hongwen37 0 Report post Posted March 1, 2010 (edited) Hello, We are finally here! Renovation started without me even realising cos my ID was too onz... One week after i signed the contract, he already hacked all the tiles, kitchen cabinet, toilet fittings, etc... We have selected the tiles and currently waiting for the wet work to commence... The 3D design will come next week, hopefully... By the way, I have engaged Darren Lim of Plush Living to do up my house. I will post our experiences with the different IDs next time... Meanwhile, here's the floor plan of my house. Our house is a 20 years old HDB flat in Hougang. Valuation at 300k. Previous owner was asking for 10k COV but our agent (who happened to be my brother) managed to negotiate till zero. We went to view 12 houses in 2 weekends before deciding on this because it fulfilled all our criteria... We were looking for a big 4-room flat, non corridor unit, high floor and minimum cash. All the houses we went to view, were corridor units except this one, some were quite new but really small @ around 90sqm, some houses were very nice but either the valuation or the COV was too high... This house was a bit old (the tiles were still the old ceramic tiles and the doors were still those wooden doors with ventilation above), but it was big enough for us (104sqm). So, we thought with a major makeover, it should look pretty again... Edited March 15, 2010 by hongwen37 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
samgalz 2 Report post Posted March 1, 2010 (edited) Welcome to RT!! Wow, I'm the first to greet you I am also getting a 4-rm but it's a corridor unit and will only get the keys somewhere in May. U got yourself quite a good deal at $300K with zero cash! Kudos to your brother! Looking forward to seeing your reno pics and probably I can pluck some ideas from you cos u already started yours Edited March 1, 2010 by samgalz Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Supersimon27 2 Report post Posted March 1, 2010 wow... zero cash .... very long din hear that liao ... ha Good luck for yr reno and welcome to Rt-blog Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
hongwen37 0 Report post Posted March 1, 2010 (edited) Thank you, Samgalz & Supersimon! Yah! I think we got a good deal... and lucky i got a brother as an agent, seeing how he tried different tactics to close the deal at a lower price. I think other random agent might not even be bothered to help me negotiate... Samgalz, your first appointment is still a long way to go... really sianz (I know the feeling of waiting).. But then, you can slowly source around for IDs... We met up with only 8 IDs (as recommended by people in the forum) and settle for Plush Living after only 3 weeks of sourcing.. The forum really make our life easier, but then not everything can be believed though... Will post my experiences with the IDs next... Edited March 1, 2010 by hongwen37 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
El Nino_Al Nito 0 Report post Posted March 1, 2010 i had sourced for this type of layout until sian during my search back then.. u are real lucky to close with zero cash. congrats and good luck with your reno! so many hackable walls...*envy* Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
samgalz 2 Report post Posted March 1, 2010 Thank you, Samgalz & Supersimon! Yah! I think we got a good deal... and lucky i got a brother as an agent, seeing how he tried different tactics to close the deal at a lower price. I think other random agent might not even be bothered to help me negotiate... Samgalz, your first appointment is still a long way to go... really sianz (I know the feeling of waiting).. But then, you can slowly source around for IDs... We met up with only 8 IDs (as recommended by people in the forum) and settle for Plush Living after only 3 weeks of sourcing.. The forum really make our life easier, but then not everything can be believed though... Will post my experiences with the IDs next... My first appt is Apr 19 and YES really sianz about the waiting....can't wait to finally start on my reno! People here at RT in general pretty helpful, jus got to be careful and detailed on your part as well. I have so called shortlisted some ID/ contractors based on the comments here, but not sure if I start asking them to quote now whether is it too early? dunno if they think I super kiasu or siao Anyway I need to engage a FSM to audit the unit so even now if they quote based on the idea I have, we might need to revise after the FSM audit. Haiz.... Do, I look forward to reading your experience with the IDs! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
hongwen37 0 Report post Posted March 2, 2010 i had sourced for this type of layout until sian during my search back then.. u are real lucky to close with zero cash. congrats and good luck with your reno! so many hackable walls...*envy* Yah.. We intend to hack away the kitchen entrance, the storeroom and also create an entrance from Bedroom 3 to the Common Toilet... But then, ID brought the HDB people to see and said that the entrance to the common toilet cannot be done because of a sewage ventilation pipe blocking the proposed entrance... sian.. No more semi-private bathroom for Bedroom 3. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
