Tread on Turnkey track

Jagvir Goyal

Construction of a house is a time consuming activity and it is difficult to supervise the complete construction of a house.  Thus, assigning the construction work of house from concept to commissioning to a contractor on lump-sum basis or turn-key basis is fast becoming popular with people. While assigning the job on turn-key basis, many important factors need to be kept in view. Let’s have a look at them:

Plan of the house: The house plan should be designed completely as per requirements and wish of the house owner. For a double or triple-storey house, plan of each floor should be prepared to the satisfaction of the owner. Different options should be examined till the plans are finally approved by the owner. The house owner may also get preliminary plans prepared before contacting the turn-key contractor and then hand over the plans to him for finalisation of contract and thereafter to carry out the construction work.

Set a deadline: Time is always the essence of every project. While assigning the job to the builder on turnkey basis, total time within which the builder will complete the job and handover the house to the owner should be decided and fixed at the beginning. Exceeding time limit should lead to penalising the builder and deduction of some of his payment. Often these contractors take many jobs in hand and complete only those jobs in time where they fear levy of penalty or are under constant pressure from the owner. 

Structural design: Safe structural design is the most important feature of a house. If the structural design is not safe and sound, cracks will start appearing in the walls and roof slabs after few years and by that time, either the builder will be nowhere available or he will pay no attention to the house builder's complaints as he would have drawn all his payment from the house owner and his defect liability period shall already be over. The house owner should ensure that safe and deep foundations of walls and columns have been provided. He should further ensure that the RCC slabs, beams, columns and lintel beams have been got designed from a structural designer and have sufficient steel reinforcement in them. He may seek copies of drawings from the builder and may get the same examined from an independent structural engineer by paying some fee for that. 

Specifications: The cost of construction of the house depends on the specifications of various materials to be provided in the house. A house builder may choose luxury or ordinary items or medium range items for his house. For example, Italian marble or extra white makrana marble costs very high, while ordinary marble costs less in comparison. The cost of sanitary fittings like chinaware and CP fittings may vary depending on the quality or brand chosen. MP teakwood costs very high while some other hard woods may not cost even half of that. Whether false ceiling is to be provided or not, walls are to be painted with plastic emulsion or oil-bound distemper, doors are to be polished or painted, modular kitchen trolleys are to be branded like Hettich or ordinary, and many other such choices will affect the cost of construction of the house. Therefore, a complete and exhaustive list of specifications and brands and preferably models of each item should be prepared in advance and the cost of construction should be based on that.

Services and commissioning: All service connections like water supply, sewer connection, initial temporary electricity connection and later, permanent electricity connection, domestic gas connection etc should be arranged and provided by the contractor. For this, he should get the papers signed from the owner wherever required. On the completion of house, the contractor should get the completion plan passed from the municipality concerned. He should ensure that no building bylaws have been violated and open areas at front and back of the house building are provided as per bylaws. Similar exercise should be held for projections at the front and back, plinth level and other provisions also.

Common walls: Wherever there are common walls shared with adjacent houses, the builder should work out the cost of these on the basis of cost of materials and labour being arranged by him and handover these calculations to the owner to pay fifty per cent cost to the existing adjacent house owner or to draw fifty per cent cost from the adjacent plot holder who is yet to build his house.

Progress and quality check: While the construction of house is in progress, the owner should visit the site regularly to keep a check on the quality of work and progress of construction. He should keep a check on hidden items which can't be checked after the completion of finishing items. Whether termite treatment has been provided effectively or compaction of earth below floors has been properly done or not can be checked during construction only. Whether steel reinforcement has been provided as per drawings, electric wires are of proper size and insulation, water supply and sanitary pipes are of good quality or not can again be checked during construction only. Otherwise all of these will get hidden and he may always remain under doubt about their quality.

Work out the cost: Most of turn-key projects are based on per sq ft rate as there is likelihood that the actual area of construction would vary from the one planned initially. When the agreement is based on per sq ft rate basis, chances of any dispute with the builder get minimised. 

Sign an agreement: Instead of making verbal commitment, an elaborate agreement should be written by covering all the points and signed by both the parties to avoid any dispute at any stage. This agreement should be abided by the contractor and house owner.

Owner’s intervention: Assigning the house construction job doesn’t mean that the owner has no role to play till the construction work is over. The owner has to remain fully vigilant during the construction of his house and should intervene at every important step to ensure that the things are carried out as per his wish. In short, every job is to be done by the contractor but only after getting the approval of the owner.

What it means

Turnkey basis means that all the related jobs like the design of house, arranging materials, labour and machinery, construction of house, provision of all connections and every else thing is done by the contractor to whom the job has been assigned on a mutually agreed cost basis. He completes the job and hands over the house to the owner. The owner has to just 'turn the key' to enter the house and to start using it.

— The writer is former HoD and engineer-in-chief, Civil Engineering Department in a Punjab PSU