Before Meeting Contractors, Electrical and Plumbing

Its the 14th of May, and actually I have a concurring blog that is being done as well at the same time. However I have decided to open this quick blog because 2 things are going on at the same time

1. Awaiting for Building Plan Approvals from MBPJ
2. Awaiting for Contractors quotes

So theres some fun now as this blog is slowly now morphing into the next stage. Consider this post a "Morphing" post.

WHAT DO YOU DO WHILE WAITING FOR YOUR ARCHITECTS PLANS TO GET ENDORSED FROM MBPJ ?

A ) You can eat Avocado & Toast like all lowyatt folks do

OR

B) This is a good time to start looking at Greedy ass contractors with your Engineers and Building Plans. I would do this.

Soon, someones gonna be fondling with our bank accounts. And no its not Najib

I got to say, I decided to go on the usual recommend and kaodim websites, the thing is that MAN its flooded with hipster contractors.

I was telling my wife that we should look at 5 quotes, and put our specs on the site and man its flooding to a point of annoyance.

However, speaking to some of these contractors, they are not to my preference. One came with an Interior Designer - often wearing hipster clothes and very enthustiastic, you just now their rooms are filled with cut out wooden letters for signs that read shit like "LOVE" or "PEACE" or "COFFEE" or some shit like that. Ill have one of those that says LOWYATT one day, Thank you very much.

Nevermind, give them a chance. They are hungry. Ok enough of ranting so what should you do ?

1.I would recommend looking around your neighborhood or surrounding ones for contractors who are working with legal houses. You will be sure to find a contractor thats automatically CIDB Certified. Yes its a longer process than going online. However, in the real world you can actually VIEW their work, and gauge their workmanship WHILE they are ACTUALLY building a home. Rather than not knowing online folks who may claim to have done an entire property but only renovated the kitchen for instance.

2. Throw in a mix of kaodim or recommend contractors too. Get a feel of both sides.

3. You might want to ask even your house of worship that you go to such as your local Mosque, Church, Temple and ask who built this place of worship or who was the ID if thats what you need. After all, these are legal buildings (most of the time anyway)

In my case, I did a mix of all the above



TIMING IT RIGHT THIS TIME ?

I have no idea who will be awarded the contract soon, but Im glad Im doing this now as its Ramadhan and our Indonesian brothers working to build lowyatt homes with wine cellars cant do hard labour in the Sun. Mainly wet works like skimming and plastering. So Im glad this time, its a blessing in disguise. May is a very good month to just look at contractors. So to me, the best time to view contractors should be during the Ramadhan period. Things are slow and are in my favor.

I took a drive around Section 14 today, and this is what I had realised. Workers are working indoors during Ramadhan for obvious reason. While I was driving, I decided to ask someone whose House was being built for the contractor bosses number, and I gave that contractor a call. Got to evaluate the work as well at the same time and the magnitude of what people are doing to their homes rather than trusting online folks. Im sorry, but I still cant put my entire faith online when it comes to building a home. Requires a bit more trust.

WHAT YOU MUST HAVE DONE BY NOW

2 things :-

1. Electrical Plan
2. Plumbing Plan

This here is pretty important as I was stressing on this since November 2018. In my case my plans sitting on them after 6 months, I had to quickly review them so I could give it to some contractors as well.

You DONT HAVE TO engage with a contrctor you appoint to do the who Plumbing and Wiring of your property, but in some cases people do it because its a whole package. To me, I would rather work with a separate Electrician and Plumber.

They would have to be Certified / Registered Electricians and Plumbers by the way, otherwise you wont get your Certification of Completion and Compliance. However lowyatt 4.5 storey people can get CCC in 2 hours also. Me, I cant. I dont care about what lowyatt folks say about getting a CCC, but over at this blog, this is what you will need.

Here is a rough plan that I had prepared for one of the contractors, that will be applicable for the Electrician and Plumber one day.


Electrical Plan

My Electrical Plans, to submit to any Electrician or Contractor. Things like Looping on switches, played such importance yesterday as I was planning this. Had to imagine being inside the home and what will be the appropriate lights to turn on with 1 switch. Gaining the quickest way to brightness in a space, dark and bright areas etc. 

People I think generally dont plan for this till the electric Annay comes and asks which lights you want to loop. Heck even my Vent Fan for the bathroom is looped with the light that turns on above the sink and Water Closet. Why ? Because the shower light doesnt need to be turned on with the Ventilation Fan. 

