Anybody Engage Id Note

[calezero 0]

Hi Guys,

Just an update.

Got in touch with Tony and I guess I got ahead of myself

From now till end of March there's sufficient time to prepare.

Should be meeting up with him soon to discuss the details of the reno.

Feel alot better after talking to him and looking forward to my reno!

Edited February 20, 2012 by calezero

[friends78 0]

Just saw your post. My house was mostly managed by Tony. He came across as a very trustworthy and honest guy. He is patient and very accommodating. Your house will be in safe hands:)

Hi Guys,

Just an update.

Got in touch with Tony and I guess I got ahead of myself

From now till end of March there's sufficient time to prepare.

Should be meeting up with him soon to discuss the details of the reno.

Feel alot better after talking to him and looking forward to my reno!

[george2 0]

Hi there,

I am an Indian and Henry is my contractor. He has also done major reno works (between $15-25k) for 2 of my Indian friend's houses. Communication is not a problem. On a daily basis, I provide feedback on the things that have worked well and things that need touch-ups. He sees to them immediately.

So far, basic electrical works have been done. Yesterday was painting works. Though the people who work on-site are sub-cons, they do their job well. Henry's choice of sub-cons have been good and I appreciate that. For instance, I replaced my room doors. The door man came and replaced all the 3 doors in about 45 minutes and was great work. The painters had some minor patches that needed more work and they fixed it today as I type this, all within a day.

I was supposed to take leave and watch over the reno. I have cancelled my leave coz I have nothing much to add when thy are doing the work. But, I have cancelled my leave and only plan to be at home when the carpenter brings in his fixtures as I will need to co-ordinate the exact location of the powerpoints and etc. I also decided to replace my PVC folding doors yesterday and he arranged to have them replaced by Friday. My communication with his was over email: I emailed him the pictures of the doors to make sure that we are speaking about the same thing and he sorted it out for me.

On the whole, it is going well so far. Feel free to PM me if you have more qns. I hope I know where to check for my PMs as I am new to this forum and the interface is looking a tad too messy but I will get around it....

While I make it look like it is almost hassle-free, they key is to be as specific as possible when confirming the works that need to be done. It really ensures that work can accomplished efficiently. I am quite ahead of schedule now.

Hope this helps.

I think not a problem . He does had indian and malay customer before . So I believe communication is not a problem . Y not just give him a call and test him . ha

[george2 0]

Hi Calezero,

Can I confirm if you are renovating your stay-in home or a new flat that you are not going to stay in while renovating? And if so, have you collected your keys?

Mine is a live-in home and renovation is on-going while I stay in. Hence, my timeline requires a faster fulfillment. I engaged Henry in December and he already told me that I have to wait till post-CNY as there are a lot of orders. That is something good work ethics coz even though my mom said she wished to have the reno done in Dec sch hols, it would have come at a premium price. Henry strongly advised against it. I appreciate that.

Feel free to call and schedule appointments with him. He does some basic drawings to visualize your expectations. This serves to produce a more accurate quotation and also to let you see what the end pdt may turn out to be. And with the drawing, Henry will also advise what is workable and what is not. But, if you feel for something strongly and Henry advises otherwise from experience, and you want it in the quotation, you can always ask Henry to put it as optional cost. This gives you time to re-consider the item while the quote is being prepared. Saves time. This is what I did when deciding if I should change my kitchen cabinet but decided against it later on.

Of the few contractors who came to my house, there were others who were competitive but Henry was reliable to me because he knew my needs, replies to SMSes fast, replies emails and lets me know he has replied, calls to update, is available to pick up calls (even when I have called him at 10pm to disturb his sleep... unintended though!). It gives me a peace of mind when I am at work.

Let me know if you need anything bro. I know the anxiety when doing reno. It is the point when a house becomes a home.

Hi george2,

Thanks for the info. Gave me a peace of mind.

As this is my first reno, was very confused on the entire process and sequence of events.

Not sure what comes first and what comes later.

Perhaps I should also be abit more pro-active and start to schedule appointments with him.

[calezero 0]

Hi Calezero,

Can I confirm if you are renovating your stay-in home or a new flat that you are not going to stay in while renovating? And if so, have you collected your keys?

Mine is a live-in home and renovation is on-going while I stay in. Hence, my timeline requires a faster fulfillment. I engaged Henry in December and he already told me that I have to wait till post-CNY as there are a lot of orders. That is something good work ethics coz even though my mom said she wished to have the reno done in Dec sch hols, it would have come at a premium price. Henry strongly advised against it. I appreciate that.

Feel free to call and schedule appointments with him. He does some basic drawings to visualize your expectations. This serves to produce a more accurate quotation and also to let you see what the end pdt may turn out to be. And with the drawing, Henry will also advise what is workable and what is not. But, if you feel for something strongly and Henry advises otherwise from experience, and you want it in the quotation, you can always ask Henry to put it as optional cost. This gives you time to re-consider the item while the quote is being prepared. Saves time. This is what I did when deciding if I should change my kitchen cabinet but decided against it later on.

Of the few contractors who came to my house, there were others who were competitive but Henry was reliable to me because he knew my needs, replies to SMSes fast, replies emails and lets me know he has replied, calls to update, is available to pick up calls (even when I have called him at 10pm to disturb his sleep... unintended though!). It gives me a peace of mind when I am at work.

Let me know if you need anything bro. I know the anxiety when doing reno. It is the point when a house becomes a home.

Hi George2,

Truly appreciate all the info.

I'm actually getting my keys next month and its a re-sale unit.

