Finally decided to start a t-blog to chronicle the construction of our new home! As the project nears the end of the structure phase, we've decided to chronicle our experience here:)

It's a long and tedious process that's still ongoing and will hopefully end by 1st quarter 2017:)

Enough talk for the 1st post and on with some pictures of demo day, 3D designs and ongoing construction pics!

 

3D designs of the house

Foundation!

 

 

 

Edited March 15, 20179 yr by Yukinorei

Architect vs D&B vs Contractor

We knew early on what we wanted for the new house:

• lift
• pool
• more GFA
• no more leaking roofs,

And we hate to spend money...so we were hoping that a simple A&A would suffice. Unfortunately, after consulting with a few architects, D&B specialists and friends, many suggested that a reconstruction is what we needed to get the increase in GFA we wanted as a new foundation was likely needed to support all the new weight.

There's a few options when it comes to rebuilding. Most costly will be the architect route, followed by engaging a D&B specialist and finally opting for a straight to builder house. 

In the end we opted for an architect built home as we decided this was going to be the family home for a long time and so we decided to splurge in this aspect. For the architect firms we approached, we were typically quoted 10% of the total project cost. Obviously, we can't agree to an open number and finally managed to negotiate a lump sum fee for our architect. 

When choosing our architect, we combed through their portfolio to make sure their style matched our sense of aesthetics. And after a few rounds of interview, we decided on a husband & wife team with a great energy and enthusiasm for our project! 

Very nice and modern. Do u mind sharing the internal floorplan? I see that URA has recently relax their rules on landed house like the picture I taken from their website.

Edited October 13, 201610 yr by El LoCo

wow! i love your 3D design! I always love to look at pretty houses whenever i walk by any. 

will camp for the progress!

Edited October 13, 201610 yr by xhomesweethomex

Thanks for kind words!

We started the project shortly before the relaxed rules kicked in. And although it was open to us to redesign the house we didn't, as the new rules prescribed a lower permitted overall height for the house.

Here's a few more pictures showing the internal layout of the house:

Elevation plan (really excited about the fireman's pole):

Ground floor layout:

2nd floor layout (Slide!!!!!)

3rd floor master bedroom + toy room

Attic - media room with pantry and hobby area

Edited October 14, 201610 yr by Yukinorei

And a few more update pictures on the structure!

Pic of the house facade:

Pic of the pool-to-be:

back of the staircase with slide:

 

front of of the staircase:

 

 

To save abit on cost and to match our modern/industrial/minimalist look, we decided to go with cement for the living room and dining room floor. 

However, we really dislike the metal strip that runs on cement floors and the cracks that might happen over time. The architect suggested that we go with micro-cement - no strip and no cracks, (see: Monju - http://www.monjupartners.com/flooring)

whats more interesting is that they are able to make cement look metallic, even rusty! They can also replicate the wood grain look, which we really really loved! So much so that we decided it would form the entire feature wall from the 1st to 3rd floor!

Always looking forward to new technology/innovation being used for new build. Please give a review of micro-cement when it's done. I have come across cement lookalike flooring like Pandomo in taiwan design mag when I research for my next house.  

http://www.ardex-pandomo.com/en_SG/floor-floorplus.html

The new solar roof from Tesla is really interesting. I am not sure if it can be used in landed houses in Singapore or not.

https://www.google.com.sg/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjdj87v-vrQAhVIto8KHR_7DRsQtwIIGzAA&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DdRqSkR4ENAg&usg=AFQjCNFOQd1OIg4ge_au7l8jMJOv4UJsXw

Plans shaping up real good. Goodluck yukinorei. 

Hope you cna update your post

Some update pictures on the project

Front façade:

1st floor (with ACMV system installed):

 

View of the void area above the 1st floor (viewed from the kitchen):

Back view of the staircase with Slide:

Master bedroom with outdoor Jacuzzi:

Toy room:

View of the living area outside the master bedroom (with the beginnings of a spiral staircase):

Attic floor progress:

Exterior of the Attic:

Various elevations of the house:

Edited January 9, 20179 yr by Yukinorei

And we finally decided on the sofas!

Living room sofa and armchair:

3rd floor master living area sofa:

And some more renders on the updated façade:

Front view of the slide: