leechaorui

Hi Snooze, for a 3.5 storey building that maximise the height permissible by building control authority, does it mean that the attic floor cannot be served by lift, given that there is an overhead requirement of between 3.4m? How much floor space is required to be set aside for the development of the lift (assuming the lift size mirrors those of HDB flats).

Not sure why the owner is reluctant to provide you with the floor plan. I think it is not all landed house owners are anal. Hope that you have taken over the house and can now renovate to your liking. Agree with you that reconstruction cost a lot now, in the millions. Do share with us pictures of your new place and how you have transformed it.

Yes, for easier maintenance, you need to have an access panel near it. I installed a casette aircon and got the contractor to install an access panel next to it.

If you have a bit more of height space, you can construct an extension upwards (like a small house sitting on the roof) and has a bigger piece of glass cover over the perimeter of the extension. In this way, you should not have an issue with water seepage. You can pm me and I can draw a simple picture for you to help with visualisation of how it looks.

Certainly the owner of the house has spent more on rebuilding given that piling can be expensive especially when micro piling is used. Some engineers have opined that Singapore's construction safety standard is very high and for most small landed properties construction, piling is not really needed. However, with the high engineering standards, many of these cases that do not require piling also end up with piling being used, with likely even higher safety requirements. The piling cost in the 1990s shouldn't be too high and if the owner wishes to charge a bit of premium in the selling price for having used piling to construct his house, I feel it should be accepable.

Hi Snoozee, followed your navigation to URA website. There is nothing on Road Reserve. Got the following info. GROSS PLOT RATIO (GPR) GPR of landed houses is resultant of the allowable building envelope BUILDING HEIGHT CONTROL Maximum 3 storey

Hi Snoozee, I am not sure of plot ratio. So far, I noticed that the houses surrounding me could build to 3.5 storey. I doubt that my house would be worth $10m. That is a lot of money. I can see your logic that even with rebuilding cost sunk in, the value of the house can still appreciate further and more than the construction cost. Thank you for your sharing.

Hi Snoozee, the houses that are sold at the estate I am staying in are quite varied in prices. There was a 5000sqft old semi detached (condition is very poor, no window, no door, seriously damaged flooring, etc..) along the road sold for $6.9m. There are also terrace houses sold for between $3m to $4m. There are a few new built detached and semi-detached houses of about 2400sqft for semi detached and about 4,000 sqft for detached sold for $6m and $10m respectively. Didn't really keep track of prices after I bought the house and only look at the prices now. The house just right behind me is huge. The agent shared with me that the owner sold the house for $27m. The prices have quite big variation. You are right about empty house. Hence, not sure of whether to rebuild as there are not many people in the house. Having a bigger house is nice but high maintenance cost, very low utilisation and high taxes are the consequences.

There is no intention to flip but will consider selling if offered a very attractive price. You are spot on in the cost of demolition and erection of new house. The contractor that is building the house opposite of my place did quote me imformally : design and build, $2m for 3.5 storey and construction is expected to take up to 2 years from the time submissions are approved and work can be started, baring any unforeseen circumstances. This price doesn't include lighting, cabinets, toilet items, aircon, solar panels, etc.. but include vinyl flooring/ homogenous tiles for flooring, door frames, one small made in China lift, wooden doors with keys, aluminium windows, gate pillar, motorised gate, termite treatment with warranty and all M&E works and carpet grass for the garden. I think his price is less than $400 psf, though it still adds up to $2m. To pay for the rebuilding cost, I will still need to save up for a few more years. Hence, not in a hurry to rebuild. For rebuild, is it better in terms of value appreciation to build into detached or remain as semi-detached? At present, my house is in livrable condition as A&A works was done in 2000 by the previous owner. You are right in your computation of landed property prices as the prices have moved up quite a fair bit over the last 20 years. It is fine with me to keep the house as it is and moving house is quite a big hassle. The cost to pay for constuction is also quite steep, not to mention the after construction defects discovery. If shoddy materials and workmanship took over from good sense construction, the house will end up with a lot of difficult to rectify defects. The trouble of chasing after contractor, getting them to honour their commitment and setting aside time for defect rectification works can be quite painful and disruptive. This money if not spent on construction, can be a good source of reserve for comfortable retirement. Hence, don't really know if I should really plan to rebuild.

Don't plan to flip but if there is a good offer that comes along the way, I may sell the property. Not a big family and the current small living space in the house though tight is still tolerable. The contractor who does construction work opposite my house shared that construction cost is facing constant upward revision due to inflationary pressure in raw materials, wages and services cost. As the family is not big, I don't plan to maximise the ground floor area, probably can use about 2000 sqft of land out of the 6000+ sqft of land to build upwards. Not sure of budget required to rebuild and if rebuilt, I am also undecided on whether to construct semi-detached or detached. In any case, prefer not to take construction loan or bank loan to do construction if I can help it. Another concern is my neighbour may also rebuild and given his land size of close to 6300 sqft, he could potentially construct a very big house. If I construct a smaller house, the visual contrast between the 2 houses could be very great. One could look very grand while the other could appear quite mickey mouse and small. I thought renovation such as a new rebuild would still be able to add quite tremendous value to couples.

