Space Inspiration - Any One Has Comments On Them?

[h4happy 1]

My 2 cent worth:

It is a very bad move to pay deposit without even looking at their showflats and feel their woodworks. All sweet talks and promises might not come true. But anyway, not all are like that. But keep your finger cross and hope your renovation success and good.

[tinku 0]

Sorry to hear that. Can I ask who is the ID who serve you? I have engage them also at the EXPO. Can you tell me what is their workmanship like? What do I need to take note of?

So far they have been quite good as I have only paid the initial deposit.Can you share your experience with us?

Thanks

In my experience the workmanship was not bad (which is done by contracted experts anyway), but it was an endless engagement owing to poor project management & execution. The entire joy of a 3 week-worth work is over-shadowed if it is dragged on and delivered in 3 months over after a painful experience! The work was left to the contractors and the 'managers' didn't bother to monitor the work closely till we discovered the mistakes made. To make them pick a call it usually took a minimum of 10-15 calls... and mostly the reply was 'I'm in a meeting, will call you in 30 min'. Obviously the 30 mins never happened and we had to call back again.

Now that you've signed up with them, make sure they understand what your exact requirement is with exact dimensions. We had a few carpentry works delivered out of size. Being an ID firm it is expected of them to take right measurements!!

The payment terms is another thing.. Very quickly after the project begins, you will be asked to pay 95% (35 + 60) and the game is then out of your hands.. You are at their mercy.. and they may take their own sweet time to finish the project. See if you can negotiate the payment terms to be not so front-loaded and build in delay-penalties.

[guardsman 0]

In my experience the workmanship was not bad (which is done by contracted experts anyway), but it was an endless engagement owing to poor project management & execution. The entire joy of a 3 week-worth work is over-shadowed if it is dragged on and delivered in 3 months over after a painful experience! The work was left to the contractors and the 'managers' didn't bother to monitor the work closely till we discovered the mistakes made. To make them pick a call it usually took a minimum of 10-15 calls... and mostly the reply was 'I'm in a meeting, will call you in 30 min'. Obviously the 30 mins never happened and we had to call back again.

Now that you've signed up with them, make sure they understand what your exact requirement is with exact dimensions. We had a few carpentry works delivered out of size. Being an ID firm it is expected of them to take right measurements!!

The payment terms is another thing.. Very quickly after the project begins, you will be asked to pay 95% (35 + 60) and the game is then out of your hands.. You are at their mercy.. and they may take their own sweet time to finish the project. See if you can negotiate the payment terms to be not so front-loaded and build in delay-penalties.

Thanks for sharing will try to do what you suggested.

[tinku 0]

More on my experience with Space Inspiration:

Guys they're getting from bad to worse in my case. My final settlement is still left pending 3+ months of signing a 3 weeks worth of work's contract. Not to mention that the work has not been completed as promised with finishing touches still remaining, but we've given up hopes on that & want to get out of the relationship with them. We're having to spend money on external contractors to get the finishing touches done.

Have been following with them for abt a month now to settle. Two weeks back I was assured (yet another time!!) of action to do the settlement & the 32" TV that is promised very enthusiastically when you intend to sign-up with them. I have no confidence on whether the settlement will happen (this also involves convincing the condo management of a damage outside the house, which Space Inspiration Claims it has not done) or I will get the promised TV based on my experience thus far. Even the condo management is tired of following up with him.. Same complaint.. not reachable/no reply. Here's a sms that I got this morning from the ID (also a director in the company!) who's closely involved in my case, on asking what is the reason for delay in settling with us/the condo management:

"I'm busy the whole week and early this morning today. Do anything you like don't send me anymore message will not reply"

and we know what they're busy in.. Yet another fair in EXPO!

This is not the response (and we've received numerous of these), at least from one of the company's directors, you'd anticipate after you're made to believe in EXPO that you're signing up with one of the best reno firms in Singapore, with three dots!

Also noticed that their website has been under renovation atleast for the last 4 months.. Not sure if it was/will be live ever.

