The questions people actually ask us.

Ask for the CIDB registration and the SSM company number and check them yourself — CIDB runs a public contractor search and SSM records show whether the company exists and who owns it. In Sarawak, contractors also register with UPKJ. NATHFRA GROUP (M) SDN. BHD. is registered with CIDB, with UPKJ and with the Ministry of Finance Malaysia; we give the registration numbers and the CIDB grade in writing before a contract is signed rather than publishing them on a page where they cannot be checked against the certificate.

Internal renovation that does not touch the structure normally does not. Extensions, structural alterations, a new car porch, a raised boundary wall or anything that changes the building footprint normally does, and the submission goes to whichever authority your address falls under — DBKU for Kuching North, MBKS for Kuching South, or Padawan Municipal Council outside the two city areas. We arrange the drawings and the submission as part of the contract.

A single room such as a kitchen or a bathroom is usually a few weeks. A full strip-out and refit of a terrace house typically runs two to four months, depending on whether the roof, the wiring and the plumbing are being replaced. The programme is dated in the contract before work starts, so the schedule is something you can hold us to rather than an estimate given over the phone.

We work across Greater Kuching — Saradise, Stutong, Tabuan Jaya, Batu Kawa, Matang, Petra Jaya and Kota Samarahan — and take work further out in Siburan, Bau and Serian by arrangement. Our office is at Block B2 Saradise, Jalan Saradise.

A contractor builds to a plan you already have; a designer produces the concept, the visuals and the material selections and then manages the trades, which in Malaysia typically adds 30–60% to the same scope of work. If you know roughly what you want, or you already have drawings, going direct to a contractor is cheaper. We build from your drawings, from your designer’s drawings, or from a sketch and a list of what each room has to do.

Sometimes. If the work is confined to one floor or to the rear of the house it can be phased so you keep a kitchen and a bathroom in use. A full rewire or a re-roof means moving out for that stage — we will tell you which it is at the quote, not halfway through.

Handover is a joint inspection with a snag list, and the snags are cleared before the final payment is released. After that a defects liability period runs — commonly six to twelve months for renovation work, set in the contract — during which we come back and fix what emerges at no charge. The retention sum is held until it ends, which is what makes coming back worth our while rather than a favour.

Strip-out, any structural repair, roofing, electrical rewiring, plumbing, waterproofing, plastering, floor and wall tiling, ceilings, built-in joinery, painting and the final clean. Anything excluded is written into the quote as an exclusion rather than left to assumption.

Either, but we recommend a full rewire on any house over about twenty years old. Partial rewiring leaves old circuits carrying new loads, which is where most electrical faults in renovated houses come from.

We do, and it appears in the quote as its own line rather than as an assumption. Disposal is one of the most common things missing from a cheap quotation — a full terrace strip-out produces several lorry loads, and if nobody priced it, it either appears as a variation or it sits in your porch.

Yes, and a fair number of our jobs run that way. You get progress photographs at each stage, a video walkthrough on request, and every variation confirmed in writing and priced before it is carried out, so nothing is decided on site on your behalf and there is no surprise total at the end.

Built to the measured opening, not assembled from fixed-width modules with filler strips. In renovated houses the walls are rarely parallel, and made-to-measure is the only way to avoid a visible taper at the end of a run.

Typically three to five weeks from strip-out to handover, most of which is the lead time on the carcasses and the worktop. Demolition and installation are the fast parts.

Moisture-resistant plywood for anything in a wet zone — under the sink, either side of the hob, and the whole of a bathroom vanity. Particle board swells once and never recovers, and in Kuching humidity it does not need a leak to do it, only a few years of a kitchen being a kitchen. We build carcasses in moisture-resistant board as standard and say so on the quote, because it is the single easiest place for a cheaper quotation to save money invisibly.

Quartz, for most kitchens. It takes heat and stains better than solid surface and, unlike granite, it has no open pores to seal every year. Solid surface is the one to pick when you want a seamless run with an integrated sink and no visible joint; granite is still the cheapest hard-wearing option per foot if the pattern suits the room. All three outlast laminate by a decade or more.

Extensions and structural alterations normally require drawings and a submission to the local authority. We arrange the drawings and the submission as part of the contract. Internal renovation that does not touch structure generally does not require one.

Only if the existing foundations and columns can carry it, which an engineer has to assess before anything is quoted. Sometimes they can as built, sometimes the ground floor needs strengthening first, and occasionally the answer is no.

Not by looking at it, and not by tapping it. In a terrace house the party walls and anything sitting under a beam line usually carry load, but the only reliable answer comes from the structural drawings or from an engineer on site. We check before quoting a wall removal, because a wall that turns out to be structural halfway through demolition stops being a renovation and starts being a repair.

The setback is fixed by the local authority and is shown on the approved building plan for your lot, not chosen at the design stage. We check the title and the approved plan before drawing anything — a setback breach is the fastest way to have a submission rejected, and the fastest way to have a finished extension become a problem when the house is sold.

Usually the external apron. If it has settled so it falls back towards the house, rain runs to the base of the wall and rises through it. Re-laying the apron to fall away, with a drain at the low point, fixes the cause; repainting the inside only hides it until the next monsoon.

Often yes — cutting in a linear channel along the low edge and connecting it to the existing sump. Whether that is enough depends on where the water is currently going, which is a site visit question.

The slab has no fall, or it has settled so the fall now runs the wrong way. Kuching gets over four metres of rain a year, so a porch that is a few millimetres out over its length holds water every storm. The fix is to re-lay the apron to a set fall with a channel at the low point; grinding or topping the existing slab only moves the puddle.

Usually yes for a retaining wall above a certain height, and for anything that changes where water leaves your lot — those are the two things a local authority checks, because both end up as the neighbour’s problem when they fail. We confirm what your address requires and handle the submission where one is needed.

Yes, and in occupied buildings we usually have to. Demolition and coring go into the windows building management permits; the rest runs in normal hours.

Power, lighting and data containment, yes, coordinated to the furniture layout so the outlets end up where the desks actually are. Active network equipment is normally your IT supplier.

A straightforward shoplot or single office floor is typically four to eight weeks from possession to handover. What decides it is rarely the building work — it is the lead time on glazed partitions and lighting, and how many hours a day the building management allows noisy work. Both are known before the programme is dated, so the handover date is committed rather than estimated.

Often, in phases — the fit-out is split so one part of the floor stays open while the other is worked on, with hoarding between them and the noisy trades pushed into evenings. It costs some programme time and it is worth it when closing costs more. We will say plainly at the quote stage which parts cannot be phased.