Sort out the administratives

The process of purchasing a house from a developer is less tedious compared to building on your own. With the latter, first you have to have a land. Then engage an architect to come up with the design. For the design to be raised, you need a builder. No one is going to do that on your behalf unless you can afford to hire a full-time project manager. As if that's not enough to do, there are still a few more that you have to take care of in between. 

When you purchase a house (let's use this term to mean any dwelling unit) from the developer, it is very likely that part of its services is to help you get the finance facility that you can live with and to a certain extent, legal services to look at the sales and purchase agreement. This is made easier especially if you made the purchase at a home exposition or something like it where the banks and legal offices also set up shop. You have practically nothing else to worry about except to really scrutinize all the fine points in the agreement to make sure that they are in order. And when it's time to take over the house, you may want to consider some minor renovations like installing a kitchen cabinet and do up the living room but these do not happen until later so you can plan and let the construction takes its course.

It's a different ballgame when you are building on your own. After procuring the land, you need to make sure that all paperwork is intact. Conduct a land search (carian rasmi) to verify that the plot in question indeed exists. The bank would also require this piece of paper as part of the application form. Check that the land status is really what it is as claimed by the seller/developer. 

If there is more than a plot, you need to amalgamate the plots before you can erect a building. And speaking of building, if it says rumah persendirian (residential) on the land search printout, just make sure that you comply accordingly. Back to merging the lots, there was a real hitch in the progress for us because we didn't know beforehand about the amalgamation requirement. Amalgamating is a time-consuming process and the worse part is that there is no SLA governing its turnaround time. Sure, they will give you an indication but it's still at best an estimation. The potential downtime would eat up into your overall project completion chart because you are not sure whether or not to proceed with construction. Even though there is no reason why the relevant authority should reject your application, the good people at the council will choose not to approve the house plan until they have seen the lands amalgamated. If someone's telling you to bulldoze and commence building, that's not a brilliant idea because doing so might incur the wrath of the powers-that-be. More trouble might be in-store for you.  

To join the plots, an application will need to be submitted to the Pejabat Tanah dan Galian (Land and Mineral Office) of where your land is situated. In our case, although the lands are in the Kuang area, they fall under the jurisdiction of the Gombak PTG. But having said that, we did not have to go its main office in Rawang because there was a branch nearer to us located in Selayang. And to be specific, our land is not in Kuang or Tasik Biru or Paya Jaras: it is actually on the fringe of Bukit Rahman Putra in Sungai Buloh. Confused with the so many places? Yeah, they don't add up but that's how things work sometimes in the country. I'm sure you've heard of stories of people being redirected to a farther police station although the one that they went to in the first place was quite close to home. Same difference.

While the application is underway, you will be given a temporary ownership certificate (Apple iPhone 4s)

Remember, if you are constructing on more than one tract of land, two things need to happen: one is the amalgamation, and second is the approval of the plan. If you are not, then worry only about the approval. 

Plan and layout approval is bestowed upon you by the local authority. Guess who's the local authority in charge of our area? (Drum roll)... it's the Majlis Perbandaran Selayang (Selayang Municipal Council)! Judging by the location of the land, we thought it would fall either under the purview of Majlis Bandaraya Shah Alam or Majlis Daerah Kuala Selangor but no. Of course, Majlis Bandaraya Shah Alam is only responsible for the said city and Majlid Daerah Kuala Selangor is a rural-based authority. The words Bandaraya, Perbandaran and Daerah defines the size of the territory of which each council is supposed to look after, didn't you know?

The much sought after stamp of approval (Apple iPhone 4s)

Preparing for submission is no child's play so do work closely with your architect and a runner, if you are engaging one, to make sure that you tick all the boxes for required documents in order to process your application. Don't wait until the council ring you to collect the approved plan because this might not come at all. Instead, check on the progress every week or so. Ask if everything's alright. We were highlighted about the need to amalgamate only when the council asked about the single plot number. For me, the person at the front counter who checked in all applications should have flagged any irregularities at his or her level but I don't want to be too harsh on this issue. It might be his first day at work or even the council's first time dealing with an amalgamation case which is rather hard to believe.

