Stages of building a house in Batumi, and work you can order separately

Construction follows the same order everywhere, and the stages of building a house in Batumi are no exception. The difference is that here paperwork and weather put more pressure on the schedule. No excavation starts until there is a permit, and until the shell is closed in with the roof and windows, every rainy week stops part of the work. So the first goal on site is to make the house watertight as early as possible. After that, work inside hardly depends on the sky outside.

Stages of building a house in Batumi, in order

1. Surveys: the topographic survey and the ground survey. From them the structural engineer chooses the foundations, and an engineer works out where water from the plot should drain.
2. Design: architecture, structural calculations to the seismic code, building services. At this stage we already decide where the service entries will pass through the foundations.
3. The permit and documents. The package depends on the class of the structure, and we submit it once the design is fully complete.
4. Foundations with waterproofing and drainage. Before the pour we set sleeves into the formwork for the water pipe, drains and cables, so the concrete doesn't have to be drilled later.
5. The shell: frame, floor slabs, walls and stairs.
6. The roof, then the windows and external doors. The roof and windows close the building envelope, and from then on rain can't get in.
7. The facade with insulation. By now the windows are in, so the sills and reveals are fitted in the same layer as the insulation. Sometimes the facade is completed after the service connections are made, so that the finished surface doesn't have to be drilled, and the schedule shows this in advance.
8. Building services and rough work inside: pipe and cable runs go in before the plaster and screed, and floors and slabs are insulated.
9. Finishing, then landscaping and the pool. Drainage and stormwater pipes on the plot go in earlier, while machinery can still get across it.

Some stages run in parallel: while the scaffolding is up and the facade is being done outside, electricians and plumbers work inside. But the order of work at each junction stays the same. If the windows go in after the facade, the sill has to be cut into the finished render, and the joint starts leaking in the first wind-driven downpour.

What you can order separately

You don't have to hire us as general contractor. Any part of the work can be ordered on its own:

• Surveys and design without construction, for example to get the permit and build later
• A permit for an existing design: we check the set of documents and submit it
• Foundations and shell, if you want another crew to do the finishing
• Roofing, facade, glazing and insulation on a house that is already built
• Building services: water, drains, wiring, heating and ventilation
• Landscaping and a swimming pool
• Reconstruction, technical supervision and independent inspections

If another contractor did the work we are building on, we inspect and accept it first. Before the shell goes up, we check such a foundation: dimensions, levels, starter bars, waterproofing. Everything we find goes into a signed record with photos, and you decide whether to have it fixed before our work starts. The 2-year warranty covers the work we did ourselves, so the line between our responsibility and theirs has to be clear on paper.

One general contractor or several contractors

With a general contractor, one party is responsible for the house. It manages the schedule, purchasing and all the trades, and you sign one contract and accept the stages from one manager. This is convenient if you don't live in Georgia. Separate contractors sometimes come out cheaper on the estimate, but the points where one contractor's work meets another's become your problem.

A typical dispute goes like this: the junction between the roof and a wall leaks, the roofer says the facade is to blame, and the facade contractor points at the windows. If you do split the work, write into the contracts who is responsible for each junction on the boundary, and before each new stage begins, accept the previous work on a signed certificate. Under a general contract, these junctions are entirely our responsibility.

How we check concealed work

Concealed work is work you can no longer see after the next stage without opening something up. The foreman photographs every such detail while it is still exposed, and the photos reach you in the weekly report. You or your engineer can ask to see any of them on video.

Each stage is closed with an acceptance certificate. It lists the work in the stage, any defects and the deadline for fixing them, and we attach the photos of concealed work to it. You make the next payment after signing. At the end all the photos are collected in the handover file, together with the routing diagrams and the materials list.

Reconstruction, technical supervision and independent inspections

Reconstruction starts with a survey of the building: we look at the foundations, frame, floor slabs and cracks, and if there is no documentation for the house, we measure it up from scratch. Adding a storey or an extension changes the load, and the structural engineer checks whether the foundations and frame can take it under the seismic code. We only work on load-bearing walls, slabs and columns with a design and a permit.

Technical supervision and inspections can be ordered separately, even if another company is doing the build. An engineer visits the site at the critical stages, checks the work against the design and writes a report with photos. Before you buy a finished house, the same check reveals hidden defects while the price is still under discussion.