Self Managing Or Renovation Works

[user123 5]

Hi,

I wonder does anyone here have experience in managing the reno works in their home before?

For my new flat, I only have few items to do:-

1. Carpentry work for living hall (show cabinet, partition & feature wall)

2. Carpentry work for kitchen (cabinets only)

3. Carpentry work for master room (wardrobe only)

4. false ceiling works (hall and master room only)

5. Whole unit painting

6. kitchen glass door

7. bathroom shower screen

With this in mind, I need to source for:-

1. carpenter

2. electrician

3. false ceiling contractor

4. painter

5. plumber

6. gas piping works

7. tilings (for kitchen concrete slab)

8. Glass contractor

BUT,

anyone got any idea, which one goes first and which one ends last?

Thanks for help.

[therat 18]

for me, I will arrange in

4. false ceiling works (hall and master room only)

5. Whole unit painting

1. Carpentry work for living hall (show cabinet, partition & feature wall)

2. Carpentry work for kitchen (cabinets only)

3. Carpentry work for master room (wardrobe only)

6. kitchen glass door

7. bathroom shower screen

add on - touch up painting (if you get freelance painter, most of them don't do touch up. So.. better keep some paint for urself)

[user123 5]

for me, I will arrange in

4. false ceiling works (hall and master room only)

5. Whole unit painting

1. Carpentry work for living hall (show cabinet, partition & feature wall)

2. Carpentry work for kitchen (cabinets only)

3. Carpentry work for master room (wardrobe only)

6. kitchen glass door

7. bathroom shower screen

add on - touch up painting (if you get freelance painter, most of them don't do touch up. So.. better keep some paint for urself)

thanks for reply, I forget to mentioned aircon

[therat 18]

then aircon 1st

[marshmallow 0]

If need to do electrical work, probably have to do before false ceiling so can hide some wires/trunking in the false ceiling?

[user123 5]

If need to do electrical work, probably have to do before false ceiling so can hide some wires/trunking in the false ceiling?

So now while waiting for carpentry, false ceiling n painting, I can ask Aircon guy to run trunking first right? Then after painting only install indoor n outdoor unit... Am I right?

[demonlicious 0]

My advice is to go with an ID as we are no jack of all trade. We are already swamped with daily work and reno can be really stressful. Leave it to the experts to handle it. Nonetheless, its good to spend some effort looking for good and responsible ID.

[krdesign 0]

Although handing the entire project to an ID is convenient (no hassle), but it would mean you are effectively paying many more thousands over what you could have ended up paying for. Cos IDs and contractors mark up the price quite a lot.

My close friend owns an ID firm, and he sometimes tells me that they will quote according to what they think the customer can afford. So if u walk into an ID wearing LV, Rolex and other brand name stuff, be prepared to kena chop. My ID friend said he has ever charged customers $100k for reno work that eventually cost less than $50k. That's a whopping 100% markup in profit!!

So although I am gonna start renovations on my own house soon, no way am I going to go to any ID / contractor. I'd rather try to co-ordinate everything on my own and save the money!

My advice is to go with an ID as we are no jack of all trade. We are already swamped with daily work and reno can be really stressful. Leave it to the experts to handle it. Nonetheless, its good to spend some effort looking for good and responsible ID.

[Christopher 0]

Haha,

Well thought, i was thinking of what you all are thinking when i got my house. However i ended up with a contractor that did everything for me after comparing ID & contractor quote. Just doing the same amount of works the IDs will quote higher than contractor and most importantly timing is met. My contractor actually make a point to be present at site on everyday basis! If i will to DIY, it might save me at most $1K to $1.5K however with the time that i save on going to jobsite I make back more $$ since i am doing outdoor sales!

Although handing the entire project to an ID is convenient (no hassle), but it would mean you are effectively paying many more thousands over what you could have ended up paying for. Cos IDs and contractors mark up the price quite a lot.

My close friend owns an ID firm, and he sometimes tells me that they will quote according to what they think the customer can afford. So if u walk into an ID wearing LV, Rolex and other brand name stuff, be prepared to kena chop. My ID friend said he has ever charged customers $100k for reno work that eventually cost less than $50k. That's a whopping 100% markup in profit!!

So although I am gonna start renovations on my own house soon, no way am I going to go to any ID / contractor. I'd rather try to co-ordinate everything on my own and save the money!

[neubie 2]

Although handing the entire project to an ID is convenient (no hassle), but it would mean you are effectively paying many more thousands over what you could have ended up paying for. Cos IDs and contractors mark up the price quite a lot.

My close friend owns an ID firm, and he sometimes tells me that they will quote according to what they think the customer can afford. So if u walk into an ID wearing LV, Rolex and other brand name stuff, be prepared to kena chop. My ID friend said he has ever charged customers $100k for reno work that eventually cost less than $50k. That's a whopping 100% markup in profit!!

So although I am gonna start renovations on my own house soon, no way am I going to go to any ID / contractor. I'd rather try to co-ordinate everything on my own and save the money!

that's provided u have the luxury of time to oversee each and every aspect of the reno, from design to sourcing to completion.

PS: LV is no longer that "in" thing to me .... so many pple carry them, real and cheong ones, hermes/chanel may still speak of some characters that separates the uncommon out of the ordinary. :D

[froggy 0]

another negative point on going ala carte is finger pointing by the different sub con when something goes wrong. A contractor or ID serves as an overall coordinator, so if anything goes wrong, there is only one person to go after. Sometimes you may need the same sub-con to return to do different parts of their job, and each trip means extra $ also. So imo, getting an overall coord saves us alot of sanity . Of course, unless the owner is very familiar with reno work, what to look out for etc, then should be ok to do on own. Or, if the amount of work needed is very little, then certainly no point engaging an ID.

Edited November 20, 2010 by froggy

[froggy 0]

With this in mind, I need to source for:-

1. carpenter

2. electrician

3. false ceiling contractor

4. painter

5. plumber

6. gas piping works

7. tilings (for kitchen concrete slab)

8. Glass contractor

based on my reno, it's

1. electrician

2. aircon

3. gas pipe

4. plumbing

5. kitchen cement base

6. false ceiling

7. painting

8. carpentry

9. glass works

of course, to speed things up, some items can be done con-currently, esp if they involve different parts of the house.