snoozee

what are you planning to do for your house? If you just need to confirm the existing land boundary, take invert levels of existing drains and IC, measure top level of party walls, existing level of 1st storey land and external road and driveways it shouldn't cost that much. All these info would be sufficient for you to get the data required for architects and PE to work on design for submission to authorities. once you get the topo survey plan, the existing building's levels, etc can be computed based on the certified plans you buy from BCA. have you also engaged an architect or PE? if yes, can ask the QP for recommendation of a surveyor as they would have contacts which they have worked with for landed projects.

the question is how much will you end up paying for the installation? Assuming that there is a minimum commitment period, what will happen if you decide to sell the house before that commitment period is up? while zero initial outlay sounds attractive, the finer details of the deal must be looked into before one can determine if it is indeed a good deal or not.

Most polycarbonate is see through so you get the light and also the heat. Aluminum composite panels would have some form of insulation built in so you cut down the heat as well. for long term maintenance wise, composite panel would be better rather than polycarbonate. With polycarbonate panels, if the end cap come loose, you are going to get water ingress inside the panels. That's what happened with my in-laws car-porch roof which panel to use will really be your planned usage. if you are planning to use the area very often during the day, then choose composite panels since you won't feel the heat. If the main purpose is just to have extra area and not going to be used that often in the day, then do polycarbonate.

nope. only owners or the authorised party by owner can purchase the floor plan. the only way is for you to wait until the sale and purchase is completed and the title deed of the land in SLA records shows your name

if you are asking about topo survey for your land/house, it should be around 2k or less. previously my house survey was done by CAK & FG

not good time to start physical work but should be ok to start with the search for architects and PE for design of the house and structure. also do some prep work like buy SIP, DIP, doing topo survey, buy original plans from BCA, soil investigation so the appointed architect and PE can work on their design. all these could take about 6 months (if take time to do slowly) and if URA and BCA doesn't approve at first submissions, it could be at least 8 or 9 months before the necessary approvals are obtained for start work. after got approvals then source for builder could take another 2 months to confirm builder. So all in all, it would be 1 year from now already and things might have gotten better and prices come down a bit.

manpower cost may drop when borders open up and workers can start coming into Singapore. for raw materials, it would depend on the global recovery. prices are always based on supply and demand. when supply is low and demand remains constant, prices will go up. Singapore imports raw materials from overseas and if the supply is low due to factory closure or reduced production then prices will go up. Also cost of delivery of raw materials from manufacture country to Singapore has also increased. Shipping rates had increased due to COVID and this will directly affect the cost of shipping in the raw materials into Singapore.

just to give a view of cost of raw materials based on BCA data Jan 2020 (Ordinary Portland Cement) ($/Tonne) - $84.60 Steel Bars (16-32mm High Tensile)($/Tonne) - $715.00 Ready Mixed Concrete ($/Cubic Metre) - $96.00 Sept 2021 (Ordinary Portland Cement) ($/Tonne) - $95.00 Steel Bars (16-32mm High Tensile)($/Tonne) - $1105.00 Ready Mixed Concrete ($/Cubic Metre) - $104.00 from the prices, steel bar prices has increased by more than 50%, cement about 12% and concrete about 8%

350psf was pre-COVID. now COVID everything increase by about 20 percent

if any water fitting at the highest point in your house exceeds 25m in height (referenced from the Singapore height datum), you will require a water tank for your house as PUB water supply may not have enough pressure to reach beyond 25m height.

Yes, my point is just to clear your earlier post that one must always do a RC roof in order to achieve the maximum floor to roof height and maximize the GFA.

Mine is similar to your attic design. Just that my lower roof also has a roof eave which extends further out (yellow highlight)

I had emailed URA on this before. below is their official reply "In general, solar panels not exceeding 1m high (ie. non-elevated) do not need planning permission, and can be allowed to protrude beyond the envelop control in the context of a landed house. This is provided the landed house is not located in areas where planning permission is required for contextual assessment."

I did a lower roof over the balcony within the 45 degrees envelope so I can extend my attic room outwards to maximize the floor area.

What is required is that you have a negative swab test result and negative on-site ART when you visit the site. So if you are going once a month, just book the test in advance before you plan to go to site. I think the problem is when you can book the time slot for swab test. I visited the site almost everyday as my house is near where I was staying during the rebuilt. So it was a routine to drop by the site to take a look and take photos before I head home after work. I took a lot of photos to document where all the concealed conduits and pipes are laid. Else would have problem when need to drill holes in walls.

i have one on each floor except my mezzanine where i have 2 to provide coverage for mezzanine and 1st storey. Cos my mezzanine has a void for double volume ceiling for my 1st storey so the APs are placed on each end of the mezzanine just beyond the void so that the signals can cover the 1st storey. basically if I am in my living room on 1st storey, I can see the APs if I look up. my floor plate size is about 14m by 7m. 2nd storey AP is placed in a corridor and has no issue with signal coverage for all areas within the storey even with the need for signal to pass through walls. I would suggest you get hold of your floor plan in section view and try to plan the placements of the APs from there. Try as much as possible to have the APs in the middle of the storey to maximise coverage.

there is no longer a need for 45 degree slope for attic. what is needed is that the attic structure falls within the 45 degrees spring line which demarcates the building envelope. I've seen quite a few new houses built with no 45 degrees slope for the attic at all and done with steel roof structures.

