gadgetman

Additional lighting point?? I think all of us here can confirm that the light box above our basin already contain a ready electric point meant for a florescent tube!! Some more, the switches outside the toilets already include the one meant for this lighting point! You better check with your contractor again...He probably did not expect that you have such a big support group behind you and thinks that he can chop you anyhow! Boy will he be in for a shock when he realise this...think his potential for future business will suffer tremendously if this is not explained or rectified in full for you!

No harm getting a quote from Substance, you can then get a free tour of my place and Strawberry Pear's place! There are a few of us who have signed up with them, can get plenty of comments from us! If you to hear from me, do drop me a PM. BTW, my carpentry works are just starting to come in...so hopefully you will get to see more than floor tiles and false ceilings!

Gadgetman staying at Blk C...

You must be careful to make sure that the IDs will definitely cover your full cost of the hacking (including the PE fees) when they quote you. My ID was surprised that HDB had asked for a PE top be involved, his other projects elsewhere does not involve such an item so far. I understand PE may not be required for older and lower flats, but Blk79 is a new and high-rise building. Think "Kiasu" mentality, if something were to happen with the hacking, would HBD assume all responsibility? Short answer is probably not, so an indepenet assessment by a professional is added insurance! !! Finally, the first signs of carpentry works are finding their way to my place!! !! The kitchen cabinets are being assembled today and the living room platform should start tomorrow!

Just got a small piece of good news from my ID....He has asked the PE to reduce his fees for me since we are not going ahead with the hacking. This means that he does not have to spend time on a site visit and also, he does not have to bear the added responsibility after the hacking. The PE initially said that it is not possible as fees are fixed, but he has made an exception this time based on his long-term dealings with my ID... The discount is not very substantial (just $100) but still this is better than nothing! Kudos to my ID!

For those who want to install rain-shower: Please take note of the height allowance between the bathroom mixer and the max ceiling of your toilet before committing on your Rain-shower set! I have measured my MBR toilet and the clearance is only 98cm max. Most rain-shower sets have height beyond 1m and are not adjustable! I have settled for a mix-n-match solution in the end. Bought a stand-alone rain-shower pipe with adjustable height. This will be connected to the bathroom mixer tap by a hose from below. I think this is the only workable solution, the other two ways is to either increse the ceiling height (near to impossible) or move the tap lower (will not look very nice according to my ID cos will have to expose more pipes). You have been warned!!

Here are some things that I WOULD HAVE done, if I have another go at a renovation project. You may like to consider them as well....(at your own risk!) Invest in some recent renovation magazines to take note of the ideas you like to incorportate Talk to some IDs and renovators to get an idea of how much basic renovation of a reasonable quality will cost. These will include, Flooring, Ceiling, Electrical, Plumbing, Kitchen Cabinets and Toilets. As these areas are all standard items, price comparison will be easy across different IDs On top of these items, add those items in your wish-list to see how much more they will add to your budget. These are the items that will detemine the final cost of your renovation, so even if the ID can give a very good quote for basic reno, it adds up to nothing if they start to chop you here!! Be ready to drop and modify ideas that may not fit into your budget. Rule-of-Thumb - Buying ready-made furnitures will be cheaper than to custom built. Therefore, unless you have good reason to have built-in (space constraints, design considerations etc), try not to have too much built-in. Check out Furniture Mall, Ikea, V-Hive, Barang Barang and even places like I waana go Home to see the range of ready-made furnitues that can potentially fit your place. Remember to invest in a good measuring tape so that you can be sure that what you have in mind will fit into the room! Remember - Built-in items are not necesary nicer or more practical! Do not fall into the trap of feeling obligated to have customised items to give your house an unique look. These will definitely add in to your cost, but may not necessary make your house look better! Allow some buffer in your budget for some luxury items. There will be beautiful lights and toilet accessories that will be very tempting later on - make sure you have enough budget to cover these as well Make sure you list down all the extra costs so that you can know exactly how much the total cost will be. these include: Haulage, PE fees, provisions for electircal appliances and furntures etc. Your budget will easily spiral out of control if you do not make early provisions for these necessary items. Last but not least, go with an ID that you are comfortable with. I went with mine because he sounded knowledgeable and confident and he has an easy-going style. It is important to work with someone whom you can trust and whom you believe can understand your vision and needs clearly. One final word: Expect plenty of hickups and problem-solving even with all the above in place! There is no such thing as a perfect renovation project. There will be plenty of occasions for you to change your designs and ideas mid-way. But stay true to your vision of your future home and try to work towards that as much as you can. I have already had my share of problems and some of the U-turns are quite costly. It will be very easy to say "you should have thought of that earlier" now, but this is real-life and trust-me, problems do happen even with the best 3-D drawings and planning! But that's also the fun and challenging part of the renovation project! Enjoy!

