Repairs and Renovations

Its been more than 3 months since the 6 of us who stay in our flats' complex started to repair and renovate a sewage outlet system which was failing us since the past 3 years. And a set of other problems with a overgrown tree right in front of our compound wall and which managed to crack up the wall plus the sump/underground water storage tank vertically. The entire pathways needed to be paved as they were cracked and dangerous to walk on. Leaky pipes, hand pump which delivers the drinking water had to be shifted to another convenient area inside the complex, fixing of lights, a new set of gate and reuse of the existing gates as far as possible, etc., were all on the agenda.

Since I have always loved to plan and execute projects of any kind, the choice also fell on me when I had to take over as the secretary of our flats' association last year.

I divided the work into 4 areas.

The government permission related works which involved shifting of sewage pipeline from one side to another side, which set of work was labelled as 'outside work'.
On looking back, I can't imagine how I managed to get the permission to shift the sewage line from the government departments. It was a nightmare each and every day when I used to frequent the offices to re-re-re-submit the bunch of papers and getting the corporation workers to dig up the trench to lay the external pipelines. It was mental torture having to deal with them but I did manage it smoothly.

The inside sewage work which involved reworking another routing of sewage pipeline from each chamber to the main chamber which then would carry the output onto the main manholes on the road.

The sump reconstruction with pucca concrete structure to hold a lorry load of water anytime and the paving of the pathways on all sides and removing compound wall and instead having pillars to support iron gates all through the 45 feet frontage facing the road.

The ordering of new set of gates plus repair of the old ones. A shed over the handpump area plus a support system and strong steps for the iron ladder which was a long pending necessity if the ladies also wanted to check the overhead tanks now and then which was impossible with the old iron ladder where only a thick rod in place of a step deterred many of us from using it to reach the top most terrace.

Having divided the work, I had called for quotations from at least 3 parties and checked their quality and rates in advance before deciding on whom to give these contracts to. But before all this we had to come up with our contributions. I was very clear that I should collect all the money and then only call the contractors to start their work. After an year spent in discussions and persuations, finally we performed a small puja/prayers to get started on the 17th May, 2010.

Can't say which set of work was the most difficult to handle. We have finished with the 3 sets of work and the last work pending even as of date is the gate portion.
Though gates have been fixed and before that a gust of wind and heavy rain ensured that the tree which was in the middle of our entrance portion fell on its own across the road and that was cleared and done with leaving our front neat and clean without any obstructions anymore.
The shed which was a recent addition has come up. The final welding of minor portions of the gates needs to be done as also the ladder on the 2nd floor. Its taking forever with so many constant follow ups. It is a thankless and time consuming job yet when 90% of the job got finished it gave me a lot of satisfaction that I have achieved what took so long for the others to even think leave alone get started.

Tomorrow may be the remaining gate work will get over with God's grace, the welder willing, of course!

Then the 5th and the 6th set of work needs to be taken care of too.
The 5th is the repair of the motor for the sump which is being taken care of now.
The 6th will be a coat of paint on the gates as well as the facade at least as we have run out of the collected money to have the entire structure/building painted.

Painting contractor has been identified but is waiting in the wings for the gate job to get over.

Its been raining often in Chennai right from the time we started the repair work and more so in the month of August which has seen moderate to heavy downpour yet our complex remains dry as there has been no flooding so far which we used to experience in these past years even if it rained lightly!

Should we say project has been a success?! No. Not until the paint on the facade is completed. Until then I will keep all my fingers crossed in hope.

Cheers!
Mahalakshmi