17 cases of fallen windows in first 5 months of 2015: BCA

Image fromTodayonline

There were 17 cases of fallen windows recorded in the first five months of 2015 - 10 fewer than the 27 cases recorded during the same time last year, said the Building and Construction Authority on Friday (Jun 5 2015).

In most instances of fallen casement windows, it was found that aluminium rivets used to secure the friction stays were not replaced with stainless steel rivets. These aluminium rivets were found to be corroded, the press release said.
As for sliding windows, most did not have safety stoppers and angle strips to secure the window panels and the windows were not able to slide smoothly along the tracks, it added.
Under the Building Control (Retrofitting of Casement Window) Order 2004, homeowners are required to change the aluminium rivets of casement windows with stainless steel ones. This applies to windows in all residential units except those in landed properties and the ground floor of buildings.

Read the rest at Channelnewsasia 

 There were a total of 43 recorded cases of fallen windows from both Housing and Development Board (HDB) and private residences in the first eleven months of this year, according to a joint report released by the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) and HDB. Out of these, 23 involved casement windows, 18 for sliding windows while the remaining two fall under other types of windows. In a press release today (Dec 12 2014), BCA CEO Dr John Keung said that the cases “pose a safety risk to the public and (can) potentially be fatal”.

Read the rest at Todayonline 

What does this mean to you?

Please perform a bimonthly check on the aluminium rivets of casement windows to see if they are rusted and need to be replaced. In addition, if you are purchasing resale HDBs, do consider replacing the aluminium rivets with stainless steel rivets during the renovation!

Read More

IKEA Staff Called My Kitchen Renovation a S*** Job!

Image from All Singapore Stuff

This article caught my eye while while I was doing my research on kitchen renovation. It was published on All Singapore Stuff on 16th Nov 14 but apparently its original post was from Charles Benedict.

Basically, the unfortunate homeowner experienced a very frustrating kitchen renovation by ARTBUILD. And the experience is market by delays, mis-communication, mis-calculation, "hidden" costs and of course, exchange of unpleasant words.

From the writeup, it seems that the cause was due to Ikea's liberal outsourcing strategy (the actual renovation is handled by 2 companies - ARTBUILD and LUXX NEWHOUSE as highlighted by the homeowner) and that due to poor coordination by the Project Manager, the simple kitchen renovation was made more complex due to the many parties involved.

I am unsure of whether this problem is very prevalent in Ikea. However, it is worthwhile to take note of this incident and remember to check how many sub-contractors are involved  when you are discussing with your prospective renovation professionals.

Fortunately, Ikea finally followed up and addressed the homeowner's issue promptly.

Nevertheless, remember to check how many sub-contractors are involved for your renovation project!

This is because this is a generic problem which can happen in any renovation company if there is poor coordination and communication involved. You might not be as fortunate as the homeowner.

Read More

Million dollar HDB: Bishan Executive maisonette sold for $1.09 million

 Images from emrenoblog.

"Despite the government’s cooling measures, a Bishan executive maisonette has been sold for a whooping sum of $1,088,888, reported the media. The 27-year-old two-storey unit is located at Block 194 in Bishan Street 13, near a 24-hour food centre and a supermarket. The deal was sealed in October...." 

Read the full article here.

In February this year, the EMRenoBlog blogger posted an article on million dollar HDB. It is really interesting that nearly 10 months later, another unit is being sold at an even higher price.

The ironic thing is that with such draconian property rules in place, record high HDB transactions are still taking place in a supposedly "soft" market. 

I guess the buyer is a Chinese family (since Chinese believes that 8 is a lucky number) who is willing to fork out an astronomical sum of money to own such a unit. Really CASH RICH lei. O_o""

Nevertheless, what makes such a unit so special?
Let us take a look at the floor plan and you will understand why.

 Images from emrenoblog.

The likely question on most people's mind is that will there be more of such record breaking HDB units in future?!

