Building a House in India While Living Abroad: Running a Goa Build From a Distance

A house needs at least four roles, even if some are combined. An architect designs it, prepares the drawings that go for approval and, in Goa's process, certifies supervision and completion. A structural engineer designs the structure and certifies that it was built to that design. A contractor builds it. And someone on site acts for you day to day: a project manager or independent site supervisor whose job is to check the work against the drawings and report to you, not to the contractor.

Check the architect's registration. The Council of Architecture, constituted under the Architects Act, 1972, maintains the register of architects in India, and its website has a Verify Your Architect search. Goa's Land Development and Building Construction Regulations define an architect as a person registered under that Act. For engineers and contractors, ask for previous completed houses you can visit, and speak to those owners about how problems were handled, not just how the house looks.

Be clear about independence. When the architect, contractor and supervisor are all part of one package, nobody on site is checking on your behalf. It is worth keeping the supervisor separate, paid by you and reporting to you, precisely so that someone on site has no reason to soften bad news.

You do not need to become an expert in planning law, but you should know the shape of the process so you can ask the right questions. The version of the Goa Land Development and Building Construction Regulations, 2010 published on the Government of Goa website, which incorporates amendments up to September 2018, states that no development shall be carried out without prior permission from the competent authority. Its application formats include technical clearance from the Town and Country Planning Department or a Planning and Development Authority, and a building licence from the municipal council or village panchayat, depending on where the plot is.

The same regulations describe what happens during and after building. The applicant informs the council or panchayat when work commences. Deviations from approved plans need revised approval, and in a conservation zone no deviation may be made without prior approval. A permission is valid initially for three years and is renewable. At the end, an occupancy certificate depends on a completion certificate from the architect or engineer confirming that the work was supervised and conforms to the approved plans, and a structural stability certificate from the structural engineer.

Rules change, and these regulations have been amended since that version. Ask your architect to give you a written list of every approval, licence, inspection and certificate your project needs, who applies for each, and when, and confirm it with your advocate. Our guides to buying a villa in Goa and to land and FEMA basics in managing a Goa home from abroad cover the questions that come before a single drawing.

One clause in Goa's regulations is worth reading closely. It makes it the responsibility of the owner or permission holder to ensure that the development is properly supervised by the professional who signed the plans. If that professional disassociates from the project, they must inform the authority in writing, the authority will require the owner to appoint a replacement, and work done without such an appointment is not considered validly undertaken. Distance does not change that responsibility.

In practice, that means three habits. Keep your architect and engineer actively involved through construction, not just at approval stage, and agree in writing how often each will visit site. Make sure you are told immediately if any of them steps back. And keep your own records, because when the time comes to apply for occupancy, the certificates and as-built drawings depend on a clear trail.

Owners abroad often give a trusted person in Goa authority to act for them on documents and payments. How a power of attorney must be drawn up, executed abroad and registered or stamped in India is a legal question; ask your advocate, and the Indian mission where you live, before you sign anything. Limit it to what the project needs.

Photographs are only useful if they are consistent. Ask for a weekly set taken from the same fixed points, outside and in every room, with the date visible, and a short written note of what was done, what is next, and any problems. Over months, a fixed-point series shows progress and problems far more clearly than a selection of good angles chosen by the contractor.

Video calls are better for anything three-dimensional. Ask the supervisor to walk the site with a measuring tape in shot when you are checking openings, levels or room sizes, and to show the drawing alongside. Schedule them at a fixed time each week that suits both time zones, so they happen.

Above all, insist on seeing anything that will be covered up before it is covered. Steel before concrete is poured, conduits and pipes before plastering, waterproofing before tiling, and roof timbers before the tiles go on. Once covered, you are relying on trust. The table below lists the stages most worth seeing.

Most decisions can be made remotely with drawings, samples and video. A few are much better made in person, and it is worth planning visits around them rather than around holidays. The first is setting out: standing on the plot when the house is marked on the ground, seeing how it sits, where the sun and breeze come from and what the windows will look at.

The second is windows. Sizes, sill heights, which way each opens, and how each faces the sun are hard to judge from a plan and expensive to change once lintels are cast. West-facing glass is one of the biggest heat problems in a Goan house; our guide to west-facing glare explains why. The third is the electrical layout: switch and socket positions, lighting points, and power for anything motorised. The fourth is finishes and colours, which should be chosen on site in daylight, against the actual walls.

Between visits, keep a decision log: what was decided, by whom, on what date, and from which drawing or sample. When something on site does not match, the log settles it quickly. Remote approval is fine for many things, as long as each approval refers to something specific.

Window treatments look like a finishing job, but the best results depend on decisions made at first fix. If you want motorised curtains or blinds, power needs to reach each window head, and the wiring is far easier to run in conduit before plaster than to chase in afterwards. Our motorised window treatments page explains the options, and our guide to power cuts and motorisation covers what happens when the supply drops.

Ceiling-fixed tracks need something solid to fix into. In a slab ceiling that is straightforward; in a false ceiling it means a timber batten or blocking above the board, placed where the track will run. A recessed curtain pocket in the ceiling, which hides the track entirely, has to be designed and built with the ceiling. Leave wall space beside each window for the curtains to stack back, and keep switches and sockets out of that space.

Insect screens are easier when the reveal is designed for them. A sliding or pleated net needs a certain depth and a square, true opening. Tell your architect early that you want nets on particular windows and doors, and they can allow for it in the frame details. We are happy to look at drawings at this stage, by video, and mark up where tracks, motor points and nets will go before the electrician and carpenter arrive.

Goa's building calendar is set by the rains. The India Meteorological Department's normals put the state's annual rainfall at about 3,370 mm, of which about 91% falls from June to September. Plan the programme so that the structure and roof are closed before June, and leave external plastering and painting for the dry months. A site left open through the monsoon loses time, and materials stored badly through it are damaged.

New buildings also hold water for months. The US National Park Service's guidance on moisture notes that newly plastered walls may hold moisture for months, and that new plaster, mortar and concrete should be fully cured before they are painted or finished. Its plaster guidance records that lime plasters were traditionally left to cure for at least a year before painting or papering. Rushing finishes onto wet walls is a common cause of blistered paint and early mould; our guide to fungus on wall paint explains why.

At handover, walk every room with the architect and contractor and agree a written snag list. Then treat the first monsoon as part of the build. Arrange inspections during and after the heaviest rain, ask for photographs of every ceiling, window head and external wall, and keep the contractor engaged until leaks and drainage problems are fixed. The EPA advises drying wet materials within 24 to 48 hours to prevent mould, which is easier to arrange if someone is checking. Our new-build handover guide has a fuller list. When the walls are dry, we can survey remotely, send samples to you abroad and fit before your next visit; book a remote consultation to start.