Mad Craze for Gold

Gold price have today fallen to Rs.19,800/- per Sovereign.
In fact our country is facing serious balance of payment crisis due to increase in gold imports as gold prices fall,people are madly buying up more gold.
It is okay to an extent if otherwise rich people buy gold to make their ego happy.Other than that I do not find any reason to buy and hoard gold by comparatively poor people.
I have never purchased gold and I do not have even a piece of gold on my body.I do not remember experiencing anything bad by not possessing gold.
Poor people of the country practically ruin their life in debts due to this meaningless craze for gold.To my knowledge there is absolutely no need for gold for a human being to live well.
.These people from lower strata of society buy gold and when need for money arises they pledge gold and get money on huge interest.If at all they manage to take back gold from money lenders like Manappuram from whom unscrupulous film super stars make money,money invested for gold keep on rising with each pledging of gold.If only they could sell gold when first need of money came up,they could have saved lots of interest paid to money lenders.But they never sell gold and go on pledging gold again and again thereby piling up money invested to keep gold as their own as if it is the most precious thing in the world.Finally if at all they get wiser to sell gold,there is no proper shop ready to buy it and money they get back by selling will not be even half the money invested on gold as price and repeated interest paid to money lender will make gold in possession very costly
So please try not to buy gold and advise people never to pledge gold and take money for interest from money lender.It is as good as paying interest for money in your possession locked up as gold.If you simply deposit your money in ordinary Savings Deposit in bank money can grow much faster than money spent on gold or in LIC or any other insurance policies

You want to reduce cost of house construction?

How do you reduce cost during house construction? For quite some time about twenty years back, we used to think Lawrie Baker style of construction will reduce cost. At that time labour was cheap. So, Mr. Baker suggested ways of reducing cost by increasing labour input and reducing material input.
Now both labour and material are costly. So Lawrie Baker method cannot work. People who want to construct a house go on enquiring about reducing cost to all those whom they meet. Each will tell half cooked ideas as he feels. Person planning to build house always prefer to avoid those who may know about reducing cost of construction, Professional Architects and Engineers. Every other person will tell you that they will increase the cost of construction and only those with unlimited funds can afford them. Nonprofessional contractors spread the word that there is no need of such professionals if you have a limited budget.
What makes a successful Architect? It is not simply that degree he got by studying in an Engineering college. I will say, most important qualification required for a successful Architect is common sense and he needs lots of it combined with creative capability to question every method and practice of construction normally adopted and find out new ways and methods which will give better utility, appearance and lesser cost
In my view, most important cost reduction method in house construction is getting the most appropriate plan of the house. By plan, I mean what you see when looking at a building from top after you cut portion above window level and remove top portion. Lots of people think an Architect is required only to give a good impressive looking Elevation for the house. Several people approach me saying that plan is ready, but an impressive Elevation is required for the plan
If you require a good Elevation, plan will have to be designed in such a manner to get good looking Elevation. Elevation is just a projection of plan in the third dimension.
How does an Architect develop a good plan of the house? Those few years he spent in Engineering College can teach him certain skills, crafts and vocabulary only. With that basic training, once he come out of college and start working he learns by working, interacting with all sorts of people associated with house construction. This learning by experience only makes him an Architect capable of giving you the best. Each new project poses new problems which he has never encountered earlier . An intelligent creative talented Architect learns to design well saving you money, space and providing you better utility for each built up space, step by step by experience
So, only way of reducing cost is to have an experienced professional to design your house and guide you from beginning to end of house construction. Plan of the house is just starting point of the design. You need detailed architectural and structural engineering drawings, guidance at each stage of construction. Your Architect is the only person to suggest you material to be used for construction and definitely not the person you meet on the road or your hundreds of relatives offering to give free advise without any risk!
A lot of people think that by giving the work on square feet basis to a contractor you can reduce or control cost. I have heard people telling, ”Pinne Onnum ariyanda”Can you show me two contractors doing construction in the same manner with same quality standards and professional methods of construction? Each contractor builds as he choose simply to increase his profit. If you are unwilling to pay reasonable profit for him, he will find ways to get profit from your work and quality of your house construction will naturally suffer.
When each contractor builds as he choose, how can there be a universal square feet cost of construction? But without specifying a square feet cost, you will not give work to the contractor. Please try to find out what you are getting for that rate and whether contractor will agree to follow detailed drawings of a professional and instructions during construction.

As the days of contractors and professionals begging for work is coming to an end,such apprehensions do not matter.Almost every one who do not know about this field in Kerala think professionals and contractors are going to come searching for work which is not true in the present scenario