I submitted the list on August 30. The contractor responsible was given
14 days to finish the issues in my bunglow. It is November, and the work
is still not finished.

Unreachable Builder: I tried many times to call up the Builder (Shravan
Agarwal) on his office. I asked for his mobile number from his office to
reach him but was refused by their staff. I left several messages with
their staff that my bunglow has huge quality issues and I would like to
speak with Shravan Agrawal to get it fixed - there was no return call
from their office. I finally yelled on the phone that I am your customer
and I want to speak with Shravan Agrawal who has sold me the house. The
answer was - He is busy ( I guess, no time for customers whom he has
sold already ).

Sample House : The sample house is very misleading to the prospective
buyer. The sales person (Rajesh Narang) told me that this is exactly
what you get in a standard house. However, the sample house has many
deceptive features that would mislead you. For example, the sample house
has bathroom tiles beyond 7 feet height, and you do not get this in a
standard house (you have to pay extra). The sample house parking area
has high quality terracota tiles with a high gloss, while the standard
bunglows have cheaper tiles which look dirty and shabby.

Floor tiles: The most deceptive part is in the tiles. The sample house
has 24" floor tiles, but during execution, I was told that the builder
is discontinuing 24" and giving the smaller 20" (which are cheaper). The
beauty of the floor is in big tiles, and I felt quite cheated by this.
Also, the tiles are ceramic which are substantially cheaper than the
vitrified. Most reputed builders provide vitrified tiles considering the
high cost I have paid for the bunglow.

I purchased tiles at my own cost. However, the builder's team for tile
installation is very bad, they completely ruined my expensive tiles with
bad placement without aligning edges and corners. I really feel cheated
and frustrated by this experience.

Bad Plaster: The external and internal plaster has been done quite
badly. The plaster is of low quality and was falling off at many places.
During the painting process, I consulted several painters about the
quality of the plaster - they all said that the plaster quality is poor.
I even consulted the builder's painter - he said that the plaster is of
bad quality. On the external wall, the plaster is thin, which I have
shown to the builder. Unfortunately, replastering is not possible. I
suspect the builder has cheated in cement and not followed building
procedure of proper curing.

Bad Paint: I got one coat of paint done from the builder. The paint was
of such bad quality that I had to get it scrapped to the plaster level
and redo all the paint base (lambi + putti). I am quite appalled by the
low quality of plaster and paint surface preparation by the builder.

Bad Architecture / Design: I am surprised to see that the bunglow design
has basic flaws. I would not hesitate to say that the bunglow design and
architecture has been done by an inexperienced architect who lacks basic
understanding of building design. For example, the bathroom windows do
not have a shade - they are directly exposed to the rain - this was a
cause of seepage in my bunglow bathrooms. Another architecture flaw is
that the terrace door is wooden and directly exposed to the sun and rain
- there is no shelter above the wooden terrace door in many bunglows.

Another design flaw is the duct that holds the drainage pipes - the duct
is so narrow that the workers had a hard time trying to fix the inside
wall for seepage.

Flawed Structural / RCC Design: Another proof that the builder has hired
substandard Architect and Structural engineers is a flaw in the RCC
design. The common wall on the terrace has a structural crack, the RCC
engineer did not provide an RCC column (to save cost?) and the terrace
is creating a cantilever which is creating the crack on the wall.

Bad building standards: It is a standard building practice to have the
coping procedure done on the parapet surface. The builder did not follow
this procedure (to save costs?). The terrace parapet wall had developed
large cracks, and was sounding hollow - I was able to scrape off
portions of the parapet wall that had become loose.

Wall not straight : One of the walls was off by 1.5 inches between the
ceiling and the floor (like the Leaning Tower of Pisa).

Bathroom seepage: This is an internal seepage that was reported over 4
weeks back. The bathroom is unusable because of this issue. The water
proofing expert has made 4 attempts to plug the leakage - the work is
still going.

Five Gardens: When I was buying the house, I was told that the builder
will build 5 gardens (hence, the name of the society). I hope the
builder actually builds the Five Gardens - though I cannot serve a
lawsuit on the builder if he refuses to build the five gardens.

FSI (Floor Space Index): During possesion, I was made to sign on a
declaration by the builder that he is free to utilize any unutilized
FSI. It means that he could build on the open spaces and gardens
originally promised to me when I was buying the house - this would be
contrary to the promise made to me when I was buying the house about
gardens and open spaces.

Well, these are some of my experiences in buying a bunglow from the
Pride and Purple Properties. Of course, I will never ever buy again from
the Pride & Purple Properties that includes their Park Street, Rhythm,
Cloud 9 or any of their highly advertised properties. Five Gardens was
also advertised heavily with its Club House photo and I fell in the trap.

Please take your own decision in dealing with this Builder.

My suggestions:

Go to Five Gardens, and talk to any 5 residents about their experience.
Ask them these 3 simple questions:

Are you satisfied with the house quality provided by the Builder ?
Are you satisfied with the Builder's response to your problems such as
seepage, water shortage ?
Will you buy any property from Pride & Purple Properties in the future
if given a chance ?

Print this email, and take to the Sales Person at Park Street / Rhythm.
You may negotiate a fat discount of 300/- per sqft or more!

Happy House Hunting and may you find the house that gives you peace of
mind !!!

Regards,
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