Houzz Forum: Which Big Mistakes to Avoid When Building a Home?
Architects Reny Lijo and Lijo Jos, Dipen Gada, Hardik Shah, Yatin Kavaiya and Kunal Barve discuss mistakes clients make during construction
There is a lot that can go wrong when you are building your home. You have no control over some, but there are certain decisions you can make that help ensure a strong start to your home project. We sought the advice of five prominent architects from the industry – Reny Lijo and Lijo Jos of LIJO.RENY.architects, Dipen Gada of Dipen Gada and Associates, Hardik Shah of Studio Lagom, Yatin Kavaiya of Usine Studio and Kunal Barve of Interface By Architect Kunal & Mihir Barve – to point out the commonest and biggest mistakes that homeowners should avoid before or during construction so that they may move into a place that fits their vision.
Dipen Gada
Dipen Gada and Associates, Vadodara
For constructing a home, my biggest piece of advice to homeowners is to stick to functional vastu, and not follow it superstitiously or blindly. When people do the latter, they end up building an impractical structure that they later find uncomfortable to live in; several structural changes follow next.
Here are a few tips to make
your interiors vastu-friendly:
Here are a few tips to make your interiors vastu-friendly
Dipen Gada and Associates, Vadodara
For constructing a home, my biggest piece of advice to homeowners is to stick to functional vastu, and not follow it superstitiously or blindly. When people do the latter, they end up building an impractical structure that they later find uncomfortable to live in; several structural changes follow next.
Here are a few tips to make
your interiors vastu-friendly:
- Only follow basic vastu, which is climate-friendly and follows the scientific fundamentals.
- In any house, light and ventilation is most important; for sensible architecture, follow the basic fundamentals of climatology, as it has equivalent vastu benefits.
- The principles of vastu were derived keeping the fundamentals of climatology of that time and place in mind. Now, in today’s times, one can control climate through technology. So, never blindly follow vastu.
Here are a few tips to make your interiors vastu-friendly
Hardik Shah
Studio Lagom, Surat
In parallel to the fast-moving world, homeowners often want to complete the project in a specific time interval. That brings along major repercussions – the quality of workmanship suffers, along with an inappropriate site environment where the sequence of work on site becomes disorganised at times, leading to accidents or wastage of materials.
Clients have a major role to play in the promotion of a systematic approach to the management of health and safety in construction. They set the tone for the project and make the decisions crucial to its development. It’s the duty of an architect to educate the client regarding all such matters of the design and construction process. Everything needs its time, hence being patient so that the architect can shape a home of their desires, is the most important thing any homeowner should keep in mind. A healthy client-architect relationship is the key to any successful architectural expression.
What Architects Want You to Know
Studio Lagom, Surat
In parallel to the fast-moving world, homeowners often want to complete the project in a specific time interval. That brings along major repercussions – the quality of workmanship suffers, along with an inappropriate site environment where the sequence of work on site becomes disorganised at times, leading to accidents or wastage of materials.
Clients have a major role to play in the promotion of a systematic approach to the management of health and safety in construction. They set the tone for the project and make the decisions crucial to its development. It’s the duty of an architect to educate the client regarding all such matters of the design and construction process. Everything needs its time, hence being patient so that the architect can shape a home of their desires, is the most important thing any homeowner should keep in mind. A healthy client-architect relationship is the key to any successful architectural expression.
What Architects Want You to Know
Yatin Kavaiya
Usine Studio, Vadodara
Building a new home is an exciting adventure for the homeowner, though it’s a challenge too. The client’s practical needs from various spaces and their requirements of ambience become complicated when they come with half-baked ideas that are contrary to their necessities and architectural aesthetic. A critical part of the problem is solved when the right architect is selected; someone who can bring compatibility between the homeowners’ aspirations and their lifestyles.
Check out these myths about hiring an architect
Usine Studio, Vadodara
Building a new home is an exciting adventure for the homeowner, though it’s a challenge too. The client’s practical needs from various spaces and their requirements of ambience become complicated when they come with half-baked ideas that are contrary to their necessities and architectural aesthetic. A critical part of the problem is solved when the right architect is selected; someone who can bring compatibility between the homeowners’ aspirations and their lifestyles.
Check out these myths about hiring an architect
Kunal Barve
Interface By Architect Kunal & Mihir Barve, Mumbai
One mistake homeowners make is asking the architect to cut down the size of rooms to save costs. While there are other ways to build a home on a budget, reducing a decent room size is not the way out. Usually homeowners have a thumb-rule cost in mind, which is based on average per-square-foot cost. If the price goes higher, they cut corners by reducing the room size more than is required. In the end, the home does not meet their expectations and the client then ends up spending more than what they had initially accounted for, to spruce it up.
When thinking of downsizing the room, evaluate the following before taking any decision:
1. The future needs of your family
2. The functional planning of furniture layout and circulation, with respect to proposed room sizes and practical storage requirements.
3. The size of the room with respect to its height.
4. The space in the room after furniture is in place. Rooms should always look airy and spacious, because furniture and styling can always change but your room parameters are fixed for life.
Find out how to calculate the square-footage of your house
Read more:
Houzz Forum: What Needs to Change in India’s Architectural Practices?
Tell us:
Professionals, are there any other points you’d like to add? Tell us about them in the Comments section below.
Interface By Architect Kunal & Mihir Barve, Mumbai
One mistake homeowners make is asking the architect to cut down the size of rooms to save costs. While there are other ways to build a home on a budget, reducing a decent room size is not the way out. Usually homeowners have a thumb-rule cost in mind, which is based on average per-square-foot cost. If the price goes higher, they cut corners by reducing the room size more than is required. In the end, the home does not meet their expectations and the client then ends up spending more than what they had initially accounted for, to spruce it up.
When thinking of downsizing the room, evaluate the following before taking any decision:
1. The future needs of your family
2. The functional planning of furniture layout and circulation, with respect to proposed room sizes and practical storage requirements.
3. The size of the room with respect to its height.
4. The space in the room after furniture is in place. Rooms should always look airy and spacious, because furniture and styling can always change but your room parameters are fixed for life.
Find out how to calculate the square-footage of your house
Read more:
Houzz Forum: What Needs to Change in India’s Architectural Practices?
Tell us:
Professionals, are there any other points you’d like to add? Tell us about them in the Comments section below.
LIJO.RENY.architects, Thrissur
Even before construction, I believe it is important to choose the right architect for the job. Unfortunately, many homeowners make a mistake on that very front. There is a misconception that every architect does every kind of work – that’s not true. Every architect has their own specialisation; some offer only architectural services, some both architecture and interiors.
Certain professionals do not supervise a project every day, which could be a problem for some clients. Also, in terms of the aesthetics that a homeowner wants, they should choose a professional who can understand that kind of style. Many people employ the services of an architect without learning about their work first, and then get dissatisfied and move on to another one to complete it.
Busted! 5 Myths About Hiring an Architect