Cyprusblade's Corner

[applefreak 1]

that doesn't sound too good

means you need to monitor more closely

if you didn't call, then you'll only know when he hand over the unit

[cyprusblade 0]

that doesn't sound too good

means you need to monitor more closely

if you didn't call, then you'll only know when he hand over the unit

Yes, that's why we have started nitpicking on everything. In fact, he just called me this afternoon to tell me the black galaxy granite top is $150/ft. I told him that about yang guo's quote at $90/ft and your blue pearl granite top (even more superior than black galaxy) is only $100/ft. So he said he will nego with his supplier or find another one.

I'm so glad for all you forumers who gave us good advice, increase our knowledge and prevent contractor/ IDs fr thinking we're carrots, can chop!

[applefreak 1]

i also learnt a lot from this forum

and many kind forummers had offered their views and advice

that's why i'm lurking here even though my renovation is long done

to still learn more (for my next home) and offer some suggestions to anyone who is in the same predicament

[cyprusblade 0]

Anyone can help? Contractor told us he can offer $90/ft for 6ft slab, black galaxy china granite but price still remains at $150 for a whole piece no joint (think we need about 9/10 ft at at 1 side and 7ft for sink area) granite slab.

The quality should be the same but the difference in pricing is another matter. Wondering if it's worth spending our money on or is this another case of asethetics.

Another shocker: found out when we went to the unit today the areas we wanted sealed with plaster (small window in 2 bedrooms and hollow areas in corridor to room) was not sealed but painting of walls have already commenced. Spoke to contractor about it but he said the sealing will be done when the carpentary is placed in the house and the paint will be touched up later. Since the paints we choose belonged to the ICI/Nippon pentalite range, the touch ups will not leave any marks. Wonder if it's true.

Edited February 13, 2008 by cyprusblade

[Yang Guo 7]

Anyone can help? Contractor told us he can offer $90/ft for 6ft slab, black galaxy china granite but price still remains at $150 for a whole piece no joint (think we need about 9/10 ft at at 1 side and 7ft for sink area) granite slab.

The quality should be the same but the difference in pricing is another matter. Wondering if it's worth spending our money on or is this another case of asethetics.

Another shocker: found out when we went to the unit today the areas we wanted sealed with plaster (small window in 2 bedrooms and hollow areas in corridor to room) was not sealed but painting of walls have already commenced. Spoke to contractor about it but he said the sealing will be done when the carpentary is placed in the house and the paint will be touched up later. Since the paints we choose belonged to the ICI/Nippon pentalite range, the touch ups will not leave any marks. Wonder if it's true.

hi cyprusblade,

now i remember already, mine also $150/ft for a bigger piece without joint. hmmm i think the price is reasonable:

$90/ft for the smaller one

$150/ft for the bigger one

should be fine. if i were u, i will chose the bigger piece cos i dont want to see too many joints

[applefreak 1]

Anyone can help? Contractor told us he can offer $90/ft for 6ft slab, black galaxy china granite but price still remains at $150 for a whole piece no joint (think we need about 9/10 ft at at 1 side and 7ft for sink area) granite slab.

The quality should be the same but the difference in pricing is another matter. Wondering if it's worth spending our money on or is this another case of asethetics.

Another shocker: found out when we went to the unit today the areas we wanted sealed with plaster (small window in 2 bedrooms and hollow areas in corridor to room) was not sealed but painting of walls have already commenced. Spoke to contractor about it but he said the sealing will be done when the carpentary is placed in the house and the paint will be touched up later. Since the paints we choose belonged to the ICI/Nippon pentalite range, the touch ups will not leave any marks. Wonder if it's true.

hmm that means one joint line at the stove side, which can be 'covered' by the stove

and the sink area one can cham siong to have the 7ft slab

i hid my joint line under the stove, so can't really see it

unless you are doing one straight row of countertop with no stove or sink, it's not worth paying $60 more for the bigger slab

if $150/pfr might as well go for crystallised countertops

yes pentalite is easier to touch up compared to 3-in-1 or easywash

for the mentioned you will have to paint the whole wall to avoid patches

[cyprusblade 0]

Just went down to check out the house yesterday and quite happy to see the fresh coat of paints. We only chose three colours: Lilac White for the master bedroom, Lime Tint for the rooms and Lily White for the living room, balcony and service balcony. So now the house is nice and bright.

The paint job they did on our main door is quite horrible they just painted another coat over the current orange paint so it was quite uneven and the door seems to have been damaged as it is now sinking to one side. We're thinking of changing the main and room doors but we'll probably look for another contractor, a bit fed up with the current one. Can't believe he went ahead to order our shower glass doors (10mm thick) at $450 before we even agreed to it.

Not too fond of the front gate too since we didn't want some of the decorative elements and told him not to include them but when we went to the house and low and behold, the gate with the decorative elements still there. Told him to remove them.

