aubrey

hi and welcome to tblog. pls do post pics of current condition!

ya he does advice on what to do. he said we shld do cornice to hide wiring but i didnt want it. do u all have cornices?? i thought it looked ugly.

heh i have a feeling i will keep playing with it too! btw, your tv console, are they solid wood or do u have any glass in front of them? just asking more onto design-wise cos i know glass u can use remote. if plain wood then must open before u can use.

funny how ppl see 2 females and think they can take advantage of us by quoting high prices etc. now that we have the internet i can easily do a check online. ya i think uncle is very accomodating. so wont have the heart to ask for tons of freebies, if it comes, it comes. but i very happy already!!!

wow that is a good price. ya i think i will get 37" max due to optimal viewing dist. hope they give me like some ntuc voucher. it will be real useful.

wow pics so blur. dunno why my pics also blur then havent had time to take so i didnt. anyways, that is kinda cheap for 42". is it HD ready or? full HD?

@ Lawry wait wait havent sign yet!!! ok la who am i kidding? mostly he will get it already.

heh heh just done say i tell u one, later he just give me shelves too! im sure he will try to throw in some here and there. looking forward to see pics of your new reno!! btw, how much did yr TV cost u?

yup why not! do share how his works turns out to be cos ard the forum, not much uses DeFong so i am keen to see. it can act as a reference also for others looking for a suitable ID for their works. where is your new place and how many rooms is it? hope u enjoy the bits n pieces of reno like picking tiles, laminates etc. and ya here's hoping the tiles turn out ok and hopefully nice and lasting to look at. aiyo 5 years later? dunno if i am still gonna be up for the re-covering. have a nice reno journey michele!

gongkia well definitely! we are waiting for the official english quote to come in hopefully by this thurs. funny, he works quite fast to me! and I can say with uncle soon, i dont really have to scrutinize item by item, just take a look at the final cost first is good enough, followed by going thru the list to make sure all works to be done are in. thats whats good about him. no funny prices. yea i am sure in the course of reno we will need to add things here and there. i am just thinking about tile selection. we might end up picking tiles out of the range given to us. and uncle soon told us his work is under 3 years warranty. im pretty much at ease about that. thanks for sharing your experience, it boosts my confidence in him!

hello hello! glad to hear that u have signed with him! yea if i did not meet ah soon i will most probably sign with jeremy. nice guy to work with, no hidden cost and like u said, reasonable price for an ID. :] i feel very very bad for not signing with him when he has been real helpful so this is something small that I can do for him by giving my honest opinion of him and hopes that he gets an increase in referral biz.. have u started your tblog?? so excited to see! ya the tiles look nice when its new, plus i hv been thinking better not to have it too complicated for bath since its the wettest area and grout will get dirty very easily. as for our kitchen wall.. mom will use wall tiles for whole kitchen. is that easier to clean? i dont want to spend my weekends cleaning tiles..

lawry well did not specifically ask if its blum but i dont think it is cos if it were, wow i am sold just give me the paper i sign now. yar now come to realise that contractors are not necessarily small players as compared to IDs. i heard my friend say, dont mention my budget to them in hope of having them meet it. face it, who does not wanna make a profit? and she added that some may agree to yr budget yet materials used are not the best and overall quality is compromised. guess we cant "press" ppl too much. but oh yr ID really cannot make it. i see all your posts about how she calculated a few corners twice and dare to charge u for that! unacceptable!! pinkpetter actually i do not know what are the things that he FOCs for the rest of those who have engaged hm but wow a fire rated door, dont play play! my mom was so in awe that he just so chin cai, she kept asking me, sure or not!! yea maybe there's some truth in what u saying about just me n my mom only but oh you'd be surprised some ppl are eager to take advantage of us seeing there's no man in the house to "protect" us. and there's a long story behind our renovation as well. i guess i am xiao xiao mei since i think i am younger than u? but i always call him to say i am the si bei lor girl. lol! (si ma lu) mrspiglet are u serious?? in that case can i expect that my wardrobe and any drawers within are anti slam as well as my tv console? oh man!! that is heavenly. :bow: eh this is the tricky part about start date. see im very chin cai. as long as i have packed all my things i am good to go. but my mom will want to pick an auspiscious date... find out how to 'an' our guan yin etc etc b4 starting. she wants to start aft her bday this month did i mention that uncle soon said we can stay in the house while he does the reno if we can brave the dust etc? just that we have to go to a neighbour's place to shower for 2 weeks. i'm imagining the headache to come when i need the toilet.

