dear experts, 

the property we are interested in has an old style split level (4 steps to be exact) separating the the dining/kitchen and living area. 

we are kinda bothered about it and want to remove it to have a more flushed out look. 

can i check if anyone has done it before and what is a good gauge of cost?

thanks

you need to check the existing structural plans on whether this can be done. most likely the dining/kitchen is constructed with a higher foundation beam than the living room area hence you can't reduce the level of the dining/kitchen without tearing down the whole house. the other option is to raise the living room area but this will affect your entry since you would need to add steps from the car porch to get into the living room.

hi snoozee, can i check. do know the cost of the structural plan?

i was told floor plan was $40+ but that is just the application fee?

 

the building's plans can be bought from BCA BUT only by the house owner or authorised party.

check with the current owner if they have the existing building plans. if not, if you have already signed and exercised the OTP, get the owners to authorise you to purchase the building plans.

BCA will charge $30 for searching for the plans and each set of plans is another $40 each. if the house only has 1 set of building plans, then you pay $70. if the house has multiple sets due to changes/resubmissions, etc, then you pay more. but after the search is done, you can review the plans to see which set you need to purchase before paying for the plans purchase fees. last time the fees were $25 each but seems that the fees has increased.

can i assume an ooriginal house in original state shld probably has 1 set of building plans and not multiple right? prob less than 5. how come the agent is telling me $400 odd . weird. all i need is BCA plans right? then i get the Sip and dip later right

I bought mine from the bca system also have multiple revision. In total i bought 6 sets. 

58 minutes ago, peachpeach said:

can i assume an ooriginal house in original state shld probably has 1 set of building plans and not multiple right? prob less than 5. how come the agent is telling me $400 odd . weird. all i need is BCA plans right? then i get the Sip and dip later right

you need to get the authorisation to apply to BCA for the plans search first.

once BCA has completed the search, they will let you download all the plans for the house for preview. after previewing the plans, you can then choose which set you want to buy. the purchased plans are exactly the same as the preview plans just that the watermarks are different. you can't use the preview plans later for submission as the PE will require the BCA plans with the proper watermarks for submission

Edited January 13, 20206 yr by snoozee

On 1/13/2020 at 9:07 AM, peachpeach said:

dear experts, 

the property we are interested in has an old style split level (4 steps to be exact) separating the the dining/kitchen and living area. 

we are kinda bothered about it and want to remove it to have a more flushed out look. 

can i check if anyone has done it before and what is a good gauge of cost?

thanks

Hi peachpeach,

Can I know if u decided to flush out? My new place is the old style split level between living & dining too. But, we have decided to keep it. 

Are you doing reno to the house or A&A?

7 minutes ago, yc_mw said:

Hi peachpeach,

Can I know if u decided to flush out? My new place is the old style split level between living & dining too. But, we have decided to keep it. 

Are you doing reno to the house or A&A?

hello YC,

we didnt get that property in the end, cos the split level is 4 steps , which is quite steep versus a common 2 step split which we can still accept. 

4 steps v hard to rectify. 

On 3/2/2020 at 8:57 AM, peachpeach said:

hello YC,

we didnt get that property in the end, cos the split level is 4 steps , which is quite steep versus a common 2 step split which we can still accept. 

4 steps v hard to rectify. 

Hi peachpeach,

Thanks for the reply.

Happy house-hunting!!

Hi! Did anyone have luck removing the split level and make it level out without tearing it down? Just a&a.