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~

Steps for MBPJ Approval - Demolish and Rebuild

Some of you may want to know when to do things, how long things will take and what happens in the process.

This is where many get caught and frustrated as well due to the lack of transparency from architects, and architects not being fully aware of what the local town council guidelines are. In our case MBPJ.

With this town council, before submitting things, ensure that you have your :

1. Setbacks done correct
2. 15% greenery of a lawn
3. 1 / 3 of your water tank capacity is for rain water harvesting
4. Angle of your roof pitch is safely done at 23 degrees from Rise to Run (or at least Overhang)
5. Neighbors consent has been approved by all 4 sides

These are the major things with MBPJ that you should have at the back of your mind - complying.

The Architect, Engineer, Surveyor, Soil Investigator are a separate entity that will be submitting on your behalf the correct documents. Get this house in order to comply with the requirements of the town council correctly and both will fit hand in glove well.

Here is a summary of what to do, by when and roughly how long things would take. No ranting here, but will be a copy and paste for most lowyatt folks for sure. Here it goes, and this applies only for those who are demolishing and rebuilding

STEP 1 - ENGAGE ARCHITECT

When : I would do this anytime after signing the SPA or when you have a design you like. You could do this too as soon as you have your Loan Offer Approval.

Bring your idea(s) to your architect. Nevermind the Interior Design and theme first. Draw out the basics first. No one builds cars with Colours and Leather seats in mind, the foundation begins first and that will be your desired plans for a layout. The theme comes later.

How long will it take : Approximately 1 - 2 weeks

What will happen :

1. You will discuss your plans with your Architect.
2. The Architect will indicate costings.
3. Your Architect will inform you about the local town council
4. Your Architect will inform you one the steps to get things forward (listed below)
5. Your Architect will draw up preliminary plans for you where you will approve or make amendments based on the local town councils guidelines

STEP 2 - AMMEND & APPROVE BUILDING PLANS WITH ARCHITECT

When : Anytime between SPA Signing and Loan Approval

How long will it take : Depends on how fast you have your own plans and sit down with architect. This is where my plans came in handy. Approximately 1 month going back and forth once every week. Inclusive of the Hari Raya break of 1 week.

Back and forth correspondences for changes

What will happen : You will get emails back and forth, whatsapp chats of progress and developments of your layout. You will have possibly some changes to the layout / you may wish to add / remove / change before signing off on your building plans

STEP 3 - GET NEIGHBORS CONSENT

Be nice to all 4 neighbors. Ring their bell if you have to say Hi even.

When : Right after picking up keys / when you have appointed your architect. At least say hello to neighbors first.

How long will it take : Depending on when your neighbors are home. Give it 1 week in General. Some will sign on the spot. Approach them on a weekend, its better when things are calm and people are home. 

What will happen :  Your architect will submit to you the Owners Consent Form that is a format available from your local town council, in our case MBPJ. You will ask for their kind consent. Ensure you have a honest - friendly relationship first with them. In any case, if someone objects here,  bets may be off.

STEP 4 - SURVEYOR WITH ROAD AND DRAINAGE

Survey the land, get your levels, know your boundaries, and know where the governments land boundaries are. Beyond your front gate, its government land so get your surveyor to let you know on where the markings are.

When : Right after neighbors consent. Without neighbors consent, you cannot do ANYTHING further. So this is where doing this first is important. Then bring in the Surveyor. Dont pay first only to have it rejected later

How long will it take : 1 week to do checks with the Land Department. 2 days on site. 3 - 5 days for submission of plans. Total takes 2 weeks from the time you made the first phone call to collecting your documents.

What will happen : Surveyor will check your current Grant, do a search on your property with Land Department as well, then come to your site to do markings with a tripod and his equipment. Markings will be made on the property as well. What you will get will be

1. Levels - Elevations of the property as shown above. It will be mentioned example +27.99 which means 27.99 meters above sea level etc.

