JonsMom

sorry, too busy these few days. allow to upload some pics after back to office.

not really a lot of dust. we put a set of broom and dustpan in the house. workers usually use them to clear the dust after they finsihed their works. also, all our furniture delivered yesterday, I scare the cleaning workers might not take care of them when cleaning. I tend to take one day off to clean the house. As for packing, just dump most of the things into boxes for moving, but I'll take 2 days off for unpacking.

Hi Lady_R, joyous and adidaem, I think you all very smart, shd bring them there when reno almost done, nothing can be changed! I must learn not take it to heart, we pay so much for our house and yet have to listen negative comments, so sian!! I guess MIL opposed us when we're viewing EM was becoz that time her legs pain. Anyway, like joyous, she might move in to stay with us when she's old and needs someone to take care of her.

the general cleaning is in the reno contract. but our ID said actually our house is quite ok, just need sweeping and mopping. Even after the general cleaning, owners usually still clean once more (I sure will, feel clean if I do my own). He suggested us to cut down this item to save $$. We'll only have few days btw hand-over and moving, so no choice but to take leave to clean up and pack up. Yes, can foresee your next 2 weeks will be very busy, I started stress up last week. add oil!!

Good choice of granite! Yes, it's considered fast, about 5.5weeks. And we have some delays on electrical works as we wanted to source outside if got cheaper one. But we checked with 2 more (recommended in Renotalk), still about the same. So we let the electrician introduced by our ID to do, at least he can coordinate the workers. And in case of hiccups (there're some minors), our ID would talk to the boss. You'll have about 1 week time for cleaning, that should be more than enough. We asked our ID to hand over to us this Friday. So we'll have 3 days to clean up.

Hi gnipihz, Thank you! We got various quotes on feature wall (laminate finish) upto $1.8k (expensive ID); our ID suggested to use partition/box-up with wallpaper (Length: 9ft) and we provide our own wallpaper. He said wallpaper has more designs and easier to change if we like in the future. This helps us save up about half of the price on feature wall. We like the way he helps us save some cost but keep to our requirements. Yesterday he suggested to get his supplier to box up the kitchen stainless steel water pipe FOC (not in contract). Her supplier approached us, the offer is attractive. However, the granite top is on the contract we signed and our ID lastly offered us to upgrade to Indian Black Galaxy, how can I ask for more??!! When I talked about my renovation with my boss, he said his contractor ran away after the last 2nd payment. He still have 2 doors left unpainted for many years. He said getting a good and reliable ID/contractor is a blessing.

Hi joyousonline, visited your t-blog b4, very very nice Lovenest! Seems you and your hubby have well planned on your renovation! WC, basins and sinks, all these fittings got different designs and prices. It's better for customers to choose their own. Saw your kitchen top, we also picked Indian Black Galaxy, hope it's as nice as yours. When are you moving in? We booked movers next Tue, hope our ID could solve all the big n small problems this week. We know he's working hard, a very responsible person. We glad that we chose him to do our dream house.

Thanks, mummymantras! We like the layout too, if the living hall is wider, even better!

Hi DOEL0303, PMed you.

After a long period of sourcing IDs/contractors, we took some of their advices, especially from our ID. To save cost, we didn't want to do the ceiling, but many IDs and contractors said the old ceiling design is out-dated. Most of the quotations quote us a feature wall is about $1.5K to $1.8k, we found it very expensive, so we dropped out the idea of getting a feature wall **** room. In our 3D drawings, you can see we have feature wall, but it costs about half less. We like our ID's idea of not using laminate but wallpaper (easier to change in the furture). 3D Drawings Dinning Area (near entrance) Living Room Kitchen MBR Toilet

yeah!! When we first time saw the house, we couldn't beleive that's already 15yrs old renovation. The house owner kept very good maintenance. We like the house and we're lucky that the seller family are very nice persons, they cleaned the house after moved out. I couldn't find the photos I took after keys collection. Some photos taken after we signed the OTP. Entrance ceiling Study area (previous owner used it as dinning area) Kitchen Common toilet

Thank you for all the help! Let me test on uploading photos. Floorplan & layout

very very nice house, sis joyousonline! we'd like to buy an EM also, love it's spacious, but like you, hear many comments... MIL also opposing EM, staircase and scares her son has to do alot of houseworks. so we end-up bought a resale 5rm... then when she first saw the toilet floor "where got ppl have black tiles...." and my parents also say the rooms' floorings are fine, no need to waste money to overlay laminate flooring, this no need to do, that no need to do..." ... btw, someone refered me to see your t-blog about the granite top, any comment?

thank you, Rover!

thank you! I saw that topic before, but forgot where... it's under forum tblog. just created an account and photobucket, will upload some photos soon.

