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[Delhi-NCR]: MCD Property Tax | Filing MCD Property Tax Online | FAQs about MCD Property Tax

2009-06-30T19:46:00.004+05:30

If you are an Indian and own a property in Delhi, then be reminded that you need to pay your Municipal Corporation Department's (MCD) PROPERTY TAX by June 30th of the respective calender year so as to avail an additional 15% rebate on the overall tax amount (if paid as lump sum, and not partly).

The usual rebates (like that for Senior Citizens, Women Owned, Physically Challenged, Ex-Servicemen, DDA Residential, Village Abadi, Group Housing Flats, etc.) and the and exemptions (like Agricultural lands, Vacant Land or Building in Village abadi occupied for residential purpose, Lands exclusively used for public worship, Lands used for Public Charity, Lands used as burial/ cremation ground, Heritage lands and buildings, Lands owned by war widow / Gallentry Award winner being permanently used for self, and Lands and buildings of Corporation, etc.) can still be availed on case to case basis (if applicable) besides this 15% rebate on timely and lump sum payment before or after the deadline of June 30.

Here's what you need to do...

Log on to http://www.mcdpropertytax.in

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Click here to go to the webpage for ONLINE PAYMENT through Credit Card

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In case one wish to pay by Cheque or a Demand Draft or Cash, click here

BnM>

Manual Forms for property tax submission can be downloaded at http://mcdonline.gov.in

The MCD's website assists you in carrying out the following:

Online filling of your Property Tax Return Form
Calculating your Property Tax for the any Financial Year
Printing out your copy of the Property Tax Return
Assisting you in making the Payment of the Tax
Getting a Receipt of the Payments that you have made

One has the options to Pay his/her Property Tax by means of:

By Cheque/DD/Bankers Cheque to any AXIS Bank Branch (Delhi and NCR only) and at Selected HDFC bank branches
By Cash at any AXIS Bank Branch (Delhi and NCR only) and selected HDFC Bank Branches upto Rs. 2000/-
Pay Online using your Credit Card
Pay Online using your ItzCash Card/Visit ItzCash World to pay in cash

The MCD's website also furnishes the following information relating to filing of the property tax:

Hope Bricks-n-Mortar.com's readers would be benefited in knowing what to do in case they need to file the MCD Property Tax.
For any other clarification/information, please feel free to ask.
-Team@Bricks-n-Mortar.com

Related links of use: http://www.mcdpropertytax.in | http://mcdonline.gov.in

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[Delhi-NCR]: MCD Property Tax - Last day for availing additional 15% discount

2009-06-30T14:01:00.004+05:30

Technorati Tags: PropertyTax, MCDPropertyTax, India-Tax

Links for 2009-06-22 [Digg]

2009-06-23T00:00:00-07:00

Can First-Time Home Buyers Save the Economy
Last summer, many Americans stayed home. This summer, we might buy one, if the science of economics is better at predicting our emergence from this financial crisis than it was in predicting its onset. The U.S. housing slump is at or near bottom, at least one researcher says, and other predictions of real estate stabilization made by a group...

Understanding the basics of Construction Management & its Importance for a Civil Engineer

2009-06-22T19:43:00.002+05:30

Effective planning and utilization of the ‘resources’ as well as the ‘TCQ’ (Time, Cost and Quality) towards achieving certain set goals and targets make the essence of the term “Management” in simple words. And when such planning and resource utilization is linked with one or more aspects of construction related activities, the types of management techniques put in use are collectively termed as “Construction Management”.

Depending upon type of matters handled, the construction management can be broadly divided into:

Construction human resources management
Construction financial management
Construction materials management
Construction implementation & execution management

Key Resources Involved

The key resources that are handled in the field of construction management are usually:

Men
Materials
Machinery
Money
Technical documents, viz., designs & drawings
Plans & decisions

It is the effective use of these resources only that determine the success or failure of any kind of Civil Project. Therefore, it becomes imperative for a Manager to effectively allocate the weightings depending upon the stage of the project and importance of the resource at a given stage.

Agencies Involved

The main agencies that play important roles in the Construction Management are:

The Owner
The Architect, and/or the Consultant
The Contractor
The Suppliers

The Owner is the one who envisages a project after the preliminary and/or detailed feasibility studies. Thus this agency is the parent agency of any project.

The Architect and/or the Consultant is/are the one who impart shape to the project. The project is detailed and put in terms of the Owner’s requirements by these agencies only. Usually, the architects are involved in the building projects having more of aesthetic value, whereas the Consultants are mainly involved in mostly the industrial and process-oriented projects.

The Contractor is another important agency, which actually executes the project by deploying the required resources on the field. In other words, it is the Contractor who actually builds and brings-up the project on ground.

Last, but definitely not the least are the agencies which supply the requisite resources like material, machinery, equipment, manpower, etc. to the rest of the three above-cited agencies. Virtually, they act as the much needed fuel-suppliers for the project to take real shape.

Essential Components of Construction management

The essential components of an effective construction management working are Planning, Execution and Control, all of which should perform in a closed cycle type format. It means that each of these components should assist and support the other also while performing its own role in a manner, which economizes the whole working, and reduces the time and cost parameters also at the same time.

In case, any of these basic components fail to deliver up to any major extent, and at any point of time, the project is liable to suffer losses in terms of either the cost, or the time of planned completion, or both. Therefore, all efforts should be put in place so as to ensure that none of these basic components derail too much from the intended course of action at any stage of the project. Regular planning, monitoring and re-scheduling of the resources can only ensure this balance, and the Management teams should strive towards effective management of these goals at all costs so as to make the projects economically best viable as well as profitable.

Effective Construction management- Need of the Hour

Effective Construction management is invariably the most important need of the hour for all the agencies involved for the simple reason that no agency can survive in today’s cut-throat competition environment without implementing the best practices and even innovating industry specific models. With every project demanding loudly to be completed in the least possible time; with the least possible cost incurred, and with top-class quality standards; effective construction management techniques have become the only surviving tool. The ones, who master it, are the ones who become the successful leaders of the industry. There can be no second thoughts to this, and the sooner all agencies realize this fact; the better it would be for the entire construction industry.

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'BRICKS-n-MORTAR.com' witnesses 10,000th Visitor on 12 June 2009

2009-06-14T00:36:00.004+05:30

Wow! 'Team B-n-M' feels elated and ecstatic to share with its valuable subscribers, readers, visitors and the entire online blogging world about witnessing its Ten Thousandth (10,000 th) visitor to its blog 'BRICKS-n-MORTAR.com' with nearly 2-pageloads on an average per visitor to the blog reading the pageload figures as nearing 19,000 as on 12-June-2009.

The achievement is celebrated with zeal and enthusiasm among the whole of BRICKS-n-MORTAR community and the core team as well considering the fact that the feat is achieved within 14-calender months of launching the blog as "a weblog encompassing a common man's Civil Engineering related doubts and queries"

A quick analysis of the number indicate the maximum of the traffic coming from the originating country of this blog - 'India'; with the 'United States of America (USA)' following at the second position. The other countries/ regions falling in the rest of the top-ten visitors contributors being 'United Kingdom (UK)', 'Canada', 'United Arab Emirates (UAE)', 'Australia', 'Malaysia', 'Singapore', 'European Union (EU)' and 'Philippines'.

