Smallboy 0 Report post Posted April 30, 2009 (edited) Well I certainly coordinate MOST of the stuff myself......... those things you guys have mentioned. I even call the Wall paper guy myself. I am not working so I inspect everyday and literally do site management for him. Some 'mistakes' were averted in time because I was present. I have put in a lot of effort. And I fully understand the give n take part...... surely his price comes with a price. Yes, agreed his price is great..... but.... But things like air-con, running of trunking, which needs to be coordinate with other works...... etc. before false ceiling runs up and carpentry comes in....... now too late... can't possibly hack thru all these woods stuff and re-do. I just dont have the heart to ask to re-do. Now just live with some ugly trunking in 1 room. Is that a big deal? Not really.... just 1 area. give and take lor! But this part: really......... I remind him, call him every week to do up. Way before the stuff are done. Still, too late when all the others have set in place. Like what fannie said, some things are just not 'rectif-able'.... hee..hee... Edited April 30, 2009 by Smallboy Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
aubrey 0 Report post Posted April 30, 2009 wa hearing all these makes me a little worried but i think it should be better for me since i stay next to my house, i am literally there everyday to spot check! what are some things thats not rectif-able? i think i better dont trouble him to get my kitchen stuff to lighten his load. either that or i can offer to work for him. hahahahah! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mrspiglet 2 Report post Posted April 30, 2009 (edited) familyof4 I have to chase Uncle on hacking too! haha! I'm still wondering now why they took 4 days to hack my 2 toilets + kitchen. Well, it will remain a mystery... Ended up having my deliveries postpone cos i cannot confirm my WC sizing b4 they completed hacking! I think its tiring but gd that u can monitor the progress of ur house closely, easier for them to rectify also! But xin ku ni le... gotta travel so far across the island.. Smallboy We called the wallpaper guy ourselves too. Aircon vendor also coordinate ourselves by checking with Uncle when can they come in. At least u have the luxury of going up everyday since u r not working, my hub gotta drive back from town to Tampines everyday lunch to catch the workers at work and tell them exactly wat to do, what to rectify. We were taking turns to take leave every now n then to make sure the impt stuff were done correctly right from the beginning. My tiles were almost lay wrongly, uncle rembr the design wrongly and happen that i was onsite that morning, the tiler could verify w me n do it correctly. Having said that, i think uncle's so busy also becos the price n quality that he delivers. I wouldnt dare to use someone that's so free to stay at my house whole day just to jaga the reno works too! its a tough journey, but given a 2nd choice i'll still use Uncle's services. Ur reno's coming to an end soon.. u shd be happier by then. Edited April 30, 2009 by mrspiglet Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
familyof4 0 Report post Posted April 30, 2009 sigh...i am actually hoping that things will go smoothly...seeing the number of projects and yesterday while cheking the tiles, realised that some tiles were not delivered and my pebbles for the foyer pebblewash flooring also not there.... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Smallboy 0 Report post Posted April 30, 2009 (edited) I guess the price we pay is the time we need to give......... wa.. you also travel up and down to oversee the works. Wa... also got near 'miss'...... 'mistakes'..... good you are there. Aircon, I dont want to change at all... Uncle promised to re-route the trunking.......... but.... too late now to recitify. Well, I wont use someone who is so free too........ (there was a quote/contractor we almost want to use but judging the economic downturn... si-kar-lee.... his company collaspe) so we end up choosing Uncle. But on the other hand, too busy also not good. Too busy to take calls, too busy to remember many things... too busy to inspect the process....... So, tough choice.. tough balance. Well, reno coming to an end, then discover some errors... now worrying whether can handover or not. Just like apples. But I am not in a hurry... that's why I buffer more weeks... the buyer of my house only take over end May. At least I dont have a die-die must move dateline......... Edited April 30, 2009 by Smallboy Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
familyof4 0 Report post Posted April 30, 2009 what I did yesterday was ask uncle to write down very clearly for his workers. I also ask uncle to write down what he wanted to give and what changes I wanted that defers from his suggestions...tiring leh...west to east then back to west...and I work in Orchard... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jesperbg 0 Report post Posted April 30, 2009 have received a few PM for pics of my bed so here you go; pillows and quilt not ready yet we managed to squeeze in this King size bed into our small MBR, phew~ ashes, notice u put the bedsheet liao...dun need to wait til an chuan? by the way, yr curtain for mbr looks abit translucent...izit safe to change in the mbr? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
