Ah Soon

[pinkpetter 0]

Wow not bad. I must say all Ah Soon customers are very very righteous, they would all come in and defend for him. Like a scene of younger days when a teenager lost in something and get all his brothers and sisters in to fight back.

I must agreed that I am indeed writing this message with a VERY HEAVY emotional tag, but I still maintained that it is on a without prejudice basis. Pls pardon me if I side track.

For those people who are here before renovations, you are here to: -

1) Read and source and find your ID/Contractor. (like me)

For those people who are here during renovations, you are here to: -

1) Show off your place to everyone (I will also do that definetely )

2) Tell the whole world that you are impressed with your ID/Contractors hoping that they will do even better for your place, or even get some discounts (I will also do that)

3) Tell the whole world that you are fedup with your ID/contractors, I will use it if utlimately the ID/contractor are chosen are really gone case and I punish them by making them lose business

For those people who are here after renovations, you are here to: -

1) Kill boredom.

2) Join in fun.

3) Warn people not to take up some ID/contractor.

4) Recommend people to take up some ID/contractor.

5) Recommend people to take up some ID/contractor in exchange for some referral fees.

To be honest, I for one, will not come in after my renovations, where got so free. Maybe once in a while comes in and see see look look. Just reply 1 or 2 message if I am free. Fight till die to say a good word for my contractor/ID cos he/she has done a good job for me??? I am not so righteous. Honestly. Unless he pay me

If he pays me referral fee ok, at least its legal and decent, no CPIB stuffs etc. But I dont think I will go against my conscience to rebuke soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo hard on people'e negative comment on him/her.

As a reader and as someone who is sourcing for ID/contractor, I cant help after reading but feeling fishy by some responses. Especially I receive PMs from few people telling me further....

All readers of prospective non licensed HDB contractor please note = I am drafting something to HDB soon, on crack down on all unlicenced HDB contractors. If need to, I will proceed to ST Forum too.

Those who want to check the authentcity of me being a geniune user and not a contractor/ID can PM me. I can show you my HDB letter, and all the quotes I have gotten during this period. I can throw in my name card to you as well if you wanted to

Marvin, I completely agree with the first portion of your statement... Just to clear the air.. I don't know about everyone else but for me... I love renovation. If I have the chance I would like to buy a plot of land and build my own house from scratch with my own designs (with advice from professionals of cos) But I'm addicted. And coming to this forum is like a small dream come true.

I get the chance to see so many people's beautiful homes being done. I get to see so many houses completely overhauled, like a big magical transformation. haha I'm beginning to sound like a kid but this is what it is for me. Even though my house is done now, I still spend many hours a week collecting pictures and saving them in my hard disk. I have scrapbooks of pictures I cut from magazines from long ago.

Aside from that... there is a community here. Not just amongst those who share the same ID/contractor... but amongst us. You, me, AJ,F4,MP, SB, NCY, R, PJ, NY, BC, GK, I.... (haha you all like initials right.. ) It's always nice to belong to some community I guess. To discuss, to share, to chat, to advise and to help. So that's why I'm still here, 6 months after my renovation is done.

The second part of your post... made me think....

Which is worse for homeowners? An honest unlicensed contractor or a dishonest licensed one? Despite having so many agencies, HDB, Case, Radac, who seemingly "vet" through these companies, there still seems to be trouble with them. The fact that they accredit these companies gives homeowners a false sense of security when these accrediting agencies do not seem to be doing their part in ensuring that ALL these companies maintain an acceptable level of service and responsibility towards us.

HDB gives licenses to these contractors/ID but they don't react when the complaints are made against the companies. I'm sure many of us have read such posts here already. They aren't acting to help us when they played in a part in giving us that false impression that the company is a respectable one. They don't help to ensure that "touting" or "daylight robbery" (literally) is kept out of picture.

A beautiful apple with worms inside is far more dangerous than one that looks little bruised on the outside. Fewer people will buy the bruised apple anyway (maybe if it's on major discount *wink*) while people who buy the first one will find themselves shortchanged.

I hope in your letter to HDB, you can also ask them to be more stringent with the licensed companies. To have a system for ensuring that standards are maintained and innocent homeowners are better off.

I guess, for me, until that happens, I'll probably still buy the bruised apple and make apple strudels out of them.

and like AJ. I apologise for my long and lorsoh post.

