parc_oasis

Hello Everyone, (Part 2 of 3 on our learning's and recommendations from the renovation process) As many of you know we recently finished our house renovation. Quite an exercise considering we were very tight on budget, bought a condo where owner didn't let us inspect the place, and my husband travels every week so monitoring was difficult. As we mentioned in our previous post, we decided to use 2 contractors. 1st Jack (J&S furniture) for all woodwork, 2nd we used Home sweet home renovation (Lina) for all toilet / plumbing / misc. works. This post is to share our good experience of working with Lina. Here is a quick summary: Good things: a) Sweet and professional to deal with - very simple in her dealings. Speak to her on phone and you will understand what I mean. b) No hidden costs - she was transparent in her costing. We did a lot of things with her (basically everything except kitchen and warddrobes). One whole toilet was renovated (whole!) with no hidden surprises. In fact, we kept increasing her work scope as we were happy with her handling of situation c) Direct engagement with some sub-contractors: Many sub cons are related to her by family, etc. So, she was able to offer a decent price and good service d) Service, service, service - BEST PART. She is very responsive, returns call every time and is genuine. In fact, my wife and her bonded so well that exchanged baby tips! e) Very hard working: I have seen her replying to mails at 3AM in the morning. She does work hard for every penny she rightfully earns (And we respect hard work) This is based on not just experience during renovation but 2 months after it (we finished in january end and this is mid march now) For example: 2 weeks there was a concealed pipe burst in our toilet. It was so bad that all 6 floors below us were complaining to management. She came down and inspected in a hours notice (good service!). Today, we found the cause was a pipe damage due to a nail going into the pipe by mistake (sheer bad luck!) while putting up mirror. She accepted her responsibility without much debate ( I am super impressed!) and wrote a cheque on the spot to pay for plumber, etc. 600 SGD returned on the spot!! I don't know if I can find any contractor who will do so. (Please do note that she is not super big contractor with a big showroom or anything - in fact, why pay for someone's showroom - get your cost down ! ) So, guys and girls we highly recommend this god-send contractor. Please do consider us for your contractor works esp. all wet works - tiling, plumbing, etc You can reach her at:homesweethomerenovation@gmail.com or 9329 9934 (Of course she is HDB registered) Best of luck! (Tell her young couple from parc oasis)

Hello Everyone, (Part 2 of 3 on our learning's and recommendations from the renovation process) As many of you know we recently finished our house renovation. Quite an exercise considering we were very tight on budget, bought a condo where owner didn't let us inspect the place, and my husband travels every week so monitoring was difficult. As we mentioned in our previous post, we decided to use 2 contractors. 1st Jack (J&S furniture) for all woodwork, 2nd we used Home sweet home renovation (Lina) for all toilet / plumbing / misc. works. This post is to share our good experience of working with Lina. Here is a quick summary: Good things: a) Sweet and professional to deal with - very simple in her dealings. Speak to her on phone and you will understand what I mean. b) No hidden costs - she was transparent in her costing. We did a lot of things with her (basically everything except kitchen and warddrobes). One whole toilet was renovated (whole!) with no hidden surprises. In fact, we kept increasing her work scope as we were happy with her handling of situation c) Direct engagement with some sub-contractors: Many sub cons are related to her by family, etc. So, she was able to offer a decent price and good service d) Service, service, service - BEST PART. She is very responsive, returns call every time and is genuine. In fact, my wife and her bonded so well that exchanged baby tips! e) Very hard working: I have seen her replying to mails at 3AM in the morning. She does work hard for every penny she rightfully earns (And we respect hard work) This is based on not just experience during renovation but 2 months after it (we finished in january end and this is mid march now) For example: 2 weeks there was a concealed pipe burst in our toilet. It was so bad that all 6 floors below us were complaining to management. She came down and inspected in a hours notice (good service!). Today, we found the cause was a pipe damage due to a nail going into the pipe by mistake (sheer bad luck!) while putting up mirror. She accepted her responsibility without much debate ( I am super impressed!) and wrote a cheque on the spot to pay for plumber, etc. 600 SGD returned on the spot!! I don't know if I can find any contractor who will do so. (Please do note that she is not super big contractor with a big showroom or anything - in fact, why pay for someone's showroom - get your cost down ! ) So, guys and girls we highly recommend this god-send contractor. Please do consider us for your contractor works esp. all wet works - tiling, plumbing, etc You can reach her at:homesweethomerenovation@gmail.com or 9329 9934 (Of course she is HDB registered) Best of luck! (Tell her young couple from parc oasis)

