tension_z

it is those who quote cheap cheap and ask for 5000 downpayment will have their contractor runaway (my cousin experienced that.) hers was a 5 room standard flat. Total reno quoted $15 k or something. Then contractor collected 5k and came out with materials but disappeared. zzz. ok back to my reno. so u must be thinking that I have moved in, thus have such time to write such long post. No...sad to say. 1st proposed move-in date: 3rd week of Jan. Didn't happen due to hacking approval HDB taking 10 sweet days to approve just to add this point, till today i still don't know why my ID's PE charge $700 for approval when my own PE charge $400. I quoted what my ID told me to my neighbours and PE that he said it was peak period (dec) hence $700. My PE said BULL ****. I didn't want to say much since i decided to find my own PE, got to do some legwork, calling the PE, fax the floorplan to him and what PE did, is chop, come and see the hacking, vola, it is done. Maybe the legwork cost $300?? I took cab to PE company and back to ID company to pass back the form cost $25 at most. My friends laughed at me when i have to find my own PE. HDB approved my hacking on 7 Jan, no one informed me. ID very automatic, once received notice of approval, hack the wall down without informing me. (there goes my dong tu ceremony) ID said he forgot, cos he wanted to start work asap. what done cannot be undone. Just let go. so ID told me i might have to take the reno as 2 stages. wetworks before Chinese New Year and Carpentary after CNY. got must expect some delay. At that point, his proposed move in date was March latest. I didn't even ask when. Sort of lost hope. as I have chosen the tiles in mid dec, when it comes to laying the tiles. guess what? they sent the wrong tiles. I selected a non-print tiles. when I went to site, the tiler uncle kindly asked me, do u want to lay vertical ot horizontal, cos it will affect the pattern of the tiles. I was like..... HUH? I select no pattern tiles, how come it is pattern tiles.. zzz.. so delay again. lagi best is the tiles that i have selected in mid dec, NO MORE STOCK. do u know how it feels? ID said if i want to wait for my original tile, can only lay after Chinese New year. then my reno will take forver to finish?? zzz u might ask me what went wrong here... Id claimed that the supplier wrote down the wrong model number..my uncle asked, will they forget to collect money or collect wrong amount of money? again, what done cannot be undone. we are still understanding till this point that ID went all over Singapore as he claimed that whole Sg has no stock. Guess what? I went to balestier, just right opposite SBH, I found my original tile and called the ID to see how different is that tile from my original tile. Sad but is true. It was also a Sunday. Id said that he can compensate me with a slightly more expensive tile with less obvious pattens and will absorb the extra, so eventually, my light ears went to his advice, after all he is the expert in this field.

so I thought I will see fantasic 3d drawings for the 1k I paid. before signing for the 1k 3d drawing, I asked my ID, how long would my reno take to complete? he told me easily 3 weeks. (that was Oct 31, 2007) I used my butt and think... hmmm...3 weeks, give some time for buffer, i should move in latest late dec? Boy, I was so wrong. Let me explain the situation. the first 3d drawing came 2 weeks later after signing. ( Mid Nov already) He drew wrongly (mistaken our idea, so he took back to redraw) that took another 2 weeks. ( after much chasing, it was end of Nov already) Pardon me saying this, i understand that a ID takes time to do 3d drawings. maybe he is serving 3-4 clients at the same time, I totally understand that but to tell me that my reno will only take 3 weeks to complete is a myth. He should have told me, drawings take 2 weeks, +- some changes to drawings takes time, then 3 weeks start counting from there. Then a consumer like me won't take your 3 weeks literally. I am not in this trade after all. so after some discussion about materials and quotation items, actual signing takes place in end of Nov. ( i didn't even take 1 whole week to think about it but just 3 days to confirm everything hoping works can start soon) then come bank loan application. Good thing here is ID company have their own preferred bankers that can speed up the process for applying bank loan, so this process was fast but something lacking here is ID should inform me to prepare all my necessary documents when he was still drawing. He only inform me the night before that I have to prepare payslips, blah blah blah and asked me not to delay this process. I did what I was told. After bank approved, I met ID again. at this point. if you think 10-40-40-10 payment is the standard practice, yes it is. Call me stupid, kam gong, do you want to know what was my payment %? my uncle almost flip when he saw the payment %. You know why? it is 25% upon signing contract 35% upon commencement of work (MEANING BEFORE THEY START WORK) -> BEFORE u see anything in ur house, u paid 60% to ID. <--very bad for consumers 35% upon commencement of the carpentary(AGAIN it is BEFORE u see the carpentary, got to pay 1st) 5% upon completion of work. those who are on 10-40-40-10 and paid after work done, good for you =) for my case, I asked my ID, I applied for bank loan and the cheque is under his company's name,company wants to collect all 1st, scare I run away mah? you have my address, how can i run? HmMmmm...he said he needed the cheque to order materials 1st. I was thinking, your company is such a huge one, can't preorder for client's first? I wonder how the rest of the ID firm can do that. Ok, trust element here again. This part though their payment mode suxs, I must say a good word, they will issue a receipt upon payment, so the carpentary did come up and wet works were done as promised.

