Retrospectrum Meets Modernisation!

[Michele 0]

Hi Aubrey,

Finally, I've chosen Jeremy's offer. He gives me a reasonable price and good attitude.

We signed contract yesterday. The reno is going to start on 21 Apr.

Thank you very much for the recommendation!

Btw, I saw you showed some interested mosaic ... IMO, it looks nice when it's new. Then, grout will turn dark --> looks old and dirty...

However, mosaic is ok if you lay a few strips or small area.

With my cooking and cleaning 'experience', I'd vote for plastering + easy-wash paint for kitchen wall, we only need glossy/shiny backsplash for kitchen cabinet

Good luck with you reno!

I keep following your blog

[aubrey 0]

lawry

well did not specifically ask if its blum but i dont think it is cos if it were, wow i am sold just give me the paper i sign now.

yar now come to realise that contractors are not necessarily small players as compared to IDs. i heard my friend say, dont mention my budget to them in hope of having them meet it. face it, who does not wanna make a profit? and she added that some may agree to yr budget yet materials used are not the best and overall quality is compromised. guess we cant "press" ppl too much. but oh yr ID really cannot make it. i see all your posts about how she calculated a few corners twice and dare to charge u for that! unacceptable!!

pinkpetter

actually i do not know what are the things that he FOCs for the rest of those who have engaged hm but wow a fire rated door, dont play play! my mom was so in awe that he just so chin cai, she kept asking me, sure or not!!

yea maybe there's some truth in what u saying about just me n my mom only but oh you'd be surprised some ppl are eager to take advantage of us seeing there's no man in the house to "protect" us. and there's a long story behind our renovation as well.

i guess i am xiao xiao mei since i think i am younger than u? but i always call him to say i am the si bei lor girl. lol! (si ma lu)

mrspiglet

are u serious?? in that case can i expect that my wardrobe and any drawers within are anti slam as well as my tv console? oh man!! that is heavenly. :bow:

eh this is the tricky part about start date. see im very chin cai. as long as i have packed all my things i am good to go. but my mom will want to pick an auspiscious date... find out how to 'an' our guan yin etc etc b4 starting. she wants to start aft her bday this month

did i mention that uncle soon said we can stay in the house while he does the reno if we can brave the dust etc? just that we have to go to a neighbour's place to shower for 2 weeks. i'm imagining the headache to come when i need the toilet.

Edited April 15, 2009 by aubrey

[pinkpetter 0]

mrspiglet

oohh iREX.. mm heard from a friend before. I guess it's an ok brand. hehe But I wonder if mine's the same as yours. I shall check it out when i get home. heheh

[aubrey 0]

Hi Aubrey,

Finally, I've chosen Jeremy's offer. He gives me a reasonable price and good attitude.

We signed contract yesterday. The reno is going to start on 21 Apr.

Thank you very much for the recommendation!

Btw, I saw you showed some interested mosaic ... IMO, it looks nice when it's new. Then, grout will turn dark --> looks old and dirty...

However, mosaic is ok if you lay a few strips or small area.

With my cooking and cleaning 'experience', I'd vote for plastering + easy-wash paint for kitchen wall, we only need glossy/shiny backsplash for kitchen cabinet

Good luck with you reno!

I keep following your blog

hello hello! glad to hear that u have signed with him! yea if i did not meet ah soon i will most probably sign with jeremy. nice guy to work with, no hidden cost and like u said, reasonable price for an ID. :] i feel very very bad for not signing with him when he has been real helpful so this is something small that I can do for him by giving my honest opinion of him and hopes that he gets an increase in referral biz.. have u started your tblog?? so excited to see!

ya the tiles look nice when its new, plus i hv been thinking better not to have it too complicated for bath since its the wettest area and grout will get dirty very easily.

as for our kitchen wall.. mom will use wall tiles for whole kitchen. is that easier to clean? i dont want to spend my weekends cleaning tiles..

[gongkia 0]

he only give me the storeroom shelf free leh he charge me for the toilet window....

Hmmm i guess you don't have to worry too much about not much freebies. For our reno in fact, we did not ask for, or should i say we did not even know what to ask for, any freebies. However, in the process of renovation, suddenly realised need to work on a few more things, like changing locks, door stoppers, additional length for kitchen cabinet, servicing of existing window grills and many more.

Not to forget that that there are several items that we requested, they do, we feel it's not right and request to change.

All these things he just readily do it up for us without asking for additional charges. When the thing that he does up really need additional effort etc, he will definitely mention to you.

What i would suggest for you is, since your final quote is not up yet, perhaps instead of freebies, can get a better discount from him (which i'm sure he will be more than willing to).

Also, best part of him is that, even though there might be quite a number of rectification to be done after things are done, when you tell him it has to be done/rectify/change, he will say ok and just go ahead and do it without giving you any black faces or excuses. In cases where it's really not possible, he will even come up with suggestion to help you change it and he might not charge at all.