The original two lot numbers... (Apple iPhone 4s)

In general, our dealings with the officers at the two government departments had been pleasant and and I must say here that they were most helpful and kind although I can't say that processes were WYSIWYG and easily available on the Internet. There is always that element of change when you come face-to-face with the officer-in-charge. Turnaround time is another lasting issue but it's really out of your reach to try and make a difference. Don't count on the SLA being revised soon either because they need to have one before it can be amended.

Before I forget, another important thing is to pay for your quit rent (cukai pintu). I was under the impression that for as long as there was no door, no tax should be levied. As usual, I was wrong. Nonetheless, sooner or later this would be picked up by the system before you are duly directed to the payment hall to take a number and pay your cukai pintu. Without the receipt, the folks on the other floor will not go ahead processing your application. You will not like that so do the right thing. 

After all your headaches are cured (hopefully, that is) by the frequent visits to the authorities, it is time to apply for finance. Some of you out there may be lucky enough to not be needing the facility but we needed it so much even to build a chicken coop. Start early. Don't wait until your headaches are gone. Get referrals. Go back to bankers you have dealt with before on some other matters. Financing to build is not a straight line thing like buying off-the-shelf. There's a long list of documents that you need to turn in, on top of the usual three months salary slip and EPF statement. Besides, you want to know about the BLR, payment schedule, the repayment amount monthly and insurance coverage, especially when you are advance in age. 

And the 'unified' PT number... (Apple iPhone 4s)

Speaking of payment, you are able to take a percentage off your EPF savings provided you meet minimum balance required in your account two. This should somewhat ease the burden of the monthly repayment that you have to service but it does not happen automatically. There are forms to be filled up so you need to make an appointment with EPF to talk things out. 

Now back to the banking affair, your banker should be able to tell you the advantages and disadvantages between conventional and Islamic banking. Ultimately, it's for you to decide but decide with a clear mind, having understood how each package would benefit you as the borrower. In our case, we had to go back to the same bank that financed our land purchase as no other banks would agree to bear the building project. This is simply because when complete, the house and land would be counted as one asset and in the event of a default and the ensuing judgement, heaven forbids, recovering the payments from the borrower and reselling the property at a price everyone can agree with could be messy.

Truth be told though, there are still two separate loan accounts with two monthly payments to make. The bank will not consolidate these for you. It's only easier for them that when the shit hits the fan, all discussions are in the family. 

Which reminds me, following the amalgamation of the lands, you need to affect the same on the S & P. The bank needs to be formally advised about this and consequently issue a revised document reflecting the land merger. 

Boy, the administratives seem endless don't they? I've not even touched on how to apply for power and water...

Have brief will design

There is the verbal kind and there is the printed kind.

Could the printed kind look like this? Or... (image courtesy of getty images)

You prefer to talk on the phone? (image courtesy of getty images)

I’m talking about a brief, the most important responsibility that most of us tend to overlook or worse, dismiss as nonsensical. When you want your architect or communications agency (this at the work level, if your work scope expressly includes it) to address your requirements efficiently, the gesture of preparing a brief will be greatly appreciated because it makes their lives much easier.

The brief can take on two forms: one is the type that you deliver orally, You may go over it on the phone or while enjoying your mocha ice-blended amidst the din in the background, of course with the person the brief is intended for sitting in front of you. This form of brief has to be guided by the notes that one brief giver has prepared beforehand, otherwise it will be very much depended on his or her memory to regurgitate whatever he or she wants the recipient to hear. Yes, this can be dangerous as there will be potential hits and misses.

The other is the documented kind, the kind that you would type lovingly on your PC (I don’t know if anyone still has a working Olivetti typewriter), using the ubiquitous word-processor. And because you have gone so far to actually decide on a printed brief, to stare at the computer monitor without any inkling whatsoever on what to write would be a complete waste of time. The practical side of you would want to start thinking in advance, perhaps come up with some sort of a framework or content just so that your typing will be a little smoother, that is if you know your home keys.

I don’t generally consider the spoken brief as a bona fide brief but we live in a busy world where the paying party does not always see the point in delivering a complete and informative brief. Most of us neglect the importance of the brief for the people who they expect to respond to their needs. How is that fair? When the brief is not in the equation, the receiving end tends to regard your requirement as flexible and to a certain degree, interpret certain areas on their own. Maybe some of you thrive on the thrill of surprises that explorations bring but when there are just too many rounds of going back and forth then you kind of know that the architect (or the account executive or fill in the blank) is lost. Or would you prefer blur as an adjective?

