chocolatechipmuffin

updates: 2nd Dec- tuesday Met with NW's finance director- Mr Aclester at 4pm in the afternoon. He's on time & seems quite nice. I take him through the various defects in my hse & after inspection, he tells me it can all be resolved. my sink with a dent & deep scratch will be changed. he will try to clean the dirty tiles, failing which, he will change them. he will get someone to patch all the scratches on my window frames. he will get someone to clean out the strange white patches on my wardrobe, failing which he will change the laminate completely. my stained kitchen hood will be cleaned. he also tells me actually they are all easily resolved problems. in fact, he says can probably settle everything in a day. at most 2 days. i tell him abt the 2 times that i had to supervise the hse. he say he gave my ex-ID a good talking to abt that, and that it definitely should not have been allowed. he seemed quite indignant when i told him tt i was called names. we agree that the rectification work will be done next wk on tuesday. i am a tentatively happy & definitely hopeful person. what a difference a person makes. 3rd Dec- wed. today: my tv is delivered. but got no signal! courts guy tells me that my reception is not there, but that he's set all the channels. tell me to check with hdb/starhub. i call hdb & they send a guy down to take a look. he is disgruntled coz he finds out the problem & is 'not his problem.' he tells me that my contractor did not connect the cables in my home to the tv cables at all, and that i wasted his time. says the connection from the main cable outside my hse is perfect. no problem. not his problem to begin with. grumpy old fart. he tells me to call my contractor to settle the problem. one point against my ex-ID again. i call Aclester to tell him about the new defect. He tells me he'll send his guys down on friday to fix the problem. one point for Aclester for being responsive.

thank you all so much for your good wishes! am looking forward to meeting aclester today to see how he can help. the problem is most of my furniture+ electronics is in already, so i'm hoping for a solution that will not involve me taking everything out again. will keep everyone informed!

Hey guys, Yeah.. you're right- the fact that NW's finance director is taking the time to focus on my reno is to me at least tells me that he is taking this seriously. and i am really thankful that someone from NW is at least showing some concern & agreeing with me that the defects that i've highlighted ARE unacceptable. i think i definitely agree in that the ID definitely makes your reno what it's gonna be... since Aclester is promising to resolve all the existing problems for me, i will definitely keep my end of the bargain & blog about how good their follow up service is if they do as they promise. as i told aclester- my reno t blog started out being positive about NW, & was also positive about my ID too. i would never have wanted to air any grouses on this blog if i had my way. if i had my way, i'd be posting pretty pictures of my home & waxing lyrical about my amazing experience with the ID! i'm not a negative person to begin with ma anyways-- hopefully now that my id is no longer handling my reno, i will have a much better & pleasant experience with NW. will keep you guys posted.

