ReCreating Spaces vs Sense of Belonging

' Some facts are ignored when deciding on a house (eg homeowner). You only decide to talk to a designer (if you do) when you sure you can afford the cost to build. However, if you haven't got a design done, how do you determine an estimation of the cost?...' 

This is how I bluntly put it!...

WHY A ?

When buying a house, what are the criteria that you use to select and the reference you use to finally choose one?  Rationally, the one that you finally pick should be the best under your limited means. The elevation must have captured your eyes, the living room must be fit for your old house’s furniture or new ones, and the price is affordable. So you decide to purchase the house, and eventually sign the Sale and Purchase Agreement. Did you read the agreement through?

The moment you were handed over with the keys, and both of you visited the whole house for the first time for the purpose of filling up the defect list, the excitement begins. 

Your partner mentions to push the kitchen wall all the way to the fence, widen the master bedroom, move the toilets, add some toilets with one of the toilets houses a jaccuzi, enlarge the family area, build guest room with attached toilet, create a large storage area, convert family area to home theatre, construct another floor for gymnasium, extend the roof and the most predictable, shift the car porch columns to allows for parking of 3 cars. 

And without giving the Sale and Purchase Agreement’s plan a second glance, you call the first contractor you see on site and tell him what you were thinking.   The contractor smiles with joy when you complaint that the kitchen is too small, the master bedroom is too narrow, the toilet is at the undesirable location, the number of toilets are insufficient, the family area seems uncomfortable, two number of floors are not enough, and a single parking car porch is illogical; all these being concluded without any furnishing in place yet.

Wait a minute, the main reason for the collection of keys during vacant possession by the purchaser is to allow the owner to visit the entire house, pick out all defects you can possibly see, and fill up defect or complaint list form, defects which shall be rectified by the Developer without charge during Defect Liability Period. The moment you change anything before end of 6 months into DLP (or however stated in the SPA), the Developer is off the hook. 

The kitchen wall is riddled with cracks, but you want to push the wall away. 

The master bedroom windows are crooked, but you want to make the room and the windows wider. 

The toilet is leaking, but you want to move it. 

The family area is situated between master bedroom and the children’s bedroom, but you want to enlarge it and still keep the children’s and master bedroom the same size. 

Your lot’s set back is insufficient but you want to build the biggest guest room possible. 

Your window is only 3 feet from the floor, but you want to shift the column to the span that allows 3 car parks which roof shall eventually be high enough to block the view from window. 

All of these are being thought of without you knowing the actual shape or the outcome of the construction work to your house.

So now you have talked and expressed your intention to the first contractor available. Without you yourself having seen the plan of the house, not to say the contractor, you are very impressed that the contractor possesses the ability to give the quotation on the spot. And it is reasonable too.

Why is it seems so reasonable to you? When you tell somebody that you want to push a wall to the boundary line, you have to consider a few aspects. 

The first thing to know is what are the items embedded inside the wall: electrical conduits, cold water pipes, telephone lines, structural columns, structural beam, down pipes from kitchen sink, etc. You cannot literally push a brick wall, you have to demolish it, and rebuild at a designated location. 

All electrical conduits, cold water pipes, telephone lines and down pipes have to be repositioned and installed during the laying of the brick wall . Do not simply demolish the structural columns or structural beam if you don’t want your house to collapse.

Have you considered the size, shape or the type of windows you want to have on the wall? If the wall is exactly at the boundary, does your roof eave stop there too? If so, the rain will seep through the window. How high the new wall need to be, and how does it affect the existing roof. If the kitchen’s window is directly looking into the back lane, what type of privacy and security measures are to be taken.

If all the above have not been thought of, and no drawings have been utilized, how do you rationalize the reasonable quotation by the contractor.

Why Us? Why anything?, or because we can be rely on to be picky, blunt and to follow through.

I guess we are under utilized!!!...