CRRM1010

1) Some of us prefer the architecture route for reconstruction, whereas some prefer the contractor route where they do design and build. 2) Contractors cost will include architect and consultant fees in the design and build project where they handle technically all the submissions. 3) If architect first, will be by tendering in which me and my wife felt its a longer duration of time from planning to tendering to building, therefore we chose the more cost and time savings ways of design and build.

I have pm-ed you.

Sharing some of my wonderful experience in renovation. Received my keys during in the 1Q of this year, and didnt really want to burst my budget thus went for the contractor route, didnt need a super good looking house but a hole in our pockets. The day we got our housekeys, we went looking at our new house and also at our neighbours renovation progress. We found our contractor there, he is very young but very responsible. His cost was very cheap( later i will share how much we paid total for our whole renovation...:), of cause we didnt want to pay peanuts and get monkey! The thing is that we trusted him is that he also renovated a few flats in our new house area, and the comments and reviews by neighbours were by far very good too. What we wanted were very simple, Our job scope we wanted: -Vinyl flooring , kitchen cabinets, 3 wardrobe for 3 bedrooms, painting, and hacking of walls to make it open concept. Here is what we paid for under his package price: 1) Supply and install cement screeding with vinyl flooring to living room, walkway and 3 bedrooms 2) Supply and install 20 Ft kitchen cabinet 3) Supply and install 10FT Iquartz Top 4) Supply and install 2 6FT wardrobe in 2 bedrooms 5) Supply and paint whole house with nippon/ICI paint Package price: $18,800 Add ons: for additional 8 FT wardrobe with setee:$1800. Hacking of walls:FOC Fix living room, bedroom,toilets and kitchen lights (10 no): $120 Fix 2 ceilnig fans :$90 Total we spent for our renovation is only $21,000! Like can you believe it $21,000 for a 5 room BTO? I couldnt believe it too but that was what we paid for. My colleague also recently renovated their house and their quote was closed to $50k. But I guess we cannot compare like this as our house was only done by contractor, dont have the designer feel! But nonetheless, we are happy as we only want to have a house which is actually feasible to live in and the amount we saved is so much substantial. I guess our house looks quite good too ! Oh yes, and not to mention that haulage fees and chemical washing was also free, as their workers are all in house workers. To all new homeowners who will be receiving their keys soon, all the best in renovating your new house!.

Having a higher build in will definitely increase your overall value of your house due to the increase in GFA, but you will have to check with your architect and consultants whether your existing house structure will be able to take the loading of have another. Alternatively, you can check look around from your neighbour whether there are exisiting A&A are done without a full rebuilt.

The cost of professional fees often varies depending on the complexity of your project. Mine was more of a squarish building with lesser architecture finish which costed me $30k from my contractor. These included architecture fee and structural submission. Some more well known architects takes about 5-8% of the overall tender sum if you are choosing the Architecture route.

Its was indeed by sheer luck that we got to meet a good builder who has the capability to build up our dream home that we desired, we came across this builder when we first bought the house when they were rebuilding just across the street of our neighbouring house. We also did some checks via bca directory that they were licensed BCA builder as well as BCA contractor. Also saw some of the forummers mentioned this builder in the forum in the past thread. We got our house rebuild in 15 months even though the contractural agreement for rebuilding the house would take 16.5 months. Some of the cost involved were marginalised due when we haggered the prices down with the contractor but he was a guy whom know his stuff well, most of all no headaches or nightmare as posted by some of the forummers here. We got our house done at $320psqft for our house of 5100sqft which comes to $1.6m which covered basically everything in the house inclusive of carpentry items which was really a good deal for us. Most importantly, there were none or minimal defects as the house was build to perfection by this builder and no V.O cost as their contract was clear cut and no cutting around the corners and no delays. Due to our busy work schedule, my wife and I did not have the time to pop by everyday to catch up on the progress, but this builder keep us up to date with his project schedule and informing us the critical hurdle in each construction process progressively. This was indeed a blessing for us as we would have be in utter chaos should we try to go for the lowest priced contractor from our past experience with other bad builders.