pinkpetter 0 Report post Posted April 30, 2009 (edited) ashes02 I agree with jesper leh. the curtains do seem a little translucent. growler and mrspiglet I agree with you two completely. with everything there's always a give and take. I guess when we chose to take on a contractor and one who offers such a good price then there must be some mental preparation to work a little harder on our part. ANyway no renovation is hasslefree and all renovation is tiring one. I'm sure there are those who paid higher prices also found it tiring towards the end with all the checking, etc. At the end of the day, I do feel a sense of accomplishment knowing that I played a big part in the design and renovations of my home. Aubrey and familyof4... Whenever you check your house or go see the progress, rem to bring marker, paper and masking tape along. Stick paper on things which you aren't happy with so that the worker can change it without Ah Soon reminding them. Edited April 30, 2009 by pinkpetter Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ashes02 0 Report post Posted April 30, 2009 wow so happening on my blog now hehe! Wendy/Smallboy it's been almost 2 weeks since our reno completed, and only 1 rectification was done and it was NOT done properly at all. Hubby was pretty upset and called up Uncle yesterday, hubby spoke in a rather firm n serious tone and i think we sorta 'frightened' Uncle liao, Uncle kept apologising and ask Jason to come down today but in the end Jason flew our aeroplane Seriously, if we have the choice again(of cos with higher budget), we would have go for a proper ID w 3D designs. Uncle is really too busy to remember things, too busy to inspect the process, too busy to guide us on wat kind of sink, tiles, taps to buy, afterall this is our very first reno lor. we dunno wat is under or over mount for kitchen sink and table top. Jason didn't even advise us on this, i so regretted doing over mount and can only quietly accept the work now. Some things r really too late and we have to accept those tat are not 'rectif-able' lor. Our MBR feature wall is the case, hubby always shake his head with disappointment whenever he sees it. He told me to bear with his grumbles for now as he 'tries' to accept wat is given to us. I feel sad too Although Uncle is really really nice, but seems like he and Jason really cannot handle the overload of projects now. jesperbg our An Chuan got 2 days eh, 1 is for the bed to deliver and we put on the bedsheets and push the frame to the desired position and the other 1 is few days b4 our wedding where we put some red dates or watever thingy. Complicated lah, i jus follow what MIL told me yah curtains a bit translucent, from Ikea mah, cheapo curtains hee~ the window glass itself is frosted/solar filmed? so changing shd be ok, i change in my WIW anyway pinkpetter masking tapes, paper and markers doesnt work for us cos no one bother to look at what we wrote. some paper are even torn and thrown without any rectifications Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
familyof4 0 Report post Posted April 30, 2009 so sorry to hear about this ashes...i tink u need to talk to uncle as he really vlaues al jobs, just that they are overloaded... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Smallboy 0 Report post Posted April 30, 2009 growler and mrspiglet I agree with you two completely. with everything there's always a give and take. I guess when we chose to take on a contractor and one who offers such a good price then there must be some mental preparation to work a little harder on our part. ANyway no renovation is hasslefree and all renovation is tiring one. I'm sure there are those who paid higher prices also found it tiring towards the end with all the checking, etc. At the end of the day, I do feel a sense of accomplishment knowing that I played a big part in the design and renovations of my home. Well, we did do our part with our daily inspection. I don't expect to put in so much effort - regardless of the price that I have to pay. It is the end product that matters and not the price. We should not give in when it matters with the quality of work. Hope you agree and this is the yardstick that you have used in the past. Most of us have read lawry post and agreed that workmanship problems should be highlighted. So we are being objective. This is a forum to share information and I think I'm responsible to share all the problems that I'm facing now. Pinkpetter and mrspiglet, your experience with Ah Soon was good but several things have changed e.g. overloading and new sub-contractor. So I'm not surprised that my experience may be different from yours. Nevertheless, it is how Ah Soon respond in the end that matters. Uncle has always been kind to rectify. But there are things that are beyond rectification. Not to steal ashes thread, I will continue to use my thread to discuss some problems that I'm facing....maybe next week. Cheers. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ashes02 0 Report post Posted April 30, 2009 i totally agree Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
