inthechouse

@Jacfify- 9889-2008 @makanology- thank you for the tip! will defo inspect that area.

Spent the weekend sourcing for window solar film quotes. It's still early at this stage, so we will just KIV. - Window Cool and Acme: Both salesmen were responsive and came to meet us bearing samples. Price range: Starting from $6 psf. - 3M: Have yet to meet the salesperson even after several days' of emailing. Apparently the Night Vision series cost $7 psf and up. - Nanolux: Yet to meet the salesperson after a phone conversation. - Sun-X: Price range from $5 psf and up. Will meet them after tiling is completed (as advised by the salesman). Our current bedroom window is "filmed", and it does keep the room temperature lower than other parts of the flat.

After a few days of hiatus, we dropped by the flat and saw some uncles cementing the walls. According to Alan, they were just "flattening out" the walls, and the cement screed effect (for the kitchen) won't be ready yet. We found several cigarette butts in every corner of the flat. Both Alan and my windows contractor are pointing fingers at each other, so I guess we'll never know who's responsible for it. Just an hour ago, Alan texted us to ask if we were arriving soon, as his tiling guys have arrived. I reminded him that the arrangement was for Thursday, and he admitted immediately that he got it wrong. We then took the opportunity to remind him that we have to move in by Feb, but he said he can't guarantee that the carpentry will be completed by then. We then reminded him that such was the agreement, and the reason why we signed with him - He promised that he could handover the unit by Feb, since we are not rushing for CNY. No protest from him thereafter. Fingers crossed. As for the windows, the contractor kept his word and got his workers to remove the wordings on the windows (see my previous post). He seems to be a very reliable guy.

The only thing which took place this week was the installation of windows. We decided to sub this job out so we were sourcing around for quotes for white powder coated aluminium sliding and casement windows. As tiling would be commencing soon, we were in a bit of a hurry to have them installed. Most of the windows contractor we spoke to could not start with a few days' notice, but one was very responsive and eager. His pricing was reasonably low too, given that he is the boss of his own factory. A quick search online produced 2-3 posts by people who have used his services. They were all satisfied customers. Here's a photo of the end results. There is a mark on the glass panes which says "Made in United Arab Emirates". The boss said he will get his men to come clean off all the marks, including some black stuff on the frames. We shall wait and see. White powder coated aluminium sliding and casement windows with clear glass. The frames are lighter than what is installed in my current 27-year-old flat, but apparently this is pretty standard these days. The other option is to pay about $800-1K more for the heavier frames (as quoted by Alan). Apart from this, I saw that the new wooden door frames have been delivered. Alan updated me that tiling will commence mid next week. We intend to be present, of course. That's it for now. Hacked off the existing metal door frames as they were of uneven height.

It's crazy how the prices have gone up from a year ago. I know because a friend of mine did her reno just then. She did more than me but paid less - with the same contractor. Anyway, it's always good to have some help. Wish we could DIY painting too, but CMI.

Hi sleepybeauty, kindly PM me your contact for blinds and curtains too. Thanks!

All the best!

Wow! That sucks! For the tiles to be taking up space in your house and also for the other family who probably had to pay extra. so Alan won't be doing anything about them? We were very excited and already peeked at most of the tiles. Thankfully they are the right ones (but not sure about quantity). We will be bringing down our tiles check list and getting Alan to show all the different tiles to us before we make our combined first and second payment some time this week! *super kiasu after reading about all the Alan horror stories*

Went up to the site to meet a window contractor today. Was surprised to see that hacking seems to be more or less done- in just one day! And not only that, the tiles have arrived! We only sent the list to Alan a couple of days ago and were so worried that the tiles we picked out (weeks ago, even before we chose a contractor) would be out of stock, so we were really pleased to see that they had arrived safely. Here's the doorway that was thankfully hacked correctly (on the HDB reno permit Alan requested to hack the entire wall). One room would be for just the bed and bedside furniture, and 'real' masterbed room would be hold our wardrobes, shelves, etc. Can't wait to see the apartment after the tiles are done up! For the longest time, we didn't feel like the house belongs to us, but it sure feels a lot more personal now after seeing the decisions we made reflected.

My reno costs around 40K. Fixtures and furniture could very well bust 10K - this is provided I do not buy "super branded" items.

Oh yes, think I heard of that too. Guess we're gonna have to shower with the pipes after all. Let me know when you make a decision though.

By the way, demolition has begun! Some pix from Day 1. Timeline: Permit applied for on Dec 2, permit approved on Dec 3, work began on Dec 6. All these took place before Alan even received his first cheque.

Thanks, iceage! We are boxing up the pipes in the kitchen so why not the bathroom right? But would it be an issue to have carpentry in a constantly moist/damp area? (I'm assuming the "box" is carpentry)

Here's our tiny master bathroom before reno. We'll be creating a vanity area outside the bathroom, and installing a shower where the existing mirror sits. We've been told that we will not be able to install a rain shower due to that hideous pipe. Even with a normal handheld shower, the idea of showering while facing the pipe is a bit of a turn-off. Alan mentioned that we can change the pipe for around 300 bucks, but did not elaborate on how that would make things better. For sure, the position of the pipe can't be changed. Does any pro here have any suggestion on what we can do to make things more sightly in there?

