Soil Investigation Part 2

Today the 16th of August 2017, we had in the morning collected samples of our Solid Rock Surface.

There were supposed to be 5 samples collected from the Bore Hole but we were only able to retrieve one because the soil was too hard for the Bore Hole to go further. This is what the soil looks like. Bagged in at 19.5 meters down.

The Hard Soil gathered from 19.5 meters below. Turns out this soil was hard rock before but is slowly turning into soil. Thats whats happening down below. Its kinda sandy and hard. As you can see, the soil too is yellowish brown just like how it was shown in the previous post just before striking Solid Rock

19.5 meters. Soil is pretty hard, and crumbly too. Nothing to worry about cause its compact

So turns out that these guys were right all along when they said

" between 15 - 20 meters down in Your area we will find Solid Rock. " 

These guys are more accurate than the good for nothing  advise you can find with lowyatt people and their 3 generations of inheritance. Perfect prediction.

The shitty illegal neighbor was worried when the boys this morning were trying to retrieve samples 4 and 5. She thought the tests will last the whole day. At least the boys covered me and said this isnt a long test, its almost finished.

Whats up with these old farts. A little noise and they make it seem like the Nazi's are coming. The machine is still going to have to be fired up again to move it back to position, this old fart is gonna freak out again when the Nazi Boys bring on the Blitzkrieg ... One More Time

 

Achtung !

DAY 6 - Mackintosh Probe Day

With the SPT Test completed in the morning. Now it is time for the Mackintosh Probe Test works in the afternoon. 

6 Holes were to be tested. 5 of which would require the concrete around the house to be drilled and Probed into for testing.

The only Mackintosh Probe Test that didnt require drilling was MP5. The rest needed a bit of drilling through concrete before probing into the holes.

These 2 are pretty alright workers. Especially the tubby dude. He looks like Gus from Cinderella or something. Both are hardworking and smart

This dude doesnt know how to even insert a pipe and tighten it with an O ring. Pretty sure this dude made the clay penis.

Getting the Mackintosh Probe holes drilled out

The holes were drilled in some time around 11 AM and 12 PM. 

The good thing is the test would take a much shorter time than the SPT Test.

As the test dictates, its either you reach 400 blows within 15 meters, or reach 15 meters first. So Im confident that our soil is fine and will not reach 15 meters first. 

Reaching 15 meters first would mean the soil will be too soft to construct structures of a particular size and weight. 

So the work on the Mackintosh Probe began. 

The 6 holes will take 2 days to reach its goal. So lets see where we fall on DAY 7

DAY 7

Nothing today, the dudes only removed the SPT Machine away. This took a while too. Almost half a day to move the machine and hoist it back on the truck with its equipment and tools

DAY 8

Nothing happened today either. The dudes had to go somewhere else. So work would continue on Saturday, Day 9. I mean I cant complain much, for what Im paying for its okay. Either way my architect and engineer couldnt do anything as well cause they were away so there was no rush yet.

DAY 9

19th August 2017. Its Saturday.

The dudes are back. They drilled a larger hole for the Mackintosh Probe's surface because the holes drilled previously were too small.

Finally the proper Mackintosh Probe started in the morning. Below is the probe's main device that looks like a heavy sharp tipped arrow.

The tip that will penetrate through soil. Theres also the Hammer thats in a shape of a cylinder that will be then used to hammer the probe into the ground

These are the rods that will be attached to one another the deeper you go to reach 400 blows or to 15 meters / whichever comes first

Marking the rods every foot to know how deep the probe will go down to. Has to be done on every rod when the rods are attached to each other.

Let the hammering begin. The hammer is pulled up and then released under its own weight to hammer.

And when the hammer comes down to ground level, another rod is attached 

This was MP5, the only probe test done in the Garden

The results show how many blows were done at each depth. The soil is pretty good

As you can see above. The blows are recorded are pretty damn good. Im not reaching 15 meters first before 400 blows. Im reaching about the 4.5 ish  - 6 meter range when the 400 blows and more are reached.

This means the soil is very good.

When you start blowing the Mackintosh Probe into the ground, the first 20 - 50 blows are pretty fast, it often slows down around the 2 meter mark. Thats when your number of blows starts to shoot up because you are penetrating now into dense soil. This is for soil in SS3 Petaling Jaya, or at least in my case.

Now all you lowyatt people will have an IQ of 300 because now you have got this information. Now go claim yourselves as God Status

At about 12 30 PM I headed to the office. Yes, Saturday is a full day too for me unlike you work life balance chai latte hipsters.

I wanted to see the soil collected from at least one probe but couldnt spare the time. What happens is at 400 blows, soil will be collected as well for testing anyway.