Following applefreak's advise, we went down to Builders Shop at Changi South to look at silestone counter tops which are around the $150-190 per foot and are stain, scatch and water resistant. We also went to check out the price of black galaxy granite tops and we almost !! when we saw the price $37.16 per feet (min order of 10 feet, no problems since we need at least 20+ feet), installation per order is $350, $80 per hole (for sinks etc). We calculated and when we saw that we'll have savings of 2K we called our contractor immediately and told him we'll not be doing the countertops.

The profit margins amazes us. We also saw some of the tiles we chose for the house and they were 1/2 the price of what we paid. The next time we have to renovate a house, we'll DIY, so much cost savings.

In case anyone is interested in the builder's shop, the sales service is really good. They're coming down to the house to do the measurements and are up front about all the payments. We even got a few samples to bring home to see if they match the cabinets.

[applefreak 1]

the price is good, esp if you are doing a long countertop :notti:

which salesperson you spoke to? the guy who served me like a bit ai mai ai mai leh

[cyprusblade 0]

Yes I was so happy with the price. The sales person we spoke to was called May (a Philippino, she's so friendly and accomodating, I highly recommand her).

[cyprusblade 0]

Am quite crossed with the contractor, found out he didn't sand down the doors before painting and just painted over. Not sure what to do now, maybe we just have to get new doors.

Also tried to escape from re-doing the gate by telling us just straight bars down very ugly, look nicer with decorative elements.

The thing we are most unsure about is he was telling us he was going to give us wood support for the sinks but I've read over here that concrete support is better. I told him at my grandparent's place we had wood support and that was water seepage to which he promptly replied was an installation problem.

I can foresee if in future we have any water seepage problems he will conveniently just tell us it's the counter top installation problem since it's not done by him. So crossed and not too sure what to do???

[applefreak 1]

how is the condition of the doors now?

did the painting cause difficulty in opening / closing of the doors? if yes then ask him to redo

but if it's only a matter of aesthetics then no choice liao

as for the gates, make him change it

ugly or not is up to you the homeowner to decide, not him since he is not staying in the unit

sink support - what's stated in the contract?

personally i'll not take wood for sink area coz even without seepage, the high level of moisture will compromise the wood structure

[cyprusblade 0]

The bottom part of the main door does not close properly, even when the door is closed you can see a 0.5cm gap and can peep inside the house but since we're both quite careless, we can't remember whether it was already in this condition after handover from the previous owners or did it occur during the reno. I think we have to change the main door.

As for the room doors, they have some impact marks on the front and we definately don't remember seeing this before reno and we think the contractor wouldn't admit to the damage judging from past behaviour. I will take a photo on our next visit so that you can have a better idea, forgot to bring the camera during our last visit.

We'll ask him to change the gates over the weekend.

Sink support was not stated in the contract, we are so careless. I think we need to be more firm and force him to give us concrete support for the sink. What is the proper term for such things, maybe we're not expressing ourselves well.

The reason why we were so mad over this whole renovating issue was because we did not bargain with him when we signed the contract, we just asked him to give us the best prices. Maybe we were naive and we understand everyone needs to survive when they run a business so a bit of profit was understandable. When we chose the tiles, we choose more expensive tiles for the living room, rooms and toilet and he was apprehensive but we told him we were ok to top up. The top up was $650. With the electricals, he told us we have to top up $450 for 2 SCV points, 2 telephone points, 2 way heater switch and an oven point since it was not in the package. I'm not sure if he thought we were easy target when he told us he will charge us $150 for installing the lights. We had always thought installing lights is part of the service and not chargable. The buying of different brand switches as mentioned earlier was the last straw and had alarm bells ringing.

So now we're trying to be more careful but he already went ahead and ordered glass shower doors before we agreed to it, so no choice. When we questioned him, he said I had already agreed to it, since when and how could I since I was out of town last week, I don't know who he imagined he spoke to.

My husband also told him, please inform us of the date before you install the carpentary. He called me just now to tell me he will install this week but is unable to tell us the exact date. I already reminded my husband to call him to ask him the exact date again as we've notice he likes to tell me things but is not keen to talk to my husband and when he gets in a tight spot, he likes to tell my husband he told me already or I had agreed to some decision. Luckily my husband knows we usually have a discussion first before deciding anything otherwise he will cause us to have misunderstandings.

We felt we have always been reasonable and hardly bargain with him except for counter top and free installation of lightings. Due to his actions we no longer trust him and just want to get the house done and never see his face again.

Edited February 26, 2008 by cyprusblade

[applefreak 1]

hmm this contractor seems to be pulling a fast one

won't say $450 is exorbitant but it's certainly above market rate for the things quoted

it's just called a concrete sink support

but do bear in mind that he might ask for top up again as it's more expensive to construct a concrete sink support compared to a normal kitchen cabinet

[cyprusblade 0]

Thanks applefreak. Can't wait for reno to complete!

Edited February 27, 2008 by cyprusblade