Living in JB

[LeMans2011]

well i guess there is no wrong or right in this matter, each n everyone of us is entitled to each own's opinion. Probably the only reason i can think of why we r paying more is a few factors:

security which is suposely guarded n gated.
Singaporeans n investors pushing the price up.
The type of living we dream of living but not possibly in our homeland due to rising costs
we r sick n tired of our home nation
enuf of pigeon holes / letter boxes but cannot afford landed in sg hence choose somewhere cheaper
need for that breathing space since foreign talent has over taken as first class citizens where they r treated even better
lots more

however remember developers promises? Quality living quality houses quality homes quality workmanship but what is quality to them may not mean the same as us? How can this be?

They come sg to promote , eg. I went to mont calista to view, i shake my head. Sorry dun mean to offend anyone here who hates to listen to the truth

for me, if a place can have a world class golf course why cannot at least do a place a bit much more proper? I'm not asking for the sky but all i'm really asking for is:

A roof over my head. With only 3 simple factors. I believe these 3 factors r not difficult to fullfil.

They r:

1) a roof over my head which will not leak (might as well use coconut leaves as roof if it's going to leak)
2) a house which will not crack apart ( might as well use wood , y put bricks in the first place)
3) security ( what r security guards meant for?)

I applogize if my words hurt anyone, they r solely my own interpretation n how i feel. It's not meant to be of offence to anyone nor meant to chase anyone away or putting down any would be home owner in johor.

I guess this is what living in johor is about. We can renovate to make a place look better but we r not meant to buy a leaking roof n think how to solve this problem. If u r a developer would u develop houses with roofs that leak?

Thanks for reading. Moderator may delete this post n banned me here or give me a warning if u find my words too harsh. Warmest regards. BFF

Haha there is no Moderator in this forum. We maintain our behaviour on this thread in respect of Wuqi, just as a guest would respect the owner of the house. Sounds like you have some construction knowledge, please do share and benefit us by all means.

I recall arguing with the developer back in SG on the seepage of rain through the adjoining area between the bay window and concrete. The fella insisted that there is no waterproofing done around that area other than the sealant which could crack over time, in particular so for my apartment which had afternoon sun. Till this day i am still not sure if that is true? I very much agree with you as house owners one should DEMAND certain basic standards such as roof should not leak, water should not seep through the walls, land should be termite treated before building, etc.

The root cause is developer's greed to maximise margin to the extent of not having adequate quality control. Just go around any construction site, even EL, i can't see any supervisor??? 99% of the time the Indonesian workers are left to build the houses very much on their own. 20 years ago you will see the local foreman keenly supervising the construction but gone are the days.

 

[ginfreely]

I do not attempt to hide anything, we are all here to share our experiences be it good or bad. There is not such thing as everything good. If everything sounds too good to be true, then it's not!.

I learned a lot from a friend's father how to see many things in the contstruction/renovation industry.

we start with water leakage. things to note, as already mentioned by our dear friend 2 to 3 pages from here. after rainy day when rain stop, you will start to see certain areas more damp than others. there will be a reflection mark. as the ceilings of many units in this part of Johor are made from gymsum board, this water wetness will actually cause the board to be light brown after the water seeps there. due to dirt in the roofing ceiling area.

i've gone up into the ceiling inside and seen how it was all formed up. it's not only HH but all these new developments around. not all of them but majority of them. after a rain , water will trikle down the sides of walls and some of it will actually enter the house from the side or the top. you will not miss it. water dripping into the house.

so when viewing a house sub sale, look at the ceiling, look at the floor, look for visible marks. if owners are cleaning and mopping the house when u visit or just finish mopping , you can guess something there already.

look at the outside of the house, look for difference in colour for the walls. crack lines are scary. they mean a lot of stories behind the wall. I do water proofing in the past so i'm scare of crack lines.

crack lines also mean the process of putting the brick tiles up, not letting enuf time for it to set then putting up the rendering straight away a day later or even the very day itself. and even before first layer of rendering dries up, 2nd layer comes in. even before 1st and 2nd layer dries, they throw the plaster all on straight away.