I guess HDB units with very rare layouts such as the "'Sky Terrace'" will be able to command such a high premium - for now. Due to the reduced years remaining on the lease, it will be difficult for the buyer to secure a bank loan to finance the property. Unless the buyer choose to pay mostly in cash lar...

  Nonetheless, I believe the resale units from The Pinnacle Duxton, SkyTerrace and Skyville at Dawson would perhaps command an even higher premium due to their highly central location and their young age.

Images from lalaland

Images from archdaily

images from sglivingpod

However, with the recent HDB Herculean efforts to ramp up the tidal supply of  BTOs, such unique HDB units will be a thing of the past. This is because in order to play catch up on the pent up demand of HDB flats, almost 95% of the HDBs built in the past 5 years are cookie cutter design; with similar extremely boring building facade. Don't know what I mean? Try driving through Seng Keng and Punggol and you will get it!

To be fair, even the mass-market condo looks the same (but thats another story!). I guess all of the developers; HDB and private developers alike, order their materials from the same supplier? Anyone can verify this? 

The HDB and private developers' effort to churn out units in the shortest possible time; either to meet the public demands for low cost flats or developer to milk as much money as possible from the homeowners and investors, the end result is that of homogeneous monotonous housing design. :( 

Read More

More complaints about Renovation Contractors

More complaints about Renovation Contractors

 

Here is repost about the errant renovation contractors from SGPropTalk. However, I do not think that the errant renovation has risen due to the poorer quality etc. But rather, the onslaught of the BTOs, ECs and Condos are too fast too many for the renovation companies and contractors to handle. Coupled with the labour crunch, it is inevitable that the standards of the industry dropped.

 

 

"Gripes about errant renovation contractors have risen in recent years, despite efforts to boost professionalism in the trade.

The number of complaints against home renovation contractors climbed to 1,779 last years, figures form CASE showed. This is a 16% increase from the year before and a 35.5% jump from 2010.

Industry observers linked the rising trend to poorly-qualified interior designers and contractors who rush work, leading to subpar quality. They noted that there are few barriers of entry for interior designers and sub-contractors to enter the industry.

Another issue are the limitations faced by sub-contractors. Labour shortages have made it hard for them to hire skilled workers, so many contractors just “grab” whoever they can get, even if they are substandard.

Industry players say there is no official licensing requirement for home renovation contractors or sub-contractors. But members of the Singapore Renovation Contractors and Material Suppliers Association (RCMA) have to abide by the Singapore Renovation and Decoration Code of Practice. CASE also has 21 renovation contractors accredited under its CaseTrust scheme.

Mr James Ho, 43, an electrician said whether one lands a good sub-contractor depends on luck as they are many who are not experienced enough.

But Mr Tan Chim Hoon, chairman of the RCMA, begged to differ. Estimating that only 20% of the complaints are legitimate, he said customers these days often demand more than what was initially agreed upon. "And when it cannot be done, they don’t want to pay you and they complaint." (sic)

To curb unreasonable requests from customers, Mr Tan said he is in discussions with CASE to work out an arrangement such that when a complaint is received, the RCMA, together with the contractor and the client, will visit the home to assess who is at fault and make recommendations. He hopes to implement it by this year."

 

 

 

 

 

 

Read More

CASE reports 25% rise in Complaints against Renovation Contractors

CASE reports 25% rise in Complaints against Renovation Contractors

I just stumbled across another news article from Channel News Asia, titled "CASE reports 25% rise in complaints against renovation contractors".

Read More

More HDB flat owners spending lavishly to create dream homes

More HDB flat owners spending lavishly to create dream homes

I just stumbled came across a news article from AsiaOne, titled "More HDB flat owners spending lavishly to create dream homes ". 

So, what is this news about?

The news article details how a couple spent almost  a quarter of the SGD $600,000, which they paid for their resale Bishan flat, on the renovation and furnishing.

The Interior designers observed that although such a budget is unusual, they noticed that spending heavily on renovations is an emerging trend.

Read More