doremi

hi zanie98, feel free to drop by my unit. my person-in-charge is Andy, tik surname is ong. can't comment much on him now cos so far many disappointments were experienced loo~ honestly, now can't c much reno done at my unit. the process was su~~per Sl~~~OW....hopefully they can finish our carpentry and painting next wk then u can c more of their workmanship.... jacky777, just when i tot our billing is solved, chi ho replied me dat we nid to repay them back the debris collection amt in a later date...haiz...abit sian loo. i m trying to ask him to absorb for us loo..just hope dat he can...else, really "one field happy, one field empty" - (direct translation from chinese..hehe..hope u understand). anyway, welcome to kapo my unit too...like wat i told zanie98, now nothing to show u all...actually very pai seh loo cos my reno started on 9 nov and it still look very much unrenovated...haiz....just hope dat Andy (my person-in-charge) keeps his promise and done all the carpentry works & painting by next wk nicely and hopefully can hangover the unit to me by next wk too...haiz....will keep u update...

ms white, jacky777 & all neighbours, happy 2008...thks for your explanation (esp ms white & jacky), really can c the picture le..really glad dat i'm in this forum and lucky to hv such nice neighbours to share info. btw, i apologised for being a 'sotong' earlier...i hv mistaken the town council's "tax invoice cum receipt" as solely "tax invoice" which actually it is a receipt stating that my haulage/debris collection is being paid leow. i only discovered my "sotong~ness" when i go toa payoh town council to pay the fees...hehe...Hence, i olso mistaken my ID (*****) for not absorbing this cost as stated in their quotation. anyway the morale of my sotong story is..hehe..to open our eyes BIG BIG when we received the town council's tax invoice cum receipt. sorry all...but do check wif your ID/contractors for this debris collection item if it's included in your package , tink can be quite misleading...

sorry all that i sound abit confusing....err....trust that you may feel dat we are being invoiced twice by TC. Actually wat i mean is that my ID is trying to say that the haulage fees they paid on behalf also include the fees for debris collection in a way. in their view, the sending of sand to and fro (especially the fro) is considered debris collection....hmm....correct me if i'm wrong as i may interpret their reply wrongly...anyway, it seem to be hidden cost to us loo~ just take note of this debris collection thing and question your ID/contractor if it is included in your package...

Hi M&M, so far, i only received one invoice from our HDB Town council for the debris fee. mine is 4rm costing $176.55. err....i got doubt on this invoice as in my ID's quotation, this item is included in their package yet they said that they are not liable for this invoice. hence, i wld like to find out from our future neighbours here. btw, i get direct answer from my ID's boss. though i did not fully understand what he meant, there seem to be different way of debris clearance resulting in different charges, ie one bear by our ID/contractor and the other bear by us. below is his reply to my enquiry, think it maybe useful for us. his reply: Hi, this fee is chargeable by the Town Council (TC) to use their skip tank as well as cleaning of common areas. For units that require to apply for permit (e.g. hacking of walls, replacement of tiles etc), certain TC will automatically raise the invoice for the charge (some TC do not charge). For those with no hacking works, it is the owner's onus to check with TC. You can refer to this in the HDB renovation handbook (pg 3) The charge that is in our quotation refers to the haulage (moving) of sand and materials to the unit, and the removal of debris from the unit to the HDB skip. You can refer to the 'Haulage' numbers that are seen in your lift lobby, we have to use this haulage service because they are HDB's term contractor (incidentally, the charge is $800 to $1000, depending on flatsize, which we have to pay to the HDB term haulage contractor). The invoice in question ($176.55) refers to the services offered by TC (Namely the use of the skip tank at the bottom of the block and cleaning ofcorridors) but does not include the actual haulage (moving materials) to and from your unit. Furthermore, this amount various from TC to TC (some TCs donot impose a charge at all), therefore we won't be able to reflect this in the quotation stage as we will not know of the exact amount being charged byTC. From my understanding, we have already paid this amount on your behalf. Hope the above clarifies your query. In a way, what my colleague would have been referring to is that TC imposes a charge for the disposal of the debris resulting from the hacking (and also general cleaning of common areas).

