dietgalvon

@Brybry @Cher Tan Yonghwa @Leonardl @jacpat All PM-ed.

@ckphang PM-ed @GME32 PM-ed

@Stream @matchalatte Thanks guys for your views! We (or rather, I) ain't convinced that 'making good' does not include the tiles. It doesn't make sense to have a screed wall in the kitchen when it came with tiles. Furthermore, because I only hacked half wall, the top will end up being screed and bottom will have tiles. Who on earth would accept that kind of kitchen? Since no one would have such a kitchen, they shouldn't quote it like that. To me, a quotation must be accordingly to the full picture e.g. after hacking the wall must be presentable and not half screed half tiled mah. If that's the case I can just quote cheaper for e.g. overlay then later VO for tiles. Not very fair eh. I think someone highlighted my post asking for advice to my contractor. I wanted to make sure I'm on the right track before approaching them but my contractor had came back to me saying that their quote works this way i.e. make good = screed back only. I'm really feeling very sore about this because we believe it to be included in the initial quote.

ADVICE ON HACKING OF WALL, PLEASE! Well, this brings us to way backkkk. Our quotation for hacking of the kitchen half-wall includes the following: 1) Hack half wall - $600 2) Clear debris - $500 3) Make good tiles - $450 (CX is certainly not the cheapest contractor but we engaged them anyway. This was the quotation we are agreeable upon for hacking of the kitchen half wall.) After the wall was just hacked, we received a text from E asking us on which parts of the hacked wall to be screed / tiled. My expectation would be, where it came with tiles, it would be replaced with tiles, where it came as a wall, it shall be screed i.e. to say, blue boxes are to be screed, the rest, tiles to be made good. But E said that, the 'top and windows side' are usually screed after wall is hacked and to replace the side facing the kitchen with tiles means we need to top up $150. Effectively, E mentioned that to replace the purple boxes with tiles, it would require a top up for manpower and materials (hence the $150 extra). But that made me wonder, what does the 'make good tiles - $450' in the initial quotation mean - to make good the tiles for the box in red ONLY (side wall facing the kitchen only, the top of the half wall is screed). Would appreciate those who had half their kitchen wall hacked share if it is normal to have screed wall (facing the kitchen) instead of wall tiles that it originally came with?

@hoWL PM-ed

FINAL RECTIFICATION OF DEFECTS Yesterday, E sent his guys to rectify the defects found after (supposedly) the handover. Seems like the defects are always popping out from nowhere. Electrician installed the fan which we made 3 trips into JB for. Glad that it's working well now. MBR; messy wires hidden behind the TV! TV came with a 2-pin plug which cannot fit behind the TV initially, and we couldn't find a 3-pin one from stores. So we got electrician to change to a 3-pin plug for us. If possible, should take note of the placement of TV so can plan the exact location for power point as well. After the acid-wash (I think, or before handover), we realized that the grouting of common toilet, service yard and kitchen has gaps and got E to arrange to get it re-grouted. This was the re-grouted state of the service yard. This is the common toilet which the tiler refused to re-grout. Prior, we already told E of this problem but his tiler refused to do it. In the end when the toilet was wet, he asked us to point out the gaps, which was hard because the floor is wet! Fiance went on all fours to look for gaps and tiler only filled those areas with cement but not grouting powder. Now, the grouts are of different colours. I am not too happy with E's management of this as he said if we want tiler to come back, we need to pay and that no works were done here so they weren't the one who caused it. Before renovation, we gave a flat with perfect grouting, was I too much to ask for the same to be handed back to me? Coupled with other issues (I will do a review later on), I got really angered and called Edmund regarding this. In the end he said he will do the grouting for us when he's nearby. -__- Painter did a really bad job as well (will review later too). -__- We had to scrape all these off our vinyl flooring ourselves, instructed by the worker who came to rectify the defects. My patience is seriously running low at this point! Well, the only comforting thing was that we fixed up the door viewer from taobao. And it works mighty well! Pretty cool I would say. No more squinting into the peephole anymore. Hehe.