Update on my reno: 14th nov: Went down to my hse to supervise the remaining work to be done as per ID's request. Was told by my ID that the people coming to fix the aircon trunking problem would be there between 9-10am. I was there at 9am. They came at 10.30am. nevermind. at least this time all the holes underneath the trunking were sealed properly. called my id at abt 11pm after the aircon guys left to ask when the electrician/plumbers were coming. told me 'after 1pm' initially. After I asked for a more specific time, he said '1-4pm'. After I made more noise, he followed up with saying that i can go off first & he'd call me when the next batch of workers arrived. Good thing I didn't listen to him. The painter came at abt 11.20, electrician soon after. No one called me. Pointed out all the outstanding. Only a good 1-2hrs later does the ID call me to tell me the workers are there already. I tell him I'm already there. Tilers came next to fix the grouting problem. I pointed out some chips to them & they echoed my ID's past words, saying that the tiles were too close to the door frame + solid surface, so might damage them, should not change. So I said fine. They settled the grouting & left. I carried on supervising & even plastered some of the dents & uneveness in the walls on my own while waiting for other workers to arrive. At 4pm, my ID comes in, asks me if the workers have done the work so far & does a general walkabout. He asks me if everything is to my satisfaction, I said ok la, just that some of the defects still existant, we'll negotiate a sum to take off the bill coz I consider them to be shoddy work. He gets angsty. Asks me 'take out how much?'. I told him i don't know, but will be happy to discuss it with him/his boss. He asks what I'm not happy with & I point him the chipped tiles. He asks if I don't accept it. I said I will, because changing it might damage other things, but they are still considered a defect, which is why I want to negotiate a sum to take off the bills. He then says that it means I dont accept it. He then calls the tilers to come back. The tilers come back, & he tells them to change the chipped tiles. They are not happy, and I tell mike that if changing the tiles will damage other things, I do not want them changed. I don't get an answer from him regarding my concern. He just tells the tiler to change the tiles. And lo & behold- after alot of dust & work on the tiler's part. all the tiles which had chips, and which i was previously told could not be changed due to potential damage to other things were changed- without any apparant damage to either the kitchen solid surface of my toilet door frame (chiped tiles were very close to them) At about 5pm, the ID leaves. during which time the plumber back to fix up the sink at my vanity. He takes a look & asks if I'm expecting a mirror. I said yes. He says then the mirror has to go up before the plumbing as it will not be able to be fixed up once the sink is up. I call the ID to tell him. He asks to speak to the plumber. I put the plumber on loudspeaker as his hands are dirty. ID swears for abit, then gives instruction for the plumber to do the periphery works first. Ends with him telling the plumber that the homeowner (me) is 'tamade sibei ngiao'. the plumber looks at me apologetically. i just stare at him & shake my head slightly. wow. i have been supervising for the whole day, he just rocks up for less than an hr & he calls me names? granted he doesn't know i'm listening into the conversation (though i thought he knew), but the fact that he thinks I am NGIAO with all the defects in the house is AMAZING to me. i am still wonderimg whether he would take all the defects as is if he was the owner of my house. rusty nails on taps, chips on tiles, grouting out, aircon trunking holes 'fixed' with masking tape. Does he REALLY think it's ok?? If so, maybe then that's just his standard of reno. just my luck loh. ID rocks up again at my home at about 5.25pm. I ask him what's the deal with the vanity & he said it will be done tomorrow. I go home at abt 6.30- the tilers & ID are still there. ID promises to clean up my home due to the dust that's ballooned due to the tiles having to be changed. 15nov- saturday: i get a call in the afternoon saying that there's been an accident. the guy who fixed the mirror dropped it, and the mirror broke. he was injured & would need to be taken to the hospital for stitches. Luckily the guy is fine. However, my vanity top broke as a result. it will have to be replaced. my reno is moved for the 4th time. I ask the ID how long it will take to replace as i have furniture coming in the next wk. He says he will get back to me. He promises to get someone to clean out the extremely dusty house the next day as well. He doesn't get back to me on the schedule of work for the next wk. Kena smoked. 