DSA

I am entertaining this crazy idea of engaging direct suppliers to provide renovation services for my new HDB flat. So I need skilled & honest craftsmen from reputable firms of the following trades: Carpenters from a reputable carpentry firm, who will fabricate my kitchen cabinet which will be in the galley layout. One side will feature a granite acrylic resin composite sink support by concrete support protected by laminated wooden boards, the other side will be the kitchen cabinet featuring Rinnai RB-2CG hob. One acrylic solid surface supplierOne licenced electricianOne licenced plumberOne painting firm who will use the paint & painting equipment I buy from an online paint store. So far, I have managed to source all the above. Yes, it is an immensely CRAZY idea. But I think this craziness should save lotsa moolah, of course it comes with tremendous risk.

I managed to invite the Head of Building Specialist Unit in Technology Development Section of Building Technology Department of HDB, for an on-site joint inspection of my unit on Friday, 4th July. He is interested to listen to constructive feedback from the residents of Linear Green @ Bedok Central. Apart from relating my feedback to him on the design of, workmanship of & other important issues relating to my unit, I will also relay other Linear Greener's constructive feedback to him. These feedback will greatly assist HDB engineers in their planning, execution & construction of future HDB developments. This, I will need all Linear Greeners' assistance to pen down their constructive feedback. This is an excellent opportunity for Linear Greeners to share their evaluation of their prized abode on its design, workmanship & any other aspects. Please pen your constructive feedback under a heading in bold that is the block number of your unit and the room size of your unit: 3 room, 4 room or 5 room. Please do not quote this post so that I can quickly extract your feedback and add into an email which I will send to the Head of Building Specialist Unit. You can start your feedback post with your block number and the version of your unit: 3 room, 4 room or 5 room, in bold..

Send an email to HDB, request them suspend this dishonest, irresponsible contractor. If not, he will continue to prey on other home owners. HDB does not charge for the renovation permit because it is done fully online.

This is the banner. Pending permission to be granted by effie. Charges for Haulage and Debris Removal Services Some Town Councils provide haulage and debris removal services for renovation work. You need to pay for these services at the time of the application for a permit. You can arrange with your registered renovation contractor to make payment to the Town Council. The charges imposed by different Town Councils vary. You are advised to check with your Town Council or HDB Branch Office on the charges imposed by your Town Council. East Coast Town Council charges $176.55 for 4 room flat for the above service - less for 3 room units, more for 5 room version, amongst other services that residents in East Coast constituency can engage. Renovation Deposit Some Town Councils require the registered renovation contractor to pay a deposit before the commencement of renovation work. Your registered renovation contractor has to pay this deposit if so imposed by your Town Council. After note: There are many ways to control the expenditure on home renovation. The common principles are the levelling of the Information Asymmetry and doing things the Dell way.

Just called Mr K: he said he is currently not taking any more project and to call him at the end of July. Anyone has Johnny's contact? Please PM me. Thank you!

Have a read on my take on LG air-con.

City Gas charges $80 for the standard gas pipe installation which covers extension of kitchen gas pipe and cooker connection or $40 for gas cooker connection only. Both are already inclusive of gas supply turn-on.

Lovely, just think about the purpose of air-con: What is its core purpose? Do air-con need to look like art? I doubt a strip of mirror is art; it's just a piece of mirror. As long as the FCU ain't scaring the bazookas outta ya, however it look will do just fine. Do you even have to know where the FCU is as long as U can feel cool, clean air the second U press the power on button on the air-con remote controller. Know the core benefit that u are buying in this product: Cool, clean air that is produced by FCUs & compressor put together by highly skilled assemblers or machinery using quality components, which should add to the durability of the air-con system that will be trouble-free. If the look of FCUs are that important, why ain't Mitsubishi Electric or Toshiba or Daikin producing it: there's no engineering science to attaching a mirror plate to the cover of the FCU; it's just simple product or industrial design. Other than the attributes listed above, the rest are just gimmicks. Doesn't take much to see through the hocus pocus of some manufacturers, eg Korean ones. Case in point, Samsung/LG ain't the best in class; they're just cheaper than Japanese superiors. In short, that mirror plate is a poor gimmick. Such means are used when the firm is unable to match the sheer engineering technologies of market leaders. And HVAC is under mechanical & electrical engineering, not product/industrial design.

Shouldn't the cost of flooring be based on the number of tiles laid or used + cost of cement + workmanship cost + tiling firm's profit? Surely it cannot be based on the floor area because there are walls, skirting.

Just called Tau Interior at their registered office but no answer, call routed to their fax machine instead.

Why do u read my posts as sarcastic - that is your interpretation, not my intention. All my posts except one have targetted issues, never the party. It takes a calm & rational mind to fully comprehend the message in my posts the exact way I intend them to convey.

$600 is already lower than most quotes. Installation of air-con calls for quality workmanship, quality insulation of copper pipe with the specified bore. Aspects which requires honest, responsible & dedicated trained & licensed by BCA air-con installers who deserve every single penny of your hard-earned money. Not that you can't have your pie & eat it but don't fall into the penny wise, pound foolish pit.

Indeed, that's why I refrain from calling the id - I know how busy he is. Moreover, my reno is $10k not $100k. Very few firms are interested in taking it up. So I won't be surprised if Ideal House decides to focus on other clients & prospects. It is their perogative & I respect that.

It's not the percentage of defects the workers rectify but the exact nature of defects they rectify. I can live with dents and scratches on the wooden doors but not similar demarcations on the tiles or walls. And it is NOT HDB who build your flats nor does it rectify the defects. HDB does not even warrant the flats are free from defects. Get your facts right: HDB does not build flats. They don't even design flats. They outsource everything except the administration of flats.

