starkybaby

I ask my contractor about the permit thing he says he is working under his friend whom is a license HDB license contractor. He himself dun apply for a permit cos he mostly doing private property and condo project. Only when his existing customer's friend ask him to help to do their HDB flats he ask his friend to do the permit for him. He and his friend hired the same pool of worker for the job and their permit is under his friend's company so it is not against any HDB regulation. Just that he is consider a free lance under his friend company therefore he is not accountable to the profit margin to his friend ask he tell me usually the ID under his friend's company usually "mark up" about 15%-25% profit from the whole reno which is split by the ID and the company boss. That's why if I go directly to his friend's company then I will kanna carrot. But if I engage him direct then his method of charging will be different cos he is the boss himself so no need to split profit with any sales ID. Actually I also dun care as long as I can save $$$ thats most important. And nowadays every thing up GST up taxi UP petrol UP only my hubby salary no UP... So can save $ is most important now ya....

I mainly do up my kitchen and 2 toilets and change my front gate. This is roughly what I had paid...... Demolition / Haulage Works $1,300.00 Wet Works labour $1,640.00 Raw Material cement, water proofing, chemical cement etc..$465.15 Raw Material ( Tiles ) $1,617.84 Plumbling whole house change stainless steel pipe $1,500.00 Painting 5rm $1,000.00 Ceiling Works false ceiling and L box living only $520.00 Carpentry $2,597.50 Tempered Glass door for kitchen $310 Wrought Iron gate $380 Toilet aluminium Bifold door X 2 $160 each Electrical Works (whole house rewiring) $1,800.00 HDB license fee $150.00 Chemical washing for whole house $160.00 The permit is $150. I pay $300 bcos my old house need to redo back to original condition cos the buyer dun like the layout. So is he apply 2 permit for me for $300

I know but he is using his friend's permit to do the job so the money is paid to his friend cos he says in the event of any screw up like leaking or what his friend will be fine and award demerit point or something like that. Anyway since I can save alot on the reno so I dun mind paying his friend for the fee. And the permit fee is only for resale flat I think. Cos my friend whom recommend me this contractor did not do the permit for her cos he says for new flat if no hacking to be done then no need to apply HDB permit.

Usually 2 time installation they will charge extra but can bargain until no need. And it is better to do it 2 time as during reno can be very dusty so I leave my air con to be installed after complete my reno and wash up the place.

Hi guys, just want to share a lobang. Recently I renovated my house through my friend's contractor. Very good service and nice workmanship. And most important very reasonable pricing! I had saved almost 20% on the total work done with respect to the cheapest quote I had gotten. And flexible payment scheme. What happened is that he will come up a quote for me with all the break down of the work to be done and charges in cost price. Then he will ask his workers to do the job for me. Upon completion of each stage of the work I made payment directly to his workers and raw material suppliers like cement and tiles. So everything is transparent to me with no hidden cost. He in turn get rebates from his suppliers which cover his fees in helping me to coordinate all the reno works. Only additional cost is that I need to pay his friend to get a HDB permit about $300 as he seldom do HDB projects and specialize in private projects. Also we have a great discount on the purchase of tiles as he told me usually the price shown at the tiles show room is "mark up" to cover the commission of the ID that bring us to select the tiles and he can get special price for them. Quite a good deal as I dun have to come up with 50% of the total reno cost before start work and no hidden cost to me as payment is made directly to the suppliers. After the whole reno I compare back to the quotes I get I got a shock how much ripping off I will be getting if I engaged a regular ID to do the job for me.

Thanks Great info

Anyone using Plasma TV here? Is it good? I went look around a few places but all the salesman says LCD better and not as HOT as plasma....what that suppose to mean? But I see the pic quality Plasma is sharper and color nicer. Any advise?