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Our endeavour started 2 year back when we decided to tie the knot. As a typical savvy(kiassus) Singaporean ;p i can say most of us when started to survey for contractors the only criteria in our mind was to get a cheap and good one perhaps hoping to buy a Benz at a Toyota price but dream on.. The search continued for months. It was when after the quotation gathered, we realised that it seemed impossible to have our dream house within the budget we catered as all quotation gathered was above 10k-20k of our initial budget . So the argument begins whether to cancel my dream craftstone TV wall or to cancel her accessories display shelf? Fainting spell.. Then.. Praise The Lord.. Yes our prayers answered , we came across this contractor recommendation thread in Renotalk. We asked for PM and met this Guy and boom! Our dream surfaced. He was from a HDB licensed direct fabricator firm which means they have their own carpenters , plumbers and electricians. And so explained , they wont be as calculative over the charges due to sublet or coordinating factor which we truely appreciated as per regards about the standard industry mark up.. Initially ,to be frank i wasn't that confident that they can deliver the standard that we projected initially cos at times thinking back , it was too good to be true but guess what , it's really either fated or Singapore was too small a city . We bang into my ex colleague from AIA when he brought us to view his ongoing project at Sengkang. They were the owners . Working review positive and confidence grew. Their workmanship was overall acceptable and detailed. After all cos its all handicraft so we didnt asked for perfection, but they did every rectifications to every parts that we pointed out to our satisfication. Appreciated his service to make our dream house came true within our expected budget , 2 thumbs ups for their hardwork and keep it up.. Will upload and share the before/after photo of our beautiful love nest in my next post . Look forward to it . Cheers. Signing Off, Weiliang (Proud Home Owner)

I just bought a hitachi fridge a couple months back and recently the hinges of its inside shelf plastic cover broke off due to an inherent design flaw. While the fridge is under warranty the cover is not covered as it is categorised as an "accessory". I was very frustrated as this was not openly communicated to me before I bought the fridge. And now I have to pay for something that was not badly designed/manufactured, not explicitly communicated to consumers, and no ownership by the principal Hitachi. Utmost disappointing experience from a Japanese big-name manufacturer. Buyers beware. Safe yourself the hassle - shop for other more dependable and customer-centric brands - there are many out there.

Boonjie reno company is located in Mandai, and we met David and Davidson Lau twice before deciding to sign up with them. Tbh, we were quite stressed up with our reno works when we initially signed up with another reno co, run by Mr Ong. The initial reno works started in Oct2018 and still not even halfway done in Feb2019. Ong came up with alot of excuses and delays. We decided to stop the works and go to Boon Jie for help. Mr David was very professional and can immediately illustrate what we have in our minds for all the carpentry works (other stuff are half done by Ong). Boon Jie did the measurements and partition walls very quickly, and re-adjusted some of our power points for us, and promised to be done in Mar2019. It took them only 3 weeks to handover as promised, and the works are solid. No regrets engaging them, as our house is in move in condition with no defect. Recommended!!

My house was done by a direct contractor.i was so lucky,found him at the void deck below my new flat in Tampines. His prices are very affordable and provide all services that i required him to do without additional charges.He is actually a contractor doing reno works for ID companies thats why his price is so good.He even got me 3D rendering works at direct prices too. I'm recommending him becos its hard to find trustworthy contractors/ID's nowadays.Most of my friends got their own contractors too but all with ****ty experience. u can try to whatsapp him at 81334480

Recently just moved our house with Exped Moving Services. Sales person came up to gave us a quote which is not the cheapest. Why my husband chose them is because of the knowledge when we questioned the sales person. On the moving date, they were punctual and moved our stuffs swiftly and carefully. Their movers are all local and with experienced. Dismantled and assembled our king storage bed and our son's loft bed. Moving was happy because of their smiles and dedication. Will definitely move with Exped Moving Services a year later. Keep up the good work guys!

