inthechouse

Thanks, hojichalatte. Maybe i should post a close-up. LOL. All the best for your reno! It's actually quite fun if everybody's on the same page. Good luck for your reno! Can't believe you contacted 15 companies! We spoke to 6 and we were already exhausted.

Hi guojiawen, thanks for dropping by. Yes, ALMOST THERE. Phew. Zzz.. Really? You don't like the bold lines? Actually, no matter what colour it is, they will just get darker as days go by.

Dropped by again today and bumped into Alan, who was liaising with the iQuartz folks. As mentioned, this vanity counter top is a little too small for my liking. But I guess we could have the surface extended outwards by an inch to make up for it. The hood is up (extraction capacity of 850m3/hr). We also noticed that the door frames have finally been varnished. Great. So what's left for the remaining 8-9 days? - Second wash - Kitchen and vanity counter surface - Fixed tempered glass panel in master bathroom - Sliding nyatoh door between 2 bedrooms - Outstanding electrical work - Outstanding plumbing work - Touching up of grout lines - Touching up of wall and ceiling paint - Bathroom doors (outsourced) - Curtains and blinds (outsourced) - L-shaped storeroom rack (outsourced)

Hope it's tempered glass? As for the bathroom doors, as far as I know, some come without bottom tracks. Personally, that's how I prefer it. My Legrand switches are not aligned too. Will check with the electricians when they next drop by. How much did you pay for your iron gate?

We've been asking Alan for the longest time about the black grout lines for our kitchen subway tiles. All he and his workers could say was that it would not be dark nor even, because that's the way it is. Weeks after the lines have dried, we realized that they've not only smudged, they could be rubbed off with a finger, resulting in a faint grey line. We asked Alan again, and he said there's nothing much they could do. Until I found this pic online and showed it to him. Now he's saying they will "try" to improve on it. We shall wait and see.

Hi, I've not moved in yet so I don't really know for sure. However, last month, the boss MIA-ed midway during the discussion stage with someone I shared his number with. So I don't think I will continue recommending him. You can contacting the famous Alex on Renotalk? See here.

thank you so much. may very well do that should we decide to paint over the now-semi-ruined cement screed wall.

Some pix taken today. Ah Gui and his team have started work. So far everything's lookin' fine, except that the vanity cabinet is a lot "slimmer" than I had expected. Basically, after you mount the rectangular basin on top, there's only 1 inch behind it and 1 inch before it. Don't have a photo of this now though. P.S: Still chasing and waiting for solid surface catalogue from Alan. Failing which, is it safe to just say "use white"? Don't we all love a huge sink? No WIW for me. I'm highly allergic to dust, and, frankly speaking, we won't be able to keep the contents nice and neat. Choice of laminates: Lamitak Loft and Lamitak Dario Ramblas. Nice and simple. The tiling/masonry guy was there to lay the entrance tile. He said he will touch up the grout lines everywhere this Saturday. He couldn't do it today because of the carpentry works in the kitchen and bedroom. Also, I found out that you can't use the stove without the counter top mounted. Reason explained to me: The counter top folks would need to remove the stove when they mount the surface. I am guessing the stove won't be fully functioning before that. Anticipating some kind of cleaning this Thursday, when some of my furniture arrives. Feeling pretty fatigued by now but we've gotta soldier on.

Yeah he has mentioned his China quartz before. I will update here on the final amount once the whole thing is confirmed and finalized.

Wow. Good and prompt customer service is rare these days. Let's see what Alan says then. I'm not sure if it's quote still applies now. I'm supposed to go grab more samples from the Balestier shop but I've not found the time.

How much?

Hi AnW, Alan quoted $110/psfr for iQuartz (selected colours only). He said it's $160 and up for Caesarstone, and that's too high for us. P.S: We tried going to iQuartz directly before. They quoted $200.