i was having a minor discussion with a sub con yesterday who does tiling, he says if wall new , can do many things to it. i said no, and explain to him, then told him the practices overseas which is normally done by a professional. hence no professionals in SG and JB? he said no time, no choice everything rushing and it will be to costly to do the method i told him about.

basically only well trained skilled Chinaman in Singapore do it. hence all these special group of people are here in singapore only to do the landed private properties. and probably half of the condos done by them. in order to qualify to come here to work in the construction industry they have to pass a few tests before they can come.

there are 2 kinds of them, the skilled ones who are here to do all the walls leveling and so on. the not so skilled ones are unskilled here to do the manual work ......

don't want to go too much in. hence i refuse to let any malaysians enter my place to carry out renovations. i know too many of them, not that they are bad , they are good but......

as a johorian, who stays in johor, by the time enter singapore what time already? in order to avoid the jam, must rush back early. so if a certain wall cannot finish in time, rush rush rush, think of the end result. the style to cover up imperfections are many. i've seen it and i ask why they give me reasons since i'm part of them in the team. its' a no choice sitiuation.

hence i will not allow any shoddy work should i have a team of workers.

Thanks for your detailed sharing, it is very good info.

You mentioned look at outside of the house and crack lines, you mean crack lines outside the house will lead to water seepage? Yes, have come across some houses with crack lines outside. How about crack lines inside the house? Also will cause water seepage? Have seen houses with crack lines inside the house too.

Can tap your contruction/renovation knowledge on tiles? My place in SG have a few marble wall tiles in the bathroom that sound hollow. It is over 10 year old building but i only discovered it recently after the edge of one tile chipped off. When i pressed against the tile, it is already not fully bonded to the wall.

I called a few contractors but they are not keen to repair as the affected area is small (around 1 sq meter). One of the contractor did come to see and say can take out the tiles and do re-tiling. But after that, the contractor didn't appear and not contactable (probably job too small). When I asked another contractor, he said taking out the tiles will sure break the tiles and as i have no spare marble tiles, will be hard to find matching marble tiles, i should just leave it until the tiles really pop out and repair the whole wall at one go.

So will taking out the tiles surely break the tiles? Understand if i don't take out the tiles, cannot re-do the cementing of the tiles properly. In the meantime, i just paste scotch tape over the affected tile. Can I don't take out the tiles and just squeeze in the super glue or some bonding material? I have bought a tube for bonding tiles from hardware shop. Will appreciate very much if you can advise. Thanks.

 

[Investor]

I'm not asking for the sky but all i'm really asking for is:

1) a roof over my head which will not leak
2) a house which will not crack apart
3) security

I don't think you're asking too much Bigfatfish. You wouldn't have bought a unit at The Hills if you're really too fussy. The way I see it, you're the one using your hard earned money to buy a house and you chose it wisely with your knowledge and requirement, nothing wrong. Congratulations. HH is really a nice place, I love the golf course and un-blocked view, simply therapeutic!

 

[ginfreely]

I don't think you're asking too much Bigfatfish. You wouldn't have bought a unit at The Hills if you're really too fussy. The way I see it, you're the one using your hard earned money to buy a house and you chose it wisely with your knowledge and requirement, nothing wrong. Congratulations. HH is really a nice place, I love the golf course and un-blocked view, simply therapeutic!

Oh yes, i also think it is reasonable request of BFF or anyone to ask for no leaking roof and no crack lines in or outside the house for at least the first few years. Security too. Especially now that the prices have gone higher to above RM500k, quality should improve with higher pricing.

 

[LeMans2011]

Thanks for your detailed sharing, it is very good info.

You mentioned look at outside of the house and crack lines, you mean crack lines outside the house will lead to water seepage? Yes, have come across some houses with crack lines outside. How about crack lines inside the house? Also will cause water seepage? Have seen houses with crack lines inside the house too.

Can tap your contruction/renovation knowledge on tiles? My place in SG have a few marble wall tiles in the bathroom that sound hollow. It is over 10 year old building but i only discovered it recently after the edge of one tile chipped off. When i pressed against the tile, it is already not fully bonded to the wall.