Hi snaem85, so far everything goes well, although there're some hiccups, my ID is quite reasonable and helped us solved most of them. yes, you're right! if don't surf RT website, I think we might be kanna many chops during the reno journey. Not only info/advices on sourcing ID/contractor, but also sourcing of other fittings, house appliances and curtains...everything related to reno. My personal suggestion is to get at least 3 IDs and 3 contractors (if you know what you wan to reno) for comparisions in terms of price, service, and ideas. But most important is to get someone reliable, both ID company and the designer. So far, we have no regret on choosing this ID. we only change the tiles for toilets, we selected those $2.8 to $3 psf, this price is not counted labour cost. Hope I can post photos of my toilet wall tiles later. checking how...

Can you teach me how to upload image?

Hi potatoes, thanks for visiting! I agreed with you, selecting the person-in-charge is more important than selecting the ID company. Our ID is very hard working person, but also has many jobs on hand. So we try to do our own sourcing except tiles selection as tiles are provided by him. Other things we got to pay our own, we source ourselves. We saw some IDs bringing their clients to shop lightings, WC, basins... but those shops we found very expensive. For example, a 2x13w downlight in a shop @Balestier selling $28, we bought $18 and this price may not the cheapest. Our ID helped us found a bathtub from his usual shop Lucky K****$350, and this is for contractor's price. Shop's price is $389 (not include the drainer). But we found one selling @ $290, same brand same model with drainer. I'm not saying my ID earns the commission, but we prefer to do our own sourcing to find a cheaper one as we also have tight budget. I've just visited your t-blog, we started the reno on the same day 18/7. But it seems your EM has already done a lot! Mine basically just the 2 toilets, ceiling, electrical works and air-con piping. Your ID seems going to do a lot of things for you, how do you keep it at your tight budget? We already exceeded our budget (30k)by 10%, and also paid 33k COV. May I ask you how to PM and post photos? I want to upload my floorplan and some photos to update our reno journey. Thanks in advance!

many forumers and my colleague, recommended Supreme. we got another contractor quoted us $5.+ psf, so we found the price is fine. but our ID (3D Innovatives) didn't quote us door trim on our contract, he only told us after the 1st day hacking.

Hi Errandz, Your t-blog is really impressive! From signing OTP, keys collection to daily renovation progress with detailed photos and captions. Your house layout is so nice, squarish shape has good floor usage and easier planning. We also bought a resale 5rm flat @MacPherson but the living room is in rectangle shape and a corridor which occupied some space. May I know how to post the photos neatly like yours? Thanks!

Our ID gave us abt $4 per sqft, but of course that's their standard (lowest) grade "Essentials". Doesn't come with free door triming, we have to pay $50 per door which I found it expensive for door trimming. I'm not sure how much could fairs offer, it's better to check it out. We went to Supreme office at Woodland to see the big piece laminate floorings, as the samples at my ID's showroom are very small. Luckily we went there as we found the colour we original selected is too dark. I think this is a good way to ensure our ID/contractor gives laminate flooring from Supreme and not xx Supreme.

Over the weekend, my sis, niece and nephew came to visit us, they just back today. Sure! I'll try to post the floorplan and some pre-reno photos tomorrow.

