Rasp

Total Damage: $5500 Free freebies: a) 2 HDMI wires, b) 2 pcs microwave set and cooking lesson for the oven, c) $100 voucher from the washing machine and d) 1 free gift which the shop allow us to choose ourselves (blender, rice cooker, electric cooker, cordless phone etc). We cant decide on what to get. Maybe we might take the slow cooker below. Pretty cool look for a slow cooker. And the glass bowl can be use in microwave also. Hee..

5. Rinnai Hob (RB-2CG) Initial plan was to go for induction cooker. However, HB found that our electricity load might not be sufficient and our electricity might trips if our storage heater, aircon and induction cooker are on together. Hence, we changed plan to use gas cylinder instead. Read that the forum that inner flame was better for Asian cooking. So we narrowed down our search to 2, fujioh or rinnai. Decided on Rinnai, mainly due to its sleek look and the demo that the hoe kee staff do on the fujioh hob didnt managed to impress us as it look more 'complex' than rinnai having to take up more 'parts' to remove the burner for spills. 6. Elba Hood (EFCH 9401) We have no idea which hood to go for as there are some negative comments about rinnai hood in the net. Initially decided to go for brandt slim hood, but we are convinced by the shop that brandt hood was overpriced. This Elba hood have similar look as the brandt one, maintanence wise also similar which is to remove and clean the filter every 2weeks. But there's a huge difference in the suction power between them. Elba suction power was like twice of brandt and yet its price is half of it. Hence, we are sold.

3. 2 LCD TV (42" LG70YR & 32" LH20R) HB decided on these 2 models. Just using the TVs to watch programs, so didnt go for any top-notch models. Think these two should be good enough for us. 4. Sharp Super Steam Oven (AX-1500) We went for this mainly because of its multi-function. It can steam, grill, bake and microwave. We worked out that since we are going to get a microwave, might as well go for this which can microwave as well as steam and bake. Good for saving the worktop space. The 'extra' benefits that come with this oven was it cooks in a healthier way. It reduces fat, calories and salt during cooking. And retains more vitamins in the food. Not sure if they are true. But we certainly hope they are.

We confirmed and bought most of the electrical applicances today. Below are the items we bought: 1. Mitsubishi Fridge (MR-F62U) Our criteria for fridge is quite simple; just big, clean look and easy maintenance. Prefer this over side-by-side fridge as the space inside will be more 'flexible'. This fridge doesn't have any protruding handle which give it a clean and sleek look. And most importantly, it can hold alot with its capacity (>500litres). 2. Samsung washing machine (WA-11VP) We went for top load instead of front load as top load washes faster and save more electricity. Initially, we wanted to go for a smaller machine but heard from many sales assistants that 7.5kg would not be able to wash comforter/curtains/bedsheets etc.. so decided to go for this 9kg. This come with quite a number of functions such as diamond drum, misty shower, silver nano technology, powerful water flow effect, air turbo drying system and most importantly, the magic filter. My current washing machine is using the old school cloth filter which is very troublesome, so I insisted on 'no-cloth filter'.

Thanks. Yah. He's quite efficient. And in order not to delay the work, he told us to inform the window guy to come down to install on the 4th work day (2nd Aug) and reminded us to tell that guy to apply for the window installation permit. We also not bad... started to ask him about the aircon installation date which he said not so soon. Hee.. Roughly when are the aircons installed? 1st week? or 2nd week?

Hi ourwhiteresidence, I like the way you used those plants to enhance the look. Very classy. Do you have a picture that is showing the whole wall of the tv console with the doorway?

Good Morning XBB, We starting on 29th July. Hb got the sms from Henry yesterday afternoon that the HDB permit had been approved for all the works. So excited!!! We almost cant believe it that we called him up last night to check if the approval includes the 2 walls to be hack and all the walls that we are putting up. And the answer was positive. So happy..... We are expecting the worse as almost all the contractors/ids that we met previously, told us that its very tough to get the permit approved and its going to be a long wait for those special permits on the walls. Some even suggested that we put glysum boards instead. Henry told us that he will try his best to apply the permit for us and in the event that its reject, we can work out alternatives around the rejection reason. Infact, he's the only one during our search who can tell us the likely reason for the HDB rejection on putting up the wall (i cant remember well, something about fire exit route to be less than 20m, ventilation etc). So happy that its approved already. And the best part was we signed up with Henry on Sat and its approved yesterday afternoon. Only took 3.5working days to done.