I called a few contractors but they are not keen to repair as the affected area is small (around 1 sq meter). One of the contractor did come to see and say can take out the tiles and do re-tiling. But after that, the contractor didn't appear and not contactable (probably job too small). When I asked another contractor, he said taking out the tiles will sure break the tiles and as i have no spare marble tiles, will be hard to find matching marble tiles, i should just leave it until the tiles really pop out and repair the whole wall at one go.

So will taking out the tiles surely break the tiles? Understand if i don't take out the tiles, cannot re-do the cementing of the tiles properly. In the meantime, i just paste scotch tape over the affected tile. Can I don't take out the tiles and just squeeze in the super glue or some bonding material? I have bought a tube for bonding tiles from hardware shop. Will appreciate very much if you can advise. Thanks.

I am not an expert but i know exactly what you are talking about. This is because the workers who laid the tiles against the wall used just a small patch of cement as if using glue to stick tiles to the wall, hence lotsa hollow behind. I would say anything not life-threatening... leave it.

 

[ginfreely]

I am not an expert but i know exactly what you are talking about. This is because the workers who laid the tiles against the wall used just a small patch of cement as if using glue to stick tiles to the wall, hence lotsa hollow behind. I would say anything not life-threatening... leave it.

Yes it is tricky, becos the one tile is already very shaky and that's why i need to tape it. If i don't do anything, the tile will drop off in a matter of time and confirm will break and by then i need to replace the whole wall (and more expensive) as will be hard to file matching marble tiles with the same tone and pattern. On the other hand, if i repair now and the tile break in the process, i have the same problem. The first contractor told me can take out the tiles for re-cementing and won't break. If really can take out safely, then i will still repair now rather than leave it.

 

[Investor]

Hi Lemans,
Is your semi-d located nearest Ledang Heights or you've changed to another unit somewhere in the middle of Phase 2?

 

[Bigfatfish]

Thanks Arsenal

I understand why people get angry now after receiving a few PMs. Yes we need to solve problems find solutions not run away from them. Since problems in Singapore cannot be solved overnight, we need to find a solution for ourselves. Move to a better environment.

Hi BigfatFish,

Thanks for your contribution and I learn a lot from you. Don't be angry over any of the comments.. I don't think they are personal and I am glad we are all able to learn from everyone's contribution. I felt since we are all planning a retirement home in Malaysia, lets stay united.. not quarrel and build up a good forums for other folks to share and learn..

I am a lucky guy who have a decent job and living in a decent fully paid private property in Singapore.. and yet I don't think how I can retire in Singapore. It is so difficult to catch up with the inflation and the government who is closing their eyes taking care of top tiers pretending everyone is ok.. sad.. I wish a good platform sharing information for other Singapore/Malaysian folks who is open to alternative living like living here.. and I wish we can build a new community living in Malaysia..helping each other..

rgds

 

[Bigfatfish]

Hi Whathefish

It's not only HH, its' the new developments in Johor, meaning this ambitious Iskandar project. so it's since the start of it all a few years ago. I've got friends who buy in Nusajaya and outside of Nusajaya. Not all kenna leaking roofs, some kenna leaking roofs some kenna other projects.

If you are a current owner of HH I don't think you will go around poking your nose into other peoples home.
If you are not a current owner of HH and would like to buy HH then you might look at certain factors before buying a subsale.
If you are purely an investor and just don't care and want to flip you might not even bother any factors at all.
If you are a super easy going person, and not bothered about any factors then you won't even notice any thing at all.

Now back to your qns, If you hire me to survey say eg. whole of gateway, take eg. Ambang blah blah blah, i can show you one whole area where it's bad. I'm going to be naming which bad areas there are later.

if someone pays 250k in those days of cuz heck care, but if someone pays 400k maybe still heck care cuz 400k is peanuts to them. if someone pays 700k for the 250k the owner wants to sell cuz it's purely for investment and this person wants to stay then of cuz the details will come alive to them all a sudden. because paying 700k is differnet from paying 250k.

I bought HH by the way and did not buy EL. While i love EL to bits because the build is so much better, there are other factors prompting me to buy HH. You are right , i' might have been a little too harsh, one reason because if i were to use my hard earned money to buy something that is no longer 250k and also not 500k , i better be harsh. also anything above 500k is not 50k SGD. its' a lot of money.

I'm still young hence don't have a lot of savings like a lot of people do. also being partly in the industry i see the problems quicker than most people.