The works might go on till about 7PM today. There are 6 bore holes and the noise levels probably even at a decibel of 10 will trigger our shitty illegal neighbor anyway. (for your information 65 decibels is permitted in the day time, and 55 at night which is the noise level of a Grand Piano) 

But the Mackintosh Probe Test will be completed today.

The noise levels are very bearable. They are not loud at all. Its just a hammer whacking a rod into the ground. 

SUMMARY

So there you have it, this is what the Mackintosh Probe Test looks like and what needs to be done.

Something clearly the Alex's, Tan's, Eng Hoe's, and especially Eric's of the world of contractors have no fucking clue of what needs to be done. That too with you lowyatt undocumented - cheap - fucking - talk - no solution people such as alekfurgeson. (Fucking idiot)

Can you imagine if we had engaged with a contractor first, only to get rejected and do this work later ? The amount of ding donging and going back and forth and spending more money on contractors so they could drink more Cristal at Marinis ? This is why you engage a contractor much later. 

If you want to renovate your home in Petaling Jaya, to the extend of demolishing it and rebuilding it, well this is what needs to be done. This is MBPJ Home Renovations 101 for demolishing and rebuilding a single storey semi detached into a double storey semi detached.

Clearly these are the steps that I am recording to give YOU a step ahead.

But then again, lowyatt people already knew this,... dont they always do !

Next up will be Soil Investigation Part 3. Didnt expect it to be in 3 parts but at least its being done right. Will wait for the soil data to return before submitting it to our engineer who will determine how deep our ground beams and footings etc will need to be before the next stage happening next month - Submissions to MBPJ

~fin~

Soil Investigation Part 1

Once the Survey work had been completed - Levels and Boundaries, I had immediately moved on to the Soil Investigation works through Mr. Sarizal's contact -  Mr. Ibrahim.

Survey works and Soil Investigation Works to me, if you time it just right, could work almost hand in hand during the same time if planned well. This could save you a few days or a week. I guess we are doing things step by step with the kind architects advise.


Soil Investigation works that will be done to your property will include the 2 common tests.


1. SPT Test which stands for Soil Penetration Test - To retrieve 5 samples
2. Mackintosh Probe Test


You may have a question here

What happens during your SPT and Mackintosh Probe Test ?

SPT : A large machine will Bore a hole close to the center of your land as possible. It is dug up till 40 meters deep OR till they find hard soil. Whichever comes first.

On average around the 15 - 20 meter mark is when you will find Hard Rock.

Every 0.5 meters, soil is collected. The collected soil will be sent to the lab for data to be given to your Civil Engineer.

This is simply trying to see how deep your Solid Rock surface is below you.

Mackintosh Probe Test : 6 points around your property (4 corners included) will be tested by a simple hand operated device. The device will be just like hammering a rod with a hammer like shaft. Each hammer is called a Blow. The test will be to reach 15 meters or reach 400 blows. Whichever reaches first.

Its best to reach 400 blows first before reaching the 15 meters mark.

With the test above, you cant find thorough and proper information with real life experience on lowyatt.

All you have is a forum once again about insecure people having no answers to a question. Just cheap opinions without solutions. Take Exhibit A below :

So this Gentleman wants to extend his Kitchen on Mining Land, so he opened up a topic. Where ? Lowyatt

Oh really ? With your 7 postings you say Boreholes ? As in Plural ? Not Singular ? Really ? 1 Borehole is not enough ? What solution are you providing yiawhui ? Will your solution comply to your local town council or Engineers requirements ? Are you an Engineer ? Do you work for MBPJ ?

And then someone gives an answer like this. Kudos to your 1 star solution. Just as good as yiawhui. Fucking genious. Cause you do Soil Testing everyday right alekfegurson ? You sound like an Engineer yourself saying just a strip of foundation is enough. You MUST be the Engineer we have been looking for. And you dare say "this is normally how the nerd would tell". Whose the nerd now Mr. Just a strip of foundation is enough ?

If you really dont want to be trapped with Lowyatt topics if you are extending, renovating, or even demolishing and rebuilding like me, heres some professional advise below :-

FUCKING ASK AN EXPERT'S OPINION

If you are sick, go to a DOCTOR. Not Lowyatt

Building / Doing something to your Home ? Go ask an Architect if he can recommend you an ENGINEER. Not Lowyatt

Even our Architect cant advise us on Soil Testing so how can Lowyatt ? But our Arhitect knew the symptoms, so he suggested to see an Engineer. Our Architect didnt recommend Lowyatt though. Strange,..... thought alekfegurson would have made an EXCELLENT Engineer ! Trust me am good at judging characters, he would have made a good one. All of lowyatt today worships him.