We wish to thank all our patrons, subscribers, readers, visitors and contributors to make this happen in a short span of time despite the fact that BRICKS-n-MORTAR is not the usual kind of blog which would bombard the blog and its RSS feed / E-mail oriented subscribers with unnecessary loads of blog posts day-on, and that it believes in quality material only being posted once or twice a week so that people get ample time to grab every single post to its core and entirety. THANKS A REAL TON TO ALL WHO HAS CONTRIBUTED!! :-D
...

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E-Stamping | Legal Stamp Duty Online Submission | What is E-Stamping?

2009-06-09T00:49:00.008+05:30

What is E-Stamping? | Legal Stamp Duty Online Submission

In India, like in most parts of the world till a few years back, stamp papers of different denominations were used as the pre-certified document sheets in order to pay the stamp duty charges to the Government.With the sale of the physical stamp papers being banned from January 1, 2003 due to multi-crore fake stamp paper scam (the infamous Telgi scam), there was always a dire need of replacing the system of physical papers to a more-more reliable system, albeit an online reliable system in this modern online world. Electronic-Stamping (or E-Stamping as it is popularly called) is the apt answer to that need of a reliable and fast system.

Stock Holding Corporation of India Limited (SHCIL) has been appointed by the Government of India as Central Record Keeping Agency (CRA) for Computerised Stamp Duty Administration System (CSDAS) and has devised a mechanism for the electronic method of collection of stamp duty. SHCIL has established e-Stamping system in a number of Indian States including the National Capital Territory of Delhi besides other multitude of States and Union Territories. Collected stamp duty is remitted directly to the government account on next working day by the SHCIL of collecting the amount from the submitter thereby fixing the possibility of revenue leakage, if any.

The details of the issued certificate can be accessed by registering officer holding a valid password to verify the details of the certificate. After verifying the details, the registering officer can disable or lock the distinguishing unique identification number of the certificate to prevent any misuse. The deputy commissioner of stamps may cancel the e-stamp certificate in case it is spoiled or misused or unused or not required for use and refund its amount.

The software is believed to be using fool-proof software supposedly making it almost impossible to fake or duplicate the generated e-stamp certificate. The e-stamping system is reported to be designed to prevent paper and process-related fraudulent practices. It offers a reliable stamp duty collection mechanism; and stores information in secured electronic form and builds up a central data repository to facilitate easy verification. Both the public as well as the governments benefit from the e-stamping facility.

For ready reference purpose, here's a list of COMPULSORY as well as OPTIONALLY REGISTRABLE Documents in the Delhi - the national capital region which needs these stamp duties:-

1) List of Compulsorily Registrable Document

Article No.	Description of Instrument
5(c)	Rectification Deed- Immovable
6(2)(a)	Agreement relating to deposit of title deed
6(2)(b).	Agreement relating to deposit of title deed
12	Award
12	Award – Immovable
17	Cancellation of Instrument
18	Certificate of Sale
23	Conveyance
23	Sale
23	Decree (Sale Deed/Conveyance)
23-A	Sale Agreement
25	Additional Copy of document
31	Exchange of property
32(a)	Further Charge
32(b)(i)	Further Charge
32(b)(ii)	Further Charge
33	Gift
35	Perpetual
35(i)	Lease- Rent deed up to 1 year
35(ii)	Lease up to 5 years
35(iii)	Lease up to 10 years
35(iv)	Lease up to 20 years
35(v)	Lease up to 30 years
35(vi)	Lease up to 100 years
35(vii)	Lease up to 200 years
35(ii)	Lease with security up to 5 years
35(iii)	Lease with security up to 10 years
35(iv)	Lease with security up to 20 years
35(v)	Lease with security up to 30 years
35(vi)	Lease with security up to 100 years
35(vii)	Lease with security up to 200 years
40	Mortgage
40(c)	Mortgage Collateral
41	Mortgage of a Crop
45	Partition
54	Re-conveyance
55	Relinquishment Deed
55	Release
57	Security Bond
58	Settlement
58	Decree (Settlement)
58	Memorandum of Settlement
61	Surrender of Lease
63	Transfer of Lease
64	Trust

2) List of Optionally Registrable Document

Article No.	Description of Instrument
3	Adoption
4	Declaration
5	General Agreement
5	Consent Letter
5(c)	Rectification Deed- Movable
11	Authority to Adopt
12	Award – Movable
15	Indemnity Bond
17	Cancellation of Agreement
29	Divorce
6	Partnership
48	Power of attorney –SPA
48(c)	Power of attorney – GPA
48(d)	Power of attorney – GPA more than five persons jointly and severly
48(e)	Power of attorney – GPA more than five persons but less than ten persons
48(f)	Power of attorney– GPA with consideration
48(g)	Power of attorney – Authenticated GPA
53	Receipt
55	Disclaimer
56	Respondentia Bond
64(b)	Revocation of Trust
64(b)	Dissolution Deed
64(b)	Deed of Retirement

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[NewsOfUse]: IITK-BMTPC's Useful and Informative Series on Earthquake related Disaster Management Tips

2009-06-01T20:59:00.008+05:30

Building Materials & Technology Promotion Council (BMPTC)

Ministry of Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation, Government of India

in association with

Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, India (IITK)

has brought out important and useful information tips on Earthquake disaster management titled:

"IITK-BMTPC Earthquake Tips:: Learning Seismic Design and Construction"

on the BMPTC's as well as NICEE's websites.

Team BRICKS-n-MORTAR suggests all its subscribers, readers and visitors to visit the above mentioned site and go though the informative tips on Earthquake Disaster Management. As also mentioned in the said website of NICEE (National Information Centre of Earthquake Engineering), 24 Tips has been released and is targeted at persons interested in building construction. The Tips cover topics such as basic introduction to earthquakes and terminology such as magnitude and intensity, concepts of earthquake resistant design, and aspects of a seismic design and construction of buildings.

List of the EQTips are listed hereunder also as a ready reference. Hope readers will find this post informative and useful.

S No	Subject
EQ Tip 1	What Causes Earthquakes?
EQ Tip 2	How the Ground Shakes?
EQ Tip 3	What are Magnitude and Intensity?
EQ Tip 4	Where are the Seismic Zones in India?
EQ Tip 5	What are the Seismic Effects on Structures?
EQ Tip 6	How Architectural Features Affect Buildings During Earthquakes?
EQ Tip 7	How Buildings Twist During Earthquakes?
EQ Tip 8	What is the Seismic Design Philosophy of Buildings?
EQ Tip 9	How to Make Buildings Ductile for Good Seismic Performance?
EQ Tip 10	How Flexibility of Buildings Affects their Earthquake Response?
EQ Tip 11	What are the Indian Seismic Codes?
EQ Tip 12	How do Brick Masonry behave during Earthquake?
EQ Tip 13	Why should Masonry Buildings have simple Structural Configuration?
EQ Tip 14	Why are horizontal bands necessary in masonry buildings?
EQ Tip 15	Why is vertical reinforcement required in masonry buildings?
EQ Tip 16	How to make Stone Masonry Buildings Earthquake Resistant?
EQ Tip 17	How do Earthquake Affect Reinforced Concrete Buildings?
EQ Tip 18	How do Beams in RC Buildings Resist Earthquakes?
EQ Tip 19	How do Columns in RC Buildings Resist Earthquakes?
EQ Tip 20	How do Beam-Column Joints in RC Buildings Resist Earthquakes?
EQ Tip 21	Why are Open Ground Storey Buildings Vulnerable in Earthquakes?
EQ Tip 22	Why are Short Columns more Damaged During Earthquakes?
EQ Tip 23	Why are Buildings with Shear Walls Prefer red in Seismic Regions?
EQ Tip 24	How to Reduce Earthquake Effects on Buildings?

