Lauer

Bo tai chi mah...both also vested in residential properties what? Ah, the notion of 'value'. I find it fascinating when people debate on value. Did tulip really worth its weight in gold, as it did during the Tulip Mania? Of course not, retrospectively speaking. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fu19Ut5Bvu8&feature=youtube_gdata_player Enjoy!

Normally, once the A&A of the house is completed, you will want the house re-valued by the bank so that you are eligible to convert the outstanding construction loan amount to a second housing loan. Simply because the interest for housing loan is lower than the construction loan. Doing so also qualifies the second housing loan for CPF financing. The banks have slightly different ways of calculating loan eligibility, so why not speak with the different banks directly to understand the rates? You will need their inputs anyway on a house before signing the OTP. Cheers!

Err...sorry BK that's not what I meant (the verbs are in present tense?). Let me put it this way; when a sensible person like you can argue in a relatively coherent manner why prices shall fall, then the market is not toppish. On the other hand, when a sensible person, not necessarily you, thinks or believes that prices will forever go up, then it should be time to start thinking of getting out. Cheers!

Ah...the inflation debate. The happening of our lifetime, seize the opportunity, play the game well, and know when to get out when it ends. One moment in time. Enjoy!

Very good! The linings, color, lighting, furnishings all work well together. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLbaRoh9wR8&feature=youtube_gdata_player Enjoy!

Well, if so then change ba... Cheers!

Rice Fields, for something different. Cheers!

(I don't say that I know everything regarding this topic, please contribute by amending, deleting, adding to the following.) We will find that, for landed, the public sewage pipe runned underground across the land. The house on which the land sits, its sewage (waste, dirtied water, and sometime rainwater as well) is piped to an intermediate chamber called IC, which is in turn connected to the public sewage pipe underground. For a Semi-D and of course Bungalow, iis IC can be found outside the house. But not the case of a Terrace; almost all the times we will find it inside the house for non rebuilt Terrace. So we dwell on terraces below. Occasionally, we will also find a shared IC between 2 neighboring terraces, where either the sewage of the house you are eyeing goes to your neighbor's IC, or the other way round. So, it pays to have an architect to survey the house before signing the OTP. And you will find that (if a rebuilding or A&A is intended), the architect is very kancheong about how the public sewage pipe & IC run. It probably just costs you a lunch for the architect's service. The reason is that, there are quite a few by-laws related to the connectivity of the sanitary etc to the IC, and the IC to the public sewage pipe. And these have a direct impact over how a new house or alteration can be designed and approved by PUB/BCA. Regardless of the type of modification intended, it is a good practice to locate or relocate the new or existing IC outside the house. Put your nose closed to the IC and smell, and you will know what I meant. And not to mention the hindrance to a proper interior decoration when having the IC indoor, plus the infrequent PUB inspection of the IC when there is a blockage in the public sewage pipe somewhere. Cheers!

What is your role in this project? Why not just file the complaint to the Board of Architects if it is legitimate? Unlike for IDs or even contractors, registered architects are governed by a code of conduct. Same for professionals like doctors, lawyers etc. Cheers!

The pricings that you mentioned seems questionable to me. Normally in the construction contract, an area's flooring should be itemized like "Living Room marble flooring at $x psf", "Kitchen homogeneous tile at $y psf"? For example, if the marble flooring is contracted for $20 psf, but the marble that I picked is $25 psf then the VO becomes +$5 psf. In my view, the flooring part of a house construction, the type and the design of it, should be consulted with an ID rather than the architect. For marble flooring, sometime the interior design of an area calls for a certain color, grains etc for it to work. Once the ID narrows the choices, only then pricing comes into the equation. And other than those that you mentioned, the pricing of marble has a lot to do with its origin country. Hope that it helps. Cheers!

No, a coating of sealant should be sufficient, with the indicative cost of around $1-2 psf. Cheers!

Cheers!

Enjoy!

