wennykoh

Hi, Congrats... Very well maintained EM you got I like your staircase... I didn't like mine as the previous owner wall up the opening facing the living room and make the staircase landing area very dark and non airy...

Hi Mickey, My 1st time visiting your blog and I get very excited abt your curvy layout. Looking forward to see your completed reno...

1st we got Maltese (hb bought her when we par tor), 2 years later hb bought husky (he likes big dog esp husky), again 2 years later leg itchy went to see puppies in pet shop and saw a Westie. Even though we like very much but didn't get her right away. We decided for 3 days if that Westie was still available we would get her to company my maltese. True enough she was still there in pet shop window.

Ya the 20% deposit is $8.6k... My reno just started this week on Tuesday. I will post the ID firm name as soon as I have completed my reno. Anyone is welcome to PM me to know who is my ID. We emailed s our floor plan with the list of reno items we wanna do to 5 ID firms, but only 3 replied and their quotation are $55k to $75k and some didn't even include certain reno items we wanna do in their quotation. We were sort of impress that this ID firm was able to cover most of the things for $43k. On the 1st meeting, we spent 4 hours in his office as he was patiently explaining on every item in details and at the same time giving suggestion eg. not necessary to change window & grill if the condition is good so we can save $$. ID requested to give a 10% deposit in order for them to propose with the 3D artist impression design. We feel that since housing agent has recommended many clients to them, so should not be that bad. 2 weeks + later when the proposed 3D design was done, ID recommended to select tiles. So he companied us to one of the tile shop in Balestier Road. He mentioned that in his quotation that we were quoted $1.60 psf for living room floor tiles and $1 psf for toilet floor and wall tiles, if we selected anything below the quoted price he would minus of accordingly but we need to top up the difference if we selected above what was quoted. We had no idea how much psf does floor tile cost at that time. When we visited the tile shop, we realized that a decent tile at least cost $2.5 to $3.5 psf. I asked the ID where got $1 psf tile, he said got and showed us. Those $1 psf tile range are what 10 - 20 years ago my parents use for their flat. In the end, we had to top up $4.2k for the floor and wall tiles we selected. ID requested us to paid another 10% deposit in order to order and secure the tiles and avoid delay in the completion of the reno. So we paid them another 10%. There were a few revision on the quotation according to my reno requirement eg to do parquet flooring for my 3 bedrooms then more and more hidden cost started to pop out eg. tuas disposal cost of old furniture, change of toilets water piping, etc. As I unsure of whether certain items are necessary, I began to look at other renotalk members posting esp their quotation and realized many items quoted were xx% more expensive. In order not to lose my 20% deposit, I only engaged this ID to do all re-tiling works, except 3 bedrooms, toilets fitting and kitchen cabinets. I was afraid he didn't want to do the cabinet base or water re-piping connection for my kitchen if I didn't engaged him for the kitchen cabinets carpentry. My damage with this ID is $34k. Hi spring, Luckily you engaged your ID for your Sengkang flat before he went bankrupt... I also thought of engaging a contractor instead of ID but my hubby worried that we need to monitor/ coordinate most of the time compare to ID in order to reno to our requirement. Nowadays overall reno pricing doesn't make a very big difference between ID and contractor. I somehow agreed and assuming he had checked around with his colleagues.

I told my agent I only want EM layout with balcony in the kitchen, north south facing, mid floor and above, and walking distance to mrt in Tampines. My EM is the 1st EM we viewed and we liked but not sure if it was the right EM for us, considering the price is actually very much above our budget. After viewing a few EMs including Pasir Ris area and we didn't like any of them somehow even though price is within our budget. I asked my agent if the 1st EM was still available (the next blk val at $575 and asking COV $10k was sold within 2 weeks) we would take it. We just let God decide for us. I was surprise it was still available but marketed by different agent liao. I need balcony that link to kitchen as I got 3 dogs. My dogs will be sleeping in the balcony and use the kitchen toilet

Sometime I wanna vomit blood when I talk to my ID, he always rush off to hang up my phone before I can communicate properly. I bought Series 5 Model: LA40B550K1M for $1399 from Mega Discount Store at Katong Mall.. I also didn't have time to do homework whether the price is reasonable or not... I feel I should have waited for SITEX and compare the price before buying. http://www.samsung.com/sg/consumer/tv-audi...type=prd_detail

The seller val price was $550k and asking COV $10k, we paid $560k. We re-val the place and gotten $570k. Committed very ex EM... not much $$ for reno

Just want to share my EM layout...

