Smart Construction Services
Professional Construction Services as per Quality Standards
Save time and money with our professional construction services. From custom homes to commercial developments, our experienced team manages every stage — delivering quality, efficiency and peace of mind across Lahore and Islamabad.
- Custom Home Building
- Commercial Building Construction
- Interior Design Project Execution
Why it matters that we design as well as build
A firm whose only business is execution reads a drawing set as a set of instructions. A firm that produces drawings every week reads the same set as a document that can be wrong — and usually is, in small ways that cost money later.
Avenir is a Design + Build firm. We produce architectural, structural and MEP drawings for our own projects, we take them through DHA, LDA, CDA and RDA approvals, and we build them. Construction is one part of that, not a separate business that happens to share a name. That has three practical consequences for a construction client.
Somebody is accountable for the whole thing
The most expensive gap in a building project is the one between the person who designed it and the person who built it. When a detail does not work on site, a design-only consultant says it was buildable and an execution-only contractor says it was not, and the client pays for the argument. Where Avenir holds both, there is no seam to argue across.
Design decisions get costed while they are still decisions
A cantilever, a clear span, a basement, a double-height space and an elevation material each carry a construction cost, and the moment to know that is while the drawing can still change. A firm that only builds finds out at tender, which is after the drawings are frozen.
The professional experience is different
Working with a thekedar on a rate is a straightforward arrangement, and for straightforward work it is fine. What it does not give you is drawings you can check, a specification you can hold someone to, a written variation record, or an approval process someone else is managing. On a 1 Kanal or 2 Kanal house those are not luxuries.
Design + Build is available as a single appointment covering design and construction together. It is also fine to appoint us for construction alone. The point of this section is not the contract form — it is that the people pricing your building can read the drawings properly.
Three ways a construction project reaches us
Most construction enquiries in this market start at the same place: a plot, a rough budget and a question about rate. The more useful question is what stage your project has actually reached, because that decides what we can tell you and how quickly.
ROUTE 01
A plot and a brief, no drawings
- What we do first
- Architectural design, then structural and MEP design, then costing.
- What you receive
- A design, and a quotation produced from your own drawings.
ROUTE 02
A complete set from your architect
- What we do first
- Drawing review and quantity take-off.
- What you receive
- A written review of the set, then a BOQ-based quotation.
ROUTE 03
A part-built or stalled project
- What we do first
- Site inspection and condition assessment.
- What you receive
- A written assessment of what exists and what completing it involves.
The second route matters and it is rarely acknowledged. Plot owners who have already paid an architect are frequently told, in effect, that a builder wants to redesign the house before pricing it. We do not require that. If you have a coordinated set of architectural, structural and MEP drawings, we will review them, tell you where the set is incomplete, and price the work as drawn.
Next step
Tell us where your project has got to
Plot only, drawings in progress, or a complete set ready to price. The answer changes what we can tell you and how quickly.
What we build
Residential
We build houses on the standard plot sizes used across DHA, LDA-, CDA- and RDA-approved societies, along with farmhouses, villas and larger private residences. 1 Kanal and 2 Kanal projects are where our team is strongest, because the structural spans, basement work, MEP loads and finishing coordination on those houses are where a builder’s method actually shows.
- 5 Marla house construction
- 1 Kanal house construction
- 2 Kanal house construction
- Farmhouse construction
- Villas, mansions and larger houses
Commercial
Commercial construction runs to a different clock from residential. The building is a revenue asset, so programme certainty is worth more than it is on a house, and the structural grid, service risers, lift core and parking layout are fixed decisions that cannot be revisited once the frame is up. We price commercial work on the same basis as residential — from drawings and quantities — but we plan it around when you need to open.
- 8 Marla commercial building construction
- Apartment buildings
- 4, 5 and 10 Marla commercial plots
- Offices, retail and restaurants
Which scope fits your project
Read down the column that matches your situation. Most 1 Kanal and 2 Kanal clients who are not living on site during the build end up on complete construction; most clients managing their own finishing team end up on grey structure.
