Felixp

Heyo familyof4, thanks!! I oso wish a "shun shun" reno journey to myself... Good to hear that they will help with colour selection and matching... we are quite clueless on which color, cos dun really have a theme for my place, just something simple and easy to maintain can liao... hehes... but also wana something "modern" and "sleek". U went few times ah? I tot 1 time can settle everything, hehes.

Heyo preciousjam! Yah, i am very excited too. My reno permit just approved today liao. Yeak very efficient, he went apply the night we confirmed the quotation (but without payment), and hence, we can start the hacking next mon on time... Yah, we wanted some1 very responsible (without much chasing) & responsive leh.. so far felt that mr Yeak quite onz... i think he would want to finish our place in time so that can proceed with other projects. Yah, thanks. We'll be checking out hafary and LSH this sun....

Btw, can i ask where do u all select ur tiles from? I know red_devil got from Sin Lek. How abt Hafary and LSH, any feedback? Any other good recommendations? Hmmm....

I oso didnt... i think must be red_devil named only jason ah? Then didnt mention yeak, henner and patrick ah?

Okay lah, cannot luff at u cos u kind enough that time let me preview ur new place leh... yah, ur house got a lot of mirrors, make ur place look bigger... but we liked ur view infront of the living room. Confirmed govt not gg to build anything there? Btw, ur house completed liao hoh... Jason oso very busy, that time wanted him oso, but abit worried he got too many projects.

Oic... hehes, my hubby's family in woodlands at blk 168, so can get xtra grant. Plus we like woodlands cos we were from Fuchun Sec and grew up in this area. Furthermore, go JB nearer. Hehes. But we are at level 3, so can be quite warm i feel. Mr Yeak originally rejected us too, but i called him a few times to ask him when he available, we willing to shift our reno to suit him. Then on mon nite, he smsed my hubby to tell him 1 of his client delayed reno by 2 weeks, so he can take us if we are still interested. Yah, we feel very lucky too. But i think Patrick Ho oso quite "hot" one... so u oso lucky can get him. We emailed him our requirements; he didnt revert at all.

Haha... i think red_devil is too wrapped up in reno works, "broken" very sensitive, means need rectification. Anyway, i went to chk the valuation report again, confirmed the flooring is known as "broken marble tiles". Hehes. The house is quite okay, just that the space at the front is made smaller by the extended stairway while the living room is elongated, which make everything seems abit narrow. So we have to try not to place too many furniture along the hallway. One thing good is the location, which is near to the mrt. We dun have car, so have to be near mrt.

Urs oso valuation leh. We OTP-ed in May, rightfully should get the keys in Aug but we rented it back to the owners at 1.5k per mth for 2mths. So, we just gotten the keys recently. The extra rental income gives us extra $$. But nonetheless, reno + accessories + lightings + furniture/electrical appliances all add up to quite a substantial amount, so we are trying to keep cost down and do the minimum first. Where did u get ur tiles from? Sin Lek? When we are thinking of engaging of Jason/Ah Soon, we went Sin Lek c c look look first cos it's recommended by them. We find the tiles at Sin Lek quite nice leh. But Mr Yeak suggested for us to go Hafary or LSH instead as he felt that their variety is better.

Mine is broken marble. Got good and bad. Cos Mr Yeak said that if we hack the study room wall and damage the flooring in the process, he dun have the stock to replace. Even if he can find, the color and shape/size wont match. So, might have to consider having a counter top along the stretch. We'll see how the hacking goes. Secondly, we prefer pure white or pure dark marble, but this one is white + green bits... but okay lah, considering that we paid below valuation, we take loh... U are getting what colour for your flooring? Jason done the flooring liao?

Guest Toilet (2nd Level) Blue-themed. That's all! Now awaiting excitedly for the reno to start.

MBR All built-in stuff to go as well. MBR Toilet Pink-themed. Shower area; long enough for a bath-tub. But we think it's quite troublesome to maintain a bathtub & not to mention the huge amount of water to be used! We are intending to use individual water heaters as well, but only for the 2 toilets on 2nd level. We are just worried that if the storage tank breaks down, all toilets will be affected, plus we hated the idea of the tank rusting after a few years. On the downside is that we could not install those huge rain showerheads, but might as well, we could save the $$.