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EARTHWORKS ~~ the first step in any type of Construction and basic key factors associated with it

2009-05-13T20:16:00.002+05:30

At first instance thinking about this very topic, a reader may think what so important could be there in such a simple topic. After all, earthwork is as basic as the most common of aspects of Civil Engineering.

Yes, it could be tedious as well as tricky while dealing with earthworks (which includes all earth related activities, viz., excavation, backfilling, disposal of extra and/or waste soil, and the likes) in special conditions like while handling extra soft or extra hard strata; or even may be when earthworks are required to be done in high water table conditions where pumping out of water could become a headache for the team of engineers. There could be endless of demanding situations in this field, but here we will focus on the basic principles that an engineer, or even a simple worker needs to remember.

Analyzing the Type of Material : The First Basic Step

It can be a fruitful exercise for any working team to first analyze what kind of soil and/or strata they are going to work upon. Selecting the best possible technique to go about follows thereafter.

In brief, the type of materials to be handled or used for the diverse needs of earthworks, viz., excavation, filling, compacting, making embankments, etc. should primarily conform to the qualities and requirements for each work respectively. It often is a good idea to investigate the possible areas for winning such materials, as well as the possibility of reusing materials arising from excavations on the site, keeping in mind that the source and the quality of materials being subject to requisite quality control.

Things/Methods to Start With

Subsequent to the basic planning, earmarking and completing the layout, etc. of the respective areas of work, it needs a planned methodology to carry out the works most economically and time saving. The few of these activities are:

Clearing and Grubbing: The work of clearing and grubbing consists of the removal of all obstructions such as undergrowth, bushes, trees, stumps, roots, rubbish and other objectionable organic or inorganic matter before undertaking any major earthwork.
Excavation: This consists of the necessary excavations for the works such as foundations of structures and buildings, machine foundations, pits, tunnels, cable trenches, etc. It generally also includes the stacking and/or disposal of the surplus excavated materials that is extra of what has to be backfilled back after casting the sub-structure. The whole of the excavations for the several parts of a particular Work should be carried out to suit the foundations for which they are required. The important thing to remember is that the excavations should be done in such a manner, which gives sufficient safe working space all around the foundations; and also economized to the fullest at the same time.
Earthworks for Embankments: Where an embankment is to be made, the in-grade preparation of the basement soils should be well planned before actual execution. All sod and organic matter as well as any unsuitable material should be removed from the surface, if encountered. The key to remember is that the final cleared surface should be completely broken up by ploughing, scarifying or stepping to a certain minimum depth, preferably by at least 15 cm.
Earthwork in Rocky Conditions: As a thumb rule, the rock strata can be divided into two categories, viz., soft rock, which constitutes material such as limestone, sandstone, hard conglomerate, plain cement concrete, etc.; and hard rock, which constitutes material like quartzite stone, granite, basalt, reinforced cement concrete and the likes that cannot be easily quarried or split with crow bars or picks or even with jackhammers. Even harder strata like that comprising of thick solid beds of corals, etc. may even require special blasting techniques, which require detailed planning on an engineer’s behalf.

Concluding remarks

Earthworks mark the beginning of the construction process for any building or structure. It may seem to be a done thing from an overview, but it must be remembered that some key basic points should always be in place before as well as during the execution of the works. Planning the key issues beforehand can save enormous precious time and the finances.

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Knowing about Hydel Plants & Uses of Transforming Water Force to Electric Power

2009-05-08T17:02:00.002+05:30

Since the very time the world witnessed the industrial revolution, energy resources have kept on being used. In fact, these resources have been over-utilized, endangering the bleak balance of the ecology. Whether they are developed, developing or the under-developed countries-- all want energy resources for fueling their sustainability and growth cycles.

The man utilized wood, coal, petroleum and almost all other ready energy sources till the need for more arose to such an extent that imbalance of ecology was noted. If not for only this fact, it was the availability/ unavailability of certain resources in some parts of the world, which led the mankind to think for using alternative resources of energy. Hydro-Electricity (commonly known as 'HYDEL') is one such alternative resource of energy, which has brought a lot of scope for water-source-rich countries to use this renewable source of energy thereby giving them a bright chance to develop and grow alike without endangering the ecology.

Hydel-Energy and Hydel Plants

In simple terms, the power (electricity) generated through water (hydro) is commonly termed as hydel energy; and the power generation plants are known as the hydro-electric plants; or even simply, the hydel plants.

Hydro-electric power plants work on the simple concept of taking the kinetic energy from running and/or falling water, thereby converting it into electricity. These plants are basically of two broad types:

“Run-of-the-river” type, and
“Reservoir” type

The basic difference between the two is essentially the storage and feeding capacity of the reservoirs that store and supply water to the turbines, which are housed at downstream end of the pressure shafts. These pressure shafts are constructed in an angle so that the water falls on the turbines with a larger head, thereby developing larger kinetic velocities. The running of the turbines generates electricity, which is then fed to the main power grid, making the power generated available to a large or small area or region depending upon the requirement and purposes.

As such, in case of “Run-of-the-river” type hydel plants, the rivers are having enough water and speed that can cater to the requirements of a plant having a smaller sized storage reservoir. On the other hand, the rivers having lesser discharge quotients or occasional dry periods need to be supplemented with large sized reservoirs where water is kept stored in huge quantum so as to cater the needs of the hydel plant.

Multiple Uses of Hydel Plants

Besides being used to generate hydel power, such plants may also help in the following:

Flood control and monitoring
Navigational purposes
Irrigation and drought control
Public water supply
Recreational purposes

The other benefits of generating power by such alternative means are:

No pollution is caused
The natural resources are put to use in a dynamic phase, that is, only running water’s velocity is utilized whereas the water is again discharged downstream without much wastage.
Operation and maintenance costs of such plants are low
Small capacity hydel plants can be set up again at certain downstream part of the river, thereby enhancing the power generation requirements.

A Few Disadvantages are there too to take care of

Besides having so many advantages, designing and using the hydel plants require certain checks and precautions also to be taken care of.

The major environmental impact of hydro-electric plants is the flooding of large areas of land to form reservoirs for water that results in large scale flooding and displacement of the river-side dwellings and large chunks of lands.
Much of the land, which is converted into a large sized reservoir, is usually either forested or inhabited before it is submerged. A lot of people therefore need to be displaced and re-habited.
Mitigation of water creatures, like fishes, etc. are restricted
Studies have even showed earthquake related impacts of large volumes of stored water in the region
The man-made reservoirs usually do alter the silt-flow patterns of the river.

Synopsis

Hydro-electric power plants have played a major role in the world's energy supply in terms of alternative energy resources. Hydel generated power is almost inexpensive, reliable, and has environmental impacts, which are not as devastating as those from the traditional fuels, like fossil fuels, etc. It not only enhances the power production capacities to feed the ever-increasing world, but also uses the natural resource, thereby negating the pollution fears.

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[Readers' Query]: Meaning of term "POURING STRIP" and What is its purpose of use?

2009-05-02T18:29:00.004+05:30

On Sun, Apr 26, 2009 at 9:58 AM, chan_gul2000@... wrote:

Pl tell me what are the meaning of POURING STRIP. What is the purpose of use?

--
Sent via a FeedFlare link from a FeedBurner feed.
http://www.feedburner.com/fb/a/publishers/feedflare

Team B-n-M replied...
Dear B-n-M subscriber,
Greetings from our entire team!

