New Home In The East

[gaku70 0]

Finally my turn to setup a blog.

Ok let me try to post the layout.

30th April: Finally managed to pass the samples to Uncle. Emphasized to him need to complete the reno by end May. Payment mode, 20-20-20-20-10-10. Need to pass first 20% payment Uncle's brother on 4th when hacking starts.

Day 1 4th May: Hacking to commence. Just came back from site during lunch. No activity. Called up Uncle, he said that today no time will do it tomorrow. Tonight will come collect first payment. Has asked him to return the tiles sample. By the way, have not sign any agreement yet.

Just met Uncle in the evening and collected first payment. Collected tiles. Verify the order of tiles, some errors rectified. Quotation missing, cannot find so no need to sign yet. Make appointment for confirm tiles on Thursday. Uncle to arrange for the gas piping. Has asked Aircon contractor to liase with him on trunking.

Day 2 5th May: Hacking to commence. Started around 10am. Schedule for today is to get the aircon and check the status of the hacking this evening. Also reminded them windows also need to remove and keep the aircon bracket for reused.

Day 3 6th May: Confirmed Panasonic aircon and Joven storage heater.

Day 4 7th May: To verify tiles. Called up Uncle and tiles will be only in tomorrow. Will meet on Sat to verify tiles.

Day 5 8th May: No activity.

Day 6 9th May: Called uncle, ask me to verify as he cannot make it.

Day 7 10th May: Verified tiles, some tiles not enough and one tile missing. Rest are ok. Seems like hacking not complete yet.

Day 8 11th May: Collected 2nd payment. Confirm toilet wall can hack. Uncle to ask Jason to meet me this week for electic, carpentry, paint. Uncle to meet me again this week for the laying of pipe.

Day 9 12th May: Check the house. Toilet wall already hacked. Build new wall but only halfway through. Did see some tilings on the wall but not full. Uncle still no time to check pancollar size and also the window glass sample today.

Day 10 13th May: Wrong tile used. Only start a few tiles so remind Uncle to change it. Sample no time to bring. Will do it tomorrow.

Day 11 14th May: Confirm on the pancollar (1 inch), 5 inch for MBR, 6 for common bath. Bathroom tiles color not rectified. Mosaic wrong no. of columns. MBR drainage wrong side.

Day 12 15th May: Asked uncle to change drainage. Will incur too much for uncle and accepted it. Uncle confirm cannot finished this week. Tiling will complete next wednesday.

Day 13 16th May: Appointment with uncle in the morning. Uncle called cannot make it. Postponed to afternoon. No discussion because cannot enter house. Will arrange the next day.

Day 14 17th May: Appointment with Uncle, Jason and Ah Hock in the afternoon. Cannot reach uncle one hr before confirmation, think aeroplane today. Contacted Jason but he is not able to meet me today. Managed to talk to Ah hock and confirm the windows.

Day 15 18th May: Appointment with Jason after work on piping and carpentry. Jason called 20mins before appointment time which is a good start working with him. Uncle was around the vicinity but I still have to wait for him. Today he is quite fast, no aeroplane.

Discussed with Uncle on how to run the piping. After Jason arrived, discussed on the glass panel for kitchen before Uncle received a call and said he got to go.

Afterwhich discuss with Jason on schedule. He didn't know I need to shift end of the month as Uncle didn't tell him. According to his schedule, it is not possible. He suggested if we can settle the electrical wiring, door, gates immediately, then it is possible. I gave him my plan for lighting and electrical and he pasted it on the wall. Only thing he changed was to convert some english to chinese character. The rest he told me everything is ok.

Have to confirm with Ah Hock tomorrow on the grille, main door, all bedroom doors. Jason asked me to apply for the citygas. He will be passing the lamitak brochure tomorrow.

For his sketch, he will talk to me on 20th.

Came home but feel the piping not nice, so sketch and uncle asked me to pass to Allan late night, about 11pm.

