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Introduction Hello everyone, been lurking around this forum for 2months to get a better idea on renovating my new home. TBH, I am a 1st time owner and have little to no knowledge on how to go about it, esp on a tight budget until I came here to read up. *Thanks all bros / sis for sharing!* Anyway, we have finally gotten our keys around end of August, thankfully, my flat is not 'bestowed' with tons of defects. Before getting my keys, have read a lot of bad reviews online for HDB optional component scheme and alas! I had opt for all the options. For 3 years, not sure if my decision to get OCS scheme was right and keep worrying that HDB might get me a lousy quality flat. Luckily, so far so good, only submitted 2 lines of defect, main door + 1 light switch. Others are checked by my I.D, he said, one of the best new flat he had inspected. (Some were no-eye see) Just pray a few years down the road, no funny tiles popping or such happen. *touchwood* Here's my floor plan, as my topic suggest, it is itsy bitsy teeny weeny ! But my wife and I are contended. It should serve our small family of 3 well I laid the structure of my furnishing on the floor plan, it is not drawn to scale cause I drew it myself on the paint app and my art is bad. Would like to share the journey of my renovation to all future flat owners on a tight budget and hopefully to learn something from the experienced ones as well. I.D sourcing with a 18k budget Most of the decent designs (even 3-room) which I saw online, cost around 40k+ without any furnishing, that reminds me why there are so little 3-room portfolio design around. I mean... if you are someone who can afford a $40k+ renovation, you probably have opt for a 4 or 5 room, make sense isn't it? lol Well.. many friends & relatives are aware that we are getting our new flat soon so they cannot wait to share their recommended I.D/contractors to us. With these contacts, we have met up with quite a number of them. I do not want to mention the I.D(s) which I did not shortlist. But one of the main reason is that they cannot work within my budget well even though they said they had tried their best. Most that I met up with are with positive attitudes though and I appreciate that, probably had my wallet to be blamed. So finally, I had decided to go with my friend's relative whom they themselves and a couple of our cliques had engaged him before with positive feedback. He offered me some advice to do away un-necessary wants, and focus on my needs such as excluding shower screen in my already usable toilet and common room wardrobe since my baby is still small. So we redirect the budget to my MBR which he proposed as it is our resting corner and we should make it as comfortable as possible. In general, we skipped all the costly stuff for living room like L-box false ceiling, cove lights / down-lights etc which will also incur more cost on your electrical works. Electrical works can be a killer for my pocket so I try not to install additional points. Squeeze budget! Final quotation Hacking works1 Haulage & debris removal Masonry Works 1 Supply labour to construct kitchen base Plumbing Works 1 Extend piping for kitchen & washing machine 2 Labour to install kitchen sink 3 Labour to install connect storage heater 4 Run & connect all inlet and outlet pipe Kitchen 1 Fabricate & install 11' bottom kitchen cabinet laminate finish 2 Fabricate & install 8' TOP kitchen cabinet laminate finish 3 Supply & install 11' solid surface worktop 4 Fabricate & install Full height Cabinet for oven 5 Supply &install 2x 11' tempered glass backing 5mm Living room 1 Fabricate & install 8' L full height shoe cabinet Master bedroom 1 Fabricate & install platform bed in selected laminate finished with drawer 2 Fabricate & install simple bed headboard 3 Tv feature wall & Ledge 4 Install false ceiling as proposed + 5 light point + 4 led light fitting + 2 T5 light 5 Fabricate & install casement wardrobe 6' L full height Painting works 1 Labour & material to paint whole house ICI / Nippon paint emulsion 5 colours Miscellaneous 1 Provide general washing upon completion 2 Provide floor protection with corrugated paper roll OPTIONAL (Included) 1 Fabricate & install 5' TV console & half height feature-wall with T5 lighting 2 Supply & install aluminum powder coated window grille for kitchen, living, 2 bedroom & service yard - Middle portion only 3 Supply & install sliding window at service yard Total $ 17,290.00 ALL CARPENTRY WORKS BASED ON SELECTED LAMINATED FINISHED C/W SOFT CLOSING & ABS TRIMMING INTERNAL WHITE PVC FINISHES unless otherwise stated Quotation still yet to include electrical / lighting installation works. Update 8th Nov (handover date) Electrical bill adds up to $860,thus totaling my renovation cost to $18,150

Dear all, I'm new to Renotalk and I really need help from the experienced homeowners here. I've been to some interior design companies - Sky creation, InspireID,3D Innovations, CarpentersSG and Destyle. They all quote me so much and I do not know if that is the market price for 5 room BTO flat. I got this flat through SBF and my flat comes with no floor finishes for living and bedrooms. Please let me know if you have any bad experience from the IDs I've listed above. Many thanks in advance. I'm already confused with all the quotes and I do not know if I still need to go and look for more quotes. Veky