So you see, in the end there was no solution in this topic as well. You can never get the deep answers with the right experience from start till end with lowyatt. Just a bunch of lowyatt fuckers scaring and misleading shit till kingdom comes. Fucking lowyatt.

So Im sharing this here for you to know what will happen. And am sure after this every lowyatt person who reads this will be upgraded to God Status.

Looking at Soil Investigation Works, it seems this will be a requirement to be done for the Civil Engineer Mr. Dalee, as well as for MBPJ.


SO SHOULD I DO ANY SOIL TESTING ?

Some may think its not required such as lowyatt, but this is what is needed on paper before submissions so we have to do it. Because an Engineer in MBPJ too will be looking at your soil as well. Even if they dont look at it, you still need it.

Its like the fine print - some will read it, most will not. But its there to sign off on.

If I was simply extending a portion of the Home, I wouldnt have needed to do this at all.

I contacted Mr. Ibrahim who works for GEOSCIENCE SOLUTIONS SDN. BHD on the 4th of August.

The same day as I had picked up my Survey Plans. The company Mr. Ibrahim works for is called GEOSCIENCE SOLUTIONS SDN. BHD.

Below is my quote of how much these works would cost for the Standard Penetration Test (Bore Hole) and the Mackintosh Probe Test WITH Lab Testing to be conducted.

Its a modest quote, and a fair price according to my Architect

Whats that again lowyatt people ? Refresh my memory yiawhui

Thats right, 5 - 10 k for BoreholeS with an S. Plural not Singular. 7 posts with sound adviseS. Keep in mind, this is 2011 when yiawhui posted this and mentioned 5 - 10k. I paid as per the quote above. Its now 2017. This is why lowyatt people who drive Myvis actually have 500,000 in their account.

Sounds like a decent name GEOSCIENCE SOLUTIONS SDN. BHD. but as you will soon see, the chaps are a pretty funny bunch of characters.

Anyway, I received a quote within the same day, on the 4th of August 2017 towards the later part of the evening. I asked Mr. Sarizal if the price was alright and he said was a fair price. This was a Friday so I just signed on the quote and emailed it back as my confirmation.

I had also sent Mr. Ibrahim of GEOSCIENCE SOLUTIONS my Survey Plan showing where the property was, where the grass was, and where concrete was. Do this if you are engaging in a Soil Investigator.

My Survey Plan that I indicated where grass was. Still ended up having to dig through concrete anyway.

Shortly after I received an email back showing where the SPT and Mackintosh Probe Tests will be conducted.

X Marks the spot. Thats where the Bore Hole will be done. The deepest of all Holes to be dug

We agreed to meet on a Wednesday as the machine was being used somewhere in Kajang. So that would be the earliest we could get the machine in, on Wednesday. I paid GEOSCIENCE SOLUTIONS on Monday the 7th of August so work would commence on Wednesday.



DAY 1


Wednesday came and boy oh boy did it pour so the only thing that could be done was to put the machine and equipment in place for the next day. Here is the SPT Machine for the Bore Hole. Was around 5 : 30 when it finally showed up.

Neighbors being kepoh chi had all gathered to have a look what was going on like something terrible had just impacted their lives. Dogs were barking, old fart neighbors looked like it was a revisit of world war 2 coming to ss3. One neighbor though a senior gentleman, walked inside the compound to ask what was going on. I bet you all neighbors that very same night had used their telephone to call each other and spread the word. Actually, what he wanted was a pot left behind by the previous owner. 

While bringing down the SPT Machine, I reassured our neighbor it was a Soil Test that was going to be done. They thought construction was going to begin 2 days or something later. Sheesh. Only lowyatt people can get soil tests, surveys, town council approvals and construct buildings in 2 days. Cause they do this everyday like alekfugurson. 

On the left are the Bore Hole cylinder cases. In the middle are the tubes that will bore into the ground to collect soil sample up to 40 meters down. On the right is just a water pump for the SPT Machine

Now look, if you think these guys are going to show up in a very expensive yellow and black CAT truck with a crane attached to its back, staff wearing jumpers or overalls with reflective strips, goggles, safety hats with timberland boots like they were going to drill oil off an oil rig from the sea,....

You got it fucking wrong.

This is where lowyatt people can pay 50,000 for all I care for their fucking Soil Investigation, but not me. I just wanted to get my information extracted.

What lowyatt people think they get. Your dreams are about to be crushed

These guys from GEOSCIENCE SOLUTIONS SDN. BHD. were a chatty bunch of dudes who woke up the neighborhood. In some sense this was good reminder to the kepoh chi neighbors, cause this would be an indication of things to come and what to expect.