It's no good when your architect is lost (image courtesy of getty images)

Before that fateful meeting with our architect, we wanted to send out the message that we were different and meant business. Already that was achieved through the post cards but we just wanted to reaffirm his initial impression. And so we decided that the brief had to contain information that would excite him as the building designer. Instead of telling him directly what we want, which could sound like an instruction and downright rude, we peppered the paragraphs with hints and cues, hoping that he would get the drift.

Our brief has the following sub-sections:

1. Location: explains the location of the land. It also gives an insight into the arterial network that serves the township the land is located on.

2. Infrastructure status: gives an update on the drainage and parameter works on the plot. Although there is an existing residential estate nearby but being a converted land, it did not come with the infrastructure mentioned. A developer's commitment would vary from one contract to another so do check what is it that the seller is promising you. We've also included some secondary information on the area as a whole to give a well-rounded perspective to the architect.

3. Land use category: states the type of building and this should be residential, unless you are building a factory.

4. Land area: the built-up size of the land.

5. Land tenure: whether it's freehold or lease hold. Ours is freehold. Not sure if this bit is useful to him but he may consider longer lasting materials... That's just me being light.

6. Budget: the amount of money that we are prepared to part with to build. The amount you want to include here should include the architect’s fee as well as construction and interior fitment works, unless you are farming this out to a different contractor. 

7.  Overview: a statement that explains the DNA of the habitat in one paragraph or two. Here's what we have written: A modern and functional single story abode away from the hustle and bustle of the city. A dwelling unit that responds to the needs of its occupants. A stopover that is looked forward by all manners of guests. The design scheme that will delight some and envy most. A home sweet home in the truest sense of the word. 

8.  Architecture flavor: the style that you like. We said tropical modernism, whatever that means. There's Bauhaus,  country industrial, Brutalist, avant garde, art deco, mock tudor, et cetera. Or simply the typical tropical Malaysian. Tepuk dada, tanya selera. Literally, pat on your chest and ask yourself what you like...

9. Unique thrusts: the unique feature of the house. Similar to the DNA but this should be more technical and in reference to the physical structure. 

10. Potential reaction: the kind of reaction we'd desire from the neighbours/public or guests. Of course we made these up but the reactions were realistic. Let me pull out an example: Joshua Chua, renovation contractor looking for potential business - "You know, the house got no fence. Some more, no grille on the window. Let me ask you this, have you seen a house with a flat roof?" The thing is, we don't know if the end product would sport a flat roof but consider this a hint to the architect. He may or may not entertain such hints but these give him an insight into the design appetite that you have.

11. Family information: each and every one of the PH household is detailed in this sub-section but you don't need to reveal too much. Information that would do the job for the architect are age, favourite pastime and personality. This list is certainly not exhaustive. No one will stop you if you decide to shed more light.

12. Household: the number of people in the house. Extremely important although it is just a one-liner bit. The architect would take the headcount into account while designing the living area.

13. Cars owned: just so that he could design a car port that would adequately park our rides. Do be specific and try to look into the future because you don't want that unsightly zinc awning as a result of an afterthought.
14. Other vehicles: other than cars and in our case we meant bicycles. He may want to propose a fancy bike room replete with tools and wall holder or a shed at the back, you never know. 

15. Living spaces: living areas that we wish to see in the house. This would include the living room, kitchen, dining room, bedroom, study and 'The Box.' You need to identify your living spaces if there's more to the list.

16. Practical spaces: different than the above as this is more utilitarian in nature. Examples include shoe room, storage area, garden, garage, et cetera. Again, do expand the list.

17. Living and practical spaces explained: explain all your entries in greater details. Talk about the personality of each room. Tell him the function of each of the room, the kind of activity you'd carry out in it. Throw in information about materials and finishes as well. Basically, being coy is not the way to go here. 

18. WC (water closet): how many bathrooms and toilets we require. Say so if you want an en suite or two. What about hot water supply? Yeah, say that here too. 

19. Novelty requirements: requirements that would respond to your other needs. Something that is outside of the main structure but would matter as much. Maybe you want a feature wall or a feature door. Or would you like to display your collection of Coca-cola memorabilia from all over the world? Let him know because he will be able to advise you how best to do it.

