Bedok Central

[big orange 0]

yokoyoko - no harm finding some information to cheer the community up man! 418k!!! for a location which is not as good as us!! Happy right!?

Idealsmiths - add ur nick into the community lo. Share us your housing ideas and process when the time comes...

Kenlew8 - During the last show, i am looking at PV700, i think it cost 2199 with 300 voucher. so ideally it about 1999. Your sound a better buy. What the differences between PV8,80 and 800. I only know 800 is Full HD. Using plasma watch TV is much much better. But then consumption of power is about 1/2 - 1/3 more of what LCD consume. It will be a hard choice for me. LCD is cheaper and consume less energy.

[isc90152 0]

Hi all, can I find out from you guys regarding ID payment breakdown?

Last week, I visited an ID and his breakdown is as below.

1 10% initial

2 40% before start laying floors

3 40% before carpentry

10% everything completed. It does sound pretty unfair, wanna find out if its the normal practice

[spidey 0]

Hi all, can I find out from you guys regarding ID payment breakdown?

Last week, I visited an ID and his breakdown is as below.

1 10% initial

2 40% before start laying floors

3 40% before carpentry

10% everything completed. It does sound pretty unfair, wanna find out if its the normal practice

One of the ID I spoke to gave me this:

15% downpayment upon confirmation

40% progressive payment upon commencement of work and arrival of building materials

40% progressive pmt upon completion of masonry/ceiling/paint works

5% final payment upon completion

[isc90152 0]

thanks spidey. It seems like what my id quote me is the normal practice. Initially I thought that its something like down 20% then 30%, 30% and finally 20%. Looks like I am wrong.

[hihihi 0]

One of the ID I spoke to gave me this:

5% final payment upon completion

5% is definitely a NO-NO. Min 10% for final payment, the more the merrier.

[yokoyoko 0]

yokoyoko - no harm finding some information to cheer the community up man! 418k!!! for a location which is not as good as us!! Happy right!?

Ya.. of cos the higher the hor seh... den we can earn a bit.. hehe since we paid much higher now.

5% is definitely a NO-NO. Min 10% for final payment, the more the merrier.

Ya.. i agreed 10%. its more of a safe guard.. incase ID/contractor 'chu' patterns.. 5% maybe not much to them in a way...

[kenlew8 0]

Kenlew8 - During the last show, i am looking at PV700, i think it cost 2199 with 300 voucher. so ideally it about 1999. Your sound a better buy. What the differences between PV8,80 and 800. I only know 800 is Full HD. Using plasma watch TV is much much better. But then consumption of power is about 1/2 - 1/3 more of what LCD consume. It will be a hard choice for me. LCD is cheaper and consume less energy.

I cant remember PV700 specs but I do know that PY700 is full Hd with the screen glass looking a bit rough(anti-glare coating)

PV8 and PV 80 are both HD ready (both made in spore), power consumption is 335W (according to specs)

PV8 has 1 lesser hdmi input than PV80 and something else..I think an SD card slot

PY800 is Full HD (42 inch is available and 50 inch should be just released in spore)

HD ready is good enough for the SCV HD shows and HD5 (these transmissions are not even 1080p)

Full HD is useful if you intend to watch a lot of blu-ray discs and for screens 50 inches and above.

Honestly, I couldnt differentiate the difference when 42PY800 and 42PV8 were side by side with both displaying a blu-ray show. For 50 inchers..you may have to stand quite close to spot any difference but I dont think most people sit so close to their tvs.

I actually bought PV8 for my bedroom. For my living room, 50PV80 was around $3499 with vouchers but I am still undecided if I should go for it (it is only HD-ready) or wait for 50PY700 (full HD but screen looks rough) to drop price. 50PY800 is way beyond my budget (more than 5k i think)..

AS to whether LCD or plasma, Its a personal choice..but trust your eyes (compare at best, HN, friends/relatives or even coffeeshops LCD/plasmas) and think what shows you will be watching most, and price/power consumption. I dont think samsung has a similar size at 42 inch to make an apple to apple comparison but I agree that from specs, even their 46inchers consume less power than plasmas. For me I still went for plasma beacuse the LCD dispaly of SD (TCS, SCV shows) imho are worse than our old CRTs. Why pay for something that did not improve the quality of viewing, notwithstanding the space saving.

another side topic..I was thinking of getting scv's HD box when I move in (supposedly nicer images than their digital settop box) but then I heard that the HD box does not allow remote control for volume! zzz and if I connect HDMI cable form the HD box..I cant get teletext..

