Make sure you sign a contract with the contractor

After you have collected the rates from,  select the contractor keeping in mind the cost, time to be taken, quality of work and the skills of the contractor.

1. Try to make the agreement on lump sum basis which can be calculated from the area of drawing and by the rate given by the contractors.

2. Avoid making agreement on square feet basis because it can create dispute at the time of measurement.  The contractor may  later on add RCC shelves, balcony, projection and some hidden items of the drawings or designs in the calculations while these items may not be considered extra items for payment according to you.

3. Be watchful of the bad habits of the contractors as some may use sub standard material, demand for hidden or silent items, install less steel bars in the beams and slabs and also minimizes the thickness and size of beams or slabs.

4. Beware of the contractors who try to be very clever and misguides the house owner to get more money. They think that the house owner does not know the construction work or the quality of the material.

5. Make detailed agreement of each construction work in writing with the help of a technical person or friend. It’s usually seen that the contractor agrees with you on all the points verbally but he backs out of many points or items later on.