growler

Uncle is one of the term contractors for rectification works this year. So he's famous ;p

Progress looks good and the mosaics are well laid. Nice job.

You may want to refer to my blog to know what you need to prepare when you meet him for the quotation. Will definitely help to save you alot of time chasing for his quotation subsequently.

Based on HDB regulations, drilling must stop at 5pm. That's probably why your FH cannot find the workers when he went back at 5.30pm. As for the debris, since you're hacking the whole unit, they will probably get a haulage truck standing by at your carpark. They they're finished with all the hacking, they will use wheelbarrows to cart all the debris to the haulage truck once off.

Smallboy, he did say that only he can smoke because he knows where to throw. If there's cigarette stain, he will be responsible and remove the damaged tile (if it was due to his ashes). Don't worry smallboy. After our posts, I believe the lurkers or forummers here will be more aware of the situation and hopefully they will be more informed. As mentioned, Uncle is cheap but it comes with a price - i.e. you must be present all the time to manage the workers. Be also prepared that he suddenly avoid your calls when you become too persistent (like me) ... haha ...

Actually, your contractor should do it for you. I know that my 2nd lowest quote ID will do it for me. I know that Uncle won't do it for me and I was right. He only used 1 roll of corrugated paper. Hardly managed to cover all the area. I had to use carton boxes, cardboards, newspapers, etc to cover the remaining area. If you really want to buy the plastic sheets, the contact is in my blog and the place is @ Defu Lane 1.

How does Ah Wei look like? Like one of the 2 Uncles in my blog?

Uncle told Ah How that he's implementing a fine system and they cannot smoke in the house. If they do and he catch them, they will pay $100 each time. I think the tilers don't care, for mine, they also continue to smoke but they only limit their cigarettes to the area where there are no tiles. As for my unit, Uncle only brought 1 roll of corrugated paper to cover my floor. Luckily I went ahead to buy the commercial grade plastic sheet to cover my unit. If not, god knows what will happen to my floor !

Small boy, i emphasize with you. Seriously speaking, Uncle's style of working require his customers to be in full control of everything. To all Uncle's prospective customers: If you don't really have the time to monitor his workers, I think Uncle's style is not really for you, unless you're willing to accept some faults here and there. NO doubt his price is cheap but going by his increasing amount of business, things will either remain the same or worsen. I'm not pouring cold water over his quality of work but it's my observation after 2 weeks of reno. There could be good IDs out there but there's always a price to pay. As in my blog, the next lowest quote was at least 3k more than uncle's quote. I know he can do a good job because he did my friend's unit. However, as I'm committed to taking leave for at least the masonry, plumbing and electrical works, I took the risk of signing up with Uncle. At least I could take leave here and there to monitor the works ... if not, GOD Knows what will be the outcome !

Pinkpetter: Soon Soon for xvirusga76's commencement ? Like abit patronising leh ... haha

I didn't really have a wonderful experience at Eestilo as I was not attended by Sunny when I dropped by. The other guy, whilst friendly, didn't offer much and the pricing was expensive as their WC+basin packages did not come with taps. In the end, we went to Genova industries instead and bought the standard package at $388. They also gave me discounts for other items that I bought.

I think the problem is that she cannot get uncle since friday ? What's Jason's number? Can SMS me? I SMS her. Some of hacking is directly co-ordinated by Uncle himself, like my unit (cuz it's a small project). Only for big projects (whole unit) then elder goh will be incharge i think ....

If anyone's meeting uncle or managed to contact him, please ask him about xvirusga76's (amk ivy) hacking today and to call her. She's waiting ....

Congrats ! At least your major headache is now gone

I see. I understand your point about kids. Looks like your unit would also be completing soon once the carpentry works are fabricated Is anyone meeting Uncle today? I know guy is and xvirusga76 is starting reno today. Who else ? Time to track Uncle ....

Installation not as dusty as reno

I suggest that when Uncle write down the quotation in his book, you ask him to let you vet it on the spot. Once you're ok with it (i.e. everything you requested and discussed is indeed included in the chinese quote) and the final negotiated pricing being written down on the book, tell him to write the date of commencement on the same page. Take a picture of it and let him know that this will be the final chinese quotation. You need to operate on the mode that when you get uncle to prepare the quotation on the spot, this is probably one of the last few times before he even appear (before the reno actually starts). Vetting thru the chinese quotation on the spot will also minimise any missing items.

For carpentry, Amax immediately drew and took measurements for the supposedly end product. I think it's more efficient this way because they don't need to come down several times and you'll know the exact proportions.

progress looks good

I never bothered to knock on each tile because when they were doing the tiles, I was at home 75% of the time. I saw that they applied the cement on the entire piece and when they knocked the piece into place using the base of the hammer, it was a solid sound. I'm generally quite happy with their works

Yes. 肥仔or Ah how is very nice. He's the bigger sized Tiler. Both of their pics are in my blog. I've also got a third Tiler ah di. Think he was called in by uncle. His work was also good. Whoever get this group will be in safe hands quality and efficiency.

Pinkpetter: I sympathize you. Those people who passed on nasty comments should be shot. It's very childish and they aren't really using their brains. To get the facts right, people who ask Uncle to do their jobs have brains to think and all would have sought at least 3 quotations, if not more. For me, I sought more than 10 quotes before I zeroed down to Uncle. I must thank Pinkpetter for giving me the contact and the referral. Even if she has gotten some benefits (I know she had none), I chose Uncle because I've already evaluated him against the rest of the quotations and made the choice myself. Even if Uncle chooses to give some benefits to pinkpetter, it's his choice and it's a personal matter. Anyway, when we deal in contracts, it is caveat emptor - buyers beware. I've been rather objective with the works so far and when Uncle delivers quality work thru his workers i'll say so. The grouses I had is more on tractability/ contactability and project management, which if Uncle improves on these aspects, I believe he will beat the rest of the IDs/ contractors hands down. Regarding the project management part, I agree with Gaku's proposal that Uncle should front the company and do the negotiations. As well, Uncle should do regular inspection of the quality. Other than that, the collection of money, management of timeline and deployment of workers should be managed by a central pool to ensure sufficient manpower is available to meet the demands of all the projects that have different stages of completion.

aubrey: progress looks good. Uncle is not the kind that will cut corners and save costs. When he say tile the wall, he will mean tile the entire wall, including the area behind the pipes and area hidden by cabinets He will tell the tilers to do so if he has the time to do his rounds during the tiling stage.

Guy: If you don't want tiles for the room, you need to inform Ah How before the tiling of the room starts. I think they will start at the kitchen first, then toilet then room from outside to inside. Ah How is very merticulous and he takes the effort to align the tiles, lines etc. The other uncle is a very quick worker but sometimes cut abit of corner lar ...

Asugama: Haha ... the painters also never appear at my place. I guess they must have gone somewhere else where the fire is burning more violently ! Anyway, the more pressing matters at my place have been resolved. At least I can use 2 toilets now. I will take the picture of my common toilet and post it on my blog so everyone can know my sufferings .... haha