20. Summary of fitments: we've included this as a sub-section because the architect dabbles in interior design to compliment his main work and we'd like him to design a few items for the rooms as well. Omit this as you see fit.

21. Next steps: what are the next actions on your end that the architect needs to know. Are you applying for a finance facility? Are there any obstacles regarding the land that may hamper on the progress of the construction? You want to put in matters that would have great impact on the way forward, one way or the other. 

What do you think? It’s not that difficult is it? If there is an advice that I could give, start with the brief. Make it right from the beginning. Put your thoughts on paper. Give the architect the much needed reference point that he could go back to again and again. This is certainly not the finest example of a brief content but you are more than welcome to use it as a headstart. So grab your Dell or Macbook now and start typing away! Or do you prefer an Olivetti typewriter?

Change can be good...

Kamversation.com is a friend's website that I just happened upon yesterday. While he's a follower of Plantation House and maybe an avid one at that, judging by his cute texts every time there is a new post, he's been quite secretive with his own. There you have it, now the secret's out!

I have to say I was quite envious of the fact that the theme he is on is by Cyber Chimps, one of the better theme providers out there but because I don't have the desire nor the need to pay yet, I'll stick with the free ones offered by Blogspot. Speaking of free off-the-shelf themes, Wordpress has some that can put those dished out by Blogspot to shame. The thing about Wordpress is that its theme offerings have wider choice, varied and with interesting features to boot. 

Why don't I fill you in a little secret: I opened a blog with Wordpress yesterday, as a hasty reaction to Kamversation.com and spent the entire afternoon importing the posts from Blogspot, reformatting some due to the migration and choosing the theme that I think would work for Plantation House. The grand plan was to formally advise my readers, Kamversation.com's author included, of the move today. 

But I had a change of heart just now and decided to be loyal to Blogspot and continue building that relationship. Just a little change in the http address though and I think this version would be more apt than the previous one anchored by my own name. The number 3 is our house number...

A new chapter, a huge milestone

On the first day of school, moments before... (Apple iPhone 4s)

My younger son started primary 1 in January this year like all the other seven-year-olds except that he is already eight. If you are wondering why, that's because he has a language and speech developmental delay and that would have made it challenging for him to cope in class. If you met him in person, he is also rather tiny (apart from being skinny) compared to his peers, or so I thought.

Out of the 12 pupils in his class, I could roughly point out that at least a three quarter is in the same ballpark size-wise, if not smaller. Despite the physique, I'm quite sure he can stand up for himself as he is feisty and strong but only time will tell if he is able to cope with the challenges that primary 1 presents. Take this for starters; there are seven books for Math and eight for Science alone. I haven't touched on the other subjects. One thing for sure, he will have to make full use of the locker that's provided to him, as lugging around the bag (even on wheels) can be a bad idea. Getting him to work the padlock could be a potential issue as well but I supposed this takes practice.

In 2008 while still in the UK, the original diagnosis was global developmental delay and it came from the lead consultant psychologist, who led a team of specialists attending to his case. In his opinion, there was between 2 to 2.5 years of delay. Additionally, he would not rule out Asperger syndrome just yet until a proper assessment could confirm that he was not suffering from the said disorder, which is basically an autism spectrum disorder. According to Wikipedia:

The term autism spectrum disorder is often used to describe disorders that are currently classified as pervasive developmental disorders. Pervasive developmental disorders include autism, Asperger syndrome, Childhood disintegrative disorder, Rett syndrome and Pervasive Developmental Disorder not otherwise specified. These disorders are typically characterized by social deficits, communication difficulties, stereotyped or repetitive behaviors and interests, and/or cognitive delays. Although these diagnoses share some common features, individuals with these disorders are thought to be "on the spectrum" because of differences in severity across these domains.

Our attention first got flagged down by the good nursery teacher who alerted us that he was not conversing well in class. Communicating with friends was a combination of toddler-speak and physical signs, if you may. Never in full words, let alone proper sentences. 'He's only four, he will step up will he not?' I said half assuringly, primarily because I've been fed with that my whole life.

Who hasn't heard of 'alah, budak lelaki memang lambat sikit' (boys are usually slower) or 'esok lusa nanti pandailah cakap'? (he will catch up sooner or later?) Our elders would offer these phrases to generally describe children, although boys are said to always catch the last bus to development compared to girls, who are a little behind in talking or walking than should have.

