In this short post, we will share where to access the structural floor plans for your landed property or condominium and why they are important.
So, you've just purchased your property and you may or may not have received an accurate floor plan with measurements or it may seem very old. Your Property Agent may have given you something that appears to be a floor plan, looking more like a drawing and isn't to scale.
As a landed or condo owner, once the property is now in your name/s, you need to purchase the structural floor plans electronically from BCA via the Plan Purchasing System (PPS) where you can purchase and download them. For a landed home, we tell our clients to purchase all the plans in the selection to be on the safe side because you can't preview all the documents. If you have purchased a Condominium, your building MCST should have copies of the floor plan for your unit, however, they may not, and you need to purchase from BCA.
Why the Floor Plan is important!
The BCA plans are important for you as the new homeowner and for your chosen Renovation Company.
Both parties will have an interest in the plans simultaneously, by cross-referencing measurements, structural columns, and boundary lines and confirming if certain walls can be hacked/removed. Hacking the wrong wall or area of a wall could damage the structural integrity of the building leading to problems for you and the multiple parties involved.
For the above reasons it is imperative that your chosen renovation company uses the BCA floor plans as a basis for providing their ideas and proposals for your house.
Q&A
Q - My name will be transferred to the property in several months' time when I get the keys. How do I get the BCA plans?
A - You can request via the current owners' Property Agent to have the owner purchase and download and send them to you.
Q - My Renovation Company says we can meet at site and not bother with the plans until later. Is this ok?
A - This is probably the best last resort if you are unable to get the plans in a reasonable timeline. If you plan on keeping the current structure/layout as is, then you could opt to do this first, however, wouldn't you want to know your layout options? Imagine finding out later on that the wall between the kitchen and dining could have been hacked to bring in more light and add more space for example, but this wasn't planned or costed for, so it's good to know all the layout options sooner rather than later.