Retrospectrum Meets Modernisation!

[pinkpetter 0]

OH YA 7th storey was cleared out!!! So sad leh. I think that would have been one of the best options for you. My friends had a good time at the Fernloft one...there are a whole bunch in the Serangoon road area but I'm not sure you want those since they are really in the back alleys.. a little scary though I go there occasionally... mm

Permit only allows hacking in 3 days... so if you don't want to run into any trouble with your neighbours you really might have to consider... a 3-room can probably be hacked in 2 days if given the whole space to work with.

[mrspiglet 2]

ya the one i saw in the link looks so much nicer and all. why so odd, cannot place in bathroom? i dont have any other place to play with so i guess it goes into the kitchen. did the citygas folks come install it for you? if yours dont support, how did u manage to use it now?

i don't know about the delay.. have been thinking about it. thinking to seal up the rooms air tight with uncle soon's advice and help for the day and only open windows at night when they finished hacking but still not sure how feasible it is. hope that it can coincide with our work timings such that they drill n hack when we are out of the house and stop when we are back. close the windows after hacking to prevent wind from coming in and blowing dust over.

dunno how feasible yet.

i think for safety reasons that's y cannot be in bathroom? If i recall correctly, was told that there must be sufficient air circulation ard the heater. But yet not too windy cos there a flame inside, feedback from my coll cos her kitchen super windy.

I think i was a little confusing with my words. What i meant is that my current place (mum's house) is 20yrs+ so cannot install the citygas heater, n she gotta use the LPG cylinder for stove. My new place is 12yrs old and can use citygas for both heater and stove. Citygas will come n install the pipings and connect both the stove n heater, only they r authorised to do it, not even contractors.

i dun think house under reno is fit for human stay leh. seriously even after they stopped hacking, it was super dusty everywhere. N how abt bathing and using of toilet??

[aubrey 0]

pinkpetter

ya its cleared out! if not seriously can consider. oh just go to hotel 81 @ bencoolen. u see for me its really free n easy. only issue is mom. she's not very good at travelling and in fact, does not want to.

i think after throwing stuff away, we dont have much left in the house. the only big stuff are the fridge, the altars (one big one small) etc. i dont think we have enough to stay in hostel and rent place for storage. all in all can add to about $1k ~$1.2k which will cut us back. if only budget weren't an issue. i have to ask ah soon again about this. i hope he's alright now..

mrspiglet

oh so there's a flame inside! how long does it take to heat up from the time u turn on the water? can say it's like an instant heater right? i know my neighbour on the highest floor uses citygas. so i think they will support for my place in that case.

eh but not fit to stay but dont seem like we have choice. tell my mom stay hotel she say no money. tell my mom stay with relatives she say dont want to travel. beggars cant be choosers but she still want to choose. im just wedged in the middle. sigh.

[pinkpetter 0]

Wah Hotel81@Bencoolen isn't cheap too... it's not the sleazy type of Hotel81 so its rates are a little higher. The one at Selegie and Dickson are $79 per night... Bencoolen is $89 and the Bugis one is $129 a night... these are the min rates wor.

http://www.hotel81.com.sg/index.shtml here.

I know how you feel.. I had to deal with my parents too. It was so tough with them. I do hope Uncle Soon comes up with something for you...

[aubrey 0]

ya he did!he told us just stay in he block out everything for me! my mom believes in that but i am still skeptical!!

p.s: for all the freebies uncle soon gave u, have u ever told him dont need freebies, just cut the cost of freebies off the quote? all my friends dont believe there's such a good deal and told me to do that which i think is impossible since it is a market rate quote.

[mrspiglet 2]

aubrey

yaya! there's a flame inside n it is fascinating that the flame only comes up when they detect that there is a flow of water on the mixer end. It is instant, but it depends on the distant from the heater to the shower point. Need to drain the cold water out of the pipe b4 the hot water will reach us. Eh... get wat i mean?

i think freebies cannot reduce the quote much. i believe uncle is able to give freebie becos he earns a bit here n there from ur other stuff, i would see freebies somewhat like 'value-added services' which we cannot say "i dun want n u discount me?"

I think u really dun have much of a choice but to stay in? since u mum is so picky abt where's she putting up at. Haiz...

i dun think u feel assured leaving ur mum there alone while u shift out somewhere also right?

[pinkpetter 0]

mm I don't know if this will make sense...

But technically, I think the freebies which he agrees to give have no or very minimal cost to him. Like the storeroom shelves which he practically gives to everyone. They could be saved from doing up cabinets/wardrobes and it's something he has been doing for a long time so it is practically free for him. *not that this is what he does but it's an example*

Or the doors that he gives out. Some of the doors could be stuff he saves from new flats but the owners don't want as they prefer veneer doors... OR if he orders something in bulk and it is just a matter of dollars to him, it doesn't matter.

OR the freebies which he gives us could only involve labour and there's no material cost.

BUT to us, if we asked for the items/labour from bigger companies, they will charge us. Whereas in his case, he gives it to us for free cos it's not much to him. Therefore he can't put a price tag on the freebies, cos there isn't any. So to ask him to reduce the amount for the freebies would be difficult/impossible.

however, throwing in the freebies makes his package more attractive.

I'm thinking that it is this way.... not sure if it makes sense to anyone..

His freebies are unlike the Air-con units, hob, hood that other big companies give but embed their costs in their quote.... his are little things which are chargeable by other companies...