The main thing is i'm going to be staying there, i'm not an investor. I do not want to buy something and a few years down the road, shit happens. you know what i mean. I climb to roofs of buildings all the time and i see so many properties each year in singapore as part of my work. so when i'm in JB of cuz i climb up to see how different they are.

Hope i've answered your question. I also have not said that many owners encounter leaking roofs and cracking walls. I said that because i see. and when i see i keep quiet i don't tell the owner. later they faint or kenna heart attack. because most of the time, when viewing owners are not around.

Hi BigfatFish,

I've got a qns, what is the statistics pool you encountered on such poor quality built in HH? You mean so many owners encounter leaking roofs and cracking walls till date??
I've seen the few projects in Nusajaya region personally.. and while i agree that EL is definitely better than HH, but i'm of opinion that you might be a little bit too harsh and biased against HH.

 

[Bigfatfish]

Let's kid ourselves futher , it's purely Fotoshop. I belive everyone knows what fotoshop is. it's 100 % authenic fotos shop hahahahahah..llllolllololll

1. The picture is taken from top left quadrant of an actual picture. (Most cheap lens gives pictures with concave corners). If you look at the left side of the building, seems curved. If building curved, glass break already lah.

2. If you draw horizontal line of the concrete fencing in front of the building, it's also slant down towards right. Building sink one side maybe, fencing so light can sink too??

Let's not

Either a. it slants but not so much... or b. Optical illusion or bad lens...

 

[Bigfatfish]

Agree with you arsenal, maybe i should have taken fotos of defects i seen in Johor then and then everyone can say it's lousy camera and fotoshop too. lol.

Ha, my wide angle lens is good in producing pictures of such effect..

 

[Bigfatfish]

Hahahaha LOL. I don't wanna go to hell when i die. i prefer to go to Heaven or even better by speaking only nothing but the truth. Can you? Well Since you mentioned building wooden house how come now you change say even heaven not my standard? i tot the line should have been even wooden house not my standard better to build m&d house . good luck. ! I'm goign to name the areas which are scary.

You make me believe that even heaven would not be suitable to your standard. Good luck!

 

[Bigfatfish]

Hi Avalon74

yes nothing last forever. you are right water proofing suppose to last min 3 yrs. however how many people really do water proofing the right way? Water proofing is only one part of the equation to a non leaky toilet roof. there is much more involved. it's' all begins from the start. Do it right the first time and never have to get back again. Under the hot sun, under the rain , humans tend to operate differently. they will think one tile only never mind, this is where the problem starts. When i was buidling roofs one small mistake, we have to change the whole tile. we cannot ali baba. even the simple roofs that we build we made sure every joint was connected to each other, if cannot we had to modify it and make sure they overlap nicely. it's really hard when you are inexperience but when you have an old hand with you , nothing to worry.

look around all the new sights / developments all mainly young indonesians. you don't see like one old one young.

Your sis condo was highest floor or had someone above her? I did my own water proofing as i didn't trust contractors, i didn't want my neighbour to suffer if anything went wrong. the normal stuff the skilled worker did and i double checked every single coner before they laid the cementing works. once there is a problems there is no ending.

Everyone is entitled to their own views..however nothing last forever (even diamonds included)
With time, deteriation sets in..
My sis condo in Sg also had leaky toliet roof though water proofing suppose to last min of 3 yrs..

the main concern shd be with regards to safety & security.. anything that money can solve/rebuild is secondary.. (my 1.5 cents only)

 

[Bigfatfish]

Bro Wuqi, I'm afraid your property might kenna also. Golf and Gateway, certain rows really not too good. Semi Ds not too bad for gateway. 2 and half also so far not too bad. Golf so far P 5 and P6 seems to be of much better build though there are some very very minor stuff. i won't name what those minor stuff. but i do see future problems but of cuz not as bad as other sections.

BFF, please do say what you need to air, some of what you said is true, i have not commented on them at all.

If folks here were that bad, you would have seen lots of tit for tat stuff going on. This isn't about any developments, in case one needs to draw any quick conclusions, just go through the past pages. There has been equally positive and negative comments about other properties including HH all this time if one cares to look. All this time, there has been both good and bad about any property here, its good to highlight. EL was always rated the best, just that i chose otherwise, just like other folks who were keen on HH but looked for others as it may suit their needs better.

