Our Very Own Home

[matashi 1]

cool down my man, how are we going to carry on if you do not want to settle with me in private?

infact the price to you are very low liao this is standard market charging when you want your contractor to do work.

i did mentioned to you about extra charges every now & then when i want to do extra beside the original contract,

i'am sorry if you don't feel i have given you the lowest charge for these additional, but i have tried my best to do them

whenever they're necessary.

And for your Lan cable, true that i have forgotten about it, but what you have mentioned to me in the phone,

seems to me like it was an additional item, i'll have to charge a $40 very minimum cost for patching up, i believed

i did not over-charging you. And if you can remind me say you have mentioned about it, i will be very happy to bare the cost when the mistake was done by my side.

i'm quite sure till this point of time, i did nothing disappointing you, in term of my coordination, workmanship & service,

you have called me this afternoon about the above issue, i believed i have answered you nicely and have told you

that we both will sort it out when we are available later. Now that you have put it up to the public, it will somehow

spoil my reputation which i think this should not be happened.

Let's meet up again on site, let me at least have a chance to explain the charges face to face, and if you're still don't feel

satisfy, it wouldn't be too late to put it up again k.

Also to take note, my update of the additional charges are basically a proposal Charges and is not fixed yet, there are more then rooms for negotiation, and i believed i have done some for you during our conversation today already, right?

Before i say anything, i would like to say i'm sorry for ranting here about your works. I hope this will not affect anything between us.

To be fair, i am satisfied with the rest of works given to me so far. Good tilers attitude and did not give me any problem at all. Some rectification was made promptly too.

To be fair to me also, there are also many other additional work which i gladly agree to your price given to me without making any noise.

And yes it's true that we have talked about the extra charges yesterday, from our conversation it seems to me that you knew about these charges might be a bit too much for me to accept and was just trying your luck. I am just not very happy with that.

For example on LAN point issue, you call me explain say need cabling and patch up of the already existing L-box. Cost $ and by how much. I agree to do. Simple as that. Although you might have forgotten about it, but i am still willing to pay that cos it's partially my fault not to remind you and L-box was already there at that point of time and true that you need to dig a hole in it which confirm will occur more cost.

As for the L-box to cut corners for aircon blowers, my thinking is that you already knew had to cut those corners before L-box was up. It is just doesn't seem correct to me to pay for those corners which used a bit less materials to make and a bit more work to do.

For the entrance ceiling to Walk-in-Wardrobe, the entrance was already slanted. Even if the aircon trunking was not there, you would have to redo the entrance ceiling to water levelled. If the entrance is even but the aircon trunking is protruding, i would have to pay for the additional cost cos no one would expect the trunkings to be that low in the first place. And since you will have to redo that ceiling, how can you charge me for the cost to rectify mistake done by your side? When i questioned you about it, you just say if i not comfortable about paying for those then will take the charges away. Does this mean if i did not notice it then i will still be charged? I cannot endure this kind of tactics cos it was suppose to be trust from my side that you will not anyhow charge me for things like this. Give and take line was crossed over here.

Try putting yourself in my shoes and you might see my point of view.

I chose you to reno my flat cos of good reviews here in this forum, i believe it is correct to give my own review to other future potential flat owners who might think of engaging you for their flat also.

Through this forum i learn that if can give and take, things will move more smoothly without much hiccups, upsets and issues.

These are just minor errors or miscommunication that some might say between you and me. Let's not get upset about these issues.

Overall you are still doing a good job for creating a ideal home for me and my wife. We might not been able to progress so far without your help but due to the huge piling cost coming up everywhere for this new home, we would like to keep cost(s) at a low and reasonable level. Hope you understand our situation.

Case close or i never meant to make such a case cos forum was meant for rants, reviews and feedbacks right?

[matashi 1]

still hope that things can be settled in an amicable way, so that both sides can be happy.

btw, works all completed ah..? can move in soon le?

these few days doing painting lor, still got electricals and carpentry.

i believe can move in end of this month?

[matashi 1]

Yesterday went to confirm purchase from this shop in Furniture mall regardless of all the bad reviews in forum.

got not much choice elsewhere as only this sofa suits prefectly to what we want.

let's just pray hard that sofa will arrive nicely and smoothly. :bow:

[ossify 1]

yes additional work i will pay but at a reasonable price. just calculating the price ratio to amount of works added compare to original work is a big diff.

but alterations to proposed work have to pay? is the same as asking electrician to change lighting point from A to B. also have to pay or same same just pay for a single lighting point although electrician will have to cut a few more casings to point B?

