Colours Design

[andsoitgoes 0]

I am currently half way through my home's renovations and it's my turn to give some comments:

1. poor project management and coordination

confidently informed us to leave everything in their hands, including timing delivery, citygas installation, getting sand / cement from HDB haulage guys etc. so wrong. on the first day of my reno, they did half a day's work and happily left. we stayed behind to look around only to find people appearing at our doorstep - haulage men bringing truckloads of cement and sand and dumping it around us, and citygas ppl coming to install pipes. ended up we had to stay behind to wait for them to be done. they told me to give the citygas workers the lock for them to lock up. number locks work in such a way that you cannot lock it unless it is at the correct combination. isn't that giving 'outsiders' the password to access my place after i am gone? do i feel secure? no. so we stayed behind till everything was settled. did i just become my own project manager? why call for haulage and citygas only to leave everything and walk off? btw, i was again confidently told that no outsiders would have combination to our lock. wrong again.

there were notices that state no eating, drinking, smoking etc. were these rules imposed? no. i was fine with workers eating or drinking inside the house because it is unreasonable to bar them from doing so. but guess what? i found a packet of half drunk kopi guni hanging in my kitchen with clumps of mould growing out of it. this evidently shows that it has been there for days on end. it is extremely unhygenic and unacceptable. what if there is pest infestation or the mould spreads to my tiles etc.? should the site manager take note of such things? maybe i had too high expectations. anyway, we had to dispose of it ourselves. yesterday, i found another leftover kopi guni packet and the color has already gone a bit weird. i was definitely not going to leave it lying around to grow mould like the first packet. so we threw it away, again. was filled with disgust by the mere sight of it. was informed by the project manager such things are commonplace. oh really? i told my site manager that obviously they do not have a vested interest because at the end of the day, we are the ones living in the house and having to deal with pest control if there was a problem that was not earlier identified and resolved.

update: have informed leslie that we will 'fine' them as per their notices if there is a 3rd time as an assurance since he guaranteed there wont be because i've stressed again and again that such lack of hygiene is unacceptable.

agree with Howth's review on the plumber. please do not depend on your project manager to accurately tell him what to install or where to install. while we were with our aircon guys in the house, the plumber suddenly walked in to install things, and our project manager wasnt there to communicate with him. normally, the plumber would look at the taping and install accordingly. however, should he not agree with the location, he will install in accordance to where he thinks it should be placed without consulting anyone. we were glad that we were there and then to discuss with him. after which, we went away for lunch, came back to find that the plumber was nice to extend a pipe out so that we can reach for the tap for the bidet easily. One real concern now is that this 20cm lone pipe is sticking out without any support.. which makes me wonder.. he could have put more effort and thought to bend the pipe so that it can run beside the wall such that u can use pipe holder to support this pipe sticking out instead of just one pipe sticking out but he did not do so.

Update: was told that the lone pipe sticking out is a temporary thing. we will monitor if this is rectified.

did not ensure that our doors and laminated flooring were well protected before the aircon guys came to drill holes and send rubbles flying directly and hitting my flooring. if damage was sustained, who is going to bear the cost to rectify it? most likely it's us. project manager claimed that he had informed the installers to lay out the protective covering. ultimately, whose responsibility is it to do so?

people come and go without much communication with the project manager. each work in accordance with their individual schedule. sometimes it is advisable to drop by during reno to check that where things are installed are in accordance with what u want.

2. inconsistency

constantly playing the who said this and that game. i would advise that during face to face meet up sessions with CLC, please write down what has been discussed and agreed upon and get them to acknowledge it. much frustrations were caused by them suddenly going back on their words and claiming certain things were not said, or suddenly we had to pay extra for what was earlier said to be included in the package.

p/s: whatever mistakes made, they will attribute it all to miscommunication or that we misunderstood what they've have said.

update: learnt our lesson. always always liaise with one person rather than two.