2. Boundaries - Your 4 corners of your property with Nails. Every home will have one unless its been renovated and the old corner stones / nails have been removed. To know your boundaries again, you will have to get a surveyor to remark your boundaries

3. Road and Drainage - Where your elevations of the Road and Drains are. Its important especially if your building is too high above ground and you will want to know from the building to road what the elevations are so you could readjust them in future

4. Government Boundaries - Where the Governments land lies. its passed the gate but where exactly will be mapped out

5. Government Facilities - Light posts, your trees, telephone poles, electric poles, grass where it is outside your compound where your lowyatt neighbors cars often park on etc. 

STEP 5 - SOIL TESTING 

This is where you will engage in a Soil Investigator to take a look at your soil. He will use a Mackintosh Probe that will hammer into your soil with rods hammered into the ground. Yes, lowyatt people already know this. They do soil investigations every day

When : Same time as Surveyor / right after owners consent is done / Right after Surveyor

How long will it take : Approximately 2 - 3 weeks latest

What will happen : Soil gets tested by the Soil Investigator. He will come with a Mackintosh Probe and with rods and hammer down the rods into the soil. The soil collected from the very bottom will be obtained, and then be put for lab testing. What happens in lab testing ? They will measure the moisture in the soil. They will put the soil in an oven for about a day and then,.... actually here is a proper link :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lukc6Fpx-HE

STEP 6 - FINAL ARCHITECT AND ENGINEER APPROVAL FOR SUBMISSION

When : After soil testing is done with the reports

How long will it take : 2 - 3 weeks

What will happen : Any last changes will now be made before you sign off with the Architect and Engineer who will be submitting to MBPJ or your town council the Architects Plans, Surveyors Plans, Soil Testing Report, Engineers Plans etc. They will also fill up forms by MBPJ for Planning Approval

STEP 7 - KEBENARAN MERANCANG (KM) / DEVELOPMENT ORDER

When : When the Architects, Surveyors, Engineers have compiled all information needed for submission inclusive of your neighbors consent.

How long will it take : Approval to take 3 months WITH proper BP Documents approved. 

What will happen : IF all is okay and criteria s are met by MBPJ's guidelines to how big should your footings be, how deep should your footings for the pillars be etc. MBPJ too will have an Engineering department, so all things have to check out. Its not a matter of just submit and thats it. Its not what you think. This is a crucial stage too.

MBPJ as well will do their own mock up of a 3D rendering, take images of your neighbors and your premise as well. This is where you will be allowed to put up a sign for a notice to build. They too will come to your premise to take images of your building for submission for the KM stage.

You will see signs such as "PEMBERITAHUAN PEMBANGUNAN" Which is essentially a notice to build. This is to inform your neighbors and residences that a building will take place soon and if there are any objections it may be written in etc.

Yes, this guy too is a lowyatt chap, 3 storeys. This is MPAJ's format, not MBPJ but similar. So this is where you notify neighbors of your plans.






This is what MBPJ's sign looks like. ***Updated 11 June 2018***

This occurs while awaiting for the submission for building plans to occur. Its a simple board which can be printed even on Tarpaulin and hung up for the community to see and object if they have any objections.

STEP 8 - SUBMISSION FOR BUILDING PLANS (BP) TO MBPJ

When : When Architect and Engineer receive approval from MBPJ at Step 6 - KM

How long will it take : Approval is should take 3 months WITH proper documentation. 

What will happen : This is where the Board will sit down once every 2 weeks to approve your plans. In our case, our approval should be within 6 meetings with the Board of Approval at MBPJ. DBKL is faster though, as there are more "express ways" of doing things. We should be better off because we are complying to guidelines and not exceeding in any way any boundaries or set backs that MBPJ will be looking to catch you with.

STEP 9 - APPOINTING A CONTRACTOR 

Someones gonna be drinking Cristal soon at Marini's. No Kaya and Toast here, just Avacado Toast and Medium Rare steaks now onwards. 

