jaskel

U r right, that the market practice. Yes the contractor apply the permit for the ID and not going to the jobs sites. Anything done illegally, they are still responsible not the ID. Even if he goes to the jobs sites, he still not the one doing, it was still the sub-cons doing, he only coordinate or monitor they are doing the right things. Take eg. of one of the forumer here, she engaged a contractor, the contractor is not licence holder, so he asked another licence contractor to apply the permit for him. HDB inspector came and inspect, saw illegal things done, asked the owner to hack it, reapply permit and redo it again. I arranged a meeting with the contractor who apply the permit to solve the issue cos he will be getting deduction of points and fine if he didn't solve the problems and not a single cent needed to pay him to solve the problems, even if got to hack and redo it again. Same for ID, they only coordinate and monitor. Licence contractors only apply permit, they are not the one doing the jobs. They are given the licence becos of their experience over the 3 yrs of doing the right things on the right time at the right place (following HDB criteria on becoming a registered contractor).

U doing any hacking? If not, $13K for overlay of living, dining and 3 bedrooms may be a bit too much. It cost ard $6K to overlay for these areas and if you select tiles of $3psf only, it will cost u ard $3.5K~ $4K. Providing sand and haulage service of $1050 is also a bit ex. but the total come out to be ard $32K only not $50K unless there are still items u had not posted up.

Normally, painter using Nippon Matex for all ceilings. Some using ICI Mouldguard for bathrooms and kitchen.

For painting, ICI emulsion paint...can be Pentalite and also can be others. A 5L pentalite paint and a 20L emulsion paint can cost almost the same price. So when painter quote cheap, they can be giving emulsion paint only which is a 20L can type (lowest and cheapest quality of paint). Eg, Nippon Matex 20L compare to Easy Wash both also have pure white colour. So u get it...what paint he/she is providing, Wash n Wear, Dulux All, Light & Space, etc... For wardrobe, there is price different, if casement is $200pfr, sliding might be $220pfr. For granite, beside price different of about $50 more pfr, the thickness also got different. Hacking, usually is a one lump sum, but dismantling of air-con is FOC cos, they can sell it away. Mostly your air-con installer will do it for u. Dismantling of wiring is also done by your electrician not the hacker. If u rewiring the whole hse, this item is also FOC. Your windows are also not done by the hacker, it got to be done by the window contractor that the ID engaged, so this item also FOC. All this was added in is to make the quotation look nice and also responsibility, cos without included all this in, they can said u didn't ask them to do. So your actually hacking and demolish cost are the rest and its consider reasonable from a ID quote. Cos by right, the hacker will quote everything that need to hack as 1 lump sum such as toilet flooring and walls, kitchen cabinet, etc...but in this case, your ID just spread it out and itemize it. This way, is hard to for owners to compare item by item. Mostly, I advised owners to compare apple with apple (quoting the same, eg. all quotes $3psf tiles, not this quote give $2.80psf, that quote give $3.20psf, not here give 5 colours all type of paint, there give 10 colours but only Pentalite paint, etc...), that's mean see the total amount without the carpentry (design, material used maybe different, so is the cost). Then this way is the real comparison for quotation. As for dimension I'm looking at are the living (psf), item 4.2 low cabinet, both bathroom (psf), granite top (pfr), etc... quite a lot but regardless. I believe the ID also want to make a living, as long as he/she is not those irresponsible type, the quality of material and the workmanship is good, paying a little bit more may be worth it then saving a few thousands. If u would to read on other threads on contractors or ID here, u will see that some may give a good quote, but in the end, run away with jobs not done or half done. In the end, the hse owners is not only paying more to get others to complete it, but the amount of time wasted, anger suffer, etc...all this is even more than the few thousands that the house owners trying to save in the 1st place. So my advise to all is regardless whether is an ID or a contractor, registered HDB or not, cheap or expensive, most importantly, the person doing up your hse must be trustworthy, responsible and treat it like doing his/her own hse. Cos in this way, the standard will not be too bad. But hse owner should also don't be asking for too much cos to u all, u may think u paid for it or u expect it to be this way, whereas the market practice doesn't do so. Eg, laying of electrical trucking, electrician don't silicone the gap, I know its ugly to see the gap between the trucking and the wall but the practice is that they don't do it. Waterproofing the walls' tiles in the bathroom, only the bottom 100mm is doing waterproofing, the rest is not. Plastering the walls should be straight which in actual case, plastering the walls is only to make it smooth only, etc.... Being a hse owner, I had met bad contractors, being a contractor now, I also had met 100% perfectionist hse owners. So being on both sides of it, I understand how the hse owner and the contractor feel. In a reno, there is no 100% perfect, achieving 80~90% is consider very good already. Being a layman for some hse owners, u all can ask for advise or help here b4 u start to scold or expect your ID/contractor to do this or that cos sometimes u may not know that is the way things done. Afterall they are still human beings and human beings have ego and they do sometimes make a mistake, as long as they rectify and admit it rather than pushing it away, they are consider responsible and good.

