Building a Home | build a home | how to build a house

Maytas Hill County (MHC) is a world class integrated township developed by Maytas Properties on more than 300 acres of prime land at Bachupally, Hyderabad. MHC offers a range of apartments, villas, bungalows, retail, and entertainment infrastructure, and SEZs, all incorporating the best-in-class features.
MHC is about 20 minutes drive from Hi-Tech City. The site is strategically located between NH 9 on the road to Mumbai to the south and inner ring road of Hyderabad to the north. The site has a dramatic topography, with varied elevations. Built in sync with the landscape, MHC offers lifestyle at its best - pedestrian-friendly roads, vast green expanses, nature's bounty unscathed.
As a part of customer delight, Maytas Hill County offers a value added service called Maytas Wizard - Home services. It ensures that you meet the right kind of people in terms of service and costs. You can relax and purchase for your home the right electronic and electrical products, furniture and interior designers without having to look any further. Maytas Wizard offers exhaustive list at the most competitive prices. It also assures you of unmatched after-sales services.
Maytas Wizard is an assertion of our resolve that quality is not absolute, it can always be improved. VAS has always been a common term, you would say. But Maytas Properties has given it a whole new dimension by introducing it with utmost transparency in the property development industry. Just imagine getting a ready list of interior designers for your newly acquired house or getting to know about the best deals offered by electronic appliance dealers! At no extra cost, Maytas Properties anticipates your needs, informs you about the best interior designers and dealers in electrical/electronic goods, furnitures and home automation service providers to you. All this comes with unmatched transparency and great after-sales services.

Lifestyle redefined yet again by Aparna Infra Housing Private Limited. Building one architectural masterpiece after another, Aparna has risen meteorically to pre-eminence on the city's landscape. A fact endorsed by hundreds of NRIs and IT professionals looking for world class living comfort and style.
Aparna has 12 years of experience in constructing residential apartments and commercial complexes. Aparna has created landmarks in prime locations of Hyderabad that include gated communities consisting of Residential Villas, Luxury Apartments and Commercial Complexes. It has already completed 14 big residential and commercial projects and delivered over 2 million Sq. Ft. of built up area. With a strong team of 550 employees, Aparna has 5.4 million sq.ft underway.
Aparna has carved a distinct niche for itself through elegant projects such as Heights , Orchids , Senor Valley, Aparna Crest, Lake Villa, Astral Heights, Shiv Kailash, County, Cyber County and Towers.
Aparna Sarovar is the latest addition to this distinguished lineage, with all the features that go with the Aparna name: exquisite design, elegant landscaping, world class specifications pollution-free ambience, verdant greenery, perfect serenity, luxurious living comfort, superb elevation and breathtaking all round view.
It has 1120 apartments stretched across 16.5 acres of which 5.75 acres of Court Yard.
The complex is next to a beautiful perennial lake and a 100 feet road linking BHEL with surrounding townships. It is also in close proximity to the fast developing IT hub near Gachibowli, an MMTS station and a host of internationally reputed educational institutions.
Barely 15% of the area is built-up, with the remaining left as lung space. The complex has 14 towers, with a spacious courtyard in the centre. Each tower has 20 floors, with 4 apartments per floor, each of them getting two car parkings.
The Complex has two level club house, a fully equipped Gymnasium, Swimming pool, crèche, and a library. All the structures are designed to withstand wind and seismic loads, the land has been acquired and registered in the Company's name.
The project has been cleared by all regulatory authorities. Including the Airports Authority of India, Fire Service Department and Cyberabad Development Authority. The construction of the project is being done in full swing and is scheduled to be completed by March '2010.
Model flats of Aparna Sarovar are ready for viewing at our site.

