aubrey

ya i think uncle didnt tell him. i will tell him tonight when i go home. now busy clearing work for my leave. *monday blues*

Haha ya so far so good but i can see a list of rectifications going on. actually my room is also not finalized with regards to my study table book case etc. so we gotta wait and see till tv console is up. :/ here's the link to the spreadsheet for easier planning. CLICK! this is for the party with uncle and jason! for the viewing of my place, just drop me a PM or if my PM is full, write here and I will PM u the details back.

next sat huh. hopefully i can extend my stay by a few more days in the rented house b4 moving back if not u all will see clutter again!

ok major updates over the time i have been MIA! with regards to the "party" i will draft up a excel spreadsheet on google. i will place the link here, you guys just indicate whats a good time then we can work out from there. im kinda just worried over seating. now that there's only me and mom, we dont have lots of dinning chairs so need to think of what to do. jason has confirmed that my carpentry will be up by tomorrow once the painting is done tomorrow, so those who are interested to come have a look, u can do so from 26 may onwards! i am on leave from 27 - 29 may to move stuff home and to pack and clean, if you are interested to have a look, u are welcome to do so! :]

hehe i only asked uncle about jason's ba zhang and today he called me saying he's coming to give me some! really very nice of him! :] and did u chose the black AbS trimmings? looks real nice. i should have asked for it but i didnt, nor did they tell me to! i just told them i wanted white glossy laminates. having black trimmings will eliminate dirty marks esp on the sides u pull out. sigh..

wah great job. is he up for hire??

HI ALL! Just want to give quick and easy update! Will you all be interested to come over to my place for a get together after my reno is done with uncle ah soon! date to be firm up, perhaps maybe early june. can you guys give an indication of when you all will be free? (hahaha a present and post meet up with the man himself, maybe u guys can chase whatever you need to! i will ask jason and try to ask elder goh to come too) uncle will be buying things like otak and satay. my mom and i will try to cook if we can, dependent on crowd turn out. Do RSVP with my in my tblog, my PM folder will be full! anyways, today i will come home to update as my auntie is here and tonight im bringing them out to the cai qin concert as belated surprise gift to my mom for her bday. :] hoping to hear from y'all soon!

hi guy77 is uncle at yr place now? he told me he's going to mang ga kar after my place!

hehehe i have not tried it before as my place is still in the midst of doing it up. also, before we renovated, my mom used undiluted bleach. it helps. but i think u just following what the article suggests, try in varying strength to see what fits.

maybe can try this for grout line cleaning? CLICK

wa looks nice! but its just my 2c. since your bookshelves are placed on the floor, do u wanna consider doing swing out doors to prevent dust? books attracts dust very easily!

why is it that jason say cannot meet? i am not really understanding the situation, only know and fully understand your frustration.

i... cant really tell. i feel so urgh now. i didnt get measurements on site, he drew it before he met me and just passed it to me. well for 1 thing, the book where he draws on looks the same. so maybe its the same guy? i was told he is ah meh, but uncle calls him ah mei. anws mei and wei quite far apart. oh wells.

seriously i dont mind buying! i just want to change all my light switches. they are currently using back the old ones which they took it down during tiling. its dusty with all the tiny bits of dirt inside, makes it hard for me to turn on the light. i really dont mind buying, i asked about it before, i believe it wont exceed $50 for all i need, just some replacements. i told uncle but i think now he wants to tear it all down. i told him dont need! i buy it for him, just provide the labour will do. but he said its okay he will do it. i feel so embarrassed esp when he is not charging me for that.

try vhive! i think they have a good selection. not sure if its 150 but shld not be more than 200.

wheres the pic ar? i only see one of the carpenter's back view.

hi apples, heard jason was at holland before 2pm today, is it your place? my carpenter is called ah mei (its a guy) but i dont know if he is the one that everyone's being talking about, ah wei? i fully agree with that line. the electrician today (shall name him Mr BS) made me so mad earlier when he told me to buy my own switches. when i told uncle just now, he immediately said they're lazy. can u imagine? bugis to little india still lazy. not like woodlands yishun or what. -_- i like this guy called ah heng, he's chinese and quite skinny and introduced himself as a painter. i find him very nice and courteous!

eh a bit jealous leh!!! my house like plain plain!!! no fancy stuff!!!!! but nice to see significant progress. will stick around your blog for more! oh ya, is ah wei also ah mei? cos there's this guy called ah mei doing mine, are they the same person??? wear specs?

another testimony to uncle's work and service. he was supposed to meet me but cant make it since its late. i called him, he said he will be here at ten. then i told him, uncle, its ten! he went silent for a while then said, oh ok ok!!! sorry i cant make it today. no big deal since all that was done was ok, all that wasnt ok will be okay. i got some pics to show u guys but have to do it tmr. quite tired out today. earlier i went over to my house to crack my head over the color of my house. he paint later better. i want to think of more colours! yes i am waterloo, si ma lu, si beh lor, xiao po, sio poh etc yar da yar da!

