Major Renovation (builder? Architect? Civil Engineer?)

[yuansong78 0]

Dear renovation experts,

I am planning for some major renovation works at my newly bought 2-storey inter-terrace. Currently, at level 1, there is a car porch (park 1 car), small garden, living area, dining area, a small dry kitchen, a store room, 1 common toilet and a spacious backyard. At level 2, there are 3 bedrooms (1 ensuite) and a common toilet. We are thinking of doing some extension at level 1 into the backyard area to include a granny's room (ensuite) and a maid's room. We are also thinking of removing the garden to allow parking for a 2nd car. At level 2, we are thinking of doing some extension at level 2 to form 4 bedrooms (all ensuite).

Also, other things like new aircon system, new windows and sliding doors or wooden doors, new floor tiles, parquet flooring, toilet accessories, etc, are also required.

For such a scale of renovation, should I be looking for a builder? an architect? or a civil engineer? or are they all one and the same? Any recommendations? contacts? Please do feel free to reply or PM me. Much appreciated. Thanks.

[kardtoon 0]

Dear renovation experts,

I am planning for some major renovation works at my newly bought 2-storey inter-terrace. Currently, at level 1, there is a car porch (park 1 car), small garden, living area, dining area, a small dry kitchen, a store room, 1 common toilet and a spacious backyard. At level 2, there are 3 bedrooms (1 ensuite) and a common toilet. We are thinking of doing some extension at level 1 into the backyard area to include a granny's room (ensuite) and a maid's room. We are also thinking of removing the garden to allow parking for a 2nd car. At level 2, we are thinking of doing some extension at level 2 to form 4 bedrooms (all ensuite).

Also, other things like new aircon system, new windows and sliding doors or wooden doors, new floor tiles, parquet flooring, toilet accessories, etc, are also required.

For such a scale of renovation, should I be looking for a builder? an architect? or a civil engineer? or are they all one and the same? Any recommendations? contacts? Please do feel free to reply or PM me. Much appreciated. Thanks.

Before you decide who to employ, you may want to consider if your plan is to do an A&A or construction. Renovation is out as you plan to increase your GFA. Either A&A or construction both requires submission to the authorities and however A&A limits your to increase of maximum 50% of the current GFA. If you feel that you can manage the floor increase within 50% guideline, then it could be the cheaper way to go. Reconstruction does not limit the amount of GFA except to the limit of your plot ratio. Depending also on whether you want to do significant relaying of toilets, bedrooms, etc, these could also affect the cost of A&A. Hence you need to know roughly what you want to do before you deicde on who to employ.

You can discuss various options with forummers here or with friends and once you roughly know which path you want to take, your budget and timeline, it will be easier to narrow down to architect or builder options. Just a standard renovation contractor is probably out for your case due to PE submissions.

[yuansong78 0]

Before you decide who to employ, you may want to consider if your plan is to do an A&A or construction. Renovation is out as you plan to increase your GFA. Either A&A or construction both requires submission to the authorities and however A&A limits your to increase of maximum 50% of the current GFA. If you feel that you can manage the floor increase within 50% guideline, then it could be the cheaper way to go. Reconstruction does not limit the amount of GFA except to the limit of your plot ratio. Depending also on whether you want to do significant relaying of toilets, bedrooms, etc, these could also affect the cost of A&A. Hence you need to know roughly what you want to do before you deicde on who to employ.

You can discuss various options with forummers here or with friends and once you roughly know which path you want to take, your budget and timeline, it will be easier to narrow down to architect or builder options. Just a standard renovation contractor is probably out for your case due to PE submissions.

Thanks for the prompt reply, Kardtoon. I did a rough calculation. The current GFA is about 1745 sf. We have a good idea of what we want to do and I did some calculations of the new GFA, which turned out to be about 2456 sf (which is less than 50% increase in the GFA). So I suppose A&A is an option for us. That being said, a good idea would be to max out the increase in GFA to 50% if we want to do A&A right? Of course, keeping budget and timeline in mind, we intend to spend about 200k if possible and we have 6 mths. Does it sound like a reasonable expectation?

I think we have a gut feel that we would be going for A&A. Our issue here is that we are not sure of the appropriate people who can provide us with the most optimal solution in terms of space organisation and design. I thought our requirements are pretty straight forward - At level 1, a good size granny's room (ensuite), a maid's room, a storeroom, a common toilet + at level 2, 4 good sized rooms (ensuite). Of course master bedroom got to be the largest compared to the other rooms right? make sense?

[powder blue 0]

Looks like you want alot to be done, don't think 6 mths is possible, as getting the plans out and approval might take quite a few months, my A and A took more than 9mths and still didn't get approved, in the end we gave up and just decided to change the roof and simple reno and it has been 4mths and still not completed, might need another 1 to 2 mths b4 we can shift in.

[yuansong78 0]

Looks like you want alot to be done ....

