phantommist

I think quite cordial. A good ID should give you advise on top of asking you for ideas on your mind. For me, reasonable schedule but tight control on the arrangement is top priority.

Hi, I hope I'm not too late in replying. My lights are from circuit road one of the shop there selling mostly China stuffs. You can try GR link, PohJoo, Poh seng, hoe kee superstore. Furniture are from castlery, wihardja and forty two. But do know what you want and ask around. Glass is usually easily broken but as we are using tempered glass and that it's all the way at the wall, it's quite low chance to reach it, not to say break a tempered glass. Maintenance wise just wipe it will be OK. Do note if you take transparent, there will be a hint of green since glass has some green tinge. So far so good for the tiles. My grout lines tend to get dirty in one of the bathroom because the air flow is not that good. Try not to use colored one as the color may fade soon. I'm trying magicclean to reduce need to brush them. Acid wash for the first time is just before carpentry work to provide a clean floor. Second time is before moving in. Actually their acid wash kind of BS as I don't think it's clean enough. A lot of cement dust on the floor still. For your electrical wiring, you must know where to put, what you going to use it for and how many. For a start them to quote how much for 2 way switch for normal ( light) and for high power ( water storage heater) one. It's better to have a transparent pricing to avoid future doubt. Looking back, there are quite a few things I thought could have done better, like the location of switches, choice of toilet floor tile color, etc.

Chubby, glad that it helps you. Do PM me if you have queries. I will try to help with what i know.

Mine was Nicholas Teng as ID and Edward as site manager. Project completed on time. Can find my reno journey thread in renotalk.

On Furniture This is another headache. Where to buy and what to buy. Bookshelf - There are many shelves that claim to be bookshelves but they will sag after some time, even though they claim also to be solid wood. Look at the edge of the wood if you can. Solid wood and compressed wood look very different and their tensile strength are also very different. No doubt teak or other high density wood are stronger, price you are willing to pay is to be considered too. Don't try buying bookshelves that are more than 1m wide per compartment as this increase the chance of sagging even with the strongest wood. Lastly, i prefer the shelves to be built using either screws or nails, and not staple. I prefer less dust so i got book shelves with swing door with some glass panel. Just need to wipe the outside and put hippo or charcoal to absorb moisture within the shelf. Display shelf - Have not bought yet. Still looking around. Coffee Table + TV console - Not easy to find both in pairs to sync the colours and design. Places like HM, courts, Novena, IMM and etc sells so expensive. Wanted the TV console to be at least 500mm in height, about 1800mm in width and the compartment can be customised and allow a AV receiver like Denon, Marrantz or Pioneer type to fit in. As i wanted the bottom to be either fully flushed to the floor or having a gap of about 100mm in case i get iRobot or equivalent to relieve me from the vacumming. Got both at $1200. Sofa - I'm fussy about this one. As i don't like the look of old leather stretching and the headache of checking if the sofa has genuine full leather (not top grain and not synthetic). In the end i chose a sofa with cloth fabric and removable to allow washing. As i also prefer the sofa to be about the same width as the TV console, the sofa should be about 1800mm wide, aka 3 person sofa. The middle of the sofa has a leg to support the weight to prevent breaking at the middle. If your sofa is wider than 1200mm or is L-shaped type, better check that there are enought support legs. Got mine at about $850. Dining Table set - Originally wanted a teak wood dining table set because i wanted something tough and yet look country enough. Thought Rose wood to be too dark for country even though rose wood is beautiful. Saw the rain forest wood aka Suarwood and fell in love with it. Good thing is that the table has a darker tone in the middle and lighter tone at the side while the table does not have standard shape. something like that but i didn't buy from here or endorsing this website. Found a place selling quite reasonable price but need to let the wood acclamatize at my house. Feels heartache that the wood cracks at the side and have some white spots even though it will be fixed after 6 month acclimatization period. For the same table if acclimatized, will be double in price. Hopefully it will be all good after June. Shoe cabinet - Wanted a lourved shoe cabinet to allow airing of the shoes. Went quite a number of shops and the prices are like $200 to $300 for 1200m height ones. Most charges delivery of $30 to $50. Most of them have the same construction with screws at the back. In the end, found on local website for $130 with delivery. Exactly the same thing but way cheaper. haha. Bed and bedframe - There are many technologies concerning beds. Many different types of spring technologies and then there's latex mattress. Felt that the 3 S's (Simmons, Sealy and Serta) are so expensive. As i wanted the bed to have good back support, minimise movement to the other person when you turn sides and not too thick, the pricing from 3 S's are like more than $3k. Saw brands like seahorse, 4 stars or even englander, price very similar. Think some brands, e.g. Sealy, don't not have consistent model names, like different brands sells the same thing but with different name and slight difference in the configurations. In this way, one cant really compare apple to apple. In addition, feels that the comfort test is just a scam since the comfort feel mainly come from the top layer which is not exactly the mattress proper. Most of the time we are in air-conditioned malls or shops, how to test if its not too warm in Singapore humid weather? Some people say Tempur is really warm and not suitable for Singapore weather unless you are always sleeping in air-con room but you won't know until you really sleep on it to test. In addition, there is very little information on what exactly is inside these mattresses. In the end, i turn my search to latex mattress. Ignoring the tech talk about between dunlop and Talaly processes, i got a medium hardness latex mattress with very small amount of top comforter. Good for the back, good for the pocket. Got it for less than $3k when there was 20% discount during a new branch opening. So far so good sleeping on it. Most brands would want you to get a bed from them together with the mattress but you can choose not to if the design don't suit your taste. I got mine from another shop. A tip. Either get a bed frame with full plank underneath the mattress or top up money to get the full plank. Most brands will void warranty when they see slit type of support underneath the mattress. But then, after reading the terms & condition of warranty of bed mattress, i think the chance of warranty claim is close to zero. Another tip. If you prefer durability of your bed frame, try looking for bed frames with more support legs in the middle of the bed to support that heavy mattress, esp if you are getting a latex bed. For ease of getting on and off the bed, you may want to consider the full combined height of both the mattress and the bed frame. From my own family's experience, having a bed frame that has "leg board" (as opposed to head board) might cause some bruises when you walk around the bed, sometimes kicking the end of the bed in the process. I got a bed frame which only have head board but the leg side is empty. Do consider if you need that 15 inch mattress as i think its more of a want than need since i cant appreciate how a thicker mattress is "more comfortable" than a thinner one like 6 inch ones. No matter how one bounce on the mattress, i don't see the mattress depress much, maybe a two to three inches at most? Do share on your experience (no sales person please). Storeroom rack - After considering the options provided for steel rack, plastic rack, etc, i got a painted steel rack with rubber sole, plywood plank and boltless design. Chosed plywood because i read that MDF/HDF might emit some gas that is not too good for health. I think acrylic is fine too. Both plywood and acrylic should last a long time. Dressing table - decided to stick to a teak wood table with drawers. Beautiful but expensive. Thats all for my braindump at the moment. Do share yours so that i can learn too.

