everylinetellsastory

I agree with leechaorui. If you intend to buy a house, understand what are in the GFA computed in the approved plans. If you intend to sell a house, then of cos, you want to sell BUILT-UP Area that includes, bay windows, air-con ledges, planter boxes, pavilion, roof terrace, shadow areas, etc

Hi all, This is an interesting topic to hear from the ground how owners feel about their selection of professional to rebuild their house since i am personally working in the industry. I think i must first compliment AnneY for the very detailed information she had compiled and i will like to add my humble views to the list. 1. Interior Designer In the consumer market, owners need to be very careful to differentiate by themselves who are the ID Consultant and who are the Interior Contractor. ID consultant are normally your project designer. He spends huge amount of time talking to you on the existing and new space that you want and dream to build. But take note, he will charge you only for his design and project management fees. In certain cases, where owners want the same ID consultant to take full responsibility to build the project, he might sometimes handle Design & Build project in collaboration with his preferred builder. In such situation, Design rules over simplistic building. Interior Contractor mainly offer Design & Build service with his integrated ID design (free). However, since the ID designer works for him, Cheapest construction rules over design. An example, ID specified 20mm thk ply with laminated finish for the customised bookshelves. ID Contractor will instruct his staff to go for 12mm thk instead. Glass material will be another important area to take note. Pricing between TEMPERED GLASS and TEMPERED LAMINATED GLASS is much difference. Also, ID consultant design lots of your space planning and customised carpentry, loose furnitures and styling up your house. These are the area of scopes you might be paying him for. (from as low as 20k excluding PE and submission and building) Project Suitability: A&A Landed, Condo, HDB Pros: Provides holistic service, design orientated, prudent to listening (better customer service) Cons: Design & project management fee is additional to your construction and PE fees. 2. Builder Owner choosing Builder first, usually has their particular reasons - 100% trust, or 100% most compeititive. However, this selection neglected the most priority needs of the owner - the space he is building. Also, many a times, builder does not provide design drawings which are critical for owners to study, digest and comment before the start of construction. They will recommend you to their preferred PE for submission (normally not design). After some chasing, builder might roped in part-time or freelance designer to give some design input for owners. However, this situation also leads to many design changes and possibiliy of Variation Order (V.O.) which are charged as additional work to the contract. Thus, i suggest that owner who want to choose builder first, must have very strong dictation in his construction design and able to provide simple construction drawings for the builder. Project Suitability: A&A Landed, Condo, HDB Pros: Provides direct construction solution, practical budget Cons: Non-Design orientated, V.O. possibility, additional PE fees, compromise on quality specification. 3. Architect Yes, i think choosing an architect is the most expensive way (or not?). LOL. Sometimes, i heard from friends in some "sign-off" architect firm complaining how their owners might proceed with legal procedure to start suing everyone in the project. That is probably the most expensive way. As much as no one want to start suing anyone, we also must understand that engaging an architect does not guaranteed problem-free construction. That is the same to the appointment of the previous 2 professions. However, owners always get this assurance that once they engaged architect, they are safe. So, they choose the cheapest "sign-off" architect. But we pay peanut, we get monkeys. Generally, no one in singapore can call themselves "Architect" unless they are registered under the BOARD OF ARCHITECTS. And going by the SIA Standard Contract, architects are recommended to charge for a professional fee of 10%. (usually can be negotiate, depending on your budget size). So, what make Architects so expensive? That is because they will become the voice (coordinator) for the project on behalf of the client and handle all coordination between all parties during the construction and still being responsible to the building design certified by him after hand-over. Thus, this is where the money pays most to. Building a house from existing building and from scratch requires deep studying of the ground. So, with the architect on board, design proposal will be finalised within 3mths. next will be the engagement of the PE, M&E and the QS to ensure continuity of the technical coordination to the approved design (not more than 2mths). The earlier they are engaged, the earlier the tender drawings will be ready. Note that SOIL INVESTIGATION may needed to be done on-site as recommended and process supervised by the PE. This is done by 3rd party specialist. With the investigation done, PE will advise architect and owner on the type of foundation needed. Piling will be expensive approach. Foot foundation is usual practice. So, PE must be able to calculate and confirmed that the right foundation is designed for the intended LOADING for the architectural design. Transparent Tender process starts by the architect inviting 2-3 builders and the owners also inviting 2-3 builders. This is to be sure that the architect is not "pushing" the price up for the tender that will result in his higher professional fee. After tender closed, QS and Architect will open the tender documents to reveal the tender prices from each tenderers. The result will allow the QS, Arch, PE, M&E to determine if there is any "under declare" pricing in their respective scopes of works. Then, listing down their needed questions for the tenderers, a tender interview will be called. The successful tenderers will be interview by everyone including the owner. During the interview, the doubtful questions will be asked and jotted down on record. After tender interview, Tenderers will be asked to review and revise their prices. Results will have to be replied within 2-4wks. In meanwhile, architect firm will have already gotten URA "Written Permission" (this allows the project to start on-site with a "permit to commence work" applicable by the PE). Architect must before the start of building structures above ground gotten BCA BP approval. By this time on the schedule, usually 6-8mths from engagement date, Owner is expected to make payment at Design Sign-Off, URA WP stage, BCA BP approval stage, and Appointed Successful Tenderer. Till this date, the architect will likely be paid up to 60% of his professional fee. So do take note on your financial planning, because some owners were caught off-guard and needed to liquidate his investment to fund the construction and realised that he needed to delay construction to allow time for his fund to come in. All in all, you might be paying already 100-200k for these professionals working on your house for the next 18mths. Project Suitability: A&A Landed, New Erection, Re-development. Pros: Provides full coordination of the project, transparent project management, Design orientated (not including ID works) Cons: Costly professional fees, less customer service for interior spaces design ---- Conclusion, There is no right or wrong approach. You will not know which approach suit your comfort level till you make the approach. But as a practical rule of thumb, my individual opinion will be as below. Project Size and Budget Recommendation : Less than 100k - Builder Less than 300K - Builder or ID Consultant More than 300k - Architect More than 500k - Architect & ID Consultant More than 1million - PLEASE PM ME...LOL

