Lakmy

Hi Sorry for late reply! The fair must have ended on Sunday if I am not mistaken. But not too sure ..sorry. I live in Pasir Ris too so cud go 3 times to expo b4 making up my mind. Mines a Toshiba: RAS-M10NKPX X 3 [ indoor UNIT] RAS-3M20UAX [outdoor UNIT] Class 1 totaline ..16mm for horizontal and 13 mm for vertical pipes. 23 gauge copper. 2 visits. One for piping 2nd for installing units.

Good Morning Mr.Chong! Any remarks or suggestions rgdg this layout. My main door is in the south. so my living windows face North! Thanks in advance. Below is link to layout planned. Just started reno so nothing fixed yet. http://img521.imageshack.us/my.php?image=l...fengshuicd0.jpg Rgds, Lakmy

U got mail

I signed up with ALL Best at Expo... saved me a 2nd trip to Jurong..Toshiba 3 split ...non-inverter @ 1784 including bracket and gst and class 1 insulation and 2 trips ...one for piping and 2nd for installing units (after painting work)... you can look for Gilbert. Seemed knowledgeable and willing to let us make up our mind. Gave us the info without any pressure tactics.

Hi gumbokins! If u dont mind can tell which area is ur house located. Mine is in east. Size of ur house and ur quotation ..can PM me... I know my hb will tell me more info will make me "think" unnecessarily mah.. but can t help it keponess in my genes :]

Hi Phoenix (BTW nice nick U can see the gist in the beginnin of this thread,,. The changes are mostly additions due to hacking of two toilets and the expenses thereof. Chk out the beginning of the link..and then we have thrashed out the details with the help of the shifus out here ... http://www.renotalk.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=10296

Hi gumbokins what color do Id's normally use...He gave me a duluc catalogue but there are so many varities ...and shades are different in say the new dulux Light and Space...as compared to the Supreme 3-in-1 When I asked Alvin he says 'just choose and I will give my suggestion'....like that difficult. Coz some shades only available in some ranges.... hope this makes sense... I think I need a kofi si... siu tai

Hi! I booked mine with A**Best yesterday at the Expo. I had already done my research and compared Bet AB , HT HN, BT GC (we got our ac 5 yrs ago for our old flat. from GC..at the time their prices were competitive...trunking ok.. but seem in a hurry ... leave a big mess behing..dont want our opinion..only one trip come...finish job and go) Decided that we liked Toshiba Sys 3 non-inverter and took down the model no. as well as installation specification from each of the above. For the same specifications we compared the companies and found that AllB offer the best value for money. Since they were at Expo and we live in the east decided to go one more time and found Gilbert. Technically savvy and good pkg. So we booked Toshiba Sys 3 non-inverter. @ 1784 Inclusive of 150 for the bracket n GST. We have everything written down in B n W. I even told Gilbert that I had read that they were accused of not being punctual and that I will put it in blogs if do the same for me:) He guaranteed will make sure phone one day before and wrote down on receipt too. Class 1 totaline ..16mm for horizontal and 13 mm for vertical pipes. 23 gauge copper. 2 visits. One for piping 2nd for installing units. My HB was most pleased with the payment 10-45-45. SO we pay 45 % upon installation of pipes and remaining 45% after units installed. Also can pay the 45- 45 thro 12 0r 24 month interest free installment... So can cross off AC on my list!! Mines a Toshiba: RAS-M10NKPX X 3 [ indoor UNIT] RAS-3M20UAX [outdoor UNIT]

Got final revised quotation!! Comes to 27246 incldng GST!! Must go thro fine tooth and comb now.

