pbtgal

Nice foyer light!

Hi, pm u. Good luck! Oh forgot to mention, Lynn is a sweet lady.

Hi Gla after reading your blog, i really wish that your problems can be settled asap. Tho' i have not started my reno, the prob that i faced oso quite headache as it may delay my completion, my reno and yet i have sold my flat. If i have to rent a place to stay, it wld juz mean pouring $$$ into the drain. Good luck!

Hi Skyblue u are so 细心 Oh i am so Chinese, am i love it

Hi would like to share my story. We bought a resale 5-rm pt blk and will be collecting our keys next Thur, 25 Jun (really hope so). The owner of this flat bot & renovated the flat 10 years ago. The flat is well maintained and in very good condition. There is only 1 problem, they did not fix the railings at the full height windows of the balcony. When the HDB officer did the inspection on 4 May, they did question the owners the reason. Our sellers replied it was not compulsory to have the railings fixed 10 years back. The officer said will get back to them if they were required to fix b4 completion. More than 1 mth had passed. To all, no news mean good news. We received the bad news from the sellers while on his biz trip to Jakarta. The officer said he had OVERLOOKED our case and want the sellers to fix the railings b4 releasing our case. The seller called my hb for assistance. Reason being, we will be taking over the flat and we can choose the designs we like while incorporating into our reno. If we were to wait from him to come back till next week, all will be delayed. We agreed as we did not want any further delay to the completion. I sought the help from my ID who had never done such a case b4. Initially, we thought its a simple process and all she need to do was to submit another permit and install the railings and the case could be closed. However, when she called the HDB officer, she found the case to be a bit complicated cos' we need to engage a PE to endorse that the railings are done according to BCA's standards. She took the trouble to go down to see the HDB officer personally to understand the case better. She will also help to liaise with the PE to get the necessary approval. She had rushed to draw the designs so that submission can be properly done. The officer said that we need to submit all papers b4 18 Jun (ie 2 days later). I feel like scolding the HDB officer. How could he be putting the blame on us when it was his fault for overlooking our case. Anyway, we are keeping our fingers crossed that the completion date will still stand at 25 Jun. Wish me luck! My ID is Lynn from Ideal House.

Hi Adrian i am currently using Electrolux washer. I love it. It has time saving functions and therefore it actually help to save time and, of course, water. However, off-hand i cannot remember the model. It is definitely a good brand to consider.

Hi Mitlancer sure, sure. Waiting for key collection next week to take pics b4 reno. Will start a T-blog then to share experiences .

Hi Mitlancer your house really looks very very good esp the toilets & kitchen. Initially when Lynn propose to install L-box in the kitchen, my hb was skeptical about it, after seeing your pics, he only has 1 word - SPLENDID! We have agreed to Lynn's proposal. My reno will start next week if everything goes by planned, hopefully can out as nice as yours. Congrats!

Hi shuseido hope both our issues can resolved faster. So looking forward to the key collection date. Good luck to you too, hug hug! Ya, let's share all experience here. Juz now my seller (the wife) & myself went to meet the HDB officer to discuss on the things that need to be done. I would say very technical and mafan. Anyway, the officer said that as long as 1 party apply for the permit can liao. But things are not so simple. We still need to engage a QP (Qualified Personnel) to certify that the materials of the railings, screws etc used. The QP will submit papers to BCA (Building & Contruction Authority) for approval & filing. I have approached my contractor to get a clearer pic from the officer since my contractor will help to install. Will update after i hear from my contractor. Any owners who had installed safety railings b4 can share your experience here?

Hi anyone did this b4? Roughly how much u paid for the fixing up plus engaging a qualified professional to certify + submission to BCA for approval. Heard from my contractor, the total can cost easily $4-$5k. Sigh, sigh!

Hi i have chosen the 1st option for most of my reno as we will be using white lights most of the times for brighter vision. We intend to on the warm lights late at night if we were only watching TV. But as Double J said its personal preference.

Hi born_again, Thanks. Contacted the HDB officer juz now. I explained tat we do not wish to delay the completion as i oso need to handover my flat to my buyers to be fair. Luckily, he admitted it was his fault. The solution now was juz to get the sellers to submit the application of the installation of the railings will do. Now awaiting for my seller to revert. Keep my fingers, legs, whole body crossed man!