ms white, thks for your info..really sian loo~ btw, town council will only charge us once rite?? my reno is not completed yet so is kinda worried dat they will charge me again....haiz......T.T droplet, thks for sharing...wonder whether you will receive the invoice later or like ms white said, your ID/contractor has factored into your quotation.... neighbours, for those dat hv not rec'd this invoice or just sourcing for ID/contractors, tink it's better to ensure dat wat is stated in your quotation include this cost loo. must really ask them very clearly else you may feel cheated like me..... btw, my ID is ***** so those hv not started your reno or thinking of shortlisting them, must really ensure dat this is not a hidden cost to u...wat happened to me, hope it won't happen to u....

dear neighbours, Recently, i received a tax invoice from bishan-toa payoh town council asking us to pay $176.55 (hope i rem the figure correctly) for haulage/clearing of debris. As my ID's quote consist of haulage and clearing of debris, i mentioned this invoice to him, tinking dat they suppose to pay for us. However, my ID said owner shd bear the cost cos this bill was incurred due to hacking of walls. he told us dat those who did not hang walls, will not receive this invoice. he even told me dat if i dun believe him, i can check up with town council. i tried calling and left a msg wif the toa payoh town council but no one get back to me on this. Hence, i called David (the one in-charge of haulage for our blocks) and asked him about this invoice. he told me dat every 4rm will receive this invoice regardless of whether we hack or did not hack our walls. as long as reno is carried out, town council will bill us this amount (for 4rm) for clearing of those rubbish along our corridor. he told me dat usually there are disputes between the owners and the ID/contractors due to this invoice. nevertheless, he advised me dat no matter wat since the invoice is being billed to the owners instead of our ID/contractors' names, we are accountable for the outstanding amount. haiz...somehow, i felt cheated by my ID loo~ can anyone share your advice or experience if u olso rec'd this invoice? thks ....

michell, huh?? cham lah, i olso got dat heater from citigas...T.T our reno hv not completed yet...can we back out from it? btw, i read some said dat for the 1st turn on, we nid to let it runs for a few minutes then after dat we dun hv to turn it off so as to ensure dat warm water will be always available around the house...err...correct me if i m wrong cos hv not started to use it yet...cham ar...so bad meh?

hi datacoat, welcome to the neighhourhood...err...just to share my thots... 1) i m using homogeneous tiles for all rooms due to the cost factor and maintenance wise. heard dat marble nid to b polished over the years....and think it can b very easily stained if we failed to wipe water dat accidentally drip on the floor. moreover, if any furniture (such as wardrobe or shelf) were to place on it, there will b an awful stain under the furniture as yrs gone by...err...pardon my bad english, hope u understand wat i mean...heard dat may nid to wipe the floor wif warm water if we really wan to well-maintain the marble flooring...er....guess dat's wat i heard, hope it helps... 2) i m laying homogenous tiles for bedrooms too bside our living room cos i got one kid 11 mths old...tink more lasting and easier to maintain kua...compare to granite n marble, it's cheaper too~ 3) my id is using blum for my kitchen drawers..but not all the drawers are using blum...tink it's nice loo cos we had a try on it in their showroom. hmm...tink u can try it at millenium walk's harvey norman...there's a kitchen showroom..tink if i m not wrong, they are using blum in their drawers too. accidentally discovered it when my son naughtily opened it up and i accidentally asserting too much force to close it. hope my sharing helps...paiseh..my ang moh not good, hope u understand wat i wrote...!!

hi pink sea79, hehe...guess dat household shelter door cannot b helped leow..somehow feel dat we paying $$$$ for our unit hor then must try to hv everything perfect..hehe...anyway, we din check on the alignment of our windows leh..hahaha... oh, one more thing..i got cement in my toilet bowl leh. dat one hor, i din report as defect..izzit consider a defect hor?? oops...getting "yim jim" again...