Given above, I'd be very very cautious..

[guardsman 0]

More on my experience with Space Inspiration:

Guys they're getting from bad to worse in my case. My final settlement is still left pending 3+ months of signing a 3 weeks worth of work's contract. Not to mention that the work has not been completed as promised with finishing touches still remaining, but we've given up hopes on that & want to get out of the relationship with them. We're having to spend money on external contractors to get the finishing touches done.

Have been following with them for abt a month now to settle. Two weeks back I was assured (yet another time!!) of action to do the settlement & the 32" TV that is promised very enthusiastically when you intend to sign-up with them. I have no confidence on whether the settlement will happen (this also involves convincing the condo management of a damage outside the house, which Space Inspiration Claims it has not done) or I will get the promised TV based on my experience thus far. Even the condo management is tired of following up with him.. Same complaint.. not reachable/no reply. Here's a sms that I got this morning from the ID (also a director in the company!) who's closely involved in my case, on asking what is the reason for delay in settling with us/the condo management:

"I'm busy the whole week and early this morning today. Do anything you like don't send me anymore message will not reply"

and we know what they're busy in.. Yet another fair in EXPO!

This is not the response (and we've received numerous of these), at least from one of the company's directors, you'd anticipate after you're made to believe in EXPO that you're signing up with one of the best reno firms in Singapore, with three dots!

Also noticed that their website has been under renovation atleast for the last 4 months.. Not sure if it was/will be live ever.

Given above, I'd be very very cautious..

I just started my reno w them.Hopefully my expereince will b better.When I call my I'd.I was told he was at th expo also.Looks like we can only hope & see + PRAY that everything will turn out ok.

Regards

Guardsman

[Cloudy 0]

space inspiration seem to be using lots of sales person at their booth. Not the main contractors that will be doing your coordination. hence, that was also one of the reasons why I did not want to sign with them in the first place.

All they could show me was 3D pictures and some of them look vaguely familiar.

When I wanted to leave, the guy asked me why, and is it cos of their quotation. When I said yes, they say its usually all the same, if you want less 1k, i cancel this loh...if you want lesser, I cancel this also loh....blah blah blah.....to me, very unprofessional and had a very mockling kinda attitude from that guy.

When i left, he asked another colleague to mock us saying, aiyah, I know you 2 lah, you are those that till the last minute also wont be able to confirm one...then they started laughing.....

feels like those timeshare companies at Delphi....they seem to be using the same tactics.

Persuade and be nice guy -> price reduction -> mocking

Just have to say, the above was me and my wife's experience with them in their show in Aug/Early Sept. not too sure if there are any changes by now.

My advice, do not be overly impressed that they are ISO certified. As to date, their website is still under reno and they have not yet been able to show any actual project. 3D pics can be easily rendered....

[BUMII 0]

space inspiration seem to be using lots of sales person at their booth. Not the main contractors that will be doing your coordination. hence, that was also one of the reasons why I did not want to sign with them in the first place.

All they could show me was 3D pictures and some of them look vaguely familiar.

When I wanted to leave, the guy asked me why, and is it cos of their quotation. When I said yes, they say its usually all the same, if you want less 1k, i cancel this loh...if you want lesser, I cancel this also loh....blah blah blah.....to me, very unprofessional and had a very mockling kinda attitude from that guy.

When i left, he asked another colleague to mock us saying, aiyah, I know you 2 lah, you are those that till the last minute also wont be able to confirm one...then they started laughing.....

feels like those timeshare companies at Delphi....they seem to be using the same tactics.

Persuade and be nice guy -> price reduction -> mocking

Just have to say, the above was me and my wife's experience with them in their show in Aug/Early Sept. not too sure if there are any changes by now.

My advice, do not be overly impressed that they are ISO certified. As to date, their website is still under reno and they have not yet been able to show any actual project. 3D pics can be easily rendered....