L-box in living room have no cove lighting. just normal plan L-box. gas pipes were done before L-box is up. the L-box guys should have seen the gas pipes were there and lowered the original L-box to cover the gas pipes. i already can accept the extra weird looking L-box without asking to redo the whole thing liao. i gave in chin chai but was charged $...

aircon trunking was there way before the floor tiling works were done.

it was even before L-box ppl came up to take measurements.

aircon trunking did not have much problem with the L-box, only the blowers does. which is also another example case of moving lighting point from A to B.

perhaps there was no instruction for the L box to cover the gas pipes so they did the default way.

for aircon blower, you mean they saw the trunking there and did not cut a space out for the blower?

[matashi 1]

perhaps there was no instruction for the L box to cover the gas pipes so they did the default way.

for aircon blower, you mean they saw the trunking there and did not cut a space out for the blower?

nah, they did cut a space for the blower when installing L-box

[Tiler Seng 57]

Before i say anything, i would like to say i'm sorry for ranting here about your works. I hope this will not affect anything between us.

To be fair, i am satisfied with the rest of works given to me so far. Good tilers attitude and did not give me any problem at all. Some rectification was made promptly too.

To be fair to me also, there are also many other additional work which i gladly agree to your price given to me without making any noise.

And yes it's true that we have talked about the extra charges yesterday, from our conversation it seems to me that you knew about these charges might be a bit too much for me to accept and was just trying your luck. I am just not very happy with that.

For example on LAN point issue, you call me explain say need cabling and patch up of the already existing L-box. Cost $ and by how much. I agree to do. Simple as that. Although you might have forgotten about it, but i am still willing to pay that cos it's partially my fault not to remind you and L-box was already there at that point of time and true that you need to dig a hole in it which confirm will occur more cost.

As for the L-box to cut corners for aircon blowers, my thinking is that you already knew had to cut those corners before L-box was up. It is just doesn't seem correct to me to pay for those corners which used a bit less materials to make and a bit more work to do.

For the entrance ceiling to Walk-in-Wardrobe, the entrance was already slanted. Even if the aircon trunking was not there, you would have to redo the entrance ceiling to water levelled. If the entrance is even but the aircon trunking is protruding, i would have to pay for the additional cost cos no one would expect the trunkings to be that low in the first place. And since you will have to redo that ceiling, how can you charge me for the cost to rectify mistake done by your side? When i questioned you about it, you just say if i not comfortable about paying for those then will take the charges away. Does this mean if i did not notice it then i will still be charged? I cannot endure this kind of tactics cos it was suppose to be trust from my side that you will not anyhow charge me for things like this. Give and take line was crossed over here.

Try putting yourself in my shoes and you might see my point of view.

I chose you to reno my flat cos of good reviews here in this forum, i believe it is correct to give my own review to other future potential flat owners who might think of engaging you for their flat also.

Through this forum i learn that if can give and take, things will move more smoothly without much hiccups, upsets and issues.

These are just minor errors or miscommunication that some might say between you and me. Let's not get upset about these issues.

Overall you are still doing a good job for creating a ideal home for me and my wife. We might not been able to progress so far without your help but due to the huge piling cost coming up everywhere for this new home, we would like to keep cost(s) at a low and reasonable level. Hope you understand our situation.

Case close or i never meant to make such a case cos forum was meant for rants, reviews and feedbacks right?

i'm fine with the above review but just don't feel happy about open up our private conversation

to the public especially the sensitive topic regarding money, i believed you should know that i am so willing to help if i can save you a dollar, remember when you want a hole on the kitchen wall which all of us knew that it is not an easy job? i personally willing to take the risk where it might cause further damages to the new wall tiles, but you knew that i have insist to make it happened,

so you might want to ask why this work was not charge into your account? ...because there is no cost that charge to me and i do not need to come out $ from my pocket.

Afterall, this is a good lesson for the rest of the forumers, whenever you need an service from your contractor, try to ask for the charges sametime.

and Matthew i think we should just move on after this case, the furniture work are just right there waiting for us, be cool man!