Just to share my experience. I've just moved into my newly renovated (resale) flat 3 months ago. The ID I engaged is very responsible & knowledgeable on the renovation details. As we've no idea on the theme we wanted, he provided us the ideas & recommendation that make our house very cozy & nice-looking, and meet our preference & requirement. He's also able to point out the concerns & provide better alternatives for some of our ideas which we thought it's better. At the end of the renovation, it's proven that his ideas are much better than our original thinking. Glad that we chose to listen to his advices. And, because of false promise from the flat seller (promised early move out for us to start renovation earlier), we ran short of time for the renovation. Also, we've made last-minute decision on the scale of the renovation (at first worried about budget but finally decided to do everything at one go). All these problems were resolved by my ID & we managed to move in according to our original scheduled time. Best of all, quality of the renovation is not compromised. And even now, 3 months after renovation completed & moved in, my ID is still very helpful whenever I met some minor problems & solve the problems free of charge. Do let me know if anyone is interested. I can pass you his contact & you can get the consultation & quotation from him free of charge.

Hi forumers Am not a blogger or writer by any means but I do believe in giving back to the community of renotalk who have provided great insights and advice. Also, to give credit where it is due - hence the short shout out to Alan Design who has done a great job doing up my place. Alan is a contractor with 20 years experience and it shows. His professionalism is commendable e.g. short notice meetings on Sundays, late night replies, patience and understanding. While his strengths lie in contracting (vis a vis Design), his workmanship and pricing is one of the best I have seen. What impressed me the most is his insistence on doing things right despite us constantly rushing him (we were doing marble flooring among many others). For those who have clarity of design and are looking for responsible and capable contractors, I cannot recommend him enough. Am in the final stages of touch up and I have no complaints (thus far). Hopefully i can upload some photos once the house is fully done up. In any case, his mobile is 9889 XXXX. Cheers and best to those who are embarking on their renos.

We were surprised that the same ID we engaged is still with 3D Innovations after 5 years of moving in to our 4 room re-sale flat. That goes to show the morale, stability and productivity of the company. We needed experienced ID / contractors with good management and tried our luck to touch base with Jimmy once again. In case you are looking for a reliable ID that will not blow your budget, pls feel free to contact Mr Jimmy Tan (Sales Manager) of 3D Innovations @ 8571 8531 / jimmy0339@hotmail.com He is based at Bedok Mall Branch but is flexible on schedule and can arrange consultations with you at your convenience. *FYI this is my personal review and i receive no incentive for writing this recommendation* Information as at June 2017 MY REVIEW THAT WAS WAS PREVIOUSLY POSTED. After leaving my request for a free quote in RenoTalk, i received more than 10 phone calls from various IDs. It was quite overwhelming initially when unknown numbers start calling up and introducing their company. I had only a budget of $15k for a re-sale 4RM Flat. Being a newly wed couple, we do not have a big budget after having to pay off the resale flat COV and the wedding expenses can be quite a big plate to finish. We also knew that finding the right ID is so impt as we have heard alot of horror stories from our friends. Out of 10 calls, there was only 1 ID, Jimmy Tan from 3D Innovations that gave us the assurance that with our budget, he can do alot for us, depending on the various elements of reno. We were quite encouraged to hear that and agreed to meet him up. He is a Chinese speaking ID who has impressed us from the very start. As we do not drive, he took the initiative to pick us up from Paya Lebar MRT to the showroom in UBI & vice-versa. He also drove us to the various suppliers to get our home needs. During the past 4 consultations, he was very professional, honest and responsible, gave u a lot of creative & sensible suggestions. He can clearly identify the functions of various spaces and gave us a good visualization through the 3D drawings. Most important thing is-This was done with the best interest on cost-savings for us. Although we exceeded our budget of $15k, we spent a total of $19700. This includes 2 wall features and a false ceiling...and of course the basics like hacking of 2 toilets, changing of kitchen cabinet n built in wardrobe etc...We still find it quite reasonable as he customized to our needs, not just adhering to a standard package. In short, i would say that he is a follow up and follow through ID. He does not recommend unneccesary items to you but instead, assist u to save wherever possible. I would definitely recommend my friends should they required renovation services.