The scope decides the price far more than the plot size does, and choosing it is the first real decision you will make. Three questions settle it.
Who is buying the finishing materials?
| Your answer | What it means |
|---|---|
| I want one firm to procure everything | Complete construction |
| I will buy tiles, sanitary ware and joinery myself, or through my interior designer | Grey structure now, finishing priced separately or excluded |
| I have not decided | Start with grey structure pricing. The finishing scope can be added later against the same drawings, and the boundary is written down either way |
Do you want one accountable party, or two?
| Your answer | What it means |
|---|---|
| One, so nobody can blame the other trade | Complete construction |
| I am willing to coordinate two contracts myself | Grey structure, then a separate finishing contract |
Coordination is the hidden cost in the second answer. When the grey structure contractor and the finishing contractor are different firms, the seam between them — chases, levels, door heights, waterproofing laps, MEP first fix — is where the disputes land, and neither firm owns it.
How much time can you give the project?
| Your answer | What it means |
|---|---|
| I am overseas, or working full time | Complete construction. The scope is designed so the written record replaces your presence |
| I am on site several times a week and enjoy it | Either works |
Whichever you choose, the next section sets out item by item what falls inside each scope, so the boundary is a written fact rather than an assumption.
Scope
Grey structure, finishing and complete construction — and where the boundary sits
Almost every construction dispute in this market traces back to one thing: nobody wrote down where one scope ended and the next began. A rate is meaningless until the scope attached to it is fixed.
Grey structure
The building’s skeleton and enclosure — everything that has to be structurally correct before any finish is applied. Setting out and excavation, plain cement concrete and foundations, the RCC frame of columns, beams, slabs, lintels and staircase, brickwork and blockwork, the roof slab, parapets, the underground water tank and septic or soakage arrangements, and the conduits and sleeves cast into the structure for electrical and plumbing routes.
RCC means reinforced cement concrete: concrete cast around a designed cage of steel reinforcement. It is the load-carrying part of the building and the one part that cannot be corrected later without significant demolition.
Finishing
Everything applied to the completed skeleton: plaster and paint systems, flooring, kitchens, bathrooms and sanitary ware, doors, wardrobes and joinery, false ceilings, glazing, and the visible parts of the electrical and plumbing installation.
MEP means mechanical, electrical and plumbing. MEP is not a finishing trade — the design decisions are made before the grey structure is cast, because the routes are built into the slab and walls. Where MEP is treated as a finishing item, the result is chased walls, unplanned dropped ceilings, and pipe runs that dictate the layout instead of following it.
Complete construction
Sometimes called turnkey. Grey structure and finishing under one contract with one accountable party. You receive a building that is ready to occupy, tested and commissioned, with a snagging period.
| Item | Grey structure | Finishing | Complete construction |
|---|---|---|---|
| Excavation, PCC, foundations | Included | — | Included |
| RCC frame, slabs, staircase | Included | — | Included |
| Brickwork, blockwork, parapets | Included | — | Included |
| Conduits and sleeves cast into structure | Included | — | Included |
| Underground tank, septic, soakage | Included | — | Included |
| Internal and external plaster | By agreement — state it in writing | Included where excluded from grey | Included |
| Flooring, tiling, paint | — | Included | Included |
| Doors, wardrobes, joinery | — | Included | Included |
| Kitchen and sanitary installation | — | Included | Included |
| Electrical wiring, DBs, fittings | — | Included | Included |
| Plumbing pipework and fixtures | — | Included | Included |
| Testing, commissioning, snagging | — | Included | Included |
Plaster is the single most common boundary dispute in this market. Some grey structure contracts include internal and external plaster; some stop at the bare structure. Both are legitimate. Neither is a default. Whichever firm you appoint, get plaster written into one scope or the other before you sign, and check the same for the boundary wall, the mumty and the underground tank.
Scope
Tell us the plot and we will tell you which scope fits
City, plot size, and whether you are buying your own finishing materials. That is enough for us to say which scope suits the project and what it would cover.
