Unimax Or Ciseern?

[myhdbhome 0]

Dear All,

We have been wandering ard the expo halls and amongst everyone there, we found 2 places that have impressed us the most;

1. Ciseern - Served by Sean

2. Unimax Creative - Served by Zanice

While we have no preference over one or the other, we would value any feedback you may have regarding these 2 firms and/or ID consultant.

Cheers!

Edited September 16, 2007 by myhdbhome

[deremi 0]

u can read all the ciseern comments from here.

http://www.renotalk.com/forum/index.php?sh...&hl=ciseern

[Lakmy 0]

Hi All!

I too have been trawling th expo halls and hb and me cud only agree upon Unimax. ID Alvin.

In fact their kitchen package was so good that we went back on Sunday evening to sign up for it.

Got granite top somemo

Now the rest of the house we thot we will compare and decide by end of this month.

Getting keys in early Nov.... and still Unimax is on top of our list.

Any comments or prior experience or pictures of renovation done by them will be very helpful.

Thanks.

Lookin4change

EA Pasir Ris

[RenoGuru 0]

Hi All!

I too have been trawling th expo halls and hb and me cud only agree upon Unimax. ID Alvin.

In fact their kitchen package was so good that we went back on Sunday evening to sign up for it.

Got granite top somemo

Now the rest of the house we thot we will compare and decide by end of this month.

Getting keys in early Nov.... and still Unimax is on top of our list.

Any comments or prior experience or pictures of renovation done by them will be very helpful.

Thanks.

Lookin4change

EA Pasir Ris

Unimax and Cisern and on the same range style jus that Unimax Has a more matured staff group whereas ciscern have young enegry driven staff...

so for ease of mind... choose a mature person to undertake your project or a young one to give u many many ideas....

[Jius 0]

I am renovating my 4 rm flat now.

Last yr I went to an exhibition and engaged Ciseern as my ID. The ID was enthusiastic enough to come up with a plan and quotes. So I engaged him.

Now in the mid of renovation, unhappiness occurred.

Blockworks was installed to cover an existing door way. The walls were plastered unevenly, bulging here and there. One side of the wall was plastered with uneven thickess. They say is because one side of the wall needs to match and existing HDB wall, the other side needs to match a door thickness. I was not informed of this till I visited the flat and realise, then inform the ID. That means the floor tiles were also slightly cut to match with the uneven wall thickness. The uneveness is abt 1cm.

I have black quartz tiles at the foyer. One day during the renovation, I realise that beige skirting was being used. I called the manager of that ID. In the end they agreed to change the skirting to black quartz to match the floor tiles.

Yesterday while they were installing the wardrobe, both the ID and myself realise we were talking of different white door laminate. I wanted a white laminate with flowers. He wanted to give me plain white laminate.

Permit application for renovation was done after 1 month of collection of my keys. I have 4 months to move out of my present premise. Mine is a en-bloc case.

I was being blamed for changing design too often.

All the renovation ideas was given by myself. Where to place cabinets, what colour to use, which wall to hack down. The ID was not able to give me any new ideas. Like what others said, they use template.

Very unhappy time with this ID.

[vowsh 1]

Hi All!

I too have been trawling th expo halls and hb and me cud only agree upon Unimax. ID Alvin.

In fact their kitchen package was so good that we went back on Sunday evening to sign up for it.

Got granite top somemo !!

Now the rest of the house we thot we will compare and decide by end of this month.

Getting keys in early Nov.... and still Unimax is on top of our list.

Any comments or prior experience or pictures of renovation done by them will be very helpful.

Thanks.

Lookin4change

EA Pasir Ris

Lakmy, did they quote what type of granite? Btw, hw much they quote the kitvhen psf?

Sometimes dun be tempered by reno free gifts, they already factored in the reno.So is not really any free goodies.They give u here but increase price for the rest of the items.

btw, hw much is your overall reno?

[vowsh 1]

I am renovating my 4 rm flat now.

Last yr I went to an exhibition and engaged Ciseern as my ID. The ID was enthusiastic enough to come up with a plan and quotes. So I engaged him.

Now in the mid of renovation, unhappiness occurred.

