Trivelis developer may extend warranties

Saturday, May 16, 2015

- See more at: business.asiaone.com

The developer of a troubled "premium" housing project has said financial compensation for residents is possible only if there is "strong justification".

But EL Development (ELD) continues to maintain that Trivelis - a Design, Build and Sell Scheme (DBSS) project in Clementi - was built "according to specifications and approved plans".

Meanwhile, it is considering extending the one-year warranty on all furnishings and fittings and offering free safety films for glass shower panels as part of a "goodwill package" for residents.

Trivelis - an 888-unit project - was advertised as containing "choice fittings" and "quality floor finishes".

But when owners began collecting their keys in January, some discovered problems such as rusty dish racks, poor quality laminate flooring and glass shower panels that shatter easily.

An ELD spokesman told The Straits Times it is looking to help affected owners and working with the Trivelis residents' committee.

"We will look into the residents' requests and issues and offer what we can, within reasonable boundaries," he said. "Right now, we have not concluded the discussions so there's no concrete plan on what we will offer in terms of the goodwill package. As for defects, we want to assure residents we will rectify them."

He added that the company's response would be on a case- by-case basis and "not a one-size-fits-all treatment".

However, the response did not wash with all residents.

Public relations manager Eliza Soh, 31, said: "We are not here to haggle for freebies. What we want are long-term solutions to the bigger problems that are going to affect our lifestyle.

"To the developer, Trivelis is just another product but to residents Trivelis is our home."

Mr Stephen Yip, a 34-year-old civil servant, bought a three-room flat and has faced problems such as rainwater seeping into his unit and a faulty tap and window latch.

He said it is fair for the developer to extend the warranty of the furnishings and fittings, adding: "I didn't do any renovation in my kitchen and the items don't seem to be of high quality so I'm not sure how long they can last."

Project manager Andy Tan, 33, said: "It really depends on what are the things they are offering. I still prefer cash over freebies."

ELD said it has already cleared drains after rainwater collected in corridors and it will continue to monitor the situation.

It is understood that the authorities do not regulate interior renovation or quality of the furnishings.
According to the Building and Construction Authority (BCA), after construction, the authorities will perform checks on things such as fire safety, sanitation and drainage and accessibility features. A BCA spokesman said "matters such as defects and workmanship quality" are between the developer and buyer.

While the Housing Board oversees DBSS projects, the projects are designed, built and sold by private developers who are responsible for any defects. The DBSS scheme was suspended in 2011 after a public outcry over high indicative price tags for units at Centrale 8 in Tampines.

Earlier that year, ELD had beaten 10 other bidders for the Trivelis site, offering $224 million or $271 per square foot per plot ratio.

Trivelis is the first public housing project taken on by ELD, a "boutique" developer with 20 staff members. Its other projects include condominiums such as Rosewood Suites in Woodlands and Stevens Suites near Bukit Timah.

A spokesman for the Trivelis residents' committee said: "We certainly hope for the developer to consider offering a goodwill package soon. The details of the package are for ELD to consider... We hope that the offer made to residents will be acceptable."

More than 200 residents on Thursday met their MP Sim Ann, who called a goodwill package a "move in the right direction". ELD did not attend the meeting.

My Thoughts

DBSS is a dubious scheme offered by HDB back then. I was left scratching my head and wonder why in the world HDB decide to release land for profit driven companies to bid and jackup the land price to be resold as public housing? Didn't they already have EC to address the middle class housing needs?

Nonetheless, we have to be clear why are we buying a home; for stay or investment? And since there are so many choices such as standard, premium, DBSS, EC and private housing to choose from; we have to be clear why we choose one type over the other.

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Hairline cracks found on walls of new Punggol flats

The Straits TimesFriday, May 22, 2015

- See more at: http://business.asiaone.com

Three weeks after moving into their new flat in Punggol last month, technician Jumani Samat and his wife Mazuwina Mohamad noticed cracks on the walls of their living room and bedrooms.
They called the building services centre of their Build-To-Order (BTO) project, Waterway Banks, and workers came to their flat twice to plaster over the cracks. But more cracks started appearing after that.
"We are worried about safety," said Mr Jumani, 35, who lives in the four-room flat with his wife and two children.
The Straits Times counted at least 15 hairline cracks on the walls and ceilings of all the unit's rooms when it visited yesterday. Some were about 2m long.
"It's very unsettling because it keeps recurring. You patch up in one place, and another crack pops up next to it," said Mr Jumani's wife Mazuwina, 34, who is a housewife. Other residents in the development said they have spotted cracks on their walls too.

