gaku70

I see, Jason will come ahead of time, is it. i thought he will come together with uncle. Haven't choose yet. Today Jason cannot come so haven't got the chance to talk to him yet. BTW when do we have to choose the laminate? Is it the first meeting he will pass the book to me?

If they hacked away part of the door frame, does that mean the whole frame need to be replaced. I do not understand how to patch back the frame that is being hacked. Didnt know you haven't sign too. Looks like we are in the same boat. I was thinking if it is possible that maybe reno completed and we have yet to sign the agreement??

Good to hear that he is quite "on". Haven't got chance to communicate with him yet but looking forward.

familyof4: Ok thanks for the advise. Before going down I will remind him about the appointment and if he can make it or not. Tomorrow will be a busy day. pet: ok no problem. Thought if you need urgently I can collect and drop in your mail box on the way back.

You are right, he is quite young looking but looks like the leader of the pack. If your door frame is corroded, it has to be changed. I guess the young looking man will settle for you on Monday. By the way, didn't sign agreement today as planned. Uncle said not ready. But he asked me to trust him. Told him we will not let him do the reno if don't trust him.

Pet, no need paiseh lah. Looking forward to your photos. Think you are addicted to reno.

Didn't manage to meet Jason so no sample. Today he is busy at Bukit batok so cannot meet me. Tomorrow will also be meeting Jason. Do you want me to collect the laminate samples for you? familyof4: i will be meeting Jason at 3pm.

familyof4: Quite surprised to see the tilers today and four of them, so progress very fast . No chance to talk to them since they told me I cannot enter because they are tiling the hall. Understand from the conversation that they are the tilers from your place. Uncle ask one of the tiler (with spectacles) to quickly finish your tiles at the front door. Think might have to cut the bottom of your front gate. They speak hokkien very fast and some words I don't understand.

Pet: Think you might have misunderstood. Actually we were talking about helping him with the quotes and not the project management. I fully agree with you that project management has to be done by the two new guys that is under his payroll. I don't think we can help in that aspect even if we want to. Didn't know that uncle already has someone to help him on admin. He told me he depend on his son to do the english quote. Perhaps the person handling the admin work should do it for him rather than his son who is in the army. If that is the case, then we do not need to help him on the quotes. I am sorry to hear that the comments you got. Don't be bother by the things that are not true. As long as your conscience is clear, you should carry on to do things that you feel right. In my humble opinion, there are several weaknesses in his current business model. You might want to have a word with Uncle. I think many of us here are willing to offer our help if necessary and I believe with more brains, we can think of more innovative ways of improvements. Having said that, it is perfectly alright if he think it is not necessary. By the way, think Uncle already made a few appointments on Sunday. Really want to let him rest but he told me it's alright since he already fixed the few appointments.

Update for the day. Suppose to meet uncle in the morning. Happy that he called me an hour before appointment to postpone. Went to meet him in the afternoon at the new place. Found four workers there but they do not allow us to enter because doing flooring. Uncle didn't meet us on time so went out to buy food and drinks for the workers. Uncle was about an hour late. Jason didn't come with him. So today cannot discuss anything since cannot enter house and Jason didn't come to discuss electrical and carpentry. Only reminded him on the grouting. Arrange another appointment with uncle and Jason tomorrow. On the window glass, samples were wrong. Colours were black, brown and blue. Window uncle will also meet tomorrow to pass the correct samples.

I don't know if this can be work out but we need many of the uncle supporter to help if uncle agrees. Maybe pet can ask him and then we can work our the demarcation zone. For me working in extreme west and living in extreme east.

Just to share my idea to help uncle manage his business better. My opinion is : Uncle be in the frontline to gather businesses, RFQ, negotiation and signing of agreement only. PA will convert all chinese drafts into english quote. PM will calculate time requirement and submit gantt chart. PA send out quote and gantt chart to customer for approval. After agreement sign, the two PM will take over till deliver. PM will also double as QC to hand over. Currently situation is that Uncle handles Sales, RFQ, project planning, tiling, windows, QC. I think that is too much to handle if the number of project increases. If uncle wants to reduce cost of getting PA. I think many of us will offer our help after office hour. Depending on the location, he can just pass send/fax the chinese draft to us for conversion and we can send softcopy to his son's email address.