When : You can start looking for Contractors when you are at the Building Plan Stage (Step 7). Your contractor as well will have to register with MBPJ or your local town council. Their information WILL have to be displayed as well on the Board

How long will it take : Depends, how much your contractors costs, and what are the specs you wish to have. How long will it take you to approve or negotiate ? 

What will happen : Your contractor will be greedy and whack your money and ask for a lowyatt 30% deposit to which you will decline because you are supposed to pay in stages. Use this as a bargaining tool as well, you have the plans approved, they didnt do squat. Without your plans, they have no job. With no job, they have no demand for anything. You have the job and opportunity, not them.

This is why it never makes sense appointing a contractor to do an architects work. This stage must ONLY HAPPEN when you have submitted your approvals in for construction. We should have done this here. Your contractor will also have to register themselves with MBPJ as their name will have to appear for the Construction Board when it is put up before construction. I say this again, do not engage with a Contractor first, this stage happens later, once things are approved for building. Move with the flow, not ahead of it.

STEP 10 - SIGNAGE FOR CONSTRUCTION BOARD

*** An image is still not available from me, but will have one soon ***

When : After KM has been approved

How long will it take : 1 week once you have got the letter for approval. You will then head to a printing / signboard shop and get your Signage for construction done. 

What will happen : You will need to tell the signage company to put up a GI Steel Plate etc, (they will know this) where it says who you are, your address, your architect, engineer, surveyor, etc. You will then get your signboard delivered and then will put it up for the neighbors to see what your plans are for about 1 month before starting work. Building Plans - BP, work can commence.

This is where you will find on the signboard :-

1. Details of your property such as your address and Lot Number
2. You the owner(s) name(s)
3. Arhictects details
4. Engineers details
5. Surveyors details
6. Contractors details
7. Soil Investigators details
8. Date of commence for construction
9. Intended date of completion for construction

STEP 11 - WORK COMMENCE

When : After having your signage up for a month and appointing a contractor AND all approvals at the BP stages have been approved

How long will it take : Depends on the size of your building

What will happen : Fun

~fin~

There you have it folks. These are the steps of getting things approved by MBPJ

Next up will be Renovation Costings which many also have a nightmare when you hear stories of renovations being over ballooned by greedy lowyatt contractors.

Now Im not sure if you can find the steps needed as mine anywhere online but am doing my best to share this so that no one is in the dark without any guidelines. I hope this will help

Architect - Found the Right One !

Its now June 2017. Our ultimatum was up. We were at a road block once again. Nothing moved.

The wife had selected Mr. Eric for her choice for a contractor but knew that things will be EVEN more expensive. Perhaps Mr. Eric has a taste for Medium Rare Steaks in Bangsar that he would like to have every night together with 3 pints of Pale Ale.

We had decided that Mr. Tan, a crooked man as he may be, and a desperate one, was cheaper than everyone else. But in reality we knew he too would cost more than what he was asking for.

I was upset that the people - architects and contractors had let us down. That these were our options we had laid on the table. And while they were our friends or recommended by friends and family, nothing was satisfying enough for us.

We had picked up a home that we were not able to move forward with. This too with the wrong people. We were not getting the firm answers we wanted and information was half baked.

We hear stories from Architects, and people saying how hard it is to deal with MBPJ. How Expensive it is to renovate. Except for lowyatt people. They can get approvals in 2 days to demolish and renovate.

I even called MBPJ taking Dads advise to ask MBPJ themselves


"Do you have any architects that you prefer to work with".


The officer on the phone said he will propose this to some architects and if they are interested, they will contact us. No one had called back. This is the June 6th.

However, as I had just put down the phone with MBPJ, a tiny brain cell jolted a very good spark of memory.



FINDING THE ONE


You see, we lived in Amaya Saujana, Glenmarie before from 2012 - 2014. This is when we had just gotten married. Matter of fact the first day that we got registered was the first time I had ever moved out in my life. I was 29.

Our previous landlord was a man called Sarizal Yussof. This chap was the best landlord we have ever had.