On Window Grilles After this renovation, i realised that i can actually liaise and replace the window grilles on my own. so simple and the price is way cheaper! How i found out was that the window grill on the bedroom window leading to the aircon compressor platform broke after the renovation completed, i asked for quotation from a few supplier and replaced it at $150. Some quoted $250 as they have minimum order so i discarded them. Of course, if your renovation contractor charge you very close to the supplier price, it's worth it to pay for the trouble. On Curtain I learned that one need to be more specific with the requirement. I just told the curtain guy that i wanted the curtain rod to be as high as possible but didn't realise until they installed it touching the ceiling. Now, when taking down or putting back the curtain, have to stick the curtain strap like sticking ATM card into the slot. Finger totally cannot go through. Minor problem but hopefully its useful to you. I paid about $1150 for 3 full length black-out 100% curtain, 1 full length 70% curtain, 1 full length day curtain and 1 roll down curtain (for the window leading to aircon compressor). All using wooden rods and top-tab (aka cafe) curtain. Day curtain is using plastic clips.

On Lighting, Electrical wiring and Switches Having the freedom to specify your lighting needs can be challenging as well. Previously mentioned about the spacing between each lightings, colour temperature as well as the strength of the lightings, i have planned for boxed up downlights at the side of the living room plus a ceiling light to ensure even lightings. For the bathrooms, the lights that i purchased is more closed up to prevent moisture from entering the lighting area. Not sure about quality, my 18W downlights are about $12 each (Taiwan Epistar), 24W ceiling lights about $25 each. Dining lights (3 columns type) about $60. Definitely didn't buy from Balastier or Paya lebar or Geylang area. Almost fainted when the same downlight cost $30 or same ceiling light cost $80. Yafen seems cheap but in the end still prefer taiwan made ones. Since i'm being charged per point and not per switch, i split the lights into zones of about 2 lights per switch for all the downlights and 1 light per switch for all the ceiling lights. Say if i'm watching movie or just reading a book at the sofa in the living room, i can just switch on the downlights at the sofa area. More condusive for the eyes isn't it. Only need to switch on all the lights when having gathering or activities. ceiling fan in the sofa + TV area to eliminate the need for a standing fan. Plus ceiling fan is really cooler basing on the convection theory. So in the living room and dining room, i have a total of 15 lights and 1 ceiling fan that uses 12 switches (include 2-way switches). The 2-way switch was for the lights on the path from main door to bedroom, switch on when i'm at the door and switch off when i'm at the bedroom or the other way round. My parents thought i am crazy. haha. For the switches, my contractor gave me Legrand which is supposedly a mid range product. My requirement to him was the buttons for the switches must be large, reliable and durable. Maybe thats why i didn't receive Schneider ones. Please get the pricing before hand for everything from, number of light point, fan point, hob point, hood point, in-built oven point (15A?), fridge point, air-con point (20A?), 1-way switch, 2-way switch, 3-way switch, 1-gang switch, 2-gang switch, 3-gang switch, 4-gang switch, 1-gang socket, 2-gang socket and so on. imagine i got a shock when he told me a 2-way switch for the storage water heater is $300! Also, i don't know what is the difference when they have 2 different pricing for wiring without HDB check and with HDB check. Cannot be just because HDB don't allow certain hiding of cabling right? Check that all the wiring includes ground as some electricians only install 2 wires to save cost. Discuss how to hide the cables before actual work starts. If you want to hide all cables, you might end up with more $$ spend on the box up. If you like me, prefer easy access for maintenance, just do the trunking as efficiently as possible can already. Nag at them to do the trunking properly and before the 2nd paint layer session. Must insist that the wiring is done in such as way that when one light blows, the rest of the lights will continue to work. Check that the Cat 5 or 6 cables are as promised as this will affect your home network performance. I got the benefit of borrowing from friend to test the Ethernet points after the installation. Check where you want to put your wireless router to have maximum network performance. For mine, after staying in for a week or so, think i need to install a access point as towards the end of the bedroom, away from the main wireless router and after about 2 walls, WiFi is weak. Fortunately, i planned a Ethernet point at the bedroom door area in case i need.