Just want to warn nice folks here not to use this mover which my friend engaged a month ago. The company is Premier Transport and Mover Services at 22 Sin Ming. The sales guy and supervisor name is Alex **82799482**. This Alex charged them $880 to move their stuff from a Holland 3 rm flat to Jurong East but did not complete the job. The movers were supposed to come another day to move the rest of the stuff and help setup his teak wardrobe, wooden bed but did not keep to their promise. Have also damaged some of their stuff. Have been siaming my friend's call for more than 3 weeks. Called the company, the secretary said boss always overseas, can only call Alex to settle. They ding dong him here and there but did not solve his problem. Poor guy now don't have a bed to sleep. The worst thing is he run out of budget and have 2 young children to look after. My friend and his wife are very nice and kind couple. Probably too nice thus bully by these ppl. This Alex is really very heartless and evil, I hope nobody will use them. FYI, this company charges by hr. On the surface looks cheap but I think the workers take their own sweet time to do the job. Thats how they con ppl money like what they did to my friend. Be careful of such unscrupulous company. Anyway some of our friends and I came out with some money to help him out. Hope the mover we use from the recommendations in this forum will be better.

Hello Good Day to Everyone! Gotten keys quite awhile back, finally can start on my humble home nest (after deciding & finalized of auspicious dates for reno ;p) Finding IDs wasn't a easy task (alot of hassle), went around seeing 5 IDs , tiring processing cos you need keep repeating same stuffs and your needs over and over again....... - First 2 IDs, spent quite some time with them and explaining what were the the needs and items, after all the long hours they still like in the lost which also made me in a very lost state too..... (met once only..) - 3rd and 4th IDs were not too bad, still able to grasp what were the requirements and could propose something interesting for consideration. BUT their quotes were way too high even though their ideas were quite outstanding..... (had 2 meetings...) - Last and 5th ID, initially didn't have much expectation... Gradually this finally and 5th ID really able to understand the needs and indeed addressed to the areas that was practical for my family! We had at least 3 meets up, to further discussed on the planning of my house layouts.... We had that kinda of special chemistry that those past 4 IDs couldn't get to and the last 5th ID could come out with even more impressive ideas and designs that really suit my family lifestyle ! After months of discussion with my family, we eventually selected the last and 5th ID - Wilson from DS 2000 Interior & Design Our family felt comfortable in having him to do up our new home as he really do understand and can achieve the kind of expectations from what we wanted for our new home! Let me try posting my floor plan

Hi bros and sis, i am here to share a electrical and plumbing service provider, i recently renovated my house in seng kang, i have my own ID to do up my carpentry and tiling works, as for electrical and plumbing side, i really have to share and recommend sparkflow electrical and plumbing, their workmanship was up to my expectation and their cost may not be the cheapest but they are able to deliver everything in time.. called them 2 times to come up to touch up some minor issues and they were ok and responsive ( i think local service provider are better in terms of coming back to touch up stuffs compared to those contractors from jb... heard alot of scary stories about them...).. The best thing i like is every quote were broken down individually and official receipt were given and and warranty also! =) i got their contact through a old classmate of mine.. if anyone need can try approaching them. my service coordinator was Roy 91 05 01 66

Hi, i need help in sourcing for reliable and good ID or contractors recommendations and decide if i should use a ID or just a contractor for my renovation. I am open to just having a good contractor to do a good reno if the price and workmanship is good. I am very new to this any form of help is much appreciated. From electric works to design to any ideas. i am more inclined towards engaging a Contractor for cheaper cost etc. Thanks

Hi Due to unforeseen reasons, I'm letting go of a reno voucher by I'workz Design Pte Ltd. very reputable company. Can check their fb page. Value: sgd2,000 to be used by 31 dec 2016. PM me for quotations fast!!! I will definitely give a good deal to help you save cost.

good evening to all, would like to recommend my fellow ID to all for another option and opinion before signing on the dotted line. following is my tblog from renotalk. real live photos of the progress and i would say his efficiency and rapport is really amazing. good share for everyone who needs a reliable id to renovate your place without any worries.

Hi all, currently looking for a contractor who is reliable to change my ceiling in my house (SemiD) hoping to find a good but cheap contractor to help me with this ! Please recommend if there is anyone you know who can do this for me at a reasonable price Would really appreciate your help ! Thank you