Good idea pet. I might want to draw on the wall as well. Thanks. Ya, have to learn how to turn the tides and make thing work more effectively.

pet: I do agree that pasting drawings on the wall helps. My drawing was used to give instructions to the tiler as I can see chinese characters written on it . So I have prepared the pipings drawings, electrical drawings as well and will paste it on the wall. I have also prepared drawings for carpentry as well but no sure how Jason style of working yet. guy, pet: If possible I would like to have the drainage change as well. But I have agreed not to change and also don't want to make things difficult. So will accept it and live with it. Thanks for the advise. growler: May I suggest to call him an hour before appointment to remind him. Every appointment I told him I will remind him but he will tell me no need. After a few aeroplanes, I find that it is more effective to remind him an hour before the appointment. When I reached the destination, I will call him again to tell him that I have arrived. Sorry to hear that you took leave to wait for him and he didn't turn up. I think he might have forgotten the appointment. Be thick skinned and try calling him until he pick up the call. Many of us choose Uncle as his price is competitive and qc is good. That why the projects he is handling gets more and more each day, which is good. I believe he knows about the problem and that's why he has hired two more PM to help him manage. Uncle handles the front part of projects like hacking, tiling, windows, piping while Jason on the carpentry, electrical, painting. So it is important to contact the correct person but overall Uncle is still in charge of the whole project and also the QC. asugama: Painting should be Jason right, so you can contact Jason on when the painting arrangement. I believe uncle will give instructions to the head tiler and delegate to him to take charge. Unless there is special issue, he might not go down as often.

familyof4: Thanks for your help. He assured me as well. The reason I am abit sceptical is due to the slow progress and also missing the previous two schedules that he gave me. I do hope that he can finish on time based on the schedule. I have also mentioned to him that I need to move out end of month. If not I got no place to stay. Really hope to see him doing the magic. pet: From talking to him, I know he is a honest guy and will not cheat. That's why I trust him to do the reno. Only thing worries me is that he is too busy and forgetful. The people that said the "feng liang hua" are the elders and people close to me. That include parents, siblings as well. THat's why sometime very stress when they want to go along with me to inspect the house. I know the intention is good because they do not want me to be at the disadvantage. growler: I think if I insist to change, uncle will still change it but as I mentioned he told me he will incur alot and I also admit I didnt tell him about the drainage location and so I have accepted it. Did he turn up in the afternoon? blue diamond: Thanks. I will ask him to help me expedite when I meet him tomorrow.

A littel update on the progress. Uncle called to ask me can I accept the drainage on the opposite side. I told him cannot accept. The rationale being if I wash something dirty and water flow backward to the drainage and I have to step on the dirty water when I go out of the toilet. He agreed and will change. Called me another half an hour later to ask me can don't change can or not. If change he has to hack the half of the bathroom floor tile and he will be very jialat if need to hack. He mentioned that both of us at fault because didn't discuss where i want the drainage. I agreed that I only tell him where is the shower head and not the drainage. Soft hearted again and told him to leave it. Confirmed with him if tiling can finish this week and today he told me cannot. Earliest can finish next wednesday. Will meet him tomorrow to sign the contract and also on the piping location.

familyof4: Thanks for the update. Yes you are right uncle called me from my place. He has arranged Jason to meet me tomorrow. Told him he also must come to sign the agreement and on the piping. growler: Your tiling is much faster. Mine is very slow. Think uncle is still at my place when he called at 11pm. rierie: It is difficult to ignore especially they are people around you that you interact everyday. I will try my best to be optimistic. I do have faith in Uncle and actually have alot of respect for him. The only problem is that he is extremely forgetful even after constant reminder.