The teacher as a matter of different culture and upbringing was not having any of that. She retorted by saying that all his peers were performing at the expected level. She added that it was the parents' responsibility to make sure their children develop properly and if they don't, identify what the issues were and address them accordingly. Without as much waiting for a week to pass, she forwarded our case to the school's Special Education Needs (SEN) unit's attention so that the machinery could get to work immediately. The end game was single-minded: to get the council's approval for a proper and carefully-designed treatment plan for our son. What happened next was a series of assessments and evaluations that saw us hopping from one specialist to another with the little one trotting along. ENT, speech and language, pediatric development, child psychologist, you name it, we'd done it. We did not make it to the ophthalmologist though because we just couldn't secure a date before our final flight home.

The central idea of having him checked in all the various disciplines was so we could safely eliminate or include a condition in order to form an accurate diagnosis and thence, a prescription or the said treatment plan. Once endorsed by the local council, the school would have to abide by the treatment plan as proposed in the statement. Council officers would make their periodic checks and monitor his progress. The system's in place to make sure that special children are being taken care of. Unfortunately, he did not get assessed for Asperger as our time was already up to return to Malaysia.

Despite having all the reports, our local consultant pediatrician reduced the diagnosis from global developmental delay to only language and speech developmental delay. She was convinced that autism and dyslexia or any other type of learning disorder was not in order and that included Asperger. Because of this, we haven't sent him for further checking.

My son did not attend primary 1 when he was supposed to as a seven-year-old  but instead enrolled into a Montessori-based kindergarten in Sunway Damansara which was strongly recommended by his pediatrician. The kindie had a very small student population of the same stature, for want of a better word, and so it would provide the kind of attention that my son would have required. 

With some of the other pupils at the Sunway Damansara kindie. (Apple iPhone 4s)

As part of the mainstream school's procedure, every new joiner would need to sit for a readiness test to determine his intelligence level so that he can be accorded the adequate support. Much to my pleasant surprise, he passed the test with little problem, meaning he’s qualified to join the school. He fared very well in Math and English but did poorly in BM. In fact, he turned in a blank paper which was not surprising because he’s only started to pick up the language recently then. But perhaps for practical reasons, the school management had requested that we write a letter to indemnify them of any responsibility towards his development should it not rise to the occasion the way it should be. And to be fair to the school, its teaching staff are not trained to educate or develop children like him so I could only expect so much.

The aunt and my other half, waiting for the transporter to arrive. This was first day at school. (Apple iPhone 4s)

He's a big boy now. The Mickey Mouse bag was his own choice. (Apple iPhone 4s)

But why did we choose the school over the others? There are two reasons. Our son is a special child who still does not know how to look after himself and does not understand danger. He needs help getting off the transporter safely, finding his way to class, making sure he pulls his bag along while doing that, taking the same transporter back after school and if it’s PE day, ensure that he puts on his shoe the right way, not with the tongue all curled inside. His brother goes to the same school and with him around, he could at least lend assistance where necessary and practicable. It will do both of them a world of good, while bonding as brothers as well as instilling that sense of responsibility in the elder one. That’s reason one.

With his bro. Note the difference in height. (Apple iPhone 4s)

Secondly, we feel that the school allows us to communicate with each other in a much more proactive way with its online parent dashboard, daily emails and periodic engagement sessions. We want to have easy and quick access to the educators, without much bureaucracy and formality.

To supplement his formal education at school, we are having the same teacher from the Montessori-based school come in on a weekly basis to provide him with the one-on-one intervention, as advised by his consultant pediatrician. Actually it was her professional opinion and recommendation that my son should be ready for mainstream school this year and more importantly, not miss out on his social growth and development which only a school is guaranteed to provide for.

In addition to school and the intervention programme, he had also been attending speech therapy and recently music therapy. At the moment, it’s early days to tell if the latter therapy is going to work out but I can see that he is really enthused by it. We know him as the reports suggest to be having high non-verbal skills and through our observation, he is inclined towards sound and rhythm and whenever he breaks into a dance move, it is always on-key. Seriously. We are just hoping that he can be developed further in that department. 