The open walkway from the kitchen to the balcony. This will be sealed up with a glass sliding door. Balcony The ceiling to be hacked for the sunlight to come in. The 2nd open walkway from the balcony to the living room. This to be sealed up as well with a glass sliding door. Planning to get new laundry system from Ezzi Living. Stairway Shelves along the stairway. Great for putting display

The Pre-Reno Pixs: Dining Area-cum-"front lobby" This area is made smaller by the additional steps that the previous owners added to the stairway at the 1st floor landing. Accordingly, this is for fengshui, otherwise, it seems like the 'qi' is flowing out of the house to the windows/main door. Hence, this area is too small to be the dining area. We intend to use the study room for the dining area instead; hence, hacking 1 wall to allow light in and make the area more spacious. Study room Considering whether to block up the small window? kitchen All these to be gone; however, will be following the exact position of fridge, sink, hob, hood + oven below the hob & less the messy-ness.

Here's the floorplan: Renovation works required 1. Overhual of kitchen 2. Overhual of 3 toilets 3. Hacking of study room wall - intending to use as dining room 4. Hacking of balcony ceiling & installing roller shutters 5. Installation of 7 ft wardrobe at MBR 6. Installation of new wrought iron main gate 7. Painting of all internal walls + stairway railing + all doors 8. Polishing of marble + parque flooring Total Damage = $37,570 This is the final price quoted by Mr Yeak. His quote is about 2k more expensive than ah soon, but there were certain items that Mr Yeak couldn't do: - Replacement of all dome-shaped doors to rectangular doors -> We are okay with it as Mr Yeak will repaint the doors & replace the hinges/locks for us - He doesn't supply the wrought iron paint to repaint the wrought iron stairway railing -> We'll buy the paint & he'll supply the labour instead.

Hi Supersimon27: Mine's at Blk 356. Where's yours? Hi dannywmp: I hope my stress will subside now cos i felt yeak is quite responsible (I hope I am not wrong!!). Already stressed enough fretting & arguing with hubby over which contractors to choose. Hi Angel81: Yeah!! We are so happy mr Yeak was able to "take us". Cos when we called him 1 week earlier, he told us he was fully booked. But he smsed my hubby on mon's night saying that 1 of his client has delayed the reno, hence he was able to take us if we are still interested. Of cos we are!! We are on the verge of confirming with another contractor; we immed met mr Yeak yesterday and confirm everything by evening... So whoever delayed the reno, a big THANK YOU Hi coffee_o: Thanks thanks! Same same for you oso.

Hi red_devil: U so fast and the 1st to reply ah!! Opsie, i too ganchong liao. I meant the hacking starts next mon, 26 Oct.. Hi amrasenelya: We are hacking the 3 toilets + Kitchen + 1 ceiling roof + 1 study room wall. Not alot of carpetry; we only doing carpetry for kitchen + 1 sliding door wardrobe at MBR. R u engaging Mr Yeak oso?

After months of meeting up with contractors/IDs and comparing, we are finally starting our renovation next week (hacking on 26 Oct 2009) with the entire project expected to be completed in 6 weeks' time. =) Our "hunting" process was in no way easy, and full of hiccups here and there. We are starting this blog just to share on our reno journey, and for those who are interested in engaging Mr Yeak, perhaps, a chance to get a feel of how he work.. Also, would like to thank Familyof4 & Red_Devil for letting us view their lovely homes (and see Ah Soon & Jason's works), for inspiration. Will update with pixs soon.

Hi, Anyone engaged Kelvin Seow? Can comment on his service? We have met him and currently awaiting his quote/design. Thanks.

Hi red_devil, would also like to thank you & ur pretty wife for allowing us to preview your house. I must say it was very nicely done and the white railing looks great too! We are quite inspired, after seeing your place. =p Btw, red_devil, can pm me your aircon contacts. =)

Hi, Just wanna share my experience here abt Uncle Soon. Still at the sourcing stage and havent confirm anything yet. I have contacted some IDs and contractors. Was quoted a high price by the ID, and eventhough we discussed with them for over an hour, they still quoted an amount very much beyond our budget, and brushed aside our concerns over the price, saying that it would be a worthwhile investment in time to come. They also practically forgotten what we do not want, and when we met them the 2nd time, quite a no. of items they presented were not what we had wanted, and they tried to hardsell us to confirm a promotional thingy... I have also contacted another highly recommended Mr Y***. I am not sure if he is very busy, but he actually tell me to call him only when i have gotten my keys. So, cannot comment on Mr Y****.... Other contractors I have met, simply took my floorplan and take down notes of what we wanted, and said will revert with the quotations only after i have taken my keys... btw, i am getting my keys most prob end aug and renovating mid-sep bah... Then there is Uncle Soon. I must say that we must have been quite lucky. He did not fly our kite for our first meeting. As our floorplan was similar to an existing client, he suggested that we arrange to meet him the next day's evening at his client house @ pasir ris (no prizes for guessing right whose flat is that hoh..). When we reached the next night, Uncle Soon was there already with the owner, and he brought us around to see the renovation done. We were quite pleased with what we saw. And he suggested that we call him again to finalised the items to be done for our house like few weeks later. We have not reverted yet. But we feel quite okay with Uncle Soon, and he sounds like he knows what his stuff. The ID we talked to have to take down notes and said that will check and revert to us during the 2nd apptm, however, at the 2nd apptm, there were no updates. If his quote is good, we might take him. All i can say is that uncle soon is the only one we met so far, willing to quote us first and show us his work, despite knowing that we have not gotten our keys. Last, but not lest, i have also contacted Jason. Yup, uncle soon's brother who split from uncle soon recently. I emailed him my floorplan and the details of my renov and he called me the next day to arrange to meet up. He commented that he has an existing client with a similar layout @ pasir ris, can help arrange to bring us there see see look look =). So far, have not met him yet. But he sounded quite hesitant and not sure what to say over the phone, that's what i thought... hmm.. to add my 2cents' worth, regardless of whether u engaged a ID or a contractor, i guess still need to monitor that the works were done according to what you wanted, just that with uncle soon, you need to do more (of cos may be said easier than done). I think being cheap is one thing, you have to meet the actual person and talk to him/her to find out if you are comfortable with him handling ur project.

