A Place To Call Our Own

[Cloudy 0]

The tiler and painter came by over the weekend to do some touch up and now only left a bitof carpentry touch up stuff which will be completed by next week hopefully.

Overall, my reno took about 7 weeks. Ok as promised, here are just 2 pics of my house which is still in a mess after the reno.

Living Room (In a mess when I took this picture)

Kitchen (Also in a mess when I took this picture)

Will post more once I have the proper stuff inside the house, the curtains up, etc

However, not all is well. My MBR floor was 'injured' by the cleaners . They left such patches on my laminate which is really hard to clean off (that is if it is even possible to remove those acid left stains)

Furthermore, the wall at my kitchen entrance has a hairline crack appearing!!! That portion of the wall was built up so that I can reduce my kitchen entrance to about 80cm. Seems like something wasnt done properly and hence, the cracks are starting to surface now. Hope my ID has an answer to fix that. I have not yet informed him cause I do not want to disturb him over the weekend. Will let him know most prob some time next week before the new year holiday.

Stay tuned for more next week after all my stuff have come in and I have properly decorated the place!!

For those who are interested to know more about my ID (Andrew) as well as his company Rezt and Relax, I will also give a full summary of my experience most prob next week. Reason being that I still have some issues like the hairline cracks, the carpentry, etc that I need him to rectify before I can give a complete conclusion to the whole experience.

Hopefully, he will not be like a particular ID from Ora*** C*** who kinda stopped responding when he received 90% payment and only know how to chase my dad to pay up without wanting to rectify the issues.

[ivy 0]

ohh i went to expo for the ID exhibition and wen tto Rezt and Relax booth. They told me they give life time warranty for their works. true or not??? I am skeptical leh.

[mwerkz 0]

Furthermore, the wall at my kitchen entrance has a hairline crack appearing!!! That portion of the wall was built up so that I can reduce my kitchen entrance to about 80cm. Seems like something wasnt done properly and hence, the cracks are starting to surface now. Hope my ID has an answer to fix that. I have not yet informed him cause I do not want to disturb him over the weekend. Will let him know most prob some time next week before the new year holiday.

dun worry too much abt the crack at ur wall. it's pretty common. cos new material n old materials tgt, sure crack. juz let ur ID know where, n dey'll patch up. at least tat's wat my ID told me.

but they left behind some of the white white powder where i can mix with water. so minor cracks i can still do it myself. so now nv trouble them =p

[Cloudy 0]

ohh i went to expo for the ID exhibition and wen tto Rezt and Relax booth. They told me they give life time warranty for their works. true or not??? I am skeptical leh.

Hi Ivy,

when is your reno going to start? I too met Andrew from R&R at Expo exhibition.

So far during the reno, everything was fast, prompt and efficient and delay was only minor. Think about 2 days deviation from the date he gave me. I even called Andrew at 11pm or so to highlight stuff that I was not satisfied with haha! But have to admit, he is really a very patient guy.

However, I have to say that there were still a few hiccups, which wasnt too bad at all as compared to my previous experiences with another firm and ID.

So far, I think R&R's selling point is carpentry, tiling (I am very impressed with their tiler and carpenter) and electrician. Their cleaners were not very good and the painters I would say average (They even took some of my paints away saying they need it for another site!!! Now I do not have spare paint for my living room sigh. Wonder if my ID is aware of this )

Their plasterer was fine but I guess its hard for them to be good in HDB due to the uneven beams and stuff. With regard to laminate and colour combi, I am also quite satisfied (My wife really likes the kitchen combi chosen by Andrew)

Now I am waiting for the final touch up before I come to a conclusion of my whole experience with him and his company. Stay tuned if you are interested

With regard to the lifetime guarantee, I am also skeptical. But then again, I think 1-2 years of warranty is more than suffice for me. I mean, if there are defects, 1-2 years should be more then suffice for them to surface. If its more than 2 years, high chance it will be wear and tear which is not covered (Unless the tiling pop out, etc, then its worksmanship but in a few years time, how are you even going to find that same tile?)