[aubrey 0]

sigh. i met up with my close friends who stays around me and they were askin about the reno. i told them about it and hearing the freebies, they started telling me to be careful in my negotiations. asked if if i have checked uncle soon's hdb license. i could only say i didnt see any cos till date he hasnt given me a name card. i mean i trust him but somehow when asked about the license and i can only say no i have not checked, then it sorta hit me that yea i havent checked etc.

i know they are just concerned for me and dont want me to get cheated by anyone. they're also the ones who told me if i can ask him to forget the freebies but ask for discount. but the quote from uncle soon is already on par or even better than market rate so how is that cheating? i went home thinking and thinking about it. not a very nice feeling.

piglet

ya i wont be assured unless she stays with people that we both know. she is picky which is something that i still have problems trying to come to terms with but i dont wanna argue with her. its just annoying when she sometimes shifts the "blame" to me saying we stay at other's homes, not used to it, cant sleep etc. i know i can but i know that she can't. sigh. just a simple reno yet so much little issues here and there. nvm i shall keep both our spirits up by designing our house!!!

and hor, i think i get what u are saying about the pipes. kinda like my 707 heater. its cold then it starts to warm up.. i must think of where to place it.. but if i place it in kitchen, i think its gonna spoil the overall look. haiiii!

[lawry 3]

sigh. i met up with my close friends who stays around me and they were askin about the reno. i told them about it and hearing the freebies, they started telling me to be careful in my negotiations. asked if if i have checked uncle soon's hdb license. i could only say i didnt see any cos till date he hasnt given me a name card. i mean i trust him but somehow when asked about the license and i can only say no i have not checked, then it sorta hit me that yea i havent checked etc.

i know they are just concerned for me and dont want me to get cheated by anyone. they're also the ones who told me if i can ask him to forget the freebies but ask for discount. but the quote from uncle soon is already on par or even better than market rate so how is that cheating? i went home thinking and thinking about it. not a very nice feeling.

What your friends were cautioning out of goodwill are their general impression these id/contractors.

Don't worry too much about what they say.

Put it this way, they don't know Uncle Soon.

But he has enough satisfied customers here to put you at ease.

[pinkpetter 0]

mm Aubrey.. I don't know if this will put you at ease ba... A proper renovation permit will be applied for (as you can see from familyof4's blog) and it will be under this "mother" company's name called Sheng Tong Sheng Renovation Contractor. I've seen the boss of that company. He brought HDB technical officers to my place to view after my renovation was done by Uncle Soon.

It's good to have friends who ask you to be careful. We're all here in this forum for that purpose.

Edited April 20, 2009 by pinkpetter

[familyof4 0]

aubrey, i once had the same doubts like uncle is not licensed with HDB.

I was in the final phase of confirming the house reno, who to work on it, and my friend who is an ID advised me to check. The job goes either to her, or uncle. I checked and started worry a bit...but after talking to uncle and since many forumers also got uncle to do their house...and the sort of works like rectifications, IDs will not be able to do it like uncle. if tiles misaligned, they can only try their best to make it less obvious and hacking/realying is not so possible as it involves costs to the ID.

If u are really concerned, u can check with the others?

[aubrey 0]

actually i'm fine! but you know how its like when 4 ppl try to ask you about things and somehow u cant answer. i verbally asked uncle before, if he is registered with HDB and he said he is. but i always believe, if people are out to cheat you, they will. when i was at fondue's place i noted the permit was applied under a different firm from the one pet mentioned.

i have faith in him, doing it the old skool way, based on "guan xi"! and lawry shld be the best person to attest for that. big company doesnt always mean the best works. i told them some of the faults lawry faced and they were taken aback by such stories and even common folks like us have common sense for design etc. guess its not that common and we shld call it unique sense.

thanks lawry, pet and familyof4 for all your reassurances.

i called uncle soon just now, he's back to getting busy again as always. i was just concerned and wanted to ask him for some dates cos im planning to give my mom a surprise bday present by booking tix for the cai qin concert. im not interested so i asked my aunty from msia to go with her, i'll pay so i need to know how to plan with the reno and if aunty can stay. if uncle gives the green light i think i can book the tix. kiasu sold out!!

now best part is uncle wants to come hack and start everything on wed! omg shocker! i wasnt expecting that actually. i dont even mind postponing my reno for him to complete some of his on-going but wow.. he has done it again by majorly shocking me! hahaha we havent even spoken about the design of cabi whatsoever, have not met jason, have not packed enough yet and tadah!!

he say he will meet me tmr to discuss. what an endearing man he is.

Edited April 20, 2009 by aubrey

[familyof4 0]

aubrey, mine is called I atria or something along that line...also a different name from what pet used to have. Uncle told me he took picture for HDB cos he needs to register with HDB...I also never ask too much. End of the day, he has been in this trade long enough, i have to trust the person i trust the job to...

用人不疑.

[gongkia 0]

During our reno, he didn't even paste the permit. haha

We had the same worry as well in the first place, but we come to agree on something: He's used by so many ppl before and with that experience also bo bian. And hor, if i'm not wrong, if he's not license, if someone found out, the one that will be in trouble would be him, rather than us (i think so?). which is why we just thought, why not go ahead and see how it is and in the end, it turn out well for us.

I like that last sentence of yours familyof4. originate from one of my fav book. haha

[mrspiglet 2]

i wanted to reply but realise gongkia has replied on wat i wanted to say already. haha!

but aubrey, i understand wat u r going thru. like how my mum was giving me the "r u sure got such gd deal in this world" look when i told her how easy-going, flexible, full of freebies yet cheap reno price tag this uncle Ah soon is. I think the problem is that we (n the pple surrounding us) r too used to being calculative on every single item, n we may find it unbelievable that uncle is really so gd n true to his words. To be very honest, i was still worrying on my VO all the way thru'out reno until i paid up my final bill!

It's like being asked a simple qn.. 1+1= ?. Obvious ans is 2, but u'll always qn if there's any trick to it. Human nature.

Fannie, my HDB license is under the same company as urs.

Edited April 20, 2009 by mrspiglet