prism

This is a post to air my unhappiness with Mistral. I have a Mistral wall fan, within warranty (less than 1 year) and the pull cord spring malfunctioned (unable to change oscillation mode). Hence I called in to ask for servicing. Then I was told even though it is under warranty, they will charge a transport fee of $15 to fix it. Alternatively, I have to TAKE DOWN THE WALL FAN and bring it to their service center to fix it. What nonsense! How can one sell wall/ceiling mounted electrical items and NOT have free servicing onsite DURING WARRANTY PERIOD? Mistral: "But our contractor is expensive." Me: "That is your business problem, not customer's problem! Forget it, don't fix it. Won't buy anything from Mistral again. Bye"

Furthermore, sand is charged seperately

Hi fellow forummers, Does your contractor charge for application of HDB permit and factor in wastage into labour and cement for wastage in tiling. For example my tiling floor space is 1260sq ft. He charging me for 1400 sq ft of labour and cement which I find strange. Only tiles got wastage I thought, how to labour wastage? The quote is without tiles. I'm also charged for washing the house after renovation. Any comments?

Another question regarding sequence.... What is the work involved for installing glass partition into interior "windows" and installation of window grills? I want to know if those should be done before or after plastering and/or painting. thanks!

Another question...Do carpenters count the foot run of the shared/common portion of L-shaped kitchen cabinet twice? i.e the common connecting section of the L-shape that connects the perpendicular cabinets count twice?

Thanks! That clarified everything up!

I ask this because there are ppl with 40 ft run kitchens in this forum, which sounds big, thats why i'm confused

sorry I am a noob, but what does per foot run encompass? If there are base cabinet and wall cabinets in the kitchen, is the "per foot run" double?. Can someone educate me on this.. thanks

I've seen the ikea kitchen at queensway ikea, find their designs quite nice. Anyone with prior experience with ikea kitchens? Price compared to contractors? I know they have 25 yrs warranty, so quality cant be bad. Now the question is price (comparatively)..

I have the same query. Should the installation for the lights come before or after painting? any views?

Hope I dont mind asking even though this post was so many months ago, but did you save some money by getting tiles yourself and then getting tiler seng to supply labour for you? I'm thinking of such an approach myself to save some cost. Still assessing whether it will actually save cost. thanks!

I was thinking of the same approach for my own reno. Did the carpenter take care of the kitchen project such that he sourced for the plumber to install the sink and pipes and took responsibility for the whole kitchen cabinet project?

because i'm trying to avoid the tai chi for plumber saying the carpenter broke the pipes or the carpenter say plumber broke the cabinet etc. if i can get the carpenter to be the contractor for that kitchen cabinet project, i can make him responsible for fixing cock ups regardless of who messed it up. heh heh..thoughts?

my idea was to divide the whole renovation into sub-projects, so there is one person responsible for each sub-part that has interlinked part. Who takes care of that sub-part will be the most expensive portion of that part. i.e carpenter for the kitchen cabinet since the plumbing should be the "cheap" part. hence that idea of letting the carpenter earn the mark up on the plumbing but at least carpenter not marked up by another contractor. So what i meant is let the carpenter get his own sub-con plumber, then he's responsible for the sub-con liao. In a way, the expensive parts dun get marked up this way. similarly, tiling and hacking wall let a tiling guy handle then hold him responsible for that area. Any thoughts on this?

I am thinking of semi-DIY approach to my reno. Thinking of doing carpentry for kitchen cabinets and worktops and toilet cabinets. But it will involve plumbing works also like kitchen sinks and shower things. Can I get the carpenter to manage the plumber and let the carpenter be responsible for the whole area (of course let him earn mark up on the plumber services). This way I can don't worry about the taichi of who broke who's stuff and yet cut down on mark up on the carpenters work if i get a main contractor to manage whole house for me. possible?