16th Nov- sunday: I call the ID at 12.15pm to check what time his workers will come in to clean up the mess. He says by 3pm they will be there. We go to our home at 10pm to check out our home. It's still in a mess with dust everywhere. ID smoked us yet again. bf & i removed the large pieces of broken glass sitting outside our gate as we deemed it a hazard to others. I write yet an email documenting everything that needs to be done to him. cc'ing the * interior enquiry line. No respose as usual. 17th nov- monday: try to contact ID to get a picture of the timeline. no sound despite repeated sms's. when i manage to get him, says he will get back to me 'later'. 'later' does not happen. 18th nov- tues: finally managed to get ID on the phone. he tells me the pending works will be done by saturday 22nd nov, but that he's unable to give me a schedule on when things will be done as the contractors will only tell him on the friday night (21st nov) because that is how they operate. i am obviously dubious & ask if his contractors are lying to him about not being able to give a set timing. i then ask why if * is the one who hires these contractors that they are not willing to coordinate in a better fashion. am told that it is the way things are done. i smell a **** smelly fish, but accept it as i am tired of trying to reason with my ID. 20th Nov-thurs: Decided to put everything that's gone on so far in writing so I have proof should I need to complain to CASE/ get a lawyer to settle for me. I again write out a list of what has been corresponded between my ID & myself in email format & send it to my id's email, cc'ing the * enquiry email at about noon. i ask that he give a better schedule to me before 'night time' tomorrow so that I can make time to supervise the work again (by this time, i know that its probably the fastest way to get anything done- to be there & literally watch while they're doing the work & point out stuff that should/should not be done.) Miraculously i get a sms response from my ID at about 10pm telling me that all of the workers can complete the work the next day and if I wanted that. I said ok. Will take time off work again to supervise. 21st Nov- fri: supervised all the work with my bf. big sigh of relief after the last worker left. 22nd nov- sat: started cleaning up the hse. found more defects. started taking more pictures. 23rd nov- sunday got an sms from the ID asking me when I want to settle the balance of the payments. i msg back with a list of new defects that i found after giving the home a good wipe down. asks him when he wants to settle them first? get no answer. i decide to do the email route again. compiled the pictures of defects and put a written description on the location & type of defect found. Asked when the defects will be settled. Predictability, I didn't get an answer 24th-27th nov (mon-fri) continuous sms's & calls to ID. He does not return my sms's or my calls on when the remaining defects wil be done. I give up. tried to do some diy work by plastering up some of the groutings that were exposed & carried some of the large piles of debris outside our gate to the refuse centre downstairs. Wrote a last email on 27th Nov detailing what happend. cc'ed the same * enquiries email. Gave them a final deadline of 5th Dec to make good all defects. Wait. 28th Nov: Got a call from Mr. Aclester Lin. Says he's the finance director of *. Asks whether I have been having problems as he's noticed that my reno has gone on for longer than usual and that I have not paid up. I air my grouses. He listens & apologises for his ID's behaviour. After some conversation, he tells me he has actually already seen the emails that I have sent & that he agrees that the defects should be rectified. He also tells me that he knows of my forum postings on renotalk (THANK YOU RENOTALK!) and that he hopes that my blog will turn positive if he is able to successfully close my reno chapter smoothly for me. He promised that my present ID will no longer be involved in my home reno (he will), and that he will do his best to resolve all outstanding problems. We are meeting at my home on 2nd Dec to go through whatever is outstanding. I see a potential light at the end of the tunnel. And for the nth time, I can't wait for my reno to end. it's been too long a road.

