J&s Furniture - Excellent Service, Unbelievable Price, And More Than Exepcted Professionalism

[parc_oasis 0]

Folks,

As many of you would know I went through a whole renovation process. I think it's fair to give back to the community.

Background: The house a 3 bedroom condo we bought was in such a big mess that one of family members wanted to sell it the day we got our keys! He even made calls to property agents. (Previous owner made a mess before moving out)

Complexity: And, here we were - a pregnant wife and husband who has to travel ovrerseas 5 days a week (every week). Sounds like a perfect match doesn't it? And, yea did we tell you that neither of us has any experience of renovation!

Solution: Thankfully, we had a savior and a friend in the disguise of a contractor - Jack (from J&S). We had contacted him before renovation and my husband was so bowled over by his sincerity and honesty that he decided to give him the whole woodwork (and related stuff). Even though it initially felt like how will we manage multiple sub contractors on our own ( we had a whole toilet to be renovated separatley - more on that in another post). In fact, all our friends recommended against our strategy. But, my husband being a management consultant by profession, trusted his insitincts, went against the rationale and trusted sub contractors. (Though selecting right sub contractors was a head ache - somewhat like finding a right girl for marriage !).

Anyways, so we will like to highly recommend Jack. Here are some highlights of our work with him:

a) Very pleasant and non-pushy personality - was critical for us ..

b) No hidden cost - was up front on what else will be needed in job scope (often absorbing it also)

c) Reasonable prices - His own factory in sungei kadut - we went there - so no middle man cost

d) Good Workman ship - apart from whole kitchen cabinets, etc which was standard ABS trimming and looked neat. We designed a TV console - the output was pretty sleak - someone in fact complimented it to be a italian imported product

e) Professional - met each and every deadline, was always chasing other sub contractors he arranged for us (such as granite, glass wall for kitchen, etc)

f) Clean and reliable - cleaned each and every thing, added many things to scope, which he accomodated as much as he could despite CNY rush

Nothing is perfect and we will also share what could have been better:

a) Some rework was needed in putting up console - in hindsight it may have been our laxity or miscommunication from our side. But, jack fixed it within a day. installer spent whole day getting it to husband's desired perfection.

We think above also happened because we don't speak chineese. So, communicating with workers was sometime tough. And, we were hardly on site (read once every 3-4 days for 10-15 minutes - simply no time). My husband and I strongly feel that mistakes happen with everyone. It's the approach to fix the problem and time taken which is more important. We give Jack and his team 5 out of 5 on that front !

I will strongly recommend everyone to go direct to them and save (~30-50%) middle man cost. Jack and his team is reliable and it's a win-win for everyone (often sub-contractors like them are squeezed / not-paid on time by contractors). He has lost money in some other works - so please don't squueze / cheat honest people like him.

Project scope (for us): Kitchen dismantling, whole new set of kitchen cabinets, indian black granite supply and install, all plumbing work in kitchen - sink, etc, install stainless steel and glass wall panels in kitchen, bedroom wardrobes, TV console, etc

Time taken: 2 weeks (yes you read it right in less than 2 weeks we have our house ready - and this is chineese new year peak period !)

So, overall we are super happy with him and can only say go, go, go !

Happy Renovation!

(Part 1 of 3 - other parts on learning from last 2 months of dealing with sub contractors coming up:

Part 2 - Wet works and other sub-contractors

Part 3 - Go through ID / Contractor or arrange multiple sub-contractors - time, complexity, feasibility analysis))

PS: His number is 9799 6334

[ngunadi 2]

Cool. I am waiting for your story to renovate the toilet/wet works

[graceakaclouds 1]

sounds like u r a very satisfied customer of J&S!! :) tat's gd....

any idea of your quotation from J&S? want to gauge how much to set aside for carpentry....can PM me or email me at gracephua@hotmail.com?

thks so much!!

[tracy 0]

Wow,

you definitely have a very good experience in your carpentry works. Sadly, I dont have the time to co-ordinate the sub-contractors. So i guess i'll have to engage one person to do everything. Of course, I will have to pay more. =(

I will be waiting for your continued story!!!!

Can you Pm me your quote from J&S?? Interested to know how much did my contractor earn me. =)) THANKS!

[spidercool 0]

Gd to know that I ve recommended a Gd contractor to u.

[parc_oasis 0]

Hello Everyone,

More than happy to help and share views. Together we are stronger

Spidercool - your tip / reference was critical

Everyone: Sorry I cannot share my commercial copy for 2 reasons a) It will be unfair to share : we all have natural tendencies to use that as a reference mark and then bargain for more. As I said I doubt if his margins are super huge. But, his rates seem to be fairly standardized (I know 3 other people who got same rates per foot run as I did - this is the base rate he quotes - may be we all managed to get some small tid bits free or say 1-2% discount in the disguise of rounding up figures, etc b) I don't have final commercial copy. May be not the smartest thing to not keep signed latest copies. But, as I said travel and work was insane. We had to keep changing project scope as we went along. So final settlement will happen when Jack has time and husband is in town

Update on after service work: Been quite good. There was some noise in wooden platform we had custom made. His guy came down to fix it. No questions asked.

Remaining 2 parts coming- targeting this week; Would love writing it from the balcony platform overlooking the lake and sipping coffee. but no guarantees huuh

Cheers,

Gd to know that I ve recommended a Gd contractor to u.

