We urgently need your feedback, what is your preferences when renting an apartment?

[ezs123]

Hi folks,
It is nice of you for sharing, especially for the thorough and technically detailed suggestions on how an apartment or a rental house should be built to suit expats(white) expectations. We appreciate these advices and shall put attention over the details that you've mentioned.
What we actually expect to capture here is the basic conditions on how expats wants when they're seeking a place to live here. To make it simpler we put it together in a form at . . ezs123.blogspot.com . . so anyone may point their basic preference. This includes how much space they require; what kind of facility they prefer to get; where they want the apartment to be (relating with the distance to their workplace); how much they have to pay and what are their prefferences of the rental payment schemes etc. As we all know how Jakarta's trafic condition and we consider their time is precious.
As a developer of rental houses/apartments we may lower the rent-price rates as well as offer a monthly payment basis while offering a bundle of extras(Bigscreen-TV; Pantry; Swimming-pool; Gym; Jacuzzi; bar&cafetaria etc) only if we can raise the occupancy rate of the units. This way we can serve the clients better while on the other hand maintain a healthy business and further expands the units.


Thank you all

[Missnaughty]

Here is the basic requirement for expats : (forget about jacuzzi-- they are kidding you!)
1. Full furnished meanings complete bedroom set, complete living room and dining room, include rugs, pot and pans. Simple and decent.. If you want to safe money, IKEA style would be perfect. And a blackout (do you call it a blackout?...) curtain is a must!

2. Western style kitchen, complete with stove, oven, microwave, water dispenser, throw in dishwasher.. than it's perfect

3. Appliances : AC, TV, Washer, dryer (if not, than you must provide a place to dry the clothes)

4. Utilities : landline phone, satellite TV, internet, fast and reliable maintenance team.

5. The compound should have facilities of Gym, Pool, small restaurant (with reasonable price), small supermarket, taxi counter.

[Banana72]

Hi folks,
It is nice of you for sharing, especially for the thorough and technically detailed suggestions on how an apartment or a rental house should be built to suit expats(white) expectations.

Just wanted to clarify to you sir...expats don't equal whites. Not all expats are white.

[ezs123]

Just wanted to clarify to you sir...expats don't equal whites. Not all expats are white.

My apology, we didn't mean to be racist here, I suppose that I should have used another word for it, but we agree to set it in a higher expectation standards . As for now most people knows that western/european(mostly white) living standards were slightly higher than the other part of the world. If we can refer the standards to meet their expectations we believe that it may also suit the expectations of most expats from other nations.
Thank's for the correction

[jstar]

ok here is my serious contribution to this thread considering despite my earlier acidic reply they still answered nicely.

In a work what indonesian developers usually lack is simple intelligent design.

1, cupboard space - indonesian developers never consider cupboard space preferably in the area where said items are to be stored/needed.
2, Built in wardrobes save space and add to the ergonomics of the room.
3, if space is limited give us a shower (wet room) not a buk.
4, a designated area for a washing machine with all necessary power points and water supply and drainage again provide cupboard space for the area for storage of laundry sundries such as the iron the soap power the laundry itself (dirty and clean)
5, lighting whats the indonesian fascination with having one single light pendant in the middle of the ceiling ?? wall lighting low level lighting create atmosphere and mood.
6, light switches should be on the wall by the door not on the wal oppersite.
7, power points - white people have more than 2 electrical items in a room please reflect this when spec'ing power points there is nothing more ugly than extension cables running all over the floor due to the lack of powe points available. It also overloads the (usually unearthed) circuit.
8, Toilets - dont put them ajoining living rooms or the kitchen, provide toilet showers bidets just waste space.
9, Kitchens must have plenty of lighting powerpoints and worktop space indonesian kitchens are notorious for never having enough. Provide ample storage units for the food and the equipment needed to cook provide an extractor system to remove the smell of cooking and a large enough designated area for a refrigerator an aqua machine again provide power points for these appliances. Provide a large enough sink to wash up after cooking for a family of 4 people and provide hot water taps.
10, breakfast bars should be higher than a standard work cabinet to differentiate the difference between the 2 areas again provide enough space to be able to get your knees under the bar and sit comfortable.
11, all supplied ceramic fittings such as the bathtub, toilet shower tray should be white in colour - blue and pink WCs went out in the 70s.
12, ceramic tiles should all be a soft tone off white or a fairly neutral colour - no naff patterns pictures or mosaic art please.
13, all door furniture should be brushed finished stainless steel - brass and leary gold look stuff is again a throwback to the 70s
14, taps and shower fittings should all be a consistant make and finished either in stainless or chrome - its a rental unit keep it neutral.
15, walls should be finished in off white creame or a soft neutral colour - white people dont like orange or lime green walls - (kampungan)
16, doors and door frames should be solid wood either left in a natural finish or painted white, never plastic or aluminium ahd hallow doors are cheap and nasty.
17, front door should have a safety chain (for womens security) and a peep hole to see who is there before opening the door, front door should also have a lock latch and a deadbolt.
18, provide large windows that let in lots of light and lots of air. remember they need to be cleanable in a safe manner remember this when spec'ing window casements.
19, Room sizes should be adequate and large enough for purpose 2 large bedrooms are more attractive to a renter than 3 small bedrooms
20, keep it simple and plain think class and not "theme" design can be classic as outlined above or it can be fashionable, which dates very quickly rendering your appartments unrentable in 3 years beause they look so out of date and naff. Think practical intelligent design, think neutral colours and tones.

