Reconstruction From 1 Storey To 2.5 Storey

[polarlim 0]

Hi there,

I am thinking of reconstructing my single storey inter-terrace house. Detail of the house stated below

Land size 2800 sq ft

Single storey inter-terrace

I would like to convert it into a 2.5 Storey Semi-D with open terrace as my neigbour is currently a corner terrace.

1.Could I have some advise on the minium budget i should set aside for the whole project including lighthing, air con and etc...

2. How long does it take to reconstruct the house.

3. Would like to know who should i go about kicking start this? Cold call on the architect or builder or can i sent them email and wait for them to reply, will they?

4. Canrecommend architect or builder that any existing member used and found that their workmanship are good.

5. Understand that there is construction loan available, but it is for short term, so what to do after construction? Have to refinance?

Thanks in advance for reading and replying me....

[kardtoon 0]

Hi there,

I am thinking of reconstructing my single storey inter-terrace house. Detail of the house stated below

Land size 2800 sq ft

Single storey inter-terrace

I would like to convert it into a 2.5 Storey Semi-D with open terrace as my neigbour is currently a corner terrace.

1.Could I have some advise on the minium budget i should set aside for the whole project including lighthing, air con and etc...

2. How long does it take to reconstruct the house.

3. Would like to know who should i go about kicking start this? Cold call on the architect or builder or can i sent them email and wait for them to reply, will they?

4. Canrecommend architect or builder that any existing member used and found that their workmanship are good.

5. Understand that there is construction loan available, but it is for short term, so what to do after construction? Have to refinance?

Thanks in advance for reading and replying me....

Question 1 and 2 varies according to the type of house that you want to build. Find and architect or builder and they can give you a good gauge to timing and budget. If you are have the frontage and size to convert to a semi-D, that'll probably bring extra value to your house... nice :-)

[leechaorui 2]

Hi polarlim,

I will share with you my experience based on the questions that you have posed.

Land size 2800 sq ft -

Single storey inter-terrace

I would like to convert it into a 2.5 Storey Semi-D with open terrace as my neigbour is currently a corner terrace.

1.Could I have some advise on the minium budget i should set aside for the whole project including lighthing, air con and etc...

2800 sqft for intermediate terrace is a good size land. If your land is squarish and has a wide frontage (as opposed to narrow and long land or irregular shape land), there are creative ways to construct the place to make it very nice. You may not be able to make it into a complete corner house but it can be constructed much like it is semi detached. Near my place, there is one intermediate terrace that is constructed to look like a corner house.

Budget wise, it depends on the materials you use to construct your place such as solid bricks, water proofing whole house, type of paint, complexity of your electrical and piping works, use of and type of piling, etc... Lighting is not expensive if you choose normal downlight or even LED lights. Air-conditioning can add up to quite a sum if you plan to air-condition the whole house.

According to some forumers who choose designer architect, I think they claimed that it cost them $1.2 million to construct. I have also heard of people who construct their terrace house for between $1.5 million to $2 million. There are also those who claimed to have constructed their house for less than $500K. If your requirements are not too high, I think a more realistic budget is between $650K to $900K.

2. How long does it take to reconstruct the house.

Construction takes about 1 year, if you are tearing down everything and rebuilding from scratch.

3. Would like to know who should i go about kicking start this? Cold call on the architect or builder or can i sent them email and wait for them to reply, will they?

You can start by being clear about your needs such as the number of rooms needed, the type of funishing required, whether you want to air-conditioned the whole house, whether you want to have a swimming pool, whether you want to have water proofing for the whole house, etc..

Once you are clearer with your own needs, you can call for architects and builders to give you quotation based on your needs. These architects and builders can be sourced from contacts in forum, around your neighbourhood, etc... The architects and builders will be more willing to work with you if they sense that you are clear with your needs and have set aside a reasonable budget for the construction.

4. Can recommend architect or builder that any existing member used and found that their workmanship are good.

These terrace houses are usually build by small time builders/ architects. Depending on your needs, each builder is probably suitable for particular segments of the market such as low cost and low quality, high cost and high quality, low cost and medium quality, high cost and low quality, etc... Hard to find low cost and high quality but I think there are tons of high cost and low quality. By quality, I mean the build quality and design of your house. This is related to constractors using inferior quality materials such as hollow bricks, lousy cement, minimum rebar to meet the building standards set by authorities, lots of drains, lots of pillars around the house, etc...

5. Understand that there is construction loan available, but it is for short term, so what to do after construction? Have to refinance?

You can take construction loan first and then when the construction is completed, convert the construction loan as part of your housing loan. There are many mortgage consultants out there who could help you. You may want to check with your exisiting mortgage loan lender bank first.

Thanks in advance for reading and replying me....

You are welcome. It is always to a pleasure to know of forumers who wish to build their own home for their family. Cheers!

[polarlim 0]

Thanks Leechaorui for sharing,

My land is square with about 12m frontage which should be good for a semi-D layout.

