manutd1972

hmm....looking at the pics, i wld say the installer decided to take the easy way out and ditch the trunking. prob his thinking is, "since going to box up with L-box/false ceiling, no need to use trunking to enclose aircon piping. won't be seen anyway." so he can prob make a little bit more profit by saving on the trunking cost. this, i call, penny wise, pound foolish. cos when the insulation eventually fails and water leakage happens, if owner had bought extended warranty frm GC, GC will hv to bear the cost of fixing the problem. and it sure as **** won't be cheaper than the few dollars that a stretch of trunking costs. this was prob done by a diff contractor as the one who fixed mine. i'm sure GC employs a few contractors to install aircons bought by their customers cos the one who did mine, was very professional and tidy. all works properly done, even including paperwork. also confirm with me on how i wanna run the piping before hacking/drilling/cutting anything.

i don't know what u read abt Gain City's service. My aircon was installed by them. No problems encountered at all. But since then, i have found another plc to buy aircon units from at a much lower price. and they're currently serving me as i signed a service agreement with them. PM me if u wan their contact.

think HDB normally gives up to 4mths to complete reno. unless they changed their policy, it shld still be 4mths. my previous plc took all of 4mths, if i remember correctly. we didn't need to rush and told our contractor to take his time but to do a super good job. we don't want to have to call him back to rectify defects. and true enough, no defects at all after we moved in. he actually completed earlier but he spotted some poor workmanship in the kitchen cabinet (which I couldn't even see during my inspection with him. he pointed them out to me after asking me if the cabinets were ok.) so he had his carpenters redo some of the kitchen cabinets and handed over the fully-done flat to us at almost the end of the 4mth period.

for those who are encountering such leaks or have encountered such leaks, may i ask if all of you are using granite or marble for your counter-top?

do you have any pics to show how the area would look if use LED downlights to illuminate the area?

alright....first of all, to all who still hold onto the belief that IDs are more expensive than contractors....pls pls pls....throw that MISCONCEPTION away. i just bought a 3-rm flat and gave my floorplan to no fewer than 9 IDs/contractors mixed. Quotations from ALL the contractors were higher than the cheapest ID. And some of the contractors even used their "cheap" package to offset the quotation. The price difference between the IDs' and contractors' quotes range frm $1k-$2k to as much as $5k! And might I add, the IDs layouts and concepts were so much better than the contractors'. I would suggest you spend your budget on works that are super-difficult to do when you're staying in the flat. Things like changing floor/wall tiles (wet-works), built-in kitchen cabinets, toilets, re-construct walls etc. 1a) Repainting - can save money by doing it yourself. (can do after all reno completed and before u move in) 1b) acid wash - contractor will do after they complete reno. (not advisable to do this yourself) 1c) plastering - not necessary unless u really really cannot stand the sight of those "bricks" outline of old flats. 2a) floor tiles - do them NOW. 2b) wall tiles only for toilets - doable. kitchen wall can use paint. dirty after a few yrs, just re-paint yourself, save money. 3) kitchen cabinet - do NOW. 4) MBR wardrobe - buy those big, 2nd-hand ones frm factory outlets. u'll be surprised at their condition. i bought a 6ft, 4-dr casement wardrobe(2nd-hand) back in 2005 for $100. Still in good condition and still using it now. So u can save $$ by doing this for nw, and when u hv the $$, get those Lumiera (i think its the correct spelling) wardrobe or do a built-in via a contractor. it won't be as messy so it's doable. 5) overhaul 2 toilets - do them NOW. 6) build up store room - do u really need a store room? if yes, no choice, do NOW. if not, save $$ by not building unneccesarily. 7) rewiring - again, do u really nd to re-position your electrical switches and sockets. if yes, again no choice, do NOW. if not, can save between $2k-$4k, depending on hw extensive is your re-run. as for furnitures, make do wif minimal furnitures for now. no bed, nvm, put mattress on floor. no sofa, its ok, get cushions n sit on floor. no tv console, put tv on floor (since sitting on floor, same level when watching tv, is ok). cos u have limited resource, it's ok to do things temporary for furnishings. i've been there, done that, for my current place. slowly, buy 2nd-hand bargains, wait for Ikea sale or some other factory outlet sale for those storage cabinets etc. u'll be surprised, some things tt we think we must have....might not actually be that critical. we can actually live without them for quite a while.i still dun hv a bed after 7yrs. benefit of mattress on floor - when not sleeping, can just put d mattress up against the wall and walah, u have free floor space to walk around. just my 2 cents' worth. hope it helps in your budgeting and considerations.