He rented his apartment to us at a very modest price. And when he found out we got married, gave us a book on Malaysian Architecture. This man was an Architect !

The brain scrambled too fast, and had quickly searched through my phone for his number, it didnt exist anymore in my phone book contacts.

I searched him on facebook and found him. But without any contact information.

Dashed on to Google and did some search on him and found that he works in Klang, This is my town as well. Better yet, he was also a part of PAM. This helps as you would have to know your stuff well enough dealing with different town councils. MBPJ being with no exception.

This was leading up to better things and better things from here now onwards we would have.

Eventually I found him and contacted his office, but he was not in. So I left a message saying I was his old tenant and needed his number.

I had a call in return the very next day, 7th of June 2017.

In his deep and calm voice we spoke after 5 years, it was a pleasure speaking to this gentleman again.

Moving on, I told him what I wanted to do and he asked

" Have you engaged in any architect yet ? Would you like to nominate me as your architect"

to which I said

"Yes"and had a good laugh after

We set an appointment on the 8th of June and showed him my idea for plans. This is how fast now things work. Here is what I discovered from our first meeting.



MEETING 1

Now for those of you hipsters drinking chai latte at RM 35.00 a cup and demanding a RM 10,000 salary, here is what a professional architect would do during your first meeting. This is what happened on the 8th of June 2017 :

1.Showed him my plans drawn on photoshop

2. Rough costings were given for architect and engineers fee

3. Showed me what architects need to fill up before submission

4. The A1 size of architects drawings of a plan he is doing. It comes in a small note book size where each page can be openned to an A1

5. The A1 size of soil testing by engineer. It looks like a small note book again. A very thick one.

6. What will be needed for submissions to MBPJ

He tells me that because I am demolishing and rebuilding, I will have to go through 2 submissions instead of 1 :


1. Kebenaran Merancang (KM) or in English Work Order. This is where you will find homes saying "Kebenaran untuk membina sebuah rumah bla bla bla dan tetuan pemilik adalah bla bla bla". - 3 months

2. Building Plans or BP (When you submit your plans and also for demolishment) - 3 months


I asked him many times are you sure it can be done and approved in 6 months ish. And he says

"If you comply why should it take longer ?"

All this now was beginning to fall into place. I felt confident and better knowing that I was speaking to the right person.

The very next day, the 9th of June. He messages me on whatsapp and mentions who the person in charge of buildings is in my area of ss3. This is the person from MBPJ as well.

With all transparency. No lowyatt secrets or Personal messages on the side "PM Me if you want 2 know more" crap. No lowyatt shit here. (Why cant lowyatt people just share information anyway?)

1. He tells me that the KM (Kebenaran Merancang) process will take 3 months if we comply with MBPJ's requirements. Another 3 months for BP (Building Plans).

2. He tells me if you would like to avoid the KM process, you will need to renovate no more than 1000 square feet which in my case will not apply. Good knowledge though it didnt apply for me.

3. He tells me that the setback of each area and since my neighbor is a single storey semi detached and I  am building a double storey, I will need to have a recess of 2 meters for the first floor from my neighbor.

4. He tells me that the maximum height of your ceiling is 13 feet for the ground floor, 13 feet for the first floor and a maximum building height till the roofs Rise at 35 feet - Maximum Rise of 9 feet.

5. He tells me that I will also have to have a refuse bin as well. It is Mandatory. Something that you dont see all houses in Petaling Jaya incorporating or complying with, newly renovated especially.

6. He tells me what the set backs are, 20ft from the front, 10 from the side, 10 from the back


I had gained this information faster than dealing with Chai Latte drinking, eating -Medium - Done - Steaks - eating - fuckers - every - night - greedy -half -  informed - fuckers,...  FOR 9 MONTHS !  I got this information in 18 hours with a chap who was fasting.

These are the requirements of MBPJ. Clearly here lies a person who knows what is needed in order to comply and move forward fast. Here lies a person who knows how to extract correct information from the right source swiftly so you dont waste time.