On Gas or Electrical cooking Was reading around and needed to decide which mode to use for cooking. Do i use the traditional way of gas cylinder or use the more fuss-free town gas or even use the modern induction cooking? My main consideration was the ease of maintenance, cost of usage and of course the "wok-hei". For gas cylinder, cost wise is about $33 per tank. likely we are going to finish one in 4 month or longer since we cook probably up to 3 times a week plus alternate day of boililng water. Gas is a primary fuel source hence should be generally cheaper. You have good cooking control since you can control the amount of gas to burn. Maintenance wise, i need to consider the storage area which could become oily, dirty and don't think i won't invest time to clean it. Lastly, although the tank are typically designed to withstand up to 9 times the spec pressure, i still think it is not nice to have a 'gas bomb' at home. For town gas, cost wise will be a pay as you use model. about $0.1761 per KWh (Feb to Apr 17). As our cooking habit as above should be quite low for now, cost should be quite close to cylinder. Do note the fact that SP tend to 'over-estimate' your usage and charge you more, though they do 'reimburse' you back the following month when the actual usage figures are confirmed. Don't really like the charging model but you don't lose much if one can pay by credit card and get some rebates. Gas is a primary fuel source hence should be generally cheaper. You have good cooking control since you can control the amount of gas to burn. Maintenance wise, nothing much. Just make sure noone hack or whack the pipe and you should be good to go for years to come. For full electricity cooking, cost wise, i think it's the most expensive of the lot since it is a resultant 'energy' from the gas source. Induction cooking is efficient in terms of energy use but when you look at how the electricity is generated, at about 40% efficiency at most, in addition, transmission lost because of "Power = ( Current x Current ) x Resistance x Cos Theta" formula where there will always be resistance on the transmission lines, i can see why electricity is more expensive (more than 15%) at $0.2020 per KWh (Feb to Apr 17). Hear that food cooked with this tend not to have the 'wok-hei' since you cant really use a iron wok. Plus one may need to look at the hob specification if the output is high enough for your cooking. One thing good about induction is that usually this heats up faster and the heat is distributed more evenly. You can even program the induction hob on the exact temperature you need. Maintenance wise, pleae wait for the cooking surface to cool down before cleaning to avoid being scathed. You also need to ensure your cooking pots and such is induction-ready (iron or steel elements) else you can cook with it. With this, i decided to use town gas. Considering again for safety reason, i use town gas only for cooking, didn't extend it to water heating for shower. If it is safe, why does SP require the water heater to be installed in well ventilated area, like near the window? I decided to use storage tank heater so that if your usage is low for now, you just need to heat up the water once and the hot water should last for a while like half a day. Do remember to switch the storage heater off else it will continue to keep the water warm and consume electricity! Back to the town gas. Since the flat is used for sometime, decided to replace the whole gas pipes. You can either call up SP to book the appointment or 'authorise' your contractor to install on your behalf. Do provide the account number. For town gas installations, you will need 2nd appointment to connect up with the Hob. Tip: if you are getting a resale flat. Try to get the seller to terminate his account with SP on the same day or so as you getting a new account so that the supply for water, gas and electricity don't get cut.