Edited December 29, 2008 by Cloudy

[Cloudy 0]

dun worry too much abt the crack at ur wall. it's pretty common. cos new material n old materials tgt, sure crack. juz let ur ID know where, n dey'll patch up. at least tat's wat my ID told me.

but they left behind some of the white white powder where i can mix with water. so minor cracks i can still do it myself. so now nv trouble them =p

the white powder i think is white cement. Can use for grouting de.

I went to buy those wall putty thing cause noticed a few places of my house need to putty a bit. However, now I no paint to paint even if I putty cos the painters took my living room paint away . Maybe I should just go see if I can buy a small can and keep it for future use.

i don mind if I am able to touch up myself cause also do not wish to keep disturbing my ID.

[ivy 0]

Hi Ivy,

when is your reno going to start? I too met Andrew from R&R at Expo exhibition.

So far during the reno, everything was fast, prompt and efficient and delay was only minor. Think about 2 days deviation from the date he gave me. I even called Andrew at 11pm or so to highlight stuff that I was not satisfied with haha! But have to admit, he is really a very patient guy.

However, I have to say that there were still a few hiccups, which wasnt too bad at all as compared to my previous experiences with another firm and ID.

So far, I think R&R's selling point is carpentry, tiling (I am very impressed with their tiler and carpenter) and electrician. Their cleaners were not very good and the painters I would say average (They even took some of my paints away saying they need it for another site!!! Now I do not have spare paint for my living room sigh. Wonder if my ID is aware of this )

Their plasterer was fine but I guess its hard for them to be good in HDB due to the uneven beams and stuff. With regard to laminate and colour combi, I am also quite satisfied (My wife really likes the kitchen combi chosen by Andrew)

Now I am waiting for the final touch up before I come to a conclusion of my whole experience with him and his company. Stay tuned if you are interested

With regard to the lifetime guarantee, I am also skeptical. But then again, I think 1-2 years of warranty is more than suffice for me. I mean, if there are defects, 1-2 years should be more then suffice for them to surface. If its more than 2 years, high chance it will be wear and tear which is not covered (Unless the tiling pop out, etc, then its worksmanship but in a few years time, how are you even going to find that same tile?)

Hi cloudy,

my reno won't start so soon. only getting my keys in april. i didn't speak to andrew, I talked to a lady. If andrew is good i don't mind speaking to him. Thanks for the feedback will definitely stay tune for more of your reviews.

[Cloudy 0]

Just PMed you Andrew's contact. I feel no harm talking to more IDs before making your judgement.

Only thing you need to take note of is that during the course of the reno, he might mention things like "if only $100 or so he will try to help me absorb".

Just don take it too seriously . From experience, my quotations from him are always right to the dollar that I owe him. But in view of the good and prompt service received thus far, I don see a point to argue with him for 100+ dollars. In addition, he does refund me money whenever I remove things from my quote. Hence, its quite flexible.

Ultimately, he also needs to earn a living. Hence, I never once requested him to absorb anything nor say that he promised me that he would, etc. Guess I just want to be fair to him also.

Only thing that I did follow up with him was when he mentioned that he would get Singapore lightings to give me a spare bulb for each area. The reason for me following up on this is because I am quite lazy to go check each lighting that I have for what type of bulb that they use.

[ivy 0]

thanks! got your PM. will definitely be talking to more IDs to compare quotes before i make a decision. thanks!

[Cloudy 0]

Its been a while since I updated my blog or even logged in to renotalk . Reason being that a bit tied up with work and the sorts.

Btw, to all those who PMed me for Andrew's contacts, i have already replied you.. Have fun finding an ID!!

Here are the pics as promised. The final product (Still lacking quite a bit of furniture at bedrooms)

Shoe Cabinet:

Kitchen with most of the appliances in:

Living Room (With most of the furniture already in):

MBR Toilet (We really like the MBR toilet Tap):

Our 10ft WIW Area:

Our curtains courtesy of MGL Curtains:

Roman Blinds at guest room. MBR room is the same except for it being slightly greenish

Half height curtain at cosy area (Living room is the same except that its full height:

Thats about the furniture I have in my place at the moment looking for things like bedside table,storeroom racks, and some cabinets as well as shelfing but all those would have to take time as kinda broke now lol.

Its a bit late now so gg to head to bed. For those waiting for the summary of my ID, please stay tuned

Cheers!