architect or builder

[chuakh 0]

I have a single storey semi-D looking to rebuild.

Any cheap and reliable architect or builder to recommend? Can pm? Thanks.

Concern about builder method is they don't show you any housing designs before you commit to giving them the job so the quotations are very rough estimates and difficult to itemize and compare.

[snoozee 98]

honestly, I don't think anyone will give you a full house design before you sign anything. the time and effort that goes into doing a full house design can't be recovered if you choose not to go with them. worse case is that you can take the design and engage someone else to do the work.

what you can do is to look at the architect or builder's portfolio of past works and see if you like their past designs. normally for builders, their designs are quite standard and can be said to be like "cookie cutter" designs where the same design is applied to various houses with minor variations. for architects, their designs for their various projects will differ more but there will always be some common major design elements in their projects as this is the architecture firm's "style" of work.

Again, it won't be possible to give you an itemized cost breakdown until the entire house design is done and approved by authorities which is why at this initial stage, only the estimated cost can be give to you based on current market rates. for example, you can get an estimated cost of say 1.5M to rebuilt your house. but after the design is done, you want to have huge triple insulated glass panels instead of brick walls for the house and then want to have the whole house floor and walls cladded in big marble slabs with ceilings cladded in expensive hardwood. all these detailed requirements will exceed the initial 1.5M estimated cost at the start. even though I might be exaggerating but I hope you get what I'm trying to say.

Also, construction costs are increasing month by month so any itemized costs given to you today will no longer be valid anymore 6 months down the road due to increase of prices of raw materials like steel, concrete and sand. of cos if you sign with a builder, the quotation would have covered these price fluctuations of raw materials. but if you are going to engage an architect first, the costing will only be known when your project is tendered out to builders which could be 3 or 4 months later.

 

[3Cube 9]

On 9/27/2018 at 9:32 AM, chuakh said:

I have a single storey semi-D looking to rebuild.

Any cheap and reliable architect or builder to recommend? Can pm? Thanks.

Concern about builder method is they don't show you any housing designs before you commit to giving them the job so the quotations are very rough estimates and difficult to itemize and compare.

I had completed a 2.5 storey semi d with a basement, built in area about 4546 sq ft with all in cost $307 per sq ft (ie: Architect, Engineer, Government fees, Home Lift & double roof including the house). I am also the person endorsement for Builder's Completion Certificate. More importantly as the job duration span across 2 years & at the point in time our company's turn over was luckily did not exceed 1 million (company in infancy year), there was no GST involved. Please email your requirement to threecubebuilders@ymail.com

[cymon 6]

My advise is to look for a more reputable architect and not those cheap architect.  Also remember to engage own contractor for tender exercise.  Reason to engage a reputable architect is that they will not collude with the contractor (many instances of architect and contractor colluding).  ALWAYS REMEMBER, architect, contractor, PE, RTO & even QS MUST BE INDENDENT. 

Also, interview as many contractor as possible and also check on their background history (ACRA search if possible) in the trade.  Check and compare all their quotes.  Never let a low quotation tempt you, check and ask yourself why did they quoted so low compare to others. 

[super cloudnine 0]

I'd strongly advise to get an architect, who works in your favour and not the other way. 

[Andrew Mah 0]

Hi Mr Chuak , u may look for Design and Build builder for a quote , just give them the information u want and they will prepare a quote and layout plan for u . I Re-build my house recently and I found this contractor service is good and price are quite reasonable u may call Daniel @ 94757900 for a no obligation consultation. 

[Zyy 0]

On 10/24/2018 at 10:54 AM, Andrew Mah said:

Hi Mr Chuak , u may look for Design and Build builder for a quote , just give them the information u want and they will prepare a quote and layout plan for u . I Re-build my house recently and I found this contractor service is good and price are quite reasonable u may call Daniel @ 94757900 for a no obligation consultation. 

Hi Andrew,

May I know how much they charge psf based on GFA or built-in?

 

[3Cube 9]

Contract price are based on 2 components: Fixed & Variable Cost.

 

Generally, Build-in Area will be inversely proportionate to Rate per Square Foot due to the fixed cost factor.

For example, one of the fixed cost item in all my project is the Professional Engineer's Fee, Authorities Fess & the likes.These usually are Fixed Cost with little or no fluctuation over time. Hence the Rate per Square Foot will be lower as the build-in Area increase.

ie:

Assume Cost for Engineers, etc Fixed Cost is $60k

For a 3000 Square Foot house, the rate will be $20.

For a 4000 Square Foot house, the rate drops to $15.

 

For Landed Residential  jobs, labour cost is more or less considered (in my opinion), fixed as it will take similar (not exactly the same / not subjected to high fluctuation) number of workers to carry out a job with no regards to the quantity involve. Also when the worker is allocated for a job, the worker's salary will not be paid from splitting income of 2 projects are different location. It is different from a factory production where the salary of a worker can be split by the quantity of output.

Having said that, but when it comes to large project such as condominium, shopping centre, labour cost will be variable as labour rate will be distributed lower to the large quantity involved.

ie::

To carry out a concrete pouring job, whether it is 20 or 80 cubic meters, you still need similar numbers of workers with no high fluctuation. Only difference is the time factor for both quantity's scenario.

 

The way I usually present my price is to show the owner a COMPLETE budget of the entire job from estimating the Authorities' fee, Engineer's fees, Services Connection fees, & also the actual construction cost. I also will set aside in the same budget owner's "Shopping" budget (ie: Prime Cost & Provisional Sum) for aesthetic items subject to change according to the different brands in the market (ie: Light Fittings, Sanitary Ware, Air Con, Built-in Furniture, etc). After all this, a certain percentage (usually not more than 10%) of the aforementioned (known as Contingencies Sum) will be added to cater for un-foreseen works & changes which the owner usually have during the construction. This Contingencies will be deducted if there are no changes by the owner or any unforeseen works.

When the cost is presented to the owner in this manner, it helps the owner to have a firm grasp on the cost without over-spending & also ensure they are able to apply adequate bank loan funding (if owner choose to apply for bank loan)

 

Usually normal Semi D residential is about $300~$350 per square foot including literally everything. Not just the contractor's cost.

I you need help in estimation & space planning using AutoCAD (I will be providing layout plans), please contact me at threecubebuilders@ymail.com

[ubk 0]

Talking to some architects recently for inter-terrace A&A, anyone care to share experience with Chen+Choi? Understand that several members here have engaged them before. 

[MONICA74 0]

Be careful of this Andrew Mah above. 

[MONICA74 0]

In fact, this Andrew MAH is the project manager of MAXZO which is related to Design and Build builder. He just pretended to sound like he was one of Daniel's clients.