i can't remember the cost but i knw that the real, proper double-glazed glass is so effective that it can actually cut down noise by as much as 80%. it was tested against the engine noise created by a commercial airplane's engines. i think it was about 4-5 times more expensive than the normal glass windows.

not necessary must use wrought iron grilles. i should think just using those 1-piece, non-movable window grilles shld suffice. it's a whole piece, no movable parts, i dun see how anyone outside can do anything to the grille to get in other than to cut it.

it is a common pre-conception that IDs will cost more than contractors. i would like to tell everyone that this is not necessarily the case. whatever ur layout, whatever ur ideas are, do give a couple of IDs the chance to show u what they can do, versus what the contractors are proposing. the mistake tt most pple make is that they don't give the IDs a budget to work with. hence, a lot of IDs start designing to the extent of over-designing and when home-owners are given the IDs' quotation, they get scared off due to the high cost. pick a few IDs with several good reviews, give them ur floorplan, tell them in general what u wanna achieve, and give them a budget. it can be slightly lower than what ur real budget may be or ur actual budget. but trust me, wif the rite ID, u will be amazed at what they can achieve within ur budget, when compared to those contractor-cum-IDs.

my suggestion to all who're thinking of engaging such so-called ID firms vs truly-qualified Interior Designers, do re-consider. I gave my floorplan and my desired concept to them as well as a few other designers, and I must say, design-wise, as well as price-wise, the designers were much better than the contractors. i define these firms as contractors as most of them are actually not trained designers. they didn't go to art school to study interior designing. what they have is based on what they've accumulated through their years working in the renovation industry. you can tell the difference between a designer and a contractor when you pose them a design-detailing question. a designer has the know-how to detail a design such that form and function are equally emphasized and the final result is impressive. a typical contractor's solution will more likely be function-over-form, and the eventual design will have a distinct "contractor" look and feel. just to share, 2 contractors quoted me close to $35k to do up my 3-rm flat, with a very very ordinary layout with no outstanding design theme or concept. 2 IDs quoted me $30-$32k, with 1 being able to create a whole lot more use-able space with a very streamlined layout while the other came up with a design that he felt was good enough for his firm to showcase in interior design magazines. he designed the entrance to my place to be very un-HDB, and had a very private property, up-market look to it. when i look at all those information before me, the simple question to ask myself is: "why would I not want to take advantage of the IDs' design knowledge and flair, especially when it won't cost me more? in fact, it'll cost me less."

i met Chang Ming from Fuse Concept at the Home Ideas fair at Expo in mid-Jul. I must say, his follow-up was good. He called me 1 day after the fair ended and told me his proposal for my place was ready. I like his design as he managed to create a lot of space from a small little 3-rm flat, yet with enough storage space for my "rubbish"....lol. It also helped that I felt he and I could communicate and he was able to understand me and what I wanted. Of course, he would also advise me when my ideas are not in sync with the overall design but still left the final decision to me. I met up with 2 other IDs, Plus Interior and **, at the same fair and you can read my feedback on them at their respective threads, if you're interested. I eventually signed with Fuse and I will post more later on as we progress. However, for now, I can only comment on their follow-up, service and designing flair. As far as workmanship and project management is concerned, it will have to be much much later as my reno is not slated to begin until late Oct. So for those who're waiting for feedback on their workmanship before committing to them, don't wait for my comments. It'll be months later....haha.

Kelvin is now with **. Dan, I heard is still with Fuse.

i met 3 IDs at the Home Ideas fair at Expo back in mid-Jul. Plus Interior was one of them. Gave them my floorplan, and discussed the theme that I wanted. Was told by the ID he would get back to me in about 2-3 weeks. To-date, not a single contact from him. No calls, no emails, nothing. The other 2 IDs I met were ** and Fuse Concept. Check my posts in their respective threads for my feedback on them if you're interested.