Hi red_devil & Angel81 Thanks... Felt so miserable got to face my ID, if I only paid $1k, I rather forfeit $1k and engage other contractor... I thot renovation is something exciting and happy...

Hi Kopi... your window so nice... I hope mine can be as nice as yours...

Hi Spring... Congrats & Welcome... Wow... reviewed 14 ID firms and 10 quotations... very well prepared How I wish I did that too...

Hi Kopi, Thanks. Ya mine is blk 800+ behind the stadium... Now still searching for contractor to do the rest of my place... 4k for window + 2k for grill for EM is reasonable price... I read your blog that you just started the reno, estimated when can be completed?

Thanks...

I should have gone for contractor instead of ID... well 1st and the last time going with ID...

Hi Ossify, Thanks. Ya lor... my friend also said agent surely get commission from the ID for recommending client to them. I kept complaining to my agent on the price quoted by the ID, their service, etc and told him pls don't ever recommend any more client to them... if not others will get chop chop like carrot I had no idea which brand to go for since there are so many brands of household appliances in the market. Bosch seems not bad... Your window 13 panels for $2K is very good deal. I didn't let my ID do my window & grill... his quote $6K window + $3K grill for the whole house... when I saw the quote liao I want to faint ar... In my heart, if changing window + grill is so expensive how come many others are willing to spend leh... My ID assured me their workmanship and quality is definitely better than others in the market, therefore price is also ex... but I'm only looking for durable and affordable, not high end kind of expensive window + grill... I did consider laminate over parquet but laminate can be as expensive as parquet, so I decided to go for parquet for the 3 bedrooms only.

Hi All, After reading many interesting and informative reno blogs, I decided to start mine. I am having renovation blue. ID was recommended by my housing agent. We were pleased with the initial quotation as they could include many things but yet overall fall below our budget. The ID was very patient in explaining item by item in details. Thus, we were informed to commit in order for them to do a 3D artist impression design of our place. He assured us that we were not bonded to commit on all the items stated in the quotation, as they allowed flexibility for us to remove or add any reno item according to our requirements. We had requested 2 quotations from other ID firms prior to meeting this ID and their quotation appeared to be more expensive. Perhaps we did not study their quotation thoroughly such as item by item or clarify and made comparison on materials and measurements quoted. We didn't really do a lot of homework on reno earlier as I trust this ID should be pretty reasonable in pricing, since my agent has recommended many clients to them. Due to budget was very tight to the extend that we need to go for reno loan in order to reserve some cash to buy the fitting for the house. I began to carefully look through every items quoted, seek for advise as well as compare with some Renotalk members who did the same reno. To my horror, I noted that many items quoted was 30%-60% higher than what others paid. For example, I was quoted $6k to change the whole house sliding window, whereas other having the same type of hdb and changed the whole house window to partial sliding and casement only paid for $4k+. Thus I highlighted to my ID that others paid less for the same type of reno and asked him to match it, if he couldn't match, I had to remove those items. Finally, I omitted many items such as window, window grills, main gate, parquet flooring, false ceiling, electrical wiring point, supply and install air-con as managed to engage various suppliers directly. He said that he was not angry for not allowing him to do many items. He only wanted us not to engage other party to reno at the same time in order to avoid trouble like other supplier using illegal workers. We understood and agreed. Since we were going to change all the floor tiles except the bedrooms, I requested my ID to hack away the current bedrooms tile skirting and plaster it at an additional cost that we were ready to pay in order to install parquet floor later on. He refused to do it for us as we did not engage him to install the parquet. I told him since your workers would be hacking the whole house flooring, why they couldn't do the hacking to the bedrooms skirting. His explained that it was different kind of hacking. Till this date I could not accept his explanation. I had no choice but to look for contractor who could and willing to do this bit of reno which my ID die die also refused to do for us. Well, the above is only part of my unpleasant experience with this ID. Totally regret in hiring him and his attitude xxxx after we signed on the dotted line and paid the deposit. I got scolded for not having any technical knowledge of house reno and yet request things to be done my way. In order to not to lose the 20% deposit, I have to go ahead to engage him with the minimal reno work such as do up the all the toilets, change all the floor tiles and kitchen cabinets.