Day 16: 19th May: Got to arrange for the appliance to send it this week already.

Confirmed delivery for Teka sink and hob

Confirmed delivery for Ceiling fans

Confirmed delivery for Hood, storage heater, and taps

Confirmed with ah hock on the grille, gate, small window under balcony. Installation on 20th May.

Nearly forgot the aircon guy will be here today to do the pipings.

Got a call after lunch, Jason asked to move the DB to the storeroom as he does not need to extend the wires. Like that the VO should reduce also right? Hope so. Was informed piping cannot commence today. Aircon guy also not that today. Don't know what happen. Reminded him on the wrong colour tiles. He said the electrical guy doing the job now. Seems Jason quite "on". Will meet him tonight about the doors.

Ok wooden doors settle. He gave me some sketch and ask me to think about it.

Day 17: 20th May: Got a call from the toilet company. Another owner cancel delivery and she can slot me in for Sat delivery. Hurray. Fall ceiling also done. But not too happy about the flooring as there is a huge rubbish mole in the living room. Worst part is protective mat only partial. Really heart pain. Aircon and water pipe not done as promised two days ago. Called Jason and he said he cannot do because Uncle didn't pass him drawing. Called uncle, he said Aircon guy postponed to friday.

Day 18: 21th May: Will meet Jason in the evening to confirm paint and carpentry. Laminate will be later.

Went up to check. No activity. Don't understand why floor already finished since monday but don't want to clear the rubbish. Floor also no protected after daily reminder. Piping suppose to be completed by tuesday also not done. If not this weekend when all stuff comes in, the rubbish will have problem going out.

Call Uncle and he told me Jason too busy and he will settle for me tomorrow morning. Confirmed with him that he might not be able to HO next weekend. Ask me for extension and explained to him that I need handover the place to the new owner on 1st June. That means I have to rent a place. He offered to pay 50-50. Will talk need to talk to landlord on sunday to discuss. Told him I would prefer he can finish so that I don't have to incur any unnecesary cost.

Jason call if can meet immediately. I need about 45min to 1hr to reach but he got another appointment in an hours time. So didnt meet on the carpentry.

Day 19: 22nd May: Confirm with aircon guy on the appointment today. Call Uncle brother to clear the rubbish and lay the mat. He told me he is buying the mat now. Uncle called to change the aircon location because one of the cornice done. If not need to hack. The other location due to cornice, cannot install need to install beside it. Cofirmed with uncle the piping guy is there. He mentioned that piping guy just reach around noon.

Called Jason to arrange carpenter guy but he wants to know the details before asking the carpenter to meet me. Arrange to meet this evening.

Met Jason and pass him the third 20% cheque, floor layout on the paint and the sketch that I have done for the cabinets and the laminates. Was told need 10 days to fab and HO will be 3rd June. Will have to talk to Uncle to finalize.

Day 20: 23th May : Delivery day. Four deliveries were done. WC has chipped and will be replaced in the afternoon. Hob and sink incorrect and will deliver on Monday. Lighting to be delivered on Wednesday.

Day 21: 24th May : Negotiate with landlord. Non-negotiable rental as mentioned the place is fully furnished. Confirmed rental for a week.

Day 22: 25th May : Meeting with Ah Hong (carpenter) and Ah Tan (electrical). Painting completed. Reminded Ah Soon if next week still not completed, will not pay for the subsequent rental.

Day 23: 26th May : No activity. Went to buy main door light but DK closed already at 7pm. So only got mirror light at 1st Lighting.

Day 24: 27th May : Called Jason what is the sequence. He said acid wash is after the electrical installation. Received a call from Extreme that lights already delivered this afternoon. Ask me don't forget to pay the balance.

Day 25: 28th May : Plan to start electrical installation. About 80% complete. Most cabinets are done but not install. MBR wardrobe mirror wrong side. Cabinets all blockboard. Uncle assure no problem. WC all installed. Rain shower installed without wall bracket thus slanted. Collected 3rd payment via Ah Hong.