So cute!!!!! Your princesses look so cutey and sweet..... gonna melt alot of heartssss..... Congrats again!!!!! PS. Me just signed up with Henry also. Hopefully everything will turn out well.

Hihi XBB, YEA~ We signed up with Henry. So our 'nationality' is Impressor? Hee.. How's his work so far at your place? I read about your laser chalk. You're soooo pro man. Must share your experience and stuff to take note with me. I quite blur kinda.

Thanks thanks, ivy and blue_diamond. I now headache about the packing. Gonna start the packing this wkend... Really drag it............. Will share some before-pictures after we finish the pack.

Good Morning Angel! We are starting on the 29th of this month. So excited... I am planning my leaves. Any idea what are days that are more crucial for the owners to be around? Hacking? carpentry?

Hi xvirusga76, Your house look good and cosy. I like your glass sliding doors. Did you hack the wall and put those glass sliding doors? It really make the whole place look spacious.

Hihi, I just saw those before & after pictures. Its really a 360 degree transformation. Very nice!!

Hi risis, Welcome back! Your house is really colourful. And yes, those laminate on the carpentry look alike to those in your drawings. Really look forward to the complete look with furniture.

Hi Supersimon27, May I know what brand is your w.c.? We haven't buy our w.c. yet, but will probably skip going into that shop. The after-sale service is really bad. And they seems to sound like they are doing you a favour to exchange for you which isn't it.

Hi DKCH, We also shopping around for the washing machine. Was told if want to wash comforter, curtains etc.. need at least 8kg else cant stuff into the washing machine. Not sure if its true but this was told by different staff from different shops.

Hi hopeless2212, I am with YC. But I'll not recommend any of my friend to them. The gowns are quite limited and the service is quite bad. When we went for gown selection, they just took out 2-3 for me to try. When my hb ask to see more, they ask him to go to the rack himself. Just want to share our encounter with you.

Hi merryman, I understand how you felt. You will feel relief once you settle on one. Don't give up, get more quotes and see compare their pricing. My hb tabulated all the quotes into excel and we compared them item by item. Quite difficult to do as most companies have their own way of quoting (some quote by area, by living room, some lump all together). From there, decide on those items which you can forego or change to other alternatives. The quotation that you posted, I think the hacking seems quite high. Does it already include the removal of debris and haulage of sand?

I see. Same for us, we starting our works before 7th month so as to continue the works. I did emailed some who gave me a call to ask me for budget. After telling them our budget, they didn't followup with any email/call/quotes. I didnt chase them too. I think if they are interested, they will chase me instead. My guess is they probably think its too low an amount to work for.

Thanks Angel81. Sorry, we didnt engage Yeak as my hb is very concerned with delays. But we still think Yeak is a good catch.