Furthermore, after your reno, if you have additional things, or things that you might want to do, you can always contact him and if it's within his mean, he will try his best to help. Eg, Pet's recess area, my dad's place painting of living room etc.

Hope this will help make u feel better?

[aubrey 0]

gongkia

well definitely! we are waiting for the official english quote to come in hopefully by this thurs. funny, he works quite fast to me! and I can say with uncle soon, i dont really have to scrutinize item by item, just take a look at the final cost first is good enough, followed by going thru the list to make sure all works to be done are in. thats whats good about him. no funny prices.

yea i am sure in the course of reno we will need to add things here and there. i am just thinking about tile selection. we might end up picking tiles out of the range given to us.

and uncle soon told us his work is under 3 years warranty. im pretty much at ease about that. thanks for sharing your experience, it boosts my confidence in him!

[Michele 0]

hello hello! glad to hear that u have signed with him! yea if i did not meet ah soon i will most probably sign with jeremy. nice guy to work with, no hidden cost and like u said, reasonable price for an ID. :] i feel very very bad for not signing with him when he has been real helpful so this is something small that I can do for him by giving my honest opinion of him and hopes that he gets an increase in referral biz.. have u started your tblog?? so excited to see!

ya the tiles look nice when its new, plus i hv been thinking better not to have it too complicated for bath since its the wettest area and grout will get dirty very easily.

as for our kitchen wall.. mom will use wall tiles for whole kitchen. is that easier to clean? i dont want to spend my weekends cleaning tiles..

I think Ah Soon should be a nice uncle since many forumers here chose him . I can't speak Chinese, my hubby can speak a bit --> it'd be very hard for us to tell the uncle exactly what we think if we chose him.

If your mom likes the tiled wall so much, should make her satisfied

If you choose color tiles, you may ask for the same color grout. If you choose white tiles, maybe after 5 years, you can re-cover the grout (obviously, after cleaning) by using grout tube - can buy at Home-fix --> look new . But this way may take your time.

I won't start a reno blog bcoz I'm too busy But I can share with you some photos when it's done via email or post here if you allow me to do that

Have a nice day!

[aubrey 0]

I think Ah Soon should be a nice uncle since many forumers here chose him . I can't speak Chinese, my hubby can speak a bit --> it'd be very hard for us to tell the uncle exactly what we think if we chose him.

If your mom likes the tiled wall so much, should make her satisfied

If you choose color tiles, you may ask for the same color grout. If you choose white tiles, maybe after 5 years, you can re-cover the grout (obviously, after cleaning) by using grout tube - can buy at Home-fix --> look new . But this way may take your time.

I won't start a reno blog bcoz I'm too busy But I can share with you some photos when it's done via email or post here if you allow me to do that

Have a nice day!

yup why not! do share how his works turns out to be cos ard the forum, not much uses DeFong so i am keen to see. it can act as a reference also for others looking for a suitable ID for their works.

where is your new place and how many rooms is it? hope u enjoy the bits n pieces of reno like picking tiles, laminates etc. and ya here's hoping the tiles turn out ok and hopefully nice and lasting to look at. aiyo 5 years later? dunno if i am still gonna be up for the re-covering.

have a nice reno journey michele!

[lawry 3]

@pinkpetter

Brand doesn't matter, so long he actually made the effort to add in all these "bells and whistles". I expect those from IDs, but honestly very surprised to know contractors are giving that. My ID not even one piece!

@mrspiglet

free 3ft extension for carpentry is fantastic. My rouge of an ID pestered for 1ft extension, ripped me off another $500 for that and gave me the wrong proportions. I'm going to write about that next!!!

@aubrey

Remember what the painter told me, he said small players are better than big companies (with some weak IDs) in general. Some big companies just want high profit, high volume, neglect quality. Profit split between company and ID. Whereas small players take 100% of what they can earn, so they can afford to give better. Congrats for getting him as your contractor.

[aubrey 0]

@ Lawry

wait wait havent sign yet!!! ok la who am i kidding? mostly he will get it already.

[pinkpetter 0]

Hmmm i guess you don't have to worry too much about not much freebies. For our reno in fact, we did not ask for, or should i say we did not even know what to ask for, any freebies. However, in the process of renovation, suddenly realised need to work on a few more things, like changing locks, door stoppers, additional length for kitchen cabinet, servicing of existing window grills and many more.

Not to forget that that there are several items that we requested, they do, we feel it's not right and request to change.

All these things he just readily do it up for us without asking for additional charges. When the thing that he does up really need additional effort etc, he will definitely mention to you.

What i would suggest for you is, since your final quote is not up yet, perhaps instead of freebies, can get a better discount from him (which i'm sure he will be more than willing to).

