snoozee

a corner terrace and semi-d has the same setbacks front - 7.5m from boundary to building line car porch can start 2.4m from front boundary line side and rear has 2m setback if you are saying the edge of the front porch is 6.1m from the front boundary, I assume (estimated scale) your building line is starting about 11.5m from the front boundary line. so you can potentially push the front out by 4m. if you do not need the family room on the 2nd storey, just get rid of it and then push bedroom 2 to start in line with the bathroom. then you can get a much bigger bedroom 3. your master bedroom can also then start from the staircase line as well since you are pushing the front of the master outwards already. if you want, can also potentially add another ensuite for bedroom 2 in the area opposite the common toilet now. honestly speaking, my estimate is that the land size is about 2800sqf which is just slightly smaller than a semi-d. not sure how much the house is being listed for but seems quite good in terms of potential

your peekture a bit small. can't see the dimensions clearly. but it does seem that the house is already built to the maximum allowed based on the various set backs. having a corner terrace is similar to having a semi-detached house. the open side makes ALOT of difference in terms of letting light in and providing air flow. for a inter terrace, you can get only light and airflow from the front and back. but in a corner terrace or semi-d, you get it from the sides as well. for bedrooms, can't see the dimensions. but my estimate is that bedroom 3 is about 8.75sqm which seems to be quite ok in size for a child's room

it seems that many people who buys a landed house wants to rebuilt to maximise the GFA. a landed house provides the owners the opportunity of having a private outdoor space which most apartments would not have. my personal opinion is that if the owners are not going to make use of this outdoor space, then might as well buy a condo which saves the headache of home maintenance. most older houses would have been built without the GFA being maximised so as to provide a balance between indoor and outdoor space. of cos an architect could design a new house with this in mind as well to maximise the upper storeys while still providing enough outdoor space for the 1st storey. my suggestion is for you not to be fixated on the GFA but focus on what you plan to do while staying in the house and your lifestyle. also think about how long you are planning to stay in this house. if this is going to be your retirement home, then it might be better to just rebuilt it now and then provision for a home lift and spaces which allows for unobstructed movement. if it's just going to be short term (5 or 10 years) then maybe just do a simple renovation would be enough.

not sure how true it is. but it seems that if a contractor/builder is not really interested in your job, the quotation will come in quite high

yes I agree. but of cos the cost also goes up since structural steel is not going to be cheap and I believe the glass would also need to be laminated safety glass. this would increase the cost as compared to a RC lift shaft.

as mentioned, only SP and LTA can make the decision on whether the OG boxes and lamp post can or cannot be shifted. But since you are not the owner of the house, whether they would entertain your question is something else. For new gate openings, there are rules to be followed and the basic rule is that your new opening must be immediately adjacent to your neighbours. eg: if your neighbour on your left has the opening on his right most side of his house, then your opening must be on the left side of your house which matches his. this means your right side would be a wall which matches another wall for the neighbour on your right. with this said, the relocation of the boxes and lamp post can only be to the side where there isn't a gate opening but a boundary wall for the house. so it could be possible that only 1 OG box and the lamp post needs to be shifted. so question now is whether you want to take the risk and buy the house without knowing if the infrastructure can be shifted or not. I would say just email SP and LTA with the house address and see if anyone replies to you. then from there decide whether to buy the house or not.

are you doing a full rebuilt or A&A? if just A&A, would you be able to accept a lower ceiling height due to the ducted aircon? the ducts will have to be run below any existing beams and if the beams are already quite thick, you will lose more ceiling space. of cos if your house already has a 4m high ceiling, losing another 0.5m shouldn't be much of an issue. for my own house, we opted for ducted aircon for the living room as we didn't have much wall space to do wall mount and we have a double volume living room so ceiling cassette is out. but the ducting design was another challenge itself due to my ducting having to run under a beam and then needing to make the drop as low as possible and at the same time keeping the eventual box up as small as possible and aesthetically pleasing at the same time.

