Contractors Too Busy To Give Quotations?

[boonkhim 0]

I called up two different contractors for quotation, they were recommended by friends & relatives. But they refuse to meet up. Asked me to fax over floorplan and requirements, which I did. Never hear from them again after that. Its been 1 month already.

In the meantime, I have seen 5 IDs and got excellent service. Unfortunately quotations are on the expensive side (> $50k). I want to compare how much cheaper is it to do my reno via contractor, but if I need to chase them even for quotation, then I can't imagine how much chasing I need to do during the actual work.

Do you guys get the same kind of treatment from contractors?

[Devilaz 0]

normally contractors and IDs will give quotations within 2 weeks. lf it is about one month or more you can forget about it. no point to push them for quotation.

[yokine9a 1]

I engaged a contractor to do the reno of my flat few mths ago. Response from him was reasonably ok.

Beforehand I had been warned that this contractor was usually very busy with projects on hand, he didn't give fast response to verbal requests for quotations. However, once you have confirmed engaging him to do the work, he would become pretty on & pushed to get work done within schedule.

Contractors are cheaper than IDs bcos lesser overheads needed to run the biz. You got excellent service from IDs could be due to they have little work to do in the office

[de_Pierre 0]

Quotations can be done within a day or 2 if tad contractor is really on the ball in work...

But some always choose customers instead... tads how the quote will get delayed...

Too busy to give quotations is an excuse... My experience is they rather spend hours drinking coffee...

hahaha

[zirhk3355 1]

My analogy: If you are full, will you eat somemore? If you are hungry, will you do all you can to find food?

Same thing for business lor. If they are not keen to give quotations, it means they have too much work on hand. No point forcing your way thru, just find someone else.

BTW what kind of property you renovating? $50K is too high for a new HDB flat and also abit on the high side for resale flat. Maybe you should search more, go IMM and walk around abit or flip a few more home magazines to get quotes.

[aphr0 1]

hmmm, i got all my respond within a week, maximum 2 weeks.

i agree tat t's better to get reno contractors than I.D firms. pricing wise pretty big diff

[chronograph 0]

My contractors get back to me within 3 days whereas ID usually takes 2 weeks.

[Native02 0]

I suggest you should give up if they don't respond to you. Imagine this: they're reluctant to respond; what if they accept to do renovation for your house, and there're some problems that need to be fixed? Who would help?

50K is very expensive for HDB. Maybe you can post here what you want to do. I believe the forumers are very helpful to give you more feedback and input.

If you're interested, PM me and I'll give you my contractor to call. You can get quotation from him, at the same time do more research. There're plenty of firms in Spore who WANT to work with you.

[ace_mav 0]

if you interested..i can give you my contractor number..he get back to me with quotation in 2 days time and its cheapest of all the IDs/contractor i have surveyed so far..currently renovating my house (tiling works) and so far I am very happy with him...always contactable whenever I need clarification or modification...i think your 50k reno can become 30-35k with him..i am very sure of it...because what I get from a 24k quote I got 17k from him..so use that extra budget to put in feature wall and extra stuff..hahaha..so anyone interested can PM me for his detail..

Edited October 4, 2008 by ace_mav

[dyns119 0]

I suggest you should give up if they don't respond to you. Imagine this: they're reluctant to respond; what if they accept to do renovation for your house, and there're some problems that need to be fixed? Who would help?

50K is very expensive for HDB. Maybe you can post here what you want to do. I believe the forumers are very helpful to give you more feedback and input.

If you're interested, PM me and I'll give you my contractor to call. You can get quotation from him, at the same time do more research. There're plenty of firms in Spore who WANT to work with you.

hello. i have the same dilemma. it has been almost 3 weeks now,

and I havent heard from those contractors referred by my colleagues.

can u PM me also the name of your contractor and contact details?

pls advice also some pointers when engaging your contractor - both good and bad

so we can manage our own expectations.

many thanks.

if you interested..i can give you my contractor number..he get back to me with quotation in 2 days time and its cheapest of all the IDs/contractor i have surveyed so far..currently renovating my house (tiling works) and so far I am very happy with him...always contactable whenever I need clarification or modification...i think your 50k reno can become 30-35k with him..i am very sure of it...because what I get from a 24k quote I got 17k from him..so use that extra budget to put in feature wall and extra stuff..hahaha..so anyone interested can PM me for his detail..

hello... need your help too.

kindly PM me your recommended contractor.

thanks so much in advance.

[kevinkschui 0]

I called up two different contractors for quotation, they were recommended by friends & relatives. But they refuse to meet up. Asked me to fax over floorplan and requirements, which I did. Never hear from them again after that. Its been 1 month already.

In the meantime, I have seen 5 IDs and got excellent service. Unfortunately quotations are on the expensive side (> $50k). I want to compare how much cheaper is it to do my reno via contractor, but if I need to chase them even for quotation, then I can't imagine how much chasing I need to do during the actual work.

Do you guys get the same kind of treatment from contractors?

Cheer up...not all interior designers are incompetent. Some are more eccentric in terms of providing quality advices as they look at things all round before presenting the layout and quality finish.

Edited October 4, 2008 by kevinkschui

[Native02 0]

hello. i have the same dilemma. it has been almost 3 weeks now,

and I havent heard from those contractors referred by my colleagues.

can u PM me also the name of your contractor and contact details?

pls advice also some pointers when engaging your contractor - both good and bad

so we can manage our own expectations.

many thanks.

hello... need your help too.

kindly PM me your recommended contractor.

thanks so much in advance.

@dyns119: Oh I replied your PM before I saw this post.

From my experience, you should do research about what you want and get some quotations from different contractors in order to compare.

As mentioned in my blog, Ah Soon was the last contractor we met. I felt very happy with him because he's very flexible and honest. He offered to do all the small small things that other contractors always charged us extra. So far there's no hidden cost and he always gets back to me very promptly whenever I have questions.

With this kind of service, I always got much higher quotation from other contractors.

[jacq011023 0]

hmmm...my id told me tat by right in their line they shld give out their quotation within 3-5days de.

wonder y so long for the 2 u mention?

i think if they not interested then dun bother w them le.

wat for make ourselves so pathetic like despo like tat for them.

dun worry, tat's still good id ard de.

cheers

[boonkhim 0]

hmmm...my id told me tat by right in their line they shld give out their quotation within 3-5days de.

wonder y so long for the 2 u mention?

i think if they not interested then dun bother w them le.

wat for make ourselves so pathetic like despo like tat for them.

dun worry, tat's still good id ard de.

cheers

So far I don't have problems with IDs, all respond quickly and very professional. Unfortunately quotations are also sky high. The problem I have is with contractors. Recently I called one and he refused to give quotation unless he view the flat. Is this normal?

[Native02 0]

So far I don't have problems with IDs, all respond quickly and very professional. Unfortunately quotations are also sky high. The problem I have is with contractors. Recently I called one and he refused to give quotation unless he view the flat. Is this normal?

Haven't encountered such problem. THey only asked for floor plan during the 1st meeting. When I was about to sign contract with Zhi Sheng and Lego house, they went to our place to take a look of the place. But no actual measurement was taken.