Hey guys, no worries. Good to share info on anything relevant to reno- and then some! Last night we had our first real taste of Alan's tales of horror... we saw online that he submitted the reno permit to HDB and it seems he got some parts of our hacking wrong! We only want a door to be hacked between two rooms but he submitted for an entire wall to be hacked, among some other mix-ups. The strange thing is there was nothing in the quotation about hacking a whole wall so god knows where he got that idea from. (Unless it's some kind of regulation to ask for permission to hack a whole wall even if we just want a doorway?) We've whatsapped him and also sent an email with a clarified, colour-blocked, text-illustrated floorplan to him. Hopefully he fixes it and gets back to us soon. Lesson #1: Check on things even when they're just super basic paperwork.

hello retchlow! wow, didn't know that you're already a silver member!

Does anyone have contacts for 1) a windows guy 2) mirror supplier? Alan's quote includes windows but kinda ex, and we are still looking for someone else to do it. For mirror we couldn't firm up the exact size we wanted (for dining area) so we took it out of the quote first. Also looking for someone else cheaper, else we may just buy from ikea. @iceage maybe you can put a corkboard/placemat on ur counter under all the items that may potentially leak! cut to size so it fits just nice under the item, so it won't affect the look of ur counter, and will help soak up any potential messes until you spot them. it's feasible if you only have a few appliances permanently sitting on counter. then for impt occasions when friends and family are over can just keep the placemat first for show haha. i think if we get a coffee machine i will cut out something as a base for it too.

Hi CrimsonX, thanks for the explanation! @iceage -- hmm, are you the conscientious type? I think if you conscientiously set pots and pans or hot dishes on a placemat or over a towel the kompactop surface should be okay. For me, I'm quite rough at handling things and my current prep space is tiled and can take a lot of nonsense, so I may forget to take care of solid surface tops which was what we were considering at first. That's why when making decisions for the house we tried to go for the more practical options instead of the more visually appealing ones. During house warming guests will probably be wondering why so little 'visible/ fancy' reno could cost so much...lol. So ask yourself if you/your family members are okay with giving whichever surface you choose the level of care it requires!

Morning! Yup, saw that you used Alan too... Sigh. We're going to be really vigilant! Thankfully one of us works just a few minutes away from the new home so can pop by easily to check on the progress and catch any mistakes early. Thanks for the tip on the sub-cons, will do that! Hacking should start sometime this week! Woo!

yeah i understand. fatigued even before reno starts... lol. good luck in finding a suitable guy!

Hi, just posted a list of IDs I would recommend. Maybe you can contact them for a quote. http://www.renotalk.com/forum/topic/63160-a-canvas-to-our-imagination-thoreau/

Hi guys, we've decided on our contractor! We are using the infamous Alan. Haha. Spoke to about ten ID/contractors in all before we made the decision. Finally, we decided to go with someone known for a final product of good quality, even if there will be a lot of chasing and supervising during the process. *worried* There were two IDs we would recommend. We liked them both but unfortunately they were over our budget. 1) Shawn Ng of Visual Dreams -the brother of a friend of mine- can tell him LX recommended. We went to visit one of his past project sites and it looked good. He was very earnest, helpful, and efficient. Just told him we decided to go with someone else and he offered his help if we have any questions or probs along the way with Alan. (Hopefully we won't have to take up his offer!) 2) Evangeline of The Design Practice The co she works for did Reno for a friend, who was happy with the final product. She's very earnest and meticulous and gave us a discount but still the price was over what we were willing to pay. Will NOT recommend 1) Brendon of Posh Home His boss did the Reno for a friend, so we asked them for a quote. The co sent Brendon down on the day we allocated for all the contractors/IDs to come down to measure the flat. He actually gave us quite a good impression on that day itself but things went down downhill after. Said he couldn't send us quote by email as it was usual practice to meet up. We were okay with that and set a date. However, for a few times, he cancelled on us last min or tried to change locations last min. Then days or weeks later would pop by again and ask to meet up... Mentioned this to our friend who told his boss about it. The boss called to apologize and said brendon's reason for his behavior was that we were speaking to many IDs/contractors anyway (he saw them on the measuring day). The boss also offered to help look thru the quote we choose out of goodwill. Some other IDs did express surprise at the no. of people we contacted and asked to measure and quote but they still went along their work normally so this is really no excuse. So... With Alan it is. Hopefully it won't be tooooo much of a headache!

Makanology- it looks good! We would probably be getting it as well. Qn for you re: the baby gate. It can only be opened and closed but cannot be fully detached easily right? We have a dog too and will be confining her to the kitchen area when we are out. We are still looking for ways to form a barrier btw the kitchen and living room, but hoping it can be erected as and when we want it to be, and taken out easily as well. Iceage- that sounds like a really smart idea! Unfortunately, neither the existing tiles or a glass panel go with the look we want. An ID did suggest that to us. We have quite a bit of kitchen appliances too, like steamboat and BBQ plate... Just gotta keep them in the storeroom! Also, we have this sort of alcove under a beam in the study room, and a contractor suggested making just doors to cover that alcove and use it as additional storage, so hopefully it will be enough!

Hi ocean eleven, Thanks for your advice. Actually we did think of keeping the wall tiles but they really don't go with how we want the house to look. They're original tiles from 1986 and not in too good a condition. To save costs, and also cos we like the look, we are going for cement screed for all the walks except a back splash like you described, with tiles. If the cement screed geys ugly cracks etc after a few years we will then paint them over. We do plan to have one full height cabinet included so hopefully it will be enough and we can make do!

Makanology: If it's not too much trouble, could you post a photo of your hollow block/sink area? Still trying to make up my mind... lol. Iceage: Yeah as Pster commented, top cabinets will be an additional cost. Trying to keep things simple and price low. Will add on if it turns out I need the space later.