Foremost sorry for replying a little late as your query went accidentally into the spam folder (don't know how, but our IT team is making sure it doesn't happen again!).

Your query about "POURING STRIP" is a terminology in Civil Engineering which is used in many contexts, like:

while casting concrete in slabs in strips (as in case of vacuum dewatered flooring where panels of a certain width- 4m, 5m, or so are made with MS channel sections as the mechanical trowel is of this width only),
or, where concreting is to be done in alternative bays (parallel grid panels) so as to check the expansion/shrinkage of construction joints.
or, where precast members are made in forms, and which are supposed to be cast in sequence to be detached/ saw-cut later upon final setting.

In case you can tell us in what context you came across this term, we may be able to elaborate it further with some technical details as well.

We love to have feedback/ comments/ queries/ contributions from our readers and visitors, which we sometimes also publish on our blog with requisite credentials of the sender. We hope you participating more actively sharing your knowledge with us too. Hope to hear from you soon on this topic, and otherwise too.

Yours truly,
Team B-n-M
BRICKS-n-MORTAR.com
A WEBLOG ENCOMPASSING A COMMON MAN'S CIVIL ENGINEERING RELATED QUERIES & DOUBTS
Home maintenance | Architecture | Construction | Civil Design | Interiors | Renovation | Upgradation | Beautification | Products | Materials | Vaastu | Valuation | Guidance | Advice | Tips | Tutorials | Misc. Services | Social Awareness | And a lot lot more...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[Tips'n'Bits]: Do You Know Which Cement Type To Buy & Use?

2009-04-30T19:11:00.000+05:30

After completing all the requisite planning, fine tuning of budget as well as manpower arrangement for the repair/ modification works for his home, Mr. Singh's never anticipated that he'll be bombarded with a dozen of questions at the cement vendor's shop as what kind of cement he required for the works.

The technical jargon used by the vendor in naming the cement products were feeling like awkward bouncers and bodyliners that have undoubtedly troubled almost all the cricket batsmen on the field. Mr. Singh had never bothered in his planning as which kind of cement he would be requiring while carrying out the tedious planning. He had always known cement as cement, and never as:

OPC (Ordinary Portland Cement),
PPC (Pozzolana Portland Cement),
PSC (Pozzolana Slag Cement),
SRC (Sulphate Resisting Cement),
White Cement,
Quick Setting Cement, etc. etc. etc

Or in that matter of fact as:

33-grade,
43-grade, or
53-grade.

Like Mr. Singh, the majority of masses and classes have no idea to similar queries of the cement vendors (barring the ordinary shopkeepers, who themselves don't know beyond the word- 'CEMENT'). The last resort left with Mr. Singh was to tell the vendor to give him whichever type the vendor felt right. And no doubt, like most of the vendors would have done in such a situation, Mr. Singh was handed over the type of cement bags, which had huge profit margins for the vendor.

HAVE YOU ALSO EXPERIENCED BEING LIKE Mr. SINGH'S AT SOME POINT OF TIME?
DO YOU ALSO HAVE PLANS TO GET CARRIED OUT SOME CEMENT BASED WORK IN THE NEAR FUTURE AND DON'T KNOW WHICH CEMENT PRODUCT TO BUY?

As we pointed out earlier, a number of people like you and me would identify themselves with Mr. Singh.

We suggest keep looking out for this space here on BRICKS-n-MORTAR wherein we would try to let you know the basics of CEMENT, and to what you require for different type of works.

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[Tips-n-Bits]: Understanding Vaastu; and a few vaastu tips for home and commercial spaces

2009-04-25T20:40:00.001+05:30

"Vaastu", as we commonly know this terminology in its short form as, has been derived from the original Sanskrit word "Vāstu Śāstra" or more commonly "Vaastu Shastra".

The Wikipedia defines Vaastu as:

"an ancient Vedic science of layout planning of buildings that is said to be influencing peace and prosperity of the inhabitants by dealing with the management of cosmic energy in Building & Structures. The principles of Vaastu Shastra extend from the macro level to the micro level- site selection, site planning and orientation, zoning and disposition of rooms, proportional relationships between the various parts of buildings and the character of buildings."

Quoting Wikipedia text again to explain to our readers (for the simple reason of it being an authenticated compilation of simple and multi-contributed as well as thoroughly analyzed inputs from numerous contributors and scholars),

"Vaastu is the science of direction and architecture that combines all the five elements of nature and balances them with the man and the material. Vaastu Shastra is creating a congenial settings or a place to live or work, in most scientific way taking advantages of the benefits bestowed by the five elements called “Pancha Maha Bhootas” of the nature thereby paving the way for enhanced health, wealth, prosperity and happiness in an enlightened environment.

The world comprises five basic elements, also known as the Panchbhootas. They are Earth, Water, Air, Fire and Space.There is an invisible and constant relation between all the five elements. Thus, the man can improve his conditions by properly designing his buildings by understanding the effectiveness of these five natural forces.

In modern times, the knowledge of house building technology has grown so vast, that it has been branched off into special fields such as architecture, engineering and Interior decoration. Architecture deals with the Internal comfort and external beauty, Civil engineering deals with the structural stability but Vaastu provides with the knowledge to be adopted in building a house so as to make the native happy, healthy and prosperous. Vaastu principles are applicable to individual residential houses , industry, educational institutions, commercial complexes, theaters, hospitals, churches, etc. If colonies, villages and cities are planned on its principles, it is said that they will all be very prosperous. To understand Vaastu all one needs is a little knowledge about Astronomy. We know that our earth, while moving around the sun, continues to spin on its own axis with a tilt of 23.5 degrees. While spinning, the earth moves from West to East. You will observe that car is designed in such a way that its front part is kept lower than the rear part, to enable it to overcome the wind resistance when in speed. Similarly the nose part of the plane and rocket are kept tapering forward. Since our earth is moving from West to East, if your building is lower on the East and higher on the West, only then it will be able to withstand the resistance of winds easily and get filled with positive energy from North-East, leading to peace and prosperity of the inhabitants. Thus a clear understanding of the principles of science can help you to delve into the true meaning of Vaastu Shastra and reap its benefits."

Having understood the basics of Vaastu, the readers of this post might want 'team:bricks-n-mortar' to enumerate a few basic and most sought-after Vaastu tips for home and commercial spaces.

A few of these tips are listed below for quick reference. It should however be understood that these are only a few of the ideal-condition considerations. The whole snapshot of a particular property or living place may depend upon several related combinations and factors.

