At a glance:

Laying the foundation should begin after proper prayers in the North-east. A good muhurtha should be set by an expert astrologer. The digging and laying of the foundation should be done in a precise manner. The astrologically auspicious lunar months are to selected

Once the site is selected and the site plans are ready you have to make offerings to the dieties ruling the site. The prayers should be done in the North-east corner of the plot by a learned priest facing the Eagju. The first digging should be done either by the master and/ or the architect (sthapathi) or the chief mason (vardhaki) at an auspicious time (muhurtha) set by a learned astrologer.

For laying the foundation the following constellations are recommended:
1. Rohini
Aldebaran, 5 stars resembling a chariot
2. Mrigasira
1 Orionis, 3 stars resembling a head of a deer
3. Hasta
d Corvi, 5 stars resembling a palm
4. Chitta
Virginis Spica, 1 star resembling a pearl
5. Uttara
Denebola, 4 stars resembling the legs of a cot
6. Jyeshta
Antares, 3 stars resembling an umbrella
7. Uttarashada
s Sagittariiy 4 stars resembling a square
8. Sravana
a Aquila, 3 stars resembling an arrow

All odd lunar days e_xcept the 9th are good. The 2nd, 6th and 10th lunar days are also auspicious. Of the weekdays Wednesday, Thursday and Friday are recommended.

The rising sign or lagna should be a fixed sign. The lagna should be strengthened by the presence of malefics (New Moon, Sun, Saturn, Mars, Rahu, Ketu and badly associated Mercury) in 3rd, 6th and 11th houses and benefics ( Full Moon, Jupiter, Venus, and well associated Mercury) in quadrants (kendra -4,7,10) and trines (trikonas - 5,9). The eighth house should be vacant without the aspect of a malefic planet.