snoozee

Actual cost may or may not be cheaper. Different builders will quote differently for the same item depending on the subcons they engage. With a tender process, you will get more quotes for comparison. From the various pricing, then you could possibly adjust your requirements to cut cost if needed

if there is leak from the concrete floor, any flooring material will be damaged regardless of marble, wood or ceramic/porcelain tiles. most marble are similar. some might be slightly harder but overall they are still consider "soft" compared to granite. why use marble? cos it looks good and makes the house look more "luxurious"? when you are spending a huge sum of money on the house already, the additional marble floor is just a minor extra compared to the overall cost. but marble does need regular care and maintenance else the stone will just stained and get dulled. I used for marble floor for my house's living room compared to using homogenous tiles as I am concerned that the homogenous tiles would pop after years of usage. tiles will contract and expand with temperature changes and I think this would be a bigger problem for landed house's living room floor which is just separated by a concreate layer from the soil. at least with the weight of the marble tile, chances of tile popping up is reduced greatly compared to homogenous tiles which workers like to lay with very minimal gap when the recommended spacing is between 3mm to 5mm. in terms of pricing, marble tiles can be at least 5 times more than homogenous tiles depending on what type of marble you decide to use. if you go to the big tile suppliers, 600 x 600 marble tiles can start from about 30psf (after adding sealing and dry laying costs). so a piece of 600 x 600 marble tile could cost about $120. compared to porcelain tile at $3psf which is about $12 for a piece of 600 x 600 tile. laying cost for marble is also slightly higher due to labour cost and you still need to do polishing after laying as well. so your additional cost for marble could be just under $20k compared to homogenous tiles.

The architect fees are much cheaper since its standard design which had been used many times with adjustments to cater for the land. The architect simply make the changes and does the submissions for a fee. when you go through the architect route, you pay for the architect to design your house, do all the submissions to various authorities and project manage the builder as well. The architect protects your interest if there are disputes. with a design and built builder, he does everything. So if there’s disputes, who you think will win? In terms of quality, if the builder and his workers are good, the quality of work should be there. Also the builder would use better quality raw materials and not scrimp to save to cut cost. It doesn’t matter if its a D&B builder or through a tender process organised by the architect.

Builders. They usually have a go to architect to sign off the plans. Design is usually quite standard so don’t expect too much

licensed to do landed and having the prior experience in doing landed are different things. when you purchase a house, a land survey is not mandatory or required. if you are borrowing money from bank, only the property valuer will perform a valuation of the property and submit a valuation report to the bank. URA and BCA are not involved in the property sale and purchase transaction at all. there are certain landed housing areas in Singapore where the standard guidelines does not apply to the houses in these areas. eg: front setback at 5m instead of 7.5m. front set back matches current setback of neighbouring houses. rear setback for 1st sotrey is not needed. rear setback for 2nd storey at 1m. so you will need to check URA site on whether your target house falls within one of these areas or not. even if most of the houses have rear extended to the boundary, it doesn't mean they are legal if URA doesn't say it's legal. don't take what you see on OneMap as 100 percent accurate. INLIS street preview is using OneMap as the map and the information is wrong sometimes. When I was applying to rebuild my house, the URA officer commented on why we had submitted the project title as corner terrace as OneMap shows my house being an inter-terrace. Apparently whoever updated the graphics on OneMap had conveniently just joined all the houses together without leaving a gap between my house and my neighbour's house to indicate the 2 corner terrace houses. Whether the rear extension is legal or not, you will need to get hold of the latest set of building plans from BCA (only owner can buy) as well as get a confirmation from URA on what is the setback requirement for your house. Go to URA website, under development control, residential handbooks and terrace houses, select Locational Criteria. Check the Landed Housing guided by Street Block Plans and see if your house does fall within the list or not. if it doesn't, it means your house is governed by the standard setback of 2m and the rear extension is illegal.