This actually sounds like what the MIW in SG would do: Say something wrong, HH might send down their agents clamping down on my love ones. People investing here will start bombarding me.

Thats why if you see someone continuously bombard a certain property or come in once or twice and talk good about a property, share links (which are supposed to be to a forum)but which are to their property website, you might realise what they are doing.

Again, this is not Living in HH or Living in EL, both HH and EL has the same "AH GONG", no one wants to see anyone fails.

 

[Bigfatfish]

Hi LeMans2011

few weeks ago i argued with the boss of a renovation company. he was so insisting that he is right so i took out tools and showed him the problems he created then he kept quiet. kept telling me wall is slanted not his fault or his carpenter fault so i asked if wall slanted how come you never rectify it. I also said since you claim you have 10 years experience even this kind of basic simple stuff also don't know? what kind of 10 years experience do you actually have? sometimes we have to be firm. I was doing a home inspection for my little sister.

Ok by right water should not even seep through your bay windows. this could be due to alignment issues btw the bay window and concreate. Water will seep through sealant, and good sealant doest crack. no matter how good sealant it is, there can still be a very very small amt of water to seep through. this small amt of water we cannot see. if we can see then it's not small anymore.

Ok by right developers when they build concreate wall it's sufficent enuf because the base material is strong enuf for water not to seep through. However sometimes the workers play cheat. also the moment the concrete set in, some they have certain coats of special water proofing stuff / sealer to protect the concrete against water seepage then apply of paint sealer and finally paint. this paint every 3 -5 years must do repainting. actual repainting must scrap off old paint if not layers after layers will crack.

So in your case it might not even be the sealant, or even the water proofing, it's a case of poor workmanship at the adjoinng area and sealant is one way to prevent water seepage. to get to the root of the problem is hell. I viewed one condo in singapore, the problem came from inside the house which was hell for the owner, the management had to hack all the way down to the pipes to remove that defective piece which was causing the unit to have water in the house.

Foreman hiding under the tree , dat's why maybe u cannot see him. lol. yes by right foreman must always be around. monkey see monkey do who knows what is right but gone are those days.



ONe more thing: There is a thing known as UV degradtion to paint. the paint becames damage.

Haha there is no Moderator in this forum. We maintain our behaviour on this thread in respect of Wuqi, just as a guest would respect the owner of the house. Sounds like you have some construction knowledge, please do share and benefit us by all means.

I recall arguing with the developer back in SG on the seepage of rain through the adjoining area between the bay window and concrete. The fella insisted that there is no waterproofing done around that area other than the sealant which could crack over time, in particular so for my apartment which had afternoon sun. Till this day i am still not sure if that is true? I very much agree with you as house owners one should DEMAND certain basic standards such as roof should not leak, water should not seep through the walls, land should be termite treated before building, etc.

The root cause is developer's greed to maximise margin to the extent of not having adequate quality control. Just go around any construction site, even EL, i can't see any supervisor??? 99% of the time the Indonesian workers are left to build the houses very much on their own. 20 years ago you will see the local foreman keenly supervising the construction but gone are the days.

 

[Bigfatfish]

Hi Ginfreely

depends on how wide and how deep the crack lines are. one crack will lead to another crack, there is no end. however there are ways to solve cracks. First of all we must understand the nature of cracks and why it happens. It's gonna be a super big thesis so i won't even touch on this part. too long to write easier to talk. Crack lines from inside the house can lead to crack lines outside the house , so crack lines on outside the house also can lead to inside the house.if i see a crack line i will do my very best to stop it right away if it's in Johor.