Ok, here's our experience during our search for the renovator. We emailed our requirement & floorplan to several highly raved contractor/ID in the forum. 1) Plu*h living - Our email cant get through despite emailing them twice (with and without our attachment). Think no fate with them. 2) Homem*ker - Got their contacts from the net. Sms and email them our requirements. They are fast in their response and called us up to arrange a site meeting at their clients' place which is going to HO soon for us to view their workmanship. Nice workmanship and the ID gave us some 'ID' idea (those nice but hard to maintain stuff). - After which, he bring us back to his office to discuss our layout etc and they emailed the quotation to us in around 1-2weeks time. Pretty on the ball and customer oriented (the ID drove us to the mrt after our discussion, unlike the rest other who just send you to the door.) Their prompt service really won me over and I felt like giving them the job after the first meeting. - However, when their quotation came in, its a different story. Price is slightly higher. But the main thing was..... the quotation wasn't really what we wanted, although we sat and discuss the items together during the first meeting. It kinda disappointed us and made us wonder if he did the quotation himself. 3) Mr Ye*k - Sms him and email our requirements. Didnt get any response after waiting for few days. Called him and he kept emphasizing that he is very packed. Got a bad feeling that he doesn't want to take up our job. But still he said he will check our email and let me know again. - After few days, he called me back while I was travelling back home at around 10pm+. I cant hear him and ask if I can call him tomorrow. He told me to sms him later and he slept very late when I told him its likely to be quite late by the time I am home. I reached home around 11pm+, and sms him if he's available to talk. He called me immediately and discussed with me. During the conversation, he still emphasize that he's very packed, but will still email me his quote. - His quote came after 2 days and is quite reasonable. He's down to our 2nd last consideration. The only concern that hb had was Mr Ye*k's packed schedule and whether the HO will be delay. As we're renting a place during the reno, we cant afford any delays. Hence, hb decided to give it a pass. 4) Ideal Ho*se - Email our requirements and got a call from their ID, Nix. He clarified some of his doubts over the phone with us to come up with a quotation. We met up with him and made some changes to the layout. He gave us some practical ideas and suggestions over some of our concerns. Very nice talking to him and was expecting him to follow up with a revised layout & quotation. But we didnt received anything from him and he didnt call also. Prolly not interested in our job. 5) I-bri*ge (rhiss) - Saw 1 recommendation in the net on I-bri*ge and email our requirements. Got a call from their ID, John who insisted on a meetup and told me he's the senior ID/mgr (i forgotten). Nevertheless, we set up the meeting. The address he sms me was to the I-bri*ge Rhiss, I don't know if its the same company. Anyway, I wasn't familiar with his office address and went to streetdirectory for it. - However, when we found the place from the streetdirectory, its wrong. So I called him up to inform him that we cant make it as we were nowhere near his office. He kinda of insisted that we took a cab to his office and kept saying its very cheap only. But we didn't want to waste $ on these and check if he can meet up at another day/time. But somehow, he insisted to meet that day. So we set up the meeting at the Mac near my place. - He came with his assistant. And during the meeting, he was RUDE. Those ideas that we wanted, he told us that it was VERY UGLY (in chinese, hen nan kan). And kept emphasizing that he was in this field for donkey years and he cant possible bring himself to create such things even if his clients want it. In short, he just kept rebuting our things and jesting at our ideas (some of which was from the other IDs). And some technical words like glysup board or something, we didnt know the right word for it, he jested at us again for our ignorance. - Initially we were trying so hard to make him understand our ideas and he kept rebuting. We felt so angry and didn't want to talk to him anymore. Just want to let him finish his things and stuff so that we can leave 'peacefully'. After the meeting, both of us were very certained that he's 10000% out. Really pissed us to the core. - And after 2 weeks, he called me while I was with my hb and wanted to arrange for another meeting. I wanted to be polite (having calmed down after 2weeks) and told him no need for it as we think we don't have the thing/link with him so its hard to work together later. Guess what he replied? 'Aiya... waste my time.' I was shocked with such a reply and didn't know what to reply. Quite pissed after putting down the phone with him. Thank god, its over with him. 6) Skycreati*n - Similarly, we emailed our stuff to them and their ID Raymond called us for a meeting. Quite a nice chap and pretty frank. He did a layout for us and our discussion was quite ok. He had a album of pictures on their clients' places to share with us. And even show us their procedures, their awards and the forms etc. We didnt go with him, mainly due to price. 7) Impress21 - Sms and email Henry our requirement and floorplan. He's prompt in his replies and emailed a quotation back. We asked to meet up with him at his office, although he had preferred to meet up at our place to do some measurements. - Very down to earth person and advise on the practicality of the items. There are some items which we wanted to do but cant due to budget constraints. The other contractors/IDs will give us cheaper but not that practical alternatives, but Henry will advise us not to do instead. Reason being, they might look good initially but the maintanence etc is probably going to be much tougher and impractical. - Henry's quote is quite reasonable. There is only afew items which Hb was checking with him about the pricing. Its only then that we realised that these are slightly higher as he's using better quality mechanism to avoid future hassle. Quality wise, we read that his work is quite ok and during our conversation, he said he's more concerned with the QC than the owners as its going to be his cost if any retification is needed. - So needless to say, we signed up with Henry. Hopefully everything gonna be smooth.

Hello Newnyew, Read about your storage heater discussion. After using storage heater (inherited from ex-owner), I will choose to install storage heater anytime. Reasons are, better control of the water temperature and good pressure. I used to be scald by the sudden hot water from instant water in my hb's place and my own place. So I think storage heater better suit me. My storage heater is in the mbr toilet and not going to co-share with common toilet.

Congrats!!

Hi freddyprince, Welcome!! We viewed afew top floor flat last time. The most common mentioned advantage by the agents for top floor was that there wasn't much piping in the toilets, infact there seems like none. I am surprised to see that piping. Are you going to box it up?

Hi congzai, Welcome!! I have seen some blog where the owner masked up the pillar in the centre using marble block. Very nice, but expensive also.