Just thought I will share my experience too:

The person I talked to in Space Inspiration is not bad. She seems to be a nice person and knowing that we have a limited budget, tried to work within it. However, what struck me was how much she was able to cut the cost of the carpentry, saying that since it is a promotion (met her at Expo). The PFR cost was slashed by more than 50%. Imagine if I was not "on a tight budget".

Another thing was the push for their package. I hate packages, but she kept trying to fit my requirements based on the packages. Although she said this will be more economical, still it made me uncomfortable. That was the main reason why I din shortlist them in the end.

What Cloudy mentioned about the website and lack of actual projects online sure raises my eyebrows. ID is all about past track records and testimonials from ex-clients. The lack of effort in setting up their website and showcasing their works can easiy be translated to carelessness. Then might as well dun have a website.

I actually have no problem with the lady who served me and my wife. She is a very nice person, but the package-pushing repelled me away from them, as well as the relatively higher cost. Just my two-cents worth.

[dove 0]

upon reading all the above complaints on their horrendous experiences, i cant help but to share mine too. I was more fortunate though, to be able to escape from their clutches.

One day in may 2008, i visited their booth and was given a quotation on the spot according to my reno requirements. The quotation was one of the most reasonable among the ones that i previously got and i was tempted. Altho i knew i would not sign up with any ID firm on impulse, i was somehow persuaded by them.

Few weeks later, i called them to enquire on my 3D drawings which were expected to be done ard that time, the response i got was i had to "queue". The worst thing is, they claimed that their high tech computer (exact words used) can only produce 2 sets of 3D drawings each day!! Lame excuse, i asked ard and nobody has ever heard of that!

That sparked a need for me to research on the co's background and i realised they were only incorporated few months back, with no HDB license (meaning either they renovate illegally or they sub-contract my reno). Comparing their payment schedule (95% upfront) ard gives me the jitter to engage them as my ID firm. So i struck an argreement with them to use the deposit to install a shower screen for me. Owing to some obviously inexperienced calculations, i was quoted a well below market price for that job, so i tot just as well. Another several weeks later (i had already engaged another ID by then) when they were supposed to install the screen, they discovered that the price they quoted were lower than the cost and requested me to retrieve my deposit so that they need not incur a loss to perform the job. This ended my torment chasing so many times after them for only a simple installation.

Usually they do pick up my calls but its quite often that i hear "im in a meeting" and 'we are busy in Expo" too. To me, the co's priority is in securing more jobs at the Expo and they are obviously short-handed in terms of perm staff to manage the projects secured. Make a trip to their company premises, u will discover that they are located in a secular industrial building, where there are a few carpenters below (which cud b where they sub-con ur job to). Definitely a co i wud never NEVER recommend to anyone who wants to renovate with a peace of mind.

Edited November 20, 2008 by dove

[blueyiggy 0]

We have signed up a package with Space Inspiration in one of the EXPO fairs previously, cos we thought we can "click" with the ID, afterwhich we read about the horrendous experiences other forummers had...I wish to share my experience here too, and hope to seek advice...

Our first meet up after the EXPO - ID brought us to their office to discuss the general items like theme/design, carpentry needed etc...After we realise that what we wanted was not what he presented to us, we told him that we wish to exclude some items like L-box and feature wall, but wish to add in additional carpentry items around the house. ID said "OK" and says he will draw up a proposed plan in 3D drawing for our next meet up 1 month later.

2nd meet up - The 3D drawings he showed us are TOTALLY wrong. It did NOT portray anything of what we had discussed during the 1st meeting. And he explained that because our package is the "standard" package, he can only submit the 3D drawing request based on our package. We became a little irritated...and he said we have to sign a more customised package, with omission items and variable items if we want to obtain the "correct" 3D drawing. We did that, and repeated the WHOLE thing on what we want/don't want.

The carpentry works were not cheap. And we mentioned again that we do not want the L-box and feature wall. But ID keep insisting us to take the feature wall, saying that without the feature wall, our house will not be pretty, and he will also get scolding from his boss (what the heck??)...So we said, ok, just include it in the 3D drawing first then we will consider again after we see how the effects turn out. We also communicated on the colours and looks we wanted for paint and cupboards.