The Housing Board, in response to media queries, said less than one-fifth of the 850 households that collected their keys since last November have reported wall cracks.
An HDB spokesman said these cracks are "non-structural hairline cracks", which may be caused by the shrinkage and expansion of building materials, or movement, such as renovation vibrations.
She added that the cracks do not affect the structural integrity of the block.
According to an industry standard for quality assessment, HDB flats scored above the national average last year. This, however, is cold comfort for residents like housewife Wong Lai Kuan, 40, who moved in in March and found one crack in her living room and another in her daughter's bedroom. "It's a new flat - why should it crack in the first place?"
Building services centres are set up at newly completed public housing projects for home owners to report defects. They have a one-year period after collecting their keys to have defects rectified by the building contractor.
"It's tedious to keep having to plaster and repaint the walls," said security officer Mohamad Rizan Mazlan, 39, who found at least eight cracks in his flat since collecting his keys in February.

My Thoughts

When we collected the keys to our flats back in 2007, we spotted quite a few cracks too. Most of them came back even after the patches and we forked out from our own pockets to rectify them. At least the residents get free rectifications within a year.

Why does these cracks appear?

This is due to the shrinkage and expansion of the concrete walls exacerbated by the $@#!&* insane weather; in short there is nothing we can do about them! To be fair, I noted that such cracks also appear in older HDB developments too. Some can be even classified as "fault lines" since they are pretty deep and long!  

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Couple's sewage disaster in new Punggol BTO flat

 

PUBLISHED ON MAY 12, 2015 6:23 PM

BY JOANNA SEOW & JALELAH ABU BAKER

Extracted from Straits Times 

SINGAPORE- Just a week before a young family was due to move into their new home in Punggol, they were shocked to hear from the Housing Board on Monday that there had been flooding in their unit.

When they arrived, they found it was not just water that covered the floor of the flat, but faeces as well.

Cement had choked the common sewage pipe shared by their seventh floor unit and those above it in Block 313C Sumang Link, causing a backflow into their home.

The owner, who gave her name as Ms Fadilah, 31, said she and her husband are "upset, stressed and angry".

"The dream house we have long waited to move into, which was complete with new furniture, was damaged just like that," she said. The renovations had been completed just a few months ago.

Photographs circulating online show faeces and murky water covering the floor of a toilet, hallway and living room.

It had even seeped into the children's bedroom and out of the front door. This was how a neighbour noticed something was amiss and called HDB last Friday, said another neighbour, Ms Fadhilah, 29.

A Pasir Ris-Punggol Town Council spokesman said it was alerted by HDB on Monday morning. Town council and HDB staff went to the flat to help the family to clean up.

Confirming it was renovation debris that had caused the choke, he said: "We will be working with the HDB to find the culprit."

Ms Fadilah told evening daily Shin Min that when her husband turned up at their flat in Sumang Link, he was confronted with what she described as a "giant toilet bowl".

"My husband was so shocked that he just stood at the doorway crying. He couldn't believe what he was seeing," she said.

The family had spent some $50,000 on renovations alone, and intends to redo the whole house, including all the flooring which had stains between the tiles. A stench still lingered.

...............

joseow@sph.com.sg

- See more at: http://www.straitstimes.com/news/singapore/more-singapore-stories/story/couples-sewage-disaster-new-punggol-bto-flat-explodes-on#sthash.cFRbEwGZ.dpuf

There is a saying...."When shit hits the fan...". Well, perhaps new homeowners should be very scared of what happens "when shit floods their home!"

Well, I have blogged about the issue of clogged pipes way back in my 2008 HDB defect checking post. Let me repost the paragraph again..

* ATTENTION*
It was just brought to my attention that aside from the defect lists I have compiled, you should also unscrew the metal covers of all the pipes in the kitchen and bathrooms. This is because some have complained of finding used food containers and waste construction materials underneath these covers! Some workers have even poured cement into these pipes. So, remember to dig them out before it clogs your pipes later on and also, lodge a complaint to HDB about it. :(

Lessons Learnt?

There are a couple of lessons learnt from this shitty incident...first of all, check everything! Nonetheless, I understand that there are pipes or areas which are hard to reach or impossible to check. However, I believe after this smelly incident, you can seek help from the HDB technical officer in checking these pipes!


The same goes for the Condo owners la...this might happen to you also. Why? All pipes are the same, construction workers might commit the same mistake. I heard rumors that they throw rubbish etc on the floor before pouring on the cement during the construction of the floors, it saves time and effort to dispose the waste. But I stress that this is a rumor...but it makes perfect sense.


Finally, the last lesson learnt? Buy home insurance and keep all the receipts of your purchase! Ok, I need to find out whether if the home insurance covers such shitty disaster...but one thing is for sure, if you have NO receipts, it is very hard to seek compensation and claims. Yes, you have to SCAN all the receipts since some of the damn receipts fade away with time.

Do you have any ideas what we can do to prevent this from happening again? Do share! :)

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When things are not built to last

I was at my relative's place over the last weekend and in the middle of our dinner, there a loud distinctive water splashing sound emitting from his common bathroom; it sounded like someone is pouring a huge bucket of water right into the shower area.