hongwen37 0 Report post Posted March 2, 2010 Hi All, Wow, great price given the current property market situations.... My ID is also from Plush Living, he is Louis... Yes, I think Plush Living's customer service and response time is really wonderful...it really quash all the myths and horror stories that I have read in other thread. I totally leave my Dover Cres flat renovation for my ID to run the show....but kept me updated of the progress via sms.... My reno should be completed in another 2 weeks time.... I would definitely recommend Plush Living to anyone who wanted a enjoyable journey.... So relieved to hear positive reviews for Plush Living. I didnt get to read the horror stories because i think it was deleted? Where can i see photos of your nice house? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
amrasenelya 1 Report post Posted March 2, 2010 welcome to RT! and yup congrats on getting ur dream home at 0 cov! may i ask where is ur new home at? issit at a mid or low floor? we wanted to get a 4 room at hougang serangoon area, but the cov was just mad crazy... upload ur pre-reno photos if u have! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
hongwen37 0 Report post Posted March 2, 2010 (edited) welcome to RT! and yup congrats on getting ur dream home at 0 cov! may i ask where is ur new home at? issit at a mid or low floor? we wanted to get a 4 room at hougang serangoon area, but the cov was just mad crazy... upload ur pre-reno photos if u have! Thank Amrasenelya! I PMed you the info of my flat already... Will upload the pre-reno photos soon... Edited March 15, 2010 by hongwen37 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
amrasenelya 1 Report post Posted March 2, 2010 Thank Amrasenelya! I PMed you the info of my flat already... Will upload the pre-reno photos soon... Oh yah.. forgot to mention in the PM that my house is 10th floor (my block only has 10 storey)... thanks hongwen! u really got a good deal... top floor corner unit.. no cov.. almost unheard of now! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
hongwen37 0 Report post Posted March 3, 2010 ID Selection The whole ID selection process took us a month only because we did a lot of research here in this forum and shortlisted 8 IDs whom we met up with. We met up with the IDs within a span of 2 weeks, waited for all their quotations for a week plus and confirmed within a week. I know most friends here dislike meeting the IDs and having to repeat the requirements over and over again. For me, I like to meet up with IDs because I can learn alot of renovation stuff from them and also "steal" some of the ideas from them. But, as always, different IDs will tell you different things for eg, We wanted to change the toilet window to top hung windows. Some IDs said that it is ok to do it, some said HDB wont approve... Because our Master toilet is too small, some ID suggested shifting the vanity out, but some IDs said it is illegal to do so... Some ID said it is ok to drill holes through the beam but some said the beam cannot be touched at all... These were the IDs we met up with... (Please note that the reviews are of my own opinions and experiences, other forummer experiences might differ) Inner View (Wai Loong)Inner View was the first ID we met up.. In fact, we were just walking around IMM and decided to pop by one of the design companies... Just so happened that we liked their portfolio and Wai Loong happened to ask whether we needed help, that is why we sat down and talked to him. He was very patient and detailed. It took us an hour plus to go through what we wanted for our house. He was accomodating to our request too because he will try to include what we wanted or find alternative ways to include what we wanted. We felt comfortable talking to him. His quotation was reasonable and the space planning was good... Though he was not shortlisted from the forum, that chance encounter made us feel comfortable. In fact, he was 3rd on our list of 8 IDs. However, we felt that there were too little design inputs from him. More importantly, Plush Living and Ideal Design gave us a better feeling, that was why we did not engage him. Ideal Design (Shawn Goh) I read about Shawn and Kenneth from RenoTalk, so i went to their Company asking for these two IDs without making any appointment with them. Luckily, Shawn happened to be around and was free to entertain us. He has 8 years of experience in the trade. He was patient and detailed during our discussion, bringing out different materials, such as doors, laminates, etc, to show and explain to us. He had many ideas too, like having a day bed at the window area, constructing platform for the study area, etc. We felt comfortable talking to him and felt that he should be able to manage our renovation well. He was very proactive and took initiative to contact and followed up with us. However, he was a bit careless in his quotes with some items quoted without the price, and missing some items that we requested to be done. The quotation was also on the high side. Plush Living (Darren) Darren is a funny and friendly guy. He is very experienced in this field (around 20 years) but still look so passionate and energetic about his work. He is the boss of Plush Living. We liked his design from the portfolio he was working on. He spoke with an air of confidence and we felt that he will be able to manage the