The differentiator
How we produce a construction quotation
We do not issue a rate against a plot size. We issue a quotation against a complete drawing set and a bill of quantities produced from it — five steps, and the third is where most quotations in this market stop.
If you do not yet have that set, we will tell you what is missing and what it costs to complete before we discuss price.
A bill of quantities, usually shortened to BOQ, is a measured schedule of every item of work in the building — cubic metres of concrete, tonnes of reinforcement steel, square metres of brickwork, square metres of tiling, numbers of light points and sanitary fittings — each with its specification and its rate. It is the document that turns a drawing into a price you can check.
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Drawing set assembled or reviewed
Architectural drawings fix the covered area and layout. Structural drawings fix the concrete and steel quantities, which are the largest single cost in the grey structure. MEP drawings fix the services. Without all three, the quantities cannot be counted.
Covered area is the total constructed floor area measured across all floors. We state in every quotation whether it includes the basement, mumty, porch, terraces, boundary wall and external works, because different firms count these differently and a 10 per cent difference in the definition is a 10 per cent difference in the price.
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Quantities taken off
Every item is measured from the drawings. This is the step that is skipped when a rate is quoted in a first meeting.
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Specification fixed
Steel grade, cement brand, block or brick type, sand and crush source, and — for finishing scopes — the schedule of finishes, meaning the written list of every tile, paint, sanitary fitting, ironmongery item and joinery detail with its brand, grade and, where relevant, its rate cap.
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Rates applied and the BOQ priced
Current material and labour rates are applied to the measured quantities. Where a material’s price is volatile, we say so and state how it will be handled if it moves.
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Exclusions written down
Everything not in the price is listed explicitly. A quotation with no exclusions list is not a complete quotation.
| A worked quotation states | A headline rate states |
|---|---|
| Measured quantities for every item | Nothing measurable |
| Named material brands and grades | “A-category” or “standard” |
| Covered area, and what is counted in it | A plot size |
| Scope boundary between grey structure and finishing | “Turnkey” |
| A written exclusions list | Nothing |
| Payment stages tied to completed work | A percentage on signing |
| How variations are priced and approved | Nothing |
| A programme with stage durations | “Around a year” |
Why the lowest quotation is so often the most expensive house
A rate quoted before the drawings exist has to be corrected later, because the quantities were never counted, the specification was never fixed, and the exclusions were never written down.
This is not an accusation about anyone in particular. It is arithmetic, and once you can see the arithmetic you can test any quotation you are given, ours included.
Three things were never established at the time the rate was given, and each of them has to be corrected once the building is under way.
The quantities were never counted
Steel and concrete are the largest cost in a grey structure and both are decided by the structural design, not by the plot size. Two 1 Kanal houses on the same street can differ by a quarter in reinforcement tonnage depending on spans, cantilevers, basement retaining walls and soil conditions. A rate quoted before the structural drawings exist is a guess about the biggest number in the budget.
The specification was never fixed
“A-category” is not a specification. Steel is 40 grade or 60 grade. Cement is a named brand. Crush comes from a named source. If none of that is written down at quotation stage, the rate can be met later by substituting downward, and you will not see it because most of it is buried inside the structure before you visit.
The exclusions were never written down
Boundary wall, gate, basement waterproofing and dewatering, external development, approval fees and society charges, material testing, solar and UPS provision, landscaping, and the difference between “electrical wiring” and “electrical fittings”. Each is a real cost that either sits in the quotation or arrives later as an extra. If the quotation does not list them, they arrive later.
Worked example
The arithmetic, worked
The figures below are illustrative and chosen to show the mechanism. They are not Avenir rates. For current planning ranges, use our cost hub and calculator. In Pakistani convention, 1 lakh is 100,000 and 1 crore is 10 million.
Assume a 1 Kanal house with 5,500 sq ft of covered area, and two complete-construction quotations. Quotation A was issued from a plot size and a site visit. Quotation B was issued from a drawing set and a priced BOQ.