This is like a "after examination" review but final result is out yet. My reno. journey started in Sept 2007. (Those who haven't start reno, may read to prevent yourself in lower hand situation in the midst of reno.) I started looking for ID during Sept when I knew that I was ready for Key in Oct 07. I went to expo, seen friend's recommendation, even to contractors. expo to learn some ideas. sat in the 1st booth, was stuck for 2 hours. ID was a confident and knowlegable guy. after hearing his sales talk and reno ideas, I somehow stoned through the rest of the expo ID. (QUOTE PRICE: 26K) friend's recommendation-gal ID(was the boss actually), nice lady, gave some ideas about reno, but quite contractor style. Reasonable price quotation but uses lower quality stuff after comparison. Drop her as it was a new company and didn't actually like the design, I pao $50 ang pow to thank her. She is a nice lady, sometimes I am not sure if it is a wrong choice to drop her. She listens to your needs and drive you everywhere to see things, draw 2D pictures, see tiles even before signing the dotted line) Super sincere. (QUOTE PRICE 23K) 3rd ID, my uncle's recommendation. A contractor I guess but named as an ID firm. Same requirements. (QUOTE PRICE 19K) you must be wondering, hey 19K, take liao. No leh... His attitude like I owe him #%^$^&^(.. and he looked sian sian. that was before signing the contract, I wonder if I can ever find hinm after I sign. Drop him straight after 2nd meeting. A lot of people here worry about ID's attitude changes when you sign the line. well... Most ID are nice before signing, but u think about it, if they don't even bother to be nice in the beginning, what can happened in the end. So I drop 3rd ID. 4th ID is the funniest ID (hint: near TPY) ID frankly told me that they are contractors recently turned ID firm. 1st thing, ID show me the package. then tell me, they gave free system 3 aircon, free sink, free tap, free 10 ft kichen cabinet, almost everything going free..was tempted but no confidence. Ask forum for so long for feedback but seems like no one is on them. then my ID friends says whatever free is factored into the quote, the design are too standardized as many things are fixed, unless I want a fuss free design, if not, no point. Finally drop this ID when he/she cannot explain why certain material are not like this ( lack of product knowledge I guess) (QUOTE: 23K with all the freebies) It was a tough choice. I chose 1st ID with the most expensive quote. Hoping that I made the right choice. It was a struggle. Reason: 1) I signed 1k for the 3d drawings at expo. Not for any free gifts, the free item was merely a hood and hob. I was bought over by ID's knowledge mainly and the confidence he portrayed. Perhaps we did click better than the rest of the ID I spoke to. and ID assured that this 1k can be used for painting job when I decided not to take their design. I researched in Nippon Ad, and it cost $1100 to paint a 4 rm HDB, so I see no harm. Friend asked me: " if you just let them take only paint job, do you know how much trouble you are going to forsee? A pail of paint cost $xx, their bangalah labour cost $XX per day only, you think MR bangalah will touch up paint for you many times, got to paint before carpentary is up, then after carpentary, then final touch up, these can go many rounds. This 1k paint only job may only be a 1 time job. If they are good, they will go up a few times to touch up. but to rank you (just paint job) and others (on-going whole house reno), who is more important? the Butt has the answer. (neighbours, please don't sign anything for 3d drawing when you have not confirm anything as it will limit your choice) some ID firm collect $100 for drawing. Also don't. there are many ID out there who are more than willing to show you for free.

hi bonkitty, so did you remove the 30% hollow tiles? and how long it takes? it is a Sunday. I might write a very long post. I didn't finish writing my T-blog, figured out that I have "die heart" updating and no one will surf there w/o photo. Neigbours, pardon me if I get grumpy, naggy or whatever. This is a post of mixed feelings actually. Nothing bad about renovation. Just wanting to know if this is standard practice. I shall not name my ID firm for the time being, as I still trust them much to give me a wonderful finish to my renovation.