As a boy, he does have his temper flares and would exhibit them whenever they are triggered and those around who do not know better would surmise it as overacting. He is very demanding and can be very relentless with his demands too. But he is kind-hearted, loving, loves books (although he can’t read properly yet), friendly, talkative, at times funny, never fails to say thank you, smart in his own way and very, very sensitive. So sensitive that his mood could change before you could blink your eye.  That is my son that I know.

Come to think of it, he could come across like most children but when you get to know him personally, you will see that he could really use a lot of care, help and attention. Communicating in a format that everyone can understand is not something that you could count on him doing so he may not be able to ask for help when he really needs it. And because of his sensitive nature, he could have second thoughts about going to school if he experienced something that may be normal to the other kids but not to him. At the moment, getting him up in the morning can be challenging at times but I don’t know if that will change soon.

Yesterday, he came home from school beaming, showing off his BM spelling test to his aunt and mum later towards the end of the day. The score was 4/10 but it was a big deal to him. He went to town about how the teacher praised him in class. Today, clutched in his hands from when the bell rang time until home was a simple but neatly coloured drawing that had earned him four stars. And that was awarded by his English teacher who mind you until a week ago or so had been quite demanding and insistent that he performed like the others in his class. Like my other half and I have always stressed to the ever-dedicated teachers, we are not expecting him to be a top student in the class, not now and not in the future. We just want him to enjoy school, make friends and get that slice of life that could have a magical effect on his growing up years. The excitement elicited from the average spelling score and the rapacious grip on the drawing that I think got helped by the teacher just go to show that motivation and encouragement would mean the world to him. But for now, having survived at school thus far is his first big milestone indeed. 

Of typical shirt and branded signature tee...

“I’ve never received a brief from my Clients before. Most of them just leave it to me to figure out what they would like…”

You have no idea how bonkers we went inside when these words were uttered by the architect at our first meeting. He was very pleasantly pleased and impressed that we had prepared a typed and bound 11-paged brief detailing what we want from the house.

The brief content (Apple iPhone 4s)

But it was a totally different feeling moments before the fateful meet on 19 January 2008. Sure by then we had been communicating via email numerous times (a select few has been posted) but to meet him in person was something else. Nerve-wrecking would probably be best to describe it.

The venue agreed was D’lish, a nice little café at Bangsar Village I. We had arrived there way before good time, partly to get ourselves acclimatized to the atmosphere but more due to nervousness. We wanted to wait, ever at the ready for him, rather than the other way round. I ordered myself a cup of latte and cappuccino was my other half’s choice.

Proof of meeting. He did not order anything for himself (Apple iPhone 4s)

15 minutes past the appointment our eyes were still roving all over the place for him. Please bear in mind that we did not know how he looked like. Thus, we would eyeball every guy that walked in, every guy that was seated alone and every guy that looked the part: we imagined him in smart khaki pants and a checked short sleeve shirt, wearing a pair of nicely weathered Timberland topsider. But then again, he could also be wearing a blue Bermuda shorts and an American grey Banana Republic signature tee and flip-flops. He could be any of these guys. Our eyes kept looking. No one looked the part.

It’s passed the half and hour mark and still no sign of him. My other half urged me to ring him but I reminded her the reason why we sent the postcards. By now, the eatery was receiving more and more people, either for breakfast or brunch, to each their own. Our seats were on the outside and although it’s only mid-morning, the heat was increasing and making us perspire. We waited for him faithfully without much complaint, which was quite uncharacteristic of us, especially when someone’s way behind time. Usually, a string of emails would have been blasted out, (maybe) containing some strong remarks, if the wait has been severe.

Then suddenly out of nowhere he appeared in front of us, checked our names and introduced himself quickly while grabbing a chair at the same time. No pleasantries, no warming up conversation. He then instructed both of us to sit flanking him so that he could spread open the thumbnail drawing and explain to us the concept. All these in less than 12 seconds, I promise.

The thumbnail in question was first sent to us through our inbox. I remember us asking ourselves is that it. What’s more, it was cropped at the other end, meaning it was not in its entirety. Although it managed to stoke our interest, it was still just a thumbnail so we could not help ourselves to doubt his seriousness. 

'Shouldn't it look, I don't know, a little bit more 'finished'?, we pondered. 