At signing
| Quotation A | Quotation B | |
|---|---|---|
| Quoted rate per sq ft | PKR 6,000 | PKR 6,800 |
| Contract value at 5,500 sq ft | PKR 3.30 crore | PKR 3.74 crore |
| Apparent saving with A | PKR 44 lakh | — |
Over the following fourteen months, A is corrected four times
| Correction to Quotation A | Amount |
|---|---|
| Boundary wall, gate and external works — never in the rate | PKR 18 lakh |
| Steel supplied at 40 grade where 60 grade was assumed; correcting the specification mid-frame | PKR 9 lakh |
| Basement waterproofing and dewatering — not in the rate | PKR 12 lakh |
| Variations agreed verbally on site and reconciled at the end, at roughly 5 per cent of contract value | PKR 16.5 lakh |
| Total added | PKR 55.5 lakh |
Final outcome
| Quotation A | Quotation B | |
|---|---|---|
| Final cost | PKR 3.855 crore | PKR 3.74 crore |
| Outcome | PKR 11.5 lakh more | The quoted figure |
The point is not that B’s builder is virtuous. It is that B’s number was produced by counting, so there was far less left to correct. Quotation B will still carry variations if you change your mind about a bathroom — but those will be priced and approved before the work happens, and they will be your decisions rather than someone else’s corrections.
Drawings ready
Send us the set and we will price it as drawn
Architectural, structural and MEP. We review it, tell you in writing what is missing, take off the quantities and price the work against a BOQ.
What to demand from any construction firm, including us
Ask for these before you sign anything. A firm that can produce them is quoting from work. A firm that cannot is quoting from hope.
- The complete drawing set the quotation was priced from — architectural, structural and MEP.
- The bill of quantities for your project, itemised, not a single lump sum.
- The covered-area figure used, and a written statement of what it includes and excludes.
- Which scope the rate covers: grey structure, finishing or complete construction.
- Whether internal and external plaster sits in the grey structure scope or the finishing scope.
- Steel grade, cement brand, block or brick specification, sand and crush source — named.
- For finishing scopes, the schedule of finishes with brands, grades and rate caps.
- The written exclusions list.
- The payment stage schedule, and what physical work each stage represents.
- The variation procedure — how a change is priced, who approves it, and when.
- The programme, with stage durations and what causes them to move.
- Who supervises the site, how often, and what you receive as a progress record.
- What happens at snagging, and how long the defects period runs.
- What the firm found wrong in your drawings — and whether the cost of fixing it is inside the quotation or waiting outside it.
If a firm resists item 2 or item 8, that is the answer to the rest of the list. If the answer to item 14 is “nothing”, either the drawings are exceptional or nobody read them properly.
Take this list with you
We have set the fourteen questions out as a one-page checklist with space to record each firm’s answer, so you can compare three quotations side by side. It is free, it names no firm, and it works just as well when you use it on us.
Take this list with you
We have set the fourteen questions out as a one-page checklist with space to record each firm’s answer, so you can compare three quotations side by side. It is free, it names no firm, and it works just as well when you use it on us.
Appointment
If your house was designed by someone else
We build projects designed by other architects, and we do it without asking you to start again. Your architect keeps the design relationship. We take construction responsibility.
What we need from you
- Architectural drawings: plans, elevations, sections, and door, window and finishing schedules
- Structural drawings: foundation layout, column and beam schedules, slab reinforcement details, staircase details
- MEP drawings: electrical layouts and load schedule, plumbing and drainage layouts, HVAC provisions where applicable
- Soil investigation report, where one exists
- Approved submission drawings and the approval letter from DHA, LDA, CDA, RDA or the relevant society
- Any BOQ or specification already prepared
What the drawing review covers
Before we price anything, we read the set against itself. We check that the structural drawings correspond to the architectural layout, that the MEP routes can physically be built into the structure as drawn, that the covered area is consistent across drawings, that the approved submission set matches the set you intend to build, and that the finishing information is complete enough to be measured.
