leechaorui

very neat place.

Congrats. very nice layout.

congrats. Very nice

I think best to check with your architect for the exact calculated area. URA has some guidelines stated in its website. You can google for it.

Depending on complexity, QP engineer can also do the submission for you. For more complex works, you will need the architect's help.

Hi all, After having just rebuilt my place, I am conceptualising the garden area around my house. I have intentionally rebuild my house such that it doesn't stand out as one "big giant house", but to leave sufficient outdoor space for garden and to host a party in the terrace area in front, at the side and behind the house. I am thinking of building a more unique kind of garden. I am now planning to remove some of the organic soil and remix the remainder organic soil with green compost. After which, I plan to do some simple landscaping to have more plants, more flowers, more natural fragrance from flowering plants, etc. Have not decided on the plants yet and the criteria is to be aesthetically pleasing, low maintenance, able to attract grasshoppers, butterflies song birds, ladybirds, garden gecko, etc... to visit the garden. I have experimented with raising and releasing three spotted doves after a few weeks of care. Now, I can hear the spotted doves crooning around the vicinity of my house but they do not visit my garden to search for food. I am now raising one more baby spotted dove and this time, I will probably keep it for a few months so that it can be very familiar with the surrounding before releasing it. The birds were picked up from my uncle's place because crow usually tried to attack the spotted dove's nest and as a result, the mother spotted dove sometimes lost her life defending the nest. Hence, my uncle picked up the young birds from the nest and hand feed them to a certain stage of maturity before giving me the birds. That's how I got my supply of birds to release to the wild. Welcome ideas on how to make this type of garden where it is inviting, a reality. Cheers!

I remember your place is very impressive from the exterior. Got to pass by and see your place again when you have re-make it. Cheers!

Thank you for sharing. I didn't know that for 100amps, the house needs to be certified by a LEW annually. Learn something from you today.

Congrats. Does your shoe cabinets have holes for airing?

Nice design. How do you accomodate the 4 babies in the two single size beds?

very classy design. very nice.

Hi Joshua, Who are you using as your gardener now? Could you show some pictures of your garden and provide some description on quality, maintenance and cost? Thanks.

I have used Aaron services and I can share with forumers this - Aaron is very responsible, professional and always willing to go the extra mile. When you purchase air-con from Aaron or engage him to service your air-con, you can have a piece of mind. Thank you Aaron for your service.

Hi Serene, Two of my neighbours had a similar experience like you and I assisted them. Looks like your case is one of inferior quality construction cum contractor running away. You will need to spend some money to do the following: (1) Investigate what is wrong with the construction works. More defects may show up later. This is a common problem for many homeowners who rebuild their house with inferior quality materials and poor hands on supervision. Rectification of poor workmanship and replacement of inferior quality materials may be high. Hence, would have to study into what are the defects before thinking of alternative solutions to replacement. (2) If you have got your TOP already and CSC is not given, it could mean that there are some works outstanding, usually external works. You will need to hire an architect to help you with the submission of document and get a contractor to make good the outstanding works. Can't estimate the cost, until you are able to furnish more details. If the contractor is still around, best to persuade him to complete the works. If that is impossible, I guess you probably have to take legal recourse to recover your losses, provided the contractor is able to pay damages and you are able to challenge this successfully in Court. If you wish to share privately with me, you can pm me your contact and email address. It sometimes pain me to know that forumers try to save on small amounts of money in construction and end up with big inferior construction quality.

You can google home elevator and there are several brands available in the market. You can call up the sales office to ask for a presentation. Look out for brand (ie usually the reliable brands are German made), size of the lift, maintenance cost, power consumption, weight that the lift can hoist, design, etc.. When planning the rebuilding of your house, you may want to enlist the help of your architect to plan the life in a good location based on your needs and to make it convenient for repair, replacement and maintenance work. Cheers!

If you wish to install solar power, you need to plan it as part of your construction works. This is because of the electrical trunking required, the preparation to install solar panels on your roof and also piping and storage tank, if you are using solar water heater. One of my friends got inferior quality LED lights for the same price as those made in America. I guess it is not about deep pockets, which I don't have, though it helps tremendously. It is more about choices and knowledge on what is a fair and good buy. I am surprised that your contract has no GST and you mentioned that he has built a few houses in your vicinity. Even if your contractor absortbs GST, he is required to show the amount of GST charged as this tax belongs to IRAS and your contractor is a collector of this tax. A business with turnover of $1 million or more is required by law to be GST registered. When IRAS catch up with your contractor while he is doing work for you, there is a risk that his business may flip, there will be penalty in addition to paying back the GST he withheld from IRAS illegally and there is implications on whether he can continue building your house. You better check to see if your contractor has deep deep pockets, otherwise, there is a real danger of his business to function as a going concern.

