Tllau

We bought from a coupe of places too. Contractor took us to Sim Siang Choon at changi. Branded sink called olympus was quite pricey. $500- 700 for 80cm-100cm basin. Toilet bowl WC for 300+. 707instant water heater at good price though $218. Good thing was we decided to just check out some shops at Balestier onour own and came to Lookz, ehich was initially recommended by the contractor. Bought Fuji-oh sink and hob there at good disc price, comparable to other disc store. Saw a Keramag sink 100cm on offer at 300+ so we took it. The young man serving us Keith was pleasant...

Recently was taken to a lighting shop at vertex (ubi ave 3). Contractor came, the electrician came too. We were choosing downlight.... Total about 40 points for 3 bedroom, kitchen and living area. Opening price for 6' LED was up to 90+.... For a no-brand light, it is exorbitant. Good thing was i knew some branded downlight was only at 50+. when the contractor came, i told him in front of the sales person that the price here is way too high. The contractor said this was recommended by the electrician, so he was not part of. Anyway, therafter the sales person said he will offer disc price at 68 for LED, 33 for PLC. Total came out to be $1700+. Both pricing is about 20% higher than branded light i could easily find. That means i paid 350-400 more for a brand-less product. The reason i still went ahead was simply because..... Give and take. The electrician/contractor has not given me the final electrical wiring quote yet. Their first quote was extremely high... 11-12k for over 80 points with mixture of power, phone, tv, utp points. Out of which only max 20 new points. Now reduced to total 30+ points, we maintained whatever old faceplates we could... And even agreed to some external svc with casing to remain.... Simply to drive cost down. That was 3 weeks ago. Though we have been told that it now should be around 5k, no final quote has been given. We want to believe in what they say, that it will be reasonable. And we want to believe that they will keep to the 5k. So lets see if my give and take bears result..... Or super greedy is all there is in this industry? I hope i'm right.... Will post to share my experience in this site where i learnt from others too.

Another thing to add is that when we did first round of comparison, frontier wasn't the cheapest, but also not the most expensive. Theirs was about in the middle. So we were quite comfortable.

Hi. We engaged Frontier to renovate our unit.... Still on going now but thought i should share while memory still fresh. Type - condo. 3 bedroom, 1 living+dining, 1 kitchen, 1 yard, 1 balcony. Wetwork - A) dismantle n replace kitchen and tiles. Hack wall to extend door way. Dismantle back door to create open end to yard. B) dismantle n replace common and master bathrooms C) plaster ceiling entire unit D) polish / varnish flooring (living marble & bedroom wooden) E) paint whole unit Carpentry - A) kitchen cabinet B) shoe/storage cabinet at entrance C) living room cabinet D ) children's room hanging study table and top hung cabinet Reno period: sep 5th - oct 19th Costing - a few revisions... From 20k (much less carpentry) to 50k to last revision at 40k. They started work without any deposit, we paid 20k in first week without invoice.... And 10k last weekend but no receipts still.. Probably not the best practice but he was recommended by our sister in law (used frontier a year ago and no major problem) AND we felt comfortable after meeting him a few times. Element of TRUST is high here... very traditional chinese practice from our side too...haha. So far, they have been fair. There were mistakes..... There were also last minute changes/requests from our side.... And they have been taking all these very well. That for me is big plus. One thing to note i supposed for all regardless of who your contractor is - electrical wiring (incl faceplates, tv, phone, computer) can be extremely expensive. We budgeted 5k but first quote came out to be 12k. Reduced the number drastically and was told that it now should be around $5k... But we've not received any quote yet.... While wiring pulled, wall hacked to conceal cables, sealed and ready for lighting to be installed. We had to cos electrician came just a day before their portion of work needed to commence. It took a day for me to rationalise what was really needed.... Then next day they just started work after a verbal est to be around 5k. So that is one of my regret.... I could find alternatives if given more definite quote.... Not necessarily to replace sub-contractor, but more so to identify points to add or subtract, type of plates etc etc. So there is learning here. Will share the rest at other times or other parts of forum. Hope it benefits some users.

Submit an online quote request to an aggregator but only one comapny replied.... Arrow. I am appreciative that they came to survey. Received quote so wd like to post here for your ref Same condo move....: to move from 2nd floor to 1st floor next block (which is like 20-30meter lift to lift). Items: Dining table (8 seater) heavy teak - need dismantling Tv low bench Glass cabinet L shape sofa (actually 2 pieces... Not connected) 1 king size bed - need dismantling 1 queen size bed - need dismantling 1 ikea rack Quote 1 incl some optionals.... $1,200 there-about Requote - $850. Both sales pax and phone rep were polite.... But i think a bit pricey only. Anyway hope the above is useful to some!

Thanks guys for all the info. I called richard and will be meeting him tomorrow. Will try to repay by submitting my experiences inthis forum. Cherios.