@darknite https://ezbuy.sg/product/157942636381435.html

@koche77 PM sent @CJES PM sent @typkoon1312 PM sent

@hooikj PM sent @Blade07 Thankssss for your kind words! @Seeearn PM sent @usemfb PM sent

@ahmiu PMed @spooky Yup I think the blinds really make the home more complete! Yah I thought so too. I was a little pissed because they said they came from central all the way to the far west. But during installation, they told my fiance that they are doing this business solely to benefit new home owners (i.e. reasonable price) so they are actually not earning much. That's why they are not pleased that we are actually waiting for another quote haha.

BLINDS We chose Venetian blinds for the living room and MBR, and roller blinds for the 2 common rooms. For one, venetian blinds suits our theme and two, my nose and skin is very sensitive to dust so we have to get something that is easy to clean. For sure it is easier to clean roller blinds but the fiance prefers venetian blinds in the MBR. Blinds are generally more expensive than day+night curtains. But our vendor told us that with good maintenance, blinds could last longer than curtains. I wasn't present at the installation but my fiance said that the vendor gave him some tips about how to maintain the blinds. The fiance said that they are very precise in installation (maybe others are too, haha) and the workmanship is good. I've been up to the home and I don't see anything I can pick on as well. Vendor 1 (selected) Experienced, but have limited samples. Quality of what was shown to us was good, though. Price was very reasonable. However, they ain't happy that we got someone else to quote us. :/ We went ahead with them because price is lower and quality is good too. No hard feelings though, fiance even had a long chat with them about life after the installation haha. They do give an estimated quote (if not, please request for one) and you can consider from there. But I can safely say, I doubt there are any vendor who can match their price. Vendor 2 Experienced, and brings with him lots of (curtains) sample. The roller blinds was exactly the same as what vendor 1 offered. For venetian blinds, only 1 wood type and 1 PVC type. I find the quality of venetian blinds from vendor 1 better. Price quoted was higher than vendor 1, though a lot cheaper than stores outside. Cream roller blinds for the common rooms! Blinds in MBR (same as living room) Blinds in living room; glad the aircon trunking is now hidden! BED DELIVERED! We bought the bed way back in March! Not totally a bad thing because during the renovation period, I hardly have time to go check out prices of appliances and furnishings. Totally underestimated the size of my MBR platform when we bought the tiny bedside table. Wasn't expecting so much gap there. Bed is flushed to the side because it acts as a 'seat' to my bedside ledge there! It was a risk to fix the height without being sure of the height of our mattress but thankfully it works just nice!! Height of mounted TV was just right too! I have decided that the placement of the tiny beside table shall be like that so that it looks less awkward (at least to me). Decided not to waste money and buy a new bedside table. This action had happened way too many times hahaha. :x

@ahmiu Hmm I'm not too sure where belongs to who! But initially I wanted it to be at the ceiling outside the flat, but contractor says that area is not ours already, so he suggested to do it at where it is now. On windows contractor, tried to PM you but I think your inbox is full.

@Blade07 Yup it's still less than half of the price than if I used quartz! It is true that carpentry ain't cheap; we gave up a TV feature wall to save the budget for other areas haha. @ballistica Thanks for your kind words! I saved a fair bit by buying my furnitures and lights off taobao (surely more than 50% lol). On hindsight, I think I can lower the amount we spent by getting cheaper vinyl flooring (less well known brands), doing away with the bar top (and the hanging shelves), and perhaps even overlaying only two sides of the toilet walls (or none at all). So it's surely possible!