3rd meet up - it was 6 weeks after the previous meet up, with ID saying they were very busy so no time...The 3D drawings looked more "decent" now, at least with items we wanted. BUT, colours were not to our liking, and some of the items we had discussed were not included in the drawings or were wrong. We weren't very pleased. Then we realised he missed out 2 drawings, 1 on MBR cabinets and 1 on study room writing tables+cabinets.

Upon being asked why are the 2 drawings not out, he gave an excuse that the person who drew the drawing had forgotten to print it out for him, and he will email it to us 2 days later. And NO MORE news from him thereafter until 4 weeks later. And he only emailed us the MRB drawing (study room drawing unheard of anymore), with wrong colours AGAIN!!!

We are very disappointed with them. They don't pay attention to what we want or need, keep insist us to take items that we did not wish to have, and gave us wrong or no drawings so far. We have decided to drop them and forfeit our deposit of $500, because we have simply lost our trust in them. They can't even deliver such simple promises, I am very sceptical about how they can manage our renovation works in future...

Is there anyone out there who cancel their package with them as well? Are there any other costs which we have to pay? I've heard that some companies require 15%-20% of the total costs to be paid if to cancel package. Is it true? We are worried about this. Can anyone advise?

[sir francis 0]

I would advise anyone who cares about their home renovation to avoid Space Inspiration like the plague. It appears from this thread that many have had bad experiences with them. My own experience with them August to October 2008 was one of the worst experiences I have ever had in my entire life & one I would not wish to go through ever again in my life. Like many others, they seem okay upon first impression and nothing is too much trouble for them to do for you. But problems start immediately the work begins. To summarise their (many) shortcomings:

Computer generated impressions were mostly uninspired & not at all what I'd briefed them to give me. It seems they just do not listen and translate what you want into design. It is like talking to a brick wall with them.

I had a lot of custom carpentry (shelves & storage units) for which I requested for line drawings or technical drawings detailing measurements, dimensions and materials. None were ever forthcoming. Consequently, my built-ins were designed and built at the whimsy of the carpenter and often failed to comply with my design instructions.

Because all woodwork was "prepared at their factory to spec" I was assured that completion was merely a matter of "assembling the woodwork in situ" and that it would take no more than 3 weeks to complete my unit. In reality, Space's sub-contractors worked at a painfully slow pace (in the beginning not more than 1-2 days out of each 7-day week) and the job ended up taking more than 3 months, and even then was half baked in its execution. I had to plead, argue, cajole, persuade them to send their workers every step of the way. In the end I plain bulllied them into getting the work moving along. If I had taken a back seat and let them work at their own snail's pace I've absolutely no doubt that the work would still not be completed to this day (and in fact they walked off the job before completing properly).

Little or no project management, supervision or quality control on the part of Space's ID. It was all left in the hands of their incompetent sub-contractors who were very often not briefed on what they were meant to be doing, and often turned up at my place totally clueless (and looking for direction from ME!!!)

During the first 6 weeks their carpenter managed to turn my apartment into a rubbish dump. I found the remains of his MacDonalds lunches and cigarette ends strewn around my place. Consequently I am now facing a cockroach infestation problem. Eventually I demanded that they clean up (with me initiating the lion's share of the cleaning myself).

I received the most badly designed & executed TV console I have ever seen in my life. It was too long, ugly and the base which was supposed to accommodate several heavy DVD, Laser Disk, hi-fi and amplifier components was made so thin that it would have sent my components crashing to ruin on the floor within days had I used it. There were also no holes built-into the design for feeding of wires and such! Having waited many weeks for Space to fix it up, I had to order Space to remove it from the wall. Space's ID sulked cos he realised he could not charge me for this cancelled item.

The materials proposed for the so-called "feature wall" were low quality, cheap looking with few options presented. In the end I told them to forget about doing a feature wall since I was convinced it would look awful.

