Jump to content
Find Professionals    Deals    Get Quotations   Portfolios

gong

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Content Count

    22

  • Joined

  • Last visited

Posts posted by gong

  10. Posted

    Hi there,

    My child has been invited by the school to join the Maths Olympiad workshop. Understand Hwa Chong and other top notch schools hold competitions for such students. How can he prepare for the contests and when can he join? Do I have to individually register him or the school will register on his behalf ... Pls advise.

    Thanks!

  13. Posted

    Hi,

    I'm new to the forums here. I'm looking to reconstruct my inter-terrace to 3 or 3 1/2 stories. 1800 sqft land, will build up to about 3200-3500 sqft. My budget is hopefully 500-600k, but I can spend more if absolutely necessary. The design will be rather simple, no pool or anything, but will need the foundation to be stronger cause the land is reclaimed. As the quality is decent, I'm fine with it cause I'm looking to keep costs low. Would you have any builders who do basic work for a fairly low cost to recommend? Any architects to recommend as well?

    Regards,

    Sally

    Hi there,

    Have shortlisted a few architect firms n planning to meet them up soon. Wonder what are the things I should look out for or rather what are the questions I should be asking in order to choose the right one for the "rebuild"?? :help:

    Thanks a zillion in advance :bow:

  15. Posted

    I've heard from builders and architect that garment for inter terrace is more expensive than corners, semi-D or detached at the same size. This is because for inters, you need protection works for both your left and right neighbors.

    Have you spoken to architects or builders? What did they say about viability of your budget?

    Hi Kardtoon,

    Briefly talked to one architect on the phone and he said with a budget of 600k is tight but possible... Intend to seriously search for one next week but need more advice online before shortlisting some.. Any good architect or builder u could recommend?

    Thanks n have a splendid Chinese New Year :drunk:

  16. Posted

    I also just overlaid with laminated flooring...

    Look for those floor detergent that can be use on laminated flooring..

    Anyway urs shld hv warranty rite... usually 10-15yrs.. so even if warped, can get them back to replace for u...

    most impt for laminated flooring is in contact with water... shld not let water stay for too long...

    Was told by a lady boss fm a laminated flooring company: sweep everyday n mop with little water only once a week. As for her own house,she did not even mop at all except during spring cleaning. That is the marvellouse thing abt laminated flooring ie. low maintenance :)

  17. Posted

    Hi everyone,

    Planning to reconstruct my intermediate 2.5 storey terrace and would like to use laminated flooring for all bedrooms. Do you guys think is a good idea?Some told me it will looks cheap and parquet will be a better choice. But I prefer the white coloring on laminated which parquet do not provide n the former should be cheaper in cost right? Another question, since the house is going to be reconstruct from scratch, will the floor has to be tile first before laying the laminated or the builder just has to cement it prior putting up the laminated.... Pls advise... :bow:

  18. Posted

    Unless the engineer is trained in both architecture and civil engineering, they are normally two different persons. As long as you get an architect to design for you, he could outsource part of the work to an engineer. I had a neigbour who did a basic reconstruction (ie this is not the same as erection) for a 2 storey house a few years ago for a very attractive price.

    He rebuild his place from single storey to 2 storey. Basic means this in his reconstruction:

    1. Uses cement hollow bricks (prone to cracking after one or two years - now there are some cracks and deeper cracks will usually appear within 5 years)

    2. Uses hollow red bricks (prone to hairline cracks after about 6 to 18 months - there are lots of it in his house now)

    3. Build only 2 toilets (one for the upper floor and one for the ground floor)

    4. No en-suite bedroom

    5. Continue to use phase 1 power (ie - limited power supply eg. cannot turn on air-conditioner for all the bedrooms in one go. He uses only stand on fans)

    6. Lower ceiling height (about 2.5 m after false ceiling is installed)

    7. Limited number of power points, lighting points and telephone points

    8. No CAT6 cabling for opennet

    9. Limited number of taps

    10. Homogeneous tiles (small piece type) for whole house

    11. Use Indonesian Teak wood parquet for second storey as opposed to Burmese parquet

    12. Use the small piece German roof tile (don't look good as opposed to using the bigger piece)

    13. Water proofing is applied to toilet flooring only as opposed to whole house

    14. Use weatherbond Nippon Paint (as opposed to using higher grade external paint). After about 12 to 18 months, you will see that the house paint stain badly. Some contractor will dilute the Nippon Paint and you will see the effects of staining and thiness of the paint within 6 months.

    15. Use limited rebar (meet the minimum requirement) such that the house weight bearing capacity is about the same as HDB flat (cannot place a bigger size fish tank on the second floor, otherwise floor will crack).

