snoozee

you indicated a max 5m height for attic and your spring line started from the corner based on 5m height which isn't what URA is depicting. the 5m max height is before envelope control and with all new developments falling under envelope control, the 5m max height is no longer applicable. if you look more clearly into details of the URA residential guidebook on envelope control and click on the section on attics rather than just looking at the main 3D diagram, you will see how the envelope is being defined from the section view and how the spring line is based from 3.5m from the permissible building height and not based on 5m. with the spring line based on 3.5m instead of 5m, you can actually get more floor space since the setback of the roof from the building front and back is now 3.5m instead of 5m which essentially gives additional 3m of useable internal floor space assuming the roof is at the max allowed height.

you may wish to check your URA guidelines again on where the spring line starts for attics under the envelope control guidelines.

firstly, I must clarify that I do not know how your architect had designed the roof profile. assuming that the area within the 45 degrees pitch lines are currently not utilised as indoor areas and you have a 3.5m height for the attic, you could possibly get another 6sqm (64sqf) each for front and back (assuming your plot is 6m wide, and 1m extension). again I must emphasize that I am assuming a lot of things here as I do not know your land dimensions and roof profile which is being designed. edit: referring to the below diagram, area in green is the extension which can be gained by doing the step roof. based on my understanding of URA and BCA requirements, the 1m drop is the max allowed so as to still obtain a min 2.4m floor to ceiling clearance required by BCA while still maintain the build structures (wall/column) within the buildable envelope demarcated by the springing lines.

Can only be within the 45 degree envelope defined by URA. but no need to die die have the roof pitch touch the corner of the lower storey. Can do something like this ________ ___| |___ | | you can then do a canopy about 1M or 1.5m from the top to shade the balconies front and back

both. too thin will not provide enough strength to the screed. too thick may also crack due to the uneven drying of the screed. you can search online for data sheets from screed manufacturers and they normally recommend thickness of 10mm to 40/50mm. if need more then usual case is pour concrete to top up then apply screed. of cos if you insist on doing it and am willing to bear any consequences of it and indemnify your contractor I don't think he will not do it if he is paid. it's just that if anything happens, he may tell you, "I told you so"

screed manufactures will have recommended thickness for application of the screed. if too thick it will crack.

I may be wrong but my understanding is that BCA mandates that all light switches and sockets must be between 450mm and 1200mm from the finished floor level with the exception for kitchens. you may want to confirm with your QP on this requirement.

Normally kitchen will be at a lower level than living room since it is a wet area so as to prevent water from flowing to living room in case of washing the floor. Only way to fix is to add more screed to same level as living room

Is this your kitchen? Cos the light switch seems to be much higher than the 1.2m requirement

you need to get the authorisation to apply to BCA for the plans search first. once BCA has completed the search, they will let you download all the plans for the house for preview. after previewing the plans, you can then choose which set you want to buy. the purchased plans are exactly the same as the preview plans just that the watermarks are different. you can't use the preview plans later for submission as the PE will require the BCA plans with the proper watermarks for submission

the building's plans can be bought from BCA BUT only by the house owner or authorised party. check with the current owner if they have the existing building plans. if not, if you have already signed and exercised the OTP, get the owners to authorise you to purchase the building plans. BCA will charge $30 for searching for the plans and each set of plans is another $40 each. if the house only has 1 set of building plans, then you pay $70. if the house has multiple sets due to changes/resubmissions, etc, then you pay more. but after the search is done, you can review the plans to see which set you need to purchase before paying for the plans purchase fees. last time the fees were $25 each but seems that the fees has increased.

you need to check the existing structural plans on whether this can be done. most likely the dining/kitchen is constructed with a higher foundation beam than the living room area hence you can't reduce the level of the dining/kitchen without tearing down the whole house. the other option is to raise the living room area but this will affect your entry since you would need to add steps from the car porch to get into the living room.

push the doorbell upwards towards the ceiling and you should be able to dislodge it from the screw that it is being mounted on.

can do on upper storey. have seen inter terrace with swimming pool in place of balcony. but again it would be more like a soaking pool rather than a swimming pool.

my friend told me 30k+ so that's what I take it as. whether all in or not I do not know as I supposed that was part of the itemised quotation provided to her by her builder. anyway it is a small pool which is more like a soaking pool for kids so not those big ones which run the entire length of the house with all the frills.