Day 26: 29th May : Plan acid wash. Didn't happen. Will do tomorrow. Check with Jason no activity today. The plumber will not be there today. Will arrange one shot do all. He will inform me on the date. Jason might not be there this evening to discuss the washing basin. Ask me to choose solid top but told him Im using granite.

Day 27: 30th May : Plan acid wash on kitchen, bathroom. Only partial cleaning took place. Glass door in MBR toilet was up. Problem with common toilet basin location, washing machine tile size, cracked tiles at pipes. Ah Soon to rework on the drainage pipe on Monday. MBR wardrobe wrong side, mirror not flush.

Day 28: 31st May : Shoe rack side colour not correct. Washing rack too high, need to move down 4 inches. Kitchen light not centered. Labelled the wall on the accessories. Checked with Ah Meng, need the basin to be up before calling him. Found the Cresto book to select the colour for vanity top.

Day 29: 1st June : Remined Ah Soon to rework the tiles. Sent Jason the colour code. Plumber will start when the tops are up. Schedule tuesday. Today schedule should be polishing. Polishing not done.

Day 30: 2nd June : Schedule for polishing again. Done but whole place didn't look like polish cos looks more dirty than before due to the kitchen wet. So when check, can see footprint all over the place. Kitchen, bath is still very dirty with lots of dust, unused screws etc.

Day 31: 3rd June : HO day.Took half day but the plumber and carpenter arrived only 4.30pm. First time talk to Joseph and he was surprised to hear that today is handover. Apparent still quite a number of jobs to be done so not possible. He promised Friday handover and will complete some of the outstanding tasks. Checked again at night but lights keep tripping and so only check a few obvious items.

Day 32: 4th June : I was expecting work not done but 90% was done. Quite surprised and Joseph told for the some jobs that he can do, he did it myself. Kudos and quite impressed with him. Went through one round of the defects with him but told him I didn't thoroughly checked because the day before no light. So he asked him man to help check the tiles. Impress me again. Found 14 tiles hollow and he will fixed it with chemical and cement. Most probably will not retile.

Day 33: 5th June : Turn on gas. HO day again Tiles rework complete, cannot wash today cos chemical still wet.

Day 34: 6th June : Went north to move some things over and back only evening. Uncle called me only about 8pm and too late to go check. Will check on Saturday. Went to buy sofa and dinning table since the furniture shop is open today.

Day 35: 7th June : Washing/cleaning day and partial shift. Found many tile hollow and this time check most of the tiles till masking tape finished.

Day 36: 8th June : Took leave today and tomorrow. Aircon installation and Move in day. Big issue due to cabinet already installed and the stainless steel rack cannot be installed. Two options available, to reuse the smaller rack or to remove the cabinet. In the end, remove the cabinet cos safety issue.

Second issue, aircon drainage pipe not done due to uncle forgot.

Go through with uncle on the hollow tiling and also the list of rectification. Told him not happy with the HO cos some wall very dirty, pelmet damaged, toilet wall some part not painted. Outside window grille painted halfway, granite haven't put grouting, carpentry shoddy etc etc.

Asked uncle don't rework today cos need to offer prayers and stay overnight. Found aircon faulty, humming sound.

Day 37: 9th June : Rectification of tiling started. The whole place was in a mess again and this time more cleaning will be required as I have already move some of my stuff in. Most of things are stored in the store room but tiles in storeroom also need hacking. So powder will be all over the place. The tiling foreman refused to rework the drainage problem until I have asked Uncle to talk to him. Uncle commit to HO on Friday 12th June.

Day 38: 10th June : Carpentry to be done today. Panny aircon technician will repair the aircon.

Day 39: 11th June : Rectification. Polising not done again.

Day 40: 12th June : HO day again. Still polishing not done.