@p31j1n PM-ed @enderszonex PM-ed

@tjk1208 PM-ed

GLASS TOP FOR DINING TABLE It was a long story how we ended up with carpentry with laminate finish for our bar dining table. 1. We wanted the bar top to be L (i.e. top and extends to the floor) and the L to be fully quartz. But the quartz for the top and the leg support is going to cost about $2k, excluding constructing the bar top. 2. We wanted to change it to solid top to save costs. But contractor said he does not recommend solid top for dining table. He said we are better off with laminate finish which happens to be cheaper as well. Downside is - need to be careful of water spillage. SO. We decided to get some form of protection layer for the bar top! As mentioned, the (thick) plastic sheet I ordered for the bar top was rejected by the fiance, so we have to part with some money to get a glass top. And to part with more money because ours is L-shaped. But I cannot deny that its so much better with the glass top! Love it! The glass top installed on 8 Aug does not fit perfectly, and vendor promptly responded that they will redo. The second installation took place today. Pretty impressed with the vendor's service!

@kennylwf PM sent! @Blade07 Nope, because no one actually feedback that their hood is useful. :x And if it spoils, it takes too much effort to replace it (most people just let it be). Most importantly, I rarely cook so don't see the need for it. Hahaha.

VINYL FLOORING CAPPING STRIP As mentioned, the vinyl capping that Evorich uses is quite an eyesore to me. I even went to search for capping used by different vinyl companies and I swear theirs is really the ugliest lol. So I texted my liaison with a picture of a thin metal capping strip but he told me that Evorich currently only carries the plastic one! I tried my luck and asked if there is any way we can change it to the metal strip kind, and he helped us to source and arrange someone to fix it. The original capping looks like this. And originally, there was no capping at the main entrance separating the tiles/vinyl. And a friendly uncle came to help us change all 3 plastic cappings to the metal strip kind! Main Entrance Initially the fiance wanted to ask contractor to fill the grout (initially was silicon filled by Evorich) but I suggested to do the metal strip so that we do not have to worry about cleaning the grout line. Heh. I love how it separates the tiles/vinyl! Living - Kitchen Looks so much sleeker! Living - Common Toilet This, too! Was told that the ground is not 100% level so the toilet tiles are actually a little higher. But one would not be able to tell unless one steps on the metal strip. Even then, it was not obvious so we changed it anyway. Looks so much better. There was no capping separating the rooms/living and I'm thankful for that as it makes the whole space much nicer! *** Side note, actually the glass top has been installed but the side is a little slanted so the vendor will be changing a new piece. We can really, almost, live in the home already!!

@inchvbeam For acrylic panels contact, already shared above. The rest, PM-ed!

@vampyre PM-ed! @Rexxed https://ezbuy.sg/product/20000002834300.html @Jenny Tan Kitchen Tap https://ezbuy.sg/product/20000000115685.html Rain Shower https://ezbuy.sg/product/20000000081203.html

@Stream Yup I got HDB to do the free screeding (up to 40mm) for me. Top up to 50mm costs $950. Mine was alright, it is impossible for everything to be perfectly level, but no issues with vinyl laying. HDB did tell me if the job was not well done, can get them to rectify. My only issue is that near the entrance the height was a little too low but my contractor settled that for me since we're doing tiles at the entrance. Overall, I think it's ok to let HDB do the job! Probably can save about $1k plus~

@Skywalker87 You want the contact of my contractor or MH (he is an ID)?

@Clarence Lye Bar stool link: https://ezbuy.sg/product/20000000163508.html I got 75cm for 106cm bar top and it works fine They have different heights to choose from! @binchotan @Clarence Lye @Blade07 For acrylic panels, you guys can try Dama Trading. I did not personally get my acrylic panels from them though!

@greenbunny Yup since it's for kitchen top, I preferred a smooth surface one for easy maintenance. I did not do backsplash as I think it's quite a waste because I rarely cook. But if I do and budget allows, I think using kompacplus as backsplash looks awesome! (and easy to clean!)

@Blade07 For mine, kitchen sink comes with what's needed, need not purchase separately. For vanity basin, I bought separately. The set up looks about the same lah haha. Here's one of my kitchen sink.