A Meeting Of East And West In Tampines.

[RimBlock 0]

Contents

1. Who are we.

2. Where to begin.

3. Too late to help (first renovation).

4. So where are we now (current renovation).

::

More topics to be added with quick links as the thread grows

[RimBlock 0]

1. Who are we ?.

So first a little introduction.

I am British, who married to a wonderful Singaporean Chinese lady who had a son (now also adopted by me) 4 years ago and we also have another son.

I tend to write a lot in any blogs I do so please bare with me as I also like posting a lot of pictures and links if I find anything of use to others.

Although it is not a good photo of me and my wife will probably kill me, here is a family photo.

Yes I am aware that my thick wavy hair and Singapore's humidity do not work so well together sometimes

We are all nice, friendly and very approachable so if you see us walking around, feel free to say hello or if you would like to meet up for coffee etc then drop me a note. It would be nice to make more friends around Singapore. I am also always up for a good XBox session . You might want to mention the renotalk forums though as you may get a confused look otherwise .

RB

[RimBlock 0]

2. Where to begin.

I always say that I am sure I was born in a soap opera due to the twists and turns my life has taken. See what you think

I often travelled to the Singapore offices on business for a week or two and then took a break travelling around Thailand for a couple of weeks. Being a consultant the deal worked out well for my employer as I would pay the flights but get tax breaks as they would be under business expenses with the UK tax office and I would then get a local priced holiday paid for out of my own pocket.

The only problem with this was finding things to do after the working day in Singapore on my own. Colleagues have their own life and after the first two visits it became harder to find people to go out and about with. Although I am British, I am not particularly interested in football or in drinking until I can no longer stand .

On one of my trips I decided to get on-line and chat to a few people to see if I could find anyone willing to share dinner or a movie or anything really to avoid just sitting in the hotel after work watching tv. A few people responded and I met up with a couple. Little did I know that the second person I met up with would be my wife 8 months later .

After a couple of evenings together I had to leave for my pre-booked holiday in Thailand. Fortune was with me though as I had only booked a couple of nights in the hotel in Bangkok as I wanted to see where this holiday took me so didn't want to have any hard and fast plans. I stayed there for two nights and then booked a return flight back to Singapore. I also managed to leave my ATM cards in a taxi so then had to cancel it and rely on my credit cards which were in the room safe but I could not withdraw cash on as I deliberately left the pin numbers at home in the UK. The cab drive found my wallet and my photography business card (I do a bit of photography as a hobby) with a local mobile number on it. He called as I was stepping out of the shower but only spoke Thai so I had to get dried, dressed one handed whilst keeping this poor taxi driver on the phone and down to reception. He drove back and dropped off my wallet. Nothing was missing (I don't keep cash in the wallet). I had already cancelled my ATM card so that was no good any more but there were a few other things in there which were important including the photo of the lady I had just met. Is my life starting to sound a bit like a soap opera plot yet ? .

My parents were obviously taken aback but were very supportive as they have always been.

Anyway, I flew back to Singapore, arranged with my boss to continue working there for another 3 weeks rather than being on holiday and spent the time with this lady and her son. Things went from good to even better and 4 or so months after I returned to the UK we got engaged. I returned for my birthday and the ROM and then had to return back to the UK for the time being. I had arranged to transfer to Singapore with the company I worked for but the catch was it would be on local Singaporean wages as a permanent member of staff (contractors pay is usually around double that of permanent staff members in the UK). I had to meet some other requirements for a EP etc and after having an interview by local Singapore HR I was given the offer.

After tying up loose ends, paying up the tax and other paperwork, I arranged for the relocation company to collect all of my worldly possessions (not so much as I rented in the UK) and transport them by ship to Singapore. I travelled by air (Singapore Airlines) and it was one of the two times I splashed out and got a first class ticket. Fate was with me again as the plane developed a fault and so take off was delayed until 4am. What with all the stress of the move and everything else (leaving friends and family), I was glad I could rest in the first class lounge with food and comfy seats etc.

My wife and her son met my on arrival. She had rented an apartment in Tampines (her family all live there) and moved in. It took a month for my things to arrive and strangely, the only box opened by Singapore customs was the one clearly containing books .

Our two year rental plan fell apart as the Singapore property prices started to climb and after the first 12 months our land lord wished to sell. On investigation we found it was far cheaper to buy than to rent and so we started looking. As I was only on a EP I could not contribute towards a home loan but strangely my salary was taken in to account for the 8K ceiling. My wife is on a lowish wage and so we found we could only afford a 3 room in Tampines...

[Tampinesian 0]

Hi RimBlock,

Im living in tampines too. Can't wait to see complete renovation.

