My Dream Home@bk

[May_dream1 14]

Think alot liked me using iphone and signature don't appear.. But May_dream is still very nice and pm me the nos. . Thanks dear!

when i am free, then can do that lah. been really busy at work recently that i don't really have time to come to renotalk.

and my reno was done so long ago that not many are referring to it... so no questions for me to answer at all. might be soon before i become history in renotalk liao.

[Fionn 0]

Hi, hope you don't mind to share the contact of your contractor - Andrew. Thanks in advance.

[May_dream1 14]

Hi, hope you don't mind to share the contact of your contractor - Andrew. Thanks in advance.

pm-ed you

[cenvin 1]

hi May dream, will u pm me Andrew contact?

Thanks a lot!!

[Davihann 0]

Hi May_dream,

Appreciate if you could PM me Andrew's contact? Will be getting keys to my resale 5rm flat so looking for reliable contractor. Thanks!

[michel 0]

Hi May

Can you pm me Ah soon and Andrew contact?

[May_dream1 14]

Hi May

Can you pm me Ah soon and Andrew contact?

Hi May_dream,

Appreciate if you could PM me Andrew's contact? Will be getting keys to my resale 5rm flat so looking for reliable contractor. Thanks!

hi May dream, will u pm me Andrew contact?

Thanks a lot!!

pm-ed to all of you.

[smartlady 0]

RENOVATION DAY 10 - STRESSFUL DAY

I am not sure how tiles selections are done by you all. For me, i need to make sure the colour matches my overall theme and i will put through the tiles through "stress test". What i mean by "stress test"?? LOL

1) At the shop (soon bee huat / hafary), pour some water on top of the tile and use my feet to try to walk - to see whether slippery or not.

2) Those that are not slippery, take samples from the shop

2) pour oil, soya sauce (dark and light), ribena and whatever i can find in my kitchen

3) leave it overnight

4) use a cloth to wipe off the next day (gently, not scrubbing)

5) if it can come off easily, then can be considered for next test

6) use a marker and write on it

7) use another cloth and try to scrub it off with a little soap.

8) final test, use a little alcohol and rub on the tile. See whether the colour of the tiles will change

sound difficult? well, i don't know any other way to make sure the tiles are slippery, easily cleaned and will not lose colour.

After doing all these to 3 different tiles, i finally chosen the one for my living/dining/kitchen + bedrooms.

BUT GUESS WHAT?? The tiles was delivered today and its uneven! So the tiler told my contractor then he called me to go down to have a look urgently. Went to see and really, the tiles are uneven... some are U-shaped and some are n-shaped. hhmmm.... was not really angry but stressed out. So quickly went to SBH again to choose another tile.

This time, i only managed to do step 1... sob sob..... hopefully it will be ok!

If i would have seen ur post earlier i would have followed it ..omg i missed it..hats off to u..

[rave17 0]

Hi, can share Andrew contact?

[hi577 1]

MY CONTRACTOR : ANDREW

A few of you been asking, who is my contractor. So today i will give you an assessment of him. Why i delayed until now to give out his name? For all type of services, i believe in before sales service and after sale service. I guess a month into moving in, would be good enough to say about their after sales service.

Why i choose Andrew?

1) I was on a budget and i know all those that i want to do not going to be cheap. Having a long WIW, special door, special swivel tv feature wall and an island is not going to be cheap. When i speak to 9 contractors/ID, i roughly know the price and it was slightly above my budget. So no choice but to choose as cheap as possible.

His pricing is not the cheapest (2nd cheapest) but its good enough for me.

2) The chemistry - i understand what he says and he understands what i wanted. so its easy for me to tell him my ideas and my wants to make it into the dream home i wanted. I think this is very important so that what you have in your mind will become a reality. Or else a lot of misunderstanding will come and have a lot of bad feelings between yourself and your contractor/ID.

