BuildOurHouse

Unfinished business

2010-02-16T02:11:00.001-08:00

Cleaning

2010-02-15T18:56:00.000-08:00

Cleaning the huge mirrors with a broom

I wonder where the water went?

Voila a clean and airy foyer

Now we can have our mid morning snack

A clean master bed room

A long hose is what you need

Now that's what I call cleaning!

They don't call this item as porcelain throne for nothing

Eksen ganya ni eh hehe..

Banar kah tu ngangah

Cleaning the bedroom doors

Rajin bah encem atu

Now you may sit!

Sparkling clean sink

Atu ia kelaparan..thank you iring tom for the nasi ayam

Pipah our hard working ustazah

Encem cuci yang bawah-bawah saja

Nini laki taking a rest

Luan jua menyiram pun duduk

Enjoy bah encem atu

posing!

Steady Healmi..and a cleaning abulation room

BB melap pintu tapi sampat lagi pigang minuman

Nda lapas bah minuman nya atu

Doors....

2009-12-08T19:38:00.000-08:00

Lights....

2009-12-08T03:19:00.001-08:00

2009-12-07T18:03:00.000-08:00

More pictures!!

Nearly there....7th December 2009

2009-12-07T06:26:00.001-08:00

5/6/2009

2009-06-05T03:33:00.001-07:00

Chat untuk pagar yang ku liat tadi macam nda sesuai and design pagar nda timbul olih nya. So tadi runding sama si Sis supaya tunggu kamu balik saja untuk cat pagar. Kalau pendapat ku bisai kali design bunga warna hijau macam cornish, yang bulat keliling warna gold and yang cris cross warna putih.

Yang ani gambar jendela dalam rumah dan benda-benda yang di bawah ani untuk perhiasan jendela. Si Sis cuba explain aku tadi, tapi aku langsung nda paham ia saja tau hehehe..so tunggu lah dalam se minggu karng udah ia siap.

More pictures !!

2009-06-02T22:35:00.000-07:00

Deco yang di atas sudah bercat

Painting layer ke dua

Deco atas sebalah kiri alum bercat

Hj mohd lompat-lompat atas besi si Sis buat

Gambar ani nanti ku explain kenapa

Kata si Sis ani untuk deco kepala untuk tiang belakang

Frame untuk semua pintu

Okey ani tah gambar untuk sementara waktu dulu, kalau ku turun ke bandar ada ku mengambar lagi. This is ngangah finally signing off..nano..nano

Paint

2009-06-02T01:54:00.000-07:00

House as of 1st June 2009

2009-06-01T22:17:00.001-07:00

Tapak Rumah 01-07-2005

2009-05-19T21:14:00.000-07:00

15th May 2009

2009-05-15T04:40:00.000-07:00

4 Penjuru Rumah

2009-05-08T21:14:00.000-07:00

Front view of the house

Left side of the house

Right side of the house

View at the back of the house. Big window in the middle is the dinning area.

Big window on the right is where the family hall situated

Behind the glass panel is the main staircase

Pictures of four corners of the house as requested by Hj.Harun hehe...

What's new ?

2009-05-08T19:25:00.000-07:00

I was informed by the worker that they managed to build the base and post for the stone pieces to be installed within two days only.

View from the basement

First floor

Arches on the walk-in closet and master bed room are all done

Arch on the First floor family hall.

Marble for front garage and balcony are all sorted out.

Here comes the pagar he..he..

2009-05-08T19:10:00.000-07:00

At last after a few phone calls the much awaited stone pieces for the railing were delivered yesterday. Emm..I think the contractor should pay me for the job hehe..

The delivery pick up

Barat Haji Harun hehe..

Altogether 19 pieces, safe and sound

The decorative pieces

That's it for today. This is ngangah signing off..nano..nano

Things to do

2009-05-05T22:31:00.000-07:00

Sorry no pictures, just a simple post as a self reminder of things to do as instructed by my sis and her hubby.

1) Bali penyapu hehe.. DONE
2) Sort out marble. Marble gray/hitam untuk varanda bawah dapan, balcony dua di atas DONE
3) Pagar atas semua pagar batu termasuk dapan tangga menghadap ceramin basar dan atas
sebalah kanan tangga. DONE
4) Frame untuk pintu master bed room TAKE NOTE
5) Arch walk-in closet DONE
6) Arch master bed room DONE
7) In door window between main living room and 1st hall. ( Discuss sama s sis, mcm nda lawa n nda sesuai)
8) Uruskan pagar. To make sure kana antar and install. DONE

Atu saja..

New Pictures !!!