Space's sub-contractors managed to completely trash my marble floor requiring the developer to do a major repolish (at my own expense).

Space's flooring contractor was brought in to do "a grind" to improve the quality of my parquet but succeeded in completely trashing it through utterly inept workmanship. I chased Space's imbecile of a flooring contractor out of my house when I saw what he had done. Again, I had to bring the developer in to bring the parquet back to its original condition, once again at my own expense.

Space's sub-contractors used my kitchen, kitchen cabinets and kitchen worktop as their personal storage place for heavy tools and abrasive materials, until I finally made the kitchen off limits to them. Consequently, I had to again spend money to have the developer bring the worktop back to its install condition.

Space's plasterer poured the remnants of his bucket of plaster water down my brand new, developer-installed kitchen sink! WTF! My brand new kitchen sink was absolutely covered in one thick coating of brick-hard plaster! I had to get the developer to replace back to kitchen sink with a brand new one, again at my expense.

They fitted the cheapest possible fittings into my place. For example a plastic tap (yes plastic) in the utility area which snapped off the first time I ever tried to turn it, causing a flood late at night which I had to call out a plumber to fix.

After one of my display units was completed it started coming away from the wall and displayed huge cracks and peeling plasterwork. This was because Space's sub-contractor had failed to use sealing tape before plastering over the join between the unit and the wall - shoddy workmanship.

Carpenter drilled through one of my water pipes concealed behind a wall in the living area causing a flood in the unit!

A built-in CD storage unit was very shoddily done by their lazy subcontractor so I had to insist that the work be redone so that it looked acceptable.

Doors that were meant to fit to a storage shelf unit were made too darned heavy to sit safely within the unit's housing - another case of nonexistent design expertise on the part of the ID which prevented them from following through on my design requirements.

I had to wait inordinately long time, many weeks, for various items of tinted mirror, clear mirror and glass work for cabinet doors. Space's glass contractor held my unit up for many weeks because of his slowness.

Towards the end of the contract when I was rushing to meet my move-in deadline, Space's ID (Marcus Tham, also a director of the company) completely dissapeared on me. He coordinated none of the contractor work, did not give a fig about my deadline or my need to have the messy works completed before I moved my stuff in, and generally lost interest in the whole project. There was no final wrap up meeting with him or any resolution of outstanding works which they failed to complete.

Space's Marcus Tham always blamed his contractors when stuff didn't get done properly and made excuses this way. At the same time the contractors always bad-mouthed Marcus, saying he didn't give them proper instructions, etc. I was drawn into a completely unacceptable finger-pointing exercise by both sides! I told them I was not interested in getting involved in their internal fights - I just wanted them to complete their work properly and in timely fashion.

The failure to answer calls has been alluded to a lot. I also found the same problem continually. My solution when I could not reach them was to keep calling and messaging constantly until my ID finally did respond to me. It was tedious and a complete waste of my time, but that was the only way.

In the end I found that I had to be on site to supervise Space's contractors 24/7 to provide at least some sort of informed quality control and supervision. I devoted 2 full months to this contractor supervision to the utter neglect of my business - completely unacceptable! I almost went out of business myself because of spending all my waking hours babysitting and handholding these jokers.

I could go on and cite at least 20 other major things I was very unhappy about but I think you get the general gist. Basically Space do not care, do not quality control or supervise their workers and their quality of work is appalling and runs way too long over the promised schedule. I think it's all about volume with them.. they worry mainly about signing new clients and then leave the worrying about how to complete their work till much much later. Very lousy and unprofessional outfit. Their work is utter crap.

I would rather slit my own throat than ever engage such an irresponsible ID company as Space Inspiration ever again. Total and utter nightmare of epic proportions. I hate to criticise anyone so badly, but I am posting this long report so that anyone who is thinking of using Space Inspiration KNOWS EXACTLY WHAT THEY ARE LETTING THEMSELVES IN FOR. My faith in Singapore ID companies is completely non-existent because of my experiences with them, which is a shame as I know there must be other good & responsible ones out there.

