garion 1 Report post Posted July 1, 2009 After getting so much valuable information from this forum, we decided to make some contributions by sharing with all our experiences of renovating our very first home although its only a small flat, i still remembered how excited when we first got our keys last July..... but we have to postpone our renovation plans due to financial constraints.... after more than 12 months of intensive savings program, we are now all set and ready to go Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
merryman 0 Report post Posted July 1, 2009 After getting so much valuable information from this forum, we decided to make some contributions by sharing with all our experiences of renovating our very first home although its only a small flat, i still remembered how excited when we first got our keys last July..... but we have to postpone our renovation plans due to financial constraints.... after more than 12 months of intensive savings program, we are now all set and ready to go Small? You've not seen the 2-3rms?! welcome to t-blogs Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Angel81 1 Report post Posted July 1, 2009 Congrates congrates! Wishing u a smooth reno journey. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
garion 1 Report post Posted July 1, 2009 (edited) thanxs for the consolation rondy and merryman .... heh although we have just signed up with one of the ID firm last week, we would like to share with everyone our experiences with various IDs and our selection process below are the list of IDs we have requested quotes from: - Weiken - Interior Place - Classic.Ideas - Moss.Emmanuel - Coos - Meng Design and Build - Prestige - Baroque Edited July 1, 2009 by garion Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
blue_diamond 0 Report post Posted July 1, 2009 welcome!!!hope yr reno will be smooth...aiyo yr place not small la... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
garion 1 Report post Posted July 1, 2009 lets me start off with Weiken, Interior Place and Classic.Ideas..... we got to know the 3 firms through a google search and sent them an enquiry through their website... all 3 firms replied to our request within the week which we feel was quite reasonable weiken - Pro: gave us a quote according to what we have requested and was quite detailed Cons: but we later found out that the price is way higher than the others and so decided to drop them interior place - Pros: ...... Cons: never got back to us on with any quotes even after we faxed the floor plan over to them classic.ideas: Pros: the sales person who contacted us sounded very polite and sincere. he even offered to visit the flat even though we have not met before Cons: missed the appointment twice but was still ok since at least he did notify us 1 hour in advance : very disappointed with the quote.... is very brief with only the minimum items.... did not include a lot of items we have requested.... so in the end, we did not sign up with any of the 3 firms..... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
garion 1 Report post Posted July 1, 2009 welcome!!!hope yr reno will be smooth...aiyo yr place not small la... hehe.... maybe i am used to living in bishan street 20 plus with my parent.... the floor area is much bigger..... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rierie 0 Report post Posted July 1, 2009 welcome!!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
garion 1 Report post Posted July 1, 2009 (edited) moss.emmanuel - got to know them when visiting a reno fair in expo last year...... was quite impressed to know that they have quite a few projects being featured in newspapers and magazine.... so after some persuasion from the designer, paid a 1k deposit for painting which allows us to view their computer drawings of the design Pros: - designer is quite knowledgeable and advise us on a lot of things on reno and what to look out for - computer designs drawings are quite modern and gives us a good perspective of what the actual thing will look like (though the design dun really suit our tastes) Cons: - quoted price is very high... around 20-30% higher on the average than the other quotes - a lot of negative comments on them in forum... (though we did not experience the negative things personally but instead found their service to be quite reasonable) contacted the designer and was shocked when he told us he is no longer with the firm and it has closed down!!! we tried calling their office and found that the number is no longer in use.... though the fax is still working.... sigh.... should have paid more attention to comments about them..... now our 1k down the drain..... Edited July 1, 2009 by garion Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
garion 1 Report post Posted July 1, 2009 (edited) COOS - we got to know them through a old neighbour who used their service earlier this year on their standard flat in seng kang.... Pro: - their worksmanship seems to be very good (though only viewed my neighbour's flat) - agreed to visit our flat with no commitments - the guy who visited us seems to be a very experienced contractor (based on the comments and advice he gave) - prcing is reasonable Cons: - very slow response in quoting (wait time of 2 to 3 weeks) decided not to engage them as they seem to have too many projects on their hands to serve us properly.... and response time is very slow.... the final quotation that was requested never came...... Edited July 1, 2009 by garion Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
blue_diamond 0 Report post Posted July 1, 2009 moss.emmanuel - got to know them when visiting a reno fair in expo last year...... was quite impressed to know that they have quite a few projects being featured in newspapers and magazine.... so after some persuasion from the designer, paid a 1k deposit for painting which allows us to view their computer drawings of the design Pros: - designer is quite knowledgeable and advise us on a lot of things on reno and what to look out for - computer designs drawings are quite modern and gives us a good perspective of what the actual thing will look like (though the design dun really suit our tastes) Cons: - quoted price is very high... around 20-30% higher on the average than the other quotes - a lot of negative comments on them in forum... (though we did not experience the negative things personally but instead found their service to be quite reasonable) contacted the designer and was shocked when he told us he is no longer with the firm and it has closed down!!! sigh.... should have paid more attention to comments about them..... now our 1k down the drain..... i also heartpain for u....but look at it postively...at least now u got some ideas for your new place as well....so can use their idea if u like it.. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
garion 1 Report post Posted July 1, 2009 Meng Design and Build - we heard of them on the radio late last year as they seems to be doing some very aggressive marketing campaign and decided to go to their AMK showroom since it was near our flat. Pros: - showroom in AMK is nicely down and their design quite suit our taste - sale person who served us is relatively friendly though does not seems to be enthusiastic Cons: - though we visit them personally and gave them our floor plan, there is no follow up calls or any sign of the quotation - visited them 4 weeks later but the same sales person have forgotten us and did not apologize for not getting back to us - gave them 1 more chance and another copy of our floor plan.... 6 months later.... still no news.... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
garion 1 Report post Posted July 1, 2009 i also heartpain for u....but look at it postively...at least now u got some ideas for your new place as well....so can use their idea if u like it.. thanxs blue_diamond..... yah i agree..... have to look at the bright side of things ...... just take it as an expensive lesson.... hehe just hope that other readers will take this as an example and be really careful when looking for IDs or contractors.... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
garion 1 Report post Posted July 1, 2009 Prestige - another ID/contractor located in AMK... we were walking around in AMK central when we came across their shop and decided to ask them for a quote... Pro: - Sales person is very friendly and sincere (though quite young... only 23 or 24...) - gave us a very detailed quote on the spot and painstakingly write everything by hand - offered us quite a lot of advise even though we have not committed anything yet - price is slightly lower than average Cons: - no confidence as the guy seems to young and might not have experience to handle the workers.... - read quite a few complaints about them in the forum.... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
garion 1 Report post Posted July 1, 2009 (edited) Baroque - got to know about them through renotalk..... read quite a lot of positive comments on them and found loads of pictures on their website..... found that we quite like their design and decided to request for a quote from them through the website. Pros: - we were pleasantly surprised when they got back to us within the same day with a very detailed quotation together with the floor planning and lighting layout (response time if super fast and super efficient ) - met up with Mike and Andy and both seems very knowledgeable and experience - viewed 2 of their recent completed HDB projects and were quite impressed with the worksmanship Cons: - price a bit on the high side..... fyi their office is opposite the famous joo chiat handmade popiah skin shop Edited July 1, 2009 by garion Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