sub-contractors well (which i think is an important consideration when enagaging an ID). We found it easy to discuss things with him and he was accomodating to our request too. His 2D layout plan was very nice and the quotation was pretty reasonable. He was the only ID who offered to view our flat even before we signed with him. In this way, he could give a more accurate quote as well as to advise us on the renovation works. For example, after measuring the height of our ceiling, he said that we cannot do false ceiling because the height will be too low and HDB will not allow. The one major problem with Darren is that he seems to be very busy. Therefore, sometimes he will be late for appointments or even forgot about the appointment (if he never note down in his calendar).Though his quotation was not the cheapest (average pricing), we still decided to sign with him because we felt most at ease with him and his services rendered. U Home (Sam) U Home has a very nice showroom at Paya Lebar. Sam is the boss of U Home. He took time to walk us around the showroom and explained certain things to us. After that, he gave us a quotation on the spot according to what we wanted. I was surprised that he does not need to go back and calculate the length, height and area of the cabinets, windows, tiles etc before giving us the quotations. Moreover, the quotation was a bit slipshot with many items missing. His quote was also expensive. Because of all these, we did not have a good feeling about him. Baroque (Shawn Lee) We did not source for Shawn from the forum. Baroque was recommended in the forum so i went to their website to look see... Then i tried out their E-quote and that night, Shawn text me to fix an appointment. Shawn was patient and detailed and went through thoroughly our requirements for the house. He was also very hardworking and very fast in sending us the quotations and 2D layout. He was responsive and took initiatives to follow up with us. He was accomodating to our request and we felt ok talking to him. His quotation was very detailed and reasonable. Somehow, I felt that he and Wai Loong belong to the same category of people. Haa. Intra Design (Irene Sim) Intra Design has a nice showroom at Ubi. Irene was very friendly and we felt at ease talking to her. She provided some good design ideas such as using string curtain to act as partition, etc. I really like the designs from their portfolios. However, I believed many of you should know that they are one unique Company where they dont break down the cost of the quotations according to individual items, so it was very difficult to compare and calculate what to take out or not from the quotation. Also, their quotation was the highest among all of them. Summit Design (Ben) Ben is very experience in this line. He went through the materials and showed us examples of what we want, eg PD doors, dining mirror feature, etc. We found it comfortable to speak to him. He was also honest and would advise us against doing the things that are too expensive. His quote was the second lowest. However, he seemed to be pretty busy too and also, we only gotten his quote like 2 weeks after we met him. By then, we were already quite decided on Plush Living. Ideal House (Lynn) Instead of the usual Mr K from Ideal House, we decided to meet up with Lynn instead as we thought Mr K would be too busy. Lynn was also recommended by some in the forum. She was very accomodating to our request. Whenever we told her about some problems or concerns (such as the small toilets, etc), she said she will think of ways to work it out. The designs from the portfolio were pretty nice too. But she seemed to be pretty busy because she said her schedule was already quite packed till June, and also it was pretty hard to arrange an appointment with her. Also, the quotations given to us was not very detailed and according to what we wanted. Therefore, we did not engage her service though her quotation was the lowest. In term of pricing (from the cheapest to the most expensive), Ideal House > Summit Design > Inner View > Baroque D'zign > Plush Living > Ideal Design > U-Home > Intra Design In term of service, I would recommend Plush Living (Darren), Ideal Design (Shawn) and Inner View (Wai Loong). In fact, the rest of the IDs services are not too bad either (judging from the first appointment) so I would feel safe if they were doing our house too. But, I personally believe that we must select an ID whom we can click with or feel most comfortable with, therefore in my case, it would be Plush Living. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ngunadi 2 Report post Posted March 5, 2010 Why you never intro me to your brother??? At least he can nego my COV to 0K :D Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ngunadi 2 Report post Posted March 15, 2010 yo ... how is your reno progress? all the tiling jobs done? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tower 0 Report post Posted March 15, 2010 Wow, how did u managed to get this flat for zero COV? It's unheard of these days unless the owner is in a rush to sell. Anyway, welcome to RT. My current Hougang flat is exactly the mirror image of yours and I got it at $45K COV in Aug 08! Which block is urs? Hope to see your hse's before and after pics soon. Cheers! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
