adidaem

Oh thanks for supporting my blog. If the chair color is not nice, then change again lor... already painted what. But I think I'll trust your ID for his taste/color coordination. Seriously do consider painting the chairs. I'm glad your ID has suggested painting the chairs cos it shows that he cares about the project. Pity you can't change the ScanTeak sets... not a fan of ScanTeak designs. Lotsa nice DIY ideas on the net like this ombre chair (http://www.designsponge.com/2012/04/diy-project-shades-of-blue-ombre-chair.html) If it's all woody furniture really could turn out quite bleh color wise as I've seen in some homes.

My IDs were willing to nego, dunno if the bigger boys will tho, as Ultimax has mentioned. Don't forget if they have so many projects on hand, they may not want to take on your project if they perceive you as a 'difficult' customer. To be fair to IDs/contractors, there are customers from h*ll too. Those who plan on not paying the remaining XX from the beginning and will kau pen kau boo all the way. For aircon BTU computations, my learnings are in this post: http://emrenoblog.wordpress.com/2012/06/09/hot-nights-and-btus/ Yeah, BTU is impt. Those salesman who dunno better always say standard 9k is enough for living room. So duh lor. Ah... yes fairly popular theme in SG and in RT-ers homes. Have you had a look at the other T-Blogs with that theme? If you are going to get your own furniture (which is fun and I'll recommend to homeowners who have decent sense of aesthetics) these store listings may help? - 20 places to buy mid-modern/vintage/retro furnitures: http://emrenoblog.wordpress.com/2011/06/18/20-places-to-buy-mid-modernvintageretro-furnitures/ - The (unofficial) Tan Boon Liat Building furniture directory: http://emrenoblog.wordpress.com/2012/10/13/the-unofficial-tan-boon-liat-building-furniture-directory/ - Places to buy home accessories & decorations: http://emrenoblog.wordpress.com/2012/03/04/places-to-buy-home-accessories-decorations/

I like the chair painting idea. Why not let your ID try? Will give your place a diff (brighter) vibe since you have all the woody furniture.

Wow huge kitchen! Envious. Love the older HDBs for their squarish layouts. Is that a relite fan?

Looking forward to move-in pics. Any 3Ds or drawings to whet our appetite in the mean time?

My IDs did not agree to use the CASE contract. We negotiated to change some terms, and mainly focused on the payment terms to make it less unbalanced. 5% at the end is too little IMO. I thought furniture shopping was the most fun part of reno really. Plus I think I'm more 'on' about sniffing out sales and deals. Love furniture shopping... so yeah, now that I've done it I wouldn't want to let future IDs shop for me. We also got all the Grohe stuff during their warehouse sale even before we engaged any ID, haha. Sure, if you do contact them do let them know intro-ed by the Mei Ling St HDB. They worked with my contractor to hide all the pipes and stuff, and provided inputs on where to place the blowers to hide the pipes. Also came twice for installation (1 for pipes, 1 for blowers). Stuff I don't think Gain City would do. I really hate ugly ac trunkings so this was really important to me. No prob. I believe you will have more fun shopping for furniture yourself. Just trust your instincts - you know what you like best and not some ID that you have only known for a few hours.

I didn't get the full sketch-up until we signed. But by the time we signed we got a fairly good idea of the design etc cos quotation is based on the design proposed. This was the sketch-up that we got. Some IDs provide 3Ds instead. http://emrenoblog.wordpress.com/2011/07/16/3d-sketches-level-1/ http://emrenoblog.wordpress.com/2011/07/18/3d-sketches-–-level-2/ Aircon we were insistent to use our aircon specialist so that we get proper technicians (and servicing) and not those iffy ones like Gain City. I got irritated talking to salesmen who didn't even know what BTU is required based on the room size. We used Aircon Designs. Some IDs will bring you to their 'preferred' stores, but it's cos they get commissions. So you may want to utilise ur own contacts. For us our IDs passed on the discounts for lights (LightCraft) and toilet fixtures (Toto/W Atelier) to us. They did bring us shopping for the fittings, but for lights in in the end we let them decide cos we trusted them (actually realised that they are pickier than us and we didn't enjoy lights shopping, haha). Furniture wise not all IDs will provide the hand-holding service. In fact I think very few. So if you want that, then you have to find IDs who do so. Anyway furniture wise my IDs and I don't always share the same taste, but I like mine better. Duration depends on the extent of work. Mine was a total overhaul, multiple walls down and reconfiguring of walls. It also depends on the type of design. For mine, cos of the 'clean' look, more work is required... e.g. industrial look with exposed wirings are much easier IMO. We noted down a list of items anyway for budgeting. For some items that require measurements or have space constraints, we asked for maximum measurements - e.g. even fridge also need to know how much space for it in the kitchen right? So we shopped based on those measurements, and once we finalised our purchases, we gave the final measurements to our IDs to incorporate into the carpentry design/measurement. When we started contacting IDs, we also didn't know/think to ask for specific IDs. But after wasting time explaining our requirements to inexperienced IDs, it's something that I will remember for my next reno. Only talk to IDs whose work caught our eye in the 1st place and not to their associates/colleagues who may not share the same sense of aesthetics. I see good design as a form of art that requires a degree of natural talent, plus enough project management experience to pull the design off. Not something to entrust to inexperienced or perhaps not as talented IDs.