Really pity your situation...but I can understand how confusing the reno project can be. At the end of the day, we all have to accept that there is no such thing as the perfect package. We will just have to make the best possible decision and then try to make the best out of it - that's why chemistry with your ID or contractor will be a very important ingredient....Wish you all the best!

It's for both... Just checked out my house today, they have also cleaned up the place too But no news of my acid wash yet...

Hi Strawberry Pear, I sneaked into your unit today around 5.30pm ...saw that the cardboard layers had been removed and there was an Indian worker sweeping your floor! My living room is still in a mess, my very expensive cornice lay shattered all over the place and still serves as a painful reminder of the $$$ gone down the drain! Really hope they can clean up the mess soon, so that I will not be reminded of the painful lesson everytime I visit my house! You are right about your neibouring unit, they seem to have only knocked down part of the bedroom walls without disturbing the doorframes...If this is the case, I am gonna complain to HDB of the unfair treatment!!! How come they can do it and I cannot??? BTW, all my downlights are in already! But only slight improvement from yesterday...now only TWO lights will turn on Haiz...why don't they just complete all the connections so that I can turn on ALL the lights

I may not be able to make it tomolo as I will be busy with the reno shopping. Anyway, my toilets are only half-ready...cannot really tell if the final results will look swee yet...I was just referring to the tiling works, particularly the MBR ones. Here's a sample of how it looks like:

I have actually not done that, but based on other ppl's account on how much other IDs charge for the overlaying. I think the price quoted is fair. Ours is a combination of normal ($2.20/pc) and designer ($23/pc!!) tiles. My total quote for overlaying is $2800, but the designer tiles would have costed easily $400 already. More importantly, we are happy with the end-results. The designer tiles do stand out and made a difference. I could be wrong but we may not have achieved the same effect if we are limited to choosing only $3/pc tiles for the whole toilet...

Oh no....I mean only those square downlights and not the desginer kitchen and study lights like yours!! I have not selected those yet!! You are most welcome to come and kaypoh, but please lower your expectation first OK? I repeat: No Designer Lights yet! I will most probably be there for a short while from 6.30pm to 6.45pm maybe....Still need to rush down to Balestier to catch up on our shopping list. Dun worry, if not today, there's always the next time! Hi Tension z, Are you under SERS? If so, the 4 months time allowance is correct. You will get a confirmation letter from HDB very soon. We collected our keys on 30 Aug, so must return our old flat by 30 Dec!

Hi Strawberry Pear, Can I confirm if it is necessary to get our toilet stuff from Lookz? I saw that you have actually shopped around but have bought from Lookz in the end. Heard that Lookz prices are inflated is this true?

Very nice view indeed!! Even better than the Blk C I must say...but can I check if can see the Novena/Orchard areas too?

Hi Strawberry Pear, Are you having your lights installed today? Mine is scheduled to be done today...really looking forward to be able to view my place at night when the lights are installed! BTW, saw your reno-blog and I must say your lights and toilet accessories selection is rather impressive!