Wow take out tiles , no guranteed, might crack. I also don't want to do if you don't have spare tiles. very scary. yes you can try to squeeze some boding material and try to keep it holding tehre. in other for 2 materials to bond together there must be some form of adhesion. to have some form of adhesion the surface must be prepared. in your case can try boding material and pray that it works.

give u an eg. for parquet flooring, if it's too hollow, what they do drill a very very small hold and pump bonding material into it using special device so that the bonding can hold the flooring a long period. there fast dry and slow dry.

your tiles to take out really very very hard work, can be done but takes painstaking efforts. it's basically restoration work which is not worth it at all. too expensive.


give you another eg. you want to stick a tape a wall, the wall dusty cannot. must prepare surface , whatever we do must have surface preparation. in your case no choice, have to make do with what you can.


you make me feel so guilty now. i better think of a way to fix all the tiles in my dad's home. done by HDB years ago. tiles also come in different qualities. so dependent on tiles quality, the either crack easily or they don't.

Thanks for your detailed sharing, it is very good info.

You mentioned look at outside of the house and crack lines, you mean crack lines outside the house will lead to water seepage? Yes, have come across some houses with crack lines outside. How about crack lines inside the house? Also will cause water seepage? Have seen houses with crack lines inside the house too.

Can tap your contruction/renovation knowledge on tiles? My place in SG have a few marble wall tiles in the bathroom that sound hollow. It is over 10 year old building but i only discovered it recently after the edge of one tile chipped off. When i pressed against the tile, it is already not fully bonded to the wall.

I called a few contractors but they are not keen to repair as the affected area is small (around 1 sq meter). One of the contractor did come to see and say can take out the tiles and do re-tiling. But after that, the contractor didn't appear and not contactable (probably job too small). When I asked another contractor, he said taking out the tiles will sure break the tiles and as i have no spare marble tiles, will be hard to find matching marble tiles, i should just leave it until the tiles really pop out and repair the whole wall at one go.

So will taking out the tiles surely break the tiles? Understand if i don't take out the tiles, cannot re-do the cementing of the tiles properly. In the meantime, i just paste scotch tape over the affected tile. Can I don't take out the tiles and just squeeze in the super glue or some bonding material? I have bought a tube for bonding tiles from hardware shop. Will appreciate very much if you can advise. Thanks.

 

[Bigfatfish]

Thanks Investor

Yes i'm fussy, sometimes i wished i didn't know so much. dat's why it took me such a super long time to settle a place in HH. I basically choose the hills because of locaton and what the developer promised and also mainly because it's progressive payment. when i found out how the house look like, i breathe a hugh sigh of relief. why? because less problems for roof. the roof designs at the Hills meant that i have less problems, i'm prepared for problems, but i rather have a little less problem and think of a solution. I'm going to think of a way how to fix the back part of the house roof. though it's not built yet i'm only preparing myself for it.

I miss going there seeing the golf course and less concrete jungle.

I don't think you're asking too much Bigfatfish. You wouldn't have bought a unit at The Hills if you're really too fussy. The way I see it, you're the one using your hard earned money to buy a house and you chose it wisely with your knowledge and requirement, nothing wrong. Congratulations. HH is really a nice place, I love the golf course and un-blocked view, simply therapeutic!

 

[Bigfatfish]

Yes correct, very very true. the other reason it's the mix. when they mix, if they don't mix well by putting proper stuff into it also can happen.

so even if they put a lot also no use. it's like baking cake, too much floor or too little floor can have an impact on the cake.

I am not an expert but i know exactly what you are talking about. This is because the workers who laid the tiles against the wall used just a small patch of cement as if using glue to stick tiles to the wall, hence lotsa hollow behind. I would say anything not life-threatening... leave it.

 

[tansi]

would share my experience and see if it helps. My water basin is covered with tiles. I hit and crack coconuts usually at the same spot on the edge of the basin and so one day the tile at the spot became loose. Pried and picked up the loose tile to check the cementing work. It was quite well done with cement spread over the whole bottom of the tile. So it must be cement/concrete is hard but brittle. Frequent hitting would develop micro cracks in cement and eventually the tile would become loose. Bonding glue works fine in DIY repair.

 

[Bigfatfish]

A case of good quality tile, brittle cement.

would share my experience and see if it helps. My water basin is covered with tiles. I hit and crack coconuts usually at the same spot on the edge of the basin and so one day the tile at the spot became loose. Pried and picked up the loose tile to check the cementing work. It was quite well done with cement spread over the whole bottom of the tile. So it must be cement/concrete is hard but brittle. Frequent hitting would develop micro cracks in cement and eventually the tile would become loose. Bonding glue works fine in DIY repair.