Helo Familyof4, We went to your place and saw ur hubby there... and uncle soon as well. Really must thank ur hubby. He must have been in a midst of doing some tidying up when we came along and end up, he has to 'entertain' us leh. Anyway, glad we have the oppty to 'sneak preview' ur home and see and feel the stuff done by Uncle soon. We absolutely love many things in ur house - the pebbly floor at the balcony and o/s the common toilet uptairs (uncle soon kept raving about it!), ur kitchen with the gorgeous cabinets, the roller shutter (we are hacking our roof for those too!), the 'open' concept betw the kitchen and the living room (we oso have the wall hacked there at the same spot, we were originally thinking of resurrecting the wall, but after seeing ur place, we wanna do the same instead!), the cubic lights at the stairway, and the cute doughnut basin in the common toilet.. Oh, and ur mbr toilet's door is a clear glass right? COOL! But my hubby says a definitely no-no. I also like ur altar table, was it advised by ur FSM to be positioned this way? We are also gg to 'an' a guanyin in the house, but would be a smaller altar table bought from outside instead. Hehe, we are first homers, so seeing ur place allows us to have a feel of how it's gg to be like... btw, saw alot of masking tapes around, those are meant for rectifications yah? Oh, btw, uncle soon says that the works for our place should be similar to yours, hence, can share ur quotation with the itemised costing (have e smmarised quotation from ur earlier posts without the itemised costing)? Uncle soon says he's gg to give us a photocopy, and we'll work from there what to take out... but i doubt he'll give us soon enough... btw, uncle soon definitely somehow 're-org' his business liao, he told us now he got 'different departments' handling different stuff.... eg. kitchen department will handle the kitchen design... so pro right? I told him u reco him to us, hopefully he will foc more things for you lah....

Hi familyof4, oic... i tot.. hehe... btw, tried calling ur reno uncle today, but his hp diverted to his voicemail... hehe, must be so busy doing ur place... no time entertain new prospects... haiz... my mum just told me today that becos my bf and i will only be getting rom first.. cannot buy bed, cos need to "an-chuan" which must wait after the traditional marriage?? Got such thing? Anyway, will ask whoever we engage as fsm... but quite weird if not getting bed and just a mattress leh...

Hi Hiera, Have u gotten a EM too? Actually we have gotten a BTO's 4rm which will only be ready in 3 yrs' time, but now that with the resale mkt gg lower and that we managed to find a EM near my inlaw's place, we cancelled our bto and apply for resale instead. Oso, have 3 couple friends who have gotten EM, went to c c and sorta got inspired... Familyof4 & Angel88, went to c c ur t-blogs, very nice and cozy, hope that my home will be as nice as urs. Angel88, luvv the yellow bird with cage on the wall and the sticker on the kitchen's glass door, very personallised stamp hoh... familyof4, tried calling uncle soon today, got diverted to voicemail instead, maybe his biz so good liao, weekend switched off hp... neh-mind, will try calling 2mr..

Hi familyof4, It's me again.. hehe.. U bought some of ur furniture in JB? Do they offer delivery into singapore? Can share the contacts? Thanks a lot again...

Hi hi Familyof4, Happy Vesak Day! Thanks, gotten ur PM. My EM is at Woodands, but havent even went for 1st apptment yet... maybe when completed and are getting the contractors to go c c, will let u know.. hopefully Uncle soon will be available.. Thanks very muchie in advance hoh =)) Anyway, the seller's agent just submitted the documents yesterday to exercise the option, still quite a long wait for another 4-5 months bah... keke, but still excited cos will be our first home...