just to show what i mean by shoddy patch up work, here's the evidence. trunking with hole before patch up: trunking with hole after patch up (workers patched with masking tape & painted over!) i pulled out the masking tape to take a clearer picture. i hope & pray that the patch up work will go smoothly tomorrow.

hey guys. thanks for the support & the sympathy so far helps to vent at times like these well so far i can't say it's been going well! id called me today to ask me to be present the whole day tomorrow to supervise the work to make sure it's to my liking. i was like 'the whole day?' which made him go on about how i had 'so many thing to add on to the defect list'. he refused to listen to me when i said that alot of the additions were due to his workers doing bad patch ups, and went on a tirade of how he's tried but we're hard to please & that he's very busy & got other things to do, not only my hse. i raised my voice at him to tell him to let me speak (coz i couldn't get a word in sideways with him going on about how he doesnt want to listen to what went wrong) & he just raised it back at me even louder! i couldn't take it anymore, and honestly, for one of the few times in my life (and i can count on one hand how many times that's happened), i just exploded & started shouting at him that he was being extremely rude to me and that he should not be shouting at me and not allowing me to speak at all. almost everyone i know have NEVER heard me shout. that's how angry i was. so yeah. we pretty much had a shouting match for a while. (during which i told him i'd go down to his office to complain to his boss at his office about his bad attitude, and that he's made this renovation experience an unhappy one for me. and that i have NEVER had anyone shouting at me like that.) anyways, to cut a long story short, he finally 'sort of' extended an olive branch by reprasing what he said last ('i dont mean that i want you to do my job, but i just think that if you are there than the defects can be corrected there & you wont have any more defects after that') - which i actually doubt btw being that i have heard of TONS of stories where after some time of living at a place, you find out that certain things are not working well/ plastering falls off, etc. he also 'explained away' his shouting by saying he was 'outside' (unconfirmed, but will dubiously take that as true), and that he talks to contractors most of the time so he might raise his voice unconsiously. (might be true, but if he's as experienced an ID as he claims he is, he'd know that raising his voice at a client for whatever reason is a no no.) anyways, i have agreed to take off work & go down to my house for the whole of tomorrow to oversee the workers. but really, i still don't understand what's so difficult. i compiled a 5 pg list of defects (& where in each room to find them) for him & informed him promptly on only 2 or 3 other seperate occasions on additions to the defect list. (between which almost no work was done anyway!) i even tagged each defect in each room with masking tape & written instruction on the tape so it's OBVIOUS to him to know where each defect is. but i'm still accused of being unreasonable and adding to the defect list (what am i to do if i see more defects? just keep my mouth shut & live with it?!?). honest to god i had not been so angry in a LONG LONG LONG TIME. :( people who've had bad experiences with reno companies, pls msg/pm me to tell me what kind of recourse/action you took. i REALLY can't wait for this reno to be over.

hi bubbling, i also hope so! but guess what?!?! yesterday, when i took a closer look at the trunking patch work, i realised that the 'patch job' of the trunking that they did was done by putting MASKING TAPE over the hole & painting it over!! Can you believe it?!? I was flabbergasted. I dunno who the boss of * interior is, but he definitely needs to QC his workers! It is so sooo disappointing. i could feel my heart sink loh. am prepared to ask the furniture guys to extend their delivery date by ANOTHER WEEK so that I can see this through properly.

hi red tiger, yup. i'm sorry that it's not going well too. always think that renos should be a happy & exciting process. but this is really giving me headaches! thanks. am actually happy about the overall 'look' of my house. But I think that has more to do with the fact that we already knew what we wanted & it was more a project management role for the ID. Thing is- close up, a significant amount of the work was shoddy- which is disapponting coz i really thought they were the better ones out of the lot. my id even told me that the reason why the electricals was done up badly was because they used a 'factory electrician'. so we ended up with slanted switch boxes & holes on the casing etc- which we have asked them to redo. you can check out my reno t-blog (link is below) to see the pics of what i mean by shoddy work. I HOPE that they do hold their end of the bargain & complete the work by this friday. We'll see I guess. At this point, I'm not entirely optimistic...

yeah it is a big headache. i actually got reaally angry with the ID on monday and have only corresponded with him via sms since. and he doesn't even bother to reply to my sms till i sms'ed him TWICE to acknowledge them! and it was HOURS before he responded with just a 'yes' ok. I never knew that this was the kind of work I would get from my ID, since he seemed like he was experienced. Very disappointed. he is supposed to be working on the defects this wk, but no one has been to my place to do anything since monday. *shrug* have told him that if the work is not done by friday, i will just get another contractor to finish the job & charge it to his company. can't wait for this reno to be over...

Holes in electrical casing- the electrician really doesnt seem to take pride in his work. holes at bottom of trunking & 'plaster job'. many of these holes all along trunking! hole in wall under the trunking.

mess of paint stained piping, 'plastered' ceiling and wall in my toilet state of windows after purported 'acid wash' & whole hse cleaning.

Just to prove my point, I'm posting some of the worst pictures here. There is no space for all, and many of the defects were repetitive anyway. But just to showcase the work done at my place, here goes: Rusty steel nails used for taps instead of stainless steel ones Holes between electrical switch boxes & casing. (I only took one picture, but it was like that throughout the hse!) Dents on the newly plastered walls. (all over hse) Electrical casing corners with holes due to shoddy workmanship. Almost everywhere the casing has to have a corner, sure to have these ugly holes.