SEE LAH ALL YOUR FAULT!

[666 0]

Wah, very sian..my mother in law called me earlier to inform me the 2 workers, china worker & the skinny uncle got into a fierce quarrel till the uncle carry hammer & scream vulgarities at the china worker till she so scared. Lucky never got into a fight. Then the uncle tell my MIL dat tomorrow he will be working alone, means slower progress.workmanship wise its good.

Ah Soon promise my Inlaws 2 weeks finish everything, now 2 weeks has passed & common toilet & kitchen havnt even completed. Still got masterbedroom toilet, window grilles & living & dining room laminate not done. ILs patience wearing thin, i feel bad coz I was the 1 who recommended him to them.

Anyway, I still don't mind considering Ah Soon for my home future reno as cost & workmanship is more important to me than time taken(but not too long ah).

[adrian_john 1]

Apologies if my earlier post was super lohsoh. Was just sharing what I felt from the heart.

It really is a sleepy tuesday. I almost fell asleep on my comp too.

Glad to see and hear that the thread has gone towards a more light hearted note.

Yes, somehow talking about shares does do that sometimes ...

[ncy 0]

Hi rock, yes I do hope he gets his license eventually so that its legit. And by doing so, I believe he can garner more trust from more of his customers that will eventually reccomend others and his client base can snowball.

[rock 0]

Good luck to everyone who is currently doing and going to engage ah soon.

With some many referrals from this forum, I am sure Ah Soon would want to do a good job to continue getting referrals.. n who knows his business gets so good that he finally gets his licence...

[blackcar 0]

Guys!!! I m glad that eveyone is smiling now and let's keep it that way ya!!!! I bet ah soon been sneezing throughout !!! lolz

cheerios!!!!

[blackcar 0]

must wait long? share now mah, so that others (like me ) can learn..

No worries, will share my side of story when the time is ready. Rite now been busy "fighting the war"!!! hahahaha

Edited June 24, 2009 by blackcar

[ncy 0]

Paiseh, typo it is Jul-96

Btw, now I dont dabble in shares anymore. I am a certified idiot in shares. I must admit that...hahahhaha

Edited June 23, 2009 by ncy

[ncy 0]

familyof4

precisely...it only goes to show there is no certainty...

somehow in bad times, valu$ survived?

Hahaha, I know you be heading towards this direction.Nothing is engraved in stone. But in a risk assesment, it always wise to be able to mitigate that risk. For one, like investing in share mkt, investors will go for blue chips simply because they are stable. But that does not mean they r not risk adversed. Like Warren Buffett said, in short term, the stk mkt is like a voting machine and in long term, its a weighing machine.

If you replicate the scenario above to our post discussion here, its up to the forummers to decide what kind of risk they are willing to take.

blackcar

Yes times is hard, all my shares valued drops to 80% Being a cosumer we got to be extremly careful, but at times we got to take risk. Anyway, I took alot of risk during the course of my renovation too, will share the story with you guys when i completed the renovation. I bet you will faint if you hear my side of story. lolz

Sorry to hear that. I was burned in the share mkt in 1997 as well. When Thailand decided to devalue the baht back then in Jul-99, the hedge funds like Julian Robertson, Tiger Fund ( now defunct) and Quantum Fund by Soros decided to short alot of shares. And it doesnt help as well that currency speculators also came in and raid and dump.

Certainly back then, I was foolhardy in not knowing what risk I should have avoided. I just had "cheong" mentality...hahahahha.

Anyway Looking forward to hear you story on the risk you're taking with your reno. Hope its a smooth completion and then story time

[merryman 0]

Yes times is hard, all my shares valued drops to 80%!! Being a cosumer we got to be extremly careful, but at times we got to take risk. Anyway, I took alot of risk during the course of my renovation too, will share the story with you guys when i completed the renovation. I bet you will faint if you hear my side of story. lolz

Cheers

must wait long? share now mah, so that others (like me ) can learn..

[blackcar 0]

wahh blackcar!! very entice by ur teaser. Will stay tune for your story.

hahah ok, aka datang (Coming Soon)!!

[ivy 0]

Yes times is hard, all my shares valued drops to 80%!! Being a cosumer we got to be extremly careful, but at times we got to take risk. Anyway, I took alot of risk during the course of my renovation too, will share the story with you guys when i completed the renovation. I bet you will faint if you hear my side of story. lolz

Cheers

wahh blackcar!! very entice by ur teaser. Will stay tune for your story.