A plot with all four corners as 90 degrees to each other is always better than one having oblique or skewed sides.
A plot with at least two sides open to a park or road should be preferred rather than one closed from all sides.
The open space left in North and East should be more than South and West.
A house should be designed in such a way so that there is maximum entry of sunlight and proper cross ventilation.
The maximum construction should be done in South, West and South-West portion of the plot.
A pond or a water body should be placed in North-East corner of the house.
A house should ideally be not constructed over a filled up water body, like a well, pond, etc.
The hearth or oven must be arranged in Eastern or South-East directions of the house in such a way that the person cooking faces the East.
Trees of any kind should not ideally be grown in Eastern, Northern and North-East directions.
Only small plants should be grown in North, East and North-East directions.
Shadow of a Banyan (peepal) tree should not fall on the house.
Pictures of any war scenes, demons, portraits in anger should not be placed in the house.
The slope of the property should be from West to East or South to North.
The best direction for master bedroom construction is South-West. South-East direction is not right for bedroom purpose.
If a bedroom need to be constructed in the North-West direction, then prefer using it as a guest room or as a room for daughters.
For constructing children room, West or North is the perfect direction.
The children study tables should be placed in the Northern or Eastern corner of the room.
The beds should be so placed that sleeping with one's head facing North side of the room be avoided.
Green color is recommended to be used for wall painting in the study room as it enhances intelligence.
For prayer room, yellow or sandal wall color is just perfect.
For placing TV or computer in the living room, South-East corner is just right.
For ensuring peace in the house, the main bedroom should be constructed in the South direction.
While sleeping, make sure that everyone sleeps with his or her head pointing towards the South corner. North direction should be completely avoided, as it acts as a source of nightmares and disturbed sleep.
Avoid placing the divine idols in the bedroom.
For constructing the master bedroom, South-West direction is just perfect. Other bedrooms can be constructed on the Eastern or Northern side of the master bedroom.
A married couple should not use East direction bedroom. There is no problem if a child uses such a room.
Bed can be placed in the South-West corner.
It is better to avoid placing the mirror just on the opposite side of the bed especially in children room.
Don't place the furniture sticking to the wall, as it obstructs the flow of positive energy.
The study desk should be placed in such a manner that the child faces Eastern, Northern or North-Eastern corner while studying. East is the most appropriate direction, as it paves way for enhanced concentration.
Avoid placing the electronic gadgets like TV and Computer in the kids' bedroom. But still if you wish to install one, then for computer, the right place is South-East corner and North-West corner for TV.
The North direction is ideal for the construction of a drawing room.
Southern and Western corners of the room are perfect for placing the furniture.
The perfect place for placing sofa lies in North-West.
TV can be kept in the South-East direction while the showcase, cupboards, almirahs in the South-West corner.
Seating arrangement for the guests should be done in such a manner that the guests face Southern or Western direction.
Center table can be in the shape of square, rectangle or even round.
Avoid placing L shape sofa in your drawing room.
The ideal location for the construction of dining room is the West portion of the house.
Construction should be done in such a manner that the dining room and kitchen both are on the same floor, lying adjacent to each other.
Square or rectangle shape dining table is just perfect for the room.
Dining table should not be sticking to the wall.
If you want to place a fridge in the dining room, then South-East direction would be just apt.
If you want to make provision for the fitting of washbasin in your dining room, then the right place would be either Eastern or Northern corner.
The ideal place for the location of kitchen is the South-East corner. An alternative choice can be the North-West corner of the house.
The ideal location for kitchen are Northeast, mid-north, mid-west, southwest mid-south or the center.
Make sure that the cooking platform does not touch Eastern or Northern side wall.
The best direction for cooking is facing East, as this direction is considered to be auspicious.
No shelf should be placed above the cooking platform.
Refrigerator can be placed on the North-West corner in the kitchen.
While constructing the kitchen, make adequate provision for cross ventilation.
For bathroom construction, the most appropriate location lies in the Eastern portion of the house.
As a part of Vaastu remedies for bathroom, it is suggested that the geyser should be placed in the Southeast corner.
Drainage system should be in the northeast direction. Therefore, it is advised that the taps and showers should be fixed on the Northern side.
As per Vaastu for bathroom, the door should not be in the South-West direction of the bathroom.
For keeping the washing machine, the suitable directions are South-East and North-West.
Bathtub can be placed on the west side.
For parking purpose, North-East side should be used.
The drainage system for commercial buildings should be towards the North-East direction.
While constructing the doors, make sure that the main gate is higher than other doors.
If you wish to construct a storeroom for the office, then choose Southern or Western portion of the plot for this purpose.
Make adequate provision for sunlight and proper cross ventilation system

HAVE ANY CIVIL ENGINEERING RELATED QUERY BOTHERING YOU? TELL US & WE WOULD TRY TO ASSIST YOU. POST YOUR QUERY.

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Part description from: Wikipedia

Suggested related stuff:

Wikipedia article on Vaastu
Vaastu Tips : by Your Astrology Guru
Reinterpreting Vaastu : An article in The Hindu by Shashikala Ananth
Subhavaastu : Consultancy and advice by Suresh
Understanding science of directions & Vaastu tips at rudraksha-ratna

Starting a new project site or work? Key points to plan & organize

2009-04-17T19:57:00.003+05:30

Often when a Greenfield project site is in the pipeline ready to hit the ground so as to take a physical shape, it takes enormous time for the managing and executing agencies to get the works rolling with the planned momentum. So, what does happen when even the plans are in place on papers, but still the progress isn’t taking off in the required direction? The blame-game starts in such a situation with one agency accusing the others for the delays; the delays in turn becoming compounded; and the project cash flow going negative.

The key to avoid such a gloomy picture at any stage of a project, perhaps more importantly in the beginning stage of the project, is effective planning and monitoring, together with an all-aligned site organization. Since opening the site marks the physical execution of the project, it becomes imperative to take notice of the key points beforehand so that the project site is organized well to perform efficiently and economically.

Key Points to Remember

Like any important work, the early stage planning and orientation tools always help in chalking out the success path of the subsequent periods. The things to remember and implement are:

Making a clear picture

Knowing the contract, project requirements, plans, budgets, site organization, schedules and everything related to chalk out a clear picture of the project comes handy to get acquainted with the project. This helps in reducing the buffer time, which often gets wasted at the start of a project.

Earmarking an effective site organization

No matter if you are amongst the Client, the Consultant or the Contractor, it always helps to have an effective and balanced project as well as back-office teams created to suit the specific nature of the project and the project-site. A balanced and motivated team can do wonders in any sort of conditions.

Dividing the site into manageable sections

A site has different needs and functions from time to time. Creating functional and manageable core teams ensure that monitoring and aligning/realigning of the teams as well as the project activities are always under control. Such teams can be enhanced with or merged to garner more strength and skill as the project goes beyond initial embryonic stage.

Micro & Macro planning

Once the project has followed the macro plans, micro scheduling of activities should follow immediately by respective teams, but in concurrence with each and every correlated team. Such schedules and plans should be regularly monitored and updated vis-à-vis the actual progress and availability of resources. This helps in reflecting the bottlenecks and delays to the managers, who can thereafter take remedial measures without affecting the overall progress much.

Time management

It is unavoidable at any project to have automatic balance between the pressure of work and the remaining time in hand. But this bottleneck can be resolved stage by stage with effective time management. The art to learn and master is to prioritize the important activities first than the secondary ones, and planning to cater to the important ones foremost. All successful managers thrive on this very craft of time management on the first place beside of course other trade and/or personal qualities.

Authority and Responsibility

Delegation of suitable authority and responsibility to every functional member of the team is the last, but definitely not the least of the key requirements of a successful site organization. This helps in clear-cut roles that all the team members are required to perform in the organization.

So, what have we learned from this article?

As like they say, a successful and effect start predominantly leads to a remarkable and desired results. By doing better planning and following the same at site with necessary corrective measures, the projects can become more economical and financially viable. This not only helps the parent companies, but also helps every team member of the project team professionally, personally, financially and morally. The one member which the gains the most, however, is the Project itself.

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[Web-Share]: Useful Tips for Revamping your Home

2009-04-06T01:00:00.000+05:30

Network Guest Article by: Jenny Austin

---

So the time has come for the home interior to undergo a serious revamp, with the current financial situation throughout the country many homeowners decide to overhaul their home interiors rather than go through the rigmarole of purchasing a new property.