The reason why you hear nightmare stories of MBPJ is because some guy has a dream of building right till the maximum of things, and an architect blindly follows without understanding first what your local town council requires. MBPJ with no exception.

Your Cheras fabulous, Puchong glamarous Architects will never know what really is required because they dont understand how things work in Petaling Jaya. This is why you get rejection, after rejection, after rejection by MBPJ.

IF YOU DONT COMPLY, your greedy architects who would be re submitting things and wasting your time because they didnt take the right effort to make a phone call to MBPJ to ask the right people what the rules are.

It is also a MANDATORY requirement that ALL TOTALLY NEW buildings in Petaling Jaya OR NEWLY RENOVATED ones to have a Rain Water Harversting System. 

Do you know how much is required to store for Rain Water ? Lowyatt knows, why dont you ask them ? I will describe these requirements in the next topic



MEETING 2

Its 11th of June. Sarizal comes over to our home on the same week on Sunday morning. 8 30 AM.

A bit too early for my hungover head to take a look at the premise. He comes to check out the premise. Luckily one of the neighbors that we met for the first time had a good chat with us and in his presence.

The usual answer was give by architects "Be nice to your neighbors". Because getting neighbors consent too, you must know, doesnt mean just 1 neighbor. Also something to discuss about soon.


On the 13th of June, we are working out plans for the staircase

13th of June, staircase and building height discussion. Well, at 13ft, I sure was not going to have a Home that midgets live in at 8 feet of a ceiling height. Maybe the air conditioning bills will be a bit higher but nothing plaster ceiling can solve. 

MEETING 3

Its the 16th of June. Ever since our first meeting, there was a lot to digest. Information not fed to me by lowyatt.

I had been drawing my own plans wrongly since May 2016. A new plan was put into place quickly, and while some things were drastic, shrinkage was needed to comply with the buildings setbacks.

I am greatful though, that someone is finally telling me what can and cannot be done. Something Eric the contractor's Architect, or fucking Mr. Justin and our friends at RM 58,000 didnt tell or warn us about.

So the basic layout was agreed upon and on the 17th of June, we received our first Autocad drawing.

We determined that the driveway based on 20feet in length was too short.

I know lowyatt folks love dealing with maximizing boundaries and parking your cars 2 inches away from the gate. Or even better, parking cars sideways to accommodate their shitty Unsers, or Hyundai Matrix, for their 15 foot length driveway.

But seriously though, not us. Neither were we going to park our cars back to back. Had enough of that by living in apartments and we were not going to get in each others way every morning by packing back to back.

Lowyatt folks love to maximize their houses in order to have more footage for resale value and for refinancing. Not us, we were building a home.

So that was an amendment there.

This image was taken when we did our test in my parents driveway and sent it to our Architect. On the 18th of June, we did a second test at 25feet and our Architect then returns with an amended drawing on the 21st of June.

Left Image : Lowyatt Style of car porch. Lowyatt folks will prefer 15ft actually

Right Image : Comfortable style of parking and allowing enough space to walk around cars for washing. Our width is also 25ft for the porch, so we can open our car doors widely instead of typical shopping mall style widths that dont even allow your car doors  first hinge to be opened up to. 

This is now 6 days to Raya, and this chap worked throughout the fasting month, and delivered faster than any architect did in 9 months. This too with the right advise.

So this is where nothing more could be done as Raya was now approaching and we would resume on the 1st week of July instead.



MEETING 4

On the 6th of July in the morning, we received the Preliminary Drawings

Our First Ground Floor Plans sent to us by the 6th of July in the morning

Our Architect surprises me with his Engineer as well in our meeting. The engineer as well explains a few things. The Engineer to says I will need a few things done before moving on with MBPJ :-

1. Surveyor
Marking out your boundaries of your land and do levels as well of the land of the current building. Surveyor will also take a look at the Governments boundaries as well as your neighbors boundaries.

