I have been searching for IDs and Contractors in the forums before our collection of keys, and really lost count of the numbers of quotations which I have gotten. Finally chosen ID No. 1 - Ben from Plush Living Ben is a middle-age guy and claimed that he used to be a HDB inspector. We can click quite well and he seems to have rather good knowledge on renovations. The quotation given by him met our budget as well. However, just when we were about to sign with him, he told us he will be leaving Plush Living and will be joining Rhiss Interior. After the discussion with my wife, we decided to wait till he moved to the new company before signing up with him. Everything Then the horror comes... During some informal chat with my new neighbour who happens to know a few other IDs in Rhiss, she told us that Ben has resigned. Having heard that, we panicked and started to call & sms Ben, but there was no answer/reply despite many attempts. We then used an unknown number to call him, and he actually answered (Isn't that obvious that he was avoiding our calls & smses on purpose?!)! He said he has decided to resign and upgrade himself with some courses, and told us he has handover to his manager, Mr J. When we called Mr J, he said he wasn't aware about Ben's resignation and was not informed about our reno project at all. We then met up with Mr J and received a seperate quotation from him. We felt uncomfortable with such irresponsible and unstable company and decided to ask for 80% refund of the deposit. After some negotiations, we were given 50% refund. Ended all the drama with Rhiss, and we found and signed with ID No. 2 - Lee from North West Interior As I was reading RenoTalk, I came across “Blue218” t-blog http://www.renotalk.com/forum/topic/61486-the-move-to-north-eastern-town/?hl=blue218#entry812623 and we like the design/concept, so I decided to call Lee up to arrange for a discussion. 1st meet-up : He is a humble man with a lot of creative ideas. What we like most is he has assured us that he does not repeat the designs, with the condition that we have to give him ample time to brainstorm for ideas. 2nd meet up : He brought us to see the workmanship in one of the completed projects. Workmanship is good and they use blum system and polygon material for carpentry. He gives us ideas and he can understand what type of feel and design we like and want for our house (as though he can read our minds!). After a few meet-up, we have decided to sign up with him.
