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kardtoon

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Everything posted by kardtoon

  1. Actuzlly I found quite the opposite. If I leave taps and sinks to my contractor, which I did for my yard area, he gets e cheap stuff from balestia, if I go shopping myself, I end up with the duravits, hansgrohe stuff. Quite a lot of price difference. Seriously I would advise getting them yourself as a lot of it is personal taste and you may not like what your contractor buys. Must build a house that you would enjoy staying in.
  2. Hehe I like your humor Your 418k isn't complete without wardrobe and other carpentry works. Anyway at 418k for 2822sf, it's even lower than Petunia's psf cost!
  3. At $188 psf, your indicative cost is pretty impressive (low) at today's cost. If you manage your overruns well, it would be very good value.
  4. Not sure of the GFA for your recon, but it does seem that 345k is cheap. What do you reckon is the total move in cost inclusive of fees, all fittings, wardrobes, tiling, painting, landscaping, excluding loose furniture and electronics/appliances.
  5. Another point to consider.... for 22k, you have an architect and PE will to work on your house for more than a year (including planning and building)?? They must then be running a lot of concurrent projects to make any money. Hope you stipulated in your contract how many times he/she will appear on the site, what he will and will not do.
  6. Best to get a few renovation contractors to quote. I'm not one, so any estimate I give is not accurate. Usually it's more expensive to create a new bathroom than when you are building a house from scratch because you have to work around obstacles.
  7. As you are not increasing floor area, Ou can probably just treat this as a interior renovation and wouldn't bee too expensive. If you want ensure bathroom, may have to hack floor and run piping so that would increase the cost but worthwhile to consider for parents IMO.
  8. Hmm you paid your builder 345k for a reconstruction? Wow! That's super cheap. What does it not include?
  9. All valid points and some of these were my initial concerns. Hence I stressed that there must be trust. During the bidding process, my architect helped me to change the design and bargain until it meets my budget. When house hunting, we found some nice houses and he said to buynit but not to do anything more than simple Reno. These engendered trust with me and I thought his views were fair and balanced. By the way, you would normally remove tiles, interior fittings out from contractual cost so the architect does not get more even if you choose expensive options. Actually in my case, they were all part of provisional sum so no cut for architect at all. Still he was involved in running around and helping me source good stuff.
  10. 8% for an architect is not uncommon (it's what I'm paying) for some of the more establised ones. I've heard that top firms can charge up to 12% but I've never verified it. However it is also possible to pay less. When checking out the architect, do look for a few things. - Someone you feel you can trust. After all it's a long process. - Look out for your interest... for me, that's looking for ways to save costs. - you like the design and portfolio. I think that's an obvious one. - What does the rate cover? Just design? Project management? QC work? Interior design? Submission work? Someone I know engaged an architect for a low fee. They seldom see the architect, rarely comes to the site and they had to do all the submission work and work through kinks themselves. Just my thoughts. For me, I more or less decided on the architect before I even went house hunting, so I had a lot of advice (what type of land to buy, what size/shape to maximise what I want to build to) and even an inspection before I signed on the line to buy the old place.
  11. One of the things at I did when I was searching for my place was to get an architect to go house viewing with me. I was able to get advice and when I narrowed down to making an offer, I was able to get the plans and structural engineer to help determine if it is possible to add another story. However for this to work, you will need to find an architect that you trust and who will be balanced in providing views rather than asking you to tear down and rebuild.
  12. The best time to buy in 2011 is without a doubt the time when the prices drop!
  13. This does sound like a very one sided agreement. You don't get the deposit and you have to give up all the inventory items. Doesn't sound like a very reasonable seller. You should probably think about protecting yourself if you enter into this agreement. At the very least, inspect the fixtures, inventory items, take photos and get witnesses.
  14. The list price for the duravit stark 3 model is $1.5k and the gerebit flush is $700 to $800 ( I cant remember if that is with the flush acutator plate or if that's extra). Those are list price and you can probably get a discount either through bargaining or when there is a sale. Not convenient to list the price I paid here as I got a special deal on my all my sanitary ware.
  15. Same here.. Using the stark 3 model and purchased from Ferrara.
  16. Normally when someone makes a change to terms on a printed contact, they will have to sign where they make amendments and have the receiver countersign, right? If that's the case and you didn't sign there, won't that make the change not valid? If that's the case, perhaps you can make this point. I think it also boils down to how much you want this property. If you really want it, get your lawyer to fight for you. Otherwise you might want to ask nicely for your money back if they regret the sell price.
  17. Did you try calling the koi farms in Singapore? I know that they install ponds but not sure they will remove. I've heard from a friend who heard from his friend ( meaning unverified), that someone once removed the koi pond and traded in the filter equipment for the cost of doing the work, so the pond was removed and replaced with soil for free as the contractor took the equipment. Maybe you want to try and report back.