Finally got time to write. @doctor123 It is a 5I. On water piping, taps and bathroom accessories Due to the age of the flat (more than 15 years), i have decided that we should replace the water piping for the whole house. For hygiene purpose mainly. Need to run through how the piping is run through the whole house, especially for the points for all the outlets, e.g. washing machine, dryer, WC, basin, sink, water heater, shower points, etc. For mine, it was a 2 stage installation. First session was to install all the pipes with the necessary outlet points. Here, the simple outlet like the shower tap and WC connection was done. Second session then to install the sink, basin, etc and then connect up the water point for those not done in the first session. You need also make sure you get your bathroom accessories delivered before the second session so that they can help you install. I got SUS304 stainless steel for all my taps, basket for bath bottles, towel bar, etc. Hope that this will really reduce chance of rust or corrosion. If you prefer durability, try to get those baskets that drill/screw 2 or 4 through the basket and directly into the wall and not those that drill 2 screw into the wall and hang the basket. You will thank me after long term usage of pressing that shower and shampoo pump bottles. For the toilet paper holder, found the ceramic type in Hoe Kee. Didn't really like the stainless steel types where the cover is sharp no matter which model i see. If you want to get the ceramic type like me, try to get those that just need to drill and screw 2 or 4 (depending on model) to the wall and not those that need to create a indent in the wall (your contractor will charge you for this). Tip for future ease of maintenance. Try getting the installer to install a switch before all the outlet so that you can cut off the water supply to that point if you need to change the tap or do some serious work on it. The switch may look similar to this - sample image of the switch. My installer was good. He even helped me do a 2 way switch in between the WC and bidet spray. In this way, i can ensure that when the water is filling up the WC, i don't need to worry that long term water pressure on the bidet spray head will spoil it. And when flushing, if we don't see any water, you will be forced to turn that switch to save the bidet spray.. haha.. Make sure you sight the installer put the silicon all round the side of the kitchen sink and the bathroom basin. Don't want a leak and damage to the cabinets. My installer gave me 2 choices, transparent type and the white colour type. When asked which is more lasting, he replied the transparent type. Anyone can advice? Mine's done so i just want to learn more. Also check that the water mixer tap work as intended. You don't want cold water to flow out when you swing the tap to the hot side. Last thing, although very minor but this could be a pain for those very particular about design. For the washing machine outlet, please check if the outlet is left or right side so that the contractor can tailor the drainage hole for you.

Thats very bad. Sometimes its combination of expectation by both sides and the working style of both sides. when communication is sub-par, there will be problems. Mine is more or less completed. taking over this week after 10 weeks of renovation. within that timing, 1 week plus wasted by waiting for opennet. maybe i'm considered lucky?

Cool. Let me settle more of my stuffs before i find time to write more. Almost ready to clean the house once more before receiving the furniture!