And what was to be expected was noise levels in future with heavy machinery and concrete trucks with pumps and the whole works. They would have to accept that this is what is going to be done. Especially if they too are banking on rejuvenating the neighborhood and increasing the value of the road, let alone property.

It was a good signal that shit was about to get real. So heres was a warning to all - Noise WILL come.

These guys from GEOSCIENCE SOLUTIONS will smoke, rip your garden apart-i-dont-give-a-fuck way of working. What I can say though is, yes you pay for what you get. The only rule I gave these dudes was

"You wanna smoke, can, but dont you think about throwing your butts anywhere you want". 

I gave my rule, that was it, they obeyed, they could play with their own turd for all I care and throw it at each other and I didnt care, just get my extractions.

These were chicken rice people, not Medium Done Steak eating contractors.



DAY 2

On the 10th of August work finally commenced. Its a strange year having rain and cloudy weather during August. But work commenced and this is when the SPT Machine was put to place to drill a hole that would then reach its maximum depth till it finds Sound Rock.

I was glad I was there during this time. I saw the beginning of what will be a hole being dug to somewhere I would never reach and see. Its kinda like the Kola Superdeep.

Here are some images of Day 2

The SPT Machine was moved to its Bore Hole position. Or should I say Bore Hole Machine. Took about half an hour to move 20feet. Lowyatt people can do this in 2 minutes

When the hole was dug on the surface. Was penetrated somewhere in the middle of the land. Yes they dug through tile

Whe the hole was first dug before the cylinders were inserted to begin proper Bore Hole work

I left for work about an hour in. As long as I was there to witness the beginning, I was happy.

DAY 3

So I came back the next day and they had already reached 6 meters. Here are some images.

Work commenced on this morning with the rain and drizzle



These 3 guys are a chatty bunch. One even took clay and made a penis. Hilarious. Didnt know what to say, to fuck them up or laugh. In the end I laughed.

Inserting the probe with a collet that collects the soil every 0.5 meters down. That tip that this gentleman is holding will contain soil collected for the lab to test

The soil below begins to turn white ish which indicated its still soft soil / clay ish soil. That was probably used to make their clay penis

6 meters down, I was lucky to view what the soil was like during their probe

6 meters in and it was still soft soil. The chap drilling the hole mentioned that he reaches hard soil around 15 - 20 meters deep on average. So at 6 meters I was not going to expect anything yet. So I had nothing to worry about. 

The soil while being drilled, will begin to turn white ish which looks like clay. It will still be soft soil. It will eventually hit Solid Rock at a particular depth, and thats it. 

So this, lowyatt folks, is what you will now post all over forums claiming you will be the biggest genius who knows more than any other "common" lowyatt folks. Welcome to Lowyatt God status

At every 0.5 meters, soil is collected through the Bore Hole's probe and kept aside.

Shown here is soil collected at 1.5 meters down

Soil from 3 meters down collected in a bag

Once Sound Rock / Solid Rock is reached, drilling will stop and soil will be collected from its deepest point at Solid Rock.


DAY 4

Its the 12th of August 2017, Its a Saturday. I walked into my home and no one was working there, I took a look around and saw some notes on the ground on a piece of cardboard that it was 16.5 - 16.9 meters so thats where they had stopped on Friday.

DAY 5

Monday had come but these dudes had some kursus that they had to attend. They didnt inform me but I had asked when they were going to come back and they said Tuesday, which is today the 15th of August.

I paid my place a visit and saw them still digging. Man this seems like this kinda stuff is pretty long. Its good though they didnt come on Saturday. Being a caring neighbor I too didnt want that really loud machine turned on. The Boring Machine / SPT Machine really sounds like the worlds loudest grass cutter. And its diesel stench is pretty strong.

The soil today had changed colour though to a more brownish colour. Im guessing its going even deeper now

Soil now begins to look brownish yellow. We will be most likely hitting Solid Rock today

According to the supervisor, in my area of Petaling Jaya, you would usually find Solid Rock / Hard Surface when you arrive around the 20 - 30 meter mark. Wow thats pretty deep I guess. Well the maximum these guys can bore at will be 40 meters.

Before leaving, the Bore Hole reached 18 - 18.5 meters. This is 2.5 days of Boring so far. With this, Im guessing reaching Solid Rock wont be far now, and Solid Rock we finally reached today...

As of 3 30 PM today, 15th August 2017, we finally reached Solid Rock at 19.5 meters.


What happens now is that you will have to dig 5 samples from the point of Solid Rock Penetration and then the SPT Test is complete.