Hey powder blue, Thanks. We estimated 6 mth from the actual start of the A&A works til its completion. Not sure if that is too optimistic an estimate though. At this point in time, we have only exercised our option recently and will only get our keys in June. So we are taking this period of time to source for reliable builders, architects or engineers whichever is the appropriate persons to help with our requirements. All in all, we plan to move in Dec. haha. wishful thinking? From your experience, it seems like getting approval from the authorities is pretty tricky an issue. perhaps we have to speed things up a little and to firm up on what exactly we want to do. Have our own design and plans in mind at least?

Also, I understand from friends that for A&A works, we would also be required to start off with getting a surveyor to get the exact measurements of the house done up so that the designers (be it an architect or and engineer) can get a more accurate sensing of the setback distances and to incorporate the other detailed structural elements into their design. Would the drawings from BCA suffice? or do we really need the surveyor to get the exact measurements? What these surveyors produce besides the floorplan? Do they test the soil as well?

[powder blue 0]

the surveyor only survey the boundaries to make sure they are correct, the level of the ground,house dimension, i didn't do soil test as we paid our neighbour to share his result of his soil test.

It will be good to get all the paper work done and approved b4 sale completion that will save you time. I find the contractors and builders are all very busy ,they may promse you 6 months but you have to be prepared for delays.

[pantieileen 2]

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Edited October 12, 2011 by pantieileen

[yuansong78 0]

the surveyor only survey the boundaries....

Does the surveyor do calculation for the GFA as well? Any recommended surveyors? I did some search and made some calls and they charge a range of 1800-2000 for a survey service. Reasonable a price? Or does it not matter at all in the light of the entire A&A works? Ha.

[yuansong78 0]

200k 6months...IMPOSSIBLE

400k 12months..MAYBE POSSIBLE

500k 12months...POSSIBLE

...

We are thinking that too. perhaps we can keep the marble flooring and just deal with the rest. But not sure if it would be affected as the course of A&A works go on. Better to factor it in upfront rather than having to deal with it as additional cost along the way.

[powder blue 0]

Does the surveyor do calculation for the GFA as well? Any recommended surveyors? I did some search and made some calls and they charge a range of 1800-2000 for a survey service. Reasonable a price? Or does it not matter at all in the light of the entire A&A works? Ha.

We paid $2000 for ours and took them a few weeks to come out with the drawings. That's only the beginning of fees that you will have to pay like submission to URA, BCA, Architect, engineer, Clerk of works, builder, ID etc not to mention the preliminaries before work to start like notice board, boarding up the premise, temp toilet, temp electricity etc.

[leechaorui 2]

Hi Yuansong78

You can get an architect and a builder to give you a quote based on what you want. From there, you have a clearer idea of cost and time needed. Quite a few of the forumers here have built their houses through engaging either architect or builder directly. You can ask them for recommendation and access for yourself.

Cheers!

[yuansong78 0]

You can get an architect and a builder to give you a quote based on what you want.....

I have got several options here for the moment:

1. Eurobuilders

2. Nic n Wes

3. KLW builders

4. The carpenter's workshop

5. Mint studio

Anyone has any comments on any of the above? Any experiences with them if any? Do PM me if there is. Thank you so much.

[kardtoon 0]

I have got several options here for the moment:

1. Eurobuilders

2. Nic n Wes

3. KLW builders

4. The carpenter's workshop

5. Mint studio

Anyone has any comments on any of the above? Any experiences with them if any? Do PM me if there is. Thank you so much.

Are these all builders? Might want to mix in a few architects to help round out your decision. Do a search in the forum about the pros/cons of architect vs builder led projects.

When you talk to each one, be specific in tell them what you want to do, state your budget and timing considerations upfront and see what they each say about feasibility. Shortlist to a few that you have a good feeling about (honesty, good design, good quality, good feedback from others, etc) and then ask to view some of their projects. Should help you narrow down your search.

[yuansong78 0]

Things seem to be moving. Got our structural plans from BCA, still waiting for our SIP/DIP from NEA, also waiting for the quotations from some of the builders, and at the same time looking forward to seeing the designs from the designers too. So far, most of them have given a broad quotation of about 300k and 6mth timeline. So far so good.

[yuansong78 0]

$300k sounds kinda cheap... beware of the VOs that pop out in the midst of the project. dont wanna get held ransom for the high prices.

Most of the quotes given were on the high 300k side almost towards the near 400k or around there in fact, if we were to add in all the other things like carpentry works, aircon, electrical works, sanitary accessories. Also, if we were to include furnishings and landscaping, the cost would add on another sum. All in all, we are looking at about 400k. We are also more conservative on the timeline after speaking to more of these people and we thought 12 mths would be a better estimate too. Thanks to the good sharing here. Don't want to end up with lousy workmanship due to the need to rush. Well, lets see how things unfolds.