Full fledged television channels, innumerable glossy magazines, exclusive furnishing stores and not to mention hours of good living shows - all thriving in the real estate space trying to make people 'house proud'...point to the increasing trend of people trying to make statements through their homes.
The desire to design the house in a way that it looks like an extension of its owner's personality is the latest trend in interior designing. In fact, ornate interiors a la star suites are what Hyderabadis are increasingly looking at.
Not so much of thought and attention ever went into the furnishing and detailing till few years back. With a major share of savings spent on the buying of a house, the ultimate dream of most, even the thought of spending on elaborate interiors was simply dismissed.
Well, that was the boring past and times have surely changed now!
"Even before one acquires a house, no matter how small or big, a part of budget is set aside to complement the theme and feel of it. Choicest of furniture, fittings and tapestry that suit one's palate and budget are sought to morph the house into a 'home'," avers Yeshwant Ram a m u r t hy, Chairman of Institute of Indian Interior Designers (IIID), Hyderabad Regional Chapter. The noted architect in fact goes on to say that we are consciously trying to move from 'interiors to ambience'.
The globe-trotting buyer
"I talked about my adoration for Mediterranean style houses to my architect and designer. Consequently, they gave the house stucco exteriors, a lot of open space and my favourite arched windows. I just love its resemblance
to a sea-side vacation house," elucidates Sabita Rao, a banker who can't stop going ga-ga over her new house on the outskirts of the city.
Sabita is just one of the many well-travelled Indians who are quite clear about their choices and the plethora of options available for home styling. There are many like her who want their homes to be distinctive in terms of design.
"Such changes in choice and preference have been because of changing lifestyles and attitudes in India. International exposure and large disposable incomes have a prominent role to play in influencing the way Indians now look at interiors. In a way, the sensibilities have grown and Hyderabadis have finally realised that it is not just about fancy Victorian furniture and an uber expensive chandelier," says Ramamurthy.
Buyers these days want the best that is available in the market, even if it means stretching the budget a little bit.
Well, in India we are now living in a time when even nationalised banks are giving home improvement loans.
Readymade
solutions
The concept of ready-tomove-in apartments is fast catching up in Hyderabad.
Interestingly, furniture, curtains, artifacts, kitchenware and other belongings are no longer looked upon as lifetime acquisitions. As a modern buyer moves into his new house, he is willing to snap off his emotional ties with old
belongings and
wants a brand
new look for his
house.
" G ive n that the buyer is generally profiled to be a busy professional, too short of time to furnish his apartment on his own, builders are happy making the life of their customer simpler. Acting as one stop shops for buyers, builders are extending incentive-based buying, offering people everything ranging from furniture, furnishings, modular kitchens, gardens and what not," elaborates Ramamurthy.
The generation which wants to move to a new house with probably just a bag of clothes, is getting it all on a platter!
Playing with
interiors
In Hyderabad, interior designing as a concept grew in popularity only in recent few years. This has fuelled a demand for interior designers who can work on all - functional, aesthetic and technical part of design.
Interior designers often work as facilitators when an owner or a buyer wants to translate his choice into design and décor. Services of designers are being increasingly sought for aesthetically utilising every inch of space and to know about the latest design and material trends. As Sabita feels, "Running behind electricians, carpenters and masons could have been a nightmarish experience for me. My designer and architect professionalised the whole process by putting the right mix of people to execute an entire gamut of tasks."
The functional part of design is easily accomplished, but since the definition of 'beauty' is different for different people, it is quite difficult to satisfy aesthetic requirements. Ramamurthy elaborates as he explains, "If my client demands a polka dotted wall, I try to integrate other décor elements to compliment the look, simply because that is how helooks at his dream house," says Ramamurthy.
Trend spotting
The des i g n market in
Hyderabad is
quite in sync
with trends across
the world. And this maturity in design sensibility is reflecting in the way we look at interiors now.
Commenting on local trends, Ramamurthy explains, "Italian and Scandinavian designs are quite in vogue, as cheap Chinese and Malaysian imitations are thronging the market at a fraction of price. Use of paler shades are keeping the moods soother and a lot more attention is being paid towards detailing."
Surveying the market, we find out that wooden flooring, modular kitchens, wallpapers and designer bathrooms are the most common aspirations of an average buyer. In a state rich in furnishing textiles, curtains are being made out of natural silk, designer cotton and polyester blends.
"For our clients, lighting is no more synonymous to tubelights. When it comes to illuminating houses, people have graduated to the next level and are demanding mood lighting, accent lighting, smart lighting and task lighting," adds Ramamurthy. Inspiring, isn't it?

You need to understand what a custom home is before you can start thinking about how to build a custom home. A custom home is a home that is built to the specifications of the homeowner and is customized around their wants and needs. This makes the home unique in and of itself and it makes it much more expensive. The benefit of a custom home, though, is you can get it tailored to exactly what you want and need.

You will need to have a home designer that specializes in putting together a custom home for you. You will not be choosing from one of many floor plan options, but you may be using a few of them as a guideline to get an idea of how you want your custom home to be built and designed.