Day 48 - Cabinet and Wardrobe Finally, the carpenter is here to install the cabinets and wardrobe. First the area is cleaned, then the carpenter install the frame of the cabinets and wardrobe in my kitchen, bathrooms and bedroom. next they start to drill holes for the Hob, basins, drainage, etc. Then, time to stick the laminates onto the frames. Lastly, the doors and drawers are fixed onto the cabinets and wardrobe. Sounds easy? Actually, its hard work. Next up to wait for the quartz top and glass panels to be up. Things that i learned. - We have to know what we want in order to articulate to the carpenter. Otherwise you definitely be lost be it design, material, configuration and how close it is to the theme of your place. You need to know how many drawers you need, as you ask for more drawer later during the reno, you may need top up. - Discuss with the carpenter on the exact height of kitchen bottom cabinet and size of each compartment, bottom cabinet is usually around 800mm high and 500mm++ depth. Top cabinet is usually 300mm++ depth. Mine is about 450mm width for each compartment. - For the kitchen cabinet, you need to decide if you need the cement base. I did for mine. - For the bathroom cabinets, you need to decide if you need to have it suspended. usually if you choose wood type, better suspend to prevent cabinet from being damaged. - For the doors, you need to decide if you want to have handles, what kind of handles, sliding or swing doors, transparent or frosted disk rack panel, etc. Sliding door are more expensive but good if you don't have enough space. My bathroom cabinet don't have door for part of it because the WC is next to it. So need to consider the usage practicality too. - Need to consider how to position the handle (those horizontal or vertical type) so that the handles don't affect the opening of 2 doors at the same time. - You may also want to consider those internal laminates that are water resistant and mould resistant, not the olden days white colour type. mould spots tend to form in our humid climate. - Get the ID/contractor/carpenter to provide the rate if you need to add or remove the dimension of the cabinets and wardrobes. It can be anywhere from $100 per foot run and onwards. Meaning to say if i need 10 foot for top cabinet and 10 foot for bottom cabinet, it will cost you at least $2k based on $100 per foot run. This is for transparency and safeguard both side's interest. Some may quote you for full-height rate. It is best to be around during the measurement so that all the positioning and the dimensions are tied down. - As far as possible, get the carpenter to provide ABS trimming so that the edges of the doors are not sharp to touch. - If you are using laminate for the cabinets, try to choose materials that are smoother, rather than those that look like real wood. imagine the dust and oil stain (in kitchen) that got stuck there! - I got the carpenter to provide BLUM hinges. If you don't like BLUM (Austria), i read that Hettich (German) and Salice (Italy) are also good. However, a word of caution, no matter how good a product you buy, if it is treated roughly or not maintained, the best product will still malfunction. For BLUM, please read <http://connect.blum.com/files/brochure/BRO007_CleaningMaintenanceManual_ZZ.pdf>. Further below i have included the photos of my hinges. Finding out why there are 2 different hinges for the same door. The bigger sized one is for the dish rack. Update: One hinge is for soft-close. Another is without. Carpenter recommended not to have both soft-closing else the soft-closing will really be stiff when you push it. - Make sure you settle the city gas piping (if you are using city gas), water piping, painting 1st layer and wall tiling done before the cabinet and wardrobe installation. I will add on once i recall more learning points.

I'm keen to know who. Please PM me too.

Hi rainfish, Apology for replying now. I split my air con installation to 2 parts. First run the pipes, then later, install the units. I got mine from Tim. You can search from the forum for his contact. His installers are OK but a tad careless in spoiling my windows grille. However, will really know if their workmanship is good only when we start using for over 1 year. For question 2, ask the ID/contractor for the HDB registration number. With that number, run it through the HDB website at http://www.hdb.gov.sg/cs/infoweb/residential/living-in-an-hdb-flat/renovation/looking-for-renovation-contractors. You will be able to see if there is any history of point penalty and when the license was registered. On HDB website, you will also see if the company is case trust registered. For question 3, i originally wanted to lay the fibre to the TV location and hiding the wire in the ceiling using the downlight box but then some issues between Singtel and Opennet, there was a delay of 1 week plus. I signed a plan with Singtel because of the "free opennet installation", apparently, it's not free even though its stated in the contract. In your case, you have to decide if you want to hide the fibre. Singtel will only charge upon "activation" of the lines during the 2nd appointment. 1st appointment is done by opennet for enabling of the fibre port or fibre installation. For question 4, either you ask the previous owner to call up the ISP to give consent or ask the ISP to ask on your behalf. In my opinion, i just don't get it, when one take over the house legally, why is the fibre port still not legally taken over by the new owner. Interestingly, the home plan should be migrated or terminated by the previous owner. For electrical appliance, think you need to compare around like Goh Ah Bee, HN, Best Denki, Courts, NTUC, etc. Festive season like Xmas now and LNY next month should be a good time to buy too. A tip, don't ever be tricked by the big stores that the price is really cheap by the supposedly deep discount. A look at past few months, you will see that the discounts are bluff one.Also don't be so easy convinced by the sale person what he/she says. Be informed before you make decisions.

Are you doing your renovation now too?

Hi minnipham, how is it? Mine was sabo'ed by opennet, everything also pushed back by 1 week plus.

Day 38 - Air Con and Tiles (Again!?) We chose a Daikin system 4 from Tim. Air Con installation was kinda smooth except that they broke my windows grille. The installers were pretty quick in their work and tested each unit before going off. Didn't know exactly what they were testing when they switched on unit 1 then fiddle the outdoor unit, then switch off unit 1 but switch on unit 3 before yet fiddling with the outdoor unit. Maybe they mixed out the wiring on the outdoor unit? The air con units took about 2 - 3 minutes to generate breeze cool enough to "air con" level, i guess the test will be really when i shift in to use them. Hopefully these MIT units will last. Went to inspect the replaced tile. The tile side nearer to the wall still sound hollow. Don't know if the tiler think of saving the cement or perhaps afraid he put too much and extras will ooze out upon putting the new tile? I guess its the best skill of the tiler already. Give up. Now left with carpentry, painting, bathroom accessories and delivery of furniture.

