Demolition Of Main Building - Day One
On Monday morning Boadi - Building Contractor - came over to my place so that we could sit down and discus payment terms and go over the breakdown of payment structure and the schedule he had outlined for the building till completion. After a lengthy discussion which obviously involved me asking him questions I had on aspects of the building project I did not understand, I finally wrote a cheque out to him for GHC89,000.00. This payment represented the first payment out of 4 payments needed to complete the building. Below is a snapshot of the payment schedule drawn up.
So the general word of advice is never to hand over the total sum of money needed to build your house to the builder for obvious reasons. Also, the reason why you are paying in parts is to give you the opportunity to inspect each stage of the project based on the money you have paid for each stage. For instance, in my case, after my first payment for the Substructure; I will need to inspect the progress of the completed Substructure work. If for some reason I am short of funds, I can decide to put the project on hold until I have funds to continue which will mean me making the second payment - Superstructure. The progression continues until the forth and final payment.
The general conception is that erecting a building does not involve much cost, but rather it is the other items needed, that is tiles, air conditioners, windows [glass], doors - you get my drift; that gulps up your funds. If you want you building to be very nice with quality items to complete it the it means you are going to spend more money.
This morning the workers arrived at around 8.00am to start work. I had no idea how they were going to tackle stripping of the main building. After they had changed into their work clothes, the carpenters constructed a make shift ladder and two of them went onto the roof and proceeded to remove the roofing sheets. The electrician arrived later in the afternoon and he immediately got down to removing the main switch board and disconnecting anything electrical. The air conditioners were removed and have been stored in the shed - remember the shed I told you about? It is serving it purpose now. All the glass windows and glass sliding doors have been removed and also stored in the shed. The frames housing the glass windows and glass sliding doors will be removed tomorrow. Anything that can be salvaged is going to be kept and auctioned or given away. I plan of selling the glass windows and glass sliding doors because they are fairly new. I don't know what can be done with the roofing slates. I will have to ask the builder about them. The skirting boards from the building will be given to a friend. He has asked for them so that he can construct a temporary fence on his Dad's property. Noting is being wasted. Even the bricks from the demolished can be sold on to another builder who might require them to land fill a property that needs filling. I have been pretty much busy myself taking pictures [smile].
