My start with PL was not really a pleasant one, or I should say it was a nightmare. Never did I had that idea of engaging PL in my reno work, although my house is just a humble 3-room HDB flat in Tampines. I decided on PL, reason only was to help a friend out & not cos of any other factor. To be frank, this is not the first house that I did reno, but its was the first which I did to above 90% of works to the entire unit. My entire house reno started all the way back in 2012, December, when the hacking works commenced. Hand-over date was 10 June 2013. Many will be surprised of the duration of work, which seems like works to be done for a landed Semi-D. The initial so-called 'designer', which was my friend, works done at a pace of unaccepted level, in terms of duration, workmanship, etc... Whatever things to be done were not done in time, yet got the cheek to say he had never promise any of his customers in his entire career in home interior, he merely stressed on a point 'I try'. Put a question on anyone, or on any sensible adult, who will engage a firm to do reno when date of completion is unknown. What 'I try', try his LC! I still remebered he did say that my 33-34K of reno was merely a finger tip to his company. To me, he do not even worth a fallen hair of mine in the filthy coffeeshop toilet. Works were mostly either messed up or delayed, answer from him was always the one & only 'No Choice, blar blar blar'. Worse, he still could push to blame to me, by saying his work messed up, was due to me, I did this work that led to that. Forgetful, newly installed appliances were not protected/covered at all, despite protection was duly done up by myself, this was not the worst thing. The worst thing was an incident when thousands of dollars of newly purchased electrical, sanitary, kitchen appliances & the newly installed Air-Conditioning, were left unsecured in the unit(loose items in common Room), with NO DOORS, for days, when I made a check on the progress of reno works on one fine night. Reason given by him was due to me changing the main door frame, that was why he could not install temp door/gate, only later then I found out that he was searching high & low for contractor to install temp door/gate. It meant that he has no intention of it at all, before I blewed up at him. Subsequent incidents after temp door installed, its was either not secured/locked or left ajar. Reason again, given by him was it was supposed to be locked, but he opened it for contractor(s) to have access into house to work, but left my house without securing back. He still got the cheek & told me the lock was in his pocket. What is the point of having a lock, but do not use it??? He was not happy & out of anger, which I was indeed surprised he still had a position to be angry, he said that he would bear whatever losses & damages due to the unsecured access. See, this was the attitute of him, so he won. There were tonnes of other details of the blunders which happened to the reno works, which I feel that its too much to touch on. In conclusion, this so-called 'Designer' have no sense of committment & responsibility, forgetful, too busy with his own private life. I believed my grandmother's memory could be better than him anytime. When it comes to payments in different stages of reno, he was very prompt, not to let him get any pressure from his boss, I did not delay & paid promptly as well. What I would like to say is that whatever hiccups in works, do UPDATE me, do not act ignorant & wait till I find out myself. Till the extent when I could not tolerate further, I made up my mind to call up the firm, demanding a change a designer. To be frank, I did not even spare a thought to the point that would I jeopardise the friendship, on top of the inferior reno works. After a week or so, someone from the firm contacted me, which claimed to be the one taking over the reno works from immediate effect, Mr Johnny Mook. Reckoned the point that it would not be an easy task to take over the existing mess created by somebody, comparing to works handled by oneself, from scratch. He was attentive, observant enough to go through all works(including works done) in every corners of the house, even those minor defects which I might not even notice or consider as defect, all were listed down & were well taken care of. Memory wise, I admitted defeat. Things brought out before, either by myself or him, Mr Johnny could remember, even I had forgotten about it myself. I would not deny that the workmanship of the existing carpentary works done, was terrible. I could easily comment that even those major contractors who did carpentary for the entire cluster of HDB blocks, i.e. BTO & DBSS, their workmanship is still far better than this carpenter' despite of the 'mass production'. Facing the pressure & inconvenience on me, on repeated visits by this carpenter, my following weekends were all burnt, their works were still not acceptable, Mr Johnny had made a decision to change the carpenter for the subsequent works immediately, including the 'major' touch up left behind by the previous one. The considering factor(s) in engaging which firm to do the reno really have to consider the point in the sub-contractors' standard of workmanship, punctuality & the individual designer who will be doing your house. Think deeper, every firms will only show their best masterpiece to new customers, 'believe all' at your own risk. I do understood that each firm will have a couple of contractors in each individual aspects, i.e. carpentary, plumber, tiler, electrician, etc..., quite of number of designers who will attend to you, your house & correspondences with sub-contractors. So, do be cautious... Do not forget, you are the one who is paying, so you'll have your say until the final payment. I believe that some of the above may be deleted by the administrater before it can be posted here. The contact of Mr Johnny Mook, 81577430. Good luck to all home-owners...