Hope this makes up or my previous comment.

Good points.

Some more:

1. Make sure in the design, that the guests who enter via the front door don't stand immediately in the kitchen! (As in 99% of the Indonesian apartments.)
2. Provide water heaters serving kitchen and bathroom taps and don't let the customers figure it out themselves. The same for AC.
3. Make sure window profiles are in (colored) PVC or Aluminium with preferably double glass. If you use Meranti or other wood make sure it's treated (insects).
4. Kitchen counter tops should be 10 cm. higher than standard Indonesian size (approx. 93).
5. Provide the option of a dishwasher in the kitchen.
6. Make sure the kitchen has 'soft closing' systems and runners from a good brand (like Blum). Even the Ikea kitchens in the rest of the world offer this.
7. Terraces and balconies always appreciated.
8. On technicalities: provide siphons under every sink and exhaust. (Even shower, we hate smell and cockroaches.) Make sure there is somewhat more grout space between tiles. (They won't stick otherwise). Use high quality flexible tile glue/cement. (So they don't come loose that easily.)
9. Avoid floor standing toilets and use wall hanging models instead (e.g. Geberit); that is considered much more hygienic. (To clean, and will look better after some years.)
10. Sound insulation in all directions (incl. avoiding sounding board in ceiling and a layered floor; concrete-insulation-cement-tiles).
11. Provide central trash rooms with the possibility of garbage segregation and smell control (air suction/ventilation).
12. Etc. etc.

[bad_azz]

Some really good input here... why would anyone need to go to your blog-spot if no incentives are being offered?
My 2 cents on this... public contributions here on the public forum potentially help us all.

One question guys... would you consider extra travelling/commuting time if the rental was situated a decent distance away from any night time noise... (example a short drive /motor ride to the masjid)?
Also would you consider a resort style complex... maybe no fancy gym / swimming pool but perhaps a play area/ tennis court and outside space for kids... a petting garden so that kids can enjoy the benefits of pets but without the responsibility of rehoming if/when you have to move on?
Perhaps a small communal bar area with darts board/ pool table/ table-football... that kind of thing?

[waarmstrong]

I have a blue toilet.

Sorry to be the bearer of this bad news, please try to console yourself.(wink)

The blue toilet goes with the blue wall paint, vanity and tile in the bathroom that complements the blue motif of the bedroom to which the bath is attached, a bedroom that is the location of the framed blue boat batik pictured below.




The blue bedroom and its bath was engineered during our remodeling project all because I was too cheap to throw out a blue toilet salvaged during the demolition phase of the work. The blue overkill seemed necessary so the recycled toilet did not appear out of place or at least draw attention away from it as a survivor from a bygone era.

[ezs123]

Hi folks,
I appreciate and thank you for all the technical feedback as well as the detailed hints over how we should set the standards on building a rental apartment/house compound for expats. I must say that I can't be more grateful for all responses which may guide us to improve the standards to be applied to our next project/s.


The thing is we are willing to do whatever it takes to be able to serve better to our prospective clients including set the standards as You all have suggested. Our previous survey conducted at central and southern Jakarta have showed that the highest rate of expats occupancy were appartments/houses/rooms occupied by couples or 3-person tenants. To be able to narrow this specific segments, first we have to get some refference data concerning the following items:
- Age
- Gender
- Type of tenant/s (single/couple/family)
- Location/s
- Type of services ( fully/semi-serviced)
- Facilities
- Budget range
- etc
We know that these data can not represents the actual values related to the acuracy and reliability, even though we gave incentives for people who have filling and submitting the form, unless we exactly knows who are these people, and this can only be done by collecting their ID's datas. As we consider that this is way too far and may violates one's privacy. But anyway we believe that we may use this compiled data as a starting point.


We have rearranged the questionnaire at . . [email protected] . . while the email/contact as well as other personal data entry lines has been eliminated and other entry has been readjusted so to be easier to be comprehend. On the other hand we intend to share the survey's result with the other members in this forum when the data collection have reached the point of adequacy, so other parties may also benefited here.


Thank You and GBU all