Day 41: 13th June : Big quarrel with uncle over $. Mover came but asked them to go. May them some small token. Uncle only appear in the evening. He negotiate not to rectify the glass door and also ask if can don't pay for the new vacuum cleaner which his guy used. I am ok with that. Finally HO.

Rec

20th June: Arranged uncle to come for rectificaton in the afternoon. Relatives came, uncle didn't call so postponed. Carpenter came to replace the four doors of the shoe rack and the warped balcony door. MRB toilet cabinet to replace one laminate cos kena acid during the acid wash.

24th June: Inner doors of shoe rack many scratches. Carpenter boss came to collect back all four doors of the shoe rack to rectify. I am really sorry to make him wait for an hour cos of traffic jam.

----------------------------------------

Items already purchased:

Baron W303, 203, Basin x2, tap x 1, Rainshower, Teka double bowl sink, Ex70/2G stove, Panasonic system 3.

Kitchen sink tap, Basin tap

Fujioh FX900, Storage heater, instant heater.

Lightings

Accessories

Bed frame

Mattress

Sofa

Dining table

Samsung LA40B550, Hitachi fridge, EF washer

Pending purchased:

Edited June 25, 2009 by gaku70

[ashes02 0]

wah finally ur turn!!! Welcomez!! hehe

[preciousjam 0]

Welcome!!! looking forward to more pics!!!

[Pinklady 0]

hello welcome. looking forward to hse layout and photos

[gaku70 0]

aubrey if u wanna symoblic hack must choose a good date.

I just updated over at my T-blog for my status. They only started hacking yesterday afternoon. Today still doing but window frame is up.. so 奇怪... and it is just the frame hor.. no windows..

Gaku.. don't be disapointed. I think this whole thing is very frustrating to you. Just in case he can't get it ready in time, it is good to hunt around for storage places. Ask uncle to help lah! See whether he able to spare u some storage place somewhere. You got alot of things to store?

Ivy: Don't mind I bring the post to my own blog so that will not cause too much inconvenience to Fondue.

You are right, this whole thing is really frustrating as seriously I wasted a lot of valuable resources and time. I guess that's the tradeoff for a attractive reno price. To be honest people around are chiding me for being stupid on my choice of contractor. Already kena jialat this evening because contractor did not do the symbolic hack. Anyway FSM said that I cannot do the hack. So I just did the prayers without hacking.

Im sure if next month end cannot shift, will kena again for not listening to "lao ren yan" (words of the elders)

I did not ask uncle for help but just reminded him again that I need to move by end of next month. He told me 3 rooms will be ready. So at least I have a place to put my things. The question I have in mind is that what happen if I already moved in and constantly have people coming into the house. I forgot to ask him as he was in a hurry and also not feeling well.

Things to store are like study table, chairs, 4 book shelves, bicycle, fish tanks, plants, about 11 boxes of books going 12 soon, two cupboards, some luggages, AVR, DVD players, speakers. Think that's all about it. Quite a lot right.

[Jodezn 0]

Ivy: Don't mind I bring the post to my own blog so that will not cause too much inconvenience to Fondue.

You are right, this whole thing is really frustrating as seriously I wasted a lot of valuable resources and time. I guess that's the tradeoff for a attractive reno price. To be honest people around are chiding me for being stupid on my choice of contractor. Already kena jialat this evening because contractor did not do the symbolic hack. Anyway FSM said that I cannot do the hack. So I just did the prayers without hacking.

Im sure if next month end cannot shift, will kena again for not listening to "lao ren yan" (words of the elders)

I did not ask uncle for help but just reminded him again that I need to move by end of next month. He told me 3 rooms will be ready. So at least I have a place to put my things. The question I have in mind is that what happen if I already moved in and constantly have people coming into the house. I forgot to ask him as he was in a hurry and also not feeling well.