2009-04-24T00:16:00.000-07:00

Assalamualaikum,

How are you guys, bet kamu ngalih tahap maksima, heheh faham-faham saja. I know you've been busy as a bee. Duty comes first. Btw happy belated birthday to Hjh Lantek.

Okey...first thing first, one particular item that needs your urgent attention ..Stone railings on the balcony. If you look carefully design pagar atu only on one side . It applies only to the two front pieces (refer to picture posted below), the rest seems to be ok. I am not sure whether you knew about this. So guys if that's what you want it's fine by me..but if it's something new or disagree with the design please contact the contractor as soon as possible and let you discuss about it.

Pictures taken on the 21st April 2009...enjoy !

Ceiling of the 2nd hall has been completed. View from the basement.

Stone railing with front & back design. Left side of the balcony. Notice the top railing..lawaa

The 2 pieces I mentioned earlier, with one sided design only!. Notice the back is plain. View looking out front the balcony

View from the balcony looking towards the right side of the house. Stone railing alum install.

Family hall on the 1st floor. Deco partially done.

Looking down from 1st floor landing area toward the basement. Notice they've completed plastering the edge.

The 16 small frames with flower decorations has been installed.

Foyer arch is ready for painting.

The same arch from slightly different angle

1st hall on the basement view from foyer.

The arch from the main living room to the 1st hall needs final touches

Even entrance to the powder room you will be greeted with it's own arch..awesome

View looking from the 1st hall toward the foyer.

Arches on the 2nd hall standing mighty ready for painting

Entrance toward the Solat hall, the arches decoration are all completed

Last but not least an arch towards the abolution room is ready for the next stage.

So that's it guys. InshAllah hopefully by this coming Sunday, we'll go down to Bandar (liat bula DPPMC lawan club from S'pore, steady kali Hj Harun ah hehe ..jgn jeles) as well as visiting one of the shop in beribi by the name"signature design". I think its about time to shop around and get the best price for the fitted kitchen. Hopefully we can compare locally made fitted kitchen and the self assemble fitted kitchen from IKEA. See if the local one can install the aluminium accessories, revolving racks and all the convenient utilities provided by IKEA, Until then this is ngangah signing off..nano nano.

2009-04-03T19:06:00.000-07:00

2009-04-03T18:01:00.000-07:00

2009-04-03T17:03:00.000-07:00

video rumah

2009-04-03T08:16:00.001-07:00

UPDATES

2009-03-16T01:55:00.000-07:00

Salam Hj Harun & Hjh Noni and keluarga. Sowey liau baru terjangkau..hehehe. Sebanar nya laptop ku berformat ia tah nda ku dapat antar gambar. Sekali kesian jua ku kamu kan liat gambar sampai tanya engineer sis hahaha..Ia tah ku banar-banari. Bah liat tah ,ani masa alum lagi berapa siap masa 27hb February 2009. Enjoy the pictures....

Arches di ruang solat

Arches di tempat mengambil wudu

Arches menuju ke ruang makan ( Luqman dengan parut nya)

Arches menuju ke ruang ketiga( tangan Luqman)

Lagi tangan Luqman..majal..

Engsel yang kamu bali sudah berserahkan

Engsel yang kamu bali

Fastforward to 7 th March 2009, Masa ani aku ke bandar memilih pintu. Untuk pintu menuju ke ruang makan aku pilih setampik pintu full, setampik pintu separuh ( lurus kah tu bahasa melayu ku atu). Full kaca sampai kebawah, petak-petak. Yang pintu full 8 petak kaca yang pintu separuh 4 petak kaca.

Untuk pintu dari ruang makan ke wet kitchen, aku pilih pintu atas kaca dan di bawah kayu. Petak-petak jua. 4 petak kaca di atas and 4 petak kayu di bawah.

Pintu yang lain aku ikut saja design pintu yang sudah kamu bali. Semua design pintu aku pilih petak-petak untuk menyamakan dengan konsep pintu kamu yang ada masa ani. So the latest pictures taken on 7 th march 2009.

Arches dengan deco siring yang almost kan siap..lawa yo!

Lawa kan :-)

Atas ruang depan pintu utama, sudah siap berplaster

Deco siring kiri kanan glass panel, selepas pintu utama

Deco untuk corner rumah di luar sudah siap (kanan)

Last but not least...
Sebalah kiri pun sudah siap.
Ok that's it guys. Hope you enjoy the pictures. Sorry for the delay yang tidak di sengajakan. It's been a week since I last visited the house. I bet most of it are done by now. Hopefully within this week i'll be able to have a quick peek. Until then this is ngangah signing off..nano..nano

Good Job

2009-02-27T06:02:00.000-08:00

Today I must say I was quite pleased to see on the development and progression of the house so far. I can say changes are quite drastic from the last time I was there and it was only last week. The arches are nearly completed, the windows I can say almost finished except for the two big windows at the dinning area at the back. But I was informed by next week it will be installed and I am confident about it. The huge glass panel at the stairs are already installed and it is awesome guys, you should check it out. I must admit I was quite wrong about the windows. When I made a post about it, it was at an early stage and the whole process was not completed yet. Now seeing the finished product I can assure you that you will love it. So please accept my sincere apology.

