The Groovys' New Home: An Adventure In Reno

[groovygenie 0]

Oh my, Amanda, that is a pretty harrowing experience. Being in the same shoes as you as well, our advice is to stay calm (for now at least) but be firm and keep yourself constantly informed (this Renotalk forum is useful or ask around, friends or other contractors for opinions or quotations) These bad ones among the IDs are always trying to get away with something if they can. Why? Because they have a cookie cutter operation, this thing must be like this, this thing must be like that, its how they wish things to be (easy for them mah, no need to worry too much, can do many many houses at one time) but they always fail to remember the wishes of the homeowner who are paying them.

Like our ID, who installed the storage heater in the kitchen, without informing us or getting our consent. Told him to remove it and replace the drilled tiles. You have to be firm, we learnt it the hard way

For us, we did not even care about the ID's creativity because I think we've done a good job with designing our place as WE like it. In fact, we've rejected all designs from ID to date hahaha...but what we needed was a 'project manager' to 'take care' of things. Even that ID has failed on many many occassions. And owners had to stepped in and get things done AND owners had to call up ID's subcontractors ourselves to discuss things. Why did we even bother to have an ID in the first place? hahahahahha

And guess what? With the spate of burglaries in Blk 79, we complained and he volunteered to install a new number lock. Of course he did, cost him $2.80, cos we saw the same 3-digit lock at Mustafa! And I cracked the code in 3 minutes when they changed number without telling (can you believe coming back to your own house which is LOCKED?!?! without your consent ) And I also realised can be opened with more than one combination! So we had to spend $14 on a new lock which at least keep our mind in peace a little. And threw back his lock in his face hahaha

Our ID is a decent guy, but when anyone cannot give 100% focus to one task at hand, things go haywire certainly. Especially for IDs with many many projects on hand. And also, we realised all those certificates and accreditations don't amount to anything much.

So Amanda, please do go and complain to Case or the relevant authorities when you can, otherwise they will keep doing this, to other people next time. Hope everything will get better for you in time, keep them on their toes and do not pay any more money if you can.

Hi groovygenie

We signed up the package with the ID firm because we thought the ID is creative from his presentation. He did follow up closely with us for signing the contract with them. When we went down to the shop, we saw many photos displayed where the boss took with celebrities and even with our MM Lee. They have actually designed and built the kitchen cabinet for Zoe Tay's house. In view of these, we were very impressed. We thought with all these compliments, surely their services and quality is not bad too. In the end, it turned out to be a big dissapointment. Here are some of the unhappy experiences:

1) After payment of deposit ($500 for the 3-D drawings), nothing came out. Only hand drawings were produced. Only after we made several complaints, the 3D drawings for kitchen and living room were given. Also, the designs were not what we discussed. The ID in fact not that creative as we thought! He was quite limited in giving us ideas or design concept. I had no choice by browsing reno magezines, web and visiting friend's house for more design ideas. In the end, we told him what we want and he just follow.

2) The ID always went MIS. Hard to find him. Call him no respond also. Many times when we had appointment with him, he will use all sorts of excuses to tell us he can't make it on the day and postponed the appointment. That's why our reno keep delay and delay lor.

3) We paid 55% downpayment with no drawing given. So, we don't even know our design theme and concept. Believe? You guys might think how come we were so silly to pay downpayment with nothing concrete. This is because we are first time engage in reno works and no idea how it should go about.

4) What promised was never been delivered. A lot of empty promises. Furthermore, things were done not according to our discussion.

5) Many many more..... dissappointment..... unhappiness......arguments.....frustration......

6) Call the boss, he didn't do much and instead asked us to look for the ID's asst to feedback..... OMG!

[BunBun 5]

Hello Amanda.

Seems your ID is one "sweet talker"

In fact, if you've sign a contractual agreement for the works to be done in B/W & the boss of the firm cannot do anything about it when he can actually do something. Like getting another ID in his firm to take over or at least get your ID back on the job. Is the ID firm RADAC accredited? If so, you can make a complaint with RADAC or CASE if not RADAC accredited. As long as there is no work done and you have the agreement, you have a case. You can also check if the company is on the bad list listed by forumers here so you have some idea of your ID firm's reliability.

Btw, how come you put 55% downpayment, its already good as being chopped halfway. I thought it is at most 10-20% downpayment first and the rest in stages?

Edited June 23, 2008 by BunBun

[low_amanda 0]

Yes. I do agree we should have our own ideas when come to designing our own house. Somehow we do need advice and ideas from someone who is professional such as ID. We don't need an ID if we don't require his design knowledge and must well get a contractor to do the job.

Downpayment in fact are in stages. 10, 45, 30 and 15. Upon signing of contract is 10% and 45% is upon selection of tiles. After signing of contract with them, 2 days later, the ID brought us to select tiles and he claimed the total 55% downpayment from us. After which, the tiles were placed at our empty house for almost two months and laying of tiles were done after our complaints.

