Choosing a year to build or break ground
Scores 19 factors from the owner’s age and the building’s orientation — Kim Lau, Hoang Oc, San Tai, and the year’s mountain-and-facing rules — then lists the years that come out clear.
The three age factors everyone asks about
All three are computed from the owner’s nominal age (age counted from one at birth):
| Factor | Method | Said to affect |
|---|---|---|
| Kim Lau | The remainder of the nominal age | The owner, spouse, children or livestock — depending on the remainder |
| Hoang Oc | Six palaces, some favourable, some not | The fortune of the house and those living in it |
| San Tai | Three consecutive years by trine group | Starting major undertakings |
Classical practice checks all three together, never one alone. The tool shows each factor with its reasoning so you can see why a year was excluded.
Building new and renovating are judged differently
- New build — all 19 factors apply, including the three age factors above.
- Renovation — the age factors are waived; only the year and orientation factors remain. This distinction between founding something new and repairing something existing is standard.
If you have measured the facing bearing (0–360°), enter it: the tool converts it to a sitting–facing pair among the 24 mountains and adds the year’s orientation rules.
After you have a year
This tool stops at the year, because age and year are the heaviest filters — once a clear year is fixed, finding a month and day is comparatively easy.
Next step: use the Chinese almanac to choose the day for breaking ground, raising the ridge beam and moving in; and the feng shui tool for the house itself.