3. timeline

potentially the one good thing that they've done is to not only keep to the timeline, they have gone ahead of schedule which we are very happy about. i can only hope that at the end of the day, it doesnt translate to sloppy work.

update: was informed that they take absolute pride in their workmanship. anticipating to see the final product to find out the validity of their assurance. it has been 2 weeks of reno and all our flooring is up and painting half completed. the false ceiling with the recess in the centre as well as some trunking has been done.

4. weak design

many designs proposed turned out to be deemed impractical or un-doable by their carpenter. e.g. most of my swing doors suddenly had to become sliding doors for my cabinets. i hated the outlook of sliding because of the grooves but no. i think there should be more communication with their carpenter rather than change things after we have already confirmed the design! prior to confirmation, everything was doable according to them! some design proposed were mediocre and rarely unconventional or different as claimed (except for my studyroom cabinet). sometimes i wonder, am i paying ID price to engage a contractor? apparently they will only propose colors + laminates prior to meeting you if you are doing a resorty theme. otherwise, be prepared to hear a lot of 'what you like' or 'what you want' sentences. we personally like to hear suggestions which is after all, the core reason why we engaged an ID to begin with.

5. patience / service

willy has been a very patient sales person to work with. he has handled our frustrations well and this is something i must definitely comment on. of course, he will defend clc's honour but he will still admit to mistakes and try his best to rectify them. i believe he is suited for his role. but i think sometimes too many cooks spoil the broth n there are alot of mix-ups and inconsistencies.

6. 3Ds

did not feel like our 3Ds were very personalized. the designs felt reused or repeated except for our studyroom cabinet. 3Ds produced did not look professional as we thought they would be. somehow the other 3Ds done for their other clients seem better than ours and we wonder why.

will update more at the end of the month.

Edited September 17, 2011 by andsoitgoes

[walkingdead 0]

Hello all, just finish my appointment with Clc. We have confirm the Reno with them. And will be starting at first week of nov. They have come up with a schedule which we feel comfortable with it.

[andsoitgoes 0]

cement screed

HDB contractor did not do a good job on the cement screed but clc was nice enough to top up the 4mm and finish up the job on their own accord, out of their own pocket without consulting us at all until our laminate flooring have been completed.

clc claimed that it was part of their service to their customers but we felt that clc could have informed us so that we could take it up to HDB contractor ourselves and saved them the cement screed top up. i understand that clc does not want to trouble us to liaise with hdb contractor and let this affect our renovation progress but we would prefer to be consulted as we could have reconsidered the timeline and resolved the matter with HDB on our own or pay the $200 to clc to do it.

[walkingdead 0]

Andsoitgoes I feel that you should arrange a meet up with your handler. As of what I understand from my brother's cck nest. Clc truly take pride in things they do without much hip ups for them. And Leslie our handler has also give us strong advice on stuffs prior renovation. You are right to liaise with 1 person, durning sales we liaise with vin lee for price and design with Leslie coming in on and off. And to liaise with Leslie our handler on stuffs regarding to technicial issues and project management.

[andsoitgoes 0]

we practically never saw leslie at all for design in person despite requesting for him to turn up. we were always told that he was overseas / busy etc. we were also informed by our sales person that all designs will be approved by leslie but as this was done 'behind the scenes' as claimed, we did not receive direct feedback or see any direct involvement frm him. we also asked repeatedly for written feedback on feasibility and suitability of the design from leslie since we never got to meet him for this aspect until reno has started, but we never got it.

[goldfisheye 0]

its been a while since i last logged in. its been almost 3 weeks since my project starts. mine starts on the 12th.

after reading all the above review i was taken back by the remarks of some.

