Hi all,

Need some advice regarding renovations, hope to get some help, thanks in advance!

My place is a terraced cluster house (part of a condo). I intend to hack a kitchen wall, redo the toilets, extend a room by removing the adjoining balcony, laminate flooring, and carpentry works. Do I need a builder to do these? Are these considered A&A works? I was intending to do the interior design on my own, would that be difficult?

Side question-is there a difference between a builder and a renovation contractor?

I am not an expert, so others please add or amend the comments as following.

In order to know what you can do to a house, first there is the legal title to understand.

In this case, all houses in a condo development is strata-titled. This means that all structures (the individual housing units, the building(s) within which the housing units are found, the carpark, the club house, the facility etc, and the land on which these structures sit, collectively called the Common Property is ttled to an legal entity called Management Corporation (MC in short).

The MC is an entity created and empowered by the Strata Title Board to manage the Common Property.

A housing unit in the design of a terraced is still part of the Common Property.

When you buy a housing unit in a condo development, you buy a share of the Common Property.

Now, most condo developers tend to market a housing unit of terraced-design as a townhouse. I thought that this is incorrectly described, because the legal title of the land for a townhouse is not the same. For example, say we have 3 units of townhouse sitting on a common land; the ownership of the land title is collectively owned by the 3 units, not a MC.

And so, coming back to the question, because you don't own the structure of the house, you cannot modify things like extending a room by removing a balcony, changing the window (or the color of the window glass), or even painting the facade to a color of you prefer.

And within the house, there are walls considered as the Common Property as well, such as the common wall shared between the house and the neighbor's.

Just my 2-cents thought.

Cheers!

Hi Lauer,

Thanks so much for your explanation, very clear and understandable! So that means i have to check with the MC as to which works are allowed and which are not right?

Now if assuming the works I have listed above are allowed (cos i understand that my neighbours have also done these), should i get a builder? I suppose i do not need an architect and all that right? Would it be difficult to do the ID on my own? Do you know abt the dofference between contractors and builders?

Thanks so much!

Hi Lauer,

Thanks so much for your explanation, very clear and understandable! So that means i have to check with the MC as to which works are allowed and which are not right?

Now if assuming the works I have listed above are allowed (cos i understand that my neighbours have also done these), should i get a builder? I suppose i do not need an architect and all that right? Would it be difficult to do the ID on my own? Do you know abt the dofference between contractors and builders?

Thanks so much!

Yes, you should consult the MC to determine if the works are permitted before proceeding.

When you already have a design in mind, and the design does not involve extensive structural work, the involvement of a PE should be sufficient where a submission is needed.

Looking at the items, I supposed that an ID is able to cover these. The conversion of the balcony space is a structural work so you will want the ID to seek the opinion of a PE to validate whatever design he comes up with for the balcony.

Builder, contractor, people used the term interchageably. To BCA, a builder is one licensed by it to carry out construction works, and there are different category of builder as well. For you, don't worry too much because you probably will engage an ID for these.

Now, whether to get an ID to handle all the works, or separate contractors to handle the individual works (tearing down a wall & building another, tiling, electrical etc etc) is a separate subject altogether. I don't have an opinion on which route is better, because it really depends on how much you know about a wall construction, tiling, electrical etc etc and how much time you can afford to manage all these contractors.

Cheers!

And for the music break.

Enjoy!

Ok thanks so mich Lauer!