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Showing content with the highest reputation on 11/01/2017 in all areas

  1. 1 point
    This is the price i got for renovating my resale condo Sharing of this price is for forumer to aware of direct electrical pricing. Don't let your contractor/id to over price you Lighting point $30 Switch Point (with big gang switch)$35 Single Power Point $70 Double Power Point $80 TV Point $90 Data Point $90 Hood and hob point $40 Oven point $120 Air con point $120 Heater Point $120 Installation Down light $10 Ceiling light $10 Hanging light $20 Cove light $20 Ceiling fan with light $55 Conseal Work (Hacking and make good with plastering) From $80 to $150 depends on length This is the most reasonable price i got after getting more then 15 quote from id/contractor Think this is the contractor cost, i got this price because my contractor got his own team of electrician, at time he even hand on the job himself. Despite offering me at a bargain, his workmanship and coordination of work is fully satisfied by me and hubby. Anyone wish to have his contact, can pm me (I'll do my best to reply asap)
  2. 1 point
    Hey ryan, For the tv wall length, it should be 1.5m according to my bto floorplan. Just enuff to fit a 55inch tv. Didn't add the lightings in the planner 5d coz i lazy to do that and my lightings will be ceiling fan attached with simple cold led lights. Probably throw in some light bulbs to make certain area brighter. Am not really particular over ambience lightings. I'm really lazy, didn't think i would want to walk so far to change cloth. Would rather had super single size bed which is already an upgrade of my current single size bed. Also, had invested in a red color mini massage chair to be placed in bedroom. My new house is going to be a haven and i've told my friends they'll probably hardly see me after i've moved... My ids had warned me abt the cracks regarding cement screeding wall but i think it's fine since it's only hairline cracks and it'll add characteristic to the industrial theme. As for the re-piping, had already went thru a round of discussion with the IDs regarding this. Can only make some concrete decision after key collection. P/s: wouldn't exactly label myself as a musician. Piano playing is just something i've picked up in my twenties but seldom touch it nowadays. Just that the piano in my current house had to move wif me to my new house.
  3. 1 point
    Hi Songz, i bot this frm tamp giants but i guess u shld be able to get frm autobacs. Dont mind me saying, your tiles look really weird, wats the original colour? Frm the photos, looks like your tiles having some mold prob. If its mold, think the only way is bleach, but it will prolly come back. Hav u tried taking a look at your neighbours tiles? Mayb they also having same prob...if so mayb can chk with your mgmt office if warranty covers this as tiles not suppose to breed mold clusters, unless the tile quality got issue
  4. 1 point
    Renovations and Males I've been here long enough, and read enough to know that renovations are like males. Got some will be longer , some will be shorter. Some harder, some not so hard. And one person's taste in interior design may be absolutely poison to another. Just like no man can please all women mah. Unless you are me lah. My whole office is all women, I please ALL of them leh. Everyday also have to please them... ... ... "Please may I borrow your xxx, because I forgot yyy?" KNN lao le **** forgetful sia. Why we should talk about the Budget Anyway seriously, so on Renotalk you can find ALOT of posts (My post office also maybe don't have so much posts)... and EVEN MORE sh__tposts. (My toilet also maybe don't have so much sh__t). But nobody talks about budgeting. I mean, Renotalk is probably read by young couples getting their houses for the first time. And all of us young couples are probably on tight budgets right?? I mean, the wife and I definitely were, 3 years ago! But just like the government budget... nobody seems to care man! Well, I suppose, of course there are rich AF people buying resale, paying $1million for 70-80 year lease (cough... Pinnacle cough...) but aiya, those people obviously different league lah. Those people are royalty, they swim in money daily leh... I am a peasant, I swim in misery everyday. But why Singaporeans so money minded, WHOOOOOOLE DAY can talk about money... but here nobody talk leh? I suppose its because ultimately, money is a very sensitive topic in online sphere. If I say I earn $XXX, got people will envy me, say I show off, will also have people laugh at me, say I eat soft rice, earn no enough. Online anonymous lah, easy flame. Can never make everyone song la. Why share today? Since our own renovation experience in 2015, I (the hubbs) have been wanting to post about budgeting, but le wife always strongly discourage me. She say surely tio flamed. But today... I decided to go ahead and post ANYWAY (wifey you can diam diam)... because my younger brother is going to get his resale soon... so I just spent the afternoon with him, over a cup of coffee, giving him financial advice. It stirred something so deep within me, so urgent... I had to do something... GO TOILET LAH. Coffee always gives me diarrhea man. So, since I took so many craps for the day liao, what is one more crap eh? Financial Advice - Planning for your Renovation So if you're a young couple, or not so young in age, but young at heart... and looking for some financial advice when it comes to renovations, here's my PENny's worth. P: Prioritize E: Emergency N: Negotiate... I very clever hor... I purposely choose the abbreviation PEN because it sounds like my favourite part of the body. (PEN sound like the hand lor... DUH) Prioritize When I just got the keys to my BTO, I remember worrying most about the renovation costs. All my friends had told me it would be a bomb. Most of my classmates are lawyers, doctors, working for Shell lah, oil firm, traders etc etc. So they were dropping numbers like $60k, $80k... I think one even hit the six digit mark ($100k). These were eye popping sums for the wife and I. Scared the poop out of us. Speaking of which, now is Halloween... ghosts I not scared, but $100k still looks real frightening to me. Fast forward 3.5 years later... I realize that renovation costs are only part of the equation. Unless you're lucky and you have some fairy godmother, or some second hand goods lying around, you will also need a truckful of furniture, appliances, house insurance, house installments, even electricity bills, toiletries and