binglei

I chose my contractor because: 1) he estimated the project to be able to complete in ~6 weeks, vs others who can only commit in 8 weeks, 2) a few of my relatives have used this company. My renovation started in late May 2017. I check on the progress almost everyday, and if I find anything wrong, will feedback immediately, to ensure less time wastage in correcting issues. Actually, almost all went on nicely, although not exactly perfectly smoothly, until... First, noticed the WC leaking, and discovered a crack. Contacted supplier, who came down and say it is not manufacturing fault, but due probably to handling. Never mind, I'll just pay for another new WC... $348 extra. Second, the gate installation was delayed, although all other works was considered completed in 6.5 weeks. Was told need 10days. Was pretty mad then. I had to postpone the installation of the digital lock for the gate and arrange separate installation for main door and main gate. I had to move in without the gate installed. Consider with the gate installed, whole project took 7.5 weeks, but luckily, we still manage to have 1 week to clean up before moving in. After I move in, came another set of problems. First, noticed the common toilet very smelly. The smell will diffuse to the kitchen and living room and it is very noticeable when we come home from outside. Tried to find the source for 2 days, and narrowed down to the WC. Noticed the cement between WC and floor had a fine crack, and asked contractor to add cement to reseal it or take out whole WC to check if installation was done well (I read in other forums about poor installation that caused the smell). He said he wanted to look first. I was expecting him to come, but he sent his worker to look. It pissed me off, because I find the lack of customer service, sincerity. Not only that, his worker said "based on his experience" is not due to WC, and asked if I'd asked HDB to come and check. I also feedback that the TV point is not working and 2 out of the 3 LAN lines are also not working. His worker asked if my TV is working or not. This pisses me again. It was working perfectly before in my old unit, and it doesn't work in my new unit. To prove my point, I shifted the TV back to the old unit and videoed to show that it is working. Anyway, after resealing with cement, the smell seems to reduce a bit, but still there. Then we realized the smell is coming from the back of the WC, and bought plasticine to block off the hole at the back of the WC. This finally contained the issue of smelly toilet after about 2 weeks. We do not want to reinstall the WC, as we asked a plumber and the plumber said no guarantee that the WC will not be damaged in the removal process. We had already bought an extra WC. I don't want to buy the 4th WC again! I made arrangements for the contractor to send his electrician down to resolve my TV point and LAN issue. I sms my contractor at ~7am+ on Fri, and asked him to let me know before 6pm that day what time he'll be sending his electrician on Sat. I waited till 6pm. No response. I kept calling and calling....and I had to call his co-partner to contact him. Finally got my answer at 7pm+. I was pissed because I gave ample time for him to feedback, yet he did not, and I had to chase. Electrician came. Realized that the cable was not connected to the riser thing, so no signal. For the LAN lines, we had debugged and found the wires of the LAN lines are not following the colour coding, and so when the electrician came, we just told him that. But I just don't understand why he can make such mistakes in the first place. Actually, I wasn't angry with the toilet smelly, or TV/LAN point not working, because I find I learn a lot in the process of finding out the cause of the problems. I'm angry for the lack of sincerity and poor customer after-service of the contractor.

Anyone knows the cost of powder coated mild steel gate vs wrought iron gate? Which is more expensive? And does anyone know how fast it takes to fabricate wrought iron gate? I was told by my contractor the powder coated mild steel gate takes 10 days and that is the main reason for my renovation completion delay.

Also had a bad experience with Hoe Kee recently. So far have not seen good reviews about them. Bought 1 basin cabinet and 1 wall hung basin. There were missing/not the same type screws in both boxes when my contractor wanted to install them on separate days. The first time I had the feedback from my contractor on the wrong screw type, my husband went to change the next day. The 2nd time I got feedback on missing screw from 2nd box, I wrote in to Hoe Kee. Was called up and got a scolding by the man instead. He insisted did not give wrong type, and there is no missing. He said can bring to CASE if I want. But of course it is not worthwhile. Can only try to spread words around to people not to buy from them. It is not worth paying, and get yourself mad for nothing

I also think the quote is not detailed enough.