Moving to the exterior of the house, from my observation apart from the sixteen small decorative squared frame flowers but all the pillars and the footings around the house are nicely plastered..all at the top and bottom.

The skirting and the tiles are all sorted. Overall for the first time I am quite happy and I can say so far job well done. Hope it will continue to be so. InsyAllah.

This is ngangah signing off..nano..nano.

What's new?

2009-02-16T18:55:00.000-08:00

Ngangah Laki arrived from US yesterday. So took the chance to see what's new with the house. Actually we were there on the 5 th of February to check on the progression . Total of four workers on the site working on decorating pieces surrounding the tall glass panels on both side of all front doors. Yesterday I can say it's all done and the finishing is awesome. The two workers in particular are quite skillful as some of the frames are a little bit distorted , nonetheless the final product is satisfactory.

What else is new? As of yesterday two workers were on the site busy as a bee, oh yah one of the worker by the name of Pisri ( if I'm not mistaken) is still working on decorating the arches, I can say it's 20% done. A little bit slow but at least it's properly done.

Doors yet to be installed
Interior walls to be painted
Exterior walls 70% painted
Cornice 70% fitted
Windows?
To be honest at the moment I'm contemplating should I mention about the windows and all the glass panels or not fearing I might be sending the wrong signals to my sister. Then again keeping it quite surely will left me with huge guilt as they place their trust on me to keep an eye on the final phase of their house. After giving it a deep thought, good and bad and taking into account the consequences and complication in the future should I choose to ignore the problem, I came into conclusion that I decided to post about it and hopefully it will give the owner and the contractor a clear picture of it without me being biased or scrutinizing about it. Hoping it can be resolved as professional as possible for the benefit of all the parties concern and as they say in business world 'you get what you pay for'

Well, the windows and glass panels are 60% installed. As far as I can see most of the windows are fine but the glass panels are not up to the required standard. I'm a little bit concern because standing in front of the glass panels clearly you can see light passing through either from the sides or the corners of it. It doesn't take a genius to figure out the problem. Yes it is hidden behind beautiful curtains and no one will notice it but the problem caused by it will surely be annoying as the house is surrounded with huge glass panels and windows. Taking into account the current weather Brunei is experiencing with heavy torrential rain and strong gust of wind leaving even paper thin gap will create nagging problems to the occupant and lets not forget the damage it can cause to the curtains, furnitures or any objects that happened to be nearby plus the sight of water dripping and the mark it leaves behind be it on the floor or on the wall are not a sight to behold. Having said that yesterday from my observation they did seal some of the gaps( mind you its not really a big gap but still a gap) with special sealant and leaving few gaps behind. Ngangah laki point this out to one of the worker and to make sure its 100% water tight.

On a more lighter note, one of the worker a tall pleasant soft spoken guy is continuing plastering the base and top of on one of the pillars on the left side of the house. I can see he knows his job well and knows what he is doing. Hope he stay working on the house.

Last but not least I know there has been few texts exchanged between the owner of the house and the contractor regarding the payment, hopefully both parties can resolved their diffrences. On the contractor side I can understand his financial needs and he seem to be a man of his words and nice chap, at the same time lets not forget what my sister and her hubby has been through and its not easy for them to put their trust especially where money is involved. Mistakes from the past seems to be a great teacher for them and all they are asking is lets adhere to the agreement and show full commitment. From my humble opinion a little bit of takes and gives from both parties will not hurt anybody, then again having said that reality is not the same to the doer as it is to the sayer plus from their experiences the quotation did not seem to agree with them, too much giving from their side and being taken advatange of . This is ngangah signing off and nano nano.

1st Claim

2009-02-02T16:05:00.000-08:00

Received an e-mail from the contractor last night forwarding his first claim of payment for the house. I may have to go down to bandar it's either today or tomorrow if the weather permits to take some photos as a prove to my sister and her hubby that the work has been done as per claim. Just for the record work for the first payment consists of on completion of :-

1) Installing all the windows and fitted with proper handles

2) Installing all the in-doors, back doors, front doors and main doors (bare in mind my sister insists on specific design for her main door)

3) Installing all the cornice ( white cornice supplied by the contractor whilst the stone cornice my sister has to fork out an extra of almost $3k out of her own pocket) The last time I was there they haven't finish putting a final touch on all the joint of the cornice.