I wouldn’t know the cost. You will have to get quotes from builders who tender for your job after the house design is completed and approved. Again price of a pool can vary from builder to builder and depending on your requirements. for my friend’s case, her pool of 30k+ is just a small percentage of her overall rebuilt cost of more than 1M

Swimming pool cost depends on depth, size, etc. my friend did a pool of about 2m by 5m for about 30k+ for her house 2 years ago. Her quotes for the same pool ranged from 30k+ to 80k+

MPL is issued by PUB. if you want to know the various levels of the house, you will need to perform a topo. depending on how old the house is, the original house plans may have the levels information. but you can't buy the plans from BCA unless you are the owner or authorised by the owner. check with the sellers if they have the existing house plans or not. another way to estimate whether the house is above or below 104mrl is to see the neighbours houses especially those that are rebuilt in the last 5 years. usually if you see house which have steps leading up to the 1st storey, it would likely mean the area is below 104mrl.

Just want to highlight the "myth" of NO GST GST is chargable by any companies whose turn over is more than 1M in a year. this is by law if a builder tells you that he don't charge GST, it doesn't mean that you don't pay GST for the job. it is just that you do not see the GST component in the invoice from the builder since the builder can't charge you GST as he can't claim GST back from IRAS. in case one doesn't know how GST works GST registered companies need to charge customers GST for all goods and services provided. but they can also get GST refund from all goods and services purchased from their suppliers and this is contra off in the quarterly GST submission to IRAS. for example, a GST registered contractor charges you $10K for installing say aircon. so you will need to pay $10K plus GST which in today's context equals an amount of $10.7K to the contractor. But if the contractor purchases the aircon equipment at $9K from his GST registered supplier, the contractor would have paid $9630 to the supplier. the contractor would then need to pay IRAS $70 for the GST difference since he had charged you $700 in GST but he had paid his supplier $630 in GST. so his profit from this is $1k. now if a contractor is not GST registered, he would still need to pay $9630 to the same aircon supplier for the aircon equipment. so in order to maintain his same $1k profit, he would need to charge you at $10630 for the aircon supply and install. if the contractor charges you $10k for the supply and install, this would mean that his profit is now only $370. so as one can see, the no GST story is a "myth" in the construction industry as one would end up paying GST either directly or indirectly.

the "half above" and "half below" means that the building height is taken from the ground level and the part where the basement is exposed above ground is taken into consideration in the overall building height. excavate 1.5m for basement and another 1.5m for foundation equals 3m don't need ERSS? taking on quite a bit of risk even though BCA allows some leeway on ERSS requirements. BCA officers go around checking on sites every day and any excavation done beyond what is allowed will mean stop work order being imposed. excavated earth can only do top up of up to 1m. anything more than that means need to do permanent retaining wall already which means additional cost. again, URA will approve on case by case basis. what can be done last time doesn't mean now can be done as building regulations had changed over the last few years.

adding a basement will easily add a few hundred K to the construction costs. the bulk of the cost is to erect a temporary structure or commonly known as ERSS to support the existing ground from collapsing when the soil is excavated for the basement. it is similar to what one would commonly see at MRT construction sites but at a smaller scale. for basements, the general guideline is that the basement should be fully enclosed. however if your existing land is below 104mrl, your first storey MUST be at or above this 104mrl level. so the part of the building below 104mrl can be considered as a basement even though it is at/above the road level. eg: your land is at 103mrl. so you need to either do an earth fill to top up 1m or have your floor beams higher up so that your 1st storey is at 104mrl. if you decide to top up the earth, means you will either have a ramp up or do a staircase from the existing ground level to go up to your 1st storey. but if you decide to do a basement, the part below 104mrl can be considered as part of the basement and your building height of 15.5m (for 3 storey) is counted from the 104mrl level. meaning the max height of your house can be at 119.5mrl. generally there is no max height for the basement but minimum height of 2.4m from floor to ceiling is required by BCA. so assuming the case that your land is at 103mrl, you need to excavate another 2m or so to build your basement. 2m is to include allowance for works to do up the underground beams etc. (i'm no PE so the 2m might be more) now, if your house is already at 104mrl or higher, then you will need to dig deeper to built your basement. your architect would then need to design the driveway to allow for the required slope/gradient for your vehicle to enter. at 22m depth, i'm not sure if you have enough space for driveway or not. LTA guidelines for road access slope is 1:10 or max 1:8.3. meaning for every 1m drop in vertical height, you need to be able to go horizontal at least 8.3m or 10m. so with 2.5m of drop required, you would need at least 20.75m of depth to 25m of depth. of cos if your existing house is on sloping land, then it does make things easier. there are quite a number of houses which are sitting much higher than the road level. as such, it is easy to excavate the land to build the "basement" and then build the upper floors above it. however do note that URA had updated their guidelines on houses on slopping ground to take into account the slope as part of the building envelope. again, i'm not an architect or PE and above information is based on my understanding of the guidelines from various agencies. if you need detailed planning information, then best is to approach an architect and talk to them. also URA approaches each house on a case by case basis so they will apply the current day guidelines to your submissions. so even if something could be done say 2 years ago, it doesn't mean that you can do it today since the guidelines had changed.