Hi mellenur, I'm ok to move in without the counter top, as long as I am informed properly. Not sure what's going on now. Will definitely ask Ah Gui when I see him later. Agree with you about getting our hands dirty and never have to deal with some folks ever again. Can't wait. By the way, is it possible for the hob to up and running without the counter top? Haha. Was advised by the shifu to boil water on the stove (not using a kettle) on the big day. Thanks for the suggestion! Appreciate it. And thanks too, about the cement screed wall. Actually, we're hoping to find out what is the exact name and brand of the matte finishing, so we can purchase it at the store and pay someone to do the job. Would you be able to find out for me, please? Checked with a few friends and they don't know the details, coz their contractors/IDs did an awesome job without them having to lift a finger. Called up one of their IDs and he couldn't tell us much as it was done by his awesome sub-con. Checked with a paint shop near Sim Lim and they suggested a red and yellow tin of lacquer by the brand of Kangaroo. But yeah, the area is pretty low... and that space is meant to be a clear walkway from the living room to the end of the kitchen. Also, the little furry one's dining spot may be right below that patch (middle of the wall) so it will be tough to place something there that's tall enough.

Tried all weekend to get info of when the cabinets and wardrobe will be installed, but Alan couldn't give an anwser. I decided to ring Ah Gui the carpenter this morning (good to obtain and store their numbers), and he said "today and tomorrow". He also requested that I go select the handles from a catalogue today before they knock off. Super short notice, as always. But thank goodness I work nearby and have no meetings lined up for today. Will pop by during lunch hour.

Time for quartz-shopping. I've reminded Alan many times about this, and he said was, since I wanted iQuartz, which is a company he has not worked with, he doesn't know how long they will take to measure and install. It could be up to 2 weeks. And since they can't measure until the cabinets are up (or so he says), we got a little worried. When we last met, Alan brilliantly chucked this on my lap by saying, "you wanted iQuartz right? you're ordering it on your own right?" When the **** did I say that? If I am so capable of doing such things I would've ordered everything myself, and probably even be my own main con. So I said no, it's included in your quote, and you agreed to get it for me. I am only going to get samples. Then he said, "since you are going to get samples, why don't you ask them to come measure?" ???? Now it's MY job? And in any case, the tiny iQuartz outlet in Shaw Balestier is unmanned. Some of you would know that it's just a counter, some samples and a CCTV. He then asked us to consider Evershine, which I believe is the company he used. But the price he quoted for this is higher than what he quoted for iQuartz right at the beginning when I ensured he was ok with using iQuartz before I signed on the dotted line. Anyway, we decided to call iQuartz and ask if it's true that they may take up to 2 weeks to fabricate and install. The guy said 4-5 days, depending on stock availability. I conveyed that to Alan, and asked him to call this guy (name + number provided). Not sure if he did. I just texted Alan to ask for updates, and he has yet to reply. Time is ticking, dude. Here's a screenshot from iQuartz's gallery. At first we wanted iPure, but a few friends have told me that white counter top, no matter of what material, is terribly tough to maintain. So we decided to get a white laminate (Lamitak) for the kitchen cabinets, and choose a grey or black counter top. The laminate part was easy, but the iQuartz options are a bit of a headache. All 3 highlighted above are nice (to us) and I can't decide!

Worst of all, that sub-con was plain rude. Close to being a bully. We gave them so many chances. They kept saying they would finish it once and for all, and each time, I applied for leave to go supervise. But until now, the doors, storeroom walls, skirtings and whatever else I've mentioned previously, have not been touched up. After I left that day, the worker probably didn't do much, since Alan and the rude guy had already left. I think he just siliconed-up all the gaps in the electrical cable trunking and left. P.S: For this sealing up of gaps, I had to request and insist. It did not appear as though Alan would've had it done on his own accord. Because when I asked, he reacted in a "oh yah" sort of way. Anyway, I witnessed Alan telling the rude guy where to touch up (after I pointed out to him yet again which areas required work), but the rude guy may not have told his worker. Or maybe he left out something. How many times do we need to go through this? I don't have much time left before move-in. It's hilarious how the communication between 4 people took place - in a tiny flat of 92sqm. Me > Alan > Rude guy > Bangladeshi worker. We've all played that game whereby we've stood in a row and pass messages to one another, and the message gets lost along the way or at the end. Sure, I could've told the worker directly, like I had before. But he is now unwilling to follow my instructions, and instead, he just says "cannot" or "already do many times" or "it's the cement". And with the rude guy being rude, all I can do is tell Alan, right?