[ossify 1]

nah, they did cut a space for the blower when installing L-box

oh... that means the initial quote of $1390 did not include the holes for the blowers and additional $80 was included to cut out the holes. ok i get it now.

hmm i wonder how much is the contractor price for false ceiling and L box

[Tiler Seng 57]

Today i manage to sit down to look through the comment again and think that i should explain all your angry comments one and for all, i really believe now that this is my duty to make you understand more about the charges & natural of our job, sametime i do not want your comment in this forum to be one slant side story, cause it might mis-lead the rest of the forumers from thinking contractors are all cannot be trusted:

I paid $1390 for doing L-box in my living room and MBR- This is the original contract sum for L Box & false ceiling excluding overall discount.

After Hong Tar came to install trunking, they mentioned that i have to make sure L-box is done in a way that the two aircon unit have space to fit in.- i noted the comment and agreed to construct as per marking, i remember i told you that there is a charges but i'll keep it low, and infact, i am charging you only $40 per AC box up, which i think i have kept my promise to keep the price low liao. In the phone, you told me that i have done lesser false ceiling within the Light Holder so price should be minus instead of plus, i was laughing over it cause you are not familiar with the reno market practice, so i did tried to explain but i can see that you did not believe my word so you said you want to check, and i told you ok to check around and we will sort it out again later, unfortunately, i did not expect you to check it in this way

this two box up only charge $40 per set.

Aircon unit cannot be installed lower than the L-box as it will hinder the water flowing to drain.

already told Ronald about this and expect him to instruct workers to take note of the aircon units position.

yes he did a good job as to properly "siam" the positions of the aircons and charged to my account for another $80!

This is the standard way to avoid the AC, obviously i understand what the AC contractor want and complete the task in a correct way.

Called him and was told cos L-box siam here and there need more angled L-box boards or something like that.

my arguement is that i already told him to siam the aircon units before L-box installation took place.

is not like L-box is installed liao then i ask to change, if like that i LL have to pay.

but now is not lor. is like i paying more for doing less. - The L Box light holder is a standard 600mm profile,

there are additional charges by altering it, pardon me for not explaining further cause everybody were busy that day.

Second thing, after aircon guys installed the trunkings. i realise the trunking is not aligned with the top entrance of my doorway. asked the aircon guys on the spot and they showed me with the water leveller that their aircon trunkings are straight and is the entrance top not straight. Hence told Ronald about the entrance ceiling and he said will do some patching up there.

- this could be a miscommunication with you & your AC contractor again, (i might be wrong so i say "could be")

the AC trunking are possible to place slanting to allow water flow, and i have add in self-explanatory in the pictures you provided, picture shown my lintol was level with the existing Beam, and the AC trunking was slanting. I have taken your instruction to box up where the AC was exposed,

this time at my expense again. for another $150 cleverly split into two separate item in bill.

- it was correct that i did not mentioned about additional charges for this plaster box up, i just thought i should just do it 1st and claim from you later, again i was wrong, i should have ask before doing it or FOC it since i did not make an effort to ask.

Bill states

1) to construct lintol above entrance of Walk-in-wardrobe --- $100

2) to construct plaster box up above entrance of walk-in-wardrobe --- $50

The additional box up was being constructed, i charge $50 only.....

if the entrance ceiling is straight and aligned with aircon trunking but with the aircon trunking protruding out, i would gladly pay for the mistake in calculations or should i say unexpected cost.

-Hoped now you understand about your mis-com that affected me so much, that's why i said, we should talk on site rather than just barking on the wrong tree...

this entrance ceiling is already slanted and not aligned with the aircon trunking with the aircon trunking protruding out, Ronald already have to rectify this slanted ceiling no matter what.

but instead, this was billed to me at $150. and also, one whole big MBR false ceiling is $540. 1 small small slice of plaster box up cost $50, one small small lintol which may well be those disposed off small small piece cost $100.

-Yes i should have explained earlier that concrete lintol is much expensive than plaster box up, initially i want this concrete lintol to block the sliding track, and i was thinking if i use plaster box up at this area, you will come back to me every now & then to ask me to rectify the crack line cause by vaibration, so i might as we well just do it concrete & give you discount later.

quite ridiculous i would say.- not now.

called Ronald about this and argued to him. he say if i mind then take out lor. WHO DUN MIND???- i was trying to bare some cost with you, but you did not see it OMG

Third thing, at first was thought that L-box in living room should be able to cover the citigas pipes running through living room to kitchen.

when installing L-box (i was not around), Ronald call me saying that L-box in living room gas pipe area need to lower a bit to hide the pipes.

say just a little bit, asking me if i was ok with the small protruding part. i say fine since bo bian mah, gas pipe block then what can i do other than lowering the L-box by a bit?

he did not tell me about charging on the phone, nor the day after L-box was fully done.