generally structural steel is more expensive than concrete. so the proposed steel staircase would cost more than having an RC staircase. in order to reduce the structure loading on the existing house structure for the attic, the builder is proposing steel column and beams for the attic roof hence also reducing the amount of reinforcement needed to the foundation or/and existing columns and beams. are you planning to have this as your retirement home? if your plan is just stay a few years and then sell, then don't bother wasting money to shift the stairs if you are not putting in a lift now. if you have been to industrial areas, you would see that most industrial areas have similar fencing. search online for BRC fence and you would know what I'm referring to. downside is slightly less privacy but if you are into gardening, then can plant some small trees or creepers to maintain the privacy. plants also have the effect of cooling down the environment as well. if fence is not your thing and you want high privacy, then just built the brick wall. wall finishes I can't comment too much as not sure how much coverage is needed for your house. sanitary and plumbing seems fair. just make sure that all existing waste pipes are replaced with new ones. electrical works seems fair as well. double check that network points are provided for in each room and the kitchen as well. kitchen is latest requirement from IMDA. if possible request for double network points in each room so that you can have 1 for computer/data and 1 for TV set top box. aircon 30k sounds fair assuming that all rooms have wall units and 2 ceiling units for the living room. don't think you are getting ducted aircon for 30k carpentry 50k sounds fair. but could be minimum works though and customisation could cost more. sanitary 14k sounds high though unless you are provided brands like Duravit or Toto. if you think the overall cost is too high, get quotations from a few other builders to compare. don't just settle on the first one you get before doing comparisons.

many builders have "in-house" architects who are registered architects who will sign the plans and do submissions for a fee. it doesn't mean the architect is working for the builder but rather on a free-lance or project basis. do note that in case of issues, you know which side the architect is on as the architect is not hired by you. URA fees for reconstruction is $6000 plus GST = $6420 in case you want to know the exact amount. since you adding another storey (attic) it would be classified as reconstruction and not A&A. prelim looks fair anti-termite looks fair. check how many years warranty is being provided. not sure what addition structure is being proposed but steel does look abit high if the steel works is just for the new roof internal and external wall looks fair. but if you want to cut cost, don't do external wall. just do fencing instead. can save you some $$$ and also improve air flow metal roof looks fair. but check what type of roof is being proposed. if using metal roof from Bluescope Lysaght then sounds ok. make sure all the essential waterproofing and substrates are proposed and done properly as metal roof have multiple layers to provide insulation and water proofing water proofing looks a bit high. but i'm not sure how many areas (balcony, roof terrace, toilets) you need to do. check what brand of water proofing material is being proposed. wall finishes include what? plastering? tiling? painting? floor finishes using what type of material? marble? homogenous tiles? engineered wood? parquet? doors, windows, panels look fair. do check and make sure that all door frames are redone and not reused from existing house external works look fair. but ask for more detail on what is being done. also is external wall works quoted 2 times? M&E includes what? full aircon whole house? have ducted aircon? whole house rewired with new wiring and network points? whole house plumbing redone? if the quote is before GST, do add in the 7% GST for the actual amount. carpentry and sanitary could add on another 70K to 100k depending on how extensive you want your carpentry and what brand of fittings you choose. a toilet bowl can range from below $200 to more than $1000 depending on the brand and technology. at 700+k, topping up another 20% to 30% of budget could actually be enough for rebuilt of an entire new house.

what is the height of the drain off pipe from the ceiling? an aircon wall mount unit is about 35cm to 40cm tall. so this means the aircon drain pipe will start at about 40cm from the ceiling (assuming the wall unit is installed all the way to the ceiling). so if your water heater drain pipe is less than 50cm from the ceiling, then you can't use it as the aicon drain pipe as water flows down and not up. unless you install a water pump at your aircon to pump the condensation water upwards then you could use that water heater drain pipe. If it is low enough, then should be able to use as to connect the water heater drainage just need another t-joint to do the connection.

very simple mortgage loan is up to 80% of purchase price so if your purchase price is 2.7m, you can take up to 2.16m of loan construction loan is up to 75% of construction price. whether to include GST or not depends on how you negotiate with the banker. assuming the bank allows you to include GST. your construction cost including GST is 500k. bank can loan you up to 375k as construction loan. however, both loans are subject to TDSR. so as long as your TDSR is below 60% of your income (or combined loaners income), you will be fine. else the bank can only loan you up to the TDSR limit based on your income and monthly repayment amounts to be paid for both loans.