Hi Ken, I erected my house and build everything from scratch again. The first floor ceiling after putting up the false ceiling is about 4 metre high and I used LED lights for my house. I can read newspaper by sitting on the floor and it is bright enough. If I were to go into a corner and placed myself in a position where I cast a shadow on the newspaper, then I will find the brightness being obscured. There are different types of LED lights in the market and most are made in China, with some better quality ones made in Taiwan, Korea and America. I have met a few LED lights supplier and they spoke highly about their quality and showed me to houses that they have installed. So far, I found the brightness of those high quality LED lightings made in America the best. On whether they would be lasting, only time can tell. On construction of house, I think the quality of the contractor should not be judged based on the the vehicle he drives ie a luxury car or a pick up but the financial strength of the firm, the reputation of the firm and the quality of his staff and outsource partners. Finally, what is important is whether the contractor is able to deliver what you want and more. As long as you have budgeted sufficiently and the contractor doesn't run away, you need not worry too much. Some people buy a performance bond to protect themselves against contractors' default. Whether the contractor drives a Merc or a lorry, he can also run away with your money.

Better to check with the contractor on what is the total cost. You can buy your own lighting but set a budget for the rest. In this way, you get a better sense of reality in terms of what you will be paying. At the final count for construction cost, I think it is prudent to add another 15% more for incidentals that you didn't cater for. I didn't bargain a cent with my contractor on the fees he quoted me. The reason being, I have already called for several quotes and had quite lengthly discussion with them. I told my contractor that I didn't bargain because I expect him to meet my expectations on build quality and there will be no hidden cost for the project. You can decide for yourself if you wish to bargain with him. Cheers!

Kardtoon is right. However, some homeowners add a Mezzanine floor illegally. Just need to bear in mind that the structure may not be built to take the additional weight. When I first bought my house, there was a small mezzanine floor made of very light materials. I found that the structure is not steady and I torn it down. If you want a very steady structure, it may become too heavy. Best is to keep to the rules. Cheers!

Could you share some pictures of your garden landscape and what it cost you? I am thinking of removing some of my organic soil and bringing in green compost to mix with the rest of the organic soil. Also not sure what type of plants to keep as I am looking for something that is fairly low maintenance.

Which grade is your wife doing?

The sad truth is prices are still rising. Looks like the earlier you construct, the cheaper is the cost. My neigbour constructed his house about 5 years ago from single storey to three storey at a cost of $350K. Another of my neigbour constructed his place (similar size as the earlier neighbour from double storey to 3.5 storey)and has just shifted in a few months ago. His cost is $750K. Both used fair quality construction materials. The comparison shows that the price of construction has doubled from 5 years ago.

As a rough ballpark figure, I think it can ranged from $200K upwards for A&A. One of my friend added an attic plus interior reno & improvements to his fascade for about $450K. You need to furnish more details on your needs, the quality of the new construction and the condition of your exisiting building. Best to get some quotes from architects and contractors. They would be able to give you a sense of how much work is involved and the cost estimates. Add another 15% to whatever their cost estimates come up to give you some buffer. Cheers!

Useful to opt for a build to last concept in erection of new structure. A very strong foundation that factor in the weight of a solid water-proof concrete beams and structure for the roof that is good to last conservatively 200 years and beyond is definitely a plus. You can then add treated outdoor weather proof thick hard wooded purlins and rafters to support large pieces of German roof tiles with high quality insultation that comes with 50 years manufacturer's warranty. This is the specifications that I used. In fact, the engineers felt that three strong concrete beams would be more than sufficient but I told him that in future, I may want to shift a large water tank and water pump above the 45 degree slope roof, so he added in another huge beam. Actually, my current water pump and water tank is already housed nicely between my first and second storey. Nonetheless, the space above the sloping roof may have some very heavy potential usage that I have not considered now. Hence, design it to take a weight of more than 6 tons. The improved structure is transparent to the homeowner as the beams are well hidden from sight and doesn't take up useable space. Was told that steel tend to rust over time and usually only build to take the weight of roof tiles. Although the dropping rust from steel beams can be contained by the false ceiling and some of these rust dropplets can fall through the downlights over time, people generally don't feel that it is much of a concern as long as they don't need to remove the false ceiling to do maintenance work on air-con pipes, water pipes, electrical wiring, fans installation brackets, storage water heater tank, telephone wires, internet broadband CAT6 cables, etc... The space between the concrete ceiling and false ceiling can be quite humid, causing steel to rust. If budget permits, I think is better to install concrete beams for the key roof structure.

I think 60Amps is generally sufficient for normal house usage - air-con in rooms, normal fridges, etc. I do not know your needs. If you have a big bungalow and you have the following items eg: a. High Ceiling, Big Halls and need to air-con whole house b. Has water fall feature and big fish pond, big swimming pool that require giant sized powered motor system c. Super fridge (eg. those used in five star hotels to store food and cater to 3000 guests type) d. Wine/ Beer Chiller that takes the space of one room (eg. those you saw on television advertisement) For above cases or cases where you need very high electricity consumption, I think best to go for the 100Amps. If you are unsure of the electricity consumption, it is best to check with Licenced Electrical Worker to help you compute and recommend. Otherwise, safest to go for 100Amps. My place is not big and even with all 7 rooms air-con fully operating, all lights turn on, washing machine working, two fridges, turn on all TVs, etc.. I still can't hit the max capacity and so I go for 60 Amps. For DB box, one at each level will help you to isolate problems to the level itself. You need not walk in the dark from 4th level to the ground floor when you have a short ciruit at the ground floor in the middle of the night. Usually, the kitchen area is most prone to short circuiting because of moisture or water leakage into electrical items. Hope this clarifies.