BK, If I were the buyer of this flat, then I keep the marble. The old broken-marble seems to have a certain charm to it. But conceptually other pieces of the interior decoration will have to work around the marble; as Speed put it aptly, to match the furnishing around the flooring. So, the marble becomes the feature of the house. It does not seem difficult; I thought that the walls where the marble on should be white, and the carpentry around predominately white (or shades of white) as well to bring in more natural lighting and to create a clean look that does not clash with the marble's grains. And so is the artificial lighting. Depending on how the Living Room is partitioned from the Kitchen, more adventurous colors can be introduced to the Kitchen. For reference, see the photos of a decoration where the marble is replaced. I don't know about you, but I thought that the Living Room looks more interesting with the marble, even before it is rejuvenated. Cheers!

Bo le. But I didn't give tips while in SI mah... In general, the markets should be trending higher towards the year end. Cheers!

LOL, indeed. Are you still in SI? Cheers!

The indicative should be about $3 psf for labor (laying, polishing etc). The marble cost $ psf is based on the particular marble selected, as in tile cost. For landed, there should be an added cost of water-proofing before the marble is laid, to avoid rising damp changing the marble's tone. Cheers!

Just my thought. A typical landed refurbishment that, unfortunately, represented a missed opportunity for creativity. An expensive house that looks rather ordinary refurbished but there are HDB renovations in this forum that inspired. It is the amount of thinking, styling that really makes the different in the result. Cheers!

You are welcomed. I am just an observer la. Regarding furniture, I am sure that he already has the design in mind, but need to confirm what he visualized with the renovated areas. Cheers!

Not lawyer la; it's just a nick. Cheers!

Particularly for landed or condo (where it is normal to find concealed cabling) that you are renovating, I will suggest that you plan for NGN carefully. NGN stands for Next Generation Network, on which all signals for telephony, TV media, interenet, gaming etc shall be delivered. Fibre optic cabling is required to to connect from the provider's switch outside the premise to the house. Where this fibre optic cable terminates in the house, ethernet cabling is used to distribute the signals to the various outlets within the house. This ethernet cabling required CAT 6, to facilitate IPv6. CAT 6 cable is more expensive than CAT 5e, so you should make sure that it is actually installed by the electrician. And because ethernet is point-to-point, it means that if you have 8 outlets within the house, then there will be 8 CAT 6 cables ended at the fibre optic terminal point. They then inter-connect through the modem plus a router which you have to buy. So there you can see the need to also find a way to house these modem, router, cables properly. This is the scenario for SingTel, where the TV set-top is connected using the CAT 6 cable. If you are a Starhub subscriber, please check with them as I believe that they are still using the coaxial cable to connect to TV. Please take note that connectivity using the power cabling, as described by Minerat, the signal strength is insufficient to run the TV resulting in hanged screen regularly. Cheers!

This is a good one, with the right dimension for the Living Room, and also the very interesting bends around the Dining and then to the Kitchen. The placement of windows is also very good, for natural lighting. Cheers!

Enjoy!

Speed, Well, you are right. One wishes that there are more similar discussions in a renovation forum? For example. I worked with my ID for over a year, involving his inputs in the architectural design of the house. And yet, I found myself having to overrule his idea in so many aspects and the biggest problem was really not taking into account the impact of natural lighting (and artificial lighting, for that matters) in a piece of concept. The other one is space impact; or rather the perspective rendering due to space. And mind you, he is a good designer, truly a pleasant guy, honest and very patient. But the best piece of design concept will become bad when installed and lighting has not been adequately accounted. A white piece will look like a black piece when installed in an area inadequately lit. Take, as reference, the feature wall in photo #1. See the effect of natural lighting to the right side of the expensive feature wall? I always thought that before anyone embarks on an alteration or interior decoration of a new place, he/she should spend 2-3 days observing it, how the place looks like in the morning, afternoon & evening time for a sunny day and then under grey sky. I sat down with the ID, us in front of his computer running the 3D software and looked at lighting effects. My conclusion? At best, the software could capture 50% of an actual state. See where are the light sources in photos #2 and the effects to the piece? The intend of the feature wall in photo #3 is questionable, as you did. Cheers!

Not windowless bedroom. And for the missing? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juzm3BRksf0&feature=youtube_gdata_player Cheers!