Thanks Snoozee and Peteherock. Will wait patiently to read your advice/comments.

I notice that there are many variations of small house that is easy to set up that you can purchase online. https://reachflypanel.en.made-in-china.com/product/askEGlAVgCch/China-Prefabricated-Small-Cottage-Homes.html?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=pc-new-cns&utm_content=pc-new-stheast-cns&fbclid=IwAR1Z30y9vrIWtqnxo4IwXIHFA0tCtcenAPVZ26xPGHBmgj3_cd_XMbzciXA This is something for you to consider but I don't know how this is being done. I think you will still need a contractor to work on the sanitary system and electrical system. If you do not need to have a toilet in the room, I think it will be easier. These can be perceived as temporary structures and therefore, you may not need to seek clearance from URA. Besides, URA doesn't police even when there are complaints

Would like to seek some advice/ opinion on finances and construction of semi-detached house with slightly more than 6000 sqft land. The land is fairly rectangular with about 15m frontage, backyard width of about 12m and 43m depth. Neighbouring semi-detached is slightly below 6,300 sqft. Currently this semi-detached has done A&A in year 2000. It looks like an old house with only 3 bedrooms of modest size and the house is small relative to the land. The current planning guidelines allow for construction of 3.5 storey and the house directly opposite of mine built 3.5 storey without piling as the soil is very solid. The building contractor opined that the area around do not require piling. Three possible options that are available: 1. Retain the house as it is. It has the old charm of the yesteryears black and white house but the living space is tight though there is a lot of greenery around the house. 2. Demolish and erect into another semi detached. 3. Demolish and erect into a detached house. Prefer to have more greenery and therefore, not looking to maximise GFA in terms of ground floor space but will install a lift if the house is reconstructed and build to 3.5 storey. I am a simple person and do not need to decor the house with parquet flooring, huge marble/ granite slabs, fancy cabinets, lighting, sanitary wares, etc.. Looking to use only homogeneous tile for interior space and simple cabinets (do not have so much things to keep). For bedrooms, vinyl flooring is fine, no need full glass windows but will need aircon, more powerpoints around the house including charging station for electric cars and use pavers for car park areas, a motorised gate with a gate pillar that can also double up as a dropbox. The house should be built in a way that it is easy to maintain. The rest of the outdoor areas can be grassland. In terms of finances, there is still an outstanding housing mortgage loan which can be settled by paying off using CPF savings and there is still excess for retirement. No other financial debts. In purchasing this house, CPF was not used and if CPF is used now, it will be the first time that CPF is utilised. In terms of cash, have about $900K in cash savings excluding shares and stable annual income of about $0.5m. If chose to rebuild, will probably wait for the recession to hit first before embarking on reconstruction as the cost of rebuilding now is quite high. If rebuild, will have to move out and probably stay with parent. Advice needed on whether I should rebuild given my current financial situation and if rebuild, should go for semi-detached or detached? Currently the property tax of this house is not high as the living area is small but reconstruction will probably expand the living space signifcantly and cost more in terms of yearly property tax payment and other expenses of maintaining the house such as lift servicing, more toilets, etc. Have probably not included all information about rebuilding or finances but feel free to ask.

shhh201, based on your land area of about 5000 sqft with 12.2m frontage, your depth should be around 38m assuming you have a regular rectangular land. With back and front set back of 9m and side setback of 4m, the max that you can build your house on the land is about 237sqm/ 2500 sqft (round down for being conservative). If you wish to use the side area for potential parking instead of garden strip at least on one side, you may wish to consider leaving a setback of 3m at the side so that it provides a more comfortable space to get in and get out of the car. The usual car park space width provision is 2.4m and it can feel quite tight to get in and out. However, this will mean that your house size will shrink a bit more. Agree with Snooze, for long term self stay, it is better to do a new erection. This means you can potentially build to the max height limit of the planning guidelines on envelop control in your area. Based on the size of your house, I think most quotes will hover around upwards of $3m at today's prices and takes up to 2 years for completion. In construction, it is important to take care of the agreement and be very clear what you are getting and paying for including a clause on how disputes can be resolved. If you want a house that is fairly unique and meet your needs (provided you are clear with your needs) and optimise the space allocated, you will probably need an architect to design it for you. A well design house and a mediocre design makes a difference in terms of functionality, aesthetics and future maintenance. For a detached house, a 5000sqft land area is not exactly big. If you wish to leave more ground external area for green spaces, it will eat into the interior space availability. Other considerations that can help you better optimise space is to build a basement which can house the home shelter and provide sheltered car park spaces for potentially 3 to 4 cars. However, the cost of a basement may increase cost by quite a substantive sum, depending on design. Better to plan both finances and design carefully first before taking the plunge as this is for your own stay into the long term. Quite a lot of home owners didn't plan carefully and regret after building the house as they realised that the house that they built is not what they want most, after spending their life savings.

When upgrading your electrical system, do consider installing a vehicle charging point. $30K for all the electrical works sound very reasonable in today's market.