Also, I had a whole conversation last night with Wifey about this and our plans above, will actually need tweaking now, so its not 100 % concrete at the moment above. It took us a good 1.5 hours just talking about lights, and the wine I had and the sochu she consumed, got to the both of us a little talking about lighting. But it does take time planning even lights.

Its a good time to consider not what switches you would like such as Schneider or whatever, but its a good time I guess to start doing research on wires. For me Im going for Mega Cable. Yes yes, I know they cost more. But they are really good, the wires are thicker and this means current flows well and isnt going to cause any burnt wires compared to crappy lowyatt wires.

Plumbing Plan

My Plumbing Plans, excluding Sewage Lines at the moment that lead to the Shit Tanks. A word my wife really hates.

Plumbing is another thing that needs to be planned. You want the shortest route to things. I may not have the strongest plan yet for plumbing, as I had something to consider yesterday while making this plan. And this is my dilemma. I hate super high pressure when it comes to water. I know folks say water pressure should be good, but I mean for me, Im not too concerned about this on the ground floor which is why I feel the pressure shouldnt be high. I actually wrote 2 paragraphs about how pissed I was about high pressure, but it was too long. Must be more positive nowadays.

This too was a conversation itself with wifey after the Electrical Plans.

You might want to take a look at a couple of things here and how I planned myself. On the ground floor where the car park is, there are 3 things on a pillar where plumbing is concerned. Its for washing our feet just in case we step on Dog poop one day, a small outdoor sink and a tap as well. Nothing out of this world, but a good tool to have where water is concerned. And placed well. On the First floor, I had to keep at least one outdoor tap just in case I would need to clean the walls, and floor space with a pressure washer. You will see this at the water tank area too, because as you now know, I have intentions of using that space and keeping it clean will be a must.


If you zoom in again to the first floor, you might realise that theres a Tap right inside the Master Bedroom. Whats it doing there ? Whats going on ?

Ask yourself this

Ever wanted a glass of water after a good nights drink when you wake up in the middle of the night ?

Ever wanted a glass of water because it was hot and you were upstairs and lazy to go downstairs ?

Ever got your spouse annoyed for just a glass of water ?

Ever had baby formula upstairs but forgot to bring the bottle with water upstairs ?

Ever had a fever and you were burning up but your spouse went to work and you have to get water ?

Ever had to get water but your bones hurt like hell just to walk downstairs and then upstairs again ?

Ever had to go to the kitchen to bring up water and you just simply forgot about it ?

Ever had a hangover so bad that you needed water but said fuck it, ill sleep it off till it goes away ?



Introducing, the... "TAP IN THE ROOM"

And if you were wondering how I felt about this, look below

I must admit, I think this has been one of the most brilliant ideas so far of all things that can make me proud and chuffed of this whole build. I thought myself as a walking genius. Till wifey said no. But its still going to happen. Why cant a tap be in every room ? At least an elegant looking one. Right next to everyones bed. Screw this going up and down for water and forgetting about it.

Soon lowyatt folks too will be copying these ideas. 

CONCLUSION


Why would this be important ? Well its gonna determine a few things

One being the most obvious - Cost & Calculations. Followed by Length and Specifications of things. Like me, Im going to be using Mega Cables for the Electrical works, but for the most part of the Water lines, not really bothered. Pretty much class 7. and maybe some black poly pipe too. Sizes of pipes will matter as well, but its still a while away. First thing is not to look like a dummy when you talk to a plumber and electrician. At least when the time comes, your plans would be pretty much 90 % there.

This is where time can be wasted. People have busy lives, some moments I dont, and some people always have busy lives. There are also people who claim to have busy lives just by picking up a pencil and stressing how hard it was today to pick up that pencil they dropped into a fucking length of time it takes to read Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner. 

However, during this time, was able to sacrifice a few hours from work to plan myself so I dont look like a real idiot when the time comes to discuss plans. Perhaps working with a clearer unpressed mind helps over a Sunday. Its good that I was able to submit at least this rough 90% plans made with Photoshop just to indicate to the contractor I knew my shit,....to a certain degree.

This particular contractor was looking at the plumbing and electrical works as well to be in the bag, so I provided my plans. =). So thats why Im blogging.

Have a Electrical and Plumbing Plan, and this will definitely be able to help with cost estimates better. I have no interest at the moment in knowing how much this would even cost yet because I think the time is not now to waste on any Electrician or Plumber, but I needed these plans just in case I find a decent contractor who also links with a Registered Plumber and Electrician he works with, then why not, I have a rough plan ready for that too.

The more detailed you are, the more accurate cost estimates can be I guess

Best to be ready than be caught with your pants down. Have a great day ahead and thank you for reading if you made it this far.