BnM>>It can be difficult to know where to begin in the home and extremely challenging to rustle up inspiring ideas without the help of a hired design professional. Here are a few common tips used by professionals in the interior design industry which should give a good starting point for project ideas to be worked from.

Do not be afraid to try out new decorating ideas, your aim is to create ambiance in each area of the home. It is important when picking pieces of furniture or other accessories to enhance the unique look of that area, if a chosen piece is bizarre it should be displayed in the area in such a way so as not to detract attention from the other features within the area.

Research your theme; it is worthwhile spending time viewing theme ideas, as with the majority of tasks completed well preparation is everything. Once a theme is decided upon it is essential to keep it in mind, it will prevent areas ending up a hotch-potch of items you like. Keep theme ideas simple yet not boring, if the plan is too elaborate the area becomes cluttered and that creates an unsettling atmosphere. It is not easy to achieve a simple theme that is not dull and many people air on the side of caution and settle for a boring interior. A good tip is to mix furniture of neutral colours with various unusual accessories, this will take some practice although it is beneficial to choose this approach to an interior as the look can be dramatically altered just by changing the accessories. Another method often used by professional interior designers is to place pieces of contemporary furniture along brightly coloured walls.

Think about your lighting preferences while deciding themes, if you rather have a soft light in the dining area the theme you choose should compliment this. Consider how much light is available naturally to the area and what aura are you planning to recreate. A dark room will benefit greatly from an injection of bright colour, paints are available nowadays that have special light reflecting qualities. A very light area sounds ideal but can often lack definition of purpose, to help ground the room a accent wall can be used try to enhance any features of the room. If the space is light it can be a perfect opportunity to experiment with darker colour, which if planned with a complementary theme can produce fantastic results. The lighting effects within a room are probably the single most important factor to get right, what you choose will dramatically affect the way furniture and colours look within the space. Do not limit lighting to merely ordinary ceiling lights; there are a great variety of lamps, side lights, coloured lights and bulb strengths to select from. Importantly choose appropriate lighting for the area, it is no use creating a wonderful relaxed kitchen/dinner with soft lighting if you can’t see to prepare a meal.

Author Resource:- Jenny Austin is an expert in bistro Furniture, for further information on how to choose your Floor Sanding , or which Readymade Curtains service to choose please visit claremontupholstery.co.uk.

Article From Talkinmince Article Directory | Tips to Revamp your Home

[Readers' Query]: How to know the past history of purchased home/ property?

2009-03-31T18:15:00.001+05:30

Another interesting question answered on "Y! Answers" By 'Team B-n-M':

"How do I find information on past history of our recently purchased home and property, if something bad may have happened?

I have this odd feeling when I'm outside. When I go into the house I'm fine. The house was moved on the property about 5 years ago, a year before we bought it"

'Team B-n-M' answers:

One of the ways to find out if the property is a clean one is to check with the local property agents / brokers as well as the neighboring houses. In case any unwanted history is there, these people could be the best source to find out as they are local contacts and stay in same place.

The other source could be the nearest police station. There should not be any untoward record history of the property.

Last but not the least, check upon the credentials of the previous owners / builders / property developers who are connected with the property in whichever way. Their history and antecedents may help in confirming / quashing your untoward fears / doubts about the property.

For more such queries on similar topics, write in to us. We would be glad to assist you.

-Shelly

(for Team at BRICKS-n-MORTAR dot com)

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[Classifieds]: Sale of used chairs of a recently upgraded office facility in Sushant Lok, Gurgaon

2009-03-30T19:16:00.000+05:30

[Sponsored Classified Advertisement]

QUOTE...

We are a Gurgaon based MNC having our office in Sushant Lok, Gurgaon, Haryana, India. We have recently upgraded our entire facility including chairs, sanitary facilities, etc. and wish to sell off the entire used chairs (about 140-150 nos.) and similar items.

The chairs are standard company manufactured (part of them even of Godrej and Avis make); averaging 3 to 6 years old; and are in good usable quality. The chairs are of two type of fabric colour shades, viz., corporate blue and green colours. These chairs might be a good buy for upcoming low-to-medium budget offices/ shops/ establishment/ event organizers, etc.

Interested parties may contact us ASAP through the comment section of this post asking for further information as we wish to clear off these chairs soon as they are blocking quite a space of our office storage area. People who wish to buy small nos. ranging between as low as 10-25 to as high as entire lot are welcome to quote. However, preference will be given to parties offering to buy the entire lot. Sale to be made on first cum first serve basis subject to negotiation of appropriate price.

ALSO, used branded sanitary fixtures (WCs, Urinals, Wash basins, etc) are up for sale too.

Kindly send your quotes ASAP. Parties wishing to visit us and quote on spot are required to take an appointment prior to the visit. For any other information/ clarification, please feel free to ask through the comments section of this particular post.

A collage of snaps of the aforementioned chairs on offer is produced hereunder for quick reference of interested parties/individuals.

..UNQUOTE

BnM

NOTE:
- Interested parties express their interest through comment section of this post and/or by sending email to 'Team B-n-M'
- Parties wanting to host Classified advertisements at BRICKS-n-MORTAR may write in with the dscription of their products. Avail space at very meagre rates.

[Readers' Query]: Transforming an apartment to be made feel like home?

2009-03-21T21:22:00.004+05:30

Surfing through some of the questions on "Y! Answers", found this interesting question posted by a young lady, who asked:

"What are some ways I can make my new apartment feel like home?"

Now, we think this question is a very simple, yet very intriguing in itself. A house can be constructed / purchased / rented to live, but until and unless the four walls, the roof and the floor correlate as one common unit and reflect back the synergy, positive vibes and warmth to the people living therein, it can never feel like being home.

One may advise this lady to buy accessories, furniture, art, rugs, frames, lights, fixtures, etc. etc. to fill in the walls and every possible empty space of the apartment in question. But do you think this can help?

The interesting fact is that nothing but the compassion and passion for a living place can transform a materialistic house into a loving home. After all, a house can be made with bricks and mortar and few more building material put together, but once this house is occupied by loving occupants who give in their warm time, efforts, accessories and love in bettering this dwelling, the apartment/ house will definitely feel more than a home where one would long to reach back at the end of every day to be with.

In the coming days, we will share further as what are the basic things one can make / purchase to make his/her/their home a lovingly livable home.

- Team@BRICKS-n-MORTAR.com

About Yahoo! Answers
====================
Find out more at: http://answers.yahoo.com/info/welcome. You can also browse through our 40 million answers to questions and learn something new in the Renting & Real Estate category.

BRICKS-n-MORTAR is now also live on "Yahoo! Answers"

2009-03-21T18:27:00.001+05:30

NHi all! Just a quick reminder to all our patrons and readers...

We are now present on 'Yahoo! Answers' too ---

BTW, 'Yahoo! Answers' is a platform where you can get answers to any question you have relating to respective interests and field of work/studies.

We invite you all to be part of our community there too. By joining our community there, we'll be able to grow mutually by what we know through sharing our Q&A and answering each others' queries thereby sharing a symbiotic relationship.

To join us on 'Yahoo! Answers' network also, follow the link below:
http://answers.yahoo.com/my/contacts/invite/
Hope to see you on Answers,
Yours truly
Shelly (for team@bricks-n-mortar.com)

About Yahoo! Answers: It's the world's leading Q&A site, where people ask and answer questions on any topic. Click here to learn more.
About Yahoo! Answers Network: The Network allows you to grow what you know by connecting to smart people in Yahoo! Answers, whose knowledge you respect. By participating you will have a more personal and productive experience on Answers, since the network will give you direct access to the people and information that you find most interesting, relevant, and helpful.

