groovygenie

Nice laminates, Crab! Not quite the typical kind (with the visible grooves), but it does give a touch of class to your rooms. I like!

Hi Patsy, PM-ed you already Happy to share!

We had some work done last night (July 3rd) after a week's break. Best thing was, ID said the Besglas people are coming between 3-5pm to install doors and wardrobe. Got there at 2.45pm, rush off from work, after 'sweet-talking' my boss. Waited and waited, 5pm still not there. Called Besglas, said in their document, officially the time stated is between 4.30pm and 6pm. What the ****?!?! Called ID, gave him a piece of my mind and the virtual and verbal 'middle-finger' I might as well coordinate everything sigh... Anyway, they eventually came at 7pm. Here's the evening in pictures, and oh! The solid surface guys came too to take measurement, things are getting done at least Solid surface guys came, quick quick, chop chop.... and they are off! And then the Besglas dudes came, while we were having KFC dinner, so a bit paisey....we're eating and they're working...quite poor thing also have to work until so late... The skeletons on the floor (see empty wardrobe 'cave' behind) Closer look at aluminium materials And then its up! Another angle.. Insides... And the MBR bi-fold door is up too too Another angle... And the kitchen glass door as well, we are happy! Also, a last look at our 'botak' kitchen cabinet. We complained to carpenter (see I said carpenter, not ID, we are taking over bo chap ID's job it seems hahaha) for poor workmanship and the missing ABS trimmings and metal handles, so they took everything back. Let's see how it transforms when the doors come back on Saturday *cross fingers*

You can try Besglas at IMM, they have main HQ in TPY. We like their quality very much. Here's ours

That bit is for excess water to flow off. For Poh Joo's sinks, there will a hose that is connected to the opening. Agreed, I think Poh Joo's quality is pretty assured since they have been around for a long time.

Correct me if I am wrong, neighbours, i thought they will charge a certain amount upfront for utilities, which they will credit back to you eventually in the next bill?

I'm not an expert in this matter, but here is our experience. From what I know, the aircon point should be a 15A. Its not dependent on how the original air con is installed, this is the actual rating that is allocated for the outlet. However, you should have 2 15A points in your home, try and look around and then you need to be creative to run the extra power point to it. Okay, here is the more important section of my reply We have both a System 3 and System 1. But from what we have learnt, you can share the power for both compressors BUT that comes with a risk and it is probably not legal. Both compressors should be able to run together at the same time from a single power outlet, but you CANNOT turn both of them on at the same. Which means 2 different persons turning on both systems at the same time using a diff remote. Probably unlikely to happen, if happen a bit unlucky ah, but in this case, there will be a huge consumption surge at the compressors' start up. THis is where it draws the most power and you might overload the shared socket and cause a fire or a power trip. Not good So try and look around for that other outlet or extend a new 15A outlet from the DB box. Your electrician can advise and also advice your aircon installer about the dangers. We had some trouble with this too, but eventually, the aircon installer+electrician figured out a way to solve this problem

Hey man, envy you! Really nice! gosh....jealous...

Same with ours. Quite cool all day long. Which block are you in?

I really love this idea of concealing the ugly pipe outlets in the kitchen (big flaw from HDB architect!) but would HDB be asking about it in the future? Is this legal? Sorry, just wondering really. I would have done it too if we had thought about it before!

Thanks for the advice, bro Jacky! Honoured to have you here in our blog Always the one to come up with useful posts. But one time, when we refused to pay his next installment, ID asked his sub-cons to drop all tools and leave our place. I think want to show who is boss, but we all know, those with the money is still the boss

Hi Dove, thank you! We went on our own, no ID So pretty happy with our purchases. Correct, the floral print light is for MBR. We bought that at Lighcraft but chose only from photo cos they had no stock. They had a sale that time too, there was a similiar light but it was HUGE! But cheaper than this one. This one is about $165 after discount. Cheap? All lights from Lightcraft except 2 lights in bedrooms, cheap cheap from Ikea, the 'round ball' lights, we love those! For the whole house, its about $770, nothing to splurge on really, hehehe..but maybe we will get a table lamp and a standing, but Ikea has some really nice and cheap ones.

Those lobangs worth customising shelves or not ah? After factoring in the wood, i think not much space left, can put toys?

Ah, congratulations! It is just the rght amount firmness and plushness isn't it? I'm sure you will enjoy it. Did you try the Dorma beside it? Got from Robinsons right?

Wow! Those are amazing photos, Mr Crab! THanks for sharing, personally, i didn't even notice the construction until gf said we should try for the new TPY flats. And first time i saw the block, it was already built, left 79E to finish. Now we know 79C won the race to the top

Oh no! That is baaad..2 months with nothing done? I thought we had it worse, at least we had something done every week, although still very slow. But to think of having your furnitures and appliances in there when they do the work. When we had our parquet polished, they had the WHOLE house covered in reddish powder, that was bad enough, cannot imagine it for you. Its true, Amanda, now is not a good time to argue, let's just hope you can get them to complete all the outstanding work quickly, tell them that, surely they wouldn't want to drag any longer. But when your reno is done, do take appropriate action, we are planning too, otherwise its not good for future customers. I guess we all learn from such experience! haha..yesterday me and FW were talking, maybe should get a fully done condo next time, no reno headache hehehe...but don't know where to find the money hahaha!