You will be able to cater to yourself instead of having one of those cookie cutter homes that looks just like everybody else's home in the neighborhood. Make the bedrooms large and any shape you desire. Give each bedroom a walk in closet and a private bathroom if that is what you want.

Speaking of bathrooms, you can put in dual sinks, a huge hot tub type of bath tub, and even a shower that will pour water down on you from every direction. You could even add a sauna or steam room to your master suite if you so desire.

You can also do french doors that open onto a balcony off of the master suite. This is a great idea if you are going to be overlooking the ocean or a lake. Also, you can add a small mini bar to your master suite so that you can enjoy a drink whenever you please.

Turn your basement into a game room with a full service bar, pool table, surround sound wired right into the walls for the big game, and anything else you like.

Make the kitchen better than what most restaurants have with a hooded grill, pizza style oven, stainless steel freezer, and an island for everybody to sit and watch you cook at. Also, add a climate controlled wine cellar to keep all your wines at the perfect temperature year round.

Custom homes are built in various sizes and shapes. The materials used in them also vary and each custom home has a different appeal. Log and timber custom homes have a unique appeal and they stand out for their rustic appeal. A custom timber home redolent with the smell of timber presents unique styles for designs that are only possible with wood. No matter how modern or smart looking a timber home is - it will always remind of the 1600s through the early 1900 homes - homes that stood in the middle of vast greenery, near a lake, or on the bank of a river. Timber homes have the ability to transport us to a different era. Just imagine a home with log side walls and roof made up of either crafted timber or massive log beams - does it remind you of a rustic life? Custom log homes can be made a mixture of elegance and rusticity if you want. People are moving in to log homes as primary residence or using it as a second/ vacation home for their timeless beauty and appeal.

Types of Log and Timber Homes

Wood species used in the log and timber homes may include: pine, cedar, fir, hemlock, and cypress. Again there are a variety of timber types including: hand-hewn, weathered, rough-sawn, and plane. You also have the choice of using different timber for different rooms. There are hundred of log profiles to choose from. Log profiles may be round, D-shaped, square, and half-log, and handcrafted etc. Log sizes vary in diameter. Generally 8, 10, and 12 inches diameter logs are used for homes. Timber framing is an age old technique of constructing log homes and is still widely used. This technique requires that instead of building the log home piece by piece an entire solid wood frame is assembled first, then erected with the help of a crane, and finally the frame is covered with an enclosure.

The final wood finishing and coating would give each wood a different look. Douglas Fir Picklewood flooring produces a popular flooring style with distinct color variation and straight grain make. Oakwood flooring is unbeatable for its history and style. Those that prefer grey colored wood may select Barnwood lumber. Barnwood lumbers provide a natural variation in look. No two Branwood pieces will be absolutely same in looks. This is an inconsistency that's preferred by people. Mushroomwood is a beautiful alternative to Barnwood as it comes in dark brown rustic color shades. If the Barnwood offers a subdued and muted appearance the mushroomwood gives out a loud and extrovert appeal. White pine is best for weathering harsh climate as it has the least shrinkage among all woods.

Where Log and Timber Homes Go Well

It's unimaginable to use anything other than log and timber if your custom home is going to be in a wooded area. Custom homes facing a lake or a beach also look good when the material used are log and timber. People that love the outdoors have a strong preference for log and timber homes. Log homes and cabins are found in large numbers in holiday destinations. Winter vacation destinations have mostly log wood homes as wood is a poor conductor of heat and cold. And there is nothing to beat the powdery white outlines and coverings of snow on a log house as the wooden walls stand in complete contrast to them. Many types of custom homes have come and gone out of fashion, but log houses are timeless in their appeal.

Along with arranging the finances for your custom home you need to identify a reliable builder to design and construct your home. There are many things that need consideration here. We often see people opting for the same builder that built their friend's house. It's a good idea provided that your need matches more or less with that of your friend's. Otherwise it may not work out well for you as what might have worked well for your friend may not be suitable for you. So here are some tips to consider when you are looking for a builder, no matter in which part of USA you are building your custom home.