    16. Use flimsy aluminium window frame (was told that one of the window frame got blown away when there was a heavy thumderstorm during the construction phase)

    17. Limit the size of window so as to save cost on windows.

    18. Use inferior quality sanitaryware. Those cheap type (basin + WC) costing less than $150.

    19. No autogate - use normal wrought iron gate

    20. Use lousy quality DB box (only one in the house) such that when one electrical item short-circuit, the whole house will black out.

    21. Full of drains in the house.

    22. A lot of pillars all over the house.

    23. No piling work done. Only simple footing such that it can meet URA/ BCA minimum requirements.

    25. Simple carpentry work (ie. lower grade laminate, white interior, thin plywood, etc...)

    26. Use of non-stainless screws

    27. Use of small water pipes (ie minimum requirements by PUB) as opposed to larger pipes that can transport more water and faster

    28. Don't have water pump and water tank (ie if the ground floor turn on the tap, the top floor person will have to wait or be content with little water flow)

    29. Use flourocent lights instead of LED lights.

    30. Don't have termite treatment when doing the footing

    These are some examples of basic re-construction work on a neighbour house, but I shall not write more about it. I think the house is like a house of drains and pillars.

    Although the cost is attractive, I think many homeowners expect better quality.

    I have seen quite a number of house reconstruction/ erection/ A&A and everybody seem to have different views about basic construction. Some are really quite well done and they consider them as basic. Durability is also subjective in terms of time and usage. Durable for 6 mths, 1 yr, 5 yrs, 10yrs or 200 yrs? Durability is also thought of in terms of usage eg. Can you place a 3 ton item in the house without causing a crack in the floor or you can only place a maximum of 0.2 ton item?

    Is the above type of reconstruction you have in mind in terms of "basic" as different people have different expectations of basic?

    Hi LeeChaoRui,

    Thanks for your detailed reply. May I ask what in your opinion, is the minimum budget for a recon of a 2.5 storey plus a basement intermediate terrace, taking into account that the ground level is already lower to accomodate for the basement level, which has also been done by the neighbour next door.

    Thanks,

    gong

  19. Posted

    Depending on the details of construction, the size of the place and furnishing required, $600K is a tight but doable figure for 2/5 storey without basement. :)

    Was told can only do the very basic one but exactly how "basic."... :dunno: (I'm not expecting very fanciful one but at least has to be durable) Thinking of getting an engineer who can act as architecture to save cost, any good one that you guys can recommend... :bow:

  20. Posted

    600k budget can do wonders! Can pay for reno for my house + wedding + Audi A4 that is if i make sure my guests give me at least $200 angbao per head!

    But I thought u spent 418k and more on yr recontruction??? I only have 600k to build basment + 2.5storey intermediate..... Buay gao leh..... :bangwall: So need yr advice how to save cost...eg. Get engineer to double up as architect or one builder for all .... :dunno: Perhaps u could pm me yr contacts.....Pls :help:

  21. Posted

    Just wondering if anyone out there met so many contractors (at least 9contractors + 2architect) and still can't find one that is close to his/her budget and decided to give up, rent the property out and then decide to renovate your house few years later. Meanwhile, just do basic things like painting etc and rent the place out..makes more sense?

    Suddenly felt so tired and forgot the reason why i even got my place which is IMO unfit to live within my own standards and renovation cost is so high. If i were to rent my unit out for 3yr @ 3k/month (4bedroom 2bathroom interterrace) would i have enough to build 3storey? ie very young couple with not much budget to to reno and skin too thin to ask for extra funds..seems so much easier to be a parasite living with parents

    Hi Pantieleen,

    I'm in the same dilemma as u once had..ie"suddenly felt so tired n forgot the reason why i even got my place which is......." Have not decide whether to use Architect or just a builder to reconstruct my 1500sft intermediate.. But we are very sure of the design we want and with a tight budget of 600k in total (include carpentry etc) I'm not sure whether we could even achieve anything????!!!!! Any kind soul out there could enlighten us??? :(

  22. Posted

    Hi, we are currently doing a reconstruction of our dream house at the moment, land of 1800sqft and future buildup will be 3200sqft. Our total cost for the reconstruction is slightly more than 300k, thanks very much to our builder, he is a small time builder but very experience. Also we managed to keep cost down by sourcing for our marbles and sanitary wears at warehouse sale. Can u imagine getting italy marbles at $3psf? That 300k included PE and architect costs, and all necessary permits and approvals. We can intro our builder and architect to u if u are interested, but u have to know what u want. Cheers

    Hi Victor,

    Would apprec. if u could provide the contacts of yr builder n architect cos' intending to reconstruct my intermediate with a very tight budget... :(

×