Hi neighbours, I nid to check something with you. Can your household shelter door's handle turn upwards (locking position) in 90 degree?? mine can't. I hv reported this as defect but was being told by one officer at the service counter at our building that rectification cannot be done. the supplier told him that civil defence has given them approval and it shd be safe for usage. i wonder whether it's normal that the handle can only be turned to 45 degree with all my "cow" strength...even my hb and the officer can't make it turn to 90 degree. wonder izzit we too "yim jing" (choosy)....

hi gadgetgal, my hb and i went to citigas. we were told by a sales auntie dat they hv 0% instalment for certain bank's credit card holder...if i din rem wrongly, she mentioned OCBC and UOB. think u may check with citigas...!!

dear neighbours, OO...the gathering sure look fun~ guess we can't join you all till we move into our unit. now my son still young, hence nid to bring many barang barang out ..very 'ma fan'...moreover, we dun stay near toa payoh...really look forward meeting u all. btw, my hb and i went to citigas to check on the water heater. if the auntie from citigas did not give us the wrong info, the free water heater shd be Rinnai REU-55CG (W290mm x D138mm x H369mm) costing S$246. There are several cooker hobs and hoods to be selected too. The citigas auntie told us that they can be payment by instalments @ 0% interest. Hence, if you all free, can go and c c look look...^^ Hope my info helps..

hi mrs chrispy:), hehe...dun mind i call u mrs chrispy..^^...actually we still keep in touch wif cindy from image. in fact, she insisted us to invite her to our unit to have an actual view even though she knew dat we hv placed deposit with another ID. She impressed us by giving us more solutions to our problems areas. as for ciseern, we did approach them during the fair but the designer serving us is not the lady boss. the designer's design is so-so. the price she quoted us is within our budget but haulage and a dunnoe wat endorsement fee (approx. $500) are not included. tink if we go back to ciseern, we might feel awkward to get request for change of designer...similarly, tink if we get allen to serve us instead of cindy...we will feel paiseh too. hmm...perhaps allen can do better than cindy but somehow i felt dat cindy had put in many hardwork and efforts to serve us...hence, if we were to engage image, tik most probably we will stick to her. thks for ur advice on the refund of our deposit..^^ tik we will try not to let them earn our $$$ easily..hehe...we seek ur advice again when we asked for refund... really thks for ur info. looking forward for more recommendations of good and cheap ID...

hi chrispy, actually i'm like u, fond of both image & *****. our ID are Cindy from Image and Andy from *****...we feel dat image is more creative but was rather scare dat we can't afford their additional items cos their prices are rather high. hence, we hv place $800 deposit wif orange. initially, we were rather pleased wif andy..however, when we get our keys and let him view our unit. he din really help us much in checking the defects he promised..and when we saw dat his floorplan design can't really work in our unit due to shortage of walking space, he was rather relunctant to change. when we explained to him the problems we will b facing in future, he can't really come out wif the right solutions & keep wanting us to stay to the original design. end up, i was rather frustrated and demand him to give me a new floorplan design cos it's a fact dat his original design can't work at all. he told me dat dat he will amend some of the design only cos they hv done up the 3D visual for the kitchen and don't know which part of our unit (i got no heart to hear his words leow). honestly loo, i felt he shd tell us dat he will try plan something dat is workable of us instead of telling us dat some of the 3D work were done....dun feel the professionalism in him loo~ hopefully, he is not going to disappoint us in the next appointment else we really hv to drop this ID leow.. haiz...just thot dat we hv found the rite ID, we hv to reconsider again and must go search again...really sian loo...the main reason for us to engage ID is cos we don't hv much time to plan and liaise wif contractors...if we really can manage, definitely we will go for contractors...haiz....sian ar....!! if u all got any good recommendations, do recommend to me loo~~

yingsan, we got consider putting dining table into kitchen but tik only 4 seaters can be put inside the kitchen...then the kitchen will be much smaller.....we might b changing our plan cos tik if we were to place the rice cooker, water boiler, warmer, electric kettle, microwave, etc...tink a smaller kitchen might not be able to hv enough space on the table top to put all these appliances...