Home interior work advice

[chand]

there is a saying... watermelon falls on knife or knife falls on watermelon , its the watermelon thats going to get hit. Same with carpenters.. either ways endusers are going to get hit. My experience is that if you are not going for exotic finishes like veneer/polish stuff better to go with factories for laminates.

-chand

[Chida_gs]

Hi,

Labour Contract is good in terms of economy & materials Choice. Material Contract is high always as the Margin from Carpenter is high.
Regarding the Effort from your end for Procurement & Quality can be taken care.

Here you can manage in terms of Procurement

1) Carpenter will provide estimated Materials requirement (Ply & Boards (Required for Doors) -- Procure Once for all
2) For Kitchen/Bathrooms/Utility - You need Waterproof Ply & Boards - Consider this should your last Procurement (By that time you will know how much is required at Rooms, Living room, Dining etc...)
3) Inside Laminate is mostly White one, you can buy Bulk
4) Outside Laminate/Vineer needs to be your choice, take time & choose good one for your taste and check some of friends house or catelogs etc..
5) Hinges, Channels, Fevicol, nuts, bolts etc. can be procured bulk & can be return if it unused later.
6) Transportation charges & Materials placeing inside the house (Check with Shop they will usually absorb this charges from their end if your purchase is high)

Most important, you should inform the Dealer that you will return the Unused items back before proceeding for Purchase or else go for other Shops. Choose the Shop which is near to your House (Considering the Rate & Travel distance)

If you working for IT (You always have Saturday & Sunday Holiday) you can procure on this 2 days for all the materials.

Hope this will be help to some extent.

[ardesarchitects]

Hi Guys
Let me put my experiences with labor contract in the current market trend

1.Getting a reliable carpenter is just a myth
2.Depending on carpenter knowledge is like swimming a river holding a dogs tail
3.No one can provide or estimate the exact material required (since you think of making changes as you want then what the carpenter can do?)
4.You need to be ready to visit hardware shop no less than 30-40 times
5.You would be purely depending on the hardware shop / ply wood guys marketing knowledge .My personal experience tell that material vendor has zero knowledge about any material they are selling .They have no idea about the compatibility of one fixture with other.
6.Planning on saturday and sunday for material purchase is your plan but not carpenters plan.Don't expect the carpenter to give you list of materials every week to keep you comfortable for buying them in weekends
7.Most items you dream to buy (sophisticated fittings/ exotic laminates/handles/veneers)are not available with shopkeepers.You order them and get it in 2-3 days some times a week.
8. Technically you place a order on Saturday item is ready on Tuesday to collect ,so you need to be available on Tuesday

Note **** sunday market is closed (99%).only local shops will be available .So you are left with only saturday

I am not discouraging any one here ,keeping you informed about the time it demands .
I have seen many of my clients who are passionate about design and shows no compromise in getting any material from any where in bangalore .They spend hours with carpenters / polishers / shopkeepers / electricians to get the things done as per design.
So be prepared for spending your personal time & lot of R&D with materials / prices / logistics / labor payments / project management / co ordination with teams .

Good luck

Regards
Ar.Praveen.N
Ardes Architects and Interior Designers
www.ardesarchitects.com
ardesarchitects@gmail.com

[prabhu422p]

All the points covered by Praveen are absolutely correct.Recently i completed my carpentry work for my apt with labour contract.If we go for labour contract we(some person from your side) need to be present at all times.Though initally they give approximate list of items before start of work still on daily basis they give item list and one should be there to bring the items from the shop.

Thanks
Prabhakar

[blorebuddy]

there is a saying... watermelon falls on knife or knife falls on watermelon , its the watermelon thats going to get hit. Same with carpenters.. either ways endusers are going to get hit. My experience is that if you are not going for exotic finishes like veneer/polish stuff better to go with factories for laminates.

-chand

I am not going with veneer polish stuff. It is all laminates.

[blorebuddy]

Hi,
Labour Contract is good in terms of economy & materials Choice. Material Contract is high always as the Margin from Carpenter is high.
Regarding the Effort from your end for Procurement & Quality can be taken care.

Hope this will be help to some extent.

Thanks Chida. Your suggestion is valuable and gives me confidence that i can experiment with labour contract. Good point about transport and placing the material inside the house. Mine is a flat which is in the 6th floor.

[blorebuddy]

Prabhu422P, Praveen - I read your posts and gone back to my confused state ! I do not have anyone from my side to present all the time.

[santro]

Labour contract can be executed without any hassels if:
1. You are satisfied with workmanship of carpenter in his earlier works.
2. If you have freezed the designs, minor modification can be accommodated.
3., Usually adhoc requirements will be tapes, nails & screws else other materials can be purchased in batches after discussing with carpenter.
1st Batch- Ply, white laminate, Fevicol, Nails, Screws etc.
2nd Bath--Color laminates, Hinges, channels & any requirements of 1st bath.
4. When they start the work you can select & finalize the color laminates, handles,baskets, tandeum boxes etc which would save time.

[ardesarchitects]

Hi blrbuddy,
Don't get confused .The difference in the full contract and labor contract is savings at the cost of your time .Quality / design will remain same if you compare similar category of persons involved in the work.
Compare A - grade carpenter with A - grade contractor to evaluate the cost difference between labor and contract + add your personal time cost + wastage + logistics costs .

Good luck

Regards,
Ar.Praveen.N
Ardes Architects and Interior Designers
www.ardesarchitects.com
ardesarchitects@gmail.com

[chand]

hi,
we had the same confusion when doing the kitchen doors, I knew that local carpenter wont do the best job on doors with laminates. -
So I got the doors membrane wood finishes from factory, carpenter got it done.. I believed on the price.

May be Praveen can tell.. more on this, edge binding and hot press glue and autocad designs are the ones the local carpenter lack.
are the first 2 important in long run. Once when I went to buy marble salesman as usual started asking for price and was deciding the design. he told when u want to buy marble don't ask for the price first shortlist .


same with the interiors have a budget and then work with person whom you think will get the best results. At the end more or less u pay the same thing.. at least be satisfied . Take one room at a time and try to finish the carcass and basic work.. then u will know where u went wrong and correct in the next room.


thanks,
Chand