wywy219 0 Report post Posted September 22, 2009 (edited) Argh... Typed a super long post just now and lost it while trying to upload my floorplan *Wave* Hi all, been around RT for quite some time but didn't have time to start our t-blog. Was busy reading others' blog and getting tips from here! The process of buying house is a long story altogether but anyway, we have finally made our decision on a 4A resale at Tampines. OTP was in late July i think. Here is the floorplan: We have now gone through our first appointment and eagerly waiting for second appointment! ID search started way before 1st appointment. We have met up with many IDs, some are recommendations from RT, some intro by friends. It is a painful process of meeting up with different ppl every night after work, show them the floorplan and tell them our requirement. Repeat x 8 to 10. Yup, we must have talked to 8-10 IDs. Lost count. Got a lof of information through the IDs meeting too. Some of them are nice, some bochap, some too eager to sign with us (everything also "can can can"), some tried to brainwash us....oh well, been through that and now we have shortlisted the final 2 candidates: 1) Tau Interior: They did not reply our email so we decided to just walk in to their office one night. Met up with Kelvin and after much "reminder" he finally gave us a quote. But the quote was on the high side. We were quite disappointed then. However, we met up with him one more time and he sort of gave us a new quote. All the prices also change. We actually suspect the 1st quote he had no time to do so just anyhow give one. The second quote is looking good, just slightly above our budget. Our worry is that they are quite popular here and many ppl have signed with them recently. Wonder if they are able to handle so many projects simultaneously and handover in time. We are quite pressed for time as we are currently renting and the contract will be due soon. 2) Homely image: Husband know the lady boss so we approached them as well. They quote is rather competitive as compared to Tau. However, it seems that there is no information on this company online at all. Donno if it's bcoz their target market is not tech savvy type or they really have some bad records. We visited a showflat done by them, workmanship looks ok, but design is so-so only. But we have budget constraints so there might not be much design to talk about in the first place. With so little information about this company, we can't help but to worry. Although we know the lady boss, but it's just a lil more than acquaintance. Sekali still "sha sha" got cheated by them how? Comments anyone? We have to make a decision on ID by this week as we will be getting keys on 2nd Nov. Not much time left for preparation.... Edited September 22, 2009 by wywy219 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rapister 0 Report post Posted September 22, 2009 hmmm both are lousy.... might as well hire contractor small budget dont be overconfident Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Pinklady 0 Report post Posted September 22, 2009 WYWY, congrats on your newly purchased home, ex or not? btw, your 4A looks a bit like my layout, square square nice. easy for planning. sorry agh, cannot help you much on your ID becoz i also dunno much about them. is your house near to TM? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
vio.ple 0 Report post Posted September 22, 2009 hi wywy219... congrats! mind sharing with us what you wana do, your budget & the id's quotation.. den we can see whether they have over charge you on certain things.. can't help you on the workmanship or experience with the above IDs coz i've not seek their service before.. =) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Angel81 1 Report post Posted September 22, 2009 Congrates on ur new home! Nice layout u've got there. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
coffee_o 1 Report post Posted September 22, 2009 Hi welcome soon to be tampines neighbour hehe For ID, it's very difficult for the ppl here to comments unless they've actually done their house by them so I guess it would be best to share your quote like what vio had mentioned so that we will know which is a better deal Anyway are you doing an overhaul of your unit or reno in specific areas only ? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wywy219 0 Report post Posted September 23, 2009 WYWY, congrats on your newly purchased home, ex or not? btw, your 4A looks a bit like my layout, square square nice. easy for planning. sorry agh, cannot help you much on your ID becoz i also dunno much about them. is your house near to TM? Thanks. I think it's ex le...but no choice..resale price just keep shooting up must quickly grab. At first i also think the house square square very nice. But after OTP only we found out from one of the ID that this is a pre-fab HDB.... likely cannot hack anything! !@$$%@#@# I wanted a open concept kitchen..... The agents (both seller and buyer) act blur and didn't tell us lo...and both of us blur blur also donno got such thing.... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wywy219 0 Report post Posted September 23, 2009 Hi welcome soon to be tampines neighbour hehe For ID, it's very difficult for the ppl here to comments unless they've actually done their house by them so I guess it would be best to share your quote like what vio had mentioned so that we will know which is a better deal Anyway are you doing an overhaul of your unit or reno in specific areas only ? We are doing an overhaul. The current "design" is no design lo... like houses 10+ years ago. Want to hack and change all tiles. But considering laminate for BRs. Anyone wants to share experience on laminates? I am a bit petpeeves over dirty floor. What i heard is laminate cannot mop, can only use magic clean to wipe. If the floor get sticky i will go crazy! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Pinklady 0 Report post Posted September 23, 2009 We are doing an overhaul. The current "design" is no design lo... like houses 10+ years ago. Want to hack and change all tiles. But considering laminate for BRs. Anyone wants to share experience on laminates? I am a bit petpeeves over dirty floor. What i heard is laminate cannot mop, can only use magic clean to wipe. If the floor get sticky i will go crazy! walau your seller lie to u huh, then poof there goes your dream kitchen lor..okie nvm, i can help u on the laminate question, initally i also got Pergo laminate, family range, initially we took care of the floor like mad, like moving the dinning chair gently over the surface. using only magic-clean friendly dry tissues. And found a magic brand called Sofix for Laminate floors and another brand i cannot rem the name, using that type of cleaner will maintain and keep your laminate floor sparkling and nice. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wywy219 0 Report post Posted September 25, 2009 Shall post some photos of the house in its current state. The owner is still staying there. Second appointment is 2nd Nov. Living area kitchen common bath MBR MBR bathroom Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wywy219 0 Report post Posted September 25, 2009 BR2 Very old school main door The MBR is a bit small...no space to do WIW!!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
adidas78 0 Report post Posted September 26, 2009 Hi Wywy I have the same problem like yours. Pressing for time and constrainted with budget. We approached quite a number of ID and contractors, including Tau Interior. We met up with him three times to discuss about our requirement and cost. And even went to one of his project to take a look. But eventually we did not sign up with him because he is not quite willing to lower his quotation. The project which we saw was average only. By the way, he has a lot of fans around RT, so I have to be careful of what I type. If you already have an idea what kind of concept you want your place to have, I suggest you go for a renovator. DIY most of the colour selection, design and etc. Although it is tiring but it can be quite fun too. Happy Renovation!!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wywy219 0 Report post Posted September 29, 2009 (edited) We met up another renovator, Edmund from DX interior over the weekend. Initially didn't consider him liao bcoz the 1st quote from him left out quite anumber of things but total still quite expensive.... But last week he called us to follow up. So we met up and told him what we want, and give him a budget to work with. After he heard our requirement i think he face green green... coz we ask if he can match the cheapest quote we get (from another ID). Then he say, actually that quotation we got quite competitive already. Haha.... He promised to give us revised quote tomorrow. Hopefully he keeps his promise then we can make our decision by tomorrow! Edited September 29, 2009 by wywy219 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wywy219 0 Report post Posted September 29, 2009 (edited) We also visited a "showflat" done by Tau interior last Sunday. Looks quite good. Husband seems partial to their design..... Edited September 29, 2009 by wywy219 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wywy219 0 Report post Posted October 9, 2009 (edited) Just some updates. We met up with Tau interior for a second time for discussion and sort of decided to use them. Until.....they sent us the agreement and we are somewhat not really happy with the pricing because he conveniently forgot the discount (round off to nearest lower 1000) he promised us during the first meet-up.When we questioned, he kepted saying the first quote did not include the wardrobe hence it's cheaper. Sigh...i donno what to say bcoz i'm quite sure his claim is not true. (as the number won't add up if what he say is true.) We were just too blur the first time that we did not make him write down the rounded off value in the quotation. Stupid side of me. We are quite torn now as we still like this company as a whole....but this quotation pricing thingy makes me uncomfortable. Yes, it's only a few hundred dollars but money is money is money right? Plus the way he reply us in denial..... Like that if we signed agreement already then he pull more stunt and eat up his promise how? Edited October 9, 2009 by wywy219 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