Instinctively, we rushed over and lo and behold; we were shocked to see water streaming rapidly down from the false ceiling.

Upon further investigation at the manufacturer's website, we realized that apparently, the "aggressive"water (another word for acidic water) has corroded the pipes, leading to the water leakage from the storage heater.

We scrutinized the water heater's warranty card issued by the developer and realised that unfortunately, the 5 year warranty just lapsed a few weeks ago!

Similarly, the residents of The Peak @ Toa Payoh and newly TOP Vacanza private condominium face a host of defects after the liability period. Every now and then, the residents will post photos or accounts of defects that occurred right after the warranty period.

What do these mean for Homeowners?My relative could have preempt the situation by paying more attention to the water heater in the last few months. I guess one of the biggest lesson learnt is that gone is the era when things are built to last. We have to especially keep a vigilant watch over the appliances which are nearing their end of the warranty period.

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HDB Defect Checking Revisited

"Any defect checklist to share?"
"Hey babe, what should we look out for once we have gotten our keys?"
"Defects?! Do you mean new flats have defects meh?!"

Anyway, I have been getting quite a fair bit of requests from my friends asking for my defect checklist and hence decided to revisit this topic again. As most of them are 1st time HDB owners, they were clueless what, where and even why bother to check!?

I have been covering what, where in many of my posts. As to WHY? I have to reiterate this again: 

Once your renovation starts, it is hard to justify to HDB that the defect is not caused by your renovation professionals! Furthermore, it will take a loooong time for HDB to entertain you. Why? In order to cater to Singaporean's calls for cheaper and cheap housing; HDB has been building non stop for the past with few years in order to get a tidal supply of HDB flats ready for owner occupation by 2016-2017. Fast construction is not good; it generally means sloppy jobs, poor inferior quality (due to escalating building costs and yet the pressure to keep things cheap) and MORE defects.

Therealsingapore - Terrible workmanship brand new BTO flats Tampines

Straitstimes - Residents turn to facebook to highlight BTO Defects
Construction crunch taking toll housing developments
The peak residents see red over defects

Enough of my rumblings; I will devote my time to outline what should you do to prepare yourself and what to look out for.

Here are the links to my older posts:

HDB defects checklist Part 1

HDB defect checklist Part 2
HDB defect checking tips

What Tools to Bring

Tapes and Markers 

Tapes and Markers are essential to mark out the defective areas. I prefer masking tapes since they are easy to remove without leaving sticky residue and permanent markers to write on these making tapes. I would recommend to get them in at least 2 colors; Red for the major defects and Yellow for the minor ones, so that the HDB technician will know what areas to focus on rectifying first. On top of this, I also wrongly advise numbering and scribbling notes on the description of the defects so that miscommunication can be minimized.

 Spirit Level 

 I used spirit level  to check if the walls, doors, windows are slated way too much so to determine as to see if there are any structural deviations with the room and wall measurements and that the doors and windows are properly aligned and upright.

 Torchlight and Stool or Ladder 

A torchlight is great for dark nooks. In addition, and stool or ladders for inspecting those high out of reach places. 

Coins or Marbles

I prefer marbles since they give off a distinct hollow sound when knocked against hallow tiles or timber strips.

Cameras

 I am sure most of us owns a camera smart phone and thus shouldn't be a problem. Unless you very kia su- you can consider using DSLR or SLR to take extreme closeups of the defects.  :)

Photos are meant to document the defects visually so that we can make a comparison whether anything has been done, they provide excellent evidence if there are any disputes. 

Parents or Helpful Friends

Ask them along to help to check out the defect. You will be surprised that it will take at least 2 days to check everything. But be sure to bring friends who have an excellent eye for details and not those who only want to kaypo only.

What and Were to Check

As to what to check for doors and floors, you can checkout these infographic

.

Let me add on a few more words for the following:

Parquet Floors

I know some would insist not to knock each and every of the parquet tiles for hollowness and that one should look out for are scratches and gaps in between the parquet tiles since parquet tiles do not popup. 

I have to disagree.

Hollowness is NOT okay because empty tiles means nesting grounds for insects like ants, spiders etc. And when you have to sand the parquet tiles to remove scratches in future, your hollow tiles will get even thinner...and more easily dent from knocks etc! 

Please lar, don't be lazy and yet them replaced!

And....please keep an eye on the parquet! Unfortunately for the DBSS residents from City View and The Peak, the developer seemed to use inappropriate material for the parquet flooring and results in the parquet turning dark with "moisture-like" stains...

Sinks, Water Pipes and so on.

Check ALL your drainage holes - sinks, toilets, etc for blockage.

*Update*
What happens if you skip this step? Well..shit happens? Unbelievable? Then, check out this shitty post!