[RimBlock 0]

3. Too late to help (first renovation).

As some of the more astute of you will notice, I have been a member here since 2008. This is because I came upon this sight whilst doing a renovation on our first property. unfortunately the advice here came too late to avoid some issues we had (none particularly major but annoying none the less).

Firstly, this is where there is a bit of a culture clash . For renovations, in the UK, the guys would do a lot of the work. It is considered manly to be able to handle power tools and not kill yourself or anyone else. It does not matter what the quality of your skills are or what the finished article looks like, if you as a man made it then it affirms amongst your peers that you really are a true man. If the result is truly that bad, your wife will secretly get a builder or whomever around to fix it whist making sure you are out so as not to bruise your ego . When guys have their friends over, it is not unusual for them all to vanish in to the shed to check out the latest power tools. It is also not unheard of for there to be a hidden beer fridge and TV hence them staying outside whilst the ladies are doing their ladies things . In essence, most guys in the UK treat DIY like ladies in Singapore treat shopping . Hopefully from this you can see how ingrained in our culture DIY is. Now zoom in to the present with the Englishman in Singapore without power tools and being told by his wife that we have to give this guy in a suit tens of thousands of dollars to do all the manly stuff whilst we have to just sit by and watch . It also didn't help that my father was a builder / carpenter and so I have usually been roped in as cheap manual labour during these father / son bonding sessions. To be fair, I enjoyed it very much.

We stumbled across a 3 room apartment on the ground floor in the 900 series of blocks in Tampines. After a quick view we decided to make an offer and it was accepted. We paid 200K val + 40K COV on top which was a very expensive COV for the time but the unit had a read door and courtyard and no need to wait for the lifts (this was before the LUP came to the 900 series). We excised our OTP and got our keys a few months later. Now came the juggling with the landlord of our rented place and getting the place renovated. The apartment was in original condition including the rockwall finishing.

Whilst waiting for the keys we found ourselves at Expo and happened across one of the many renovation fairs. We were seduced by the dark side. Shiny show flats, smiling ID's and pretty sales girls (although I obviously didn't see the pretty girls as I was walking around with my wife and so had my eyes shut all the time to make sure I didn't catch a glimpse of any pretty girls at all ).

We signed up with an id firm and arranged to go down to see their quote at their showroom in Pasir Ris. He was very helpful and even managed to point us in the direction of where to get the best reno loans to be able to match his 30-35K reno bill . The original bill was 27K + electrical (around 4K) but we had to top up on most things like tiles to get something we wanted. When supplying our own sink and shower, nothing was taken off the bill even though they were part of the package we purchased.

In the end we did most things with the apartment excluding;

Didn't change the windows

Didn't change the floor tiles in the bedrooms or the living room apart from where we moved the storeroom in to the kitchen.

Floor plan

(will upload when I get home when I get time)

I only have the after pics as these were taken for our agent when we came to sell a couple of months ago.

Living Room

Kitchen

more in the next post..

[RimBlock 0]

Common Toilet

Master Bedroom

more in the next post...

[RimBlock 0]

Master Toilet

Kids Bedroom

....and no, our apartment does not look like this most the time. What with two kids running around (older one is coming to 12 and the youngest is coming to 3), are you kidding me that we could keep it like that .

So what were we unhappy with ?

The electrical trunking was stuck to the wall but was not filled so you can see the gap behind the trunking all through the apartment.

The grouting between the tiles kept coming out.

A couple of the mosaic tiles behind the shower are cracked

The plumbers connected the hot water feed to the cold water kitchen tap (this was fixed)

The plumbers broke a tile in the master bedroom toilet then just filled with concrete.

The plumbers fitted the common toilet rain shower right next to the toilet door (this was moved but we ended up with a damaged tile).

The colour of the gate and the window grills are different (partly our fault and a misunderstanding but surely the ID should have confirmed).

A couple of the floor tiles had defects but were still laid anyway.

Finish on the rubbish chute damaged by chemical wash.

To be fair, the ID was very proactive getting the people back to try and fix issues but after three attempts to fix the grouting problem we gave up in the end.

The renovation also took around a month more than quoted and I was living in the master bedroom sleeping on a old mattress on the floor as they were laying tiles in the living room. My wife and the our oldest were at my mother-in-laws. My wife was expecting our second. We moved in just after my wife gave birth so she had to spend her confinement period at her mothers which was probably better in order to let all the dust settle in our new place.

Many lessons learnt. Now it is time to put them in to practice...

RB

[black shadow 0]

Master Toilet

Kids Bedroom

....and no, our apartment does not look like this most the time. What with two kids running around (older one is coming to 12 and the youngest is coming to 3), are you kidding me that we could keep it like that .

So what were we unhappy with ?