groceries... everything adds up! Once you start living APART from your parents even CHYE PNG becomes expensive sia. Last time my mummy always cook for me... mummy I miss your free meals T____T In our case we realized that we had to put aside about $30k for the furniture and appliances, AND expect to spend an additional $1k per month due to having to feed and clothe ourselves. Ha nah, last time at my mother's house we were leeches that ran about naked and got free food, happy? So what do I mean by "Prioritize"? Firstly, there are daily things you CANNOT avoid. Total these up first. Transport costs, utilities, food, installments/insurance, all these HAVE to be settled. When you dilligently do these sums, you may realize (like we did!) that your "monthly savings" are going to become much less than what you are currently save. Bearing this in mind... you can now... Secondly, take look at the renovation, furniture and appliances you will need. There is no point in speculating "washing machine ah... should be about $500... Sofa ah... maybe $800 lah".... just open newspapers or go online to google the ACTUAL price at major department stores lah! That way, you get the accurate idea of how much all these appliances are going to cost. You HAVE to buy them soon anyway right? So no harm, you can also do some window shopping, go to those IT fairs to start to eye the models you want! At these IT fairs, usually the husband and wife both eyeball the models, but different type of "models" ... MEN THINK WITH THE CORRECT BRAIN PLS!!!). In our case, le wife actually created an EXCEL FILE to write everything down. And this allowed us to be dead sure that everything was going to be about $30k for the appliances/furniture we wanted. Thirdly, cut away things you do NOT need. There are two simple criteria you should ask yourself: Do I need it? Can I buy it LATER? For instance, when we first moved in, we decided that we DID NOT NEED the following: 1. False ceiling, 2. Hacking away walls And we decided that the following were NOT urgent 3. Sound system for the TV 4. Cable TV box or equivalent (you know those illegal ones, cannot mention lah) Now its three years later, and I can safely say, we have NEVER needed the false ceiling and extra lights in the living room (too bright means opposite block peeping tom can see me leh) I have NEVER wanted to hack any wall... (I mean, sometimes I kick a wall by mistake, and I curse it lah, but who looks at a wall and thinks... "I should have hacked you away dammit") The above two alone are probably $10,000 or more saved. That's TWO nice, big end of year vacations! We eventually DID feel bored at home, so we got the cable box but we are SO glad we didn't get the sound system nor cable TV. As a parent of two kids, the elder son is super sensitive to noise when he sleeps, so TOTALLY cannot watch TV with volume. I consider that a couple of hundreds to maybe a thousand saved! Emergency When the wife and I finally settled our renovation budget, we kept in mind the need to have an emergency fund. So we always kept $20k untouched. Experts in newspapers will always say simi 6 months or what lah... but personally, I say keep at least $20k bah. That's because $20k is like, the typical hospital bill for mega problems. In our case, my wife discovered a lump growing and had to go for biopsy. Immediately $20k was flushed down the toilet. Thankfully it was benign, and insurance paid out... but we still needed to cough out $20k first or else maybe hospital don't want to entertain us wor. So always keep a sizeable sum for emergencies! $20k to some of you might sound like peanuts... but to us then it was alot! And if $20k is also alot to you, we totally understand you Group Hug! It was because of the $20k rule that made us cut OUT some optional stuff for the house (like the false ceiling and hacking the study wall loh). I am really glad we didn't do it!! Negotiate Well, I'm sure everyone knows that you HAVE to negotiate with ID firms and contractors. Basically, the first quotation they give you is always marked up. Maybe its to test your "sincerity", I also don't know why. But there is always room for discussion. Keep pressing for a lower price, don't be paiseh! If the firm really cannot match your price, then they will say cannot lor. Nothing to lose here. Companies will usually recommend you take things away to save costs... this is actually a good opportunity to see what things are "chop carrot" one (slang for: cheat your money). For instance, most firms we approached would tell us NOT to do false ceiling to save costs. This led us to (in my opinion) correctly conclude that false ceiling is a definite luxury, not as important as some IDs make it out to be... so that made the decision to cut it out much easier! But more importantly.... a lesser known secret is... AFTER you have chosen a comapany, you will sign a contract, this is called the initial VO. AFTER this point you MUST let your chosen ID or contractor know your ABSOLUTE final price. For instance, if the contract you sign is $30,000, you must keep reminding them that you CANNOT exceed this figure. Otherwise sometimes there is the issue of "oops, this cropped up, we have to add this this this amount..." If you keep reminding them that your budget is very tight, they will be more respectful of it. Problems will always crop up during renovations. But if any problem crops up, since your chosen ID/contractor knows your budget is tight... they will be sure to CALL you to ask you about how to proceed or not. Better to have them call you than to anyhow proceed then subsequently bill you! In our case, there were a few problems that cost us a little bit more than expected, but because we kept reminding our contractor about our budget, they were very willing to absorb some of the costs lor. Last thoughts I'm sorry if this was a useless wall of text to some people. I mean, most of the people using this forum are probably well educated and wealthy. But three years ago, I was really a penniless pauper, struggling to see significant savings in my bank account. Three years later, I am still poor - my children eat alot man. LOL, genetics proven. If you ever come into more money (say, you strike TOTO), you can always renovate again, or buy more furniture. But once you buy liao, you can't undo it. The money is gone forever man. So think about it, the next time you're considering whether to get this or that for the new BTO, or if your ID/contractor suggests "this and that". Do I need it? Do I need it NOW? Cheers!
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