Hi seniors,
my first rental JV BH have some improvement on swiftlet droppings in recent months but remain zero-nest after 21months and we might have to end it during year end and exit the rental contract.

Good news I have gotten the keys for another bought shoplot and will begin BH renovation soon for the top floor with metal roof. This is also JV with another family friend.


I have a question, if the wall facing the west evening sun is built with bricks, can the building sustain the weight ?
The wall is facing the wind from the river so I would prefer brickwall that can converse some heat for the night which lightweight bricks cannot.
There is a outer wall with glass windows.

Here is a simple map I've drawn up for reference. My shoplot is highlighted in Red in the middle of the picture.

Thank you for your attention, hope to receive your opinion.




This post has been edited by BirdNest_Satay: Oct 2 2012, 12:27 AM

In johor.
1 of our JV partner have a very successful BH so we just followed his leadership during renovation.
Since the place is rented and now BN price drop until so low, I calculated need to harvest 300 nest to break-even the monthly rental. A very far and unlikely target with risks that the landlord might evict us without proper compensation.
If continue to pump in thousands to paint the walls from pitch-black back to white and build brick wall to replace current "boarded up windows" , I don't think it's a good idea trying to test the bottomless pit.
Ground floor is eatery everyday got smell blow up.
Already come to this stage must accept the failure..... do it without regrets ... we won't be pointing the blame on anybody.

Will be putting what I learned to good use for the second BH. Planning to seek help from a boss in this BN industry to help us do the entry hole and nesting planks while I do the tweeter+wiring and handle all the maintenance over the next 1-2 decade.

This post has been edited by BirdNest_Satay: Oct 2 2012, 10:02 PM

My contractor have given me a quote on the cost for top floor shophouse conversion to BH.
Cost nearly but not exceed 40k
Single layer brick wall for front,back, roof entrance.
He said he only use the best timber for all his previous BH.

We intend to let the contractor freely do everything as he design because he is much more experienced.
Only when result not good then we BH owner will DIY improve the tweeter formation with what we learned on the internet.

Any opinion or advice on such planning ?


Late last year we met another BH contractor who quoted us 33-35k but there was no mention of brick wall and the photo he showed us were sun-drying the pale color nesting planks. I really dare not use such planks.

My first JV rented BH would be ending in December after 2yr of failed operation. The landlord is holding our deposit and told us to wait while he find somebody to take over so we don't have to demolish the BH and revert the 2 floor back to empty rentable condition.
This BH did not have any brick wall and we will not repeat this mistake again.

This post has been edited by BirdNest_Satay: Nov 28 2012, 09:59 PM

Yes, for this shoplot we went to inspect it during construction there are indeed double layer bricks with triple hollow air pockets for the wall between units. Plastering is very smooth before the white paint.

The "rear" or nesting area of the planned BH conversion is directly facing West, taking in all of afternoon sun. At times there will be cooling wind from the river 70m away.
Due to weight, the contractor advised us to go for only a single layer brick wall and place it as close as possible to the beam of the floor below.
This wall will be plastered. If the afternoon sun is too strong we can DIY add styrofoam insulation internally.

Temperature reading of the ceiling board is 31c , foam under zinc roof 36c. This temp was not taken on the hottest time on the hottest day.
Not sure how much temperature will change after the brick walls are built behind the front and back glass windows and airflow reduce.


Thank you for your input.

This post has been edited by BirdNest_Satay: Nov 29 2012, 01:20 AM

We submitted this shoplot's address on a form during a gathering of local town BH owners hosted by Veterinary Dept in August last year.
The shoplot land garant document also did not explicitly forbid any swiftlet related activity.

50% of the earlier completed shoplot on the opposite street had converted their top floor to BH late last year. At first they used roof entrance, early this year 5 of them erected dog kennel made from zinc with the same design. By mid-year all of these DK were removed and the roof was patched back.

We tried cement board + styrofoam method at the previous failed BH.
Strong wind pressure cause the middle of partition wall to flex and require wood to prop against it. Styrofoam panels also pop out at the edges if not secured well.
It does not isolate the outside cooking smell or heavy vehicle road noise to a satisfactory level.

The shoplot is 22x70
After roof entrance is opened, only around half of the area is left suitable for nesting plank.
I cannot estimate the required weight as my previous BH experiences was with lower quality wood which might be more lightweight.