growler 0 Report post Posted April 30, 2009 Well, we did do our part with our daily inspection. I don't expect to put in so much effort - regardless of the price that I have to pay. It is the end product that matters and not the price. We should not give in when it matters with the quality of work. Hope you agree and this is the yardstick that you have used in the past. Most of us have read lawry post and agreed that workmanship problems should be highlighted. So we are being objective. This is a forum to share information and I think I'm responsible to share all the problems that I'm facing now. Pinkpetter and mrspiglet, your experience with Ah Soon was good but several things have changed e.g. overloading and new sub-contractor. So I'm not surprised that my experience may be different from yours. Nevertheless, it is how Ah Soon respond in the end that matters. Uncle has always been kind to rectify. But there are things that are beyond rectification. Not to steal ashes thread, I will continue to use my thread to discuss some problems that I'm facing....maybe next week. Cheers. Smallboy: I totally agree. However, to be fair, I anticipated the issues that will/may eventually arise when we signed on the dotted line. The next nearest quote is at least $3k more than uncles. No doubt that we may have less headache monitoring the works, i also cannot be assured that there will not be any problems. I rather use that 3k to buy the necessary things to furnish my kitchen and toilet. In fact, it's more than sufficient. Regarding the quality issue. I will certainly not compromise. As we're staying in the house, either me / my wife will be able to monitor the progress quite actively. Hopefully this will reduce the amount of rework necessary. Since Ah Soon has committed to the quality, we'll hold him to his word. For me, I'm only doing kitchen and MBR toilet and the requirements are very simple. I really pray hard that slip ups can be minimsed .... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
fondue_ 1 Report post Posted April 30, 2009 Smallboy: I totally agree. However, to be fair, I anticipated the issues that will/may eventually arise when we signed on the dotted line. The next nearest quote is at least $3k more than uncles. No doubt that we may have less headache monitoring the works, i also cannot be assured that there will not be any problems. I rather use that 3k to buy the necessary things to furnish my kitchen and toilet. In fact, it's more than sufficient. Regarding the quality issue. I will certainly not compromise. As we're staying in the house, either me / my wife will be able to monitor the progress quite actively. Hopefully this will reduce the amount of rework necessary. Since Ah Soon has committed to the quality, we'll hold him to his word. For me, I'm only doing kitchen and MBR toilet and the requirements are very simple. I really pray hard that slip ups can be minimsed .... hi growler. end of the day, u've to do the QC work too as ah soon won't have time to go through every house everyday. it is personal to each on the effort spent in overseeing the house, some pple prefer to leave to contractor, some pple like to be in charge. you may be right to say that you can hold him to his words, but i just want to advise that some of the things might be too late for rectifications if things are not done properly the first time. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
pinkpetter 0 Report post Posted May 1, 2009 Poor ashes02... I read liao also feel sad for you. I know how doing rectifications at this point of time is horrifying. haiz. Just don't let this affect your mood too much. When I did my rectifications, the first worker that Uncle sent wasn't good either. But Uncle came to see the poor workmanship himself and made sure the second round was better. I hope the same can be done for you. Smallboy I know what you mean too. But your monitoring is unlike mine ba. I could stay there for many hours every single day. I guess it also stems from my interest in renovations. When Uncle Soon did my renovation, he was also very busy. If he doesn't reveal how much work he had then and now, we have no idea what is the comparison like. I agree that we must share the information and the problems we all faced. I did too, if you read my blog carefully. But after they were rectified, I didn't mention them anymore so that people will not be confused as to whether the problem was rectified. One thing I must say, we all have different standards when it comes to workmanship. And our list of items are different. Thus we could have very different experiences as well. I didn't do air con and laminates and didn't do much carpentry whilst you did more. What is unacceptable to you may not be to me. So to me, I think that Uncle's work is good enough, especially at the price he gives. Simple. Maybe you don't think the same, but that's just us being different. Good for people here to see Uncle being evaluated by people with different standards I guess. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