What happens when gaps are found
Gaps are common and they are not a criticism of your architect. Sets are often issued at design stage and never developed to construction stage. When we find one, you get a written list of what is missing, what it affects, and three routes forward:
- Your architect completes the missing information, and we price once it arrives
- We complete it as a separately quoted service, with your architect’s agreement, and it remains their design
- We price the work as drawn and carry the gap as a stated assumption, with the risk written into the quotation so it is visible rather than hidden
Related services
If you do not yet have a design, we provide architectural design. Where a set needs structural or services development, see structural and MEP coordination.
We take responsibility for building what is drawn, to the specification agreed, and for telling you when something cannot be built as drawn. We do not take design liability for drawings we did not produce. Structural adequacy remains with the engineer who sealed the structural drawings. Where we believe a detail is not buildable or not safe, we say so in writing before starting that element, and we do not proceed on it until it is resolved.
The expensive one
The drawing problems that become your extra bill
Most drawing sets handed to a contractor contain errors, omissions, compliance problems or coordination clashes. Whether they are found and disclosed before you sign decides whether they cost you nothing or cost you a lot.
A drawing set is rarely a finished instruction. Sets are commonly issued at design stage and never developed to construction stage, and even complete sets carry inconsistencies because architectural, structural and MEP information is produced by different people at different times. None of that is unusual. What matters is what happens next.
What is typically in there
Incomplete information
Dimensions missing at critical junctions, no door or window schedule, no finishing schedule, details called up on the plan that do not exist in the set.
Internal inconsistency
The structural layout does not match the architectural one. A column lands in a doorway. Levels differ between two drawings of the same floor. Covered area is one figure on the plan and another in the schedule.
Coordination clashes
A beam crosses a window head. A duct route passes through a beam with no opening designed for it. Drainage falls cannot be achieved in the slab depth available. A bathroom sits above a living space with no waterproofing or drop detail.
Authority compliance
Covered area, setbacks, height, basement extent or mumty allowance that do not match what DHA, LDA, CDA or RDA actually approved for that plot and phase — or a set that differs from the approved submission drawings.
Buildability
Details that cannot be constructed as drawn, or that can be built only in a sequence nobody planned for.
Why these often go unmentioned at tender
There are two reasons a firm does not raise a drawing defect when quoting. Either it did not find it, or finding it would have made its number larger than the firm quoting alongside it.
Both are entirely rational and neither is any use to you. A contractor whose business is execution is not staffed to interrogate a drawing set, and a firm competing on headline rate has a direct incentive not to add items its competitors have left out. The client, who is usually not technical, then compares two numbers that describe different amounts of work and reasonably picks the smaller one.
The bill arrives later, as rework or as extra works, at the point where the frame is up and you have no leverage at all.
What we do instead
Because we produce drawings ourselves, a drawing review is not an unusual favour — it is the first thing our team does with any set, including our own.
- We read the set before pricing it, against itself and against what the authority approved
- Anything we find goes to you in writing, with what it affects and what resolving it involves
- Where resolution costs money, that cost goes into the quotation, not into a variation fourteen months later
- Where a risk cannot be resolved before pricing, it is written in as a stated assumption or exclusion, so it is visible rather than buried
The honest consequence. This makes our number bigger at tender than a firm that stayed quiet. Sometimes noticeably bigger.
We would rather have that conversation now than in month eight. The items are real, they are in your building, and somebody is going to pay for them. The only question is whether you know about them before you sign or afterwards, and whether you had the chance to decide.
Ask every firm you are considering: what did you find wrong in my drawings, and is fixing it inside your price? An answer of “nothing” on a set that has not been through construction-stage development should make you more cautious, not less.
Drawing review
Send your drawings and we will tell you what we would flag
Before any price is discussed. You get a written note of what is missing, inconsistent, unbuildable or out of step with the approval — whether or not you go on to appoint us.
Overseas clients
Building from the UK, US, Canada, the Gulf or anywhere else
Everything on this page matters more when you cannot visit. The written record is not a courtesy for overseas clients — it is the mechanism that replaces standing on site.