I told the guy that when he reaches Solid Rock to just whatsapp me when they have reached. But the dude didnt. Lucky I called.

Looks like those 2 -  3 weeks of work for just soil testing might after all be true. And we still have not reached the Mackintosh part yet.

At 5 15 PM today, I received a call from our shitty illegally built house neighbor who said the machine was still going on and smoke was being blown into her premise. Lowyatt old farts. Its alright for them to build shit illegally, but not us.

Well at least the dudes got 3 samples so far so the shitty neighbors will have to bear with us for another 2 more samples before things are completed.

Well lets comply first and see what happens in future. Well, our first complaint. How fun !


IN SUMMARY

So because Im a caring Malaysian who wants to share information instead of being on lowyatt, this is what you can expect from Soil Penetration works by drilling a Bore Hole. This is how much it would cost today, in 2017, and not in 2011. So if you are going to do something in Petaling Jaya, or for that matter anywhere in Selangor, hopefully this information has helped.

Just remember, no lowyatt advise. For that matter, dont take it even from me.

If you want advise, go to the right person. The only right advise I can give is for your to take it from the right person.  In which this case your Architect or Engineer.

If you want a fair - priced - service, you may use the following details unlike lowyatt folk who would only say

"PM Me on the Side"

Just to make extra money off you with wrong advise.



CONTACT DETAILS OF SOIL INVESTIGATOR

GEOSCIENCE SOLUTIONS SDN. BHD. may be reached with the following details :-

GEOSCIENCE SOLUTIONS SDN. BHD.
E-05-02, SERAI WANGI M16/M
ALAM AVENUE 2, SEKSYEN 16
40000, SHAH ALAM

CONTACT PERSON : MR. IBRAHIM
H/P NO : 019 272 4005
TEL NO : 03-5524 5844




Now go on lowyatt and claim you have done Soil Testings like you do it everyday and give advise. Fucking Lowyatt people.

Next up will be the Mackintosh Probe Test. The most boring test where you whack what looks like a penis into the ground to see if it reaches 400 blows or more.

That was a joke by the way

Survey Work Done

Today is the 5th of August 2017, Yesterday on the 4th of August 2017, I had collected my documents for the Survey work that was done.

Im very happy to say that finally, this would be the first actual document that we have in our hands for the first step forward.

Its also our first proper spend on a long list of things from start till finish.

But its got to start somewhere right ?

The Surveyors quote that we had was from this company that I had engaged with based on our kind Architects recommendation. Here is their quote :-

Surveyors Quote

The company's name is Jurukur Generasi. Their details are as follows :-

JURUKUR GENERASI SDN. BHD.

136, Jalan PUJ 3/8, 

Taman Puncak Jalil, 

43300 Seri Kembangan, 

Selangor, Malaysia

Tel : +03 8999 0808

Person in Charge : Mr. Cheah's handphone number is 0163300779

Mr. Cheah speaks very fluent English and though I had not had the privilege of meeting him, he is a nice gentleman on the phone. A pleasure to speak with. Im sure he is nice in person too.

I would recommend this company. From the time of the quote till collecting my documents, the whole process took just 1 week. 2 days of Survey work, 4 days to prepare documents. Maybe lowyatt people can get it done in 2 hours, but for me it was 1 week start till end.

This is what our plan looks like 

Survey Plan with Levels and Road and Drainage 

The Survey Plan comes with 3 copies as standard

The size of the plan is in an A1 size paper. Nice and large.

1 copy will be given to the Architect, another to the Engineer.

You should ask your Surveyor to email the Autocad drawing as well immediately to your Architect.

So this way your Architect has the layout to work with immediately. The Architect otherwise may be sipping on Chai Latte for 5 days before going on a work life balance weekend and asking this from you a week later. Mr. Sarizal, in fashionably fast working ethics, asked this immediately.

The plan above has errors to which I will clarify from our Architect Mr. Sarizal if this needs to be redone. If yes then there might be an update soon.

However the errors spotted were just 3 errors. 1 of which was a big error. I guess sometimes working with speed isnt a good thing.

I didnt want the documents couriered so I collected them myself.

This is a brief posting, this is the first step taken that shows what your Surveyors Plans look like. Shows where your boundaries are, your Road and Drainage, Levels, where the Governments Boundaries such as Lamp Posts etc are. Even tress as well. Everything has a level to it.

What are these Levels ? What do those numbers mean ? Its your terrain. How much above sea level. So if there is a point on the structure such as a tree that says +27.99 then its 27.99 meters above sea level.

I didnt have an image of the Survey work when it was carried out. 