I seriously wonder how true it is....

now it's my turn to give some comments:

(sorry for copying the write out format from andsoitgoes)

1. project management and coordination ---> so far so good

First day of my renovation, i had arrange with willy to meet at our house at 10am. At 9.30am, received a sms from willy saying that he had reach and is with his team of workers and is currently briefing them through at the site. so far from all our past meetings with willy, he is always early for appointment! great start to the project! when we reach our place, we went from living room to kitchen to bedroom and go through in details of whats going to be done in each area together with willy, leslie and the contractors.

the workers drew alot of marking on the walls and on the floorplan so that they will remember what each of them had to do. I was impressed that there is a photocopy of all the works that is to be done are pasted on the walls so that the workers can double confirm on what they are supposed to do.

just one site briefing had taken us till 12pm! so many details! as we didnt bring any pen or paper to note down all the stuff, willy told us that he will pass a copy to us. actually we were impressed that they had all the different contractors down at site and brief all of them together with us so that everyone had an idea of the work to be done.

After all the site briefing, they kick start into doing their work already. we didnt left when willy and leslie left as we were watching the workers dismantling of all our existing kitchen cabinets, toilet bowl and hacking the flooring. more & more workers came then we left the place as we felt out of place and hindering their work. Gave willy a call and confirm that their workers will lock the gates at the end of the day, was also told that the combination of the number lock will be given to their workers so that they can access the place when they arrive.

however as i had left some of the lighings, furnitures, piano and fan in the rooms, we kinda of felt insecure about losing them and had to replace them when so many people is coming in and out of the house, but willy and leslie reassure us that they will hold responsible to all the existing items that we left behind and if anything were to go missing, they will repay us. at least hearing that made us feel much secure about all the things that we had left behind.

beening going up on and off when we are free to check on the updates of the house and was happy to see the progression of the works and best of all its all well ahead of the estimated schedule that willy gave us. one more thing is that they did paste those "no smoking" sign around, but when we pop up to the place, we saw their workers smoking. the moment he saw us, he put e cigarette behind him and walk out of the house. though e worker smoke in the house but when they see us, they will go out of the house as they know that they are not supposed to. Had also see unfinished coffee packets hanging on the doors when we drop by at night and informed willy to get his workers to keep the place clean.

i read that some of u had problem with the plumber installing all the accessories, dont know if this will happen to us as we will reach that stage soon. i had spoke to willy and he said he will arrange a date with us and the installer to be around and let the installer know the actual location for all the accessories to be installed accordingly to our liking.

2. consistency / inconsistency??? ---> consistent

not sure as to what andsoitgoes mentions that "constantly playing the who said this and that game." it had been 3 weeks since our project starts, we had not experience things that they had gone back on their words, or pay extra to anything else on the contract other then the aircon supplier that we want them to engage for us which is not stated in the contract and they had thrown in certain items free for me so far.

i believe this is very important as it will be a huge blow to us if they were to have alot of hidden cost and this will seriously affect us all. by having hidden cost is totally unacceptable and it is out to cheat our hard earn money. andsoitgoes if u read my post, can update us what did they go back on their words and ask u to pay extra??? what kind of hidden cost did they not bring it out to u in the first place?? please kindly advise us on this as this is totally unacceptable. i will talk to willy about this and clarify on this matter!!!!

3. timeline ---> well met

3 weeks into the project, as per what the schedule that we were given, we are 1 week ahead of time. kindly note that the schedule given was base on 8 weeks and mine is a resale 4rm flat with alot of hacking works to be done. its stated that tiling works to be completed by end of this week however all the tiling works for living, kitchen, bathrooms and flooring for all bedrooms had been done up already. they had also completed the plastering of the entire wall of my house, haha im loving the wall now.

we were keep updated of the progression of the renovation work by a weekly sms or email. was impressed with this service rather than passing me the schedule and all i can do is to do down and look at the works that had been done and cross check with the schedule given. there were times when we tried calling leslie to ask about updates or to ask him something, he is either busy and had no time to discuss things or sometimes e tone of his voice is not as pleasant. that is why we rather call willy not leslie. but when we see leslie on site checking out the work, he is very friendly.

4. design ----> nice but abit slow in 3D

after signing the contract with them, we had quite a few late nights with willy going through the design of the carpentry works that we want. through past experience and advises, we had requested willy to draw out the design on paper for our approval first as we understand that 3d drawings that quite a long time.

when we see the design on the paper, its passable, however when we approval and requested for it to be 3d, omg, it turn out very nicely done up. now awaiting the real work to be up within the next 2 weeks.

had to praise Willy on that as there were twice we stayed till 1.30am in their office and when we leave, willy was still doing work and scanning the design into the computer. we must admit that we are quite particular about the design and by giving him alot of input and discussion, it really turn out nice.