Moving infrastructure is usually done by requests to the relevant authorities. It can be done but just takes time and maybe some money involved. for newly developed houses, if there are changes to the road opening/access, the newly installed kerbs, etc all have to follow LTA’s guidelines

A inter-terrace house is normally 6m wide. So the 2 OG boxes and lamp post would most probably take up 3m of space. This would still leave 3m of space for the opening for the gate. Maybe TS wants the opening for the entire width of the house( which is not allowed) or on the side where the boxes are located( which might not be approved if the opening don’t match the neighboring house). I don’t think SP and LTA is silly enough to install the infrastructure smack in the middle of a potential house access opening. but then I may be wrong about the authorities. Cos previously I saw a undeveloped piece of land which can be built into a inter terrace. But in front of the land is a bus stop. Not sure if the bus stop got shifted now that someone bought the land and is building a house

How wide you want the opening to be? the OG boxes belong to SP power grid. Better call or e-mail them with the address of the property to verify on whether can move or not. If they say can move, you may need to pay for the relocation of the boxes street lamp belongs to LTA so you need to check with them

Legal way is to do the proper submissions. adding a bathroom requires sanitary work and will affect the public water supply so PUB should be informed. adding a room means adding structure so by right BCA needs to approve. you don’t need an architect but at least a PE to submit to BCA for approval. of cos if you choose not to do submissions, just don’t get caught or have people complaining about your extension

TOP is temporary occupation permit you can only apply for it when the house is almost done. Only way to get this fast is to make sure the builder does everything properly and there’s not much rectifications after the inspection. attic can be used as entertainment room or extra bedrooms depending on what are your needs. My master bedroom takes up the entire attic. can do a skylight above the stairs to let light in. But depends on how your stairs is configured as well. If you have a lift and the stairs wrap around the lift shaft then no point having a skylight at the stairs

One thing to note is to contact Netlink Trust to relocates the existing fiber connection in the house first before demolition starts. I’m not sure how much they will charge to relocate the fiber cable but I had to pay more than 1k for them to lay a new cable from their distribution point to my meter compartment as mine was cut by the contractor during the demolition. If they charge less than 1k to relocate the cable then it will be some money saved which can be used for other purpose.

now already march. since TS haven't even gotten a QP or builder to start on the plans, I think almost impossible to have Christmas party this year in new house. assuming tomorrow the QP is engaged. say the QP takes 2 weeks to do the drawings and then submit. if everything goes well, URA approve by mid April. then after URA approval submit BCA for plans approval and permit. lets say BCA very efficient and takes 2 weeks to approve both, then will be start of May already. demolishing the old house takes about 2 weeks. so now is mid-May. sub-structure work take about 1 month so now is mid-june super structure takes about 3 months so become mid-september brick works and external/internal plastering takes about 1.5 month so is end-oct then need to do tiling, floor finishes, electrical wiring, carpentry, etc? left 2 months to completed up and get TOP cert is almost impossible. even if house is complete, legally the owner is not allowed to have gatherings, parties, etc in the house before TOP cert is issued. worst thing in construction is to rush which results in slipshod work. think TS To target for CNY 2021 or labour day 2021 would be more realistic.

$350psf usually does not include professional fees (architect and PE) as well as submissions to authorities. but if you can find a builder who can include everything in for $350psf, then it could be possible. sanitary works usually will be part of the contract. the sanitary fittings may or may not depending on your negotiation with the main con. same as carpentry. you can opt to get your own subcons (eg: carpenter, aircon, lift) in but normally the main con will then charge you a 5% profit in attendance on top of your nominated subcon's cost. sanitary fittings and carpentry cost largely depends on what you want to buy and do. if you want top of the line items (eg: toilet bowls that cost 4 digits) and a lot of customised carpentry, then your cost will just sky rocket. some people go to the extent of laminating the insides of the wardrobes or cabinets which I feel is unnecessary added cost. whether to do basement or not depends on how deep is your pockets. if money is not an issue, why not? however do note that basements must be fully enclosed if your land is above the 4metres SHD. if your land is low lying (ie : below the 4m SHD), then normally PUB will require your first storey to start at or above the 4.0m SHD which they define as the minimum platform level. then anything below this MPL can be considered the basement. but this are general guidelines and since each piece of land is different, the architect will normally draw up the plans first and then consult PUB and URA on the plans. I think generally for URA, as long as the plans are drawn up within the guidelines set by URA, basement shouldn't be an issue.

