Going by our mission of giving utmost, unbiased and complete information about developers in Trivandrum, we thought we would give you unparalleled reviews about the builders. This is critical especially if you are new home buyer since most buyers just know about reputed builders, but not many know about the new ones.
ABOUT HEERA
Here we start with one of the builders Heera Homes. We have about 40 more builders in Trivandrum to review which we would be doing in upcoming blog posts. Heera describes itself as ” The 30 lakhs square feet floor area of 1700 happy homes and Vaastugramam and Vaastuhills stand as testimony to the quality that we provide. We are constantly redefining luxury and taking living experience to newer dimensions.” Heera has new projects like HEERA GRAND VILLAE, HEERA LAKE FRONT, HEERA DREAMS, HEERA BREEZE, HEERA 4 PILLARS AND HEERA HIGH LIFE as new launches to its credit in the recent past.
SUMMARY OF ANALYSIS ABOUT HEERA
Number of projects: Very good
Expansion to other parts of Kerala: Kochi, Kottayam
Predominant area of operation: Trivandrum
Quality of Construction: Good
Quality of Finish: Average (some projects are have good finish)
Timeliness: Good
Payment Terms: Good
Post construction facility management: Average
Listening to disputes: Average
A BAD EXPERIENCE
The experience here we are drawing from is from what one of our customers shared with us and he proved it with a few pictures as well. The building in question was Heera Gate, which was one of the earlier projects of Heera, which was actually hand over to customers a few years back and is located near DPI.
Our customer actually booked an apartment in the tenth floor of Heera Gate at the time of Launch and got an incredibly low price at the time! At the time he was a first time buyer and did not think of going to a real estate consultant. As you can see in the picture above, right about the 10th floor there is an external structure which is some what dome shaped. You can see this if you visit Heera Gate from the outside. Now why did he choose the 10th floor? That is because he wanted a high rise floor and there was nothing available in 9th, 11th or 12th floor. This was a 12 floor complex The customer also asked Heera about whether the structure in question would impede his view from the balcony and the answer was a plain “No”. This was not something written in paper though and he signed the sale agreement and paid for the apartment.
Two years down the line, he visited India, being an NRI ofcourse and found to his misery when he saw his flat from the inside that this dome strucuture was right in front of the balcony. He cried fowl and took up the matter with the contractor, Heera and everyone else but to no avail. His dream of a clear view was just shattered by a piece of concrete. The lesson to be learnt here is that builders could make promises however it is upto you to appoint a consultant or well wisher to keep track of the progress and report any untoward incident even before this happens. This same problem actually applies to all the flats in 10th floor who have their view partially blocked. The customer ended up selling the flat at a better price than launch purely because he was disappointed.
BE CAUTIOUS ALWAYS IF YOU ARE FIRST TIME BUYER
We don’t mean here to point a finger at the builder, since Heera also has an excellent track record of finish and quality in other projects. For. e.g the Heera Infocity at Technopark is 7-star rated by CRISIL and is quite good in finish and structure. But we want the customer to be aware of and be cautious that even small structural design factors could hamper or affect their future dream home and you should discuss this with the builder at the time of buying and clarify it. Since most first time buyers go for buildings based on the sample flat, this really need not be the finished product.
THE GOOD PART
Heera group has about 20 odd completed projects in Trivandrum. And this really boasts of their credibility in completing projects. They also have good parcels of land in different areas of the city like Kowdiar, Sasthamangalam etc. which have commanded a premium. Financing agencies like ICICI, CanFin, HDFC, SBT, SBI and all other major banks have approved the projects that Heera undertakes. Thus it is easier for the clients to avail loans up to 85% of the total cost depending on the repayment capacity of the clients.
POST CONSTRUCTION
Besides payment of the construction cost, the other cost that a client needs to bear are:
(a) Electrical/Water connection deposits/Charges, Expenses towards electrical transformer/Generator, Power cabling, KSEB deposit against energy meter installations and any other statutory fees.
(b) 2% of the value towards the Works Contact Tax related to the construction.
(c) 1% of the value towards the contribution to the Kerala State Construction Workers Welfare Fund.
(d) Building tax, Corporation Tax, any other tax/levies likely to remain payable and promoters service charges in respect of a,b,c and d above.
Also in the event of cancellation the amounts advanced by him shall be refunded without any interest, only if the Promoter finds an alternative buyer.This is the same rule which applies to most builders. We have helped some customers who wanted to pull out of projects but could not do so easily since there was no alternate buyer. The initial six months period after the completion of the project will be treated as the defect liability period. During this period Heera takes charge of maintaining the Project, in its pristine form at the cost of the owners.
SFS did a maintanence about a year for the Cyber Palms project post its launch. So once you buy a Heera home, you need to ensure that care is taken to form a apartment association which maintains the project. Our general recommendations are as follows for Heera homes:
SUMMARY:
1) Ensure building has no structural design aspects which could affect you. If so choose the safer route and change the project or change the floor which might be in question.
2) Take a closer look at the charges post construction so that you don’t run short of the required money to finance it
3) Finish need not be as promised unless you stick to monitoring the building, so keep an eye out for that.
4) You tend to get good locations for your projects with Heera so that is always a plus for appreciation
5) Discuss with the builder for advanced or better finishing and the costs entailed for the same.
6) ISO 9001:2008 certification and CRISIL ratings bode well for customers who want to ensure piece of mind once they invest in Heera projects.
7) Heera completes most of its projects on time, hence we give them a good rating there
If you have comments or feedback and think likewise or disagree with our review please post the same here. We would be happy to hear from you.
Disclaimer
The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely from insights of the Nandanam team. While care is taken to ensure the factual accuracy of the content of this blog, the author will not be held responsible, directly or indirectly, for any loss, damage or inconvenience caused as a result of reliance on such information. In the case of links provided to other websites, the author will not be held responsible for the information or opinions in the websites. The availability of such links is also subject to the conditions of the individual sites and cannot be guaranteed.
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