They promised a completion date but again it was delayed and delayed again. My sofa, bed, TV, fridge and washer were delivered and these items were placed in the dusty house. Until yesterday, they are still doing the tv console and shoes cabinet. My built-in bed frame still yet to start.

I do not wish to have more argument with them, afraid they won't do a good job if situation turns worst. So, tolerate lor. Treat it as a lesson. In future, we will know what to do when come to reno. Also, definitely will not recommend to any of our friends and relatives to such a lousy reno firm.

[groovygenie 0]

Oh no! That is baaad..2 months with nothing done? I thought we had it worse, at least we had something done every week, although still very slow. But to think of having your furnitures and appliances in there when they do the work. When we had our parquet polished, they had the WHOLE house covered in reddish powder, that was bad enough, cannot imagine it for you.

Its true, Amanda, now is not a good time to argue, let's just hope you can get them to complete all the outstanding work quickly, tell them that, surely they wouldn't want to drag any longer. But when your reno is done, do take appropriate action, we are planning too, otherwise its not good for future customers.

I guess we all learn from such experience! haha..yesterday me and FW were talking, maybe should get a fully done condo next time, no reno headache hehehe...but don't know where to find the money hahaha!

Yes. I do agree we should have our own ideas when come to designing our own house. Somehow we do need advice and ideas from someone who is professional such as ID. We don't need an ID if we don't require his design knowledge and must well get a contractor to do the job.

Downpayment in fact are in stages. 10, 45, 30 and 15. Upon signing of contract is 10% and 45% is upon selection of tiles. After signing of contract with them, 2 days later, the ID brought us to select tiles and he claimed the total 55% downpayment from us. After which, the tiles were placed at our empty house for almost two months and laying of tiles were done after our complaints.

They promised a completion date but again it was delayed and delayed again. My sofa, bed, TV, fridge and washer were delivered and these items were placed in the dusty house. Until yesterday, they are still doing the tv console and shoes cabinet. My built-in bed frame still yet to start.

I do not wish to have more argument with them, afraid they won't do a good job if situation turns worst. So, tolerate lor. Treat it as a lesson. In future, we will know what to do when come to reno. Also, definitely will not recommend to any of our friends and relatives to such a lousy reno firm.

[dove 0]

hi groovygenie, nice lights u have there! very good taste for lightings, especially like e one with floral prints around, i suppose that is in the MBR?

Did u buy that from Lightcraft? Care to share how much that light costed?

ALL your lights from lightcraft? How much did u spend in buying all the lights for your whole house?

Thanks in advance for sharing.

[groovygenie 0]

Hi Dove, thank you! We went on our own, no ID So pretty happy with our purchases.

Correct, the floral print light is for MBR. We bought that at Lighcraft but chose only from photo cos they had no stock. They had a sale that time too, there was a similiar light but it was HUGE! But cheaper than this one. This one is about $165 after discount. Cheap?

All lights from Lightcraft except 2 lights in bedrooms, cheap cheap from Ikea, the 'round ball' lights, we love those! For the whole house, its about $770, nothing to splurge on really, hehehe..but maybe we will get a table lamp and a standing, but Ikea has some really nice and cheap ones.

hi groovygenie, nice lights u have there! very good taste for lightings, especially like e one with floral prints around, i suppose that is in the MBR?

Did u buy that from Lightcraft? Care to share how much that light costed?

ALL your lights from lightcraft? How much did u spend in buying all the lights for your whole house?

Thanks in advance for sharing.

[jaCKY777 0]

Hi groovygenie

We signed up the package with the ID firm because we thought the ID is creative from his presentation. He did follow up closely with us for signing the contract with them. When we went down to the shop, we saw many photos displayed where the boss took with celebrities and even with our MM Lee. They have actually designed and built the kitchen cabinet for Zoe Tay's house. In view of these, we were very impressed. We thought with all these compliments, surely their services and quality is not bad too. In the end, it turned out to be a big dissapointment. Here are some of the unhappy experiences:

- if i'm not wrong, e ID co u'd ngaged is Homesucess at Beauty World Shopping Center?

Like our ID, who installed the storage heater in the kitchen, without informing us or getting our consent. Told him to remove it and replace the drilled tiles. You have to be firm, we learnt it the hard way

- dis shd b e way if all nice words fail.

Aniway, below is n xtract frm my earlier post fyi ->

extracted frm Toa Payoh Blk79 kakis pg138

By rite e timeline for reno a new hdb flat ->

- design consultation

- design proposal

- design & reno agreement/contract

- reno permit application (needs apply permit if got hacking. b4 permit is approved, no hacking works is allowed. If hack b4 permit being approved & found out by hdb, ID reno licence WILL BE SUSPENDED & FINED. If accidentally hack or tampered a Structural Column or Beam, then ID reno licence WILL BE REVOKED + reinstate e hack areas 2 its original state & fined.