Get yourself an architect or builder Go to PUB website and buy the sewerage interpretation plans to see if there’s any sewer running through your house find a company to do a site survey so you can know what is the exact level your house is sitting on now. If you choose not to do this now, just walk around the neighborhood and see if any recently built houses are raised up from the road level or not. From this, you can estimate if your house is above or below the 4m SHD. Nowadays the agencies used Singapore Height Datum instead of mRL already. construction cost is about $350psf. So you estimate how much GFA you want and multiply by $350 time taken for a full rebuilt is at least 12 months excluding time needed for authorities approvals. After factoring in approval time, you are looking at at least 18 months

Unlikely to be. Just email URA to clarify

not sure how long you had been doing "homework" before you started house hunting. but there are various types of sellers in the market ranging from genuine sellers to those just testing market. those testing market would normally have the agents put up a ridiculous price for the house. so don't need to be bothered with them as unless you match the ridiculous asking price, chances of them selling is close to zero. those genuine sellers also fall into various categories : 1. owners who want to sell the house for financial reasons 2. owners who are old and planning to downgrade 3. estate sale if you encounter a owner who is selling for financial reasons, chances are that the house would be sold at valuation or below valuation since they want to get rid of the house ASAP for owners who are old and planning to downgrade, they may let go at or below valuation but their children (adults) may convince them otherwise and ask for higher. sometimes the owners may hold off the sale due to sentimental reasons as they may have stayed in the house for more than half of their lives already. houses undergoing estate sale also have the problems especially if the owner who had passed on has many children. the children will have their own idea on how much to sell the house for and unless the price is agreeable by all the children, chances are the offer will not be accepted even at valuation. of cos there might be additional categories which I've missed out but these are the sellers whom I encountered when I was house hunting years ago. personally I feel that buying a house also depends on whether you are fated to buy the house or not. Prior to purchasing my house, I had made offers for 2 other houses which was undergoing estate sale but my offers were rejected as the sellers were asking for much higher prices. the house which I eventually bought was a house which I had declined to view when the property agent asked if I was interested in it. Fast forward a few weeks later, I contacted the agent again to view the house with the intention of just viewing for fun. But my wife and I like the house location and potential for rebuilt and we ending up buying the house. As for the 2 other houses that our offers were rejected, they were sold 8 months later at about the prices which we had made the offer for earlier but was still lower than the asking price the sellers were holding out for. if you choose to buy a house at above valuation, do note that you will need to top up the difference in cash as you can't take bank loan for this. this extra cash will end up eating into your budget for renovation.

corner terrace, end terrace, inter terrace all fall under the same category of being a terrace house. a terrace house has a minimum plot width of 6m and corner terrace min of 8m. if the existing house currently has a width of only 6m, then you are unlikely required to provide the 2m setback and can build right up to the boundary. best is write to URA with the address of the said house to clarify what are the set back requirements of the plot of land.

I think what TS meant is that is anyone buying a landed house at a price above the valuation price. eg: valuation is at 2M, house is purchased at 2.1M

Question is, is the uneven gap there before the renovation? normally floor will never be graded level and there will be a slight gradient to allow for water flow. So if the floor has been graded to allow water flow in/out of the through the doorway, it sounds right that the gap would not be even since the base of the door is perpendicular to the slope when open. but there are products in the market which are self leveling screed and these are supposed to provide a level finish to the floor

Before the sale of cos nice la. Once sign already pattern all come out. Unfortunately if the date is put down in black and white, there’s nothing you can do about it. Just take is as a lesson learnt. my taking over was also almost 6 months as we granted the sellers 12 weeks extended stay rent free. But at least we managed to negotiate for a lower price in lieu of the extension and the sellers are ok with us to get surveyors in to perform the topo survey as well as visit the house another few times. But we were also mindful about visiting too many times to disturb them as well anyway, when you take over, make sure to do a through inspection of the house and make sure it is handed over in the condition agreed upon. Get the property agent to be around as well to witness the handing/taking over

bidet spray leak just buy a new spray from NTUC to replace. cabinet door just remove the existing screws and screw the plate to another location on the door. since you mentioned you hardly close the door, then might as well remove it entirely.

parquet would normally be laid on top of screed floor. the parquet itself would have a thickness of about 10 to 12mm for the wood (at this is thickness is what I see in market these days). you didn't mention what is your floor finish now. assuming that you do not have laid any new floor tiles after the parquet is removed and is just screed/plaster finish, then the contractor would have poured a slightly thicker layer of screed and plaster finish so that your floor would be more hard wearing. else you would encounter the plaster floor cracking after prolonged use if the layers are too thin.

hope you did manage to get something in return for the owner being a PITA and the extended completion.