Basic concept of the house would be master bedroom with balcony and 2 bedroom on level 2.

1st floor will be maid's room and granny's room and a bomb shelter.

The roof terrace will be a room with open terrace.

As for the materials, would like something of better quality as we intend to stay long.

Aircon whole house would be the best.

Stone finishes for living room and timber for rooms

Looking at middle range or above materials

Anyone with similar requirement and land size can advise on this?

[leechaorui 2]

Thanks Leechaorui for sharing,

My land is square with about 12m frontage which should be good for a semi-D layout.

Basic concept of the house would be master bedroom with balcony and 2 bedroom on level 2.

1st floor will be maid's room and granny's room and a bomb shelter.

The roof terrace will be a room with open terrace.

As for the materials, would like something of better quality as we intend to stay long.

Aircon whole house would be the best.

Stone finishes for living room and timber for rooms

Looking at middle range or above materials

Anyone with similar requirement and land size can advise on this?

Hi Polarlim,

12 m frontage is good for semi-detached. You probably can consider to set back from the side 3 to 3.5 metres and this leave you between 8 to 9 metres for the width of the house. I think this width is good enough for nice design.

You may want to consider doing a small basement of about 1000 sqft to put your home shelter, a storeroom and if the place can be made airy, you could use it as a washing area for clothing and kitchen. This would free up some space for you on first level to have:

(1) a server room for your internet, TV and telephone box (use that part of the space below the staircase)

(2) allow you to construct a wider staircase so that your house will look more grand. You may want to consider installing a home lift too.

(3) Give you the space to build a bigger granny's room so that it is more comfortable. You may want to build wider door for the granny's room and the attached toilet such that it is handicap friendly. You can also have a bigger hall and toilets on the first floor.

For the second floor, you may want to construct (option a) 2 bigger bedrooms or (option b) 3 medium size bedrooms or (option c) 2 or 3 bedrooms with a small living area for people to congregate to watch TV with an area for common balcony so that it is cooler. Having an extra room (even if it is small) is useful for guests to stay over a day or two or just use for study room. If you need 3 rooms, it is useful to provide for 4. I build 7 rooms in my house when I need only 5.

On the attic, you could maximize the space to construct a Master bedroom with toilet and open terrace. If the house has flat roof, you may want to construct it such that you can add a spiral staircase to assess the rooftop for you and your love one to watch the moon and stars in the evening. In short, your Masterbed room can become a mini penthouse with a build-in (a) study area, (b) walk-in wardrobe, © a small pantry with refrigerator, (d) an open balcony and (e) a roof garden assess internally from the attic

You may want to re-consider air-conditioning the living room because a lot of people who air-con the living room shared with me that they seldom switch on the air-con for the living room because it is expensive and it takes quite long for the air-con to cool the living room because of its huge volume (ie I assume that you will have high ceiling for the first floor). I only air-conditioned my bedrooms.

I agree with you that it is better to use quality materials for the construction. I think the materials that I used for my house construction is fairly good. According to my architect friend, my house is over resourced and built to last many centuries. For me, I think it is good if it can stand tall for 200 years. Some examples include using high grade cement on beams and pillars (similar grade of cement that was used for constructing home shelter), use of Cat6 cables even for connecting door bell, pile very deeply (ie pile up to 30 metres in depth where most of my neighbours didn't even do piling or pile something like 3 to 5 metres deep only). The soil quality is very good in my area but I chose to do deep piling so that the building is very secure. Others include stronger construction methods such that any part of the building including open balconies supported by cantilever can easily take 15 tons of weight, water proof the whole house including the first level flooring, etc...

I wouldn't say that my house is built to extremely high quality in terms of construction because there are parts of it which I am still not very satisfied. Examples include no piling work is done on the fencing wall of my house (most people don't do piling except for senior political office holders who do piling on fencing wall for security reason). There is not enough thought that goes into the design of the house such that I still need some floor traps to remove excess water from rain. If the design is really good, it should be able to help me to recycle and filter the water efficiently without the use of too many floor traps.

If you mean parquet for bedroom, I think it is okay. You may want to consider using Bamboo flooring. I am using parquet but I think bamboo flooring looks a lot more beautiful and classy. For stone finishing, you will have to make sure it matches your design. I use some stone finishing for external wall and chengai wood trellis within the house. I think chengai wood is more lasting and looks better than trying to use laminated plywood for decor.

Edited February 15, 2011 by leechaorui

[polarlim 0]

Sorry for the late reply. Yes I did see a few semi-d at my area with a grand look from outside. I intend to have the open terrace as a entertainment room therefore the master will have to be at the second level. Leechaorui, you seems to have a very good knowledge and experenice in reconstruction, must have done this many times, big time property owner... ha ha. If you have any one you can recommend me to get a quote from please let me know. As for the rest of the members if possible let me know anyone you have try and found good please let me know. Also if possible what is the vaule you have spent.

Thanks in advance...