – Architect, Contractor , Interior Decorator , or Real estate Agent, any skilled person who knows stuff.

Unfortunately due to increase in housing prices, you really dont get to see well planned house in economic segment easily. We compromise. Previously people bought 2 BHK or 3 BHK because prices were low and space was available. Now there is less space and cost is also more at the same time so people started buying 1 BHK or 1 Room Kitchen. Also nowadays the concept of joint family has gone down and its more about nuclear family.

What is the difference between one bedroom hall kitchen and one Hall kitchen?

One good part is such plans come with bigger rooms. I know places where 1 Hall kitchen looks more spacious then 1 BHK. Anyways..So lets say you want to convert 1 Hall kitchen to 1 BHK.

How will you make 1 Room kitchen into a 1 bedroom hall kitchen?

Adjustment. Yes ! We have to adjust the kitchen somewhere and not use dedicated bigger room/space for kitchen.  Most likely you will move your kitchen in to Balcony. The other common solution is combine Bathroom and Toilet. Use newly created space for kitchen.

Shift WC into Bathroom or shift bathroom in to WC?

No! We shift  WC in to bathroom. Generally bathroom size is 7ft by 4ft . In this space you need shower area 4ft by 4ft. The remaining space 4ft by 3ft can be used for WC or English Toilet seat. It doesn’t really matter. If you really really want to, put a plastic curtain which separates Commode area and shower area. But it really doesn’t matter to me.

Now the space of the toilet can be used as pantry or kitchen. If kitchen, then in that case then you will have space only for cooking. Dinning moves to Hall. Amenities like Refrigerator and others need to be placed somewhere in home.

What are main concerns in mind of Home Owners when they meet Contractor or Interior Designer or Architect for the first time?
From my experiences in Pune and nearby area, Vastu shashtra gets lot of importance. Space matters. If you buy a 2bhk (Bedroom Hall Kitchen) flat in Pune you need 50 lakhs or more. People want the house space to get used properly. they want you to Plan things which take care of vastu. With Bungalows it is possbile to be flexible in planning. But with Flats/Apartments you have to be proactive and get best solution within given space. After working on all aspects including Orientation given by builder, Interior, Home Owners expectation, budget etc, we finalise budget.

What are usual day to day Challenges for Civil/Construction Professionals like you?
We do the professional practice and we have to take along the uneducated workers. We have to balance both the ends. We get requirements from Home Owners or Site Owner. And we have to work with Skilled labours and others to get work done in time and as per expectations. We have to face the communication and also solve the problems faced both the sides and do the work. Most of the people are genuine and committed. Like everything else in life you always come across people with whom you have to deal carefully.

After all these years of experience how do you compare working independently vs taking up Job in some Construction company?
With Builder’s work there are always some or the other limitations. You do not get to use all your Creative Ideas and terms. Finally any Builder/company is focused on earning money. They do not have to stay in houses/buildings they build. Having said that I have independently done work for Builders where I was able to use lot of good Ideas. I have started work for one big scheme in Satara. For the first time in city of Satara there will be Sample Flat, people get to look at it and then book/buy new homes. This is a common practice in Pune Mumbai and almost bigger cities. Projects for Home owners are always full of work satisfaction. As I said earlier Home Owners have limited budget and lot of expectations. Lot of emotions and care involved. To meet their expectations is tough and challenging task. I have done more then 300 Home Renovation/ Remodeling projects in Pune. I know how it feels being a Home Owner. For us all projects are equally important, it could be small renovation task or complete Bungalow development from scratch.