Paid for what is built, not for what month it is
Stage payments tied to completed work, one named site engineer from foundation to handover, and a specification agreed in writing before a price is quoted.
Three things that are always true
Whatever the plot, the budget or the architect, these do not change between one job and the next.
One engineer, the whole build
The person who walks the plot with you is the person on site at plastering. Fourteen months is long enough that a handover between engineers costs a fortnight, and we would rather not spend it.
Specification before price
Brand and grade written down for every item that matters — cement, steel, wiring, sanitaryware — before a number is quoted. A cheaper price against an unwritten specification is not a cheaper house.
Two site visits a week, yours
Any two, with the engineer present. Some clients come every week for a year and some come twice; both are normal and neither changes what is charged.
The six stages
Each one is released against completed work, jointly measured. A month passing releases nothing.
On signing
Ten per cent, against the signed specification and the drawings. This is the only stage not tied to work on site, and it is the smallest for that reason.
Foundation complete
Twenty per cent. Measured jointly, with the engineer and you on site — a photograph is not a measurement and we do not ask you to accept one.
Roof slab cast
Twenty-five per cent, the largest stage. Steel and concrete are most of a house’s material cost and they are all spent by here.
Plastering and wiring
Twenty per cent. The stage where a specification argument would surface, which is why the specification was written at signing.
Finishes
Twenty per cent. Flooring, joinery and sanitaryware, all to the written brands rather than to "equivalent".
Handover
Five per cent, released after the snag list is closed rather than after it is issued. Held back deliberately — a retention nobody can spend is what gets a snag list finished.
Who you will actually deal with
Four people. On a fourteen-month build you will speak to all of them, so they are named here rather than described as a department.
Nithya Menon
Walks every plot before a price is quoted and signs every specification. If a job is one we would do badly, this is the conversation where you are told.
Sabu Varghese
On site daily and the person you telephone. One build at a time — which is the reason we take four houses a year and not nine.
Reshma Pillai
Does the joint measurement with you at every stage and writes the variation the week it happens rather than at the end.
Anwar Rasheed
Arrives at plastering and stays to handover. Holds the snag list, and closes it before the retention is released.
Asked on every first call
Four answers. The first is the one everybody wants and the one we will not give on a page.
What do you charge per square foot?
We do not publish a rate, and a builder who does is quoting a specification you have not seen. The same house costs materially different amounts on a soft plot and a firm one, and with a written specification or with "standard fittings". Send the plot and the drawings and you get a real number in about ten days.
How long does a house take?
Twelve to sixteen months for a typical three-bedroom, and the programme with your quotation says which. What moves it is almost always a client decision on finishes, so the schedule names the week each of those decisions is needed.
Can I use my own architect?
Yes, and most clients do. We build to their drawings and raise anything that will not build cleanly before signing rather than on site — which occasionally means a conversation the architect would rather not have, and it is better had early.
What if I want to change something mid-build?
You can, and it is priced as a variation in the week you ask, in writing, before the work is done. What we will not do is absorb it quietly and put it in the final bill, which is how most builder disputes start.
Bring the plot papers and the drawings
A site visit and an hour is enough to say whether this is a house we should be building, and that answer is free either way.