Hi, i agreed with mrspiglet notes, do think carefully on your PRIMARY AND PRIORITY purpose of getting a resale flat or a BTO flat. the difference is alot. Think in terms of wealth accumulating and that should be easier to set out an overall picture, thereafter once decided that you really need a resale flat, itemised your immediate needs and budget allocation. For a start, if you need some reno advices. you can visit my website too. if it helps. http://www.everylinetellsastory-id.com/200...hapter-one.html last but not least, u can also PM me if got any questions.

keke, these are not questions on reno. but tradition/ fengshui. anyway, for me, my dad only advised to sprinker some rice mix with salt at every corners of the house. then prior to the actual day of renovation, we can do a quick sweeping n hand over to contractor. period of renovation, u might want to seek fengshui master advice or avoid 7th mth. as for actual move-in, probably the most u might ask is the auspicious date n time. but some joss paper in a metal basin in front of ur gate n cross over. ok, i hope these help. correct me if im wrong.

brother, when i married my wife [a non-pr at that time], we had to move out of my parents home. Thus, without our own home, i got to turn to rental flat. To make matter worse, Im the sole-breadwinner. To make it worser, my wife decided that we should have a baby 4mths into our marriage. She got her PR after ROM about 10mths later though. Thats the fastest i think i did to speed up my process of getting a proper HDB flat with subsidised market rate and achieved what the govt calling for early marriage and early parenthood. Think i should apply for award for that. I really dunno your point of not wanting to ROM. the longer u wait, the longer HDB let u wait. If you love your gf, intends to marry her, i just dun understand your predicament of delaying ur ROM. If its financial problem, i do understood. Anyway, wish u luck !

ya, from my property agent fren knowledge is that there is no fine, but u got to revert to original state or condition. eg. illegal relocation of lightings...or electrical points. all must be revert back. So, even if u found a perfect house, everything illegal got to revert back to original. if you want to re-revert back to illegal state again after sales approved. Dun think there is anyone to stop u le. in fact, i will be more than willing to "HELP" you. PM me for more info.

JUST DO IT. Never try never know.

very interesting. in this recession period. fengshui company definitely is ringing bells. this wishing elephant is very interesting item too.

jcwp, market price for cheap ID is around 20% mark-up. Most ID house which can advertise daily/weekly type probably can convince owners to part more thus, can earn 30-40%. Your provided costs above is considered normal for me - industry personnel. then again, sometimes u pay for peanuts to get peanuts. pay for cashew nuts, u got honey roasted ones as well. Just be comfortable with the ID, i think is most impt.

guys, im not sure if by driving around landed property estates and taking down contractors number is a good practice. But to throw down 300k onwards, why not get a proper qualified professional [eg, architect or engineer] who will ensure qualified and safety A&A to your property?

wow, love this quote. tyan_tan is either same line as me or simply understood much more clearer the importance of an ID. Sorry to say, many home owners [particularly with budget ones] may find the engagement of ID being a redundant issue. Yet, its the same ignorance that DURING the renovation that started to tear apart their brain, life and house. We also have many home owners who find coordinating the renovation easy and thus uses seperate sub-con for their house. But most of us doesnt have that luxury of time to coordinate. Most importantly, many a times, when i stepped into customers' home done by them previously told me that if not for time, they would have coordinate again le and wont even engage me. Sound irony or arrogance ? I dun go to the bank to say i put money in your bank because i got no where to put at home. I simply go there because the high interest draws an attraction. So, when i looked at their so called well-coordinated renovation that needed NEW renovation a few years later. Its a shocking overhaul in many departments due to overlooked design and needing much hacking of existing carpentry works. Quotation of cos, went up. So did their temper. Luckily, as their mind becomes rational and after comparing with the others, they realised their problem. THAT THEY AINT MASTER OF ALL TRADES and that certain trade is still better off leave to the hands of the professional. I THANK THEM FOR THAT.

Hi Guy, in your selected 4, i found that lots people liken to A&D.

for info, ministry of design is a very design-based consultancy which had did up quite many innovative n dynamic retails n restaurants. In the Architecture and ID industry, pretty well-known. In the ah beng ah kao ID industry, dun think its their cup of tea.

pricing seems very compeititive. check ur comfort level with ID, that should be the decisive point for ur project le

yes, i agree there are alot of id and company worth searching for. and rare gem might falls onto you. keke... credit to the forum founders !!