Can PM me the ID and company name too? Thanks./

Any photos?

Day 32 - Checking of Tiles Finally the new place was chemically washed, and the cardboard removed. Brought some marbles to test the floor tiles. Noticed that at many tiles, there are spots (about 50c coin area) within the tiles where there is high pitch sound, almost like the sound when you test for high quality jade. Wonder if that is indication of any problem but ID say its OK. There are also a few pieces of tiles that really have the hollow sound for an area like 15% of the whole piece of tile. ID advised not to change as the cement are specified by HDB where the rest of the area should make up for that hollow part, plus might cause problem to the neighbouring tiles if re-do those tiles that i mentioned. For wall tiles, noticed that many tiles sounds hollow at the joint portion (groove part), Wonder if this is another indication of any problem. ID say there is 5 years warranty so they will come to fix if there are problem in future. I just thought if want to fix better fix now rather than messing up the whole place when need to repair, or worse still, there is no more stock of the tiles that i'm using. Any gurus here can advise? Intend to change the few hollow floor tiles and leave the wall tiles be. Now pending the vinyl flooring, carpentry, plumbing and finish touch up works to really see the finished state.

Mine too. Updating my journey. < >

Singtel Home Fibre and ONT installation Opennet sent a team down yesterday. I realised though, not to install the new ONT but rather to activate the "port 2". A few calls with Singtel and they promised to call back in 3 hours but they never did. Really bad service. Today finally managed to reach someone at 1688 who understand what is going on and resolve the issue. Lesson learned. - ONT point is the rectangular box in your house. ONT port is the point at the opennet setup outside your house. - There are 2 parts for Opennet installation session for new ONT installation. 1 session to install/relocate your ONT point. 1 session to activate the ONT port. - If you are getting resale HDB, and there is an existing ONT point, need to do a few more steps. You need to get the previous owner to consent for relinquish control on the existing ONT port. Otherwise, you will be assigned port 2 which may suffer from capacity issue if all the port 1 in your block is used. If you skip the relinquish control part, Opennet will activate port 2. - For most packages with ISP, the free ONT installation is only for those without existing ONT point. ST didn't put it in their T&C and still want to charge me for the installation, stating that this is norm. Imagine signing a contract and the other party tell you the free installation is not free even if not in the contract. Yes, **** happens. - Never never allow the contractor or anyone meddle with the old ONT point or even the wires, for you may end up being billed for "damaging" opennet assets and required to pay for the "damages".

Sigh.. I signed up internet package with ST and the website got stupid BUG!!!! When you fill up the application online and come to the part of booking the opennet installation, ST router installation, DO NOT CLICK "NEXT WEEK" link if you are already choosing one of the earlier dates. The website simply cant register the earlier date that i choosed. Called up ST Cust Care and was advised to choose any date and submit while he help to escalate up. Guess what, ST don't have enough muscle to arrange with opennet. Was told that they call the same hotline as we do? what crap is this? Called up ST more than 6 times, call until they said "each time you call, there is a new case, you have 5 case already".. haha.. Have to insist them to escalate to the manager to handle this. Finally after 4 days of chasing, they finally managed to find the next available date on day 21. Website bug + opennet slow response = delay.... In order to hide the cabling, will delay the ceiling works to start only after the opennet cabling completes. Enough of ranting. Like to ask any recommendation for furniture shop with reasonable pricing?

