Painting the house

Last month we had our flat painted. Here is a summary to benchmark the costs and help you decide what works best for you.

We standardized on using Asian paints. Well I did not do any homework on what is the best paint company but I knew the top two vendors. The main cost for painting the house could be for the labour charges.

Average painter cost in chennai is Rs 750 to Rs 1000. But the hard part is you will not get 2-3 of them yourself without going through a experienced painter who is the "Manager".  BTW he only does the talking on a given day and the others do the work.

For my ~ 1000 sq ft house, it took 4 man days to double coat the house.

We went with Premium Tractor Emulsion from Asian Paints. Rs 220 Per Liter.

The amount of paint needed was 10Litres. It is also important to note the ratio of paint to water the painters mix. For me they did a  1:1 ratio. Hence it is easier for them to paint. But the recommended one by Asian is a lot thicker than that. The thicker the paint, the more time it takes for the painter to finish the job.

The good part is the prices are almost the same in all shops and the price is set by a central ERP system (computer) of Asian Paints. The price varies by the colour you choose. We initially had white, but we went in for a cream shade. If you are changing the colour then you must do a double coat of paint.


The good thing of the new paints is, it has almost no odour once painted. I could sleep in the same house on the day the house was painted with the windows and door open.

Cost Breakup for 1000 square feet flat - painting the interior walls alone :

Paint and materials :  Rs 3000 includes paint, brushes, sand paper etc.
Labour Cost : Rs 6000

I ended up paying more than I should have. Actually that is the reason for this blog post.

While negotiating get them to commit on cleaning the walls first. This is critical as otherwise the paint will peel off. Hence paying per day may give better quality results than a general contract to paint the house. However the problem with painting per day is they will drag the work by double the time.

That's it from me. Good luck with your house painting job :-)

Chennai public transport system

Chennai on the move to build a pedestrian friendly public transport system....

Chennai all set for a greater transformation in the area of transport that includes coming up of grade separators,outer ring road formation, arterial roads up-gradation, construction of flyovers, subways and lot more.... 22 new projects have been announced by the state government.

Small roads in the suburbs would be improved thereby reducing traffic in the major roads. Grade separators and flyovers would reduce vehicular congestion.

Here are some of the major infrastructure projects being taken:

Monorail:

Monorail is yet another proposed project with the aim of transporting people within the city's congested areas. Focus will be mainly on the suburban areas.

Image courtesy: The Hindu

Major Grade Separators

1. Vijayanagar in velachery
2. Kaliamman Koil amman street junction Jawaharlal Nehru salai
3. Pallavaram kundrathur road – GST road Junction
4. Kolathur red Hills road

Grade separators (or flyovers as some of us call it) under construction

1) Mint Junction

2)Thirumangalm

Rail over Bridge

1. Rangarajapuram
2. kathivakkam high road -Conchrane basin road

Rail Under Bridge

1. Villivakam
2. Monegar Choultry Road (M C Road)

Pedestrian Subways

1. Near Little mount on Anna Salai
2. Ekkaduthangal on Jawaharlal Nehru Salai and Kasi theatre
3. MKN road junction on GST road

Widening of Bridges

1. Bridge at Tiruvottiyur
2. The North Buckingham Canal
3. Ennore Expressway between Kargil Nagar and Satyamurthy Nagar. 

Below is a graphic courtesy The Hindu of the fulll rail transport system proposed for Chennai.