sohck

This Bedok contractor is not a big guy lah. It is a carpentry factory that also does contractor job. If you have a lot of carpentry you will find their price lower. But I am not comfortable with them as their descriptions are not comprehensive enough, think might have hidden cost here and there. Anyway, didn't shortlist them.

May I ask, is the company name W*** and the lady S***, who is a senior designer? I encountered the same at IMM some months back, she was quoting some $57K for my 5rm reno while others are quoting around $20+ to $30K+.

You are referring to the inspection before second appointment? I just did it last Sunday. For me, nothing much, just take a look to make sure that the doors and windows are still around. Am going to renovate the entire flat so I won't mind if the previous owner bring with him the ceiling fan or the lights.

Location is often more important than the interior. We can fix the interior with renovation, but we can't change much of the exterior environment (eg. we can't move our kids' school to our neighbourhood but we may change the door bell).

About a week before the actual date (second appointment). By the way, today is my second appointment at HDB, just got my keys at 4pm today.

Hello, I will be moving to Delta Ave sometime in August. Just got my keys today. Seems like Jalan Membina's track is the nearest to my new home. May I join in?

Congrats to your new home. My parents stay at Blk 48 Strathmore Ave....

Not sure about your (and other forumers') experience, but Ah Soon price is not that low, at least for my case. Just marginally (5%) lower than Baroque's. Moreover, his Chinese quotation is very brief so we are not too sure what we are getting, although I would believe that there are no other hidden costs. Yes, this contractor at Bedok has price that is lower than Ah Soon's, especially in carpentry.

Welcome to the forum!

Yes, appointment at HDB at 3.30pm today, but no sure if the seller will be on time. During our first appointment, the seller wanted the appointment later - the HDB guy asked her to come anytime she likes, as long as it is before 5pm (?). So getting the lawyer to liase with her and we will collect the keys from the lawyer end of day. Rolling pineapple? I did that when I first bought my current condo 10 years back, forgot to bring the pineapple back after the ceremony and the acid from the rotting pineapple actually damage the marble flooring. Fortunately the developer polished my marble back to shine without charge. Yes, we are honoured Ah Soon called us so we will be inviting him to our place. But at this stage we are still not sure if we will give him the business. The other two IDs that we shortlisted are only slightly more expensive (5%), one other contractor's quote is slightly cheaper than Ah Soon's, and we can't foresee ourselves spending 20 hours a week monitoring the progress of the reno.

Strange.... Just when we have decided to give us on Ah Soon (because his English quote didn't come), he called yesterday asking when he could drop by our new place.

Strange. Ah Soon called last night, asking us when he can drop by our new place....

Getting my keys tomorrow. Finally the big day is here....

Checked out the workmanship of Baroque this afternoon. It is a 4rm flat at Queenstown area. Worked done include parque flooring whole house except kitchen, cabinets are kitchen, room and living (shoe rack cum storage) and both bathrooms. We can see a design theme in this house, with a common theme found. The bathrooms are very well done too. Workmanship for cabinets are also very good. So we have shortlisted Baroque for our reno.

Just went to do an inspection of the flat before the handover on Tuesday. Got a chance to look at many things that we didn't notice during the last two visits: - Condition of marble floor is still quite good. Maybe we will just polish it instead of replacing it with homogeneous tiles or overlaying with laminate (save about $3,000) - Windows are still in good condition, but really dirty. And they look like they are tinted somehow. Thinking of putting 3M Solar Film to cut down on the glare and RV. - Window grilles are also in good condition. Maybe just to please my mother, will keep them instead of hacking them. - No rain shower in the bathroom. As we have bought two rain shower hot cold mixers, we will need to check the water pressure on Tuesday or Wednesday to determine if we need a storage heater. - We have two funny corners in mater bedroom and bedroom 3. Maybe we will construct our built-in cabinets in those locations instead of building individual cabinets there. - Most headache, maybe not be able to construct the platform at the balcony. According to an ID, the minimum wall height between the platform and the window has to be one metre. Didn't bring a measuring tape with me but agar agar the length now (without the balcony) is only about a metre. Need to speak with ID on what to do. - Lots of cable running everywhere. Wife is thinking of construction a thin false ceiling just to hide those cables. But according to an ID, the minimum height of the false ceiling is 5-inches. That will make my house look even smaller. Will be inviting all the shortlisted IDs/contractors to my house next week to discuss how they can help us with our concerns. Since the pricing are all within 5% difference, the one with the best solution will get our business. Not sure if we could get Ah Soon on site?

Haha, too many things on the mind, could not sleep well so got out of bed at 4+. Finalizing the details of the reno, so the mind is occupied most of the time.

Hi, glad you have decided on the ID. You are able to pinpoint the strengths and weaknesses of the various IDs so your decision should be good. For me, I will be making my decision in the next few days. I have 13 quotations and have shortlisted to the last three. Just need to view a showflat and we will be able to make our decision.

Thanks lawry. Have you settled your reno with Weiken? Lost track of your blog after it was moved and am concern on the progress. Do update us of what happened.

Welcome to the forum, forkie! So have you found the ID? Tell us your journey of ID hunting....

It is now ok to offer below valuation. We got our 5RM at 40K below valuation!

Your house is a condo? Come with built-in cabinets in rooms and kitchen? Are the floors in living, dining, kitchen and room already done?

Welcome to the forum!

Thank you for your support :-) Forecast of what is coming: Getting the keys on 2 Jun, so photos of existing place should be up by 3rd or 4th Decision of who to go with by 7 Jun Hopefully can start work by week of 8 Jun, photos of progress will be posted when reno starts

Of course we will be checking the workmanship of Baroque, just like what we requested from each of the IDs / contractors who quoted us. The ID we spoke to sound very knowledgeable, friendly and non-pushy. I do not know if he has other deals that he is working on; on the contrary I am not too comfortable with IDs / contractors who have too much on the plate they do not have time to manage your projects, and you have to do it yourself!

For my case, Ah Soon's quote ranks second: HS (contractor), Ah Soon, Ideal, Baroque, cheapest to most expensive in that order. My consideration is that should I engage Ah Soon (as compared to Baroque) for that 5% savings, but having to do lots of project management and supervision myself. Or just throw it to the ID to worry, plus enjoy their design, space planning and color coordination. So this is something we need to think about over the weekend, as we will make a decision who to go with by early next week. PS: Ah Soon's English quote still haven't arrive yet....