Ando Tadao

And the bedframe from muji came in! No mattress, no dining table, no chairs, no sofa. Just bedframe! Moving in is so far away!

The spray mop is really a godsend. No more squishing and twisting and bending. Just spray and mop, says the VISA uncle: so easy!

Cleaning... Other than xiaomi robot, I am relying on these tools to carry out everyday business. Wanted to get the Muji combi mix n match initially but saw these at Daiso going at a fraction of the price, do decided to try this concept with Daiso, if it works well then may changr to muji next time.

Nice touch! Your mud room is as big as a typical 4rm bto living room!

The Three-Essentials had arrived! Now some action is possible with the first housewarming gift from my little brother.

It took about 12 weeks from start to first handover.

Door and gates are up! I got my package from MyDigitalLock, fire-rated double-leaf door with laminate, mild steel gate, Nika door closer and 2x digital locks. The installation staffs are pretty friendly and professional, no complain on the workmanship and quality of the components. Recommended!

Continue to fix one corner at a time; the kitchen is taking shapes day by day. A small hack at the sink area, using Ikea shampoo dispenser as detergent dispenser and a 2 dollars Daiso soap dish to house my 3M scotch brite.

REVIEW(2) - Celine Now let's talk about Celine, the ID/PM who handled my renovation. As mentioned earlier, our first encounter wasn't the most ideal, and we almost dropped her, but her efficiency and sincerity changed our mind so we ended up putting our faith (and house) in her hands. Celine is young, 3 years in the industry with Interior Design background; she is definitely inexperience (for us being her first solo project). "Everyone has to start somewhere", I am a firm believer of this quote, from my favourite author Murakami Haruki. So we took the gamble, and she didn't fail us. Sure there were hiccups during the renovation, mistakes were made but was quickly resolved. Celine is pretty honest, she doesn't hide things from us and we can tell that she sincerely wanted to produce a nice house. Another important factor that made us sign with Celine is we know there is Mr. K to rely on if all things failed. True enough she was always consulting Mr. K, in fact during the first discussion with tiler Mr. K showed up and gave valuable advises. So we got the best of both worlds, a 100% dedicated PM with an experience boss in the background. Now she has finally completed her first project and (supposingly) learned from all the mistakes, I hope she is better equipped for the upcoming task.

REVIEW (1) - H2O Since I have my last rectification done yesterday and will proceed with the last payment this Saturday, it is now time to do the REVIEW you (might) have been waiting for. I will first give my review on H2O as a whole, before putting down my verdict for Celine as my ID cum PM. Operating Mode: H2O on surface is a small company, with Mr. K the boss running the shows, and 2 assistants cum ID supporting him. They operate in small scale (hence no GST), works with regular sub-cons (electricians, plumbers, tilers) and a collaborating carpentry workshop in Malaysia. Other than the hacking and cleaning staffs, all the sub-cons I encountered so far is either local or Malaysian. Cost: Their quotation is definitely on the high side, of all the 4 quotations I have received, TMS was the most expensive (contributed by 16 dollars psf tiling work), followed by G&L/H2O, while the cheapest being CX (to think CX is generally considered expensive as a contractor). I could not comment on TMS and G&L, but after the project, I found their quotation reasonable; the high eletrical quotation probably has the most thread counts in this forum, but it was quoted with concealed lines by default. Some other contractors might quote lower price but those are exposed trunking. So you need to set your expectation right. Of course you could also engage your own electrician (e.g. the famous Mr. Sim), since the electrician works pretty much independently. Also, other than the default Blum accessories and internal color PVC, most of the works are again default with better materials and options, it was not penned on the contract but you will notice the difference when you compare, e.g. free exchange of shelter exhaust, broader tile selections, stainless steel door stoppers, tiles joint is 45deg instead of PVC edge, step down shower zone instead of curb, 20mm thick plywood carpentry doors, 45deg joining of KompactTop, etc. Another interesting fact was that some of the sub-contracted work from H2O is actually cheaper than engaging them myself, e.g. the windows for kitchen and bathrooms, I approached GL initially, the nice couple gave me good quote but unfortunately they do not repair existing windows and glass, so I resorted to H2O's sub-con, turned out the cost was somewhat similar and they repaired my exisiting windows as well. Quality: My view could be biased as my field of work is precision and quality related, so I have very high (or unrealistic) expections towards workmanship, material selection and texture. However, I am at the same time not too bothered by minor impefections like tile evenness, blemishes, hairline cracks, etc. That makes me strict on inspection but lenient on rectification work (yes, I know right?). In conclusion, the workmanship (tiling, plumbing, electrical and carpentry) is "ACCEPTABLE" (7/10?) to me. Saying just acceptable is probably unfair to H2O as I am judging based on the evenness of the grout lines, parallelism of the walls, perpendicularity, flatness, smoothness of tile edges after cut, etc. While 1-2mm is normally invisible to most, 0.5mm variance is already an eyesore to me. So take my verdict with a (large) pinch of salt, I'd rather show a few close up photos later to present the workmanship for your own judgement. Delivery: I can't comment much on this, since I actually did not mind the speed of work. In fact I asked them to slow down several times (lol) for the sake of quality. Anyway, the first estimation was 10 weeks and it took around 12 weeks till first handover, and the rectification works took another 3 days in the span of 2 weeks. *Add: I just had my TV mounted yesterday and the TV mount vendor has nothing but praises to the quality and reliability of my TV feature wall; he mentioned that the plywood used were extra thick and the reinforcements were huge even they were not visible from outside.

Ya she was (and still is) my project manager. She’s definitely inexperience but she is honest and considerate. I will have a dedicated review session for both H2O and Celine soon. H2O pricing might be on the high side but they are definitely using better materials. I just had my TV mounted today and the TV mount vendor has nothing but praises to the quality and reliability of my TV feature wall. Last but not least, happy new year and best of luck with your renovation!

Fixing a small part at a time.

Cleaned and ready to roll! わたしのウチにはなんにもない。

Kitchen (still messy)

Study & Living

Guestroom

Alles klar! All renovation work done (ok, except gate & door & curtain & groutshield...) LET THERE BE LIGHT! MBR

Gorgeous! the pair of sonos ONE fit in perfectly. How did you hide the cables? Did you have a hole beneath the speakers? The stereo setup is definitely mesmerizing.

I would have opted for veneer too if maintenance was not an issue (at least for me). The texture and feel is so much better than laminates. But I know the carpenters do perform grooving on laminates.

Great execution! The lines are clean are the geometries are gorgeously sync. Are you a minimalist lifestyle practitioner as well?

Thanks. And sorry for the late reply, for some reason I missed to see your post. I did not have false ceiling but chose to conceal all my lighting and fan points, the price is 45 per lighting point. Thanks. Was hoping to recreate the original design intent. Finding the right furnitures was (and still is) a pain though.

Season greetings! The notorious 4th-day of CNY is here! Giving final touches to the study+living room!

Happy CNY to all. The bathrooms are now complete!

Thanks. I do have a few more lights to buy. Will wait for the final lighting effect before making my decision. Thanks for the compliment.

Master Bedroom carpentry, lighting and fan all up!