Blockworks was installed to cover an existing door way. The walls were plastered unevenly, bulging here and there. One side of the wall was plastered with uneven thickess. They say is because one side of the wall needs to match and existing HDB wall, the other side needs to match a door thickness. I was not informed of this till I visited the flat and realise, then inform the ID. That means the floor tiles were also slightly cut to match with the uneven wall thickness. The uneveness is abt 1cm.

I have black quartz tiles at the foyer. One day during the renovation, I realise that beige skirting was being used. I called the manager of that ID. In the end they agreed to change the skirting to black quartz to match the floor tiles.

Yesterday while they were installing the wardrobe, both the ID and myself realise we were talking of different white door laminate. I wanted a white laminate with flowers. He wanted to give me plain white laminate.

Permit application for renovation was done after 1 month of collection of my keys. I have 4 months to move out of my present premise. Mine is a en-bloc case.

I was being blamed for changing design too often.

All the renovation ideas was given by myself. Where to place cabinets, what colour to use, which wall to hack down. The ID was not able to give me any new ideas. Like what others said, they use template.

Very unhappy time with this ID.

You took their package @$18,xxx ?

I find their reno package pretty ex as the items that they put in the package do not worth that amount. I sent their package for a detaied quote from other ID/contactor. All came with at least 3k diff. My sister in law engaged them 2 yrs ago, she was not very happy as well. Workmanship were pretty bad, esp on capentry laminate.

Based on similar work, other IDs quoted me 4k cheaper. Based on the info, I dropped them out of my list without second tots.

[Jius 0]

To add to the forum I wrote.

A few weeks after my complain that the wall is bulging, uneven surface, the ID got his man to grind off some of the plastering. They rescreed with black cement, saying this is more fine type of cement. A few days later I went to see the wall, I use my palm to feel the wall, still feel the bulging. I told the ID again. He personally polished tbe wall. The uneven surface was much better.

The ID also said that he will give me a set of wardrobe doors using white plain laminate. After CNY, then he will take the doors back to the factory to change to the laminate that I wanted. As for the bookshelf cabinet doors, he said the design is beautiful enough, no need to change laminate.

I have to live for the rest of my life with a slanted wall, with a laminate that I never choose.

I am disappointed that till this day, not a word of apology came from the ID.

I believe my case is individual. The company might have other good IDs.

[Jius 0]

To add to the forum I wrote.

A few weeks after my complain that the wall is bulging, uneven surface, the ID got his man to grind off some of the plastering. They rescreed with black cement, saying this is more fine type of cement. A few days later I went to see the wall, I use my palm to feel the wall, still feel the bulging. I told the ID again. He personally polished tbe wall. The uneven surface was much better.

The ID also said that he will give me a set of wardrobe doors using white plain laminate. After CNY, then he will take the doors back to the factory to change to the laminate that I wanted. As for the bookshelf cabinet doors, he said the design is beautiful enough, no need to change laminate. I am a layman, I do no know what is beauty. To me this is just an excuse because things were already done. I was totally not informed of this white plain laminate from beginning.

A new door frame was required for the bedroom. The ID told me from beginning that it will be a wooden doorframe, instead of metal, as given by HDB. After they installed the door frame, my friend highlighted to me that it is possible to use metal frame, just ask the HDB contractor for the supplier. When my friend talked to the ID, he just replied that the owner, myself, was informed that wooden one will be installed. This shows that the ID doesn’t know the trade well, or he merely use whatever supplier they always engage to provide a wooden door frame. No effort was done to find out if metal door frame can be found in the market. The wooden doorframe given has two deep holes that I have to inform the ID to patch up. There was also a deep vein line that cause a long crack. This shows no quality check was carried out, before this doorframe was chosen and use. When asked the ID about the quality, he just replied, it is like that, this is natural. I do no know if they merely paint over it, or like what he said, that they have repaired the cracks.

I have to live for the rest of my life with a slanted wall, with a laminate that I never choose.

I am disappointed that till this day, not a word of apology came from the ID.

I believe my case is individual. The company might have other good IDs.