allo allo! i have a beam too and its in my kitchen. -_- have to take that into consideration as my mom does not want to cook under the beam since some smart aleck ID say no good for feng shui, the beam pressing on u but oh well, whatever she is happy with... that said, i suppose u cant really compare my quote against yrs since yrs is 4rm while mine is 3rm I meaning its the second smallest of the 3 roomers and my quote is alr 23k.. so dont feel too bad and enjoy yr reno!!

ok shall ask for his opinion. i better go check out the software that lawry used for his mockup to try to draw one for my mom. so given what u said about glass i dont think there's anyway to clean it even if we want to?? hmmm... and i shall ask about the granite blacksplash too!

so rinnai is indeed a jap brand??

heh then maybe u try to ask if there's any.. "freebies" or maybe if u choose to add on or change some things he will be ok one.

lawry ya when i asked him regarding the carpentry, he said all anti slam and the dish rack uses some special system (hydraulic??) so it wont slam when u close it etc etc. asugama maybe u try asking?? have u finalized all the items with him already?

ehhh he quoted me 23,300 so far. i asked about tempered glass door ($500+) and collapsible dining table ($200) which has yet to be added into that figure since he will type out 1 in english for me. eh i dunno leh! he offered that.. after the fire rated door.

so did u replace them in the end? wa all these big companies ar... tsktsk.

hello there. personally i know for a fact about tecno range. they have 3 ranges - tecno gas and tecno are made in italy while uno, the lower range is made in singapore. they've been ard for ages for i guess u cant really go wrong. the other one i heard of that has been in singapore for donkey years is rinnai. some said made in indo, some said its a jap brand. i always thought they were indo brand but i guess fact is designed in jap, made in indo. as for oven, i am doing researching as well. same for the hood. dunno if buying all 3 from a single brand helps to secure a nice package price.

gongkia heehee! as i will say to this one friend of mine, "I also say!!" piglet no leh i didnt! but he remarked that i am quite "guai' after my mom and him spoke a little about both their background and why uncle soon has to work so hard now. and actually i think still got a little bit more here and there that is FOC.. :x pinkpetter you will not believe how much she has to gush about him. its a close fight between him and this ID which i have to for. now my mom refers to you as xiaomei after i explain to her how i got ah soon's contact.

so there are three types is it? so far heard of s/s, tiles and glass. heehee have an ah soon qns for u, what does he give as a usual for the backing? and what happens when u have a worktop that is granite? what happens to the backsplash??

is it?? thats odd.. ur reno completed yet? if not try to ask for more??? i asked uncle soon about granite VS solid surface. he said difference is about $300. i was thinking about the diff and he just said, ah its ok la, i do for u la, nvm the difference.

piglet yup never meant to cut too much, just a reasonable range.. the most we shave the cost by taking away certain items in our list that is not a must.. things like tempered glass door or cutting the full length wardrobe to a smaller one. i was kinda under the impression that the drawers are usual ones meaning no anti-slam unless i want to top up for anti-slam. kinda unsure how to design the insides of the wardrobe since its flexible and i am afraid with my lack of experience in planning it will turn out inadequate. shall go and scrutinize all ikea catalog and learn from it. pinkpetter ya that was what i meant since everyone will charge for anything outside of norm. aiya i think my mom is set on using him, she's going on nonstop abt him.

lawry yup jalan besar to poke around since they have all in one, lights/toilet/showers/hoods/hobs/kitchens. shld be time well spent. actually did ask uncle soon about it, he said just collect all the catalog of all i am interested in as well as model numbers then tell him and he will co-ordinate from there. good list of the shops to visit! shall just go along and whack all except for Ho Kee in that case. mrspiglet but 2 toilets is hefty after what i learned from sourcing for reno quotes and surfing on RT. luckily i only have 2 and not more. ya fire rated door is ex so i was quite surprised when he so "shuang kuai" and say nvm FOC for you. and u are right, there's more FOC stuff here and there. pinkpetter there's nothing to not like, he is rather responsive in my opinion and his lateness can be tolerated. i make sure to call him in advance to double check if he is turning up and when he is late i usually just let it be as i understand his situation and do not want to rush him. haha actually i am keen to see his works too. which u reminded me, i totally forgot to ask him if i could view his completed projects when i called him earlier. would like to ask all ah soon supporters, for the kitchen cabinets that he did, what kind of track system does he use for the drawers? is it the norm or something like those anti-slam hinge? and how do u all plan for the shelves & drawers within your wardrobe?? by looking at catalog and then mix and match or???