Like managing any biz relationship you need a certain amount of give and take. Perhaps a good cop bad cop thing as well between you and your partner. Someone to be the more difficult one. Of course, expectations need to be spelt out. I think I would have been ok with a 10 week timeline if I could afford it, but we couldn't so we asked for 7 weeks. In the end it took 8 with rectifications in week 9. I expected some overrun, and the 8th week buffer was used in the end. From the start we told every ID we meet when we need delivery by. That whittled down the list a lot. Three D told us 8 weeks not possible outright. I think having a tighter deadline means a lot more coordination so not all contractors or IDs can do it. Eg for my study room sliding door, it required 3 contractors to complete: glass installer for door, carpenter for pelmet and painter for touch up. And that is just one small part if the house. I only understood why my contractor said scheduling is hard when I saw how many sub contractors were needed. I gave my IDs a list of all the items with specific dimensions, weblinks to vendor site, and expected delivery date. Think super organised clients. But it also indirectly told them that we have certain expectations i think. Just put things in a nice way and say that you need to know when to arrange delivery. Stuff like basins need to be integrated with carpentry, ditto ovens, hoods n hobs. Even storage heater if you want to conceal in false ceiling. Btw for the more well known ID firms, I think you should request for the specific ID that you like based on the work you see in mags. Why pay a premium for an inexperienced ID right?

That's pretty crazy COV. I wouldn't think of asking for half a mil in COV even though my unit is in prime location and unblocked and renovated. Oh well, really some crazy and very greedy sellers out there huh?

Prefab walls cannot be hacked. "Solid" walls cannot be hacked (knock on the walls and hear the sound). Walls with pipes probably cannot be hacked.

Wow 14 weeks?? Mine took 8 weeks for complete overhaul... 14 weeks is too long man. Poor thing. What stage is your reno at now?

What sort of railings are you doing?

Well, it is always a matter of perspective ya? Buy low sell high, etc. So don't scold the sellers too much. Unless you are willing to sell low next time, else just wish them good luck and move on. As for my place, in this market a 6 fig COV is easily achievable. Not easy to find something similar at this price tho so no plans to move unless I find something I like better. Was quite amused to read this today：http://business.asiaone.com/A1Business/Property/News/Story/A1Story20121010-376698.html

Errr... Now that I am on 'the other side', I hv to admit that I will also ask for 6 fig COV leh. =P Lemme know what you think after you complete your reno and move in.

Uhhh... cannot visualise leh. How do you change the direction? Do you add steps/landing or re-do the stairs? Cos I thought not allowed to re-do stairs. Oh I didn't know that. Thanks. My block the EAs consistently have high COVs too so I thought no diff. Thanks for the informative tips re: Ah Long houses!

Any pics or sketches to illustrate what you mean by changing the landing?

Is COV for EA lower? Wow COV really high now.

Haha. I love nice furniture with nice wood finishing so I know what you mean about being unable to resist. I got a few Air pieces for my place too. Should be worth it if they last. You can try Grafunkt when they have sales too. Finishing isn't as smooth as Air, but design is by Nathan Yong who used to design for Air, so not too bad, tho Hubby much prefers Air for their smooth finishing. Btw re your quote I find it a bit ex compared to mine simply cos I think I did more with the same range... Like glass wall for my bathroom, new main door, sliding door for my LEGO room and glass door n panel n wall for reconstructed study room. And my cost also includes full rewiring plus Cat whatever cable. But it has been a year and I guess inflation matters. Not sure if it helps, but we went to Three-D and didn't find them affordable. Anyway main factor was no chemistry with the ID that we met (not a lady ID).

