Renovation of old homes

[Williams]

I have seen lot of older homes (constructed 10 or more years back) that could do with renovation work. They look quite out of place when viewed with the swanky new apartments and constructions that are coming up these days. Most of the time, the renovation work will be concentrated on flooring, new fittings & interior wall looks. Of course, furnishings is an entirely different topic that is better addressed in some other category.

Wondering if any of you out there have renovated their homes or 2nd homes etc. How does one go about finding the right people to do the job. What do they charge. Will be great if people could share their experiences..

[Vicky]

In my experience, we just got hold of the painter when he came to our apartments to do some job in our neighbour's place. So renovation (interiors getting repainted) was an easy exercise for us. I am not aware of any directory where one could look up for such information. I wish there were one.

[Kathy]

Aren't there "Yellow Pages" in India? It is a directory where you can look up companies, shops, restaurants, etc in a specific country or town. I've seen "Yellow Pages" in many countires so far. In the "Yellow Pages" in Luxembourg (where I live) the companies etc. are listed under different categories (e.g. Banks, finance and insurance; Building and real estate; Communications, advertising and media; Education and training; Environment and energy; Fashion and beauty; Health and well-being; House and garden; Leisure, culture and tourism; Restaurants, hospitality and food; Vehicles, transport and logistics). Furthermore, there is a directory of the same companies in alphabetical order.

[Williams]

Kathy,
We do have Yellow pages in India. But the information there is very scanty; as in typically you will see a vendor's name, address and contact number. You don't get to know how good his team is in executing the work unless you happen to chance upon someone who has already got the same thing done from him.
Ideally we need a community rated vendor information so that we know what we are getting into before we hire someone. Also, in India many of the smaller vendors are not listed in the Yellow pages as they rely on word of mouth to get them assignments. It makes sense since Indian tend to work in that manner. So usually only the larger setups will be listed in Yellow Pages.
If anyone has more information, please feel free to share...

[karthik]

I agree with Williams here. You only get to know how bad the person you hired is after you are already done halfway. Typically you have to burn fingers to learn if a person/team is good. This is true in all fields, not just homes.

As far as the painting goes, Asian paints offers solutions. Here's a link

http://www.apaints.com/homesolutions/abouthomesol.htm

I don't know many others who do it. Anyone know anything more about it ?

Also it is my opinion that we should be able to do some house-hold repairs ourselves. We all(atleast Engineering students) learn carpentry and plumbing basics. It's a pity that we don't put it to use. I am planning to start a series of posts soon with how get things done yourself advice. Stay tuned...

[raams moorthy]

I am a draftsman, In my experience more than 20 old building not possible to re model, if you do that the will be waste. I have done my home in chennai I spent morethan 3 laks, but still the home is not new.
old is old. so better, build a new one
Raams

[Vivek Sivaram]

Thank you raams for this feedback. I request you to elaborate on your home renovation experiences when you have time. We could write an article on this on the blog to help others.

[raams moorthy]

I am poor in English language, any way I will try