OOPs I was sooo busy scouting and shopping and counting keys So the delay in reply Devilaz and GnM! WOW Kudos to you guys! Really take the effort to go thro every aspect of the quotes. Will take into account each of your pointers.. Thank you! Really appreciate your attention to detail. We have gone on our own scouting trips and have bot most of the accessories on our own. Our ID mentioned that he is going to take us to Lookz, LA and some other shops in Balestier for shopping. So we went on our own to those shops 1st and then to others along Jln Besar, Geylan, Bukit merah..and also cross chkd with Ikea.. and we have bought most of the accessories from different shops already. For eg, we got the vanity top basins from Rigel when we saw a model we liked selling at $68. We had seen the same at SSC for $120. Lights we bot from various heartland shops and from Lightcraft at Jalan Sultan as they are the only ones carrying a certain model that we like. As for tiles I went to White horse with my ID and selected. He didnt say anything then and let me choose. But later asked me to chk HAfary and kept pushing for it as its got latest styles. Kept saying how far Sungei Kadut was. ... i know there must be something for him in it ...but since he keep insisting decided to make him happy and chose Hafary. Its better to have some give and take Hob Hood Sink and OVen I bot From Asia Excel ...with a Franke sink and mixer ...my ID doesnt know yet ..we cook mostly at home.. for $1550. I have reason to believe that is a quite a good deal. The WC's I am planning to buy from Royal Fanco as I really liked the model they have (its a squarish smooth sided one with soft close at $200) Its much more reasonable than Rigel and we liked the service. What do you think? How much wud u spend on a WC? Aircon -- we are deciding to go with AllBEst ...have still not confirmed. Havent chk Hong Tar. We have tried to get all the points Devilaz and GnM mentioned in writing with my ID. Anytime we try to haggle on the price ... he keeps reminding us what a good deal we got on the kitchen..which was a promotional price... but then so what!! Its their promotion and they offered it!! Not my problem. Anyways rather than change ID's we decided to stick to this one and try and get the best possible. We have decided to chop the shoe rack off our list and buy off the rack. About the 10% which may come up later in the rno it already has after getting the keys to the house we found the bathroom is in a bad shape. ... so we need to factor in the hacking of floor and wall tiles of bathroom. Its been empty for 3 yrs and the bathrooms are in their original 14 yr old condition. Hollow tiles and lots of cracks. So additional. The study when we ask form break up we found the 8 feet bookshelf costs abt 1600 and the suspended table $1680! SO we cut that out. Wud rather put in our own table! Still the cost has hit the 27K mark excluding all our accessories!! GnM U were right ours is an EA, 150 sq metres.

Hi! I too have signed up with Unimax but we are buying most of the accessories on our own from our own scouting and shopping trips. One reason being our ID always seems in a hurry and too busy to even think. At times I wonder if he remembers what he is doing - where - as he seems to be handling at least a couple of other BIgger projects!! He is very punctual though and I too want my reno to be completed in schedule so I think that aim will be achieved thro Unimax. Very meticulous and attention to detail. The rest ...hiccups and hangups ... will be sure to come once the hacking starts in 2 days. I am totally hacking the 2 toilets and overlaying kitchen + wardrobes in 3 rooms + bookshelf in study and kitchen cabinets ... reno coming up to 27,000 ++ Not including accessories lights, hood, hob., etc. Sigh!! Deep hole in my pocket!!

I quite agree with Mace. There is nothing that matches the feeling of having high ceiling! So despite a lot of effort from my Id I have resisted the idea of false ceiling -- round or L or whatever shape it may be. IT still brings down the ceiling height. I have a ground floor flat with 9 feet high ceiling! A luxury I am having for the 1st time is that of being able to have ceiling fans!! That are somemo not stuck to the roof but can have at least a 1 foot rod. I am planning on wall lights. Mace you recommended a shop for lights.... what about for WCs.. I chkd out Rigel but found it quite expensive. Saw one at Royal Fanco wich both me n hb liked. Squarish at 200 with soft closing ....is that too expensive? Pls advice.

Chk out Light Craft At Jalan Sultan. They are having a pre reno sale ...10 % of all items Upto 70% on some last piece or display items!! I got all my lights there...came to withing 500 for whole house!! Within my budget!! And excellent service too

HI! I too am in the same situation. So what i propose to do is put wall mounted lamp/lamps. You can put upto 20 W bulb in some. so if you put two that will be bright enuff. In the study I propose to put one 30 W wall mounted lamp and use study lamps when needed. The other option the uncle at Lights Arcade suggested is to put those slim tubes type of wall mounted light. They come in nice designs too these days. In fact he has one with two tubes.. its roughly 2 feet by 1 feet rectangle and there are 4 tiny lamps on 4 sides. U can choose to either put on those 4 dim lights as night/mood light and put the two tubes when u need more light. I am waiting for my keys. Will only be able to put pics after Dec when my design is implemented lookin4wards

Hi Cantona! Thanks What kind of care shud I take when they fix my kitchen top? As for the rest... have signed up today....for bettter or worse ....till granite do us apart :] ....... so am prepared to take a chance with this ...as I do with so many things in life. Reno is like a gamble.. its a a game of chance... so if luck with me it will work out lOr.. :} if not then .... that will be another story..... and I'll be back... to tell u ALL abt it..