Contact us (team@bricks-n-mortar.com)

2009-03-14T18:58:00.002+05:30

BnM

Some of our readers pointed out that the "Contact Us" tab at the top of the page was not pointing rightly. We thank all those readers who regularly pour in their comments/ suggestions/feedback etc. from time to time, which truly help us improve and pull our socks up to meet our readers' expectations and this very community's best of quality standards.

We love to hear from you. Just a humble reminder from our team to all those who would like to know where to write into to pass a word to us...

Contact us at:
<team @bricks-n-mortar.com>
<info@bricks-n-mortar.com>

If you haven't been a part of our community yet and would like to patronize this weblog, or would like to get regular updates, do join us by subscribing to our Feeds (SUBSCRIBE NOW).

Yours truly
Team:B-n-M (Team@Bricks-n-Mortar)

[Graffiti]: Could you make out what this uploaded image is all about?

2009-03-10T00:05:00.001+05:30

e-g>>

Could you make out what this uploaded image is all about?

Make a guess. Even a wild guess may bring you close to the answer. Answer correctly within 3 calender days from the date this post is uploaded and you may win $5 in cash.
(the cash prize is sponsored by one of our team members who has contributed this picture to us).

Send in your entries by mail and/or in comments section. The first one to point out correctly will be announced as a winner. So hurry up! :-)

And, yes, like all big/small contests do, we also would like to play safe against any unforeseen liability mentioning alongwith "conditions apply" ;-D

[Readers' Queries]: What is a 'WBM' road?

2009-02-16T15:08:00.001+05:30

A 'WBM' road stands for 'Water Bound Macadam' road. It derives its last part of the name from an Engineer named Macadam who proposed and designed the structure of this road section. The other part of the name stands relevant as this road type essentially uses the principle of binding the various in-situ layers of boulders, stones, fine aggregates and fillers as moorum, stone dust, sand, etc.

A typical WBM road section comprises of the following basic structure:

Subgrade preparation : This includes removal of the top soil, vegetation and loose sub-surface (if any) up to the desired reduced levels. The subgrade should be well consolidated and compacted to a camber of 1 in 60 or 1 in 48.
Sub-base and base preparation : This is the base course and is also called soling. It comprises of well compacted base made out of rolling boulders/ kankar/ overburnt brick ballast in three layers, viz., the larger sized boulders (sized 63mm to 40mm) evenly placed as the bottom-most layer; medium sized aggregates (sized 40mm to 25mm) evenly placed as the middle layer; and smaller sized aggregates (sized 25mm and down) evenly placed as filler material as the top layer. The layers should be compacted well longitudinally in pre-determined sections by a 10 tonne roller with the final compacted layer being about 125mm thick. A second course of such sub-base commonly known as base and comprising of three layer system should be provided over the well compacted 1st course so that the total compacted thickness of the sub-base and base is about 250mm. The compacted base should be dry-rolled followed by saturating it well with water and subsequent wet-rolling until the base becomes cohesive and fully saturated.
Surface dressing : The sub-base & base are allowed to be bone dry over a period of time. The loose dust and dirt are removed by a combination of wire brushes, hard brush brooms and soft brushes so as to expose clean metal surface to a depth of 6mm to 12mm, but without loosening the embedded stones.
Asphalting : The temporary and semi-permanent roads involve only the above mentioned steps. However, asphalting is done for making the roads all-weather and durable. The process includes binding the surface with alternate bituminous tack coats and applying a 40mm layer of bituminous concrete (commonly known as 'premix'). The final layer of 25mm thick bituminous mix of fine aggregates and a seal coat are applied as a wearing course and to make the road water tight for enhanced durability.

WBM road >>

- Image source (screenshot of the mentioned webpage) & recommended related information webpage: MACADAM.htm

- Query sent by Vivek Kumar

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[Property Bazaar]: A Scenario Update of Indian Realty Sector as in Feb' 09!

2009-02-12T19:04:00.010+05:30

BnM>>The global sentiment on the current financial meltdown no doubt plays a direct or indirect impact on the real estate sector as a whole, and property sector in India is no different. The stock market listed big boys of Indian realty sector, viz., DLF and Unitech are visibly bearing the brunt of this global aspect presently with their net worth being marginalized day by day forcing these companies to be more realistic in valuations and property price pegging.

Other stock market listed big shots like Ansals Housing, Omaxe, Parsvanath, Mahindra Lifespace, Shobha Developers, and the likes are also feeling the heat due to a combination of receding demand, unavailable/ negligible/ expensive fund borrowings and diminishing working capital margins on existing as well as future projects in pipeline. It could not have been worst for them and the entire realty sector than this when compared with the recent past.

Lets wait and watch to see which way the wind blows from hereon. The tussle is still on between the desires of a genuine end user (who wants to buy a property for own occupation, or who want to buy a house as a family investment for his/her children and not the ones who are mere speculators and cartel players); and the likes of realty companies/ builders/ property developers/ realty middlemen/ agents/ etc. And the core of this tussle lies in the fact as to which way the property prices/ valuations swing from hereon... --- towards the realistic and affordable levels as desired by the common man or again towards the speculative regime as it was in the last 3-4 years.

Hmmm... lets wait and watch for some time... thats perhaps the best option for the time being!

[Note: Reproduced herein below is a latest news report that appeared today on MSN-India's website. The item is reproduced with the intention to only share the information]

Source : msn.co.in (dt 12/Feb/09)

Housing prices down 30% in 4 months: JLLM
New Delhi: The prices of houses have come down by up to 30 per cent over the last four months but weak consumer sentiments continue to prevail resulting in subdued demand, says realty consultant Jones Lang LaSalle Meghraj (JLLM).

Affordability metrics for homebuyers have started to improve since October due to the sharp correction in property prices, reduction in mortgage rates and smaller unit sizes per apartment, it said.

"Currently, transaction prices in most markets are down by 25-30 per cent across the board," JLLM Chairman and Country Head Anuj Puri said.

Weak Diwali sales last year and a "virtual standstill" in incremental credit lending during October-December period of the current fiscal have forced developers to mark down their asking rates, he added.

"Price corrections are more pronounced in new launches than existing projects, which are mostly sold to end-users or investors and hence are cost covered," Puri said.

He, however, said demand for housing properties remains subdued with end-users postponing their home-purchase decisions given an uncertain job market and expectation of further price corrections.

The consultant said though many developers have shifted their focus towards building affordable houses in the last few months, but due to thin margins on account of high costs of existing land inventories (mainly acquired over 2006-08) and the current level of construction costs, companies are finding it difficult to remain afloat.

"JLLM expects Rs 1,800-Rs 2,000 per sq ft as the bare minimum pricing level in the current market," Puri added.

Source: PTI

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Autodesk on a Mission to Build a Strong Student Community in India & Worldwide

2009-02-04T16:08:00.007+05:30

Autodesk, one of the world's leading organizations having significant presence in state-of-the-art 2D and 3D design and engineering technologies, needs no further introduction as it is a very well known engineering software provider the world over.

Autodesk has been into the business of letting their users and customers visualize, simulate, and analyze the real-world performance of their ideas early in the design process, are into this field since 1982. The revolutionary engineering software tool, commonly known as AutoCAD, is one of the supreme products of this organization. There would hardly be an engineering person all around the world who has not been a direct or indirect user of their services and tools at any given point of time.