Dear all, I'm new to Renotalk and I really need help from the experienced homeowners here. I've been to some interior design companies - Sky creation, InspireID ,3D Innovations, CarpentersSG and Destyle. They all quote me so much and I do not know if that is the market price for 5 room BTO flat. I got this flat through SBF and my flat comes with no floor finishes for living and bedrooms. Please let me know if you have any bad experience from the IDs I've listed above. Many thanks in advance. I'm already confused with all the quotes and I do not know if I still need to go and look for more quotes. Veky

You're invited to RenoTalk Live on the 15th of April 2017 at Intercontinental Hotel! Meet other like-minded new homeowners over afternoon tea and light bites. Expect talks from guest speakers on topics like choosing the right air-conditioner, to the health benefits of drinking purified water, to learning what's the best kitchen countertop for your home! Receive FREE consultation from interior design firms + stand a chance to WIN air tickets to Taiwan, 2D1N staycation at New Majestic Hotel, and many more! Limited spots available. RSVP here: http://bit.ly/2mzk1Bl

You're invited to RenoTalk Live on the 15th of April 2017 at Intercontinental Hotel! Meet other like-minded new homeowners over afternoon tea and light bites. Expect talks from guest speakers on topics like choosing the right air-conditioner, to the health benefits of drinking purified water, to learning what's the best kitchen countertop for your home! Receive FREE consultation from interior design firms + stand a chance to WIN air tickets to Taiwan, 2D1N staycation at New Majestic Hotel, and many more! Limited spots available. RSVP here: http://bit.ly/2mzk1Bl

I'll be getting my keys in the 1st/2nd quarter of 2016 and I've been looking around for an ID. Here's a shortlist of some IDs I've spoken to and any feedback on them will be greatly appreciated because I'm a 1st time home owner and really hope to get the best reno experience possible. IDs and contractors, please do not post faux comments to advertise! Am looking for genuine feedbacks from previous or existing customers. Here we go... 1) 3D Innovations - Seems sincere and gets back to me fast. Quote is in the mid range. But they seem quite churn and burn, focusing on quantity and turnovers (very tactical promo based) so I'm not sure about the quality. Anyone engaged them before and can share the experience? 2) Voila - I really like the ID; sounds quite creative and gives good suggestions. But we're still waiting for the quote so can't confirm if it's in the mid or high range yet. I believe this firm has been around for quite sometime at Thomson Plaza so although they are not as big as Weiken, etc., I think my money will be quite safe with them. 3) Ciseern - I like the BTO package shared with me, it looks quite comprehensive. It includes Blum hydraulics on all cabinets and drawers, including wardrobe and TV feature wall. Also includes Caesarstone, system 3 air-con and Teka hob and hood. Sounds like a great deal! Hopefully the quote comes back within my budget and not too high. The ID is also very friendly and replies to my emails fast. But I read a lot of negative feedback on them from before-2014 threads. Sigh, I was initially quite confident on Ciseern. Are there any more recent experience with them that is positive? Please share! 4) Weiken - The ID is quite young and sounds like a newbie. Is it ok to ask for a switch in ID within the same firm/outlet? Still waiting for quote but not too confident about Weiken. Their designs look quite nice though. That's about the ones I have... Anyone engaged Rezt N Relax or Sky Creations before? Am thinking of approaching them... Thank you!

Hello fellow Renotalkers, I'm new here though my husband already is a regular. I created a blog to document the joy and experience of building our home with my hubby but silly me, I had meant to place the content in T-blog but confused with the main blog platform also on Renotalk. Here are my first two posts. BLOG - CHAPTER 1: ID Search Months ahead of our key collection, we were contemplating whether to engage an ID or not. My hubby was very excited as he had been looking forward to start on our renovation project and he was very confident of doing up the 3D-drawings himself. I must say, he did some pretty decent perspectives for the home. But we still went ahead to get some quotes from ID first… ​Click to continue --------------------- BLOG - CHAPTER 2: Our 4RM BTO Space STEP 2: Space Evaluation (4RM BTO) Here's an overview of how our bare 4-rm BTO space looks like LIVING/DINING AREA We opted out of the floor tiles (living/dining/bedroom only) and doors option in order to get alternatives that suit our liking. View from our main door. ….. Click to continue Chapter 2 -------------------------- Anyone here who might be find this layout familiar? Guess most flats are laid out similarly these days. Moving forward, I will continue with my updates from here onwards.