-i remembered i told you about a extra cost of $100 for water piping & follow by the Living Hall additional charges of $200... i did mentioned about keeping the Light Holder to certain height instead of bringing it much lower just because we want to cover the gas pipe trunking. Now then i know that you did not get what i meant, so it was a mis-communication again...

instead just conveniently list inside the bill again this time for $200

- but owner anger don't come with no reason, now i looking at it, what's wrong for just bringing the false ceiling down by another 3"? just because i was too particular about the ceiling Ht, does that mean it have to make the owner to pay for my particularize? The answer is: The Owner did not understand or hear me at that point of time, that was where the problem came from.... for making up, i am willing to share the damage with you.

[Tiler Seng 57]

then on another instance was calling me about the boxing up of the pipes in kitchen for the gas pipes.

he say can box up, look better. even suggest to me paint black look better. i was thinking "wah good service hor"

BUT was also charged to me for $150 :curse:

The same problem link one another.... i remember telling you about the additional charges for Living Hall, so i take it that you do know about the charges in this area, Obviously i have make an effort to beautify the Black Kitchen, or if i were to know you do not want to spend money to box up piping, i'll then suggest you to paint the gas pipe just like what i have done for your Service Balcony Big Pipe

do you know how i envy the colour finishing of your big pipe? this is beautiful

I mean if dun wan to do for free then kindly just mention that do this cost $ and ask if i am fine with it before proceeding. And also not to charge for something which is not my fault.

-seems like both of us are quite forgetful most of the time, we will then try to write down moving forward.

i will pay if things turn out to be my error in communicating.

For instance, i specifically told him that i wan to do networking in the house from living room to MBR at the very first meet-up.

I remembered very clearly i told him cos i need that badly as i need the networking, very certain that i did not miss that.

- Yes i admit i did not remembered and am quite sure it was being memtioned once, but man please forgive me i have seen so many owner so must have just slipped out... and you also have to admit that this was not mentioned during our site meeting with the electrician right, so i mean, this is not just my mistake for forgetting it, you should responsible for it partly, and infact our meeting up with electrician was to finalize the Electrical point and if that was not being mentioned, then it will not be done.

After L-box was up and i realise that LAN points was not set up. He say have to pay for $40 for cutting hole in L-box for cabling purpose.

At this time, i already was very sure he forgot about the cabling i told him in the very early stages. I just aiya ok lah, chin chai $40 pay liao dun wan argue so much.- man $40 for patching up is cheap liao...

BUT NOW IT SEEMS TO ME THAT I CHIN CHAI- Thanks for the chin chai, i don't like to work with owner who are not chin chai, BUT HE KEEP JIA JIA JIA! i explained it so i did not jia lah

[Tiler Seng 57]

BTW, it's time to update your reno again, i hope all my owner happily renovate with me, and i feel proud whenever my client given their trust to me, again & again, this is what pushing me and keeping me to move on

View from Living towards Private Balcony

Beautiful Black sparkling MBR floor tiles

Tiles line follow to MBR

Tiles line follow to Kitchen

Owner request being fulfilled, hope he is happy about this arrangement.

[Tiler Seng 57]

good coordination of pipe stainless steel laying, nicely done

hollow portion for sampoo bottle were weel designed, rain shower is in the center!

Tempered swing glass door installed today in the Dark dark Kitchen

Walk in wardrobe sliding door was installed. this time round learn smart liao, asked matashi whether want

to add box up to cover the sliding track ornot... and the charges too sametime

[Tiler Seng 57]

shower screen in both bathroom

This is the TV hole i memtioned on the Kitchen wall

[matashi 1]

wah actually i thinking tomolo can come home early to take pictures to update here.

now no need liao

[Banned 1]

nice! I was thinking of doing the same niche for my toilet. May i know what is the depth of it? It seems very thick..

[Leslyn Tan 0]

May i know how much your renovation.. and what is the material for your floor type - Living room...thanks