Latest status of Linear Green @ Bedok Central: 25 members out of 40 RenoTalkers listed here. 15 missing in action or non-FaceBookies. Or just shy? Bought $XXX,XXX flat still so shy? So amusing.

Anyone managed to get quotation for required works that amount to less than $10 k from Ideal House? And how long did the quotation take to arrive? I want to shortlist Ideal House but still no "You've Got Mail! From Ideal House." email audio alert from my mailbox leh.

So gas go or no gas go into the service yard of your unit? Yours is 4 or 5 room?

Have not select a supplier yet as my unit is still under the final wave of defects rectification, if I detect no more defects: Dented tiles can be a real sneaky bastard to spot. Yes, the approval can be issued in short turnover time if the contractor applies the permit online, if not, it can take at least 2 weeks.

After doing intensive research on the various brands of air-con and their respective techologies, I'm looking to get a System 3 Inverter that can provide the cooling capacity required for the rooms I intend to cool based on the calculation of 50/55/60/65 BTU per square feet. ALso obtained quotes from All Best, Mega Discount Store.

The cost of extruded Aluminium Sliding Windows (Bronze Anodized) goes by per foot² run - I got a quote of $14 PFR which I consider high and another direct supplier quoted me $11 PFR. However, do bear in mind that while price is subjective & arbitrary while quality is objective & absolute.

The shop spaces have yet to be taken up & still available for rental. lovelee, do have a look at my post on the routing of gas piping issue, you should have no problems holding a discussion with the City Gas contractor on the possible routing.

Windows at Parapet/Balcony of New Developments [new flats handed over from 1 Jul 07 onwards] For installation/replacement of windows at balcony/parapet, flat owners need to comply with the colour scheme, proportion and type [ie casement to casement, sliding to sliding] with that of the original windows provided by HDB, in addition to existing requirement.

This is the reason why gas water heater cannot be installed in bathrooms: Production of Carbon Monoxide that may result in poisoning due to lack of oxygen. CO is very dangerous to fauna for it is colourless, odourless, and tasteless.

Rinnai Inner Flame Burner design is one unique innovation. What is Inner-Flame Technology? The purpose of the unusual design is to create a coherent, unified flame that rises under the center of a pan, then flows outward, bathing the entire bottom of the pan in flame. This approach heats the pan with greater uniformity and improves the efficiency of heat transfer from the flame to pan, which is good for even frying without getting burned food. In addition to aiming the ports inward, two other design factors assist in shaping the flame. One is that the burner sits slightly below the surface of the cooktop, helping the individual flames to coalesce toward the center as they rise through a hole in the cooktop surface. Secondly, and more importantly, the burner ports are angled slightly on the horizontal plane. The effect of the flames shooting out an angle is to create a fiery vortex. The swirling flame is meant to accomplish two things. One, it assists in driving the flame outward across the bottom of the pan, helping to evenly bathe the pan bottom with flame. Two, the vortex creates a pressure drop that assists in drawing air in for combustion allowing for a strong consistent flame. Here's how Rinnai came up with it. Credits: BlueFly, BFC Asia Feel the sheer heating power of the Rinnai Inner Burner Flame. A good hob is one that produces an array of blue flame, thus generating heat fast & efficiently. One that looks good is a bonus - looks should not be the first and overriding consideration when choosing a hob; this isn't fashion. A good looking hob is less than one which cooks delicious dishes. saoirse describes it aptly: The appliance-maker Rinnai has turned burner design completely around with its inner-flame burner. The purpose of the unusual design is to create a coherent, unified flame that rises under the center of a pan, then flows outward, bathing the entire bottom of the pan in flame. This approach heats the pan with greater uniformity and improves the efficiency of heat transfer from the flame to pan. Hence, it requires less gas consumption yet heat up the food faster as compared to the normal ordinary burner. And here is the facts Rinnai claims what their inner flame burner is capable of. Rinnai's exclusive "Inner Flame" Powerful & controllable even heatHigher heat efficiency as compared to normal burnersPerfect simmer control, superb for making soupBurner Performance Comparison Boil 2 litre water Input: Inner Flame - 3.6kW, Normal Burner - 4.5kW Heat efficiency: Inner Flame - 403 sec, Normal Burner - 442 sec Keep Warm Performance: Inner Flame - 142g/h, Normal Burner - 181 g/h

I spent a good amount of time today & examined the inner structure of Rinnai RH-ER90i in Rinnai's showroom at Eton House and that of Fujioh FX 900V in Hoe Kee at Tanjong Katong Complex and here are my findings: Watch the animation here. Notice the 180% U-turn in the airflow when the air enters the all-around gap at the edge of the rectifier panel. In basic aerodynamic theory, this total reversal of airflow direction reduces the speed of airflow. This is verified by the weak suction of Rinnai RH-ER90i; Fujioh's suction did felt a little stronger. This design is prevalent in both Rinnai RH-ER90i & Fujioh FX 900V, which uncannily echos the comment of the sales personnel at Hoe Kee, who said the design of one of Rinnai's hood is from Fujioh. You can watch 2 Rinnai hoods in action here. Here's the account of 1 user of Rinnai RB-2CG hob + Fujioh FX 900V Closeup shot of his FX 900 FAQs on Fujioh hoods. The Rinnai RH-ER90i probably looks nicer, then again beauty is subjective. A hood's job to suck air, extract most, if not all, of the cooking fumes from the air & absorb them so looks of hoods is secondary to me. Ok now, who's going for Rinnai hob? According to the excellent sale executive at Rinnai showroom in Eton House there will be a promotional package consisting of RB-3SS with RH-Katana coming on 1st July.