Whether you should hire a single company that does everything, or hire independent teams for design and construction?
Home construction is a big decision: it involves a lot of mental, physical, emotional, and financial investment. Thus, making every tiniest decision regarding home building becomes critical. Additionally, the first and foremost decision is to decide whether plot owners want to build their villa by hiring a single company to carry on all the design, construction, interior, and approval-related work. Or hire architects, contractors, and interior designers separately.
There are benefits to both approaches. Thus, to come to a conclusion it is required to do a detailed comparison of the positives of both approaches.
Benefits of hiring a single company that does everything
Single point of accountability: When plot owners hire a single company for carrying out all the construction-related work, the company becomes accountable for price, delay, procurement of material, hiring labor, quality, and all other aspects of home building. Thus, the home building becomes hassle-free for the plot owners. This approach is similar to the modern-contemporary way of arranging weddings; wherein we hire an experienced wedding planner to manage all the bookings and all other related tasks.
Fixed timeline and budget: Another significant benefit of hiring a single company is that you can avail of a fixed final price at the time of the agreement along with a fixed date of delivery of the project. Additionally, since it’s a single entity, it is possible to have a fixed timeline and budget. However, in the case of different entities involved, there comes a lot of inter-dependencies and hence it is not possible to have a committed fixed timeline and price.
Saves time: Hiring a single company saves time for the plot owners as one project is usually finished within 16-18 months from the day you sign the agreement to the move-in day. However, in the other option; it can easily take more than 2 years due to a lack of coordination between parties and other loopholes.
Better quality and integration: This is been observed that when plot owners hire a single company for home construction; there is a better quality of work and better integration because of a single point of accountability. So, for instance, if there are any design-related glitches; the plot owners need not reach out to the designers but directly talk to the project in charge. Thus, the chances of a blame game are almost negligible in the first approach.
Benefits of hiring architects and contractors separately?
Quality of material: The second approach can be proven beneficial in case you believe that no single company can give you the material of your choice or you do not trust them to use the material they provide. Thus, here you can buy and supply the material of your choice.
Unique requirement: The latter approach can be taken if you feel that your requirement for the home is unique that other builders are unable to fulfill. For instance, if you intend to build a home based on highly innovative design and structure such as a steel structure home or zero discharge home; in these cases hiring professionals separately can be beneficial for plot owners.
Known architects and contractors: People take this approach when they want to get their house built by someone they know on a prior basis. For instance; if you have an architect or contractor in your family and you are sure you want to build your house through them.
In India, the home building industry is scattered; thus, finding a single good company to manage all the critical tasks of home building becomes challenging. Thus, many plot owners seek out professionals separately. However, we have observed that many times plot owners go for the second approach for the wrong reasons. This basically happens because of certain myths. Let’s talk about those now. So, it is clear that it is better to engage a single entity to build a home; exceptions apart. But, still why do some owners end up hiring different entities separately instead of hiring one single entity? Let’s see.
Historical reasons: People have seen homes being built like this. It takes time to get comfortable with the new way. For ex: marriages moved to banquet halls over time, otherwise, people use to engage the food caterer, decorator, tent person, etc. separately.
The myth that it’s cheaper: Most of the time, plot owners pick the second approach believing that it will save them money because of better negotiation with individual professionals, no overheads of the builder, etc. However, that is not necessarily true. Additionally, hiring separate professionals for different tasks of home building can cause more cost due to inefficiencies, wastages, rework due to communication gaps, longer duration, etc. On the other hand, hiring a single builder for home construction is beneficial because they buy material at better rates due to volume and relationships. Also, inefficiencies such as wastages and chances for rework are lesser because of better expertise.
The myth that quality is better: Another common myth is that people believe hiring architects and contractors separately will produce better quality work. However, it is essential to understand that home building is becoming more technical and complicated. Thus, a more professional and integrated approach is needed to ensure no communication gaps. Additionally, If a quality issue arises; both parties can shift the blame to the other party; thus, can create a hassle and a space for debate.
The myth that you cannot customize your home: Many plot owners have this belief that if they get their home built from a single entity; they may not have complete freedom and authority of customizing their home according to their wills and demands. However, that’s merely a myth because in fact with a single builder you get everything streamlined thus customization is easier with the first approach.
Conclusively, we recommend plot owners weigh the pros of both approaches and see what suits their needs and demands the most and accordingly pick up one approach. Being one of the largest builders in Delhi; Prithu Homes gives our clients all the benefits of a turnkey approach; where there is complete transparency and the plot owners can be assured that they get a house of premium quality within the budget set forth at the time of the agreement.