After thinking for sometime, i decided to write on the renovation for my house. From buying to waiting, to check for defects, sourcing for ID or contractors, buying furniture to cleaning up, moving and packing is a long process. Finally I have just moved in to my new house and have the time to go through this process. I like many homeowners wanted the best deal and the best place that we could call our home. In order to search for the best id or contractor, we went through a a number of contractors and ID quote. We repeated the same idea and concept for the house to every of them. The reactions of them are several 1) Cannot really be bothered Just take down what you want and send you to the door. In the end , there was no quote given. 2) Quoted a real high price although we have given them a range of our budget within $20K to $30K but quotation was $40K+ without any breakdown 3) Give a quote within your range but leave out a few items so that the quotation is below the range (Note: there may be the add ons after that) Contractor's pricing is definitely lower than an ID provided you know exactly what you need but in my case i am not too sure of what i wanted. I only knew i need a bigger kitchen and good space planning ideas as i do not have a storeroom. Only at One of the meetup with one ID, John, he was able to give me ideas, he drew a rough concept on how it would look and advise against having the cupboards full fledged across the living room as it is costly and it would make my living room to look very squeezed out. As my unit is a 2 bedroom SOHO, so with the height at 3.35m, i wanted my living area to be spacious. I thought his idea was perfect. He listens to our ideas but keep his options and suggestions open. A very patient and creative person. At the first meeting only, he could somehow make us convinced to sign up with him but we didnt as we wanted to keep our options open first and not commit so soon. He showed us photos of his previous works as well. A very down to earth guy i would say. So we waited for his quote and he gave us in a week time and offered to bring us to his in progress clients' place to see how his carpenter workmanship. But in the end we did not go but we went to the office to see the samples of the laminate , quartz. Till this date i am happy about the whole selection that i go with John as he has made it simple for us to understand and give suggestions easily. So after discussion we went signing up with him and has not regretted ever since. I wanted to upload some images but not sure how to do it so that i could show the raw photo and the 3D Drawing as well as the actual after renovation photo but not sure how to do it. Probably can advise?

An acknowledgement to begin with...I owe this forum a blog since I have been greatly benefited by its contents in my own renovation journey. So thanks to everyone who have contributed here.. We bought a 5 room HDB at cantonment close...And our 1st task was to choose an Interior Designer. Did some research on this forum, facebook and websites of Interior designers in Singapore and shortlisted the following: 1. Arteliving - Recommended by a friend. Quote was 2nd highest. Slow to respond and hence rejected. 2. Weiken - Selected based on forum reviews (must admit reviews about his ID is mixed). rejected for no particular reason. 3. Rest n Relax - Contacted twice. Firm did not revert at all. 4. Triple S Interiors - Contacted twice. Firm did not revert at all. 5. Summit Design Studio - 3rd best quotation. Rejected for no particular reason. In fact obtained quote just for the sake of comparison. 6. ***** - Was shortlisted as Top 3. Could have selected but ultimately didn't since they didn't perfectly fir the bill. 7. Altier Tang - Was shortlisted as Top 3. Experienced designer, very knowledgeable but didn't select since the quote was on the higher side. 8. Renzz - Highest quotation (way above all others) naturally rejected. 9. Defong Trading - Selected for renovation. Best quotation (at least 10% below others). Kevin Tan was the ID (read a lot of good reviews about him in this forum). Very very impressive, very knowledgeable, very responsive. turned out to be the perfect choice for our renovation job. Our renovation comprised the following main tasks. Redoing whole of Kitchen and 2 bathroomsFeature wall/console, shoe, storage and display cabinet in the living roomFalse ceiling in the living roomPainting, redoing house grills and electricals.Note: We didn't go for any 3D designs. Whilst the designs give you an idea about how your house will look, in my opinion, they are overrated and the real output looks different from the designs since the designers do a good job of glamming up the 3Ds. that's my personal view and of course you are free to disagree which is fine. Kevin Tan was a thorough professional during the entire process of renovation. Absolutely helpful and very friendly & comfortable to deal with. Promised an end date and delivered bang on that date. Before and during the renovation process, Kevin accompanies us to select tiles and sanitaries. Gave good suggestions while selecting tiles (please only select homogenous tiles coz the others are crappy) and also during other stages of our house design. Not pushy, very very patient and super responsive. Very honest and straight to the point. Will highly recommend him to anyone. The thing which became apparent is, it doesn't matter which ID company or designer you select, it all depends upon how the workers are who do the job....and each ID has his/her own set of workers...so its important for the ID to have and maintain a good set of workers...in Kevin's case, he has a good team who did a nice job. At the end of it all, the house has come out very well and in accordance with our expectations. Will post pics soon for everyone to see and judge. To everyone who will go through this process...here is wishing you the very best and hope you end up having a house that you dreamt of....