Normally precon survey is done to document the existing conditions of neighboring houses so that claims which are made can be verified. Whether illegal structure or not is covered I’m not too sure. But if the structure is already there and damage is a direct result of the construction, the builder should rectify the damages. survey is not needed unless you want to confirm encroachment and such. Even then, there’s no need to submit to URA if you are just doing an A&A. that’s why I had advised you to find an experienced builder instead of relying on your contractor. Normally people who had not done landed houses before do not known the processes required

whether the pest control services is sufficient or not is subjective. remember that termites are living creatures and they can come from anywhere. getting rid of them for now doesn't mean they won't come back for good. you will still need to perform regular checks and maintenance. I would suggest you get a contractor who has prior experience in dealing with landed houses for your job. landed houses are very different from regular apartments and the requirements are slightly different as well. you are just inviting trouble when getting someone with no experience in dealing with landed houses to perform your house renovation and especially on a big element like the roof. usually government agencies will only act on feedback so don't go and stir the hornet's nest. as mentioned, get hold of the drawings for the illegal structure and make sure it is designed by a PE. even if you want to retain the illegal structure, you have to make sure that it is structurally sound and designed and built properly. the last thing you want is to have something happening within that illegal structure and you might be fully liable for that since insurance may not cover it. you had also mentioned that the house is good for stay for the next 10 years. so is your plan going to be selling the house after that or redeveloping the house? if selling the house, this illegal structure will become your liability should you choose not to regularise it with the authorities.

The invoice from pest control company means that the owners are doing regular pest control with checks for termites. I don’t think it is expensive to engage a company to do regular pest control on an annual contract with monthly visits. termites can come from elsewhere so don’t have now doesn’t mean don’t have forever. Regular checks would still be needed as preventive measure. Unless the house has structure made out of wood, there should not be any structural issues due to termites. leaking skylight can be fixed. Just how much it costs only. Without removing the skylight, one would not know the extent of the damage the leak had caused. reno really depends on what you want to do. List down all the things you plan to do and you should be able to work out if 100k is enough or not. rear set back for landed houses is usually 2m unless the area has special requirements. For the illegal extension, you can apply to URA to regularise it by paying a sum of money if I’m not wrong. Of cos you would then need a QP to do the submission. Important thing is whether the extension is designed and done properly by a professional or not. There should be drawings done by an engineer for that. Ask to see the drawings for the extension. If drawings not signed off by a PE, then is your own call already.

Even if no need submission you should still get a PE to design the proper structure. The last thing you would want is to have issues with the structure of the extension. whether you engage the PE yourself of through the builder, make sure you see the drawings which are endorsed by a PE for any structural work

It’s your own call on whether to engage hm back or not. I think most IDs have not much knowledge of landed and the requirements unless they have handled it before. Of cos one can always learn on the go. But if there’s any screw ups, you are the one going to pay for it. Anyway, for extensions, you will need a QP to do submissions for you and an ID can’t do that. A builder also can’t do the submission but he would most likely get a QP he normally works with to do the submission you can engage your ID to do the interior design, but ultimately you will still need a builder and QP for the job.

Reconstruction requires the retention of a certain percentage of existing structure. A rebuilt means you can start afresh and not be constrained with any existing structure which needs to be retained for reconstruction

The waste pipe is connected to underground pipes which is connected to the IC. Shifting the pipe is possible but you need to know where is the underground pipe. It also involves hacking up the floor so that a new joint can be made. normally houses would have underground beams as well and sometimes the pipes run through or under these beams. PUB requires horizontal pipes to be of a certain gradient to ensure water flow. Normally it would be best to get a most direct route to the IC which also reduces the chances of choke points. you will need to get a licensed plumber to do the shifting. Also since it involves hacking the floor, you will need to redo the floor as well. If you find the pipe unsightly, can always create a box up to hide it. I have a waste pipe near the corner of my living room and I just do a box up such that it looks like another column instead. This would be much cheaper than trying to shift the pipe

300psf would be more of very basic finishing like $3psf tiles selection. If need marble, expect to pay for it. My marble flooring cost me almost $40psf for supply, lay and polishing in total and I had gotten my marble tiles direct from a supplier at a very good price. lift will cost you anything from $50k and up. If you choose to do glass lift shaft, the cost will go up. Of cos one can get China lift for about $40k and have the RC lift shaft.

