To all Al-Mutlaa residents, Be careful (4).

Honesty and honor in the construction sector have become proportional. Of course, I am not mentioning here the honorable and Allah-fearing contractors, among whom there are many, but I am singling out the cheaters and hypocrites among them. Such later contractors will plague the simple citizen who waited for more than twenty years until he obtained a plot of land and loans that he will carry to his grave. After all, such a contractor will make him lose his joy and other things. The problem with contractors in Kuwait lies in the absence of Kuwaiti contractors, who are rare. In fact, most of the big contracting companies belong to expatriates, whereas Kuwaiti citizens are either non-executive partners or hidden partners, acting only as license issuers. These companies are large and do not deal in small projects, such as houses. If you deal with them, the cost will be high because of their large operating expenses. Only small contracting companies remain in the unorganized market, which is out of actual control. Sometimes they are non-actual companies that belong to expatriates who rent them from Kuwaitis and work on their behalf. Their workers are lone laborers who are collected whenever they have an order. If we find a villa under construction and check the workers there, we will find that many of them belong to the residences of "a farmer, a shepherd, or a servant." There are various forms of illegal residence, and some of them know how to work, while others learn how to work in the houses of poor citizens. The result is a very poor finish. Here, I am not against the work of expatriates in any sector, but with the regulation of the market that preserves the rights of all parties. A Kuwaiti citizen must make sure with whom he is contracting. He must provide him with a bank guarantee for the advance payment and deduct 10% from each payment in order to have a guarantee of 10% of the contract value at the end of the project, then pay half of it to the contractor after receiving the project. He must be sure that there is no poor finish, which requires a deduction of its value, usually decided by the supervising engineer. After that, the owner of the house keeps the rest for a year, or it is to be paid in cash in return for a bank guarantee of its value for a period of one year. Only in this case can you guarantee your rights. With regards to the contractor who tells you that he will give you a 10-year guarantee without a financial guarantee, sure, this involves a lot of risks. On the other hand, there is a widespread point that I have seen and must mention. It lies in the fact that some citizens covet the amount of the guarantee and are looking for anything to take or part of it from the contractor, and some of them think it is a clever act, but unfortunately, it is nothing but theft and obtaining people’s money unjustly, which is not permissible. Therefore, in order to control the contractor, the contract with him must be perfect, and the schedule of quantities and the pricing of each item must be attached to it. Its legal drafting must be perfect and legal, and it will not hurt if the Kuwaiti consults a lawyer before he signs the contract. There are many important observations. We will talk about some of them, as some construction work requires specialized companies to do it. Sometimes the contractor tries to pass it on to the citizen and implement it himself, telling him, "I will give you a guarantee," but this guarantee has no value or origin. He is a "less trusted" contractor, as it is said; he may exist today, but you won't be able to find him the next day. Do not accept the insulation work, especially for the basement, if it is done by the contractor. Carry it out only through insulation-specialized companies that are known in the market and have a valid guarantee, because the last thing you want to face is the leakage of groundwater into the basement or the leakage of water from the floors of the bathrooms to the ground floor or ceiling purl. You should know that this problem can plague you. In addition to ensuring that the land is treated for rodents by a specialized company before pouring the basement floor, which should not cost more than 250 KD, it is critical to eliminate rodent nesting at the bottom of the house floor, such as termites, mice, and scorpions. It is important not to forget that you are building in a desert area in which all kinds of rodents, reptiles, and insects live. We will complete our advice and touch on electrical, plumbing, and aluminum works, as well as air conditioning, in the next article.

Stay Safe.