Also, best part of him is that, even though there might be quite a number of rectification to be done after things are done, when you tell him it has to be done/rectify/change, he will say ok and just go ahead and do it without giving you any black faces or excuses. In cases where it's really not possible, he will even come up with suggestion to help you change it and he might not charge at all.

Furthermore, after your reno, if you have additional things, or things that you might want to do, you can always contact him and if it's within his mean, he will try his best to help. Eg, Pet's recess area, my dad's place painting of living room etc.

Hope this will help make u feel better?

:good: Agree completely.

@ Lawry

wait wait havent sign yet!!! ok la who am i kidding? mostly he will get it already.

hahah *SOLD*

I understand what you mean when you talk about people who would take advantage of you and your mom. But I guess Ah Soon is really not that kind of person. When I told him about how we buy the house for my parents he also seemed very "touched" So He really is an Uncle who will help where he can.

[mrspiglet 2]

mrspiglet

are u serious?? in that case can i expect that my wardrobe and any drawers within are anti slam as well as my tv console? oh man!! that is heavenly. :bow:

eh this is the tricky part about start date. see im very chin cai. as long as i have packed all my things i am good to go. but my mom will want to pick an auspiscious date... find out how to 'an' our guan yin etc etc b4 starting. she wants to start aft her bday this month

did i mention that uncle soon said we can stay in the house while he does the reno if we can brave the dust etc? just that we have to go to a neighbour's place to shower for 2 weeks. i'm imagining the headache to come when i need the toilet.

YES! Expect Every single door and drawer to be anti-slam. Initially i tot was only for kitchen. But turned out that both my TV consoles, my shoe cabinet.. all with anti-slam. Friends who came over were too impressed and kept playing with ALL my doors and drawers.

Same same lah, i think oldies will always wanna have certain things to be done their way to have their peace of mind. U r not alone. i think better not to stay in the house ba, its gonna be REALLY dusty, esp when u have hacking going on. Till now i'm still feeling that my floor very dusty despite cleaning and vacuuming so many times. I think i'm paranoid...

@mrspiglet

free 3ft extension for carpentry is fantastic. My rouge of an ID pestered for 1ft extension, ripped me off another $500 for that and gave me the wrong proportions. I'm going to write about that next!!!

We were surprised by that too! Seek his opinion how long he thinks our cabinet shd be, afterall i dun cook (and dunno how to cook too) so i'm like a newbie when comes to kitchen planning. In order to box up my pipe, had to do 14ft instead of 11ft, and these were even b4 i signed the quotation! In the end quotation came as 11ft, but still done up to 14 ft, full height in fact, to hide the piping.

I'm really sorry to hear ur carpentry was another total rip off. I think u shd show her this forum n tell her not only her attitude is horrendous, her ethics=ZERO!

[aubrey 0]

:good: Agree completely.

hahah *SOLD*

I understand what you mean when you talk about people who would take advantage of you and your mom. But I guess Ah Soon is really not that kind of person. When I told him about how we buy the house for my parents he also seemed very "touched" So He really is an Uncle who will help where he can.

funny how ppl see 2 females and think they can take advantage of us by quoting high prices etc. now that we have the internet i can easily do a check online. ya i think uncle is very accomodating. so wont have the heart to ask for tons of freebies, if it comes, it comes. but i very happy already!!!

[familyof4 0]

uncle very nice hor...he usually do not want us to do things that looks nice but not practical and will offer alternatives and help us save some bucks. So i also didn't really dare ask for freebies

[aubrey 0]

YES! Expect Every single door and drawer to be anti-slam. Initially i tot was only for kitchen. But turned out that both my TV consoles, my shoe cabinet.. all with anti-slam. Friends who came over were too impressed and kept playing with ALL my doors and drawers.

Same same lah, i think oldies will always wanna have certain things to be done their way to have their peace of mind. U r not alone. i think better not to stay in the house ba, its gonna be REALLY dusty, esp when u have hacking going on. Till now i'm still feeling that my floor very dusty despite cleaning and vacuuming so many times. I think i'm paranoid...

We were surprised by that too! Seek his opinion how long he thinks our cabinet shd be, afterall i dun cook (and dunno how to cook too) so i'm like a newbie when comes to kitchen planning. In order to box up my pipe, had to do 14ft instead of 11ft, and these were even b4 i signed the quotation! In the end quotation came as 11ft, but still done up to 14 ft, full height in fact, to hide the piping.

I'm really sorry to hear ur carpentry was another total rip off. I think u shd show her this forum n tell her not only her attitude is horrendous, her ethics=ZERO!

heh i have a feeling i will keep playing with it too! btw, your tv console, are they solid wood or do u have any glass in front of them? just asking more onto design-wise cos i know glass u can use remote. if plain wood then must open before u can use.