[big orange 0]

kenlew8 - Yes PV and PY is the difference. Anyway i dun be getting and HD setup box. No point, unless it free. heee... Anyway thank you so much for your inputs. It benefit a lot for those who wish to get a plasma.

[spidey 0]

Hey what happen to our banner?

[Ideasmiths 0]

First day of my inspection and here are my defects findings and some insights. Anybody want to come help me find defects or want me to help them find defects can contact me. I should be pretty free this week. I am the ultimate complain king as I was trained by the Air Foce for 9 years to spot small little problems that might cause my superpuma (3000+ tiny parts in my area of responsibility) to crash. Plus I used to be a mechancial engineer doing products design, so I spot tiny little 'problems', however abstract.

So if you look at my house and I look at yours, we can spot more defects which might give you ideas of what you might have missed out when you were inspecting your flat. If your house is renovated, laggi best, as I need some ideas too

Okie, my defects checking is in my blog as I think it will be kind of hard to track in this thread as I update them

blog updated 8 July 2008. 11 defects found, 3 major ones! (With pictures)

Edited July 8, 2008 by Ideasmiths

[herbman76 0]

First day of my inspection and here are my defects findings and some insights. Anybody want to come help me find defects or want me to help them find defects can contact me. I should be pretty free this week. I am the ultimate complain king as I was trained by the Air Foce for 9 years to spot small little problems that might cause my superpuma (3000+ tiny parts in my area of responsibility) to crash. Plus I used to be a mechancial engineer doing products design, so I spot tiny little 'problems', however abstract.

So if you look at my house and I look at yours, we can spot more defects which might give you ideas of what you might have missed out when you were inspecting your flat. If your house is renovated, laggi best, as I need some ideas too

Okie, my defects checking is in my blog as I think it will be kind of hard to track in this thread as I update them

Looks like you are well equiped for the inspection have fun

[blurer23 0]

Hey what happen to our banner?

guys, think you had to login then you are able to see your signature banner...

Edited July 7, 2008 by blurer23

[kenlew8 0]

kenlew8 - Yes PV and PY is the difference. Anyway i dun be getting and HD setup box. No point, unless it free. heee... Anyway thank you so much for your inputs. It benefit a lot for those who wish to get a plasma.

big orange, you are welcome

[DSA 0]

For those who are searching for home renovators: ids & RCs, here's some of the aftermath & still ongoing findings of my search for the one HR:-

1. Start your independent research as early as & as much as you possibly can: As flat owners, the information asymmetry is skewed against us.

   Information asymmetry is a situation in which one party in a transaction has more or superior information compared to another.

   This often happens in transactions where the seller, ie the HRs, know more than the buyer, who is us: the flat owners, although the reverse can happen as well. Potentially, this could be a harmful situation because one party can take advantage of the other party’s lack of knowledge.

   The two primary solutions to this problem are signaling by the seller and screening by the buyer.

2. Look at this way: You have to spend $XX,XXX on cosmetic surgery to beautify yourself or your most prized loved one, how much research are u willing to engage in? It's a pretty big gamble: the cost is huge, the change is somewhat permanent and damage control is expensive. Face owners, flat owners in this instance, have very much at stake.

3. Those HRs who are mentioned on RenoTalk with favourable comments are immensely busy as they are loaded with clients, managing many ongoing projects, bombarded by incoming calls, etc. This is caused by the herd instinct - almost everyone who reads & believes approaches them. I am not convinced this is good for the individual flat owner: Will the HR be able to devote his severely limited time & effort to supervise the renovation of your house? Material selection can take up to 1 month caused by the client. Defects rectification, touch-ups can take another week or two.

   To him, you may be 1 out of the 15 clients but to you, he is the only one. Responsiveness of HRs, of course, also depends on your budget: if you intend to spend $50k, I'm pretty sure they'll accept and take up your renovation; mine is too small for popular HRs as I am practical - I spend more on things that can be used & my family benefit from the long-running usage, rather than on things that are just for looking good.

   That said, there are many hidden gems out there not mentioned at all on RenoTalk. It's just a matter of leveraging on the sheer search capabilities of Google, you can unearth some good, honest & experienced HRs to take care of the renovation of your $XXX,XXX purchase.

4. Lastly, armed with the distilled knowledge you gathered from your intensive research, you can do up a detailed list of renovation works required and obtain their corresponding pricing. This will expedite the process of casting your net. And save a lot of time in the process! Unless you enjoy talking to HRs & telling them in person your requirements one by one. I have tried both - I prefer email blasting. Then shortlist the selected ones for discussion.

[Shor 0]

Well said DSA.

Edited July 9, 2008 by Shor