HOUSE UPDATE: The floor plans are finished did you say?

My Muscat land for my future house (inshaAllah)

Well, coming back to my adventure of building and buying my own house/villa here in Oman... remember how back in June I blogged that our floor plans were finished?

Well, turns out the Engineer said he could do some things that Muscat Municipalities says we can't....(like put the stairs right to the side)  and also that we couldn't do some things that we could (such as build a bit wider to the sides... and change the parking to save more of the land.

So we switched our Engineer and started a new plan. That was going all well and all until he up and left the country for two months and was like, don't worry, I'll email it to you soon, inshaAllah, ma mishkila.

Well, mishkila.

He was beyond late. Two weeks turned into two months. Then we gave him a little more time, and he was like, excuses, excuses.

Canadian me is not patient. I don't like liars. Just tell us you can't if you can't.

Anyways, when he got us the plan it totally sucked.

And I was very very clear with what I wanted.

I want a living room (no majlis) that opens to a yard. This can be from the side or the back but not the front of the house (as the front has no good yard).

In his plan, the living room was, of course, to the front, with no entry to a yard. In fact... he didn't leave space for a yard.... at all.

I said I wanted the stairs seperate from any rooms. An entry hall is fine and then stairs, but not stairs and the living room.

So of course, the stairs opened from the living room----or, worse, an open concept kitchen.

I said I wanted a kitchen in the front of the house AND NOT OPEN CONCEPT---- because I am Western, and repeat, over and over again, no I do not need a maid's room, a maid's toilet, and a store attached to my kitchen.... somehow this must mean I want an open concept kitchen.

I do not.

Not with Omani inlaws with bazillions of children having the possibility of visiting. I don't like guests going through my fridge and kitchen cupboards.

Ugh....

Anyways... the upstairs was also kind of a disaster. One I could live with but a total aboration from anything that I asked for.

So, we got ourselves a new Engineer.

And I drew my plan for him.

With measurements.

My plan, on the land, includes a twin villa. Why? Because the land can be split. The twin villa is being built in an Omani style (way bigger than what I need but perfect for rental or resale to Omani families) but it should still have space for a yard or a garden at the very least.

For some reason all the engineers kept puting the bigger villa on the land with less space. I guess because the land is wider in the back at one side, but the Omani style villa needs more on the ground floor, so why not use the awkward space with more land to the side and have the living room open to a side yard/garden?

To me, this is a no-brainer.

I am almost convinced I should get a degree in architecture or engineering and start my own construction company....

Ugh. My husband thinks it is a great idea and is willing to take out a loan for it. I am like,  "whoa... when would I have time for that??????"

I am not really business woman. I have no ambition whatsoever.

Anyways, our new Engineer is Omani. He seems to understand (and listen) better than the others, so I'll see in two weeks what he comes up with. INshaAllah it is on time, and he sticks to my drawings and measurements. He charges 1 OMR per square meter of the plan I believe, and his plans are available in 3D. If he is good, I tell you his name and consultancy office address... until then, stay tuned for this whole misadventure;)