During the colours/materials selection, instead of proposing the colours and materials, willy showed us the samples and from there he ask us what we like and what we prefer, we told him about the type of colours and pattern that we like, from there, he gave us a few selection that he think will be nice and then we choose from there. i think that should be the way to go, asking our liking and try to match the materials to our liking rather than proposing colours or materials that he think it is nice but we dont like.

sometimes willy had to go check with leslie about certain design that he is uncertain about the construction he need to go back and check with leslie as leslie wasnt around at all during any of the discussion about the design for all our carpentry, but since they will discuss about the design, whether with leslie presence or not dont make too much difference. Beside other than the slight delay in producing the 3d drawing that caused some unhappiness from us, all had been well.

As we were going to into details about some of the carpentry works, we were told that there might be a slight change in the fabrication of our carpentry works. example for my platform bed, we wanted the height to be like 20cm off the ground, but now it had to increase so that we can cover the ugly air con trunking that is running across our masterbed room.

5. patience / service ----> good

from e day we had signed up with clc, we must agree that the service we had received are recommendable. willy has always been punctual, patient & nice to work with. i believe not everyone in this trade is willing to meet up with us late at night due to our working hours, to go through the design past midnight, meeting us at whatever location we requested. this is also one of the factor why we chose clc to do our renovation work. as for leslie, he is very confident and hold alot of pride in the work that he do, u can tell by the way he brief his workers. though at times its quite hard to reach him at all. therefore most of the time, we will only liase with willy.

i think thats all for now... will update when all the carpentries are up! cant wait...

Edited September 29, 2011 by goldfisheye

[bigbearyong 0]

hi all RT forumer,

before i pen down on the deciding on which ID firm / contractors that we are going to sign, any on-going clients with this company so that we can understand more of their workmanship, pricing and stuff like these.

any feedback is well come, kindly PM me. \

the area of the job scope is as follows:

HACKING & HAULAGE

Demolish existing wall between kitchen & dining w. clearing of debris

Hack wall tile at kitchen

Hack floor tile for kitchen

Hack existing door frame at kitchen

Remove existing kitchen cabinet with disposal

Hack existing concrete sink/stove support in Kitchen with disposal

Dismantle existing Kitchen Sink

Remove parquet platform at master room with disposal

Dismantle existing toilet bowl at both toilets

Demolish existing mirror at corridor

Make Good all Hacking Affected area

KITCHEN

Construct New Wall & Smooth with Plaster, Include: Construction of Serving Window

Install painted Tempered Glass backing for exposed Kitchen Walls between Cabinets

Install Top/Bottom Kitchen Cabinet with Laminate Doors, Soft Closing Hinges

Include: Dish Rack/Cutlery Tray/Magic Corner Basket

Install One (1) Full Hieght Kitchen Cabinet with Laminate Doors, Soft Closing Hinges

Install Solid Surface Work Top

Lay Matte Homogenous Floor Tile for Kitchen with Water Proofing

Install Clear Tempered Glass Swing Door

Construct Tiled Cement Base for Kitchen Cabinets

Construct Tiled Cement Base for Refrigerator

Construct Tiled Cement Base for Washng Machine

LIVING ROOM

Construct Full Hieght Feature Wall with Console and TV Mount

Construct & Install Altar (2 feet wide with Swing door and Glass inlay)

Install False Ceiling in Living Area

DINING AREA

Install Mirror Feature in Dining Area

STUDY

Install Top Hung Cabinets with Laminate Doors, Soft Closing Hinges

Install Suspended Desk with Laminate finish, Pull out drawers and Flip-Top Hinge for cabling

Install Mesh Racks under Suspended Desk

Install Bottom Rack for placing computer equipment

MASTER BEDROOM

Install 4 ft. Suspended TV Console

Install Headboard for King-size Bedframe

Supply two wall mounted Bedside tables

Install Full-Height Walk-in Wardrobe with Laminate Doors and Backing with Painted Finish

Install Full-length Mirror

Install False Ceiling in Walk-in area

PLUMBING / ELECTRICAL

Install Concealed Piping (at Kitchen)

Install Hot Water point (with Copper Piping) at Kitchen Sink Water point

Labour to install new Kitchen Sink

Labour to install new Kitchen Hob/Hood & Oven.