Hello Everyone, (Part 2 of 3 on our learning's and recommendations from the renovation process) As many of you know we recently finished our house renovation. Quite an exercise considering we were very tight on budget, bought a condo where owner didn't let us inspect the place, and my husband travels every week so monitoring was difficult. As we mentioned in our previous post, we decided to use 2 contractors. 1st Jack (J&S furniture) for all woodwork, 2nd we used Home sweet home renovation (Lina) for all toilet / plumbing / misc. works. This post is to share our good experience of working with Lina. Here is a quick summary: Good things: a) Sweet and professional to deal with - very simple in her dealings. Speak to her on phone and you will understand what I mean. b) No hidden costs - she was transparent in her costing. We did a lot of things with her (basically everything except kitchen and warddrobes). One whole toilet was renovated (whole!) with no hidden surprises. In fact, we kept increasing her work scope as we were happy with her handling of situation c) Direct engagement with some sub-contractors: Many sub cons are related to her by family, etc. So, she was able to offer a decent price and good service d) Service, service, service - BEST PART. She is very responsive, returns call every time and is genuine. In fact, my wife and her bonded so well that exchanged baby tips! e) Very hard working: I have seen her replying to mails at 3AM in the morning. She does work hard for every penny she rightfully earns (And we respect hard work) This is based on not just experience during renovation but 2 months after it (we finished in january end and this is mid march now) For example: 2 weeks there was a concealed pipe burst in our toilet. It was so bad that all 6 floors below us were complaining to management. She came down and inspected in a hours notice (good service!). Today, we found the cause was a pipe damage due to a nail going into the pipe by mistake (sheer bad luck!) while putting up mirror. She accepted her responsibility without much debate ( I am super impressed!) and wrote a cheque on the spot to pay for plumber, etc. 600 SGD returned on the spot!! I don't know if I can find any contractor who will do so. (Please do note that she is not super big contractor with a big showroom or anything - in fact, why pay for someone's showroom - get your cost down ! ) So, guys and girls we highly recommend this god-send contractor. Please do consider us for your contractor works esp. all wet works - tiling, plumbing, etc You can reach her at:homesweethomerenovation@gmail.com or 9329 9934 (Of course she is HDB registered) Best of luck! (Tell her young couple from parc oasis)

Hello Everyone, (Part 2 of 3 on our learning's and recommendations from the renovation process) As many of you know we recently finished our house renovation. Quite an exercise considering we were very tight on budget, bought a condo where owner didn't let us inspect the place, and my husband travels every week so monitoring was difficult. As we mentioned in our previous post, we decided to use 2 contractors. 1st Jack (J&S furniture) for all woodwork, 2nd we used Home sweet home renovation (Lina) for all toilet / plumbing / misc. works. This post is to share our good experience of working with Lina. Here is a quick summary: Good things: a) Sweet and professional to deal with - very simple in her dealings. Speak to her on phone and you will understand what I mean. b) No hidden costs - she was transparent in her costing. We did a lot of things with her (basically everything except kitchen and warddrobes). One whole toilet was renovated (whole!) with no hidden surprises. In fact, we kept increasing her work scope as we were happy with her handling of situation c) Direct engagement with some sub-contractors: Many sub cons are related to her by family, etc. So, she was able to offer a decent price and good service d) Service, service, service - BEST PART. She is very responsive, returns call every time and is genuine. In fact, my wife and her bonded so well that exchanged baby tips! e) Very hard working: I have seen her replying to mails at 3AM in the morning. She does work hard for every penny she rightfully earns (And we respect hard work) This is based on not just experience during renovation but 2 months after it (we finished in january end and this is mid march now) For example: 2 weeks there was a concealed pipe burst in our toilet. It was so bad that all 6 floors below us were complaining to management. She came down and inspected in a hours notice (good service!). Today, we found the cause was a pipe damage due to a nail going into the pipe by mistake (sheer bad luck!) while putting up mirror. She accepted her responsibility without much debate ( I am super impressed!) and wrote a cheque on the spot to pay for plumber, etc. 600 SGD returned on the spot!! I don't know if I can find any contractor who will do so. (Please do note that she is not super big contractor with a big showroom or anything - in fact, why pay for someone's showroom - get your cost down ! ) So, guys and girls we highly recommend this god-send contractor. Please do consider us for your contractor works esp. all wet works - tiling, plumbing, etc You can reach her at:homesweethomerenovation@gmail.com or 9329 9934 (Of course she is HDB registered) Best of luck! (Tell her young couple from parc oasis)