4) Everytime we point out a defect to the ID he will say the same thing: 'if you want, i will change it for you loh'. and that is usually followed with a fake laugh. MACHAM YOU ARE DOING ME A FAVOUR?!?!? COME ON NOW- I PAID FOR IT TO BE DONE PROPERLY. IT IS NOT *'S FIRST DAY ON THE JOB, SO WHY ARE THERE SO MANY DEFECTS IN THE FIRST PLACE?!?! FURTHERMORE, YOU SHOULD KNOW THAT CORRECTING DEFECTS ARE SOMETHING YOU SHOULD BE DOING ANYWAY!!!! 5) The solid surface we chose for our vanity was the WRONG COLOUR- apparantly because '2007 colour different from 2008 colour', and my ID- the person who's supposed to be DEALING WITH ALL THESE, asked the solid surface supplier to call me. The solid surface supplier called me, and said they DIDN'T DO ANYTHING WRONG because it was the RIGHT COLOUR CODE THAT WAS GIVEN TO THEM, and that it shouldn't matter because the COLOUR WAS ALMOST THE SAME. Again. I WAS NOT BORN YESTERDAY and I KNOW THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SANDY AND **** BROWN!! After raising my voice at him, they finally decided to change the solid surface for me. for those who already signed with this company, pls pls pls take pictures & samples of everything you choose so that you have proof, and keep an eye on the work done. I don't know if my ID with * is gonna wake up his idea anytime soon but am prepared to have to be demanding to get what should be done done. am starting to do research on CASE & HDB complaints already to get to know what my options are if they give me more grief. hope you don't have the same experience that I do.

hi guys. i am using * currently and i have one advise: KEEP A ****** GOOD EYE ON EVERY BIT OF THEIR WORKS, AND DON'T PAY THEM TILL THEY'VE COMPLETED EVERYTHING TO YOUR SATISFACTION!!! the workmanship we got was VERY SHODDY. so shoddy that i had a 5 PAGE DEFECT LIST that my ID is going through. The worst part is that the ID feels affronted when we put additions to the defect list & told us that the reno will not be done on time if the defect list keeps expanding!! Here are a list of my grouses with them (ane believe me-there are MORE) 1) Our reno is already more than 3 wks late. We've were promised 6 wks, and we are currently on our 10th wk. And it's always the same thing- 'by next sat, by next sat'. I don't care WHEN it's done, I just want you to have the INTEGRITY TO DO IT WHEN YOU SAY IT WILL BE DONE!! 2) There was so much bad work that we had a 5 page defect list in our home! The ID we had actually insinuated that we were being demanding in having a 5 page defect list. (We typed out all the defects & tagged them with tape all around our hse). But come on, if there weren't so many cracked tiles, holes in grouting, cracked aircon trunking, holes in electrical casing, and stained walls, would any home owner bother to be picky?!?!? FURTHERMORE, an ID is SUPPOSED to LOOK OUT for the customer, and make sure these defects DO NOT HAPPEN! OTHERWISE WHY WOULD I WANT TO GET AN ID?!?!?!? I WOULD JUST GET A CONTRACTER SO THAT I CAN SAVE THE MONEY AND HAVE A SIMILAR AMOUNT OF HEADACHE RIGHT!??!?!? 3) I got an ANGRY call from my neighbour downstairs because apparantly the workers who clean the house just THROW DIRTY WATER OUT OF THE WINDOW- A FEW TIMES THIS MONTH!!! When my bf called the ID to tell give him an earful & tell him to make sure it doesnt happen again- he said that my bf was WRONGFULLY ACCUSING HIS WORKERS & that the water they threw out the window was CLEAN, and just quickly disconnected the line when my bf wanted to say more!!! HOW RUDE IS THAT?!?!?! AND COME OFF IT- you think i was born yesterday and think that your workers suka-suka just fill a pail of CLEAN water to THROW OUT MY WINDOW?!?!?!?!