- elect works (no concealing of wiring in structural members, max. digging is 40mm depth in2 wall & not whole stretch of wall)

- plumbing works (no shifting of original floor trap, discharge pipes. Except extension of pipes 2 original discharge pts)

- air-con works (no concealing of trunking in false ceiling & L-box)

- ceiling works (effective headroom frm finished floor lev to underside of false ceiling is min. 2400mm)

- masonry works (tile + cement = max 50mm thick. Internal wall only can use hollow block wall, gypsum board partition. NO brick wall)

- carpentry measurement (2 wks to fabricate in factory, shorter time if lesser carpentry)

- paint works

- installation of accessories

- clearing & washing works

- installation of carpentry

- defects checklist (if any. Some ID co do hav)

- rectification works

- handover, client final balance payment to ID

- warranty cert (if any)

- feedback form (if any)

- By rite, once design is confirmed, elect & plumbing & aircon cums in 1st.

- This is e time wen e 'specialist' (electrician, plumber & aircon-men) will go 2 site & discuss with ID & 'U' on e best posible layout.

- Once dis 3 items r finalized base on e proposed design, proceed reno.

- Once dis 3 items r finalized but gota amend design, then amend e design. Overall design gota blends in. If not, wats e pt of ngagin a ID who cant Design & Schedule & Coordinate?

[groovygenie 0]

Thanks for the advice, bro Jacky! Honoured to have you here in our blog

Always the one to come up with useful posts.

But one time, when we refused to pay his next installment, ID asked his sub-cons to drop all tools and leave our place. I think want to show who is boss, but we all know, those with the money is still the boss

- if i'm not wrong, e ID co u'd ngaged is Homesucess at Beauty World Shopping Center?

- dis shd b e way if all nice words fail.

Aniway, below is n xtract frm my earlier post fyi ->

extracted frm Toa Payoh Blk79 kakis pg138

[groovygenie 0]

We had some work done last night (July 3rd) after a week's break.

Best thing was, ID said the Besglas people are coming between 3-5pm to install doors and wardrobe.

Got there at 2.45pm, rush off from work, after 'sweet-talking' my boss.

Waited and waited, 5pm still not there.

Called Besglas, said in their document, officially the time stated is between 4.30pm and 6pm.

What the ****?!?!

Called ID, gave him a piece of my mind and the virtual and verbal 'middle-finger'

I might as well coordinate everything sigh...

Anyway, they eventually came at 7pm.

Here's the evening in pictures, and oh! The solid surface guys came too to take measurement, things are getting done at least

Solid surface guys came, quick quick, chop chop....

and they are off!

And then the Besglas dudes came, while we were having KFC dinner, so a bit paisey....we're eating and they're working...quite poor thing also have to work until so late...

The skeletons on the floor (see empty wardrobe 'cave' behind)

Closer look at aluminium materials

And then its up!

Another angle..

Insides...

And the MBR bi-fold door is up too too

Another angle...

And the kitchen glass door as well, we are happy!

Also, a last look at our 'botak' kitchen cabinet. We complained to carpenter (see I said carpenter, not ID, we are taking over bo chap ID's job it seems hahaha) for poor workmanship and the missing ABS trimmings and metal handles, so they took everything back. Let's see how it transforms when the doors come back on Saturday *cross fingers*

[patsy_sg 1]

hi... sorry to hear bout your experience.... can you PM which guy from Unique you are using? Just curious coz they were one of those who actually called us back. thanks!

[groovygenie 0]

Hi Patsy,

PM-ed you already Happy to share!

hi... sorry to hear bout your experience.... can you PM which guy from Unique you are using? Just curious coz they were one of those who actually called us back. thanks!

[Dracula 0]

Yo! Hi groovy, finally came in to say hi

Reno looking very nice!

Your reno was from April till July and not ready yet?

I like your lights

[groovygenie 0]

Hey Drac, welcome welcome to our humble blog

Ya man, in fact we signed in March...but hopefully the handing over is next Saturday, almost everything is in, just the touch ups. Yours like fast right? Its always good to have a good project manager aka ID who is responsible and timely hahaha...

Our neighbour next door took 3 weeks only...we were a bit depressed when we passed by sometimes

Yo! Hi groovy, finally came in to say hi

Reno looking very nice!

Your reno was from April till July and not ready yet?

I like your lights

[Jessie 0]

hi groovy,

i really like all your lights.

can pm me where you bought them and also how much was the damage?

i hope i can start shopping for lights and also some furnitures soon.

thanks a million

[aves 0]

Hey Aves, I've PMed you

Well, for us, its not so high-pressured, but we liked what was offered and we thought we could get along with the ID pretty well. Then later on we saw pretty bad reviews in this forum, but kept our faith. But as it turns out, whatever was mentioned earlier by other forummers were very true and happened to us too. As we realised, all those certification means nothing when everyday you face heartache and heartpain dealing with ignorant and dishonest people....sigh....

yea, just found the threads discussing about their service... wow even use diff company name to cover up their main company... now i know what to reply when he tells me "if our services no good u think this company can be around for 30yrs?"

sorry that u had to be the 'guinea pig' for us to learn the lesson and thanks for sharing. good luck!