Whether the Builder is Well Qualified and Experienced

Anybody can don a hard hat and wield a few building tools to claim to be a builder. The best proof of experience of a builder is the house that he has built, especially the type of house you are interested in. Next you should check for the qualifications of the people that run the building organization. A graduate master builder (GMB) certified builder is the ultimate professional in home building. This certificate is issued to veterans in the field of building and construction that have at least five years of experience in this line and they also must be certified graduate builder (CGB) designation holder. Various certificates are issued by the NAHB (National Association of Home Builders), the apex body that sets higher standards in the field of building and remodeling in America. To obtain the certificates builders will have to pass stringent review criteria including: period of operation in the industry, consumer satisfaction (quality delivered, adherence to promised time for completion etc.), financial performance, and government compliance. The matter doesn't end if a builder is certified once. There will be periodic reviews that will decide whether the certificate should be renewed or not. The presence of NAHB is prominent in all states of the USA. Another qualification that you should look for in your builder is whether they have the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification (LEED). Possessing such a certificate would mean that they would help in building an energy efficient building and help you leave a smaller carbon foot print on the planet. Professionals with project management, engineering, and architect degrees and experience in building custom homes also may be trusted with building your custom home. But the safest bet is NAHB certified professionals. NAHB certified professionals that come as referral from your friends should be what you should be looking for when you are searching for a builder.

Other Qualities to Look For

When you have more than one such qualified builder that we have discussed in the previous paragraph, opt for the one that have local knowledge of construction business. It always helps if a builder knows the local market and business. The construction job progresses smoothly when local sub contractors are hired. If your builder has already worked with them, they finish their jobs swiftly. Otherwise your custom home will become an experiment where they will be studying their chemistry.

Often a big building firm may not be suitable for your need. If they do huge housing projects they may not truly pay attention to your custom home unless you are a popular person or someone that really matter to them. Select such a building firm so that you remain as a valuable customer for them. That means a small or mid sized building firm should be your choice where you can interact with either the owner or a key employee in times of need.

Custom homes in the West usually come with a lot of wood or stone. So the builder should have expertise in these types of homes. Again the knowledge of local building styles on the part of the builder should be put to test for this. Keep your eyes open and keep asking questions to your builder. After all it's your hard earned money and you deserve the best builder to construct your custom home.

So you have always dreamed of a home of your own. You have worked extra hard and used all your education as well as intelligence to earn top dollars. Now you think that the time has to come to build that dream home, custom made to fit to your needs and ideas of luxury. Well, the best solution is to entrust the work to a dependable to custom home builder. But before that you have to take care of a few things.

Select a Good Site to Build Your Home

Where do you want your dream home to be situated? Do you prefer a beach side residence or a home in the pristine beauty of the forests and the mountains? Residential zones within the city limits or posh residential areas appeal to many people for building their custom homes. They just love the rustle and bustle of the city. Calm and tranquility loving folks prefer the countryside or good natural settings. Adventurous folks like to have custom homes in vacation destinations so that they get the chance to indulge in outdoor activities whenever they like. Once you have identified your preference for a broad geographical region, you have to zero down on a particular site for building your custom home. How close you want your home to be to the beach? How far removed you want to live from the city? What kind of neighborhood do you prefer? Visit the places, talk to the local folks there, find out about the amenities available in the area, and gather info about everything connected to that area. After all it's your dream home and you have the right to decide its location.

Finding a Fair Mortgage Firm

Unless you are very rich, you will need finances to build your custom home. Custom home construction can cost more than ordinary homes. You want them to be fit with the latest and the best material available, don't you? Ideally, first you have to purchase a lot and then build the home on it. Mortgage is available for both lot and house constructions. So the cost of site you have identified as well as the building cost can be financed together. You need to have a good estimate of the cost involved in your house construction. Reliable builders will provide you the correct idea of the costs involved. You may have to shop for a good mortgage firm. Acquire as much knowledge as possible from the Internet, your financial adviser, and friends about different mortgage options available to you. There are several types of mortgage plans out there in the market and make sure that you pick the right one. Select the most appropriate one that suits your requirements.

Entrusting the Job to the Builder

When you entrust the job of building your dream home to a builder you are taking a big step. Make sure that the builders are reliable and deliver what they promise. If you are not so sure, it's better to take referrals from your friends that have got their homes built by a particular builder. There are various quality criteria that a builder need to qualify to win over more clients. Find out whether your builder has those qualifications. Ascertain in all possible manner that the builder is going to deliver the custom home just as you have imagined it. Sit down with their designers, or take your designer to them and discuss everything in clear terms. Stick to your ideas when you think that they are too dear to be compromised and heed the advice of the builder when it comes to vital suggestion about the local conditions and expert opinion.