So a ID roles is to design, give u 3D drawings, project management your reno, he/she is not the contractor who hack your flooring or doing tiling works. He/she only coordinate, make sure the contractor he/she is using is registered contractor and ensuring they didn't do any illegal works not according to HDB rules and regulations. U pay the ID for his/her project management, coordination, advises and 3D Drawings only. Even doing carpentry works, plumbering, electrical, false ceiling, etc...u don't need a HDB permit to do so.

A ID is a ID, a HDB registered contractor is a contractor. A company can have 10 IDs but only 1 HDB registered contractor and the IDs will still said they are HDB registered. Eg. if u would to look at the HDB website on registered contractor...HDB License No. XXXXXXx, Registered Company : ABC Interior Pte Ltd Registered contractor/person : Ah Long San....from here u can see only 1 person is registered contractor and the rest of the IDs is still IDs only. So only Ah Long San can apply permit thru HDB website for registered contractor not Ah Mao or Ah Kao IDs.

U r not wrong.

wow...last year topic already....now no more using the carpenter lady liao.

There is no right or wrong regard about this issue. It can be install with skirting or not to have skirting behind carpentry. The cost to install is not much at all in this case. Your contractor is also not taking an easy way out too. Cos either the cutting of the skirting to be done by tiler (after installing of the carpentry) or cutting of the carpentry by the carpenter (after installing of the skirting) For a layman to install the skirting (not too many skirting to do), just purchase a marble glue, mix and spread it behind the skirting and paste only. No nailing, no cement. Anyway, its still up to the house owner to decide what they want cos in the end, they are the one staying and paying for it, not the ID nor the contractor.

Hi doob, There are quite a few items dimension being left out which is hard to comment on it at all. And also some details left out too, such as painting, what type of paints are they providing? wardrobe. casement or sliding doors? Supplying of tiles...what the price limit u can choose.....so many factors not in so quite hard to comment on it.....he may give u china granite or India granite 2 different prices...so u get my points? The range can be from $25K-$40K...really also depend on the material selected or given, such as soft-closing hinges like Blum, tiles selected @ $4~$6 psf, etc....

Sungei Kadut Ave, there are more than 20 furniture shops there.

Yes it would spoil the laminate or the internal PVC.

HDB - non concealed wiring. Condo - concealed wiring so more cost for hacking, relocate and plaster back.

Shades of white....what theme u r looking at first?

Had did for other before using craftstone as feature wall.

pfr = per foot run. psf = per square feet

PMed

Your contractor charge u $130pfr....what type of hinges he providing? Cos normally if I was to charge house owner this amount, I'll be providing Blum hinges already.

Installing light fixture @$8 each. Ceiling fan point @ $30 each. Installing ceiling fan @$30 each. Total cost still discount 10%

Does it including of supplying of tiles?

PMed u.

If in terms of other factors rather than cost, the other 2 may have more pros than cons compare with laminate. I have different views with the other fourumer.

If painters and plasterers are from the ID/contractor, then ID/contractor need to coordinate the works, but what if either one of them is engage from the owner himself? A bit unsure on the ugly marks u r referring at? Did u mean 1 patch, 1 patch of different tones or? Btw, are u using ICI Light & Space paint? Just curious.

Base coat is base coat and base coat is not sealant, 2 different material. I do understand your point of view cos I saw your T-blog Sometimes is the sequence of works need to be right. eg. wiring need to be done before painting or after painting? As I didn't know the full picture of it, what I normally see is that painter don't remove casing, they will paint over the casing.