[parc_oasis 0]

Tracy, engaging multiple sub-cons can be easier than what you think.

We for example had: 1 main wood work guy, 1 main person for toilet (and all plumbing work), 1 person for parquet polishing, 1 person for marble floor polishing, 1 electrician

We ensured that within a certain area only 1 person works - for example we redid whole toilet. Gave vanity woodwork not to kitchen guy but person who was doing tiling, etc for toilet. That ways they cannot blame each other incase something goes bad / scratches, etc

Sounds like a lot but it's easier than what it seems. The contractors aren't adding much except calling up different sub-cons .. small margin for this value-add is ok in IMHO. But, like in marble polishing we saved almost 800 bucks .. (400 vs. 1200). In fact, we paid 40 bucks extra to marble guy and he was super duper excited. Money went to person who did the work and we feel personally happy doing it.

Cheers

Wow,

you definitely have a very good experience in your carpentry works. Sadly, I dont have the time to co-ordinate the sub-contractors. So i guess i'll have to engage one person to do everything. Of course, I will have to pay more. =(

I will be waiting for your continued story!!!!

Can you Pm me your quote from J&S?? Interested to know how much did my contractor earn me. =)) THANKS!

[graceakaclouds 1]

Tracy, engaging multiple sub-cons can be easier than what you think.

We for example had: 1 main wood work guy, 1 main person for toilet (and all plumbing work), 1 person for parquet polishing, 1 person for marble floor polishing, 1 electrician

We ensured that within a certain area only 1 person works - for example we redid whole toilet. Gave vanity woodwork not to kitchen guy but person who was doing tiling, etc for toilet. That ways they cannot blame each other incase something goes bad / scratches, etc

Sounds like a lot but it's easier than what it seems. The contractors aren't adding much except calling up different sub-cons .. small margin for this value-add is ok in IMHO. But, like in marble polishing we saved almost 800 bucks .. (400 vs. 1200). In fact, we paid 40 bucks extra to marble guy and he was super duper excited. Money went to person who did the work and we feel personally happy doing it.

Cheers

sounds good....i managed to get a quote from Jack too. Thks for the contact

Btw, do you have contact for your parquet polishing guy? we intend to do that too. thks so much

[parc_oasis 0]

For parquet polishing we used wood varnish. Main reason price was competitive and some other friend found them efficient.

Tip: With wood varnish I didn't realize there were 3 different types of finish - matt, semi gloss, glossy .. make sure you choose the one you want. I am living with something I am not super happy about but can live with it

sounds good....i managed to get a quote from Jack too. Thks for the contact

Btw, do you have contact for your parquet polishing guy? we intend to do that too. thks so much

Edited January 31, 2010 by parc_oasis

[lch 0]

just met jack today

he came to my flat for measurement and on-the-spot draw out the design

hope his final quote will be attractive

he mention these few days suddenly alot of people send enquiries to him.

he don't even have time to type out the rough quotation.

[tracy 0]

you refering to Mr wood varnish??? how are their charges????

Thanks for the advises. I know my contractor did earn me from the quote i seen. but i think it is only fair enough for them to mark up abit.

WOW. 800 you save, that's so much!!

Im waiting for yr the other 2 parts of yr story!!

[gracec_81 0]

Tracy, engaging multiple sub-cons can be easier than what you think.

We for example had: 1 main wood work guy, 1 main person for toilet (and all plumbing work), 1 person for parquet polishing, 1 person for marble floor polishing, 1 electrician

We ensured that within a certain area only 1 person works - for example we redid whole toilet. Gave vanity woodwork not to kitchen guy but person who was doing tiling, etc for toilet. That ways they cannot blame each other incase something goes bad / scratches, etc

Sounds like a lot but it's easier than what it seems. The contractors aren't adding much except calling up different sub-cons .. small margin for this value-add is ok in IMHO. But, like in marble polishing we saved almost 800 bucks .. (400 vs. 1200). In fact, we paid 40 bucks extra to marble guy and he was super duper excited. Money went to person who did the work and we feel personally happy doing it.

Cheers

Hi, can I have the contact for your marble polishing guy? Thanks.

[htng 1]

Hi, can I have the contact for your marble polishing guy? Thanks.

post some pics to share?

[wennykoh 2]

My experience with JS Furniture...

http://www.renotalk.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=32130

[prism 0]

Tracy, engaging multiple sub-cons can be easier than what you think.

We for example had: 1 main wood work guy, 1 main person for toilet (and all plumbing work), 1 person for parquet polishing, 1 person for marble floor polishing, 1 electrician

We ensured that within a certain area only 1 person works - for example we redid whole toilet. Gave vanity woodwork not to kitchen guy but person who was doing tiling, etc for toilet. That ways they cannot blame each other incase something goes bad / scratches, etc

Sounds like a lot but it's easier than what it seems. The contractors aren't adding much except calling up different sub-cons .. small margin for this value-add is ok in IMHO. But, like in marble polishing we saved almost 800 bucks .. (400 vs. 1200). In fact, we paid 40 bucks extra to marble guy and he was super duper excited. Money went to person who did the work and we feel personally happy doing it.

Cheers

I was thinking of the same approach for my own reno. Did the carpenter take care of the kitchen project such that he sourced for the plumber to install the sink and pipes and took responsibility for the whole kitchen cabinet project?