Good idea on the sketches and drawings. I'll ask him about it the next time i meet him or Tony.

And yes, its truly an exciting journey renovating my first home.

From an old 30+ year old unit, building it again from the ground up.

And to add significance and how meaningful my new home will be, I have a baby on the way

[ben+san 0]

Been 5 and a half years since i stepped into this renovation world again.

Read about the good work that Henry is doing and decided to contact him for a quote for my new 5 room resale. Late night of 20 Feb'12 dropped him a form via his webpage. Evening of 21 Feb'12 gave him a call and was told to email him my floorplan as he is driving. As of now, late evening of 22 Feb'12, i heard nothing at all.

Is it just me anxious in getting a response? Maybe. But even the ever popular bak chor mee stall near my place will attend to me after standing 30min in the queue..

[calezero 0]

Been 5 and a half years since i stepped into this renovation world again.

Read about the good work that Henry is doing and decided to contact him for a quote for my new 5 room resale. Late night of 20 Feb'12 dropped him a form via his webpage. Evening of 21 Feb'12 gave him a call and was told to email him my floorplan as he is driving. As of now, late evening of 22 Feb'12, i heard nothing at all.

Is it just me anxious in getting a response? Maybe. But even the ever popular bak chor mee stall near my place will attend to me after standing 30min in the queue..

i think its normal IDs take a couple of days to get back to you.

WHen i was ID hunting, most of them also get back to me after 2 to 3 days. the worst ones takes 1 to 2 weeks.

but then again, i prefer the ID to take their time to review my floor plan rather than rushing out a quote for me. At least i know they are not slip shot about it.

[george2 0]

Been 5 and a half years since i stepped into this renovation world again.

Read about the good work that Henry is doing and decided to contact him for a quote for my new 5 room resale. Late night of 20 Feb'12 dropped him a form via his webpage. Evening of 21 Feb'12 gave him a call and was told to email him my floorplan as he is driving. As of now, late evening of 22 Feb'12, i heard nothing at all.

Is it just me anxious in getting a response? Maybe. But even the ever popular bak chor mee stall near my place will attend to me after standing 30min in the queue..

Hi ben+san,

He is probably working on your quote. It will take some time as he has to find his suppliers and nego the best price with them. My advise is not to rush him. But your anxiety to get the ball rolling is valid. Just give him a call tomorrow and ask him the status and arrange a date for him to view your house if necessary (i called him to view the house str8 away as mine is a live-in home so maybe it is easier co-ordination.)

Let me know if you would want to drop by my house. We can see if a date can be worked out. The carpenters will be bringing in the fixtures on Monday (if polishing ends as scheduled on Sat. So far, all schedules have been met.)

Thanks and all the best for your reno.

[george2 0]

Hi George2,

Truly appreciate all the info.

I'm actually getting my keys next month and its a re-sale unit.

Good idea on the sketches and drawings. I'll ask him about it the next time i meet him or Tony.

And yes, its truly an exciting journey renovating my first home.

From an old 30+ year old unit, building it again from the ground up.

And to add significance and how meaningful my new home will be, I have a baby on the way

Hi Calezero,

One impressive thing about Henry is that he was able to take a draft sketch of my expectations and worked a quote for me. From there, the price was firmed and a final drawing was given to me when he came down with his carpenter (This is the copy that you should keep actually as you may have to refer to it when the sub-cons are working at home, esp the electricians.) I did the same with a few others. And this was one of the USPs of Henry.

Another thing is that though he would have seen many people renovate houses, he understands the anxiety that all clients will want the best for their house. That is something that IDs need to take note of. for eg, i msged him just now at 10.45pmpm when I had some doubts of today's painting schedule and he replied by 11.06pm. That is something i liked... this way, i actually reduced the no. of days I needed to take leave from work to supervise. (Note: I had a domestic helper at home so that helped me to give feedback too. Saying this so as to set the context).

Hope it helps.

[ben+san 0]

i think its normal IDs take a couple of days to get back to you.

WHen i was ID hunting, most of them also get back to me after 2 to 3 days. the worst ones takes 1 to 2 weeks.

but then again, i prefer the ID to take their time to review my floor plan rather than rushing out a quote for me. At least i know they are not slip shot about it.

Maybe I had rushed into it. But the problem is that I am not exactly asking for a quote right now. More to first meeting (impression + accessing needs + determining budget) before reaching that stage of quoting me. Maybe i out of touch leh.. It used to be a walk-in into a shop, talk to people and wait for them to come back with a quotation.

Bro george2, that's really nice of you Will definitely take up your offer if the dude actually bother to get back to me in the first place. Cheers!

[BuyNow7 0]

Just saw your post. My house was mostly managed by Tony. He came across as a very trustworthy and honest guy. He is patient and very accommodating. Your house will be in safe hands:)

I was not as lucky as u guys. Neither Henry nor Tony managed my reno. Sigh!!!!

[BuyNow7 0]

Hi All

My reno was completed in Dec last year. Two weeks ago, I gave Henry a call wrt some enquiries. No one picked up the call (probably he was bz at that time). 10 min later, he automatically called me back. This shows that he provides good after sales service even though full payment was made.

[sunnyting 0]

Hi..

Can anyone pass me a Henry's contact?

Thank you !

[sunnyting 0]

Hi..

Can anyone pass me a Henry's contact?

Thank you !

[star70 0]

I was not as lucky as u guys. Neither Henry nor Tony managed my reno. Sigh!!!!

Hi - just curious - who managed your reno then?