Install new W.C. in Master Toilet

Install new W.C. in Common Toilet

Install spot lighting & wall mount fan in Walk-in Wardrobe

Install lighting in Corridor leading to Master Bedroom

Install concealed Piping for Cat 5e cable from Living Room to Study

Install additional lighting in entire Apartment (KIV)

Install additional electrical points in entire Apartment (KIV)

PAINTING / POLISHING

Re-Grind & Re-Varnish Existing Parquet Flooring in 3 Bedrooms / 1 Study

Polish Existing Marble Floor **** Hall

Acid Washing + General Cleaning of entire Apartment

Painting Works in entire Apartment, including all exposed piping

Special painting works in Foyer Area

MASONRY

After removal of mirror from Corridor,

smooth Corridor wall with Plaster if required.

Install False Ceiling in Corridor leading to Master Bedroom

[Howth 0]

Apologies for not posting photos illustrating the quality of CLC's work any sooner. Below are a number of these along with comments that will provide a context/explanation for what you are looking at. I've also attached two of the snag lists which we gave to CLC Interiors at specific milestones in the project. Together should provide documentary evidence of the scale and nature of the problems we encountered.

ELECTRICAL WORK

CLC's electrical work was consistently shoddy and unprofessional (see the electrical snag list for documentary evidence of the scale of problems we had). Just about every plug and socket, for example, was installed incorrectly. They were usually misaligned (Photo 1) and/or were not properly fitted in the walls (photo 2). This lack of attention to detail and commitment to quality coupled with a lack of proper oversight and supervision were characteristic of every aspect of their work. Photo 3 shows details of the main lights in the dining room after they had tried their original mistake of using trunking to carry cabling across the roof. Photo 4 shows how they installed the lights on one of the stairs. There is no technical reasons why trunking should have been used over the main dining table nor do technical considerations explain why the trunking on the stair was not cut properly to properly hide the wires. They simply took the quickest, laziest option.

PHOTO 1 - Incorrectly Aligned Light Fittings

PHOTO 2 - Badly Installed Light Fittings

PHOTO 3 - Dining Table Light - Poor Choice of Materials

PHOTO 4 - Incorrectly measured trunking

[Howth 0]

The story of photos 5, 6 and 7 encapsulates perfectly our experience of their workmanship and professional conduct. Photo 5 features a light we asked them to install in one of our rooms. Plainly it is not done properly. When we asked them to correct it, their solution was to tie it to the ceiling beam since the light 'wouldn't extend properly' (photo 6). Photo 7 features the same light after I fixed it. This took 30 seconds and involved going to the room next door and looking at a similar light that had been installed in that room. The electrician hadn't noticed at any point that he'd put it in upside down nor had the person who was supposed to be occupying a supervisory position done anything other than 'look at the fitting as if he knew what he was doing and tell me it couldnt be done.

PHOTO 5 - Light installation

PHOTO 6 - The First CLC Solution

PHOTO 7 - Thirty Seconds to Fix

[Howth 0]

Plastering and Painting

Their plastering and painting work was of a similar poor quality (please see the painting snag list for a breakdown of some of the problems we had). The photos below speak for themselves.

PHOTO 8: Door Frame Cracks

Every single doorframe they installed has cracks around it.

PHOTO 9: Quality of Plastering

Most of the plastering around the door frames is of a similar poor quality to that shown below. This is at the top of the stairs. Its impossible not to see going from the first to the second floor.

