Travels etc.

There is a building that is constituted by Residential strata (28 units) and Commercial strata (2 offices and 2 retail shops). Residential block and Commercial block face each other and have got shared walls between courtyards as per following figure: Commercial Strata decided to enclose their courtyards (Courtyard 1 & 2 on the figure above). Enclosure would increase existing shared walls by 60 cm. Their floor level is lower therefore from their side it is about 25% increase, but from the Residential side it is about 40% increase: Commercial strata owner sent a proposal for wall increase to Residential strata. Residential strata had a meeting and didn't consent to the proposed enclosures. A letter from Residential was sent to Commercial with "No" for proposed enclosures outlining the reasons. Part of the proposed structure will encroach to private property - residential owners' courtyards. Therefore written consent from the owners of either common wal...

Got some positive results - one of the major defects was fixed! The issue was scratches on all glass panels - sliding doors to the balcony, windows etc. All of them were scratched during construction phase. As per contract of sale it has been responsibility of vendor to rectify. They first denied it and tried to impose it on the builder. The builder insisted that it's not their problem. In January 2014 the owner took a right approach and contacted the vendor every week until finally 24/06/2014 the glass has been replaced! It took 2.5 years to fix the issue! Some people say that it might have been easier to replace it at the owners's expense than to wait for so long. I disagree with this, because the owner paid money already for a quality product. The vendor signed a contract where obligations and responsibilities are outlined. What surprise me is that how easy it is for people to not comply with their duties in a hope that the other party will just give up. Other d...

Interesting article regarding increasing childcare prices in Australia: http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2014/06/22/rocketing-childcare-fees-sees-parents-lose-60-salary In my opinion, the explanation by principal researcher of rising prices is not all valid. I agree with lack of supply though. This is due to following reasons: Too much regulation and red-tape before a childcare facility can start operating. This is reasonable, because not everybody should be allowed to open a childcare facility.  High wages that childcare centres have to pay to a high number of employees. It's not high salary that each childcare worker receives - in reality it's indeed opposite. There is a requirement that children per teacher ratio should be 4 or 5. Therefore many teachers are required.  High rent.  I accept the items 1 & 2, because it's is valid to keep the regulations high and keep proper basic childcare at a good level of compliance. However "high standards...

Confessions of an Economic Hit Man by John Perkins My rating: 3 of 5 stars I expected a bit more of this book looking at the title. During reading I couldn't help but thinking about how simplified and one-sided the view of the author is. Especially in regards to the advice that he gives at the end of the book - I found it is a bit naive. Taking to account experience the author has got working at all those projects I'd expect something else. View all my reviews