Hey Alister, thank you! Good argument from your end. Now that I know someone in the block is having a good Singnet experience, then all the more reason to go for it. I cannot 'tahan' bad customer service, any previous issues with Singnet on that point for you?

Thanks, Vlanze, although I'm not sure freebies is a good gauge! hahaha.. I've heard many horror stories about shared cable bandwidth, but equal amount of bad feedback about Singnet ADSL. (I feel Pacnet ADSL is good from previous experience, but customer service is baaaaddddd....) Then again, Singnet is having a 'free' computer promo haha! Have to think harder now.

Hey Drac, has HDB given you flat surfaces after the screeding? Ours a little disappointing though but not too much

I think this may have been discussed before... Which is better for TPY Blk 79? Singnet ADSL or Starhub Cable? Any other recommendation, Pacnet, M1, etc? Oh,anyone would like a door before we dispose it? This is from the MBR bathroom, left swing if you're coming into the bathroom.

Oh my, Amanda, that is a pretty harrowing experience. Being in the same shoes as you as well, our advice is to stay calm (for now at least) but be firm and keep yourself constantly informed (this Renotalk forum is useful or ask around, friends or other contractors for opinions or quotations) These bad ones among the IDs are always trying to get away with something if they can. Why? Because they have a cookie cutter operation, this thing must be like this, this thing must be like that, its how they wish things to be (easy for them mah, no need to worry too much, can do many many houses at one time) but they always fail to remember the wishes of the homeowner who are paying them. Like our ID, who installed the storage heater in the kitchen, without informing us or getting our consent. Told him to remove it and replace the drilled tiles. You have to be firm, we learnt it the hard way For us, we did not even care about the ID's creativity because I think we've done a good job with designing our place as WE like it. In fact, we've rejected all designs from ID to date hahaha...but what we needed was a 'project manager' to 'take care' of things. Even that ID has failed on many many occassions. And owners had to stepped in and get things done AND owners had to call up ID's subcontractors ourselves to discuss things. Why did we even bother to have an ID in the first place? hahahahahha And guess what? With the spate of burglaries in Blk 79, we complained and he volunteered to install a new number lock. Of course he did, cost him $2.80, cos we saw the same 3-digit lock at Mustafa! And I cracked the code in 3 minutes when they changed number without telling (can you believe coming back to your own house which is LOCKED?!?! without your consent ) And I also realised can be opened with more than one combination! So we had to spend $14 on a new lock which at least keep our mind in peace a little. And threw back his lock in his face hahaha Our ID is a decent guy, but when anyone cannot give 100% focus to one task at hand, things go haywire certainly. Especially for IDs with many many projects on hand. And also, we realised all those certificates and accreditations don't amount to anything much. So Amanda, please do go and complain to Case or the relevant authorities when you can, otherwise they will keep doing this, to other people next time. Hope everything will get better for you in time, keep them on their toes and do not pay any more money if you can.

Playing the Plumber Day Since ID's plumber was very late on 2 previous occassions, we decided to 'play plumber' for a day to show we can do it too, why wait around? Here is how to save some money by recycling what is 'free' from HDB. 1. Dismantle your own sink and tap - HDB's default sink in MBR 2. Tap transplant operation completed (look familiar right?) - New Ikea's vanity sink 3. The Operating theatre - Projects Room, hopefully we did not/have not scratched the parquet floor We rented a storage space (Extraspace) in Boon Keng for our many many stuffs...so today was partial move-in day too (and save more money from paying rental!) Got Vernon the Mover from a Renotalk recommendation, pretty good, no complaints! From one store, into another.. - Messy aint it? Bed frames at washing area because house not completed yet, don't want to get in the way of anyone

Most of the major bits are in...but did you see the mess in the kitchen..simple= bad carpentry getting it rectified. Some people think they can get away with murder. No date, hopefully in a couple of weeks (we hope very much) still left to do, wardrobe, Besglass kitchen and bathroom doors, plumbing stuff, painting touch up and chemical wash.

Hi Amanda, tell us about it! Same issues here, we signed in late March too. To date, we have yet to see a completion date in sight...i think both our IDs are busy people Thanks, Yang Guo! We wanted to keep things simple and modern. Pretty happy with how its turned out. In fact for MBR light, we didn't even get to see the real thing, bought on recommendation as the one we wanted (same style and design with MBR light) was HUGE! You know how small our rooms are Ah, was wondering when you will turn up Thanks for the spam chop, applefreak sis! Oh, why haven't i thought of that haha...have to chuck my theory out of the window... with all the 'drama' we're going through lately with the renovation, sometimes we don't think straight Hehe, your explanation is so simple! It is true, we're quite happy with how its looking, big big and shiny.. Thank you, flyingballoons! In that case, you will enjoy Lightcraft They've been around for ages. That day we went to the store at Jalan Sultan. Lots of modern and simple designs.. but the best bit is its transparent pricing..you pay for what you see (with a bit of discount on some lights.) Also, fyi, our lighting bill for the whole house was not more than $750, so the prices are reasonable. Going to revisit for our table lamp.

Congratulations and all the best, Vlanze! Please be well-prepared for an adventure you won't forget, godspeed!