Indian Construction

Kids,

To be completely honest, this post is more about me venting than it is about reminding you all about the problem.  But after 9 months in our apartment I need this.  Here it goes…

Many people have seen and/or heard about the duration of construction here in India.  Labor is much cheaper than the United States so material is the ultimate impact to cost, and therefore increased construction durations are more acceptable.

Prior to moving to Mumbai we learned of several buildings that had started construction when Rich and Joel first moved to Mumbai…..and still weren’t complete. Some durations stretching as long as 5 years.  For example, there’s a hotel east of the apartment that was nearly completed but then abandoned. From the road it looks like it just needs some windows washed and it could be open for business.

So how does this apply to us?  We felt very fortunate finding an apartment in Somerset, with the private backyard and play ground.  What we learned shortly after moving in was that the flats on the floor below us had been purchased by a family with plans to modify the floor into a single large apartment.  This wasn’t all that uncommon, as many people live with multiple generations under one roof.

Asking around, our friends told us that typical construction for this type of conversion could take up to 2 years.  The flats below us had been under construction only a few months when we moved in so we had a long way to go.

The main problem was not the dust, or workers in and out of the building, but the noise.  Construction in Mumbai is primarily concrete and apparently the plans for the floor below us involved hanging a completely new ceiling.  The workers worked 10hrs a day, 6 days a week, and drilled into the ceiling every minute of that for at least 6 months…and then again starting at 8 months.

The noise got so bad that we had to complain to the society manager to at least have them stop drilling between the hours of 2pm and 4pm so we could get naps done.  It didn’t always work, but after the request they did stop and start like clockwork. Lucky for us the normal lunch time in India is closer to 2pm than noon.

Ok, I feel better.  I’ll be very interested in 20 years if you three remember anything about this, because I know we will.

Love,

Mom & Dad