hi guys. i am using * currently and i have one advise: KEEP A **** GOOD EYE ON EVERY BIT OF THEIR WORKS, AND DON'T PAY THEM TILL THEY'VE COMPLETED EVERYTHING TO YOUR SATISFACTION!!! the workmanship we got was VERY SHODDY. so shoddy that i had a 5 PAGE DEFECT LIST that my ID is going through. The worst part is that the ID feels affronted when we put additions to the defect list & told us that the reno will not be done on time if the defect list keeps expanding!! Here are a list of my grouses with them (ane believe me-there are MORE) 1) Our reno is already more than 3 wks late. We've were promised 6 wks, and we are currently on our 10th wk. And it's always the same thing- 'by next sat, by next sat'. I don't care WHEN it's done, I just want you to have the INTEGRITY TO DO IT WHEN YOU SAY IT WILL BE DONE!! 2) There was so much bad work that we had a 5 page defect list in our home! The ID we had actually insinuated that we were being demanding in having a 5 page defect list. (We typed out all the defects & tagged them with tape all around our hse). But come on, if there weren't so many cracked tiles, holes in grouting, cracked aircon trunking, holes in electrical casing, and stained walls, would any home owner bother to be picky?!?!? FURTHERMORE, an ID is SUPPOSED to LOOK OUT for the customer, and make sure these defects DO NOT HAPPEN! OTHERWISE WHY WOULD I WANT TO GET AN ID?!?!?!? I WOULD JUST GET A CONTRACTER SO THAT I CAN SAVE THE MONEY AND HAVE A SIMILAR AMOUNT OF HEADACHE RIGHT!??!?!? 3) I got an ANGRY call from my neighbour downstairs because apparantly the workers who clean the house just THROW DIRTY WATER OUT OF THE WINDOW- A FEW TIMES THIS MONTH!!! When my bf called the ID to tell give him an earful & tell him to make sure it doesnt happen again- he said that my bf was WRONGFULLY ACCUSING HIS WORKERS & that the water they threw out the window was CLEAN, and just quickly disconnected the line when my bf wanted to say more!!! HOW RUDE IS THAT?!?!?! AND COME OFF IT- you think i was born yesterday and think that your workers suka-suka just fill a pail of CLEAN water to THROW OUT MY WINDOW?!?!?!?! 4) Everytime we point out a defect to the ID he will say the same thing: 'if you want, i will change it for you loh'. and that is usually followed with a fake laugh. MACHAM YOU ARE DOING ME A FAVOUR?!?!? COME ON NOW- I PAID FOR IT TO BE DONE PROPERLY. IT IS NOT *'S FIRST DAY ON THE JOB, SO WHY ARE THERE SO MANY DEFECTS IN THE FIRST PLACE?!?! FURTHERMORE, YOU SHOULD KNOW THAT CORRECTING DEFECTS ARE SOMETHING YOU SHOULD BE DOING ANYWAY!!!! 5) The solid surface we chose for our vanity was the WRONG COLOUR- apparantly because '2007 colour different from 2008 colour', and my ID- the person who's supposed to be DEALING WITH ALL THESE, asked the solid surface supplier to call me. The solid surface supplier called me, and said they DIDN'T DO ANYTHING WRONG because it was the RIGHT COLOUR CODE THAT WAS GIVEN TO THEM, and that it shouldn't matter because the COLOUR WAS ALMOST THE SAME. Again. I WAS NOT BORN YESTERDAY and I KNOW THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SANDY AND **** BROWN!! After raising my voice at him, they finally decided to change the solid surface for me. for those who already signed with this company, pls pls pls take pictures & samples of everything you choose so that you have proof, and keep an eye on the work done. I don't know if my ID with * is gonna wake up his idea anytime soon but am prepared to have to be demanding to get what should be done done. am starting to do research on CASE & HDB complaints already to get to know what my options are if they give me more grief. hope you don't have the same experience that I do.