Ura/bca Approval For A&a Works

[hamet 0]

i've received the WP from URA. now its BCA. its been 2 mths already and my patience is running out.. i am not too sure what is the issue here, the QP or BCA...

how long on average do u guys have to wait before getting the approval?

[leechaorui 2]

i've received the WP from URA. now its BCA. its been 2 mths already and my patience is running out.. i am not too sure what is the issue here, the QP or BCA...

how long on average do u guys have to wait before getting the approval?

Hi Hamet,

When you have received the email from URA, there is a contact telephone and an officer assigned to your case. You can telephone to check with the URA officer. From my experience, the URA officers are very customer service centric. When I telephoned her (the URA officer that was assigned to my case) about the re-development of my house in the morning, she visited the site in the afternoon (maybe she happen to pass by and is free).

On the spot, we discussed about the difficult and logic defying regulatory rules of URA that I encountered in building my house. She was sympathetic and was agreeable to help me with some of the waiver of the URA rules and for other rules, she had to seek the agreement of her senior at URA. I was very impressed.

So far, BCA has been very prompt as long as your engineer has given them the detailed plan. After all, we are only building a small house and the construction is really not so sophisticated or complicated. From the experience of homeowners who had constructed their houses, BCA's approval process is faster than URA. This is also my experience. You can check with your QP and contact BCA about the delay in the approval.

My neighbour who had just constructed his house got all the approvals done wthin 1.5 months. My approval was more difficult because I needed to seek for a number of waivers to the URA rules and that entailed meeting URA architects and meeting my own architect to discuss the merits of my case, negotiation with URA, get QP to modify the plans, etc.. All in all, it took me about 3.5 months. In the meantime, when I got the provisional approval in 2 months from application, my builder started the construction process.

You may want to discuss with your architect or builder to start work when you have the provisional permit (WP).

Cheers!

[hamet 0]

Hi chaorui

Thanks for your tip. Yes, when i called URA, the officer-in-charge was very helpful is assisting in all my queries, and even forward a copy of the written permission.

I was told by my QP that they are gathering all the documents needed for the submission to BCA but i just cant understand why its taking them 1 mth to do so? WP from URA granted on 1st Oct actually.

Are you saying that so long i have the WP from URA, we can start work already?

Thanks

[leechaorui 2]

Hi chaorui

Thanks for your tip. Yes, when i called URA, the officer-in-charge was very helpful is assisting in all my queries, and even forward a copy of the written permission.

I was told by my QP that they are gathering all the documents needed for the submission to BCA but i just cant understand why its taking them 1 mth to do so? WP from URA granted on 1st Oct actually.

Are you saying that so long i have the WP from URA, we can start work already?

Thanks

I think you need BCA's approval too. Besides that, your builder would also need a demolition permit to demolish the existing place before rebuilding.

[petunialee 4]

I think you need BCA's approval too. Besides that, your builder would also need a demolition permit to demolish the existing place before rebuilding.

If all submissions are in order, the govt authorities are not slow. My BCA was done in about 3 to 4 weeks. Even when waivers are required, you will be informed within 2 weeks. If you have heard nothing from BCA... it may be that your archi is very busy... or he/she isn't quite on top of the project management? If yours isn't a state of the art... bend the rules... terribly innovative project, it shouldn't be difficult or long to get appovals done.

Ummmm... if your archi is not on top of the BCA and URA application process, it is something to consider before things go any further. If you decide to change an architect, do note that you need to get him/her to sign and discharge all plans for use to your new architect... and sometimes, that can be a problem if he/she refuses.

[powder blue 0]

We have been planning our A and A since feb, only got URA approval in early sept, Enginner took 2 weeks to apply and BCA replied by end of sept with some queries, engineer took another month to resubmit now have been waiting for BCA more than a week already.

I think it's easier to get approvals for rebulid then for A and A, that's why many builders would rather do rebuild than A and A.

We almost throw in the towel last week and told the architect if the engineer still doesn't resubmit we will abandon the whole project, and he submited that afternoon!

Doing A and A is such a test of patience., sigh

[hamet 0]

We have been planning our A and A since feb, only got URA approval in early sept, Enginner took 2 weeks to apply and BCA replied by end of sept with some queries, engineer took another month to resubmit now have been waiting for BCA more than a week already.

I think it's easier to get approvals for rebulid then for A and A, that's why many builders would rather do rebuild than A and A.

We almost throw in the towel last week and told the architect if the engineer still doesn't resubmit we will abandon the whole project, and he submited that afternoon!

Doing A and A is such a test of patience., sigh

wow since feb! i have to salute u for that

[petunialee 4]

We have been planning our A and A since feb, only got URA approval in early sept, Enginner took 2 weeks to apply and BCA replied by end of sept with some queries, engineer took another month to resubmit now have been waiting for BCA more than a week already.

I think it's easier to get approvals for rebulid then for A and A, that's why many builders would rather do rebuild than A and A.

We almost throw in the towel last week and told the architect if the engineer still doesn't resubmit we will abandon the whole project, and he submited that afternoon!

Doing A and A is such a test of patience., sigh

The delays are occasioned by your architect and engineer then?

[powder blue 0]

The delays are occasioned by your architect and engineer then?

In my opinion I think they are the cause of the delay, but they will justify their delay as having to do calculations, etc ,etc.

But some of my friends said that it is good to spend more time in the planning then to rush thro it and then when it is build, then to find things don't turn out as well as expected.