For landed house, pests will be there even if you keep your house super clean. Pests will come over from your neighboring houses so can’t prevent this. Chances of pests coming out from IC cover is almost zero unless the IC cover is cracked

approvals can take 1 to 2 months as each agency has their own timeline to work on the approvals. usually they will take almost their allowed time to reply you. if first time don't approve, you wait again after resubmission. eg: URA takes 1 month to reply. if need to resubmit, you then wait another month. so quite a bit of wait time. also, there is more paper work as more submissions and later on inspections (if needed). I may be wrong but A&A normally don't even need to submit hence not much paperwork and so on compared to recon or rebuilt. if bank loans are involved, then the payment could be longer as banks will hold a retention sum and only release if after CSC. so basically cash flow is locked for contractors. with reconstruction, you can do more things. you should be able to change the roof profile with reconstruction. not sure about A&A though. but do note that you will need to get a PE for this as structural changes would need PE to design.

many houses has IC inside the house so no problem with this. some owners purposely shift the IC outside the house at a cost sewage gas should not leak from the IC as there should be a vent pipe connecting the IC and this vent pipe's exit is at the roof top. if there are gas leaks from the IC, then the cover could be faulty and replaced instead.

so long as your roof works does not end up with you having an additional storey (be it from 2 storey to 3 storey or 2 storey to 2 storey plus attic), it will still be classified as A&A. reconstruction and A&A fees to URA differs by $3210. A&A is $3210, reconstruction/rebuilt is $6420 other costs are really what you intend to do for your house. the classification between A&A and reconstruction is more of what extent of work is being done to your house and what needs to be submitted to authorities for approval.

go to hardware shop to buy a spirit level and measure your ceiling to check if it is indeed level. else can download apps on your smart phone to use it to check on whether the box is level or not. ceilings are usually not level unless you do a complete false ceiling. same case as walls will have variations.

while no submission is required, it doesn't mean that one should just simply bolt on some metal bars and assume that is safe to be used as a railing/safety barrier. When it comes to safety, always have professional design and drawings rather than "based on experience"

note that the estimated cost is really an guesstimate. but if you plan to use the car porch roof as a balcony, you would need a PE to also design the barriers/railings as well. note that the car porch roof terrace is supposed to be open to sky, meaning it shouldn't be covered. But some owners construct roof over it and I've seen some even creating an entire room out of the car porch roof. No matter what is done, get a PE to design the proper structures for these things. When it comes to safety, it shouldn't be compromised just to save some money.

you can't simply rewire it as the NTP doesn't not belong to you. it belongs to NLT. if you damage it, you will need to pay NLT $165.50 to replace the point. Just leave it as it is unless you want it to be in another location then you would need to contact NLT to shift it for you.

You can’t legally extend the car porch all the way. The car porch setback from the front boundary is at 2.4m. So assuming your building setback is at 7.5m, your car porch roof can be up to 5.1m in length. assuming your site width is 6m, your car porch roof can have a floor area of about 275sqf. If we apply the “standard” 300psf for new construction, your car porch roof would cost you about 82k. do take note that you would still need to apply for demolition permit and get a PE to plan the demolition as well as design the new car porch roof.

If you or your family has ideas on how to design the house, then no need for ID. A builder is not an architect or a PE though they work with architects and PEs on projects. you can go directly to a builder or hire an ID to source for you. But do note that the ID would take a payment from you as well as usually take a commission from whatever suppliers they recommend you to buy from. I think builders also have commission/discounts from suppliers. Architects are not allowed to take any commission from anyone. normally when ID and builders go to suppliers, they will get discounts off the list price. Eg for tiles, when you see price of $3psf at the showroom, the ID/builder will get it at a cheaper price like 10% off. That’s why if you walk in and make a purchase, the sales staff would usually ask if you have any ID or Contractor. ultimately, you need to decide whether you have extra money to hire an ID or not.

Full height windows would most likely require a PE to certify. Either your window glass is safety glass which can act as a watery barrier or you install a railing in front of the full height glass window. This is to prevent risk of fall from heights in the event the glass breaks. of cos you can choose not to have a PE to be involved if it’s just an A&A but the responsibility is on you if anything should happen to the full height window’s glass

If you want to demolish the existing car porch roof and columns, you would need a PE to assess and let the builder know how to demolish. It’s not like just taking a sledge hammer to smash the thing down as there are rebars which need to be terminated properly and the PE will determine the method by reading the plans. So to build the cantilevered roof, you would definitely need the services of a PE. why don’t you talk to your builder who would be doing your A&A about this and let him go sort out the PE portion. It would be easier rather than you trying to find someone to do it