The electrical trunking was stuck to the wall but was not filled so you can see the gap behind the trunking all through the apartment.

The grouting between the tiles kept coming out.

A couple of the mosaic tiles behind the shower are cracked

The plumbers connected the hot water feed to the cold water kitchen tap (this was fixed)

The plumbers broke a tile in the master bedroom toilet then just filled with concrete.

The plumbers fitted the common toilet rain shower right next to the toilet door (this was moved but we ended up with a damaged tile).

The colour of the gate and the window grills are different (partly our fault and a misunderstanding but surely the ID should have confirmed).

A couple of the floor tiles had defects but were still laid anyway.

Finish on the rubbish chute damaged by chemical wash.

To be fair, the ID was very proactive getting the people back to try and fix issues but after three attempts to fix the grouting problem we gave up in the end.

The renovation also took around a month more than quoted and I was living in the master bedroom sleeping on a old mattress on the floor as they were laying tiles in the living room. My wife and the our oldest were at my mother-in-laws. My wife was expecting our second. We moved in just after my wife gave birth so she had to spend her confinement period at her mothers which was probably better in order to let all the dust settle in our new place.

Many lessons learnt. Now it is time to put them in to practice...

RB

Hi RB,

Thanks for sharing though sorry to hear about the unhappy issues

Cheers

[Banned 1]

Hi RB! Welcome to renotalk!

Will be shift back to Tampines soon..

Are you shifting around tampines or elsewhere this time round?

[berry_surprise 0]

what a story! if wasn't for renotalk, i would believe in those expo ID fair which is a total joke!

[reizzz 0]

welcome!

waiting to see your current renovation

and by the way, your family photo is cute

[leechaorui 2]

No matter how sucks your reno is, a happy family together more than compensate for things. I noticed that you have only one bed in the kid's room. Is it enough space since you have two boys now?

[RimBlock 0]

Hi RB,

Thanks for sharing though sorry to hear about the unhappy issues

Cheers

Sharings always good

Are you shifting around tampines or elsewhere this time round?

We are shifting from the 900 series to the 100 series (in front of the OCBC building by Century Square). My younger son goes to Sparkle Tots in Blk 940 and my oldest goes to St Hildas and is just about to sit his PSLE. We wanted somewhere close to save moving the kids around too much. We looked around the 400 series and the 700 / 800 / 200 series of blocks but there were three units in the 100 series . I like the EM's as I am used to living in landed properties as the majority of properties in the UK are houses. My wife is understanding and so relented to us getting an EM (I thinks she secretly also likes them but shhh, don't let her know I told you).

what a story! if wasn't for renotalk, i would believe in those expo ID fair which is a total joke!

Forgot to add that the mirror started to develop round rust marks which usually indicates the back film is damaged and so moisture can get in rusting the thin metal coating that gives the mirror its reflective properties. We went and bought a new mirror and carefully pulled the one they put up off the wall. I then drilled and hung the new mirror.

We learnt a few things to look out for during our experiences with a renovation and from reading here (I love to see other peoples renos ). God for inspiring new ideas .

Right, I have just ordered my wifes secret office birthday cake which she reminded to to order for her birthday tomorrow . No I am not that bad I cannot remember. Her family birthday cake was ordered a few days ago. She also forgot my birthday and had to ask her sister to get and deliver as both her and I work around Suntec .

For anyone who is interested, I had a photography thread here from when I was doing portrait photography as a hobby in the UK and a fitness thread here as I continue to work on loosing some extra weight I seem to have acquired whilst I have been living in Singapore (Singapore has been maybe a little too generous to me ). Caution: The second link contains...... nipples. Unfortunately they are only mine from my progress photos .

RB

[RimBlock 0]

...and by the way, your family photo is cute

Thanks very much reizzz, not sure how the fat guy snuck in the back though..... hang on thats... Kung Fu Pandahhhhhh

No matter how sucks your reno is, a happy family together more than compensate for things. I noticed that you have only one bed in the kid's room. Is it enough space since you have two boys now?

Hi Leechaorui, we have a single bed from Ikea (love them or hate them, I go for the second choice ) which fits between our bed and the window so our youngest has a wall on one side and our bed on the other. He moves around a lot and can easily stretch from one side to the other on a queen sized bed if he sleeps sideways (which is quite common for him). Sometimes he ends up with his feed by my head and then proceeds to kick me. My wife has caught him smiling sometimes when he does it. He had to have his own bed but is still too clingy to be able to sleep on his own. The position of our bed and the single bed are not in the shot as the single bed was dismantled and our bed moved over in order to make the room look bigger for selling .

Cheers

RB

[neubie 2]

wow! you have expensive hobbies... canon X-series of DSLR, L-glasses.... basically you can set up a studio at home...