[brightred 0]

Hi all,

Cisceern was 1 of the 5 IDs that I have shortlisted. I met my Cisceern ID during the Sg Expo furniture show last year. Nice chap and eager to please so decided to ask him to give us a proposal for a floor layout and quotation. I would say that the proposal was only average and not really ID quality. My wife and I also did not agree with some of the proposals that he made, felt that they were not consistent with our theme. Made some amendments and asked him to re-propose.

I think it is a crunch time for them now and he is quite up to the neck with running existing projects so he had difficulties in reverting back to us on time. Hence I have decided to drop them from the selection process and went ahead with another ID instead.

[whyelun 0]

Hi, Jius, can PM me who's yr ID? Me considering their proposal, handled by a young gal, not very comfortable with her experience.

Thanks.

I am renovating my 4 rm flat now.

Last yr I went to an exhibition and engaged Ciseern as my ID. The ID was enthusiastic enough to come up with a plan and quotes. So I engaged him.

Now in the mid of renovation, unhappiness occurred.

Blockworks was installed to cover an existing door way. The walls were plastered unevenly, bulging here and there. One side of the wall was plastered with uneven thickess. They say is because one side of the wall needs to match and existing HDB wall, the other side needs to match a door thickness. I was not informed of this till I visited the flat and realise, then inform the ID. That means the floor tiles were also slightly cut to match with the uneven wall thickness. The uneveness is abt 1cm.

I have black quartz tiles at the foyer. One day during the renovation, I realise that beige skirting was being used. I called the manager of that ID. In the end they agreed to change the skirting to black quartz to match the floor tiles.

Yesterday while they were installing the wardrobe, both the ID and myself realise we were talking of different white door laminate. I wanted a white laminate with flowers. He wanted to give me plain white laminate.

Permit application for renovation was done after 1 month of collection of my keys. I have 4 months to move out of my present premise. Mine is a en-bloc case.

I was being blamed for changing design too often.

All the renovation ideas was given by myself. Where to place cabinets, what colour to use, which wall to hack down. The ID was not able to give me any new ideas. Like what others said, they use template.

Very unhappy time with this ID.

[Lakmy 0]

Lakmy, did they quote what type of granite? Btw, hw much they quote the kitvhen psf?

Sometimes dun be tempered by reno free gifts, they already factored in the reno.So is not really any free goodies.They give u here but increase price for the rest of the items.

btw, hw much is your overall reno?

Hi!

Havent been online for almost a week...

vowsh , they offer me a choice of plain black or white india granite or a number of china granite with patterns.

Have lived forever with black Indian granite, back home, so decided to go for a beigish granite with patterns...(think they call it tiger pattern) love it!!

Kitchen psf is $69

And granite is $90

If I choose a galaxy black or pearl black I wud have to pay $120 psf...just fyi.

The kitchen is their 10th Anniversary gift to the customers so they actually did it at cost.

This even their competitors agreed, was a very good price which they cant match.

My total reno, including total hacking and relaying of 2 bathroom floor and wall

as well as kitchen floor and walls, and service balcony floor tiles

All the carpentry work.... 3 wardrobes (13 + 6 + 5 feet), bookself cum storage cupboard (8 feet) + shoe cabinet- cum divider (4 feet full height, with mirror backing) as well as painting + plumbing + electrical work came to 27 K.

Exceeded my planned budget by 4k........ I spent another 4 k on buying lights + toilet accessories + hood-hob n aircon + grills + ceiling fans ...right up to the last hook I purchased came into the 4 K

So grand total of 31 K for a EA (area is 150 and ceiling is higher than 9 feet, maybe bcoz its a ground floor unit.... so all the dimensions viz windows doors, curtains were extra large... compared to normal hdb stds)

Best thing about them is their punctuality, every appointment my Id was on time and handover also as scheduled... have moved in on 8th Dec... so far no complaints.... and still have a 8 year guarantee!!

[gumbokins 5]

Hi!

Havent been online for almost a week...

vowsh , they offer me a choice of plain black or white india granite or a number of china granite with patterns.

Have lived forever with black Indian granite, back home, so decided to go for a beigish granite with patterns...(think they call it tiger pattern) love it!!

Kitchen psf is $69

And granite is $90

If I choose a galaxy black or pearl black I wud have to pay $120 psf...just fyi.

The kitchen is their 10th Anniversary gift to the customers so they actually did it at cost.