This is actually a very simple thing to door. If you are building your own timber frame you will most likely have an engineer who will give you the sizes, length and strength of the timber you will need to use. For the sake of this example I am going to use a standard size, length and strength as used in the Uk.

Take a length of 50 x 225 x 5.4m long C24 grade floor timber and cut it into three lengths of 1.352 m. Take two sections and lay them on top of one another ensuring that the edges are flush. Now nail them on one side only using a staggered nailing pattern. (Your engineer will tell you exactly how many nails to use but we are recommending one every 150mm.)

Turn the beam over and nail it in the opposite direction using the same staggered nailing pattern. Once that is done place the third section on top of the already nailed sections and repeat, on one side only. Add a few extra nails, as you won't be able to nail it back from the other side.

Now cut two lengths of 1.352 C16 grade cls timber and place one piece on top of the beam and one on the bottom of the beam. Make sure that you keep one side flush with the edge of the beam. You will find that there is a lip on one side where the cls grade timber overhangs the beam but this normal.

Now take your beam and place it into the wall or wall panel where it is required and nail it into place. And there you have it a new beam for your wall. Easy.

Lets start with a simple wall, with no door or window openings. We can get to the more difficult panels later.

The standard height for a panel is 2.453 metres. This is a standard ceiling height for most homes. It also easily accommodates plasterboard and plywood/OSB.

A wall comprises of timbers with dimensions of 38mm deep and 140mm in width and come in an assortment of lengths, ranging from 2.1 and then rising in 300mm increments up to 5.4 m long. For the sake of this example we will use lengths of 4.8m cls C16 grade timbers.

The wall we wish to make is on the gable of the house, hence no windows or doors. The gable wall is actually 9.5m but we need to break that down into a more manageable size. We take the 9.5 m wall and divide by two to end up with two walls of 4.75 m long. This is much easier to deal with.

Divide 4.75 by 0.4 (the vertical stud centres) to get 11.87. Round the number down to 11 and then add 2 to bring the number of studs up to 13. Now you know how many vertical uprights are in the panel.

You may recall that the standard height for a wall panel is 2.453. This is made up of the vertical studs plus a double sole plate and a double-header plate.

All that means is that on the ground you place two lengths of 4.75 m long timber to which you fix the bottom of the studs and then you fit two lengths of 4.75 m long timber to the top of the wall panel. You can use two 90mm paslode nails fired from a nail gun or two 100mm galvanised wire nails using a hammer.

Now you need to work out what size to cut them.

So if we have two number timbers of dimension 38 x 140 mm to top and bottom of the wall then all we need to do is subtract 152mm from the overall height of the wall to get our vertical stud size which is 2.301 m.

Cut 13 studs at 2.301 me long ensuring that your cuts are plumb. Very important to get the length and the plumb cut right to ensure a good tight fit.

Clear a space on the ground and place two lengths of timber lengthways on the ground. These will be used to make your panel on. Keeping the ends of the panel off the ground makes it easier to fix the top and bottom plates to the vertical studs.

Now you can start nailing the panel together keeping the edge of the vertical studs flush with the top of the sole plate and header plate. Fix the top and bottom of each stud with two number nails either 90mm paslode nails fired from a nail gun or 100mm galvanised wire nails if you are using a hammer. Make sure that the studs are not twisted in the frame and are plumb from top of the wall to the bottom.

Work your way along the panel fixing the studs at 400mm centres. This just means leaving a distance of 400mm from the centre of one stud to the next.

You can also use the edge of the stud and simply go from edge to edge. Keep going until you have nailed up all the vertical studs to the top and bottom plates.

Now you can add plywood or OSB sheets to tighten up the frame. This is better done at this stage prior to standing the panel up, as the work will go quicker by fixing the sheets to the frame when it is lying on the ground.

Fix the plywood or OSB to each vertical stud at 150mm centres and around the perimeter of each sheet at 75mm centres. (An engineer will help you in this area by performing mathematical calculations to give you a precise figure that you can follow.)

Just be aware the panel can be very heavy so make sure you have some extra pairs of hands or mechanical lifting gear to help you.

But if you are short of helping hands you can leave this until the panel is fully fixed and braced.