Like most of the forumers, both my husband and I learned a lot from Renotalk. Thanks for the ideas, advices and tips from all of you!! Let us also share our experience here, we start with the renovation then go back to house hunting when not that busy. 11 years ago, we had a bad experience when we bought our 1st HDB resale flat. Due to budget constraint, we engaged a contractor to do some minor renovations. The contractor is VERY irritating because he kept missing out on the details (E.g. wrong sliding door frame color & track design, wrong kitchen cabinet doors design, and we got to pay if we want it be changed), which we’ve no choice but to accept their work. To the contractor, our minor renovation project is really minor to him, so he didn't bother to follow up with the suppliers/workers closely. In late March we signed the OTP, our dream home @ Macpherson area - A lovely 5-room HDB resale flat (Point Block). Our 1st appointment in mid-May and key hand over in abt Mid-July. After months of sourcing for the "best" ID/ contractor quotation, we finally confirmed our ID - 3D Innovative Design - Wilson Tan. Below is how we’ve come to this decision… As this is our 2nd HDB flat, our initial plan is to engage an ID to help us in design works & manage the renovation schedule. In May, we attended Asia Pacific Furniture Fair 2011 & discuss with the following IDs. 1) ***** Design: They’ve an impressive, beautifully-designed showroom @ Ubi. As their renovation proposal is beyond our budget @ $43,000, we cannot afford to engage their ID service. 2) ****: During Fair, they offer standard home furnishing packages for HDB/ private properties. However their standard packages are not suitable and their proposed customized items are very expensive. The ID (a young girl) seemed just want to sell us their standard package. When we said we have limited budget, she said the kitchen looks "ok", can keep. The malay owner indeed kept the house very clean, but a kitchen cabinet had been used for 15yrs, no need to change?! 3) Plus+ Design: Their renovation pricing & proposal seems OK @ $22,000, by Nick, a very hard working ID. Never pushed us for unnecessary items, or talked nonsense. However, it’s only when we scrutinize the details that it’s still quite expensive for scale of work. While browsing on Renotalk for good IDs/contractors, one day I somehow posted "Request for Renovation Quotation" on Renotalk and 6 ID firms (D'TRENZO, Ideal Design, 3D Innovative, **, Mac Dezigns & k*) called/emailed me. But we both happened be vey busy on work and taking care of our "terrible 2" son on weekends. We got no time to reply all with our item list. Also, my husband and I felt that “Engaging ID is too expensive!” Disheartened, we decided to save costs & go to contractors since we know what items we want to do. We got 3 contractors recommended by colleagues and friends. Here are the findings: 1) IR Design: This is our preferred contractor in the beginning. Recommended by my colleague, his pricing is competitive & he’s experienced/ knowledgeable in our discussion & site reccee. 2) Sun Hup Interior Contracts: Recommended by my husband's colleagues. We went all the way to Woodland to their carpentry workshop and office, the lady is very friendly, but we found their pricing quite expensive for a contractor (E.g. Their carpentry costing is $1,800 for a 7" built-in wardrobe) 3) King’s Furniture Contract: Recommended by our resale flat ex-owner, we find their pricing very weird. They’re very cheap in carpentry works (e,g, $1,400 for built-in wardrobe, the boss claimed he has own carpentry workshop), but very expensive in other areas (plumbing, tiling, flooring…). IR Design is a good contractor choice among these 3 as the boss, Roy Tan is a very nice person to work with and gave us technical advices. We almost signed contract with Roy. While waiting for contractors' revised quotations, Wilson Tan from 3D Innovative Design called me (a Sat night 10pm) and asked why I didn't get back to him. I told him frankly that we have limited budget, so we thought to get quotations from contractors only. He asked me to email him our item list and he would get back to me asap. He emailed me his quotation at 1am, when I replied his email at 2:30am, he called me to explain the quotation and he was in office. His quotation (rough quote, coz he's in a hurry to get back to me) looked good, the price is competitve with contractors. Then we invited him to go to the house for site measurement the next day, so can give us a more accurate quotation. Because of Wilson's quotation, we changed our believe of “Engaging ID is too expensive!” And we found 2 more from Renotalk with good pricing or reviews for comparison: 1) Room for Ideas: This is a contractor recommended by RenoTalk forum with competitive pricing, but we could only found one forumer posted with photos. I asked Vincent (the boss) if we can go to his showroom to see their work but no showroom. Then I asked for more photos of the jobs they done, he said don't have. End up he brought us to see a site at Pungol, it's a new 3rm flat, not many works done by them but the workmanship seems ok. 2) Summit Design Studio: This is an ID recommended by RenoTalk forum with competitive pricing. I called the company for the recommended IDs William & Ben, both not in, the ID answered my call is Nicolas. We met him at his showroom with our floorplan and item list. He listened to us and come out with quotation the same day. But we found his price is market price, not too expensive, not cheap also. After getting all the quotations, we entered the items and prices into an excel sheet for comparison. We found Wilson quoted us competitive price and he gave us suggestions on how to renovate our house when most contractors just listened our request. Then I searched for reviews of 3D Innovative, but found not many of reviews (good or bad), how to decide to go for a relaible contractor or an ID with the items we want in reasonable price?! Our conclusion on engaging Wilson as our ID is based on: • Pricing: Their pricing is the most competitive @ contractors’ price range. They manage to offer several extra things with the same budget (e.g. redo the living room ceiling, feature wall design, shoe rack space design). • Showroom: We’re also impressed with their gorgeous, beautifully-designed showroom @ Ubi. We find their showroom design quality is really impressive. • ID: As we cannot find any reviews in RenoTalk, we’re skeptical about engaging a new ID contact. In the end, we decided to take the plunge & go with 3D Innovative Design because of our ID, Wilson - Wilson is the person who really make a Difference! He convinces us to take up his renovation proposal as his pre-sales service is top-notch. He is able to propose some designs (e.g. living room’s ceiling, feature walls, dining room’s mirror wall, bathroom design). When we liaise with the contractors, they simply quote based on our requirements. Of course, chemistry is also important as we need to work together to transform the house into our sweet home. We feel we’ll get along well with Wilson on this renovation project. Home renovation is an important decision as it’s our 3rd highest value purchase (after our house & car purchase) – that’s why we spent so many months over it. Renovation was started one week later after we signed the contract. I'll post some photos later, we still have to purchase some items like hood, hob, oven and rain shower set over the weekend. P.S. I'm new to renotalk postings, have to learn how to PM and posting photos.

Hi Drexter, See you asked "zero453" for the best price on fujioh FG792, his offer is $305, but you able to get one at $280. Could you please PM me where you bought it from? Thanks!

I got it. Thanks a lot!!!