Hi, Can someone please tell me about good / reasonable shops for main door locks? (not digitial type) TIA, Lucy

Hi Everyone, We are looking for a ceiling fan for our living room. We are looking for something to go with our contemporary look. One option we tried was the single blade sycamore fans but test run really disappointed us (hardly any wind at all). Our budget is flexible - say 200 - 1000 SGD. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance! Lucy

For parquet polishing we used wood varnish. Main reason price was competitive and some other friend found them efficient. Tip: With wood varnish I didn't realize there were 3 different types of finish - matt, semi gloss, glossy .. make sure you choose the one you want. I am living with something I am not super happy about but can live with it

Tracy, engaging multiple sub-cons can be easier than what you think. We for example had: 1 main wood work guy, 1 main person for toilet (and all plumbing work), 1 person for parquet polishing, 1 person for marble floor polishing, 1 electrician We ensured that within a certain area only 1 person works - for example we redid whole toilet. Gave vanity woodwork not to kitchen guy but person who was doing tiling, etc for toilet. That ways they cannot blame each other incase something goes bad / scratches, etc Sounds like a lot but it's easier than what it seems. The contractors aren't adding much except calling up different sub-cons .. small margin for this value-add is ok in IMHO. But, like in marble polishing we saved almost 800 bucks .. (400 vs. 1200). In fact, we paid 40 bucks extra to marble guy and he was super duper excited. Money went to person who did the work and we feel personally happy doing it. Cheers

Hello Everyone, More than happy to help and share views. Together we are stronger Spidercool - your tip / reference was critical Everyone: Sorry I cannot share my commercial copy for 2 reasons a) It will be unfair to share : we all have natural tendencies to use that as a reference mark and then bargain for more. As I said I doubt if his margins are super huge. But, his rates seem to be fairly standardized (I know 3 other people who got same rates per foot run as I did - this is the base rate he quotes - may be we all managed to get some small tid bits free or say 1-2% discount in the disguise of rounding up figures, etc b) I don't have final commercial copy. May be not the smartest thing to not keep signed latest copies. But, as I said travel and work was insane. We had to keep changing project scope as we went along. So final settlement will happen when Jack has time and husband is in town Update on after service work: Been quite good. There was some noise in wooden platform we had custom made. His guy came down to fix it. No questions asked. Remaining 2 parts coming- targeting this week; Would love writing it from the balcony platform overlooking the lake and sipping coffee. but no guarantees huuh Cheers,

Folks, I posted a review for J&S (Jack primarily). Please go through it. Happy to answer questions, if any (excluding price details - his prices are fairly standardized and after knowing him well for last 2 months I can say margins not super high - so you can be rest assured that no chop chop !) Someone mentioned he didn't show up - happened to me once (and only once) before signing contract - he was frank to admit he was caught up in another meeting. But ALL other meetings were on-time (in fact I was sometimes late!). So, don't worry about that part. He is becoming popular and super busy. But, from what I learn from him he is not loading himself with work he cannot finish. Cheers,