  18. I got my marble from Sin Bor and my tiles from RiceFields. Mosiacs from opicolor.
  19. Metal roofing should have a layer of heat and noise insulation underneath so it shouldn't really matter. If you are experiencing noise and heat issues, suggest you get a professional to check fi your roof is properly installed. Biggest disadvantage of metal roof is the cost, it's higher. However the overal weight is lower and you should be able to save on other structural elements if you are reconstructing. Here are some links.. http://www.builderswebsource.com/techbriefs/metalroofing.htm http://www.essortment.com/articles/metal-roof-home_1636.htm
  20. Check out Rice Fields. http://www.rice-fields.com/portfolio.html They have some very good quality italian tiles and they look really amazing. They are a bit more expensive but certainly no issues with quality as all the major hotels and higher end condos use them. Some of their tiles cost more than marble though :-)
  21. One option you might want to consider is to use steel instead of cement structure. Steel is lighter in weight and you can get away with thinner beams and columns. I had to pile as well until I decided to switch to steel. I paid more for steel but saved on micro piles and there is a net savings. Further more, it's much faster to build using steel.
  22. Given that you are still in the planning stage, I suggest you plan to the budget of$350psf but tender aggressively. Look for contractors with reasonable track record but are hungry for business. At the end of the day, if you budget more, you protect yourself from any financial cash flow situation. After the tender, if the cost comes back very high you can always redesign and requote. It's also easy to cut down on the materials quality to reduce cost down the road. Another tip... Plan well in advance and be kiasu a bit. Don't be like me, I just have to air freight in a box of mosaic tiles from France, freight cost is equal to the cost of the tiles...
  23. Actually works out to about $276 PSF which is within market norms for a reconstruction project. Heard that recent tenders have crept up to $300psf. $1.8m is quite a lump sum but the house is so big... :-)
  24. A lot of good points raised in this thread. Lots of good information. I'll share my own experiences as I'm almost down with my reconstruction of an interterrace. 1) I'm in complete agreement with Petunia about getting a good architect. Pay them a fair rate as they are the only one looking out for you during this process. Builders once they get your contract award will look after your interest by either (1) reducing cost (i.e. cutting corners??) or (2) trying to add VO (variation orders). My architect on the other hand has helped me challenge the PE to relook at their structural plans to simplify design and save cost, he has good relationships with material suppliers and builder and this helped when changes are needed (e.g. windows frames built...I don't like it, tear down and redo it in another layout, no extra cost. Vertical strips changed to frameless glass, add this, add that, no extra charge). From what I understand, industry rates for archi fees range from 5% to 12%. This assumes the ones who really do some real work and not the rubber stamp whatever plans the builders give to them type (i.e. if you use the building firm approach). BTW, this money not easy to earn as the building process is >1 year and there is a lot of work they have to do during this time. 2) While the architect is a key piece, trust between other members of your building team - builder, PE is also important. The building process is a long one. During this time, there will be changes to the plans due to all kinds of reasons (authorities requiring certain things done, soil conditions, site conditions, unplanned or unforseen things, etc). Without trust, you will feel that everyone is trying to cheat you and it will be a stressful time. 3) The architect/builder approach is relatively more expensive that the all in one building company approach. Architects are more exact in their specifications (e.g. waterproofing material must be xx brand form germany and not Yy brand from China. Parquet must be minimum xx thickness and yy length, etc), so no room for corner cutting, builders also know architects will check their work and if not done correctly they have to replace. Hence they tend to buffer in extra for these things. Some say 10 to 15%. 4) Baring significant external factors, building cost will keep going up. Labour will always get more expensive due to rising cost of living. Materials are scare and have always trended upwards. BCA, URA has been trying to upgrade Singapore building standards and keeps adding new requirements for builders to comply. That said, builders can vary their margins depending on how hungry they are for projects. A very busy, well established builder will probably ask for more compared to someone trying to secure new projects to fill their pipeline. 5) Land, House Design and cost. Not every Terrace is equal. Some are on slopes, some on flat land. Some has drainage within your boundary line, some have tree conservation within or next to their land, some has poor soil, etc. All these leads to varying cost. Similarly, not every 3000sqf house is the same. Cost can vary due to material used and design (open riser, spiral stairs vs concrete simple stairs). For inter terrace, given that you can only vary the front and rear facade, cost is usually affected more by material used than design. That said, complex design can add cost in two ways - (1) more expensive to build and (2) contracters markup for possible errors. Hope this helps and enjoy your house building journey.
  25. I don't think this is bargainable. URA has a standard submission fee and you pretty much write out a cheque to them. >50% change has to be reconstruction or rebuild.
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