growler: I am not sure if the tiler will be there today. Both time I went down I could not find anyone there. My leaves have also been exhausted by two shutdowns this year and so do not have any left, unless unpaid leave. Uncle say can manage for me before I give him the job. Did you include hacking alone or just tiling for 6 days? If tiling alone, mine is 5th day and now only wall tiles of toilets and kitchen half-completed and one toilet floor complete. I am not sure if the tiler will be assigned to only one unit. For the wrong tile, uncle admitted he forgot about it and will rectify. So I will leave it to him. Thanks for the consolation, about two weeks into the reno and the progress doesn't seem fast as what others here have experience. I was told my whole reno can be completed in 3 weeks and so I give another week buffer. ashes: Somehow I agree with you that they don't do work everyday. Maybe they were being dispatch to other places. I have always reminded him everytime we meet if he can meet the dateline and he always assure me. I was assured me that tiling definitely can finished this week and uncle wanted to arrange meeting me on the piping and Jason on carpentry. When check with him yesterday he told me he need to check. I guess he has check on my place for sometime. Frankly I am losing confidence as there are also external pressure. People around also blame that I should have paid another thousand more just to have piece of mind. I am not moving in because of FS but I need to vacate my current place by 31st May because new tenant is moving in on the 1st June. That's is why I am very stressed up. Now my mover is chasing me for the date on the shifting and I couldn't confirm with them. Most likely option would have to rent another flat within my block but rental rate of $500 a week is quite expensive. I will be really upset if I have to spend $$ on rental if uncle don't delivery on time.

ashes: I did ask Uncle to rectify the problems today but he admitted that he forgotten to tell the tiler and asked me if I can accept. Since I agreed already I should not go back on my words. Those that I cannot accept, like the colour he said he will change it. For the drainage he will check tomorrow. I reckon he has to remove the floor tiles so that the leveling is correct. It will be too much work and that's why I don't think he will change. I believe he will ask me can accept or not. Right now I am still thinking about it. I also asked him can finish tiling this week or not and he told me should be able. Now one toilet 80%, the other toilet 60% done, kitchen wall tile 80%, the rest haven't start yet. Can really finish all in a day? pet: I have not met the workers yet because usually evening time, nobody is there. When I last check during lunch time, also nobody there. Judging for the work done, I guess there is only one or two workers there. Each day only about tiling of 2 or 3 walls. Some days no work done. Ivy: I don't think it's only today but most days. I believe maybe only 2 workers.

Just came back after checking the house. Quite upset today. Progress was extremely slow. I reckon there is only one worker doing the tiling. Living room, dining room, bedrooms all not started yet. I don't really believe can complete by saturday. Bathroom wall tiles colour was incorrect. Reminded uncle on Tuesday when they just started. Now the wall completed. Bathroom mozaic column not correct. Called uncle and he said must hack the wall and asked me if I can accept or now. I soft hearted told me no choice lor. MBR bathroom drainage as suspected was not correct. The drainage was done on the opposite side of the rain shower. That means when taking shower, the water is flowing behind me and that's where the entrance is. Uncle say he will check but don't think he will rectify it because need to hack the floor.

mrspiglet: For the bathrooms the location of the shower head is not the same as the previous owner. So if the tiler follow the same, then the drainage hole will be in the opposite direction. I hope uncle has brief the tiler. Also for the sink, both my bathroom has change locations. I notice uncle has used my draft 3D to instruct tiler on what tiles to use. I can see his chinese writing on my draft. familyof4: I trust uncle professionism but only worry about his forgetfulness.

Thanks for the info. I think I better draw it out and paste on the wall, together with the layout of the water pipings.

Forgot to ask one question: For the drainage holes example like the shower area, do you have to tell uncle where to put the holes or he will automatically do the hole for you?

Just came back from the new house. Abit of hiccups. Uncle suggested changing part of the tiles colour in the toilet a few days ago but forgot to inform the tiler. Heng think they just started the toilet and I see only a few tiles there. Have called to inform him and he told me he forgot to inform when he was at my place today. Lucky got check today. familyof4: How's your reno coming along. Have you done your check today? I see, so only when tilings going to finish or complete than he will appear. I don't know when mine can complete although Uncle say this week. The progress seems very slow. Now only start with some wall tiles. ashes, growler,pet: Thanks for the info, will wait till tiling finished first.

Still waiting for Jason to contact me as I don't have his contact number. Uncle said will asked him to call me but have not hear from him yet. Maybe my reno progress is too slow and don't have to meet him yet. Anyway going to check the reno tonight. Hope my new wall is up fully today.