the problem is not with supreme laminate, it is in fact one of the well known brand, i think it has got to do with the workmanship. see if your brand is Power dekor (cheaper china brand), or Kronotex (More expensive brand)

did ur ID bring that metal ball stick? My ID didn't. how much % of ur floor are hollow? mine is like 30% of the dining/living area. bedroom 2 perfect, another bedroom 3 like sai. MBR used laminated flooring, but when I step on it, like soft soft feeling. when I knocked the laminate, I have different sound all over the room, some sounds like kok kok, some sound like tiak tiak tiak. Supreme brand...AC3 Those who used supreme, did anyone say because the HDB floor is not straight, thus such effects? I think I can kiss goodbye to moving in this month :/ how long did your ID take to rectify the defects? Is it a lot or a few? What are some of the defects u guys have in your final stage? I m still trusting my ID since he agree to rectify the 'faults' which I am not too sure if this is standard. Thanks.

ok, thanks. ID has agreed to change the hollow tile. actually sometimes I wonder why tiler wants to do hollow tiles. they knew that at the end of the day, owner will check. it is quite tiring and time wasting to redo. and 1 pcs wil affect the other piece when hacked away. ------------------ the storeroom racks, which one is cheaper? the plastic toyogo or metal racks? ------------------ whose renovation here took more than 3 months to complete? (ie mid dec till now? include Chinese New Year Break) -----------------------------------------------------------

I went with the ID to buy those stuff. Trusted him for quality assurance. now in defects stage, 2 pages of it. Shall not comment much since they agreed to rectify. Just have to wait. wait and wait. Fyi, my contract was signed in Nov last year.Mid Dec started reno. don't know where it will end. I have to stop reminding myself that it is April now. I am just renovating a small HDB...zzz.

hi neighbours, those who are doing homogenous tiles, how do you check for hollow tiles? and what do you do with it?

$30 per lighting point installation (just the installation) I have 14 points.

let me add, mine was 28k upon signing. but told ID I couldn't get so much loan, so I omit the overlaying of toilet (which is like 3k in all), so brought down to 25k. Electrical cost is not included. My electrical is about $800. but my lights were $1k (normal lights only from what I see, some people can get the same typeof lights at $500+) ID told me I am paying for quality.. Trust lor. Then toilet accessories for both toilet comeup to $500+. I see some forumer only spend say $110 for 1 toilet. Mine were also normal accessories. Price of one toilet paper holder is $36 each....sigh. My sink cost $300. No brand one I think... I see people buying at $160 for the same type? Quality unknown. Been paying and paying. so cannot based on 25k , must buffer..... buffer...buffer..... and pls also check if you terminate your contract, what will u have to pay?

hey there, just realised that I bought the same dining lights as you. (the 3 string one), may I know how much u pay for it?

Oh, then i think i better call him straight, i smsed him but he haven't reply.. btw, any neighbours here have used boxes which u want to throw away after your moving can pass to me.. quite excited to move but scare the packing process....

thanks, I have smsed him.. now waiting for his reply.Is he uncle type or young man? any hidden costs when he moved your house?

hi neigbours, any one here has any recommended movers to recommend me? I am moving in a months' time, hope to get some quotation for comparison. how much do you roughly paid your movers? I just need a range. Thanks.

I hack mine as well, the approval also took freaking long... what type of WIW will u be doing? wardrobe type or pole system?

hey, i m looking for a 4-6 seater black tempered glass top table price range from $500-%600, anyone has seen such a range, pls let me know. Thanks.

Thanks Wilfred for the reply. Sushibabe, I haven't take photo of that door. Naked eye cannot realy tell the difference, I think the Photo also can't tell much. Let me explain. (view from top) ---------------------------------------- <- bomb shelter wall | | | <------The tic tac door(when it is opened) | | Theorically, the tic tac door should be 90 degree perpenticular to the wall right? Mine was like: the tic tac door top is 90 degree but towards the bottom it became slightly slanted as in more than 90 degree (on the same piece of wood) , like 95 degree to 100 degree. meaning not a perfect 90 degree. Do you experience this? you don't look at the door when it is closed, cos it will look perfectly normal. Look at it when you open it (like above), see if it is totally straight.

This is a question which I want to ask too, any people can advise? Just another question to ask, those who made feature wall on bomb shelter, the tictac door especially, do you all have a straight (wood) door or a slightly slanted (wood) door? My ID said it is normal to be slightly slanted but my father don't believe. Anybody here can advise?

Do take note of the type of tracks they use when they quote you cheap.

i bought a samsung plasma. hope it is a right choice. =)

welcome liverpoolforlife and wife!

hey hey do PM me on recommended movers as well? Planning to move in latest June.

hey, what model of samsung TV did you buy and how much?

hey all, may i ask if a $300 for a 2 bowl sink is expensive? (excluding tap but has a soap dispenser)