Things to store are like study table, chairs, 4 book shelves, bicycle, fish tanks, plants, about 11 boxes of books going 12 soon, two cupboards, some luggages, AVR, DVD players, speakers. Think that's all about it. Quite a lot right.

My parents were oso still renovating the house when I shifted in to my existing house... same situation, we shifted everything in as our rooms are ready..we were pending for kitchen works. Even when we closed our bedroom doors and place wet towel on the floor seam..the dust can still make their way into our rooms!! those white powder and living inside the house then is really a torture...

With the workers walking in and out also make the house very dirty and hor..walau the noise..unbearable lei....

So hor....i will advice you to not shift in IF its possible....if not, at least dun bring your stuffs in.....leave it somewhere or with someone.... cleaning will kill u.

Just my two cents worth

[lawry 3]

Congrats on your new blog.

Sorry to learn that you are already facing the first issue.

Try to get your contractor (was it Uncle Soon also?) to finish up all the dusty work fast within the end of next month. By the time you semi moved in with your things, hopefully the carpentry skeleton is done up already. Most of the parts is done in the factory, they just need to assemble at your place, shouldn't have too much dust unless there's a lot of wall drilling and wood sawing in the house itself.

I'm not sure if you need to vacate your old house fast, if not you can leave your old things there first, move in with your new furniture, that is considered move in also, after that you bring over your old stuff over, see if you can negotiate a deal with your house buyer.

Good luck!

[pinkpetter 0]

Welcome!

But it does seem like such an unhappy start. Like you guys, when I first started my reno, I was very worried too. I only had exactly 4 weeks to reno and did not have a single day extra at all. So I was truly worried. Luckily for me the major works, even the carpentry in the kitchen was done. If you see the works that happened after I moved in, it was really messy so really not worth it if you can spare the time ya?

[gaku70 0]

Sorry for not responding. Being busy lately.

pet, lawry: Not really unhappy start lah. Just a bit disappointed how things are going. I am sure Uncle is also trying his best. But the thing I worry is that he is super busy and also quite forgetful.

Don't think I can delay teh shifting any longer because I have already asked for an extension. So have to move out end of the month.

Jodezn: Thanks for your advise. Hope the reno can finish on time. Contingency plan is to rent a place to store my stuff while I see if can bunk with anyone.

Ok now going to update the status in the first post.

[familyof4 0]

finally saw your own blog

I hope things will turn out good for you...uncle has a few new staff to help him manage the increasing workloads and projects. But they are still very new, so uncle has to let them learn on the job...i hope things will turn better soon.

As for shifting in...try to avoid it if the works are still on going...it's very inconvenient.

[gaku70 0]

finally saw your own blog

I hope things will turn out good for you...uncle has a few new staff to help him manage the increasing workloads and projects. But they are still very new, so uncle has to let them learn on the job...i hope things will turn better soon.

As for shifting in...try to avoid it if the works are still on going...it's very inconvenient.

Good to hear that he has more staff to cope. I just hope he has more project staff to help him instead of him attending to all the calls. It's the bottleneck now. I see when I was talking to him his phone is also ringing and he did not answer. I was thinking now I know why he didn't pick up calls.

I would prefer to move in after the reno completes. Even if there is some minor rectification, it is fine with me. Renting a place cost $$ and it's the last resort.

[apples 0]

Congrats on your new blog ..

fyi, we also started hacking without signing anything

[gaku70 0]

Congrats on your new blog ..

fyi, we also started hacking without signing anything

Thanks and glad to hear that Im not alone. Just went to your blog and seems like your reno will be completing soon. Really envy...

[gaku70 0]

By the way, going to confirm aircon this evening. Anyonw knows when can the trunking be installed. Is it after tiling complete?

[familyof4 0]

mine uncle wanted to meet the aircon guy before the flooring is done, cos he says he wants to conceal part of the pipe?! Usually the aircon trunking can run after flooring is done best to confirm with uncle so that you can make the arrangements