artintarch

hi scarletpica, i believe if u have an idea of your own house and knows how to run a project like getting the sub contractors to do for u, then its good juz to engage your own contractor. that will save u alot of money. this way u can do ur own project management urself and coordinate it coz contractors will do watever they will be asked nothing more nothing less but some experience contractors can actually give u advice but of coz the advice may not suit ur design intention coz contractors are laymen in design and will advice u based on the eyes, not to consider the praticality or the ergonomic function of the desire intention. if ur unlucky enough then they will start to advice u to use certain materials coz u noes wat their intention - based on experience, i had contractors insist to use a certain floor tiles by saying that its nice and watesoever but the fact that somehow or rather, the tiles they want to use are those stock clearence tiles and they could get it cheap but yet sell at retail price.same goes for other products. some products they can get higher commission so they will tend to focus that product. so, here we could see that the focus is making money on us house owner rather than making it beautiful. the other firm is the contractor cum design firm. there are alot of these firm nowadays. these are actually contractor firm because they are run by contractors but they have an id as their employee. so again the overall design is control by the contractors.so again, somehow or rather u will receive something like the above praragraph that i explain but for this case, since an id did the design, u can get a better design house coz i believe , designing need knowledge and understanding in all expect about human relation towards the interiors if its an interior design. its more that about mix and match things inside an interior. thats why u could find dramatic interior homes in an id magazine - like formz, interior design , trends , architectural record and architectural review, a+d design and so on. the last firm is the id firm or a consultancy firm. these are the most expensive firm among the 3. these firm are run by designers or architecs. these firms will actually run the whole project for u. they are the project management. that means, they will design for and and then source out all the contractors for u. they will have a few contractors with quotations for u to choose and they will advise u which one is better. it turns out that not the cheapest contractors are the best and not the most expensive contractors is the best, its about the workmanship and the professionalism. id firm are focus on the design and whatpeople dun realise is the id scope. they not only run the whole project like planning the time schedule, coordination, selection of furniture, they are the one whole actually even design the construction. u have to understand that to achieve a certain design, the id id have to understand the construction behind it. thats when the desire design could be produce and these are real id where they not onlie draw nice things but knows how to construct it. with this, it help to when doing coordination and instructing the contractors how to do it so that the desire design could be achieved. an id firm is an extension of u. its like giving ur house to them and making it theirs for a period of time and returning it back to u after the making it ur dream home. thats why if u realise when u engage and liase with an id, there are alot of interviewing and drawings before the actual work is done. this is done so that an id could understand what is ur dream home is like. then, from there, they will start to create a dream home for u. u must understand also, designing an interior is more that juz make it look nice from the eyes, its about human relation towards the space physically and mentally. to achieve that, the person doing it must have all the knowledge. anyway this is my opinion from my experience. its up to individuals. try to differentiate between contractor , contractor with an id and an id firm in the website. look at the portfolio and u will see the difference.

actually the picture ive posted is nothing to do with peranakan. its juz a sample picture which was given to a fren of mine by his id. wat im trying to share is that the id has his own way of design approach and the picture shown is actually the product given to my fren during his second meeting. it looks quite real to me as this help in giving us the picture somehow or rather the finish look of our intended design theme. anyway if im not mistaken, my fren theme was modern tropical.

hi chousei, yeah that will be interesting. i think with supported visuals, we could tell the id our intention. thats a gd idea. i can also start to get mine ehheheeh...so hows things going?

hi guys, heres something to share. this is the graphics that was given to my fren other than the layout plan before they sign up. this was given during their second meeting. the id wants to make sure that both of them is working towards the same direction so that there will be no **** up in the future. by looking at the picture, my fren was convinced and it also show that the id understand wat they are looking for. they sign up with him and now the reno is finishing. tomorrow my fren will bring me to their place and look at the work done...ehhehe(cant wait for that). im still looking ard but so far hes still in the top list when come to design. i will noe the workmanship tomorrow when i see with my own eyes. anyway ive got months to shop ard still...hehehehe..i will share with u guys and maybe i will snap some pictures. my fren told me that they did some changes. we ll see tomorrow.....

no problem at all chou_sei, i myself is very excited to see the design..its very rare and hopefully u could share the process and the design wif us. i cant wait to do my house as im getting married next year. rite now im like super kpo...hahahaha...better keep update and understand the whole process before doing it newae, good luck with ur reno chou_sei

hi chousei peranakan/colonial style is very rare in singapore or used. i would very much recommend u to my fren id. from wat i see when i saw the consultation between him and my fren, the way his approach is very different. he will show his precedence studies from the very basic of each style. he manage to capture the essence of the desired design. its very convincing as he doesnt practice of using the cut and paste from magazine method which alot of id practice. wat he gave is very original. thats wat a true id should be from my point of view. u could try to contact him and talk to him and see if ur comfortable with him. the time when i came with my fren, we had 2 meeting with him. the first was about him interviewing and understand wat my fren want and need. the second was when he gave my fren a 3d graphics of their home with the design and a layout plan. all these shown even without them signing an agreement. so i could say its a non obligation consultation. u can try to contact him at his office. by the way, how to email u his office no.?