May to Jul 2016 Requested for quote using Renotalk's function. Mainly received quotation from non-HDB approved IDs. Got some recommendation from friends but many are very expensive. In all, i had sent out 23 request for quote email and received 22 response. Dropped those who are not registered with HDB as approved renovation companies. Dropped those who does not include GST as i don't like to deal with "additional cost". Dropped those with management fee as separate also as they already put in mark up, why still want to charge more? Dropped those who are not case trust as i don't want to deal with them alone if there's any problem. Even with case trust, its not fool proof. sigh.. Met with "Faith" - pricing not the highest but a tad steep. can feel her "pek chek'ness" when i ask so many questions. lol. first time meeting ID, so spent more than 2 hours asking questions. dropped. Met with "Mr K" - pricing is the highest. not very responsive, as reply usually early morning or after 8pm. keep saying my concept not practical, should do like this like that. each revision also very slow. After each revision, the price just got higher (50k) and higher (62k). Got a feeling that he is not willing to listen, just want to build a template for all his customer. How come contractors are more expensive than IDs? dropped. Met with "3D" - very friendly chap at Bedok Mall. very responsive. not very punctual but at least he gave a convincing reason. could have let me know earlier i thought. pricing slightly high but willing to listen and customise practical solutions. Don't really like package as feels packages are designed to miss out certain things that lead to VO "variant order". dropped. followed up with "top21" - price a tad high. tried to clarify if they are HDB registered and the response went dead. dropped. Met with "Sky..." - An ISO company full of award and also full of air. Really believed that they will deliver good quality renovation result but sadly, what pissed me off is that the designer refused for me to take the estimated quotation home for thinking it through and try to hard sell, push me to put deposit. Everything is package. In addition, the price is sky high at 75k even though i requested for normal materials, like iQuartz instead of Ceasarstone, etc. She said its free upgrade. Where on earth got free thing one? dropped. Met with "DezignHub" - recommendation from friend. Very responsive. His price a tad on the high side. What i didn't like was he appeared to have quoted items at a higher price but "allow" you to change to higher spec ones without raising the price. e.g. i wanted Nyatoh bedroom doors but he quoted veneer door. When i asked again i wanted Nyatoh doors, he replied "OK" to change as the price is the same. Feels like just waiting to be carrot. dropped. Met with "Urban Design" - saw some unfavourable comments about UD but as the price is about there and the boss himself replied, made the appointment to meet with him. He was able to give advises that is both practical and not pricey. Good that he is willing to quote many items that i wanted as optional in case i need them. e.g. fire-rated door, etc. Slow for the 3D rendering, like any changes will need 1 week to rerender. Wonder if this is the norm. Went ahead to appoint him for the renovation. Below will be the journey. Hopefully all will be smooth. Day 0 ID went around the units left, right, above and below to put flyers. Day 1 Hacking and tear down everything that i don't need. Super fast. 1 day completed mostly. Day 2 Removal of minor stuffs. Day 3 Clear debris. Discussion of tiling works like orientation of tiles, where the shower bar, how high the shower kerbs, etc. Amused that the "plans" are drawn on the wall. Day 5 Screed being applied. Went to go buy a Yale letterbox lock to change myself. i must say lol... the lock is 0.2mm larger than the actual hole. Should have bought the same lock as the old one. Put back the old one and go hunt for the REAL brand lock. Standard lock is 19mm diameter but REAL lock from taiwan is 18.8mm. (*@#^$*&*&*^ In the end spend $15 on the Yale and $18 on the REAL locks. Changed myself a few days later. yeah. Day 6 Waterproofing in progress. The rest of the tilings are in progress. Maybe 25% done. The waterproofing chemical must be HDB approved. e.g. Quic - Seal 104. Day 8 Tiling work continues. About 60% done up. Bathroom tiles left with decorative ones not up yet. Day 10 Tiling finally completed. All the WC holes, shower holes, bathroom holes all done up. * must remind myself to test the water flow in case got area where the water got stuck * Air con site survey and final tie down. Day 12 Plumbing final tie down. brought forward discussion for ceiling lighting plans final tie down. more drawings on the wall. brought forward discussion for electrical wiring final tie down. exact location marked on the walls. Day 15 Install water pipings (cold + hot) in kitchen, bathrooms. Day 17 Electrical wiring start and completed. I think its very fast. 3 men team to do all these. Those area where cant decide one, the electrician left loose wires to accommodate changes. Air con piping start and completed. 3 men team to do all the removal, drilling and piping. To be continued...