alright, some time to breathe so let me reply you proper. so that u have my personal opinion on the entire issue. I would like to take what you said in your sentence to set the tone for my entire post: Uncle soon is afterall a man, not a god. I think that line holds true for every person, be it ID or contractor. In short, when I hired uncle, I knew right from the start that I can't have my own cake and eat it too. I have to practice give & take with Uncle and I'm not too bothered when Uncle/Jason does not meet me, unless it's absolutely imperative that they do. Why tolerance? A little tolerance goes a long way I believe. And maybe I am naive but I believe that if I am kind to Uncle, he will return the favour too by being kind. So far Uncle has been nothing but kind, it is hard for one to be mean to him. I can't say I've had an awful experience. Awful is too strong a word. Rather, I would say that I've had hiccups, but who doesn't in the course of their reno? And you can't fully blame Uncle based on my blog. I have highlighted the flaws of my character. Perfectionism is a double edged sword. Liking to be in control is not exactly a trait that is positive by any means. I do largely believe that a part of my ramblings here is really my own fault. Fussing too much with details to a point where it is obsessive. That, you can't blame Uncle. It is solely my personality flaw coupled with my own actions that caused me to "suffer mentally and physically". (Suffer is another word that is too strong!) Don't sympathize, just learn from my experience. And really, to be fair, my cabinets are not up yet, so how am I to say that they are lousy or not? I am quick to judge based on what I hear, which I may not fully comprehend what is said to me since I am not in the trade. With regards to my uneven kitchen wall, Jason has reassured me on many counts that he will source out the shorter tracks for me to install pull-out steel baskets. I did not have to ask, it was offered to me. How is that for incentive? With Uncle and Jason, there is no need for paper documentation, merely a phone call to them and things get done. (however, reaching them may be tricky, but that doesn't mean they are not contactable) Should it be wrong, Uncle will not hesitate to give the order to have it done again. How is that for assurance and peace of mind? In fact when Jason was at my place, he told me he want to have some parts of the wall re-plastered cos it's not nice when to me, it looks perfectly fine! If you are worried that uncle will "chut pattern", fear not. I am not his earliest customer, can be considered a late customer. If he had the intention to "chut", he would have done that to Pet & Native. 1 thing that really got it going for me is that Uncle, probably not educated much, understands the concept of trustworthiness and how to use the internet to build his business. He is so mindful about that, he knows that what he does and what he says is placed here online, he won't want to put that at stake. I think he is old-school yet savvy. What really makes for a good design? Design is subjective. Workmanship, nothing I have to complain about. I just want to add, Uncle gives soft closing drawers with his carpentry. So far all IDs that I go to do not give that out of their own initiative, only when you ask. Needless to say, you have to top up for that. I believe this falls under service quality. If you don't call the rectifications listed above as service quality, I don't know what is. I don't want a nicely designed namecard from you on our first meeting, I don't want you to turn up decked out in a Raoul shirt and pressed pants, don't want you to give me schmancy fancy 3D mock-ups (I like to be surprised) on your 3D studiomax, don't want nice prose in your email to me. What I want is someone who listens to me, to what I want and to do it without me feeling like I put down money for a sh!t job. I have a budget, $25K to be exact. I am not taking any loans from the bank. So I will not entertain $29k quotes, not even a $25k quote unless they promise me that with changes done, the amount remains unchanged. I am straightforward, Uncle is too. Now all that remains is what the other forummers have pointed out: your level of comfort, your willingness to adapt to Uncle's style and how big a budget you have. Hope to see your tblog too if you are doing any renovation. Thanks for sharing with me here. P.S: Ah Tan, the sub-con Uncle hired for electrical work, will be getting Le Grand for me. He apologized on behalf of his staff and quickly told me he will get it done, ask me not to worry. I'm not fussed now. I've had bullsh!t earlier, but sad to say it's from his staff. Maybe I am happy go lucky but half the world is kinda like that now so why be so bothered? Gets you nowhere.

i will kpo your layout in a while!

oh ivy, i just want to point out, my initial meeting with uncle and the following meeting with uncle when he passed me his quote, i was STILL SKEPTICAL. so i asked him, uncle, whats your edge? why are u able to quote such attractive prices VS IDs? His reply: Oh.. I can also wear nice-nice, shirt and pressed pants to meet you and quote you high high. Can ar! You want? My edge is cos I take a lot of orders from shops and its in the thousands (sorry my chinese is not good, i dont know which figure is it, but since his main company is GST registered, i gather that it is by the hundred thousands..?) so at the end of the year, those companies will give me rebates of 5% ~ 10% based on what i order hence he is able to pass on some savings to us. I guess its like Ikea. And 1 thing, uncle's way of dealing is transparent. Which I like a lot.

RAR! i am back in the office. sad to say my job is based on timelines and more timelines so i am no stranger to closing deadlines etc, and this relates to my house. currently i dont have the luxury of time to craft a response to yowetan so that has to wait. i will explain my personal choice in choosing uncle as my contractor and what follows after. also, just a note, do take some time to read and digest what i said earlier with regards to the flux i was in. i was not pin pointing jason nor uncle for the electrical works gone topsy turvy. turns out that the guy i spoke to was not Ah Tan. it was his worker who told me to get my own switches. when Ah Tan heard it, he immediately apologized to me. I was ok, i understand, no hard feelings. So the problem does not lie directly with Jason nor Uncle, but more of the sub-con. Which i feel may be a prevalent issue with other companies. Live and let live. I want to eat O Chang Kee chicken wing! But I don't drink coke nor soft drinks, just those canned teas (lemon, peach etc etc) updates in a bit.

haha ya man, i consumed countless of fast food from the stress, its my comfort food. i am just looking forward to my open house! i just hope my tv console turns out well so those who wants to have a look and copy a little, can come over to see. i shall turn on bob marley now! *don't worry, be happy*

without all of your kind words and help i think i would not be able to cope. very touched! :)