Leaderboard

In the meantime, my main con got the paperwork submitted for HDB renovation permit, and secured the hacking days the following week. One thing we have been quite antsy about is the lack of a proper schedule of works - but especially during this period, he is literally planning it almost day by day. At least we know the below rough schedule for week 1: - Day 1-2: Hacking (existing cabinetry, kitchen floor + walls) - Day 3: Removal of existing electrical wiring - Day 4-6: Wall and ceiling plastering Also stocks were delivered throughout week 1 (compound plaster, cement screed, tiles, etc.) There were also some delays in the transportation I believe, but nothing too serious. Gave him a mini- heart attack when I called up regarding the electrical quotation the Thursday before. The original quotation for electricals was $5K+ and I'd assumed that was a ballpark - and would be finalised post the site visit by electrician. Electrician came and went and still no final itemised quotation came.. plus I was feeling uneasy as the electrician never contacted me to discuss works in detail. So I called my contractor and he confirmed yes, the price is around there, I can take $5K+ as the final price. NOT happy - because I had briefed the electrician very simply just to see his baseline quote. No concealed cabling, no 2-way switch, no dimmer, all wiring overlay with simple PVC casing, and a conservative number of power outlets and lighting points. Insisted on an itemised quotation. In the meantime rushed to contact two other electrical companies for a rough quotation based on my item list. One of them declined due to manpower shortage, the other (company B) came back within an hour with a rough quotation just shy of $4K based on my brief. At this point however I was 2 days away from my contractor's electrician coming down to do the removal of existing wiring - so I had to rush the new company for a site visit, which they did the next day and followed up with a detailed itemised quote by evening. Company B's site visit was different - while my main con's electrician was very attentive to our requests, he didn't provide much input or advice on optimising our wiring layout. For example, we briefed more single power points vs. doubles as we weren't sure of the price difference - but Company B's costing was clear and upfront - the difference was only $5. They also offered various options (2-way switches, conceal switches etc.) with clear add-on pricing for each. We ended up generally upgrading our electrical fitting by about 50% and the final quotation still came in just below $5K. I actually did send Company B's final quote to my main con to check if his electrician can price match - even a couple of hundred more is fine due to the timeline and the schedule - but they could not, so we had to balek our electrical plans. So our wirings removals got pushed back to Day 5 (earliest day Company B could do) and plastering had to proceed first. Plastering team was good - very efficient, good workmanship and actually helped to hack all the lightings upstairs too before Company B came. .. and that is how electrical joined flooring as another item removed from my contractor's SOW. A last potential item would be painting - long story short, painter may not be able to paint the top half of our balcony as they do not have the proper scaffolding to scrap and paint the top half. Needless to say a half-painted balcony is not acceptable.. neither can they just take out the balcony bit from their 'package' - because they'd only be able to reduce it by $300 as they basically bring all their stuff and paints to the house already for the indoor bit 😐So my main con says, they either do indoor + outdoor or not at all - he'll direct me to Nippon if they can't.