PHOTO 10: Plastering Around Master Bedroom Door

PHOTO 11: Painting & Plastering

This is over the main entrance door. Again its difficult to believe that no one in any 'supervisory' role failed to notice this on their way in or out of the house.

PHOTO 12: Painting Work

The painting throughout the house was of a similar poor quality. I seriously doubt that an amateur painting a house for the first time would show this lack of attention to detail.

[Howth 0]

Plumbing Work

CLC Interiors failed to fit either shower unit properly. Despite having fittings well in advance of when the job was supposed to start, the project manager never bothered to provide the plumber with them and the worker simply plowed ahead and started cutting pipes without knowing or caring what fittings were to be installed.

PHOTO 13 - Bathroom 1

PHOTO 14 - Second Shower Unit

Project Management

CLC Interiors agreed to very tight delivery deadlines when we originally commissioned them. To be perfectly honest, I never expected to fully meet them but I did assume that we would have a door on the house on the day we were supposed to move in. Photo 14 below shows we didn't. The explanation we were given? The project manager had never realised we'd need one.

Photos 15 and 16 were also taken that day. As should be clear the house was not even half ready. In fact, the other images I've posted were all taken nearly a month later and show a house that is still no where near complete. Plainly CLC Interiors failed to meet their schedule. There is no evidence of project progress being monitored or of the right resources been allocated to meet client commitments. Our experiences with the plumber and the electrician clearly demonstrate that they were not being properly supervised or briefed on what needed to be done.

PHOTO 15: The Front Door

PHOTO 16: Interior

PHOTO 17: Bedroom

[goldfisheye 0]

omg... how can this happen? i heard that e salesman & site coordinator was fired due to this issue. As for me, the company overall is fine for us till date, everything had been smooth sail *keeping my finger cross*

anyway im honestly still happy with colours so far

[Olg 0]

Hi Howth, I understand your pain. While my Reno works for my landed properly arent as bad, they are about 2 months behind schedule and they have not even given me the design of one of my doors which they claim that the last decision was not to have a door there (ridiculous as that room has it's own aircon so why would we have left that room without a door?)

We are about 80 to 90 percent done but the remaining 10 to 20 percent including the shoddy work and touch ups that I want them to do have been left alone for the past few weeks! It looks like this last lap will take about a couple of weeks or more at the rate they are going. So close yet so far.

I am extremely stressed out by this as I am sick and tired of speaking to the contractor and listening to his endless excuses. I believe that this delay was largely due to the lack of human resources being committed to my place and his disorganized nature. He even tried to blame the delay on the 'numerous' cables that my husband asked him to lay...yes, surely it took two extra months to lay these cables. Things would move so so slowly and I'd see one or two workers each day, (sometimes none), doing little things like painting the gate or plastering a wall. No coordination or planning whatsoever hence the lack of efficiency. A mirror yet to be put up in one of the toilets while all the other toilet and closet mirrors are up, a particular window lacking a grill, these are things which can be solved in a matter of days or maybe a week but these are the very things which have been left this way for the past few weeks and I'm assuming weeks to come.

I'm at a loss of my next course of action as I understand that in most cases, the contractor needs to come back within the first few weeks or months, some even up to a year, to rectify anything that goes wrong. On that count, I do not want us to end on a bad note. I also do not want them to sabotage my house, cables etc especially since they know where I live! I feel I am at the losing end as I have young kids to protect and life is probably cheaper for them. Should I threaten to hold back the remaining money (about 15% left)? Am afraid he will continue to take his time since I've paid up most of the money already which I believe already covers his costs. Should I actually charge him for it at the end of the project? If so, how should this amount be calculated? When should the final amount be paid? A month after I move in to ensure everything is in working order? Are you planning to stop their services and hire someone else to complete the project?

[patsy_sg 1]

Hi goldfisheye, lucky you then!

Hi Olg, are you using CLC also?

[volokovhades 0]

Looking at the pictures Howth posted, I am now having doubts by engaging CLC as my ID, and have already paid the first 15%. Hopefully my reno with them would be smooth and with little hiccups.