Interesting. Town Council said it's HDB's scope, and HDB said it's Town Council's. Let's see who first returns my call as promised.

Hi Songz, we are open to engaging someone else to come do the touch-ups, but we found out from some contacts in the biz that "nobody will entertain" such a small job. We also considered painting over that wall, but we would feel really short-changed, because it's not what we want. Maybe we'll decide after we've moved in. It's gonna be very busy 2 weeks ahead. Hi elin1029, yes, it's like they're all in cahoots to just wrap up and flee. We were outnumbered and out-witted. I've lost count of the number of times Alan repeated that they are "not magic". We're not expecting magic? We're just hoping they take more pride in their work and do everything according to normal, not magical, standards. Like, you hacked off all the old tiles and skirtings, and you can't create a proper skirting? That's got nothing to do with magic. Anyway, please do share your contact, thank you. I hope he won't find it too small a job to take on...

Anyway, the meeting with Alan and his painters was meant to "touch up everything once and for all". But till this moment, the touch-ups have not been completed. On that afternoon, a glum looking Alan, his Ah Beng paint sub-con and 1 of the 2 Bangladeshi workers who had painted my walls showed up. Everything else aside, my main concern was the finishing of the cement screed wall. They opened a tin of something thick and pungent which they claimed over and over again that it was matte lacquer and not glossy. They then said they would "test" it on area for me to see. If I didn't like it, they would clean it off. So that "area" turned out to be a roller's width. It did not look matte to me. But the sub-con said it would dry and become matte. Yet, at the same time, he kept asking the worker to "put in more thinner". The worker was by now mixing a very strange concoction, with copious amount of thinner being poured in. It did not appear like they knew what they were doing. I asked why there were so many bubbles on the finishing, and the reply was that "they did not use enough thinner at first". WHAT??? After 30 mins, I decided that I did not want it anymore. I simply wasn't convinced that they would do a proper job. So I requested for it to be cleaned away. All 3 of them, including the worker, were acting standoffish and indignant. I just had to leave the flat to get some fresh air and calm my nerves. There's just something about being polite all the time yet have that getting taken advantaged of. In return for your courtesy, you get sh*t attitude. The next day, I returned to check the wall, and saw a rectangle on the wall. They had not managed to clean it all off. I asked Alan, and he said "it's like that"... and "sure got 2 different colours". He said the same thing before, during the concoction party. Why did they test on such a big area then? And why did they apply something that wasn't mixed or prepared properly in the first place? Until I figure what I can do about this myself, or who I can pay to come fix it, I will have to live with this patch right smack in the middle of my kitchen wall. Friends, if you have any suggestions, please do share them here. I am pretty distressed over this. Overall, the painters have done a crap job. They are by far the worst team Alan uses. I am still waiting for them to fix the main door and storeroom door's paint job - which was done in a haphazard fashion. You can see the pix in my earlier post.

Well, well. Here's a photo of my broken power box cover. Background: We outsourced the gate installation to a company I shall refer to as "P". When we arrived onsite for the gate installation on Friday, the P workers had already started work. They were in a huge hurry, evidently, because they had called me to bring forward the appointment but I simply couldn't reach the site any earlier than the previously-agreed time. Then I spotted the broken cover on the floor and asked them what happened. They simply said "some workers were here before them". But Alan was with me and he said no one came to do anything. It was strange that the P workers somehow knew the number lock's combo? Or was it possible for them to remove the gate when it was still chained and locked? I asked Alan again, and he said, "why would my men want to break your box?" I am sure whoever who did it did not want to do it. Anyway, obviously nobody will own up to it. So the box is gonna sit exposed until I figure out who to call to have it fixed.

Thanks for the info. It will sure come in handy.

Nice WIW, vicx1234. Well done.

Byebye, beauty...

looks like a good deal. btw, we did the opposite: we moved away from glass surface and towards stainless steel because the glass was a nightmare to clean - at least to us!

Hi jayque, sorry to hear about this. How do you plan to make smooth the surfaces? Please share your ideas with me as I may need to do it too. Also, pardon my ignorance, but what's the correct material to mend the hole with? There are some holes in my kitchen walls that require mending.