2. Soil Testing
Done by engineer in order to determine the land is able to take a 2 storey building
as the current building stands as a single storey. But this will be ok because the land has matured. Plus 4 other houses on our road have a double storey conversion anyway. But MBPJ needs this anyway

3. R & D - Road and Drainage.
This is also done by the Engineer as the Engineer needs to check levels of the Road, elevations and drainage etc.

4. Neighbors Consent 
This is where many get it wrong. Including me. In any case for MBPJ you will need to get ALL Neighbors - Left, Right, Front AND Back to approve the consent form. The consent form is submitted by your architect for YOU to ask neighbors to sign. Sometimes the architect will do this if you are a lowyatt person who doesnt want to know your neighbors.

5. Rain Water Harvesting
Now on lowyatt, or ANYWHERE you WILL NOT FIND how large your Rainwater Harvesting storage tanks should be. Our engineer told us what MBPJ needs. The formula is simple. You will need 1/3rd of the capacity of your Water Tank.  This will allow you to get MBPJ's arppoval. It will also be drawn in your plans. You could use even Plastic Barrels as well. One contractor even said to use a large pot. Clearly this guy has more experience than I, because he reads lowyatt everyday and eats Avacado Toast everyday for breakfast with his Chai Latte.


I surprised our Architect and Engineer by showing them a rendering of our home. To which Sarizal laughed and said

" you are saving me time" , and the engineer said

"Its nice to see a passionate owner".

You too can draw your own plans and in 3d to get a good idea of what things would be like with planner5d. Not revealing all my plans, but here is what we were going to do. It shows you know your shit, and you can discuss easily and amend things faster with your architect faster rather than having to wait a week or so.

If you would like to build your own plans one day, use this software that any fool can master. Its online called www.planner5d.com

Its Idiot Proof. Its Free. Have this while sipping your chai latte hipsters. Planner 5d however will not allow you to build a roof or even insert a Doberman as a pet inside this rendering program unless you pay for it. Im serious, they even have 2 Dobermans in this program.

Its important to know what your premise will look like roughly in scale and proportion. It will give you a scale of things not only for yourself, but for the Architect to view too plans in 3D and what your intentions are for building a building in 3D

This too will allow you and the Architect to walk through the entire building which helps.

I didnt upgrade my software by paying for it even though to get a full version cost 15USD. So while I didnt have the roof in this rendering, my wife and I certainly had a good glimpse of what things would be like. At least to an accuracy of 85% which in most exams, scores you an A.

There you have it. During this time, I am simply awaiting for a few things to run on all fronts. Mainly the Surveyors work as well as the Engineers work to commence and be done with.

At this stage as I write this, its the 26th of July 2017. Today marked the first day where the Surveyors came. Without the surveyors plans, we wont know exactly what the real dimensions of our land is and where we slot our building in based on the boundaries. So in the next 2 days, there's nothing much we can do except wait.

I will have a summary of what needs to be done in my next post. This will have no ranting but a simple guideline of what takes place for your to understand if your are demolishing and rebuilding for MBPJ. look forward to my next post for this.

IN SUMMARY

Im glad we took our time. Though a year late, but a year wiser with the right person. I guess we are not wasting time and money with other folks who would have screwed, monkeyed and drained our funds further to have chai lattes every morning for breakfast and then only showing up once a week to view your homes progress.

Because a Head Honcho Indon will be there to supervise on that while the contractor boss takes off his pretentious poor looking clothes,

Changes from his beat up poor looking Waja into a C Class Mercedes,

Puts on his Guess jeans and Hugo Boss shirt

And heads for evening Bright Ale and Medium Done Steaks in Bangsar at 3 : 30pm (poor hard working folks, gotta beat the jam ya know ?).

Chai Latte anyone ?

If I could recommend an architect here, it would be Mr. Sarizal Yussof. Fast, modestly priced, and works to achieve what can be better with what you want.

That too with the knowledge of what needs to be done by working with town councils such as MBSA, MBPJ and shares things with transparency rather than in secrecy or half baked information.

Sometimes when things click, all of a sudden, magic happens.

~ fin ~