Sorry to hear that. This is really carelessness of the workers ~ so scary. Can understand your frustrations here. Pat, pat. QUOTE (gaku70 @ Jun 14 2009, 11:30 PM) Although I do not know the person who commented as he remains anonymous, I know where he is coming from. I do not know why some people thought that I am a jealous contractor and try to tarnish other contractor's reputation. Some forumners who has visited me and talked to me know that I am not a contractor. Anyway I do not how to convince others that I am not and I do not have the time. So will just let it be. This juz proofed that the writer is plain childish. Maybe he did not ever experience tides & waves in doing reno. Reno can be a happy experience but sometimes we will get 'pek chek'. I understand how u feel esp now my completion date is facing some probs, juz hope that no delay. Sigh! Sigh!

Hi gaku congrats! Finally your bitter sweet experience ended liao. Agree, life still goes on....

Ya, this officer really cannot make it, 卖主， 买主傻傻分不清楚 . Called my hb to talk about installation of the railings and my hb went huh? My current 4-room flat dun have balcony leh. Then he realised he spoke to the wrong party. To 'tear everything down' is to hack all floor tiles for re-tiling and so if the seller were to install the railings now, we might have to hack them & re-do, a waste of $$ so we propose to include railings installation in our reno. Our purchase of this flat is really not a smooth journey and juz hope that the reno will have minimal hipcups.

Hi gaku70 though i am not a member of the Soon's fan club but i followed some of ur threads quite closely cos i do see quality jobs done in some of the projects & his sincerity in rectifying the mistakes done by his teams of workers. Think Uncle Soon's hands are very tight and need good right- & left-hand men to help out in project management. You are right everyone's standards of acceptance is difference. Your blog will not affect Uncle's biz very much cos in reno there bound to be ups and downs. Even if you engaged the best contractor/id (again how to know whether he is really the one), there bound to be miscommunications somewhere cos everybody see things differently. What you have blogged are important pointers we can learn from. Best best of luck to you! Hope to see you start to blog the happiness in your reno soon.

Hi Shuseido we are in similar situation but slightly better than yours. However, it was the fault of the HDB inspector. He did the inspection on 4 May, juz 3 days b4 our 1st appointment. He found out that our sellers did not install the railings at the windows of the balcony. He asked why and the sellers replied when they bot the house 10 years ago, there wasnt such a rule. The inpsector noted it down and said will contact my sellers if they need to do something about it. We thought no news means good news since 1 mth + already got and we were so happy to note from HDB website that our completion date will be 25 Jun, 3.45pm. Yippee ! Yesterday, my hb received a call from the HDB inspector but apparently he got the wrong person. He actually wanted to contact our sellers instead. Anyway, the seller had conveyed the bad news - HDB wanted them to install the railings. My sellers, of course, asked why the delay to inform them. The HDB inspector's reply was that he had too many cases to handle & had overlooked our case. Ridiculous! We definitely dun want any delay to the completion as we are on tight reno schedule. We are hacking and re-doing everything including floor & wall tiles within 5 weeks. We told the sellers that there is no point for them to install now since we are tearing everything down. They will contact the HDB and we, as buyers, decided to speak to HDB that we will do the installation & bear all costs instead. Sigh, will call on Monday. We have to settle this chop chop fast fast!

Wow, the balcony very cosy, nice!

Very 'green' and very nice!

Hi Wakzool where did u get your computer/study table?

I like the coffee table ur wife has chosen, very unique!

I like the MBR wardrobe Mr K did for you, beri nice!

Congrats! Your place is very convenient. Envy***

Hi Rasp thanks for sharing. We were at Gain City last weekend but they only carry Philips & Samsung but too many people so we did not enquire much. Maybe i will go to Harvey Norman or Best Denki to look at the models this weekend.

Hi Mitlancer thanks for the reply. U convenient to share how much u pay for it? We r contemplating whether to get Philips or the Yamaha one. I heard Yamaha's ones are very good but very exp so our nex option is Philips.