The Home We've Been Looking Forward To

[wil74 0]

From your post abt the contractor not having the courtesy to return call, I guess it speaks volume of what you can expect from him/her during the course of your project.

If he feels like it, he will pick up your call. If he does not feel like it, he will ignore you for as long as he can.

Unless of course.. if you are willing to master my kungfu style... of 夺命追魂call。 *吧哇哈哈哈！×

[ace_mav 0]

wah pinkpetter..you actually bought the house with 30k COV? thats really alot...if i know the ex-owner is like that..i wouldn't want to buy the house sia...they are lucky to have a buyer who are willing to offer high COV and they still wanna act like that...

anyway..i agree with wil74...ur contractor needs to be easily contactable as sometimes you will have things to consider and needed things to be done fast..but either way..give him a chance to explain why he never pick up..maybe he having constipation for few hours..hehehe..

[77suns 0]

Not taking calls at the start of project is really bad, when communication breaks down all **** breaks lose. Better seek a alternative now just in case since you already has CNY dead line to meet.

The other worrying behavior are those that communicate but then still does their own way even you tell them not to, do it fast in their way and keeping insisting they mention it and you did not strongly reject. Put all the blame on the owner.

[pinkpetter 0]

Remember to check with your contractor on the payment terms. My contractor didn't ask for any payment at the start of the reno. He said that in recent years, alot of contractors disappear after collecting the initial payment. So he will only collect $$$ from me based on the progress of the reno. I just make the 1st payment this week which is already the 3rd week of my reno. The amount is slightly less than half of the estimated total cost.

I agree on that. I've been trying to call to ask him about that too...

From your post abt the contractor not having the courtesy to return call, I guess it speaks volume of what you can expect from him/her during the course of your project.

If he feels like it, he will pick up your call. If he does not feel like it, he will ignore you for as long as he can.

Unless of course.. if you are willing to master my kungfu style... of 夺命追魂call。 *吧哇哈哈哈！×

MMmmMm I'm going to try to call him in 20 minutes. Will tell you all in a while.

wah pinkpetter..you actually bought the house with 30k COV? thats really alot...if i know the ex-owner is like that..i wouldn't want to buy the house sia...they are lucky to have a buyer who are willing to offer high COV and they still wanna act like that...

anyway..i agree with wil74...ur contractor needs to be easily contactable as sometimes you will have things to consider and needed things to be done fast..but either way..give him a chance to explain why he never pick up..maybe he having constipation for few hours..hehehe..

sigh my parents liked the house so much. After looking at 50-60 units I think I was already tired and just gave in. The sellers already got on my nerves from the very first day. Not just yesterday. Luckily I will never have to see them again man!

Not taking calls at the start of project is really bad, when communication breaks down all **** breaks lose. Better seek a alternative now just in case since you already has CNY dead line to meet.

The other worrying behavior are those that communicate but then still does their own way even you tell them not to, do it fast in their way and keeping insisting they mention it and you did not strongly reject. Put all the blame on the owner.

Am digging out the previous contractors I liked... I'll be calling them today if everything falls through.

[pinkpetter 0]

YAY! I realised how my worries were unfounded.. When we went for the appt today to choose tiles, the contractor met up with us there. He produced everything that he promised he would do with some handdrawn designs and stuff and even memorised my unit number already...

Throughout the 45 minutes he was there.. his phone rang NON-STOP... so he didn't answer some in order to finish his conversation with us. So I guess that was what must have happened. So happy that Uncle is ready to do our house.

Now to show you guys some pictures ba...

This is where we went and spent 3 hours looking and arguing and choosing... haha

I loved this one. But I wanted to match the green tiles with plain white glossy tiles. But we couldn't find one of a suitable size... Wanted it for the common bath

Parents love this for the MBR bath but then after much delibration we concluded it was too rough.

I loved the Mosaics!

Finally our choices for the toilets were....

Common Bathroom - the white tile has some subtle stripes too. The black one has some glitter!!

MBR bathroom - with the same white wall tile and black glittery floor tile.

I'm not very satisfied with the MBR bathroom. Maybe Monday will drag my parents to another place to see. These are a bit dull... mmm

Our living will get white plain 600X600 Homo tiles.

We've not chosen our kitchen floor tile (no wall tile) as we're not sure what cabinets we want yet.

On Monday the contractor will show us the laminates and stuff and we'll choose our floor tiles.

[ivy 0]

pretty nice tiles. what is the warehouse name?