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Hi guys i would like to share my rollercoaster journey which was what i went through for my renovation and i am so happy it turned out to be stunning when it was, at the midway, destined to look like a war torn battlefield. i got my keys in july and one month prior to that around mid june, my wife and i started sourcing for ids so we went imm , toh guan, the hot spotrs and decided to sign with a reliable id firm at toh guan (or so that's what we thought!). upon signing i was asked for my ic and had to make a payment of 10%. ok this is where the nightmare begins. the date of commencement stated in the contract was 1st july. mine is a resale flat at jelapang so needed to demolish everything. when i called the id as i took leave on that day, he told me had to postpone as hdb didnt approve for the works. so i asked jack which was our id at this firm why dfidnt jhe notufy us of this delay, i mean my wife and i bothj took leave to prepare for this day. he said hdb informed them very late. so didnt want to make things difficult i told jack its ok but next time inform me pls. when i called up jack to check when was the commencement of my reno was going to be. the hp was off dso i called the office . and i was veery rufdely toldf off by the person at the end of the line. i told myself thats it, im going to case and how do u expect me to trust a unreliable person to do my reno in one piece. almost seems like all talk no reno wqhen they were telling me about my renovation b4 i signed. I was quite lost. i was staying in a rented room whivh will expire in a month and my renovation still not started and at least a week will be wated im sure to have to stay at a friends plc or hotel as i thought it would be impossible to finish by 3 weeks and not forgetting my wife and I both have full time jobs. i informed my mum about this and asked for advice as i was lost and it was turning to be a really bad situation, stress and all. my mum told me her friends all engage this id which have been doing their new houses and she van speak to him and will asks if he could help my situation out. within an hr i got a call from mr lee, he asked for more info and i highlightd to him the end of my tenancy agreement isuue and his exact wds was " ok mr leong, u free now?' "we go choose tiles now". he drtove down to pick my wife and i at our rented plc at chua chu kang and drove to balestier and we picked the tiles which we wanted and he also showed us the photos of some of the tiles combinations and also told us the pros and cons of certain tiles etc. which i den realuse, the previous id DID not even let me choose which tiles i wanted which makes me wonder even if the permit went through, how would theyt know what tiles i wanted? i mean im paying for my reno, i should be able to choose? my gosh.. by the next day mr. lee came up to my house with the quotation and work schedule which his gonna try to get everything done in 3 weeks. while speaking to us his hp kept ringing he had to either silent the phone or pick up and say call u back. this guy is really going all out for us! the best part is we didnt show him our quotation froim the other firm nor did he ask, mr lee quoted us $10k cheaper!! and true enough i got whatsapp messages daily on the progress and i practically saw my house hacked , to tiles laying to plastering .. all on his daily whatsapp update of pics and wds. everything went on so smoothly my wife and i knew that Mr. Lee may not be as flambuoyant as those animated characters at the over advertised firms but i tell u, his planning and management skills are second to none. After the hand over we invited mr Lee over he came for half an hour and u guessed it, he had to oversee an ongoing bsite on a saturday.. but one thing he said really made us feel so happy to know our house was not only renovated by Mr. Lee , it was SAVED by him too. this was his exact words which after that day Mr. Lee was not only our reno guy, he is also our family friend. Thanks Lee. hats of to u! "when i do any house, i put myself in the owner's position and ask myself how would i feel and is it reasonable. that was why i took the job mr danny" - Mr Lee as for the id firm that that was not even doing anything but took my $ , it has sinced closed and the case is still under investigation by cpib . fingers crossed. wish me luck.

Hi, I'm looking for a reliable contractor to renovate my house to include a new bedroom plus a walk-in wardrobe and to connect the bedroom to an existing bathroom separated by a wall. Please PM me if you know of anyone who would be available these few weeks to do a discussion and do an on-site quotation. Thanks!

Hi, Just to share with my fellow Singaporeans, I have found a very reliable carpenter fom Johor who can assist us with carpentary of any kind in Singapore. I had a very low budget for my wardrobes in my Ang Mo Kio HDB 3 room flat and a friend recommended me this JB carpenter who really helped me out with very good work and low budget. I guarantee all the families that this gentleman can help. I would like to share this contact with any of you who is in need. Pls call him at 9882 4453 (singapore no). Hope this will be of great help to those who are finally looking for JB carpenters for carpentary work in singapore.