I think hacking is ok. But I think the wiring is expensive. Eg: supply and install lighting points (12)=$540, rate is $45 per point. Mine is $30 per point. For ceiling fan installation, yours is $70, mine is $50. Install light fitting, yours work out to be $14.40 per light. Mine is $10. Double 13A socket: yours is $90 for each. Mine is $60

Hi all, I suggest avoiding Sky Creation, unless you only want to do things stated in their package. As mentioned in my previous post, I emailed to request for my refund of $2k. I was told that I will get it within 2weeks. 2 weeks passed, we asked about it and they ask for our address to post the cheque to us. OK. We gave and waited. After 3 working days, we did not receive any cheque in our mailbox. We asked again. The person said the letter was surely mailed the previous Friday, and asked us to wait another 2 more days, until the end of the week. Sure we waited. There was no mail. We asked again. Then we were referred to the finance department, who said they mailed it out only that Fri (not the previous Friday). We were told to wait again. Again, by the next Wed, we did not receive the cheque. We were very pissed. Since their supposedly cheque ready date, we have waited 3 weeks. I think they just want to eat our money. From the encounter with them over the quotation, my personal opinion of them is that they are not honest at all, and trying to trick the customer into signing, and ripping them off later.

Hi, I too visited Sxx Creation. As this was the 1st place we visited in our search for ID, my husband was quite impressed and placed a $2k deposit, although I wasn't keen. We too spent 3hrs + there. After the visit, we emailed the ID our list of requirements. He said he'll come to our place 2 weeks later with 3D drawings, and he asked us to go to their website/facebook to find some colour scheme or what to put into his 3D drawings. However we can't find, and asked him through email where. 1st thing I'm not too pleased with is, he did not reply, so how can he do a 3D drawing to my liking? Never mind. Towards the 2 weeks deadline, we had to message him to arrange the time to meet. And he replied, "I was about to message you".. I was thinking, if we didn't contact him, he probably wouldn't contact us too. Never mind again. We met him. He produced a quote, that seems vague, with many missing items, suggesting he did not read my list of requirements. 2 weeks ago, he asked us to send him photos of our current furniture, so he can match to the design. However, the bed in the 3D drawing is nothing like my current, at least color is so different. Never mind about that again. He had another appointment, so he left 1hr + later, and said he'll resend us the updated quote ~5 days later. We did not get his quote on the 6th day, and message him. He said "tomorrow", and tomorrow did not come. We message him again ~10days later after our 2nd meeting, and he said tomorrow once again. This time, he sent. However, the quote is still vague. Only 1-2 amendments, and still missing bulk of the items. To his 2nd quote, I wrote another list, of the missing items, and my other demands. I thought it should be better this time. Now, 9 days later which was yesterday, the 3rd revision of the quote I get is again vague. Like no effort put in. I'm very pissed. And dropped an email to get my refund. I"ve also been to get other quotes. So far, I think Swiss Interior (http://swissinterior.com.sg/) and Chern Hock ID28 (Jeremy:88187272) gave me quite detailed quote, and both prices are relatively reasonable. For Swiss Interior, the quote is expected to be probably ~3-5k higher (final revision not done yet), but so far, I find the service quite good. The ID is responsible, and has a followup. Eg, he said he'll produce a quote in 1week. When 1 week is up, and he needs more time, he'll msg to let us know. I think this kind of attitude is better then just letting people wait and wait, and we have to go chasing. Btw, my quote is in the region of ~65k-70k, so 5k difference is probably not so significant compared to a project that costs 30k.

Hi, I did similar things for ~11k ($7935 + $2760). The reno works are done with Nam Hin Bee Kee Contractor (Alan Neo, 98568258), while the 2 6-ft sliding wardrobes are done with Siong Yee Renovation General Contractor (Mr Lau 90215165).

My mother previously got Mr Lau from Siong Yee to do our built-in wardrobes & kitchen cabinets in my current home. Been 9 yrs and everything still in good shape. My mother said must use solid plywood for wardrobes. I bought my own house recently and also looked for Mr Lau. He charges $190pfr for casement type & $230pfr for sliding door kind. Interested can contact him @ 90215165.

Just to share my findings also. Been looking at Fanco ceiling fans. Just comparing FFM2000 and Light Kits (3Lights) a) SGAppliances charge $188, lights:$50 b) Ngee Huat Electrical Trading $110, lights:$50 c) lightings.com.sg $98, lights:$40 d) Prestige Lights & Fans Specialist $85, lights:$45 However for FF9-48", a) SGAppliances $260 b) Ngee Huat Electrical Trading $130 c) lightings.com.sg $160 d) Prestige Lights & Fans Specialist $160 So... my verdict is to buy separately from different shops.

isiah: pls PM me the contacts for your contractor

immunity: can i have the contact ?