3) He was recommended by a friend. I always believe in recommendation because as friends, we want good things for our friends too. So i am very careful about who i recommend as well, whether for reno or for any other things that we face on daily basis. If its recommended, then i know he will try his best to do things to the best he can as he won't want to spoilt his relationship with the "recommender". For eg, now that he has done my reno, he will not be able to answer to me if he did not do his best for those i recommended.

Renovation assessment

As i was in a tight timing to move in, from the time i collect the keys to i move in, only have 39 days, including saturdays and sundays. So if i take away these 2 days, there are only 29 days. So, a few of the preparation have to be done before renovation begins.

Tiles selection : 3 times

Laminate selection : 4 times

Lightings : 1 time

Cabinet, wardrobe and door design : 3 times

I would say that he was quite patient with me. I considered myself quite fussy but now that i am in renotalk for a while, i realised i am not very fussy actually. hahahaha... there are worse people than me.

I would say, Andrew is:

1) Patient

2) Prioritise well (so if you are as urgent case as me, then i believe he will make it happen for you)

3) A bit long winded so you must be patient to listen to him as well

4) Trustworthy - but this is a 2-way thing. If you trust him, he will deliver but if you always suspect and question him, how he will be able to do his job well?

5) Never give nonsense excuses. Actually, so far, never really gave me any excuses.

6) Eye for perfection. Like i said, i though i was fussy but he is fussier than me. Things i never realised, he will see it and try to get it done in a better way for me.

7) Even after a month of moving in, i just need to call him or his project coordinator, i get things done. The grout line for my toilet flooring seem like loosen and have gaps, so today got it done (with 2 days notice).

8) Sometimes busy and difficult to get him, but if you willing to keep on calling or leave sms, he will call you back. But 80% of the time, i manage to get him so totally not a problem for me.

I am so glad my reno was so smooth. Although tiring but at least i never face anything not able to be rectified or corrected. Most importantly, no delay at all although some touch up were done during this whole month.

Anything for me to complain? NONE!

So after finished this reno, i gained a friend. And through renotalk, i gained many many friends. Its a short journey but one that gained me a lot of experiences and friends.

hi....do u mind share the contractor contact who did reno for your home...thanks

[smartlady 0]

hi....do u mind share the contractor contact who did reno for your home...thanks

can pm me adrew contact no

[salmonpink 0]

hi May,

finally finished reading your blog. thanks for sharing tips and your reno experience. if it's not too much trouble I'd like to have Andrew's contact. heard about some contractors rejecting small budget reno so keeping my fingers crossed!

thanks!

[catcat78 0]

RENOVATION DAY 20

2 group of people are at my house today.

1) Air con trunking

2) Electrical

3) Measurement for windows grills

As i was there for a short while during lunch (basically to be there to write cheques ) i can see that a lot of cabling and trunking has been done. As there are so many poeple walking around, i didn't take any photos. But i have to say that my walls really look so so so smooth.

The air con trunking was done to my instructions which i know is the best way to do to minimise the air con trunking. Hehehehe.... 80% of the trunking are hidden by L-box and those area that are not, its behind pillars. So i don't think it will make a lot of different to me.

As for electrical, i am surprised at their fast hands fast legs. everything was done smoothly and accurately. But being there once a while does help a lot. For eg, they wanted to put the fridge power point after leaving a space of 800mm. Because i was there, i know my fridge was 900+mm so i told him to leave a space of 1m instead.

While i was there looking at all the mess, the guy came again to measure my windows for window grill. Another good thing, i was there cos i can tell him exactly what i want. there are few options for window grills too. To make it 4 panels like the windows, or to make it 2 panels? As the window in my guest room are quite special (both ends are louvers while middle are 2 panels of sliding). Interesting, right?

Yesterday night had another long session with my contractor again. To talk about my tv feature wall, 3rd time to discuss on this. Every mm counts as even with a mm difference, the whole thing might not turn. What i am afraid of is the weight. i am worried that it will drop down.... oh tv tv.....