The organization boasts of providing their "customers the flexibility to optimize and improve designs before actually executing them. thereby not only see, but experience, their designs before they are real, empowering them to save time and money, improve quality, and foster innovation".

Lately it seems from various public domain campaigns and media advertisements, the organization has ventured into building a strong students and end-users community all round the globe so as to draw the global elite professional minds towards their products and services. And India happens to be one of the major target countries for this mind-pool besides other engineering mind pool regions & promising marketplaces.

Beside giving (partly conditional) opportunity to let users download and use free software utilities, the other salient features that Autodesk is offering the to-be-members & target Student Community are:

# Learning and Tutorials
# Job Posting
# Questions and Answers
# Forums and blogs
# Product Tips
# Link and Resources
# Group and Class Discussions
# Industry Articles
# Connect with students and teachers all around the world

Those of you who tend to be interested, no matter if you are an engineering student or not, may visit their weblinks (as also reproduced hereunder below for ready reference of BRICKS-n-MORTAR.com users) and check out whats on offer. Interestingly, to promote their campaign, Autodesk is also offering some gift to early 200 members who help them add more people to their community.

Related weblinks for ready reference:

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AutoDesk Student Community EDM

[Feedback]: Are you able to read / subscribe to B-n-M feeds effortlessly?

2009-01-27T18:44:00.018+05:30

BRICKS-n-MORTAR's (B-n-M) long time feed subscribers would remember that B-n-M used to publish its RSS feeds through Feedburner platform, until Google took over the company and advised erstwhile Feedburner's clients to migrate to Google servers so as to continue publishing their blog's/website's feeds in future. Though the transition from 'feedburner' to 'feedburner.google' servers was optional at that point of time (around August 2008 or so), B-n-M opted to follow suit taking cue from related informative posts of Google blog, DailyBlogTips, QuickOnlineTips, and the likes who themselves were using feedburner feeds.

Accordingly, we changed the feed link on our blog as per new feedburner.google link.

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But, it was over this past weekend that the aforementioned reference blogs uploaded posts about irregularities on google's end as they changed the feed links' URLs automatically from feedproxy.google.com/(feed ID) to feeds2.feedburner.com/(feed ID)

This has raised doubts in all blogmasters that the old as well as new subscribers may or may not be getting the respective blog updates. This is very serious as any social blog depend heavily on its readers and subscribers for their valuable support and feedback. We, at BRICKS-n-MORTAR, also are anxious and worried to know if our subscribers are able to receive their feed updates from our side, as well as if new readers who wish to patronize us by clicking "SUBSCRIBE" or "JOIN US" tabs on our blog are really able to get through.

Please let us know through "LEAVE A COMMENT" tab of this post and/or through our Email if you are facing any problem. We would take appropriate steps till google irons out the probable glitches from its systems. Meanwhile, we are keeping our fingers crossed anticipating google servers are automatically taking care of our feeds, subscribers and feed links.

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[Tutorial]: Knowing About the Types of Businesses in the Construction Industry

2009-01-12T19:00:00.003+05:30

Often the ones related to the construction world come across different types of business units, which might have baffled us as to what does they actually mean. This article is basically written to let the readers understand the main types of business setups that one may come across. This article would also try to let the readers understand as in what ways and what forms do such different units generate the required finances to run their works. So, here we go...

Types of Business Units & their Finances

The construction world is marked by a wide variety of business units, which generally have their own respective style of working and arranging finances. The main types of business units are:

Single person enterprise
Partnerships
Companies
Co-operatives

These types will now be discussed briefly hereunder to let the readers understand them closely.

Single person enterprise

As the name suggests, the single person enterprises are owned and managed by an individual who, as in most of the cases, arranges the requisite finances by himself at least in the early stages of setting up the business. This self-managed capital could well be arranged by borrowing from other individuals or from financial institutions. Such borrowings are generally on loan basis against the owner’s own personal assets.

Such business units are generally small in nature since they rely upon the owner’s technical and personal capabilities, and employ few people. The work that such enterprises undertake is also small in nature and size. However, such units are ideal for small time entrepreneurs who like to work on their own with the assistance of a few assistants and labour only.

Partnerships

These are the firms, which dwell among the inter-relation of two or more persons with almost similar targets and business goals. Thus, as the name suggests, the business units, which run in collaboration of more than one person, are commonly termed as Partnership units.
The finances of such units are arranged by all the partners in the pre-decided ratio amongst them. The profits earned are also shared by the partners in some pre-decided ratios after catering to the projects and working capital needs.

The partners of such units enter into an agreement legally or quasi-legally, which basically defines such important aspects as the capital contributed by respective partners, their roles in the firm, any interest payments in respect of the partners’ capital investments, the method of sharing the profits, and so on. Such an agreement also protects the partners from dubious activities of any of the partner, if at all it happens, thereby safeguarding the interests of the other partners.

Companies

This type of business units may be understood as an extension to partnership only, which usually is regarded as ‘incorporated associations’. As such, it is mandatory to obtain a ‘Certificate of Incorporation’ by the partners/ promoters of the assumed company. The partners/ promoters also do need to deliver a Memorandum of Association and/or the Articles of Association to the Registrar of Companies together with a statement of the proposed Company’s nominal capital and a list of people who shall be assigned Director’s position. The Certificate of Incorporation signifies that the Company is a body corporate and has perpetual existence, independent of its members.

The Companies may further be termed as ‘Private Limited’, ‘Public Limited’ or ‘Limited’ based upon the structuring and control of the directors and the articles of association defined. The most prevalent form of generating finances is by institutional borrowings and/or offering equity shares in the markets.

Co-operatives

Such business units are the least popular ones, and are formed as associations, which primarily operate on an apparent idealistic basis of fulfilling a need and sharing the proceeds of the work equally, without having a prima-facie motive of profit generation from the works.
Such units are mostly seen in the group housing industry where societies work with a common goal of achieving the goal right from project conceiving and up to its entire completion.

Generation of capital is quite problematic for most of co-operatives since the source of income are the members themselves in addition to small time borrowings from banks or other financial institutions against some indemnity.

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PS: We do accept knowledge sharing guest articles, generic contributions and knowledge-products marketing/sharing content for this blog. Contact: info@bricks-n-mortar.com, team@bricks-n-mortar.com for the same.

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[Web-Share]: MoneyControl (dot) com's article on 'Home buying & Pitfalls to avoid'

2009-01-06T19:33:00.002+05:30

One of India's popular and most read about websites CNBC-TV18’s MoneyControl (dot) com has come out with a useful article on its website today. Considering the recent global turmoil and current shady realty sector scenario, the article, titled : "Home buying : Pitfalls to avoid" aptly brings out the salient points that a prospective property buyer must keep in mind to avoid falling into the deceptive trap of unscrupulous builders, property developers, real estate agents and brokers that are trying their level best to woo customers by all means.

The article is an abstract of CNBC-TV18’s research analyst Haresh Soneji's TV report on their inhouse show- 'Moneywise', a video of which is also presented along with the article.

Those interested in reading/ watching more on this article, may follow this following weblink:
"Home buying : Pitfalls to avoid"

[Disclaimer: BRICKS-n-MORTAR.com holds no personal inference(s) and/or interest(s) in the article mentioned above. The article is being shared here considering it might of some interest to our readers, visitors & subscribers. Contact us if any violation of copyright is considered by the source website and its publishers]

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