This even their competitors agreed, was a very good price which they cant match.

My total reno, including total hacking and relaying of 2 bathroom floor and wall

as well as kitchen floor and walls, and service balcony floor tiles

All the carpentry work.... 3 wardrobes (13 + 6 + 5 feet), bookself cum storage cupboard (8 feet) + shoe cabinet- cum divider (4 feet full height, with mirror backing) as well as painting + plumbing + electrical work came to 27 K.

Exceeded my planned budget by 4k........ I spent another 4 k on buying lights + toilet accessories + hood-hob n aircon + grills + ceiling fans ...right up to the last hook I purchased came into the 4 K

So grand total of 31 K for a EA (area is 150 and ceiling is higher than 9 feet, maybe bcoz its a ground floor unit.... so all the dimensions viz windows doors, curtains were extra large... compared to normal hdb stds)

Best thing about them is their punctuality, every appointment my Id was on time and handover also as scheduled... have moved in on 8th Dec... so far no complaints.... and still have a 8 year guarantee!!

lakmy and i had the same ID from unimax, and our experience is quite different.

i started my works in mid sept (i think) and can you believe it, he's only just FINALLY completed everything today.

there was some very small items that he did not do, and it took him f-o-r-e-v-e-r to finish. everytime he would call, asking for the last 10%, and i'd tell him of the few outstandings, then he'll say ok, then he'll dissapear for a week or two, then ask for the payment again..we did this 'tango' about 3-4 times. towards the end he accused me of delaying the payment (who would pay when the work is not complete??).

our ID started out good, but everything went sour when he screwed up the laying of the kitchen floor. then things pretty much went downhill when i decided to use my own electrician instead of his overpriced one. talk about sour grapes. it was as if suddenly he decided i wasn't worth it.

during the process he lost important documents such as my floorplan and my choice of laminates for the kitchen cabinet...forcing me to drive down to their toa payoh office on a stormy evening with a 2 month old baby in tow on the eve of hari raya to look through the catalogue again.

he was only punctual when it came to collecting money. count himself lucky that i was on leave during that period of time.

anyways it's all over now, all i can say is, good riddance. while i think the company is ok, their workmanship is reasonable, i do think the attitudes of the ID can be very inconsistent, as you can see from lakmy's and my experience.

[vowsh 1]

Hi!

Havent been online for almost a week...

vowsh , they offer me a choice of plain black or white india granite or a number of china granite with patterns.

Have lived forever with black Indian granite, back home, so decided to go for a beigish granite with patterns...(think they call it tiger pattern) love it!!

Kitchen psf is $69

And granite is $90

If I choose a galaxy black or pearl black I wud have to pay $120 psf...just fyi.

The kitchen is their 10th Anniversary gift to the customers so they actually did it at cost.

This even their competitors agreed, was a very good price which they cant match.

My total reno, including total hacking and relaying of 2 bathroom floor and wall

as well as kitchen floor and walls, and service balcony floor tiles

All the carpentry work.... 3 wardrobes (13 + 6 + 5 feet), bookself cum storage cupboard (8 feet) + shoe cabinet- cum divider (4 feet full height, with mirror backing) as well as painting + plumbing + electrical work came to 27 K.

Exceeded my planned budget by 4k........ I spent another 4 k on buying lights + toilet accessories + hood-hob n aircon + grills + ceiling fans ...right up to the last hook I purchased came into the 4 K

So grand total of 31 K for a EA (area is 150 and ceiling is higher than 9 feet, maybe bcoz its a ground floor unit.... so all the dimensions viz windows doors, curtains were extra large... compared to normal hdb stds)

Best thing about them is their punctuality, every appointment my Id was on time and handover also as scheduled... have moved in on 8th Dec... so far no complaints.... and still have a 8 year guarantee!!

Glad that u got everything done smoothly.I presume your is a resale flat coz your reno did not cover living/dinning/bedrooms flooring.

[brightred 0]

I think it is quite hard to judge the designs and service experience of a ID firm as it really much depends on the ID as a person. Most importantly, is still our reading of the ID as a decent and honest person to work with. Workmanship wise, I think of all the IDs work that I have visited, they are more or less the same. Nothing to shout about, juz average.