Edited January 2, 2009 by sir francis

[zonkkie 0]

wow sir francis... sounds like a nightmare... thanks for sharing... just saw their advert in the papers today... its says "Chosen Favourite ID firm in Designer Magazine". Wonder which magazine....

[samuel 0]

wow sir francis... sounds like a nightmare... thanks for sharing... just saw their advert in the papers today... its says "Chosen Favourite ID firm in Designer Magazine". Wonder which magazine....

all company there r the good designers and the bad ones.It all depends on which designer you use.even some very big and good companies also have bad designer.just remember when chosing someone 2 do your house look for someone you r comfortable and not the company you r comfortable. oh ya you should take them to case at least we can slowly clear the bad ones.

[samuel 0]

We have signed up a package with Space Inspiration in one of the EXPO fairs previously, cos we thought we can "click" with the ID, afterwhich we read about the horrendous experiences other forummers had...I wish to share my experience here too, and hope to seek advice...

Our first meet up after the EXPO - ID brought us to their office to discuss the general items like theme/design, carpentry needed etc...After we realise that what we wanted was not what he presented to us, we told him that we wish to exclude some items like L-box and feature wall, but wish to add in additional carpentry items around the house. ID said "OK" and says he will draw up a proposed plan in 3D drawing for our next meet up 1 month later.

2nd meet up - The 3D drawings he showed us are TOTALLY wrong. It did NOT portray anything of what we had discussed during the 1st meeting. And he explained that because our package is the "standard" package, he can only submit the 3D drawing request based on our package. We became a little irritated...and he said we have to sign a more customised package, with omission items and variable items if we want to obtain the "correct" 3D drawing. We did that, and repeated the WHOLE thing on what we want/don't want.

The carpentry works were not cheap. And we mentioned again that we do not want the L-box and feature wall. But ID keep insisting us to take the feature wall, saying that without the feature wall, our house will not be pretty, and he will also get scolding from his boss (what the heck??)...So we said, ok, just include it in the 3D drawing first then we will consider again after we see how the effects turn out. We also communicated on the colours and looks we wanted for paint and cupboards.

3rd meet up - it was 6 weeks after the previous meet up, with ID saying they were very busy so no time...The 3D drawings looked more "decent" now, at least with items we wanted. BUT, colours were not to our liking, and some of the items we had discussed were not included in the drawings or were wrong. We weren't very pleased. Then we realised he missed out 2 drawings, 1 on MBR cabinets and 1 on study room writing tables+cabinets.

Upon being asked why are the 2 drawings not out, he gave an excuse that the person who drew the drawing had forgotten to print it out for him, and he will email it to us 2 days later. And NO MORE news from him thereafter until 4 weeks later. And he only emailed us the MRB drawing (study room drawing unheard of anymore), with wrong colours AGAIN!!!

We are very disappointed with them. They don't pay attention to what we want or need, keep insist us to take items that we did not wish to have, and gave us wrong or no drawings so far. We have decided to drop them and forfeit our deposit of $500, because we have simply lost our trust in them. They can't even deliver such simple promises, I am very sceptical about how they can manage our renovation works in future...

Is there anyone out there who cancel their package with them as well? Are there any other costs which we have to pay? I've heard that some companies require 15%-20% of the total costs to be paid if to cancel package. Is it true? We are worried about this. Can anyone advise?

I do not think you need 2 pay if they have not come up with things.nothing ordered so not need 2 pay.the $500 dollars is a already more then enough for the so called service they given you.better cut the deal now b4 you let them start work then later got more headache.

[sir francis 0]

... just saw their advert in the papers today... its says "Chosen Favourite ID firm in Designer Magazine". Wonder which magazine....

Yes, talk is cheap.

[Stagger 0]

It appear to me that those firms going for the exhibition are those who needed the business badly. Comments about them are mostly negative. Can anyone quote one firm who exhibits and have good reputation?