There isn't any plan or drawing to show as we only had some discussion on site with the contractor.
Everything was verbal and plan could subject to change due to difficulty of roof opening and cutting the metal support C beams.

We have hands-on experience with some of the wood work and all the wiring system, but will there be contractor that only open roof, only brick 2 walls, only plank half a floor ?
I assume the revenue would be so small they won't be interested to take it up. Besides that we have limited contacts in this area of expertise.

Thank you for your input.

1 to 3 years ago we nearly commit ourselves much more into this BH industry.
We went to the bank and got info a shoplot in the same row was lelong at about 280k but this owner want to sell us at 430k
In the end we rented it the 2 upper floor at 1k monthly with 3yr contract renewing 9 times and some clause to compensate if the owner evict us early.
As months pass we realise this contract doesn't give any protection at all as the landlord's lawyer can easily argue the terms.
When no good result and no sense of long term security, we decided to end it and cut loss.

Another view from this is we avoided buying this overpriced shoplot at the peak before the nest crisis.
My partner was also interested in those 700k standalone BH project and "30year investment scheme" , lucky enough to not invested in them.

The new shoplot we bought is mainly for the ground floor rental purpose.
30-40k for the BH renovation isn't really unaffordable sum and is relatively small compared to other standalone BH projects or buying agricultural land.
We treat it as a one-off investment to run concurrently while we wait for tenant and the commercial area to bloom up. No pressure on calculating any ROI.

Thank you WW for your input.

This post has been edited by BirdNest_Satay: Nov 29 2012, 03:54 PM

Happy new year to all.

My shoplot BH is under renovation 4th day.
The indo workers from my contractor are very skilled from what I observed.
Now building brick walls and concrete pillars before cutting open the zinc roof.

My contractor suggested that we buy USED planks with nest marking from others who stopped doing BH.
I agreed and requested no poor quality or mold planks. There is no price adjustment for this change as the project sum was previously quoted for good grade planks which he can reserve from the sawmill.

When the planks came I carried them up and visually inspected the estimated 260 planks in total , about 50/50 between "good" and "average"
I don't know how to grade those planks so only can tell by color and how rigid it feels when you carry it.
Length are 1/3 each between medium, medium-long, long .
There are really no "banana flesh" or pale colors planks. Slightly disappointing that only about 10 to 15% of them have nest marking or the harvested mark.

That's it for now, will post more when building progress further.

My shoplot BH renovation nearly complete, remaining works are only timer, amp, external tweeter, door.
Roof entrance 15x9 feet.

For my West facing wall
glass > opaque black paper > few cm of inevitable air gap between window frame > single layer brick wall > plaster with sandy outer surface
Saturday sunny afternoon measured the temperature, outside glass is 54 to 56 celcius , internal side is steady at 29.x to 30.9 celcius, at night drop slightly to 30.5

This post has been edited by BirdNest_Satay: Jan 28 2013, 11:49 AM

Honest people like me paid the remainder sum to contractor so to not owe any money over chinese new year.
Now the remainder 15% work delay over 20 days no progress at all because I am at his last priority.
You guys should learn from my experience ...

This post has been edited by BirdNest_Satay: Feb 21 2013, 11:54 PM

Discovered that somebody stole the fuse off my electric meter leaving my BH with no sound for few weeks...
Tenant never lock the side door and the 1st floor washing basin was smashed.

Early this year I did ask the contractor who reno my BH to do a metal cage around the 3 electric meter but no more update from him...

Does anybody know where to buy the fuse ???

Thank You.

This post has been edited by BirdNest_Satay: Sep 29 2013, 02:15 PM

Thank you.

I found the fuse at 3rd shop, 12 ringgit for slim type.
TNB small branch didn't sell this.
The 2nd shop told me the new style fuse is more fat with a cover (still can pull out by hand) while the older style is slim type.

Have given the measurements to a metal workshop for making metal grill box around electric meter.
Currently no nest so no alarm , the row of shops not even 1 year so I didn't think will get "target" so fast.
Have metal partition and locked door so the naughty person didn't enter my BH.

This post has been edited by BirdNest_Satay: Oct 4 2013, 08:12 PM