RIYADH — Most Saudis do not own their homes. Even those Saudis who are fortunate enough to own one had an agonizing and arduous journey when they began the building. The prospective homeowner begins with the difficult process of negotiating with a builder, pricing needed materials, searching for the cheapest sources, obtaining plumber and electrician contracts and so forth. In many cases this process ends in arguments and differences. Building a home is the most difficult task in a citizen's life. Because contractors work on more than one project at a time, many citizens are forced to constantly track them down. This of course leads to even a higher level of stress. Al-Riyadh newspaper spoke to a number of experts to shed light on the issue. The most important questions are whether citizens can avoid these difficulties, whether the problem lies with the workers or with a lack of sufficient funding. Property expert Yahya Koshak said: “Building should be based on a professional process. “It begins with the architectural drawings, obtaining the municipality permit and then searching for the qualified builder. “An engineer, and not the house owner, should supervise the building process.” The funding channels do not offer enough for the citizen to contract a builder, he added. Psychiatrist Dr. Turkic Al-Etiyan said: “Owning a house is among the most important necessities of life and makes one feel secure. “Psychologically, the feeling of poverty is worse than poverty itself.” People work to provide for their family needs. If their income is not sufficient to own a house, they will feel great bitterness. Those who obtain a loan also suffer psychologically, as neither the government loans nor the personal bank loans are enough to contract a builder. They then resort to hiring individual cheap workers to achieve their goal, which in turn causes frustration. To add to the hassle, there are no laws that protect the citizen's rights if workers default on their obligations. Koshak points out that 30 percent of Saudis hire workers to build their houses. As a result, licensed offices to hire workers should be established. In turn, these offices should be responsible for any misbehavior or mistakes committed by the workers. Many citizens incur debt while building their houses, which could cause a number of possible illnesses they will suffer from for the rest of their lives. Dr. Al-Etiyan warned: “Citizens should be careful in planning and executing their projects to avoid problems.”
