Cormiru Architecture & Design

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As Built Plans Durban | Checklist Download We provide Sellers & Estate Agents with a complete building plan assessment that is fast, accurate, and straight to the point. We ensure your building plans are updated and compliant by conducting a comprehensive inspection of your property and preparing an in-depth report on needs and options preparing it for sale.

Who says builders close on the 15th December?

Doing some waterproofing in the rainy season.

Gloves might be useful in these situations but messes with my magic touch.

It’s a good and productive day when you look like this at the end of it. Nothing better for sleep than hard work.

If you hear of someone that is in need of an Architect, or someone that has questions regarding their property or building project, please refer them to me. Much appreciated.

Learn from the past, plan for the future but always be in the moment and be present.

Build God’s house before you build your own.

When these walls start leaning over, it’s often because of a whole string of things that contribute.
In these images I show some of the problems one can look at to try eliminate it.
Even if they aren’t the cause, if you start looking after those and inspect the structure you can often do remedial work before it becomes a problem.
Most often it’s actually the soil and the foundation.

Change can be very good.

Do you agree?

Looking over some plans of a house originally built in 1927.
This means we’ll have to submit to AMAFA the heritage committee in KwaZulu Natal.

Around here when a building is older than 60 years it has the potential of being of historic value and possibly protection worthy.
This has to be assessed and planned properly before any construction can be considered.

Standards are very important, even when we don’t like the imposed standards of others, like standards for building.

It gives a safe basis to start with and provides a guideline for minimum acceptable performance required.

To be remarkable raise your standards and don’t just meet minimum requirements.

Some of the tools of the trade from when I began.
Things have changed quite a bit but at least they’re getting better.
With CAD and 3d modeling software tasks that took ages before can be done more efficiently now.

It’s important to have a strong foundation in life and in construction.

Find out what your core values are and build a strong foundation on those values.

Integrity in a building structure and in your “life building” is just as important. Build on a solid rock and be likened to a wise man.

An extension of an existing lounge and porch to an enclosed entertainment and braai (bbq) area during construction.

This was done by the owner himself as an owner builder project.

If you want to extend or alter a portion of your property let us know and we can assist with the planning, pricing and construction of your next project.

Always try to be extraordinary. Be the best you can be.
Who do you think is extraordinary? Tag them and share.

Another problem wall.
If you need assistance with your construction project to make sure this doesn’t happen contact me.

One of the leaning walls of Durban North collapsed. I posted the image above in September last year.

If your wall is leaning or structurally unsound be aware of the risk if someone is injured or killed.

Owners in complexes might not be as proactive and body corporates often take a long time to make decisions in fixing things up.
However the cost and liability when someone gets injured could end up much more than the initial cost of construction or of fixing it.

Make sure you get the right team and professional involved when doing a building project. Even if it’s only a boundary wall.

The old Durban Post Office building with some additional planting.

I know that these types of maintenance issues can be tricky to attend to but if the right systems are put in place this will not happen.

Make sure your building is designed in a way that you can easily attend to any maintenance on a regular basis.

Does your property need some or a bit of a ?

I can assist with architectural work, so if you need help with new work, additions, or alterations to your property please contact me.

Do you know what this is, and what it's doing on a Durban house?

It's not a plant pot, and it clearly hasn't been used in quite a while.

Clients often "know" what they want, but not necessarily what they need. When this house was built, it was probably from standard type plans, and from what was traditionally done.

If you only do what everyone else is doing, it can cost you extra and could cause extra work and effort to maintain these things in your life, and property.

If you need an architect to help work through what you actually need in your property, new or for renovation. Contact Cormiru Architecture & Design or message me.

We often allow things to stick around in out lives that is no longer needed, or no longer serve us.
If we allow these things to just sit there, it can start causing unwanted results. It can start affecting our appearance, and it could start eroding our integrity and stability.
Make sure you get rid of non essential baggage in your life.

When plasterwork isn’t prepared properly prior to painting, this happens.
Always make sure your painting contractor knows how to clean and prepare the plaster work before starting with Primer, then a good undercoat and at least two good quality paint final coats.
You can see this paint did not have the correct preparation.
Also the property needs good attention and maintenance to withstand Durban’s climate.

If you don’t keep on and stay on top of maintenance of your property it can cost you a lot at a later stage.
This is also true of life.
Always make sure you look after yourself and relationships so you don’t end up with a dilapidated life.

Just collecting some record copies of a client’s plans to check if anything needs to be added before their sale.

One of the great benefits of these new “safety” protocols at municipality is that you can easily find parking. Submitting plans online is another benefit that I’ve been waiting for, for years.

Please remember that before you sell your property you need to get your plans updated, and approved by the municipal planning department to reflect any and all changes.
Even the changes to the property that was added before you bought. These might have slipped in before but it's getting more difficult to sell properties if these aren't included or updated.