Yup Yup....sure got to top up, but no choice...better change now than be more sorry later on! My house just got a fresh coat of paint! Quite happy with the colors chosen too Leonard had already replied...told him must give me very good price since we really over-shot the budget by a lot already. The price quoted is quite reasonable, but of course for us who are paying, it will never be low enough! But all things considered, it is a fair price and he also absorbed the cost for tearing down of the cornice. On hindsight, I think I have to add in a fair word for him here. I just remembered today that the original design of that area is for a sliding door that goes behind the cornice structure. Had this been the case, the cornice would not have deep enough to be made into a storage cabinet. However, we have later changed the design to a swing door and consequently that left us with a much larger space to play with (that we have both overlooked unfortunately). So there is really nothing seriosuly wrong with his original design in the first place

Hi, I have checked with Citygas too and almost decided on the spot to get the free heater, but after reading the discussion in the forum, I realised that the 5 Ltr capacity is too small and may not meet our needs in the long run. Furthermore, reading from Shivan's post, I get to understand that the storage heater actually retains the temperature of the water for quite a while after it is turned off - therefore energy consumption may not be that scary too. I am still evaluating the situation, but the quote from the ID will really affect my final decision. The sunken cost is actually quite substantial (let's just say you can engage a PE with the same amount!), but if the rectification is within our means, we will definitely go for it!

Just did an incredibly crazy thing yesterday on my renovation plans... Have decided after much thought and debate with wife that the COMPLETED cornice section outside the kitchen may have to go to make way for a more practical storage cabinet. It's very heartpain cos its more $$$ down the drain and the item is already 100% done. But I think it is better to bite the bullet now than to live with a mistake that I will regret more later on. Storage space is really a premium in our ultra congested flat and the area taken up by the cornice could have been put into much better use . Hope my ID can quote me a good price for the new design, if it is too expensive may be back to square one again.... Also requested to trade our instant water heaters to an electric drum heater. It really seem a bit silly if all the pipings are already done and we don't use them - this was a point I could not reconcile with for a long time. This means that I will have to trade off by living with an ugly-looking device on the top of my kitchen, but on the bright side, we can now have hot water for the kitchen (which was what my wife want all along), and we won't have to run the risk of instant electric heaters spoiling the looks of our toilets. Hope we won't have any more last-minute changes...already wasted quite a bit of "Yuan Wang" money already...

Welcome to Blk79 - HDB's showcase for modern-day living in an unrealistically tight environment! Sorry I was expecting tension_z to be a guy, so it did not hit me the first instance that it was you at my unit Anyway, welcome to my place! Sorry it wasn't more completed as you have hope it to be. I have spoken to my ID (yes, the other guy you saw at the office), and accordingly the carpentry works will be coming in in the next two weeks or so. Tomorrow will be the painting of the house and Thursday the lighting works. Hopefully, if you come back again by then, there will be more things to see Trust me, I am as anxious to see how the house will look like when completed! !!

Haizz....I was there everyday around 6.30pm except today! Went to Parkmall with wife for dinner and to shop for furnitures. Actually just wanted to see see, but ended up committing on our sofa! It's really an impluse purchase, hope I will not regret later on.... I should be there tomolo too, but should be after 2.30pm...depend on what time my son goes to bed

I am quite sure he will bring you to both Strawberry Pear's and my unit! Welcome

Sorry to add to your woes...but I think you have missed out the LCD TV too! That is easily another $2000+ if you are looking for a 40inch and above!

!! I Think My View Will Be Blocked!! Sigh...was up at my place today to see how the new proposed building next to TPY Entertainment Centre will affect the view of the swimming pool from my unit (this will probably affect all Blk79C units 39 and 41 as well). This is the view before the proposed building (click to enlarge, focus on the swimming pool): This is the simulated one after the proposed building (click to enlarge to compare again): At least half the swimming pool will be potentially blocked! Bye Bye nice blue water.... Strawberry Pear, can you also confirm the accuracy of my prediction the next time you go to your unit?

Mine is included in the renovation and its a Daikin Multi-split 3+2 aircon without inverter. Can someone tell me if 3+2 means that I will have two compressors?