The usual overseas arrangement in this market is a relative supervising a contractor as a favour. It works until it does not, and when it stops working the client is eight thousand kilometres away with no drawings, no BOQ, no written approvals and no way to establish what was agreed. Every safeguard described on this page exists because of that failure mode.
| Without documentation | With it |
|---|---|
| A rate agreed on a call | A BOQ measured from drawings, sent before signing |
| “A-category material” | Named brands and grades in a written schedule |
| Changes agreed on WhatsApp voice notes | Written variations, priced and approved before work starts |
| Payment on request | Payment stages tied to physical work that has been verified |
| Photographs when someone remembers | A regular written progress record with photographs, stage against programme, and materials delivered and tested |
| An argument at the end | A snag list closed out before handover |
How the relationship actually runs
You approve the drawings and the BOQ before anything starts, so the building is defined while you can still change it cheaply. During construction you receive the progress record on a fixed cycle, and every variation reaches you in writing with a price and a programme effect before the work happens. Payments release against completed and verified stages, not against elapsed time or a phone call.
You are welcome to nominate someone locally to visit on your behalf, and many clients do. The difference is that they are checking a documented project rather than being the only record of it.
What we will not do
We will not start work on a verbal instruction, however well we know you, and we will not price a variation after it has been built. Both of those exist to protect a client who cannot see the site.
Practicalities
Time zones are manageable — our working day overlaps the UK morning and the Gulf afternoon. Drawings, BOQs, variation approvals and progress records are exchanged by email and WhatsApp. Currency, remittance and tax treatment of your payments are matters for your own adviser; we invoice in PKR and can provide the documentation your bank asks for.
Included, and arranged separately
Every Avenir quotation carries its own inclusions and exclusions, because they follow your drawings. The lists below are what we typically include and what we typically arrange as separate scope, so you know where the lines usually fall before we get to your project.
Typically included in the quoted scope
- All labour, supervision and site management for the contracted scope
- Materials to the specification named in the BOQ
- Setting out, excavation, backfilling and disposal within the site
- The complete RCC frame to the structural drawings
- Brickwork, blockwork and plaster, where plaster is in scope
- Conduits, sleeves and cast-in provisions to the MEP drawings
- Underground water tank, septic or soakage arrangement, manholes and drainage within the plot
- Scaffolding, shuttering, curing and site protection
- Material testing where specified in the BOQ
- Stage quality checks and progress reporting
- Snagging and rectification within the defects period
Typically arranged separately
- Plot purchase, transfer, taxes and legal costs
- Architectural, structural and MEP design fees where we did not produce the drawings
- Authority submission fees, society charges, completion certificate fees and any authority penalties
- Utility connections and deposits — electricity, gas, water, sewerage
- Soil investigation and specialist geotechnical work
- Boundary wall, main gate, external development and driveway, unless written into the contract
- Landscaping, swimming pools, water features and outdoor structures
- Solar systems, UPS and inverter installations, batteries and generator sets
- Central HVAC, VRF systems, chillers and ducting
- Lifts, home automation and specialist security systems
- Loose furniture, curtains, appliances and decor
- Imported finishes beyond the agreed schedule of finishes
Nothing on the second list is a hidden cost when it is written down. It becomes a hidden cost when it is not. Ask for both lists from every firm you speak to. Anything on the second list can be priced and brought into scope if you would rather we handled it.
How changes are priced and recorded
A variation is any change to the contracted scope after signing: a wall moved, a bathroom added, a tile changed, a material substituted because the specified one is unavailable, or work that becomes necessary because of a site condition nobody could see at quotation stage.
Variations are normal. Almost every house has some. What causes disputes is not the change — it is agreeing the change verbally on site and pricing it at the end of the project, when you have no leverage and no record.
- The change is described in writing, whoever raises it.
- We price it against the BOQ rates already agreed, and state its effect on the programme.
- You approve it in writing before the work starts.
- It is added to a running variation register you can see at any time, showing the revised contract value.
- Nothing is reconciled at the end that was not approved during.
If a firm’s answer to “how do you handle variations” is “we’ll adjust it at the end”, that is the whole answer. Ask for the register.