thats the problem u see when contractor cum id start to do design when they noe little bout design instead they tend to see materials. i still feel that we not onlie pay for id idea but on the whole project. that means watever is paid to the id what he does is to do project management that include hiring contractors,coordinate with them other than selection of materials may it be expensive marble or lower grade marble watsoever as long as it does not channel away from the design intention. owners are like boss,id run the show, contractors are foot soldiers...hahahaha..juz joking. watever it is, its up to individual on how they look into these. wat i can understand is that contractor id are jeopardizing the image of a designer coz they did not cover all the areas of an id. they juz draw and recommend but they noe nuts (most of them) in executing it. put aside knowing an id role.

from wat i did experience after tagging along with a friend of mine who engage and id in and id firm that specialise in design is this - the first meeting is about understanding wat they want in their home. its like an interview. they were asked about their lifestyle..heheh. then the important part of their place. where they spend muych of their time. its more about getting to noe them before asking them wat kind of style they are looking into. after telling the id( my friend into modern tropical) he explain wat makes a place a modern tropical. very knowledgeable. he also told my friend that he has his own style and that is the company philosophy when designing a space(well.. i dun understand this but when he explain as he sketch im very impressed ehhehe).after that, my friend was told to come back in 4 days time. during the next meeting, again he took the pain to explain the design style and how he come out with the design then he create a concept for my friend, they really focus on the design. after that he explain on how he gonna execute it with the help of pictures. the pictures were fantastic.it is as good as a photo. so my friend get to see their house with the design even before it is built. all these before signing up with them. after all these, he gave the quotation. my friend was so convinced that they sign up. now i still kpo kpo and look see look see their house still in renovation..hahahaha wat i could conclude that real id or certified id is alway in the league of their own...if u guys in beautiful design, id is the one to engage but their price is abit higher that normal id contractor. i will keep u guys updated once the house is fully done. as for me i still keep my option open until i see the result of my friends place ehhehehehe

hi,im very new here. bump into this forum while searching for id. been reading these forum since last month but juz sign up coz is find some interesting topic and i also wanna share with u guys as i find that its very useful and could help one another in searching for an id or things that have to do with our reno. i agree with zirhk, if u have the budget u could try to go to those profeessional id who is passion about design. their fee is a bit on the high side..guess its about 10 - 15 percent out of the contract sum but it also depend on the scale of your total cost. the higher it is the lower their interest are. these id firm usually have their own identity in which it developed through their philosophy or watsoever. so u can expect wat u will be getting or how ur house will look like when u engage them. those contractors id are very different. they usually dun have the identity and always restricted themselves by the style (modern,contemporary,etc etc). im not sure whether they are certified coz anybody can call themselves an id but when executing their design or even when planning then we can see whether they are up to standard and worse when we have sign a contract with them. like it or not we have to bear with it. from wat i experience, as i manage to follow the procedure with a friend of mine, who engage a professional id, i realise that this id talks about design. he explain how he gonna design and why, there are wat they call precedence studies, the essence and watsoever, very cheem. very design oriented and very cheem. the next meeting, he produce some graphics that look exactly like my friends interior with design in it. i thought he took some of his past project but when he told us that its my friend house using computer generated graphic, my jaw dropped. apart from that he did have something like working drawings and explain to us how he going to execute it in order to achieve the desire design..very professional. in total after the first meeting, he produce 1 layout plan, some working drawing and 3 graphics and my friend yet to sign a contract with them! well after the 2nd meeting, they were so convinced that they sign them up.

"Other ID firms are just quoting sky high prices giving me normal space planning or the usual ideas. Sometimes i ask those firms questions like "so how would do up the cabinet or wall feature" and they would plainly tell me "designing part can come in later, we can go thro many designs to fit the one you like; don't worry can do any design". hi people, im very new to this forum. juz check it out since im also intending to renovate my house so that i can call it a home..ehheh. juz wanna share my experience while looking for perfect id..heheh i really agree with mercury that some other firm (or should i call them contractor firm??) they are like 'trash can' everything also can attitude but i believe they are more keen on getting us signing the contract coz after that we can do nothing but have to proceed with the contract. im now looking for ID to do my place and from what i see after so much surveying, ID should propose everything to us from concept to materials, colours,style, etc as these are their specialities and furthermore they understand the design intention. i understand all these when i actually just look see look see at the higher end design consultants. i even had a chance to go thru one when a fren of mine engage one of them.u noe those consultant firms who specialise in design. i also understand from my collective survey that designers should understand the construction when he/she propose the intented design may it be feature wall, cabinet etc as they are the one who will direct the contractors to do it. these id will show u wat they call storyboards or watever it is called and even the construction drawings. very convincing and i felt very impressed and secured as its could be considered stated black and white that the intended design could be done. the best part when they show the 3d computer generated drawing of how your house would look like and from there we could alter things that we want to change. its all in the paper before its done up and we could expect the outcome. BUT THE SAD THING IS THAT THESE FIRM COME WITH A PRICE sianz. im still looking ard...will be getting my house somewhere late this year......