The next step will be the Soil Investigation that will be taking place this coming week. Once its done, by Friday next week, I will have the posting up as well of what took place. 

The Soil Investigation is going to take 3 weeks to obtain a report. So it will be in 2 parts.

Awesome !

Construction Timeline With Payment Schedules

Now that we have encountered ridiculous contractors who have submitted their quotes. What do you do next ?

You look at the bottom line.

Below the bottom line are their terms. But will they be fair ?

In many cases it will be "NO".

"NO" Just like how Mr. Eric's windows are not Tempered

Mr. Eng Hoe has asked for a 30% downpayment, and ,.... well you read the rest :

Contractors are always to be paid as they go along in stages

You are only supposed to pay as your project goes along. If a contractor doesnt tell you what will be done at a 30% downpayment mark, how do you gauge what 30% of construction will be ?

Greedy contractors already eat enough steak cooked Medium Rare in Bangsar everyday while you eat home cooked meals like roti chanai and fish curry. (Yum)

So dont be foolish and agree because you were hasty to start quickly.

On the other hand, Mr. Tan the contractor had simply asked for a payment every 2 weeks. Which was not bad too. Because every 2 weeks if there is no progress, we dont have to pay anything. This was agreeable to me

So how long will or should things take from demolition to moving in ?

Well here is a Timeline / Guideline to how things would be paid.

If your contractor is talking shit, show him your timeline. Because he wouldnt have one for sure when asking for a downpayment in his terms.

This is something deemed fair and without some contractor putting things on paper by saying 30% Downpayment blindly. At what stage will the 30% Downpayment be at during construction?

Ask a contractor what gets done at their Downpayment and they wont be able to give you a clear answer but one thats cooked on the spot. 

They wouldnt even have it on paper like we have. So now this looks better for us doesnt it ? At least we know a better timeline than Contractors. We can quantify things better and fairly than contractors can. Fuck them.

So when you are discussing with a contractor especially while getting your approvals done, use this as a measurement against any advise from the contractor such as Mr. Eng Hoe's 30%.

Its important to come ready without blindly agreeing to someones terms.

If you know what it takes ? then be fair and get paid accordingly based on a timeline.

Know your shit better than what contractors are saying. Know their work better than they know theirs.

After all, you have all the facts on the table with a timeline as well instead of shooting 30% as a Downpayment. At least you have things in stages.

If they cant agree to your knowledge of doing business - walk away. However, this is what I have done in Stages as shown above


*** At this rate, Mr. Eng Hoe asked us to Pay 30% as a Downpayment. This brings things right till Stage 2. At this rate, what if he doesnt show up at all for stage 1 ? ***



IN SUMMARY


Contractors may bolt, workers may not get paid, and construction goes into a halt because your lowyatt contractor ate too many Medium Done Steaks from Bangsar or drinking Cristal's at Marini's.

These are things that may be taken as a given.

Buy in bulk, buy fast, store them away. Things like plywood, bricks, cement can be stored in my case where I work. Plus, its safer than leaving things on site.

Also, the longer contractors take, the lower their profit margins will be. In addition to this, contractors too will try to speed shit up to make profits larger.

This is where shoddy workmanship like cracked floors, cracked walls, tiles failing, alignments and stuff go very wrong. And so do things like water pipes that could cause leaks sooner.

Industrial look what ? Hor ?

Too fast, and shit goes fucked. Too slow says your contractor is fucking around. Its best to work at a medium pace.

Keep in mind, Contractors are basically Gods.

They will never be at your site working in the sun, because they need to take care of their complexion in order to look good while eating steak on Saturday for their work life balance and Sundays, brunch with avacado and toast with their chai lattes and then pretend to look broke for you on "some" days that they show up,

What contractors really do is show you an image of driving a beat up proton, faded polo shirt, and some slightly torn pants (likely deliberately stressed) to give you an impression things cost a lot and what they are quoting is humble. Bullshit

Very hard wor contractor

Because in reality, when someone like Mr. Eric who claims 350,000 is for labor and 212,000 is for raw materials will actually drive his proton to the spot where his Mercedes C Class is parked, change his shirt to a Hugo Boss with Armani Jeans, and leave work to head to Bangsar for his daily work life balance at 3 30 PM so that he is able to beat the jam and enjoy the late mid day sun with a few pints of Bright Ale made by James Squire with of course, steak made Medium Rare served in Royal Doulton plates and Italian forks and knives.

The real contractors car (Poor guys huh, you gotta give them a break working so hard)

And all things will repeat itself the very next day for his other 23 projects running the same time. When he does finally show up at your premise that 1 time every month is when he is there to meet you,....

to collect your money of course.