Oh ya. Was there over the weekend too. Was tempted to buy too. I really need a 2nd house...

The truly 'arty' ones you can kinda tell... not to say that renovators can't do a competent job and deliver a nice house, but they just may not have that designer 'eye'. And of course art and design is fairly subjective. What is art to me could be 'bleh' to you and vice versa. So back to the ID vs contractor question... If budget is flexible... - Worth paying for a proper ID? Yes IMO. If budget is tight... - Worth paying for a renovator? No IMO. I'll rather get an experienced and responsible contractor provided I know exactly what design I want.

There is a difference. But price is different too. Have to distinguish between a 'renovator' and a true 'ID'. Renovators can do a decent job of proposing run of the mill stuff but lack a truly artistic vision. Flip thru the overseas design mags and you can see the difference. Most so called IDs in sg are really just renovators. Are those worth the price? Not to me. True IDs though? Yes, depending on your personal views. See 55 Blair Road as an example... If $60k for total overhaul without stairs and level one flooring, then I think full overhaul would be around $70k? IDs will mark up 10 to 30% more depending on their branding and ruthlessness so you have to decide if gettingtheir expertise and artistic vision is important to you.

You can try going for 60x60cm grey tiles like the one in this project (http://www.homeanddecor.com.sg/project-info/404/Aussie-style,%20five-roomer%20at%20Telok%20Blangah) - just be careful re: tile quality cos some MIC (made in China) tile quality ain't great, so they are warped/not completely flat esp for the larger/longer tiles. I like the Italian tiles from Builders Shop even though I can't always afford their prices. Oh ya, and dark tiles/flooring makes the room/house darker. I think once owners find a decent ID/contractor, they would tend to stick to the same one for subsequent renovations. Otherwise it's always just as hard to decide regardless of experience I think. I wouldn't bother meeting more than 5 though... I guess early signs are that if the ID/contractor doesn't even revert back for 1st appt/quote and need to be chased, then it's a straight 'no' for me. Or having gone through the reno process, if a contractor says that a ridiculously short reno period is do-able, then I'll be very suspicious as well. I do believe in 'chemistry' if IDs are engaged - you just need someone who thinks along the same wavelength. And... an ID who appears very rich makes me suspicious as well. Like we met one who drove a BMW and was wearing lotsa branded stuff. All I could think of was - no wonder the quotation given is so high! Another thing to consider is those who over-deliver... like 3Ds on 1st appt likely means it's taken from an existing project cos 3D rendering is expensive and time-consuming.

Cement will always crack. If you can't stand cracks, then dont do cement. As for powdery, you can apply the Resin coating... Xtr no coating with powdery feel: http://www.renotalk.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=48141 Etc with resin coating: http://www.renotalk.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=47307 Get detailed quotes to compare. Could be under quoting for electricals and PE charges etc. End of the day don't sweat small diff in pricing. Reliability and quality is most important IMO.

Actually the valuation isn't very high for the record breaking unit. Valuation was $805k for 1614 sqft, for a larger floor area and renovated unit. Another recently sold Queenstown EM was valued at $785k for 1560 sqft (unrenovated). Based on my knowledge of the unit valuation in Queenstown, the valuation hasn't moved much since end 2010/2011. Consider that no Queenstown exec hdb have been sold below $800k in 2012, and that those sold were for much lower floor units (that do not have unblocked views). I was already wondering what was the basis for pricing a high floor unit at only $785k before news broke of the new record. I think valuations have stagnated or do not properly consider factors like high floors, renovation and unblocked views, while real/perceived (?) ppty value has gone up and that's partly driving the high COVs now. Apart from items like marble flooring, parquet floor, etc, I heard during house-hunting that most of the time reno cost is not priced into the ppty valuation (also why ppl usually advise don't spend so much on reno). Can anyone confirm or provide more insights?

Just move the stove to another part of the kitchen. Kitchen is big enough to play with the layout.