Hi LAK For kitchen granite top, do bear in mind whether there will be joining line or whole slab of granite. If there is line, it will be cheaper. If whole piece of granite slab and cut into the size, then it will be expensive. By how much? I am not so sure. This is what one of the contractor told me. Either has a line and pay more to have one piece. H4Happy Its surely going to be a whole slab. since mines an L shaped kitchen it will be cut accordingly. Definitely not those piecemeal type. Tho not Indian granite its a China granite. He showed me pics of one kitchen he did where he use the same. Like in wood u can see a pattern ..look somewhat like tiger skin pattern if see whole slab. i believe upto 8 feet can be one slab ( if I'm not mistaken ???)

Hi! I found out the name of the granite that I chose. I found out that it cost around 70 pfr to get a raw cut stone. It has to be further polished and edges smoothened and then the installation so all in all 90 pfr is what it wud cost. So it was a good deal !! If get good deals also paranoid

Hi dreamgirl, Plan to start a blog...with all names and addresses ...but only once I have finalised the ID. since I 've not signed up and am still in the process of going thro diff firms and contractors dont feel its right to reveal the name at present.

Hi Devilaz! I found your comments MOST helpful. I have found that I have asked most of the questions u mentioned in my 2nd meeting with my ID: Thank you for your questions it helped me review the quote.. I have tried to answer all ur questions. I want an affordable and good quality reno.. they are offering that. Have confirmed on the grade of material I am getting and have been shown samples ..am satisfied with that now. + will be shown a flat done up 2 months ago by my ID this weekend. My tenancy agreement is up on 24th Dec and I need to get my reno done within that period...have to yet get keys ..3 months will be up on 10Nov..h*b has said will expedite and try to give asap...My ID has said 1 month and 1 week ..time frame is confirmed. Contractors may take more time and yes my fren had a bad exp recently in his 4 room in Bedok...and he paid nearly 24K for reno...so price too was not too low. My ID says that I will get what I'm paying for. No hidden cost but at the same time he wont compromise on quality so no more bargaining on price. He gives 5++yr guarantee on workmanship n material. Tiles = homogenous non slip 300 x 300 upto a maximum of $3.30 per tile. I wanted rectangular tiles for bathrooms and he said as long as it fits into the 3.30 range he will let me choose any design or type. I have already bot my fridge, washng mc, dishwasher.. so will be able to give dimensions. Hood hob oven Sink...Lights etc. Id said he will accompany me to buy n get me good discount. He is giving me glass door for drainer and 2 sandblasted door to top cabinets. Will ask for free SS rack Now shoe cabinet modified by us...will be full height..lower part up to my shoulder so 4 n 1/2 feet will be shoe rack...upper part with glass doors and inbuilt light will be display cabinet ..will help to light up the foyer too. (So 250 pfr seems reasonable..) All wardrobes are full height. Doors will be wood with laminates from Lamtak of our choice. Will ask for full height mirror on one door The 5 feet wardrobe is sold at abt 500 $ off the rack. But the shape in this room is odd. 4 feet has 3 feet depth. the remaining one feet is about 2 feet depth. Odd shape. Scared if leave dark damp space behind wardrobe rodents will have a party n invite termites, roaches, etc for drinks so going for custom made! Lastly grade of paint ICI Duluc wash n wear..upto a maximum of 8 colours...but when I asked he said he will let me choose more.

Hi Mace! Yeah I couldnt find much to read extensively ....upon this id in particular..... and maybe that is what is causing this paranoia... But Whew! I finally found a link with major re-hash.. I did go thro that last nite..right from 2005 upto the present. am glad to say from the feedback: There are no major negative comments...good, well built reputation, have had occassional hiccups but after-sales service is well noted. The only thing is considered not the cheapest...but not most expensive either...for eg. carpentry quotes I've rcvd range from 200 pfr to 250 pfr.. they quote 220 pfr and have showed me type quality of material used. Solid ply with laminate.. Kitchen top is China granite but of good grade..I called up a co. and they quoted 70pfr for a 16 feet piece...so if u consider that they are including backing, installation and polishing etc. 90 pfr is ok... Most importantly complete within schedule coz they have their own band of trusted sub-con. I have 2 kids and tho my work hours are flexible (I have the adv of working from home) I have no maid ...so overseeing contractors cud have been too much for me to handle. So I guess there is a premium to pay for having an ID. I will have to swallow that.

They have GST registration also RADAC n CASETRUST n Hbay recognised

Cant bargain on that Rules n Regulations .. in black n white. will a contractor not charge GST??

Hi! I havent been able to find much abt Unimax Creative .. I have done so many searches ... their name pops up but nothing more Has anyone had their home done by them? They are on top of my list at present but I wud like more +ve info + pictures b4 I commit Anyone with 1st hand experience with Unimax pls share with me. Or shud I infer that not much info = not much -ve comments

nice reno