Do you know why developers like whole window sills so much?
I know that most homeowners hate window sills when planning a home renovation. It is very impractical to lift off the ground window sills, but they have to buy them with real money. I believe everyone has guessed that window sills can help developers make more money, but you may not know exactly how to make money. The reason developers are willing to build window sills is because land prices in Hong Kong are high. The average land price allocated to the buildable floor space is much higher than the average construction fee for the buildable floor space. For example, the average land price of Blue Bay Peninsula in Siu Sai Wan is about NT$5,000 per square foot, but the construction cost will never exceed NT$2,000 per square foot. Developers understand that increasing the salable area (construction area) will increase construction costs, which is insignificant compared to the average floor land price. Therefore, although the window sill construction cost is high, we still do not hesitate to build more window sills. Readers can see from the sales brochure that the built-up area of ​​each unit includes window sills, but the selling price is calculated based on the built-up area.
The current Building Regulations were enacted in the 1960s, but if you observe carefully, buildings over 20 years old do not have window sill designs. It was not until the 1980s that window sills became popular. That is to say, the developers came up with this architectural tradition with Hong Kong characteristics after many years of trial and exploration. Later, window sills became larger and larger. In some small and medium-sized residential units, the window sills accounted for nearly one-fifth of the room area. In a small room, a window sill must be used to accommodate a bed, so there is a saying of “being forced to train on the window sill” or “training out of the street”. The Golden Lion Garden in Tai Wai is one of the typical strange rules. What we showed above The window sill bed comes from exactly the client of Golden Lion Garden. Nowadays, in slightly larger rooms, it is also necessary to use the window sill as a writing desk, to place sundries, or even to dry clothes and put a bed. The window sill has changed from an add-on to the house to a necessity, and it is an annoying necessity. It is a suspended space purchased by the small owner for 200,000 yuan. It is an area of ​​the building that is not included in the land price, but is included in the property price. For Hong Kong residents with limited living space, window sills are reluctantly accepted by the public; for developers, they are a way to increase the building area and make more money.
If your unit also has a window sill and you want to make good use of this expensively purchased space, you are welcome to contact our designers for custom-made and built-in furniture solutions tailored to your renovation or full interior fit-out.