The initial thumbnail (Apple iPhone 4s)

  

So having the creator himself talked us through it was needless to say, thrilling. After ending his swift presentation, which I think took less than 15 minutes, he opened the floor for us to ask questions. What followed was a deadening silence. It felt like time stopped. Din seemed the order of the day in the café just seconds ago but it had somehow made itself scarce all of a sudden. I don’t remember who breached the dead air.

After warming up to him for a while more we gathered the guts to seek clarifications on his design. It clearly showed that we were amateurs when he expertly tackled all questions posed. I was sure he had seen that but he continued to play along to save our face. To be perfectly honest, we did not really know where to start. We were just shooting in the dark. The questions could either sound stupid and uninformed or worse still, insulting to the architect. Either way, it would be bad for both parties. So we stuck with the safe ones like ‘wow, this is fantastic!’ and ‘I like the L-shaped corridor’ which you and I know are not questions by the strictest definition. In hindsight, looking again at the thumbnail again, it was a really bold and cut-through floor plan albeit one that was only answering to the initial brief.

As mentioned in the opening paragraph, we had prepared a more detailed statement for his perusal and it contained every bit of information we imagine an architect would find useful. He was appreciative of it and could not get enough poring over the document and so he promised to read it at home. And with that, we felt a load off our shoulder had been lifted. Our job was done. For now, we should expect that he’d review the thumbnail to take into account the brand-spanking new brief.

An excerpt from the brief (Apple iPhone 4s)

And another... (Apple iPhone 4s)

I might, just might, show you the entire document (Apple iPhone 4s)

The architect was unassuming and down-to-earth but at the same time a no-nonsense person and stuck to his guns pretty much. He’s brainy and you’d feel the pressure to keep up but he doesn’t really expect you to. One would be easily intimidated and perhaps found him aloof but that’s because he’s just intense and passionate about the subject matter. And forget the checked shirt or the grey signature tee, he was impressive enough in his white long-sleeve round-neck.

His response to our tiny budget...

hello badrul. thanks much, the information provided does help. do you have an idea what total built up youd expect of your 8 rooms together with dining, living and kitchen? the budget would be tight if you have expectations of anything over 4500 square feet. my worry is that professional fees are included in the budget which will eat at what you now have. my fee for this project will be about rm50k with the current budget and built up area totalling no more than the said earlier square footage.

but it appears doable if i can control what is spent on finishes and fittings. the kitchen might possibly require a larger budget but if youre cool on experimentation, we can do you a country industrial kitchen with all the characteristics of hip laidback.

bedrooms will be intentionally small with the exception of the master bedroom, the rational being your children can build their bedrooms big when they grow up. the dining, living and kitchen areas will of course take spatial precedence in the design and apportionment of area.

no mention of a maids/utility area? more than one maid?

you can get more comprehensive with your brief if you feel it necessary. catch up with you in a bit then.

yours, kevin.

Our initial brief over email

Dear Kevin,
 
Our budget is RM500,000 for the construction of the house. We need you to fit in the built-in bits as well i.e. wardrobe, kitchen cabinets and whatever else, for all these we have RM100,000. Total budget is RM600,000, including your fee.
 
We are looking at single-storey, between 5-8 rooms. The rooms are:
 
- 6 bedrooms
- 1 study
- 1 media room
 
We thought we should also mention that we want an open plan so that there is no division between the living room, dining area and kitchen.
 
We have attached the precomp plan re your question earlier about the dimension of the plot. You will find the plots marked 22543 and 22542. 
 
Ultimately, you will tell us whether or not we can do this because it may seem ambitious. We look forward to your esteemed advice on how best we can utilize the budget.
  
Kind regards,
 
Shah & Shidah

His short response...

dear badrul, thanks for the information, your schedule appears to be fine. i will still require a budget (unimportant if its 10 or a million ringgit but the budget is probably the single most vital bit of information a client could possibly have for the architect)) and some idea of the number of rooms you will require before i can say. also, there is a document called a precomp plan which shows the boundaries of the plots with two numbers per boundary line, the first number refers to the length of that line and the second its bearing in degrees. would be good to forward this to me. the land titles should also have the lengths and bearings of the boundaries, so that will do fine as well. have a good weekend.

kevin.

And our reply...