In the end, i didn't think of fanciful ideas for my main door. too expensive.... just normal laminated main door then i can get those nice stickers to paste on it..... always can custom made that. cheaper and can remove them anytime i am bored with it.

Just a few simple thing, took me 4 hours! 2 more weeks and i am done!!

Hi, Can you PM me the electrician contact or info?

[faithboon 0]

MY CONTRACTOR : ANDREW

A few of you been asking, who is my contractor. So today i will give you an assessment of him. Why i delayed until now to give out his name? For all type of services, i believe in before sales service and after sale service. I guess a month into moving in, would be good enough to say about their after sales service.

Why i choose Andrew?

1) I was on a budget and i know all those that i want to do not going to be cheap. Having a long WIW, special door, special swivel tv feature wall and an island is not going to be cheap. When i speak to 9 contractors/ID, i roughly know the price and it was slightly above my budget. So no choice but to choose as cheap as possible.

His pricing is not the cheapest (2nd cheapest) but its good enough for me.

2) The chemistry - i understand what he says and he understands what i wanted. so its easy for me to tell him my ideas and my wants to make it into the dream home i wanted. I think this is very important so that what you have in your mind will become a reality. Or else a lot of misunderstanding will come and have a lot of bad feelings between yourself and your contractor/ID.

3) He was recommended by a friend. I always believe in recommendation because as friends, we want good things for our friends too. So i am very careful about who i recommend as well, whether for reno or for any other things that we face on daily basis. If its recommended, then i know he will try his best to do things to the best he can as he won't want to spoilt his relationship with the "recommender". For eg, now that he has done my reno, he will not be able to answer to me if he did not do his best for those i recommended.

Renovation assessment

As i was in a tight timing to move in, from the time i collect the keys to i move in, only have 39 days, including saturdays and sundays. So if i take away these 2 days, there are only 29 days. So, a few of the preparation have to be done before renovation begins.

Tiles selection : 3 times

Laminate selection : 4 times

Lightings : 1 time

Cabinet, wardrobe and door design : 3 times

I would say that he was quite patient with me. I considered myself quite fussy but now that i am in renotalk for a while, i realised i am not very fussy actually. hahahaha... there are worse people than me.

I would say, Andrew is:

1) Patient

2) Prioritise well (so if you are as urgent case as me, then i believe he will make it happen for you)

3) A bit long winded so you must be patient to listen to him as well

4) Trustworthy - but this is a 2-way thing. If you trust him, he will deliver but if you always suspect and question him, how he will be able to do his job well?

5) Never give nonsense excuses. Actually, so far, never really gave me any excuses.

6) Eye for perfection. Like i said, i though i was fussy but he is fussier than me. Things i never realised, he will see it and try to get it done in a better way for me.

7) Even after a month of moving in, i just need to call him or his project coordinator, i get things done. The grout line for my toilet flooring seem like loosen and have gaps, so today got it done (with 2 days notice).

8) Sometimes busy and difficult to get him, but if you willing to keep on calling or leave sms, he will call you back. But 80% of the time, i manage to get him so totally not a problem for me.

I am so glad my reno was so smooth. Although tiring but at least i never face anything not able to be rectified or corrected. Most importantly, no delay at all although some touch up were done during this whole month.

Anything for me to complain? NONE!

So after finished this reno, i gained a friend. And through renotalk, i gained many many friends. Its a short journey but one that gained me a lot of experiences and friends.

Hi! I am looking for a contractor to help me renovate my place. Have met with 3 contractors but one one sent in his quote which is way above my budget. Appreciate if you could email me Andrew's contact. My email address - faithboon@hotmail.com. Thanks a million.

[VicnJac 0]

Hi May,

Just finished reading your blog. Lots of useful information.

Just got keys to new house, and feels overwhelmed by the among of information out there.

Your blog is a very good reference. Thank you. Admire your patience to record details.

Would love to know Andrew's contact.

Thank you.