4) Painting all the interior of the house.

So guys please check your e-mail.

Updates

2009-01-27T00:52:00.000-08:00

Salam Hj Harun and family....Had a quick peek at the house yesterday. There were some encouraging development going on after a few weeks of 'missing in action'. They started fitting the windows with the tinted glass and working on finishing the marbles on the ground floor. They haven't finished tiling on the 1st floor though. Posted a few pictures here and let the picture speak for themselves..enjoy

D'boy noticed hair line cracks on the stairs

Guest bedroom window
Window for the walk-in closet area Haziq's room. Window are fitted udah
Master bed room windows

"Interior window" to be fitted wit the arabic design ( from the previous post)

Worker working on the arch leading to the dinning room

Frame for the front door. Notice the side windows are fitted with tinted glass.

Front Right side of the house
Front left side of the house

Thats all for today. Bah Hj harun kalau kamu ada comment antar saja di chat box ku ah hehe .. or contact saja Hj Yusli. This is ngangah signing off "nano-nano"

Unique design for the interior window

2009-01-24T03:09:00.000-08:00

Salam Hj.Karim's clan hehe... What did I do today? Well, I sent an E-mail to the contractor regarding the design for the 'interior' window. What's an interior window you may ask? Ermm how do I describe it best. Let's just put it this way. For those who know my sister and her family well, will acknowledge that they have been living in the middle east since late 90's till today. So obviously my sister is comfortable with the arabic design and culture. To bring a little bit of arabic memory home hence the idea and design of the so called ' interior' window is created.

The window is situated at the family room on the first floor. Looking down from it will enable the host to have a good view of the front doors and solat area on the left and a full view of the library and dinning room on the right.

So basically my sister will be able to monitor all the activities on the ground floor from the comfort of her family room. I am sure if and when it's completed it will be awesome.

Hopefully I'll be going down to Bandar tomorrow for a family function and I'll try to have a quick peek at the house and will update you guys on the development of the house . Heard they finished installing all the frames for the front doors. So till then this is ngangah saying "nano nano".

INTRODUCTION

2009-01-18T03:52:00.000-08:00

Salam earthlings hehehe..As you gather from the title, this is my first attempt at blogging. Main purpose of the blog is to update my sister and her family residing in Abu Dhabi and united kingdom on the progression and development of their much awaited house. Yes..I hear you.. its not my house..hehe..as I'm not working I might as well do something useful with my life and looking after my sister house seem fulfilling. By the way I'm the ngangah of the "Karim's" family.

Building of the house started way back in August 2005 if my memory serve me right. It is situated at Rimba Gadong. One year into building the house, things did not run well with the contractor for reasons I'm welling to reveal here other than the development and progression of the house was painstakingly very very slow. At one point there was nothing going on at all. It was so frustrating. Imagine with all the valuable marbles, tiles and other stuffs laying around and there was no one to look after and guard them at night time. The situation was further worsen with the sudden posting of my sister and her family to Abu Dhabi.

My sister an her husband left with no choice but to terminate the terms and conditions of the contractor hence the building of the house was halted for 2 1/2 years. Alhamdullilah towards the end of last year they managed to find a new contractor with the promise the house will be ready within 8 - 10 months. Insya Allah by this year my sister and her family will be able to celebrate Hari Raya for the first time in their new house...Amin...

Visited the house for the second time this year. Discussed few outstanding matters with the contractor.

1. Marbles and Tiles. To be completed especially the first floor. Contractor will look into it as soon as possible.

2. Interior paint. Lily white for the interior wall and rose white for the ceiling and all white for the first floor ceiling .

3. Submitted and discussed the design of the main doors and 3 front doors. Major changes for the doors. The contractor increased he height of the frame for the doors and increased the thickness as well. When completed and view from outside the door will look like a huge thick grand doors.

Took a few pictures...enjoy

This is ngangah saying " nano..nano"

   FRONT VIEW

   Main Door
   Prayer room
   Main Living room

   2nd Living room

   East wing

   1st floor looking out into the balcony
   Family Hall
   View from the top looking down to ground floor
  1st floor and Ngangah laki hehe..
   Entrance to Haziq's room
  Entrance to master bedroom's toilet

Master bedroom

Master Bedroom

Railing for balcony

Stairs

Wet kitchen

Dining room

Dinning room

Slot on the left is where the refigerator will be placed

Big window from the dinning room

view at the back

Guest bathroom