[pinkpetter 0]

Sin Lek Building Materials... 70 Eunos Ave 4 i think.

But actually not very many la. hahah like I said.. I not happy with the MBR bath tiles.. will go look for more. but have very little time

Edited November 22, 2008 by pinkpetter

[mwerkz 0]

Sin Lek Building Materials... 70 Eunos Ave 4 i think.

But actually not very many la. hahah like I said.. I not happy with the MBR bath tiles.. will go look for more. but have very little time

how come nv go to de more popular tile shops like lian seng heng, hafary, soon bee huat, etc?

[pinkpetter 0]

Whooohoo tomorrow going to LSH and Hafary to see MBR tiles and tiles for the foyer!

Going to bed!!!

how come nv go to de more popular tile shops like lian seng heng, hafary, soon bee huat, etc?

hahaha Dunno. Cos at first contractor ask his tiler to call me to arrange. Tiler picked us to come here. So at first we tot only can get from here...

In the end when the contractor appeared... he laughed and told us to go to any tile shop we wanted and just get the model number and he will order and arrange for delivery. hahaha

So tomorrow LSH AND HAFARY! my dad went to SBH before and he didn't like the tiles there... so not going liao.

[simpleguy80 0]

Sin Lek Building Materials... 70 Eunos Ave 4 i think.

But actually not very many la. hahah like I said.. I not happy with the MBR bath tiles.. will go look for more. but have very little time

I thought is Eunos Ave 7.

[mwerkz 0]

Whooohoo tomorrow going to LSH and Hafary to see MBR tiles and tiles for the foyer!

Going to bed!!!

hahaha Dunno. Cos at first contractor ask his tiler to call me to arrange. Tiler picked us to come here. So at first we tot only can get from here...

In the end when the contractor appeared... he laughed and told us to go to any tile shop we wanted and just get the model number and he will order and arrange for delivery. hahaha

So tomorrow LSH AND HAFARY! my dad went to SBH before and he didn't like the tiles there... so not going liao.

keke. my mirror reflective tiles was from SBH. all my other tiles were from SBH.

[pinkpetter 0]

I thought is Eunos Ave 7.

hahahah yes yes Eunos Ave 7. So paiseh. just went and forget liao.

keke. my mirror reflective tiles was from SBH. all my other tiles were from SBH.

oooooooo I'll ask dad. haha

[pinkpetter 0]

NEED HELP!!

My dad is a firm believer of fengshui. But for this house he also compromised on some things. but there is one thing he cannot accept. And that is if ANYTHING "cuts" the main doorway of the house.

Let me illustrate

If we use 600X600 tiles to path the hallway leading from the main door the two tiles will form a line which divides the doorway into two. This is what I mean by "cutting" the doorway.

Another way to lay the 600X600 tiles....

With one tile in the centre and cut another one into halves to fill up the sides... technically now it cuts the doorway into three. He reluctantly said that this seems ok.. but there are SO MANY grout groves with this method and it'll be super dirty.

Our initial solution

To use 600 X 1200 tiles to line the entire thing. The tiles are about 2ft X 4ft.

The problem with this... is that the tiles are VERY expensive. They cost from $10-$12/psf. Which means it'll cost roughly $700 to tile up the hallway alone (picture not drawn to scale)

SO EXPENSIVE RIGHT??? urgh nearly fainted when I was doing mental calculations at the store.

So far out of the 4 tile shops we visited,

Meisin (Defu lane) has Spanish tiles (5 colours) at $12.50/psf

LSH dun have

Hafary (Balestier) has Italian tiles (2 colours) at $11.50/psf

SBH (Katong) has China tiles (black but smooth) at $10.50/psf

Sigh So I was thinking of other alternatives...

1) Pebbles - will be easily dirty? and aren't very cheap also.

2) Slightly shorter tiles about 800mm and with mosaic/pebbles to fill the sides? - same disadvantages...

3) Laminate - the foyer area is for people with shoes... occasionally will get wet and get some sand. The laminate wun last long.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH Any other suggestions??

[Jiahui 0]

Ultimately, have to blend the feng shui advice with practicality and costs. My choice would be full pebbles as it will look aesthetically better and consistent.

Its a good dilema to have as believe your house will definitely look great with your efforts and time spent =)

[pinkpetter 0]

MMm Thanks Jiahui! Pebble wash through does seem like a reasonable option however from what I know it costs about $6/psf ... mmm a little more ex. I can prolly get the contractor to absorb a little if I don't use so much pebble wash. hehe thanks though.