~ fin ~

Renovation Costings - Breakdown and Rebuild

Renovation Costings are another scary nightmare described by people " I pay ah, so much wor. Contractor fak kau me and run away wor"

Thats because he took your 30% Deposit and blew it on Cristal at Marini's.

Oh yeah, am gonna have a ball now. Show me the money Biyatch

In our case, we hear people mentioning about how ballooned things are by the time they are done with the house. Some say 50% more, some even more.

Thats because lowyatt contractors never quote you fully the full works and by the time you need to know what really is required to complete the job, your budget is blown.

If you really know your materials like me, when I got quoted for windows from Mr. Eric, I asked if the windows were tempered and the contractor said "No".

So when you start hearing more "No"s from the specifications you want in the contractors quote, thats where finishes begin to get shitty, your budget blows for quality and things start fucking up


In our case, the contingencies are very very low. We have to be very prudent in this case. We are not as fortunate as lowyatt folks who drive Myvi's, claim they are poor but have 500k in the bank.

To build essentially a Double Storey Semi Detached with the size of a a Terrace Link House, this is what things will cost.

A more detailed breakdown is available below to show I didnt pluck figures from my arese. Yes there may be some things missing, but some. The very foundation of things are there to work with.

Keep in mind, that not all things here will be given to a contractor to build from A - Z with shitty finishes. In some cases like the roof, my company will be building the roof as we do steel work.

The roof was quoted to us for RM 38,000 while using the old timber trusses and rafters of the current house. To which I said fuck off.

Greedy lowyatt fuckers. At RM 38,000 you could have a new roof with sourced materials such as C Channels at 1.6mm in thickness.

Point 6.0 "New Monier Roof" What Mr. Eric is "New" ? Its basically reusing my old roof tiles and using timber structure at RM 38,700.0 The Audacity to call it "New" . Turns out that this guy was going to outsource the job to build the roof. Cause he doesnt know how to build a roof and know what the guidelines are as well I guess in MBPJ for Roofs. Clearly another Lowyatt chap who probably deals with another Lowyatt chap who knows the truth of what Roof regulations are. - "PM me on the side"  fuckers. 

I also factored in that you could even have the roof insulated with rock wool at RM 2,000 with rockwool that has a thickness of 100 mm / 4inches.

If I was going to Build a Roof with a budget of 38,700 I would have spent

2000 on Rockwool
7,000 on 2 " x 3" C Channels for trusses (1.6mm thickness)
1000 for 4" Gutters
2000 on Flashing
8000 on Heat Shield
3000 on G.I Sheet plate of 1.2mm thickness
5000 on Labor and installation (5 staff constructing the structure in 10 days / RM 500 a day / RM 100 a worker for 8 hours work)

Thats 28,000. Thats 10,700 saved and thats just me being Generous with my figures above. Thats a roof that would give me easily 3 - 5 degress more of coolness.



How Mr. Eric would cheat will be this way

3,000 on timber
1000 on flashing
750 on 3" Gutters
3000 on labour ( 5 staff constructing the structure in 10 days / RM 300 a day / RM 60 a worker for 8 hours)

Thats RM 7,750 and with NO Rockwool, NO C Channels, NO G.I Sheet

And his earnings ?


RM 30,950.00


So you know where he's going with his other Roof Building friend, right ?

Champagne on Ice, Am on top of the world bebeh

So if you dont know your materials, you will get conned.

What is going to be re-used though are our roof tiles from the existing building as they are Monier tiles made in the early 90's. There was no such thing then as "Grade A/B/C". Just 1 Grade and that was "Good Quality" back in the day that was built to last

We are fortunate enough to be working with materials everyday such as Plywood, Chipboard, MDF, Aluminium and Steel in different sizes, profiles and thicknesses.

We have as well Electricians who we deal with, and flooring people as well who can power float, grind and polish floors, tile workers who are old fashioned skilled Chinese men still in the trade. These are the True chicken rice eating chaps.

From C Channels for your roof, to GI Plates and expanded metal sheets as well as plywood in different grades and thicknesses. These things are a daily event to me. But it really isnt that hard

So how we have divided costing within a simple budget works this way :-


DEMOLITION, LABOUR, RAW MATERIALS - BARE BUILDING BASICS

In Mr. Eric's case, leaving out the Sewage, and Raw Materials, his labor was RM 350,000. Since when do raw materials cost over 150,000 ? 