I beg to differ. my house is built with flat metal roof with a slight incline to provide water flow. I still get more than 3m floor to ceiling for almost my entire attic storey. So it doesn’t mean that only RC roof can maximize the GFA. It’s all about how the attic storey is designed to be within the building envelope to maximize the GFA. for houses which are specified with metal roof, of cos all the insulation materials would have to be part of the specifications. It doesn’t make sense to built a metal roof with just the steel sheets for a house.

just contact NParks directly to enquire

you are the buyer so you can decide what you want. if you already signed and confirmed the quotation with the supplier and they have no stock for you, then it's the supplier's fault for not reserving the stock for you and there's no reason for you to accept another more expensive aircon system especially if you need to pay extra for it. yes, supply issue may be there and I experience it myself as my supplier told me that there was no stock (whole of SG) for the ducted aircon I chose and I was offered the choice to select one from another brand (more expensive) at no extra cost to me. With COVID situation nowadays and factories could be shut, supply issue may occur. So do confirm your work schedule with your main contractor and let your aircon subcon know when you are planning to have them go in and install the aircon so that the stock for your project can be reserved first. Why need to rent the crane? Simply because there is no way to remove the compressor from the aircon ledge through the house. The original ducted aircon compressor which I had originally planned for (based on BTU) has a dimension of 1050 x 330 x 1338 (W X D X H). The window which I had to access my aircon ledge has a max opening size of only 1000mm. So there is no way this compressor can be removed after construction is completed since it cannot go through the window. Since there is no way I'm going to tear down my window just to remove this compressor in future, the only option that makes sense is to get an aircon with a smaller compressor which can fit through the window. So it's not about humans not being able to carry the compressor from ground floor to attic but more of whether the compressor can go through the house or not. If the equipment cannot go through the house, then the only option is to get a crane to hoist it out and over the house.

i'm using matt black wood grained laminate from Jennings. no problem with fingerprints but most probably because of the wood grained pattern. just go to their showrooms to take a look at the actual laminates if you have the time. There's no such thing as old stocks left b other suppliers unless you chose a very unpopular design then the stock could be quite old stock. some laminates do get out of stock and need to wait for stock replenishment so do confirm your chosen laminate earlier so the stock can be booked for your project. contractors usually get a discount from the laminate suppliers so I think the more likely case is that your contractor will get a bigger incentive from lamitak rather than from Admira and Jennings. When I bought 2 sheets of laminates from Admira directly, I was given a 10 percent discount off the list price. Jennings' laminates can be up to 25 percent (or more) discount off their list price. But these 2 brands sell their laminates at the average price of about $50 per sheet. Compared to lamitak the protak range which you want which is $168, if your contractor can get 10% off $168, it would be 3 times that of 10% of $50. If I am your contractor, I would also push you to buy from a supplier where I can get more incentive compared to another supplier.

doing a metal roof will save you a bit on the structural requirements since the attic structural elements can be done using steel beams and columns as opposed to casting concrete which would be much heavier. do note that RC is not waterproof so you will still need to do waterproofing on the RC roof to make the roof waterproof unless you plan to put other roofing materials above the RC to provide for heat insulation and waterproofing.

as long as you don't get those high gloss laminates, you won't see fingerprint markings. I'm using wood grained laminates from Jennings and Admira priced at about $60 per sheet and have no problems with fingerprints.

yes I am aware, QP can just do a lodegment to NEA. My architect did this for me. It's just whether the QP wants to help the client save the $$$ and bear the responsibility if anything goes wrong.

I don't think need to go to this extent just for a landed house. one thing you need to take note of is the size of the aircon compressors as well. For domestic systems, the compressors are usually about 800mm to 1m in height whereas compressors for commercial use and VRV/VRF systems can be more than 1m in height. During construction when windows and such are not in, it's easy to bring in big aircon compressors. But if you have a huge aircon compressor, you will have problems when you need to replace it later on if you don't have big enough openings to remove the compressor. If your aircon ledge is located at the back of the house, you will need to hire a huge crane just to reach over from the front to the back to remove the compressor. Depending on the size/capacity of the crane, the cost per hour rental can be more than 1k per hour. URA regulations state that aircon compressors must be set more than 2m away from the boundary line to reduce noise pollution for your neighbours. So if you want to put the aircon compressors at the side, you will need to create a recess area for this purpose. Else the norm is to put them in the rear (attic) area just beyond the 2m setback. To obtain CSC, you will also need to provide a noise level report on the aircon compressors for NEA as well to get their CSC clearance.