Free, no obligation
Take the fourteen questions with you
A one-page checklist with space to record three firms’ answers side by side. It names no firm, including us, and it is just as useful when you point it at Avenir.
Delivery
How the project is run
Construction quality is decided at a small number of moments, most of which are invisible a week later because they are buried inside the building.
Checked before it is covered
Reinforcement is checked before concrete is poured, not after. Waterproofing is checked before screed and tiling cover it. MEP routes are checked before plaster closes the walls. Concrete is checked for mix, slump and curing at the time it is placed.
A written record, not a phone call
You receive a regular written progress record with site photographs, current stage against programme, materials delivered and tested, any variation raised, and anything needing a decision from you. Overseas clients receive the same record — the whole point of a written record is that it does not depend on you being able to visit.
Tied to work, not to the calendar
Payment is tied to completed physical work, not to elapsed time. Each stage names the work that must be finished and verified before the payment falls due, so you are never paying ahead of the building.
Snagging and the defects period
Snagging is the systematic inspection at the end of construction that lists every defect and unfinished item — a door that binds, a tile lipping, a dead socket, a paint line that is not clean — so they are corrected before handover rather than argued about after it.
At handover you receive the completed building, the snag list closed out, as-built information where applicable, warranty documents for installed equipment, and a defects period during which we return and correct anything that emerges.
Where we build, and the approval interface
Construction and site supervision are delivered in Lahore, Islamabad and Rawalpindi. That is a deliberate limit. A construction contract requires our team on site through the working week, and we do not take construction work in cities where we cannot do that. Architecture, interior design and 3D visualisation are available more widely, including for overseas clients.
Lahore
Islamabad and Rawalpindi
The approval interface
Housing authorities and societies each set their own rules on setbacks, height, covered-area limits, permissible use, basement and mumty allowances, and completion certification. The rules differ by authority, by phase, by plot category and by date, and they change. This matters to a construction contract for a practical reason: work built outside the approved drawings can trigger a stop notice, a fine, a forced correction, or a refusal to issue the completion certificate.
We build to the approved submission drawings. Because we take our own projects through these approvals, we read a submission set knowing what the authority actually checks. Where a proposed change during construction would take the building outside them, we tell you before the work happens rather than after. Where a rule needs confirming for your specific plot and phase, we confirm it with the authority rather than working from what was true on a different plot last year.
Whether we are the right firm for your project
We are a poor fit for some work, and it is cheaper for both of us to establish that in the first conversation.
This is likely to work well if
- You are building a new house, farmhouse, villa, apartment building or commercial building in Lahore, Islamabad or Rawalpindi
- You want one accountable party for materials, labour and supervision
- You want the price built from quantities, and are willing to have the drawings finished before it is issued
- You are building on 5 Marla to 2 Kanal, or on a commercial plot
- You are overseas and need a written record rather than an informal arrangement
- You already have an architect and want a builder who will read their drawings properly before pricing them
This is likely to be the wrong fit if
- You want labour-only rates, or a thekedar arrangement where you purchase materials yourself. We work material-plus-labour or turnkey, because we cannot stand behind quality we did not procure
- You want minor repairs, small renovations or single-room work. We do not take that scope, and a local contractor will serve you better and faster
- You want a per-square-foot rate today without drawings. We will not issue one, and if that is the basis on which you intend to choose, another firm will suit you better
- Your budget is set by the lowest rate available in the market. If the headline rate is the decision, we are not the right firm
When we decline a project
Most clients are not technical, and cost is the only axis on which two quotations look directly comparable. That is completely reasonable, and we do not hold it against anyone.
But it creates a specific situation we have learned to walk away from. If our quotation includes items another firm left out — the drawing problems above, the exclusions, a specification written down rather than implied — the client sometimes asks us to take those out so the number matches. We will not do that, because removing an item from a quotation does not remove it from the building. It moves the cost to a later date and turns it into a dispute.