Mar 2016 Started hunting for a flat. Started reading and creating my "reno spec and requirement" of what i want and the estimated price. Below is my condensed version of the spec and requirements. For each work, i will list it out so that i can compare and find out if the price is justified. can put this into xls for easy comparison. If you need more details, can PM me. I try my best to tell you my experiences. Hacking Supply Labour to hack the built-in wardrobe in master bedroom Supply Labour to hack the floor, wall tiles, basin, toilet bowl in 2 bathrooms Supply Labour to hack the top and bottom cabinet in kitchen Supply Labour to hack the false ceiling in living room Supply Labour to hack the floor tiles and skirting in living room Supply Labour to hack the floor and wall tiles in kitchen Supply Labour to remove existing wall skirting and laminate flooring in 3 x bedroom Masonry Supply material and Labour to touch up damages after hacking in kitchen, living, bedrooms and bathrooms Supply material and Labour to install vinyl flooring in 3 bedrooms Supply material and Labour to lay selected 600x600mm polish homogeneous tiles in living area (est. $3/sqft) Supply material and Labour for 3-in-1 HDB approved waterproofing membrane in kitchen (how high? HDB requirement is 1/2 foot) Supply material and Labour to lay selected 600x300mm non-slip homogenous floor tiles in kitchen (est. $3/sqft) Supply material and Labour to lay selected ceramic wall tiles full-height (exposed area) in kitchen (est. $2.50/sqft) Supply material and Labour to construct kitchen cabinet base w/ side tilings (est. 3.5m) Supply material and Labour for 3-in-1 HDB approved waterproofing membrane in 2 bathrooms (how high? HDB requirement is 1/2 foot) Supply material and Labour to lay selected 600x300mm non-slip homogenous floor tiles in 2 bathrooms (est. $3/sqft) Supply material and Labour to lay selected ceramic wall tiles full-height in 2 bathrooms (est. $2.50/sqft) Sanitary, Plumbing Supply labour to install 2 bathrooms toilet bowl Supply labour to install 2 bathrooms wash basin and tap Supply labour to install 2 bathrooms bidet hand spray Supply labour to install 2 bathrooms accessories Supply material and Labour to install kitchen sink (under mount) and tap after carpentry work. Supply labour for connection of inlet / outlet piping for kitchen sink and tap, washing machine Supply material and Labour to replace whole house copper / stainless steel water piping (cold) Supply material and Labour to replace whole house copper / stainless steel water piping (hot) Supply labour to install shared water storage heater for 2 bathroom Lighting Supply material and Labour to install cove lights or down lights with L-box in living area Supply labour to install lightings at 3 bedrooms, living area, 2 bathrooms, kitchen, storeroom Supply Labour to install ceiling fan in living area Supply material and labour to seal gaps between walls an wire casements Painting Works Supply material and Labour to paint all wall with Nippon paint odourless easywash Supply material and Labour to paint all ceiling with Nippon paint Supply painting works for water pipes with Nippon oil-based paint Supply material and Labour for floor protection works Doors, Curtains and Grilles Supply material and Labour to install window grills for kitchen Supply material and Labour to install window grills for living room Supply material and Labour to install window grills for Master bedroom (main windows and side window) Supply material and Labour to install window grills for bedroom 2 Supply material and Labour to install window grills for bedroom 3 Supply material for Naytoh timber swing door in 3 bedrooms w/ door frame w/ hinges, lever handles, eyeview, lockset, magnetic door catch and accessories Supply material for half hour fire rated single panel solid swing door main door at main entrance w/ door frame, hinges, lever handles, eyeview, locket, magnetic door catch and accessories Supply material for PD door for 2 bathrooms w/ door frame, hinges, handles, lockset and accessories Supply material and labour to install tempered glass swing door for kitchen w/ handles, hinges and accessories Carpentry Design and construct built-in full-height wardrobe (est. Xm) in master bedroom w/ laminate w/ ABS trimming w/ sliding door Design and construct top kitchen cabinet (est. Xm) w/ laminate w/ ABS trimming w/ Blum/Hettich/Salice soft closing Design and construct bottom kitchen cabinet (est. Xm) w/ laminate w/ ABS trimming w/ 4 drawers w/ Hettich/Hafele/Salice soft closing" Supply material and labour to install quartz worktop on bottom kitchen cabinet (est. Xm) Supply material and Labour to install coloured glass backsplash between top and bottom kitchen cabinet (est. Xm) Supply material and Labour to construct suspended cabinet in 2 bathrooms (est. Xm) w/ solid surface vanity top, laminate, ABS trimming and opening for over-mount basin Supply labour to install Gas kitchen hob Supply labour to install slim kitchen hoob Optional Box up the air con conduit Supply material for metal gate at main entrance w/ door frame, hinges, handles, lockset and accessories Supply material to replace metal gate lockset. Others Supply Labour for haulage service and clearing of debris Supply material and Labour to acid wash whole house to remove stains TWICE Supply material and Labour for general cleaning for whole house upon completion Electrical Supply material and Labour to replace electrical wiring for whole house as below. - Duo socket (X set) - Single socket (X set) - Air con socket (outdoor) - 2-gang switch (X set) - 1-gang switch (X set) - TV (X set) - DB switch board (X set) ---> do not that bomb shelter also have one but don't think should change that. - CAT 6 Data (X set) - Tel (X set) - 2-way switch (X set) - 2-way switch for heater (X set) - hood switch (X set) - built-in oven switch (X set)