Right from designing to building and maintaining luxury homes, this Mumbai-based construction firm does it all

Moving into a new house is exciting. When people conceptualise their luxury homes themselves, they feel more confident that it will perfectly match their expectations. But working with multiple agencies on contract for interior designing, furniture, water and electrical system, etc can be quite a task.

Mumbai-based entrepreneur Hemil Parikh saw firsthand that different contractors and agencies for luxury homes played the blame game whenever a problem arose. He encountered such stalemate situations when he worked on projects for his business Water Inc, a waterproofing solutions provider.

“In such situations, the homeowners faced the brunt. I saw a dire need for an end-to-end service provider who would take ownership and single point responsibility for all the work executed in building and setting up a house,” Hemil says.

This was how the idea for his new business, Elysium Abodes, was born. The luxury home builder and construction company was started with a bootstrapped amount of Rs 50 lakh in 2015, which was not a big amount for a business in the construction industry.

And starting such a business certainly seemed feasible for Hemil. He had worked in his family business, Navdeep Valves and Tubes, and also got a good sense of the construction industry after his work with Water Inc.

“Elysium differentiated itself with its design philosophy of building themed villas through different architectural styles such as Moroccan, Balinese, French classical, Spanish, contemporary, Industrial, Bohemian, and more,” he adds.

In four years, after completing a slew of big housing projects, the firm has grown to a large team of 130 people and records an annual turnover of Rs 25 crore.

In an exclusive interaction with SMBStory, Hemil Parikh, Founder, Elysium Abodes, shares his mantra for success.

Edited excerpts from the interview:

SMBStory: Why did you start a second business after Water Inc?

Hemil Parikh: When I identified the need for an end-to-end design and build company, I decided to start another business by carrying forward the experience and core values I inherited from Water Inc. Since I already had a passion for luxury homes, I started Elysium Abodes.

The goal was to provide a uniquely world-class lifestyle to Indians. We wanted to cover every aspect of homebuilding, right from chalking the blueprint to execution.

SMBS: What is the main focus area for Elysium?

HP: The prime focus areas of the company are development of luxury villas across India, which could be, second homes in exotic locations or primary homes for avid luxury seekers. Our strength is executing projects in any part of the country.

We invested in engineers for backend support, execution team, skilled and unskilled labour, machinery and equipment, etc. With this team, our goal is to provide an enjoyable and smooth home building experience to the homeowner.

SMBS: What is the process you follow to deliver a project?

HP: We act as a single point of contact, starting from the time of ideation and conceptualisation and designing of the house, as per specific requirements. We collaborate with various architects and designers for several of these steps.

Then, we prepare a detailed budgetary proposal, followed by a project schedule. After approvals, we do the construction, source furniture, lights, home decor items, and then finally hand over the house to the owner.

SMBS: How do you source the materials for your projects?

HP: We have a centralised management system and the sourcing of materials is done locally as well as from various sources globally. We source materials from across India, China, and Europe as a value added service to the client, whereby he/she need not engage an agent for sourcing various things like furniture.

We plan a project based on the demographics of the region and material selection is done keeping in mind the locally-available material and the ones that need to be sourced.

SMBS: Who is the target audience?

HP: Our target audience is aspiring homeowners in tier I and tier II cities looking for an upgrade in lifestyle by way of major restoration or building a new home. For city dwellers, we work with industrialists and professionals who are looking for vacation homes to get away from the hustle of the concrete jungle.

We are using Instagram to share ideas and it is an effective tool to reach out to large audiences on a personal level.

SMBS: What are some big projects you have executed?

HP: We have designed and executed big projects such as a 45,000 square feet three villa project in Goa, a 30,000 square feet Moroccan-style villa in Chennai, an 8,500 square feet French classical villa in Karnataka, and more.

The Karnataka project near Hubballi was special because we sourced all the materials, right from screws and nails, from Mumbai, and the furniture from overseas. We completed the project in a record time of just 13 months. It was one of the milestones for Elysium.

SMBS: What are the toughest moments the company faced?

HP: We have encountered major shortages of materials like sand, rubble, and stone in some states because of which the project timelines were delayed. Being local materials, they cannot be sourced from elsewhere. Going with the law of the land in India, where one is restricted to procure primary building materials locally, causes delays beyond our control.

SMBS: Who are the competitors? How is Elysium staying ahead of them?

HP: Our major competition arises from the conventional way of contracting, where individual contractors for civil, mechanical, electrical, plumbing, painting, and carpentry services work in isolation on a project.

We stay ahead by providing all the services under a single roof for timely coordination, monitoring, and cost control of a project. We are educating customers about the benefits of working with a design and build company which takes ownership of all facets of the home building process and provides a unified product.

SMBS: What is your impact on customers and what is the way forward for Elysium?

HP: We are selective about the type and size of projects we undertake. We enjoy a good customer conversion ratio where we manage to close 75 percent of the projects we bid for. We plan to get more customers for our design and build services in various parts of the country.

We will continue with our focus on tier II and tier III cities, as the buying power of the citizens in these areas is increasingly rapidly. We also plan to collaborate with furniture, lighting, and home decor manufacturers in India and Europe to provide unique and quality products to homeowners.

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