So where a project can only proceed on the basis that known issues are priced as though they do not exist, we politely decline it. That is not a comment on the client and it is not a negotiating position. It is an acknowledgement that a contract both parties know is incomplete will end badly, and neither of us needs that.
If you want the cheapest number available in the market, it exists and you will find it. If you want a number you can hold someone to, that is what we are for.
Coverage
Check we build where you are building
Construction and site supervision run in Lahore, Islamabad and Rawalpindi. Tell us the society and the plot size and we will confirm in one message.
Cost
What construction costs
We publish current planning ranges in full, along with a calculator, a specification comparison and a trade-by-trade cost breakdown. Those live on our construction cost hub rather than being repeated here, because rates move and one maintained source is more reliable than five copies drifting apart.
A planning range tells you whether a project is broadly within reach and helps you set a budget before you commission drawings. It is not a quotation and cannot become one, because it is not attached to your drawings. Every published range on our site carries four things — and if a range you are reading anywhere does not carry all four, it is not usable for planning.
Construction FAQs
Will you give me a rate per square foot over the phone?
No. We will give you the published planning range for your city and specification tier, which is on our cost hub, and we will explain what would move your project within it. A quotation follows the drawings and the bill of quantities. A rate given before those exist has to be corrected later.
What do you need before you can quote?
A complete set of architectural, structural and MEP drawings, the approved submission set where one exists, a soil report where one exists, and your finishing intent. If you do not have all of that, tell us what you do have and we will tell you what is missing and what completing it involves.
Do you build houses designed by other architects?
Yes. We review the drawing set, tell you in writing where it is incomplete, and price the work as drawn. Your architect keeps the design relationship, and design liability remains with the consultant who produced and sealed the drawings.
What is the difference between grey structure and turnkey construction?
Grey structure is the building’s structural skeleton and enclosure. Turnkey, which we call complete construction, is grey structure plus all finishing under one contract, handed over ready to occupy. The boundary table above sets out item by item what falls in each.
Is plaster part of the grey structure?
It depends on the contract, which is why it needs to be written down. Some grey structure scopes include internal and external plaster; some stop at the bare structure. Ours states which, explicitly, in the quotation.
What is a BOQ and why does it matter to me?
A bill of quantities is a measured schedule of every item of work with its specification and rate. It matters because it is the only way to compare two quotations honestly. Without it, you are comparing two numbers that were produced by different methods and may not describe the same building.
How are changes during construction handled?
Every change is described in writing, priced against the agreed BOQ rates, approved by you before work starts, and recorded in a variation register showing the revised contract value. Nothing is reconciled at the end that was not approved during.
Do you take labour-only contracts?
No. We work material-plus-labour or complete construction, because material selection and procurement are where specification quality is actually decided. If you want a labour-only arrangement, a local contractor will suit you better.
Where do you carry out construction?
Lahore, Islamabad and Rawalpindi. Design services are available more widely, but we do not take construction contracts where we cannot supervise the site through the working week.
I am overseas. How does this work?
The same as it does for local clients, with the written record doing the work that a site visit would otherwise do: drawings and BOQ before signing, written variation approvals, a regular progress record with photographs, and payment stages tied to verified completed work rather than elapsed time.
Do you build commercial buildings?
Yes, on 4, 5, 8 and 10 Marla commercial plots and larger, including offices, retail, restaurants and mixed-use. Commercial work is priced on the same basis and planned around your opening date.
How long does a house take to build?
It depends on covered area, basement, structural complexity, finishing specification and how quickly finishing decisions are made — that last one moves programmes more often than anything on site. We issue a programme with stage durations alongside the quotation, so the answer is specific to your building rather than a market average.
How does this differ from your Design + Build service?
Construction is the build scope, whether the design is ours or someone else’s. Design + Build is a single appointment covering design and construction together from the start.
Start with your drawings
Tell us your city, plot size, project type, whether you have drawings, and which scope you are considering. If your drawings are ready, we will begin the review and tell you what we would flag. If they are not, we will tell you exactly what is missing and what it takes to get there — before anyone quotes you a number.
Still budgeting? Start with the construction cost guide.