We do not provide good quality homes, kindly book somewhere else”, said no builder ever!
In life, you always get what you ask for and it rarely comes in the package you think it’s supposed to come in. - Kurek Ashley
We, the home buyers, have been asking for offers, price discounts, amenities and there has been a cut throat competition in delivering the same! And much like the above stated quote, we have been assuming that the basic quality, bare minimum specifications, construction techniques, materials being used, and all must be at par!
Knock knock, and here’s the biggest surprise a new home buyer faces! Dampness, cracks, inadequate parking space dimensions, taps running dry frequently as compared to our adjacent project, the promised delivery date getting extended by months and taking a toll on our pockets, etc! The list of these unwanted surprises goes endless.
Before we even buy a simple phone, we first compare on all the technical parameters, get satisfied if the product’s hardware meets our core expectation and only then do we seriously take the offer part for decision making.
Here, neither are we asking technical questions, nor are they bothering to answer or explain the basis for their self-declared “Best Quality Homes!”
But we are not civil engineers, one may argue! What questions can we ask? Will we even understand if they tell us a thing and execute something else?
Well, how many of us are computer engineers or necessarily take one along to buy a phone? We all ourselves, irrespective of our educational qualifications, turn into tech experts and go on asking all the RAM, ROM, Clock speed, Refresh rate, Camera specs, etc while buying a phone costing us a few thousands. It’s after the seller has qualified on explaining all of these parameters, do we get into the offer, discount, cashback details. Simple blogs, YouTube videos educate us so much that no company can trick us by merely advertising “Best Quality Phones in Pune!” Not only the company, but all of their salespersons are equipped with all answers to your technical questions. How did this happen? Because you asked those questions.
Similarly, while buying a home, your dream new home, costing a HUNDRED thousands, questions like specification of bricks, test reports of materials, thickness of finish coat layers, waterproofing treatment used, dimensions for parking-turning, construction schedule, capacities of tanks, make of various hardwares used, etc can make the whole difference!
To add, different brokerages are offered by different developers and so, an agent’s recommended “Best” project, may not necessarily be the actual best from the available options. Thus, you need to be in the driving seat with the right set of questions related to technical practices adopted by the execution team.
This awareness among the buyers shall definitely give a boost to the developers to keep up their good construction practices without compromising on the quality to get into the race of “offers”, since the home buyers shall themselves, in search of provable quality product, land at their offices. Also, the genuinely concerned agents, shall find satisfaction when the buyers themselves shall start asking for technically sound quality homes and not just the one with best offers, amenities and view!
However there are some limitations to the impact that these questions can bring! Because it is not only the questions, but your knowledge of assessing the answers to these questions that are going to be real game changer. We always know of a friend, who without in-depth knowledge of the parameters, simply asks questions for the sake of asking and gets convinced with anything and everything being answered. Similarly, we as well know of a friend who simply disagrees with everything, calling it sub-standard. Knowledge can be a double edged sword and so one must know to categorise if the answers to your questions are really below the acceptable limits, or if too good to be true or are they good enough to be accepted.
Here, a workshop for new home buyers, conducted by on-site engineers with years of experience can show us the path! While they can tell us the right and essential questions, they shall as well show us the acceptable answers for us to arrive at a judgement.
Know How Schools LLP, a DPIIT (Gov of India) recognized skilling start-up, who has till date trained 1500+ civil engineers, conducted number of workshops for onsite engineers for good construction practices, are here to train us, the end-users, the New Home Buyers into what goes into building good quality homes and the checks for the same.