Doors and Hinges

I realized that many homeowners have ditched the HDB quality, solid bathrooms for the plastic-bifold doors! These is because they felt that solid bathroom doors are bulky and take up space. Seriously, bifold doors don't last as long as the solid 1 leaf doors which HDB provide. In fact, all my relatives have sworn off bifold doors and stick with the traditional ones.

Water Leakage

Toilet bowls might leak if they are not installed properly and it is hard to detect such leaks with clear water. What you can do is to use those colored toilet cleaners such as Clorox. If there is any leak, you can see blue water forming around the toilet bowls.

Not checking every defects

You might be surprised that you shouldn't check every area in your place; IF only you have planned your renovation in advance. I mean, it doesn't make sense to waste time and energy to get the HDB to replace the hallow tiles in your bathroom when you already have plans to get them retiled with your renovation professional.

Neighbors

If you are lucky and your neighbors are also in the process of getting their HDB defects rectified as you, you should find out what kinds of defects they have. Lets say that you need your floors to be retiled and your neighbors too, the changes of getting this defect rectified earlier is higher due to economics of scales. ie. HDB will probably assign a team of tilers to perform the rectification work for you and your neighbors at the same time.

Locks!

Get a number lock to lock up your premises after you have complete your checks and have submitted the defect list to HDB. This is to deter any other intruders who may cause damage to your unit. Make sure that you only disclose the number lock combination to the technical officer in charge.

Ok...thats it for today.

Happy Deepavali everyone! 

  

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Lifestyle determines the Style of your home

In my previous posts, I have mentioned that Lifestyle plays a big role in determining the kind of Design theme you should choose. So you should start by accessing your lifestyle, and it often can be revealing and often surprising. In fact, I found a book - Minimum Space Maximum Living by Barty Phillips and one of the areas he covered was how lifestyle determines the way we live; and determinately affect the style of our homes.

To summarize, here is a simple checklist you can run through:

1) Do you live alone or with a partner?
2) Are you sharing the space?
3) Are there any special needs for you or the person you are living with? (i.e. caring for an elderly or sick)
4) Are you at home all day or outside?
5) Do you work from home?
6) Do you have any particular hobby?

For instance, if you are always out the entire day or always away on business trips; there are lesser chances for you to accumulate clutter and things. Hence, you might need only minimal storage spaces. However, if you spend a tremendous amount of time at home or even works from home, you might want to make sure that your home caters to your every needs, like plenty of storage spaces oreven incorporate your office needs into the general style of your home.

Thus, doing a real and honest assessment of how you actually live would help tremendously in planning the design of your home. Do not fall into the trap of designing your home based on how you think it should be (since its your dream home).

I would cover these areas in more detail in my subsequent postings.

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What are the things to do once you have received your keys from HDB?

What are the things to do once you have received your keys?

1) Perform "Dong Tu" rituals (mostly for the Chinese Homeowners)

2) Check for Defects [you may make use of the Defect Checklist from this post and do check out the latest defects checking tips compiled in 2014 here]

Tips: Mark down the defects using masking tapes and number them down. Attach photographs of the defects along with the defect list for easier tracking. :) Remember to keep a copy for yourself too!

After listing down the defects, you should fill up the defect feedback form and submit it to HDB within 7 days after the key collection.

Ok, you might wonder what are the available channels for Reporting Defects?

Alternatively, you can report the defects in online through this eService: e-Maintenance Feedback

Tips: The Feedback Form for New Flats is also available in the welcome package given to new flat owners.

So what happens next after you have reported the defects?

The HDB Branch Office staff will arrange to inspect the flat with you (remember to bring the defect list with you) and they will then liaise with contractor(s) to carry out rectification work.

Note: Remember to check out the Home Renovation Checklist and many more!

Happy Reno! :)

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HDB defects Checklist

Once you have gotten your keys from HDB, the very first thing to do is to check thoroughly for defects! Look out for hollow / cracked tiles and toilet bowls. Remember to get them rectified before your renovation commences. Otherwise HDB will not be responsible for any defects discovered during the renovation process.

I have 2 HDB defects checklist to share:
- Defects Checklist 1
- Defects Checklist 2

Another thing to note is to check your flat during rainy days for any damp walls or leaking windows. For us, we discovered that the water proofing were not done properly which resulted in damp walls during one of the visits to our new home. Refer to this blogpost on HDB defects checking tips. :)

The next step is to report the defects; the steps are covered in this post. :)

Note: Remember to check out the Home Renovation Checklist too!

* ATTENTION*

It was just brought to my attention that aside from the defect lists I have compiled, you should also unscrew the metal covers of all the pipes in the kitchen and bathrooms.

This is because some have complained of finding used food containers and waste construction materials underneath these covers! Some workers have even poured cement into these pipes. So, remember to dig them out before it clogs your pipes later on and also, lodge a complaint to HDB about it. :(

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