Folks, As many of you would know I went through a whole renovation process. I think it's fair to give back to the community. Background: The house a 3 bedroom condo we bought was in such a big mess that one of family members wanted to sell it the day we got our keys! He even made calls to property agents. (Previous owner made a mess before moving out) Complexity: And, here we were - a pregnant wife and husband who has to travel ovrerseas 5 days a week (every week). Sounds like a perfect match doesn't it? And, yea did we tell you that neither of us has any experience of renovation! Solution: Thankfully, we had a savior and a friend in the disguise of a contractor - Jack (from J&S). We had contacted him before renovation and my husband was so bowled over by his sincerity and honesty that he decided to give him the whole woodwork (and related stuff). Even though it initially felt like how will we manage multiple sub contractors on our own ( we had a whole toilet to be renovated separatley - more on that in another post). In fact, all our friends recommended against our strategy. But, my husband being a management consultant by profession, trusted his insitincts, went against the rationale and trusted sub contractors. (Though selecting right sub contractors was a head ache - somewhat like finding a right girl for marriage !). Anyways, so we will like to highly recommend Jack. Here are some highlights of our work with him: a) Very pleasant and non-pushy personality - was critical for us .. b) No hidden cost - was up front on what else will be needed in job scope (often absorbing it also) c) Reasonable prices - His own factory in sungei kadut - we went there - so no middle man cost d) Good Workman ship - apart from whole kitchen cabinets, etc which was standard ABS trimming and looked neat. We designed a TV console - the output was pretty sleak - someone in fact complimented it to be a italian imported product e) Professional - met each and every deadline, was always chasing other sub contractors he arranged for us (such as granite, glass wall for kitchen, etc) f) Clean and reliable - cleaned each and every thing, added many things to scope, which he accomodated as much as he could despite CNY rush Nothing is perfect and we will also share what could have been better: a) Some rework was needed in putting up console - in hindsight it may have been our laxity or miscommunication from our side. But, jack fixed it within a day. installer spent whole day getting it to husband's desired perfection. We think above also happened because we don't speak chineese. So, communicating with workers was sometime tough. And, we were hardly on site (read once every 3-4 days for 10-15 minutes - simply no time). My husband and I strongly feel that mistakes happen with everyone. It's the approach to fix the problem and time taken which is more important. We give Jack and his team 5 out of 5 on that front ! I will strongly recommend everyone to go direct to them and save (~30-50%) middle man cost. Jack and his team is reliable and it's a win-win for everyone (often sub-contractors like them are squeezed / not-paid on time by contractors). He has lost money in some other works - so please don't squueze / cheat honest people like him. Project scope (for us): Kitchen dismantling, whole new set of kitchen cabinets, indian black granite supply and install, all plumbing work in kitchen - sink, etc, install stainless steel and glass wall panels in kitchen, bedroom wardrobes, TV console, etc Time taken: 2 weeks (yes you read it right in less than 2 weeks we have our house ready - and this is chineese new year peak period !) So, overall we are super happy with him and can only say go, go, go ! Happy Renovation! (Part 1 of 3 - other parts on learning from last 2 months of dealing with sub contractors coming up: Part 2 - Wet works and other sub-contractors Part 3 - Go through ID / Contractor or arrange multiple sub-contractors - time, complexity, feasibility analysis)) PS: His number is 9799 6334

Hi All, My electrician has ran away at last minute (he found value of our work too low!) and I have a false ceiling installation coming up tomorrow. Anyone can recommend anyone!! TIA, Lucy

Hello Everyone, I noticed that some parts of the bedroom parquet floor of my recently bought resale condo were damaged - one contractor mentioned it's because of water seepage, other one because of an old wardrobe being removed from there, and a third one that it's termites / white-ants. The previous owner isn't contactable. We need to make a quick decision. wood work contractor is sure it's not termite. How can I be sure? Anyone has a pest control number to recommend and any idea on how much it cost to call them? TIA, Lucy

Thanks a lot fini ! This is very helpful. Can you PM me the contractor you are dealing with now? Will contact him (and your name if you want me to give a good reference for you) TIA,

After countless trips, endless discussions with wife, and forum searching I booked washing machine / dryer (LG), Refrigerator (LG), and hob + hood from Mega @ United Square. Look for a person called joe. He is a 'deal maker' mentality person (so easy for my husband to deal with). They offer good prices in general. Told him I have prices from X, Y, Z shops already. And, he matched / better'ed them. Overall, ok experience. He knows we have done research so doesn't waste a lot of time haggling. Fingers (tightly) crossed on goods being delivered well and on-time now. Will keep you guys updated. Enjoy, Lucy