Based on my figures, the Labor includes building the Home with

Dismantling the Home
Clearing the rubble
Construction
Wet Works
Form Work
Plastering
Skimming
Bricklaying,...... Everything at a generous RM 218,000.00

*** I have left Tiling and Power Floating the floors aside, because this to me requires some special attention, which I have included in the Furniture and Fittings ***


At 429,850. for 4,055 square feet this is what it will cost for the bare basic structure of the Home to be built. This INCLUDES the

Architects
Engineers
Surveyors
Soil Investigator
MBPJ Approvals
Contractors

429,850 - This is the job of what Building the Basics will do for you.  

This is how much you can put aside to build a new home with approximately a 4,000 sq. ft built up.

Our first Contractor Mr. Alex was proposing for a 1.5 Storey for RM 500,000, by adding half a storey more on top of our existing structure.

Does this look stupid to people like me ? Yes. Because it insults my intelligence.

Now lets look at your fittings and furnishings. From your Air conditioning units to your beds.

FURNISHING AND FINISHES 

A grand total, of RM 509,633.50. Keep in mind, I will have the roof rebuilt myself,  the gate as well to our Home and even the Staircase Railings as well. This means  you could put aside another 10% and say that it will cost you perhaps around the 570,000 region. 

So with almost everything thought out, this is what the figures come. At greedy contractor rates, we would have been raped off our bank balance.

If it was left to the contractors to come up with a simple 3 page plan such as ours, I think the world would be a better place. I could really use the song Heal The World by Michael Jackson right now.

Stupid people would spend for our built up 750,000 with contractors. And you wonder where the inflation came from.

We had given ourselves an additional 10% contingency just in case. So this would bump us up to the 550,000 range.

Keep in mind that some of the prices I have used are not to have lavishes to certain fittings but modest ones. We dont need to have Grohe fittings in every single bathroom. We dont need Italian tiles. A little lavish will be alright, not everything. A little flash is okay.

Just like once in a while, you too gotta try eating steaks that your contractors eat because they have no taste for chicken rice.



 CONTRACTORS LABOUR COST

This is where you will know how greedy contractors are. They seem broke but they are rich. one even showed up in a C Class Mercedes, 2016 model of course.

What contractors REAAAALLLY drive

Plus they would not be there all the time serving you. What a contractor should cost is RM 15,000.00 a month at MAX. Even this seems greedy because the contractor will never be at site everyday as there are always other projects being taken on.

The staff earn RM 2,500.00 a month per staff. With 6 staff. So thats another 15,000 a month.

So if its 7 months for construction that makes it to 30,000 a month X 7 = RM 210,000 total for 7 moths of Construction. But to my figures I have calculated for RM 218,000

At Mr. Eric's rate of 350,000, it would mean that Mr. Eric's pocket would be more than what MO1 earns a month. Thats why Myvi driving lowyatt folks do have RM 500,000 in their bank accounts.

RM 218,000, more than enough. Any later than 7 months work would mean lesser earnings for the boss.



ELECTRICIAN

Most will quote you and say things like Looping, Wiring, Plug Point, Points, all that does not matter as long as you have good wires. Im using Mega Cables the whole way. What are you using ?

If you are using something inferior, then maybe it will be cheaper but your wires for your lights heat fast. Mega cable gives a smooth flow of current, and also doesnt heat up. In Mr. Erics quote, there was no mention of Mega Cable because he was going to give us inferior stuff.

He had quoted us for points as well, 42 of them, but forgot that we were not that stupid where we could loop things and get things cheaper.

Armour cable is also standard for your Gate, but what thickness is being used ? Ask your electrician / contractor.

Find yourself a good Electrician. We have ours

RM 30,000





FURNITURE AND FITTINGS

Our furniture and fittings once again was left partially to things we could build ourselves.

Of course, beds and mattresses, couches etc didnt have to be bought from Cheras Glamorous Kedai Perabot furniture stores, neither expensive ones.

To get an idea, just look at IKEA online and this will give you some indication.

Once again, nothing had to be expensive in our case, just modest and humble. Not cheap charlie cheap, but neither were we going to sleep on what loyatt contractors sleep on like a 25,000 bed.

Where contractors REAAALLLY lay their heads down at night. We didnt have to go for an expensive bed

Fittings such as your lights, I was going to invest in them, brightest low wattage would work for me. I wouldnt mind spending 20% more, to get 50% back as an investment. These are cheaper things.

Neither was I going to be stingy on Kitchen equipment. Decent equipment was going to be used. Not too expensive, but neither a fridge with an Ice Maker or a Dishwasher,....which doesnt sound too bad too.

We too from living outside, had the opportunity to purchase a Microwave oven, Kettle, some pots and pans, and even an Air Fryer. So these things didnt have to be added to my costings.

Am sure you too would find some things you already own.

~fin~