Overseeing your building project can prove tricky when you’re not in Ghana. Regular check-ins are key to protect yourself from unpleasant surprises, yet often require your physical presence on the ground. The Beam Crew can help!
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I came across this on the internet this morning. I find it interesting in that it would be something someone would engage in for two reasons. There might be more reason but I feel these are the two main reasons. The first would be if you did not trust the building company you had come to an agreement with to build you house, and secondly if you had absolutely no one as a backup to provide the services Beam are offering. Based on the culture of getting even a relative to assist you in anything, I find the services of Beam very valid. As someone living abroad with friends or relatives living in Ghana, it can become very difficult and frustrating to rely on them to assist you with your building project. Lets break this down further. Lets say you ask your relative to keep an eye on your project by providing you with update via pictures and any other form of communication. Initially, the task you have given will be carried out as expected, but as time goes by you then find out that the updates you were expecting trail off either slightly or drastically to a point whereby the stop completely. I should point out that, as expected you would not engage your relative in such a task without providing some monetery incentive. How else would you expect him/her to travel to the site and/or buy credit to send you those all important pictures. There is also the possibility that you will be getting phone calls asking for additional money to cover ridicolous expenses.
Out of curiosity, I have sent them my whatsapp number. Someone should contact me later today. I will be interested in finding out how much their fees are. Update to follow.
Next week, the electrician will be doing some work before more construction work can be continued. The building project is shaping up as per the project time line.
I have created a picture movie time line which shows, starting from the architects 3D drawing to the current state the project is at. Enjoy
The work men reported to work around 9.00am. They did say that they would have arrived earlier had it not been for the amount of traffic on the roads. Boadi, the builder was not around. I ddi not expect him to be actually as he had his site foreman taking care of things. Work continues with finishing off the outer shell of the shed. I have been informed that concrete flooring will be done tomorrow as well as doors to the shed.
My initial thoughts for plot 22 was to renovate both the Out Building and the Main House. However after careful thought coupled with ideas from other sources and finally looking at the finances available to me; the best option was to demolish the whole place and build a new structure. Ok so that was the first thing out the way. The second issue, finding an example of a house, built or picture was not hard to find. My brother has recently built himself a house at McCarthy Hill. It is absolutely beautiful. I had previously seen optics of it on Facebook, but my immediate thoughts were that these were probably optics he had obtained elsewhere (smile). I did not even realise he was having a house built for him and his family. The house looks lovely, something certainly along my tastes. When I was in Ghana this March, I made arrangements with him one afternoon for him to take me to his crib. The optics did not tell a lie. It even has a swimming pool! The amazing thing is that so much detail has been incorporated onto a limited portion of land. Next door to him, his neighbour is almost 80% completed on his building. It looked absolutely horrible. I see a lot of these types of buildings being built in Accra. They are hideous. They have massive roofs and about two to fours tall pillars making up part of the front of the building. I totally hate them.