[blackcar 0]

aubrey

well ncy, your points have been made and have resonated very well throughout this thread. we are only humans and we do get emotional. it seem like if i were an ah soon customer and i get emotional in my posts, i am branded an ah soon supporter who gets emotional, what is up with that?

and if u said it is well known, why then, is there the start of round 2 of his same weakness and strengths? yes it invites comments due to his (over)exposure but i think what has been said should be made to pass. i cant help but feel like u are force-feeding your views on this issue when your views have been addressed. point taken! so if u go on and on and refuse to move on, can one not feeling like u are turning this thread into "your" platform?

Whats up with that aubrey is your statement on this is my thread statement. I think its equitable justice that you pull a fast one on me and I reciprocate the same. That makes us level at 1-1. So if you still cant let it slide, I dont mind continue this discussion with you.

You can choose to see it as force feeding, I choose to see it as reiterating. What does this bring us? A difference in opinions. And thats normal in a healthy discussion. Dont you think so? But never ever, accuse me of something I am not. I can choose to say what I like and when I like it as long as I am not degrading someone, got it?

blackcar

1) I will manage my contractor on the agreed deadline and not the other way round. Then again, how many home owners will go to the extend to sue the contractors in the event of missing the Handover deadlines? Till date i havent heard of any, most of the home owners will endure. Maybe i m wrong, anyone can comment on this area?

Have u met ah soon in person? If not, i guess it is difficult to explain in words how to deal with him. He is kinda of person whom believe in man of words, so going black and white with him will turn him off. He would prefer not to take yr business. I m not encouraging the home owners here to take all these risk, but this is how i felt about him.

2) Ah soon is not a licensed contractor could e a risk? What kinda of risk you may think it will occured? As i have mentioned previously, as long as the contractor obtain legal ways to get yr renovation approval from the authority is most matter rite? If not how can ah soon been doing renovation for so many HDB houses? No?

Blackcar, in my line of job, to safeguard co interest is my utmost priority. And thats the reason why we have remedial clauses that protects the interest of both parties when we hit a wall. I believe its not so much of suing but contractors must agree to a certain remedial actions if its up to his or her own negligence, not force majuere. If its a force majuere event, no one can be blamed for that.

Personally I have not met Ah Soon, but I only hear good things about him thus far...well mostly. So I go with the majority that he's an easy going guy. But then again being nice and doing biz is 2 different things. If someone feels that Ah Soon be turned off with signing a good piece of contract to address all the prevailing issues that might cropped up, then its up to the individual's preference and appetite for risk. I believe there is no right or wrong to that.

As for Ah Soon not being a licensed contractor, what risks will incur, I believe one forummer did spell out the risk somewhere here. But I could be wrong nor will I want to pretend to be an expert in deducing what kind of difficulties that we might get into. Maybe HDB knows best.

From a layman perspective and deduction, I am sure to piggy back on another's person's license is not really approriate. Again this is my layman point of view only. And how come he had been doing this for many yrs and nothing ever happened? I mean "touch wood", I guess if all happens smoothly, I reckoned there wont be any issues. Again its up to individuals appetite for risk and preference. Just to comment further that it doesnt mean if one is doing something wrong and he is scot free, it doesnt absolve him/her of the wrongs he/she had done.

We are now living in a downturn. China is expected to register only a single digit growth for the first time in decades, Spore economy is expected to contract even further. This are bad times. And banks had been quite stringent on loan approvals and cash flows might be a problem to some doing business out there. As a consumer, its always wise to know that handling a situation during the good times could be different when one is in turbulent times like now.

Just my 2 cents worth.

Yes times is hard, all my shares valued drops to 80%!! Being a cosumer we got to be extremly careful, but at times we got to take risk. Anyway, I took alot of risk during the course of my renovation too, will share the story with you guys when i completed the renovation. I bet you will faint if you hear my side of story. lolz

Cheers

[familyof4 0]

precisely...it only goes to show there is no certainty...

somehow in bad times, valu$ survived?

[ncy 0]

Yes its pretty amazing how a financially astute institution that braved 2 World Wars and The Great Depression faltered in the end and filled for Chapter 11.

That shows even reputable organisations are not left unscathed let alone the smaller players in the market.....