We were ecstatic to receive your reply we can liken it to receiving an email from a superstar! Maybe Simon LeBon or someone like that… We couldn’t believe our eyes. We read it out loud. We printed it out so we can file it. We were literally jumping in joy. Seriously. Oh Kevin, the effects you have on people… you just don't know it.  
Yeah, we did take the trouble to get the cards. It was even harder to pen those words down. We figured, an architect of your caliber needs an extra effort to pull in. 
OK, just to give you the assurance that we are not stalkers (yet), we will now impart some details of ourselves.  
We are Malaysians currently working in London.  
We are in the process of procuring a land in Bukit Rahman Putra, Sungai Buloh. We’re assuming you are familiar with the place, but this is not in the established residential area. This vast tract of land is located on the fringe of BRP, next to an oil palm estate and it’s been subdivided into 12 lots. If the loan goes through, we will be the very happy owners of two lots with the combined built-up area of 12,227.90 sq ft, to be exact. 
We have two boys, aged three and seven. Two cars, one each for bah and mak. Probably a third car to transport the entire family but that’s not the immediate plan. That can wait till they outgrow their child seats.  
As far as the building, we are looking at next year or early 2009. This is just to coincide with our homecoming which is due in the latter. We will decide later on the best time to start when we have a fair idea of how long a project will take, from start to the end. Coming back to a rental with a container load of stuff is not ideal if you know what we mean. Anyway, this ought to give you a temporary relief so you can go on with your current works.  
How did we happen upon your website? It was Shidah’s late night surfing on the Net. She googled “Malaysian, architects.”  
Is this level of detail enough? Or did we find you too early too soon? We have the budget and other information such as layout, number of rooms and even things we like to do but you let us know if this is fine for later. To be honest with you, we couldn’t wait! 
Shah and Shidah. 

And the architect's reaction...

dear shah and shidah, you are clearly the wittiest and most intriguing clients ive been contacted by thus far; aside from your obvious creativity, you read my situation with understanding and precision....its not often one encounters enlightenment such as yours. 

but it was a touch scary to begin with, i could not tell if you were stalkers or admirers until the third card.

may i know how you happened on my work and website?

your project sounds interesting though i must say your cards top it by a long ways. where is your piece of land located? can i guess it is in malaysia? the british origin of your cards threw me a curve ball, i must say. i am very busy at this time, so you will have to give me a touch more information for now, your expected occupation of the house and its location would do well. little extras such as total built up, how many children and cars you have and some ballpark budget will be good too. but obviously your schedule would determine if we have a starter here, no?

thank you for your kind praise and the trouble you have taken to catch my imagination! i hope it will come to prove your time was well spent. 

looking forward to hearing from you.

kevin.

We had to make ourselves known...

Here's an excerpt from the email we sent to him following the series of postcards...


Dear Kevin,
 
We hope you're wondering about the numerous cards you received in the last few weeks. We are assuming they got to you or this note would have been pointless. We were the senders (or culprits, depending on the circumstances), Rashidah and Badrul. That's Shidah and Shah for short. Let's leave it at that for now. 
 
   The cards was our way of shifting your attention to us. Judging from your website, we can tell you have been busy. And we thought it good for you to take a break, The few words in the cards tell you what we want and our opinion of you. Even the pictorial on the cover is relevant but why explain when it is self-explanatory? Anyway, we hope the cards worked.
 
   Our discovery of your website is truly blessed. We were in the market for a house but at the same time tired of seeing an even more tired design regime. We dare say that our hope has now changed we have totally scrapped the idea of buying an off-the-shelf house and decided to build it instead. The change of mind happened literally overnight, that is after bumping into your website.
 
   Let us tell you what hit our radar. The fact that you design and create furnitures (and mailboxes, and wardrobes.) The fact that you think good design doesn't have to cost. These days you can't have one without sacrificing the other. And your simplistic style. Till recently, we had failed to find a Malaysian architect who would meet all these criteria. 
 
   We had dreamt of having a house that passers-by would chuckle, thinking "with all that glass, people are going to know what they're doing inside." We don't believe in living in a prison either (read: no grilles). We don't fancy a perimeter fence which would further emphasise the prison. And roman pillars should be, well, should be just for the Colosseum. 
 
   Let us know if you are interested to board. We think it's going to be a great journey ahead. Whether or not we fit your bill of 'unusual clients', we guess you have to find that out yourself!
 
Shah and Shidah.