Hi Cher, Wow... love everything about your house...

Hi Pinkydot, Congrats... my EM is the same layout as yours. I'm starting my reno next Monday.

Just to share on materials tips for reno http://www.nobel.com.sg/WhiteBoard%20Renov...ovationMain.htm Hope it is useful.

Hi Decruz, Did you replace your entire house window? How much does it cost? Thanks.

Welcome. We are in similar situation, bought an EM that is over our budget and left with not much $$ for reno + fitting + furniture. After comparing 3 IDs' quotation, finally engaged an ID that enable to meet our budget on item we wanna do but realized many items quoted is 30% to 60% more expensive (eg. my thread above on my window quotation) and many hidden cost start to pop out here and there. As we have already paid 20% deposit, we have no choice but allow them to do the minimal while many items we decided to outsource to various suppliers. Good luck with ID/ contractor hunting.

Hi Tiler Seng, My HDB is Exec Maisonette. Please quote & PM me the following items individually: 1st Floor: Hack off existing living, dining, utility & balcony floor tiles Removal of balcony sliding glass/aluminum door and frame + re plastering Hack off existing toilet floor & wall tiles - 1st fl common toilet Dismantle existing kitchen cabinet Hack off kitchen floor tiles Hack off existing kitchen wall tiles Demolish wall between kitchen and living Hacking of false pillars and arch in between utility & living room. (2 pillars joining 1 arch) 2nd Floor: Dismantle existing built in all 3 bedrooms built in furniture - 2nd fl Dismantle existing doors and door frames - 2nd fl Hack off the floor tile skirting + re-plastering - 2nd fl 3 bedrooms Hack off existing floor and wall tiles - 2nd fl common toilet Hack off existing floor & Wall tiles - 2nd fl master toilet Disposal cost on the above Staircase currently is tiled, would like to plaster the tiles on the step & riser in order to over with the teak board on the step later part. Many thanks.

Despite we had 2 very unpleasant experience with hiring housing agent. we felt hiring an agent could save us a lot of time to source on our own as well as getting all the paper work done. At the same time to avoid being talk into buying a flat not what we wanted by seller's agent. Just because the seller's agent wanted to close the sale quickly. Therefore we engaged an agent and specified the flat layout, the street, the blk, certain floors and above, NS facing, 1st unit from lift, etc. and neg with him on the commission. If he could find what the flat we were looking, then contact us for viewing or else don't waste time. Our agent did the negotiation on the pricing according to what we wanted with the seller's agent and he did all the paper work for us, which actually save us a lot of time. The seller's agent talked us into delaying the completion of the purchase by more than 3 months upon signing the OTP exercise form in order to give the seller time to buy another re-sale flat. We were almost ok with the completion delay, as the seller (old folks) for some reason not convenience to stay in one of their daughter's flat before getting their own place. Our agent pointed out immediately, that our property evaluation report would expire and we need to do a new evaluation in order to get the bank loan. Finally came towards the completion of the whole purchase, the seller again tried to talk us into agreeing to let them extend their stay for 1 or 2 months by helping us to pay for 1/2 of our monthly installment. My agent immediately told them if the buyer agreed to allow them to extend, they must agree to pay the buyer's monthly installment in full. Finally we agreed with the extension of 1 month stay, my agent drafted the agreement contract, got them to endorse and collect the cheque payment for us. Touch wood, if after the 1 month extension of stay agreement contract ends, the seller refuse to vacate their stay, we would again get our agent to act on our behalf to solve the unpleasant situation.

Hi Ripples, Do mind to pm me your shower screen supplier/contractor number. I'm looking to do for my 2 bathroom. My current ID quoted me $580 per toilet just for the fixed tempered glass panel excluding the swing door. Thanks.

Keep away the peekers: Nice row of plants placed right in front of your corridor window. Definitely a very good idea to keep away the peekers.