Help Needed! Matrix Concept - Alvin

[kcsum 0]

Area : Clementi Central

Type : HDB 4 Room

Size 96 sqm

I was looking for a renovation contractor and happened to read the topic on Alvin Aw from Matrix Concept Pte Ltd. Honestly speaking, I doubt the feedback from his topic as it seems too good to be true. This was probably due to my “not so good experiences” with several renovation contractors I encountered in the past. I believe I don’t need to elaborate the typically so called “not so good experiences” we commonly encounter.

However, I noticed the duration of his topic has been going on for 9 years and close to zero or no major negative feedback. I must say this is pretty impressive and amazing given how we Singaporean behaves (complain, LOL). In the real world, very few people will bother to leave down positive comments as they think this is part of the service. However, once something went wrong, tons of negative feedback will flood the threat.

After some considerations and based on no major negative feedback, I decided to meet up with him. Eventually, his personality convinced me to engage his services without me meeting any other renovation contractors.

Let’s talk above Alvin. He is a gentle, committable and very patient person. Good knowledge in interior design, especially maximizing space and the use of color scheme to your liking. Very responsive (very important to every home owner) and most importantly not pushing at all. He will deliver what he promised but he will not make any empty promises that he cannot deliver. This is what I liked.

Prior to renovation commenced, he even took time to inform my immediate neighbors and the one staying below my unit, worrying that the hacking might frighten young children or infant. This is one of those small things that differential him from those I had encountered with.

3 weeks into the renovation, Singapore began the one month lockdown due to Covid-19. Yes, i was one of the unlucky one. But, I was also one of the lucky one due to Alvin. Knowing that there will be a long period of uncertainty ahead, he made tremendous efforts to arrange as many works done as possible several days before the lockdown. Even after Singapore announced Phase-2 of Covid-19, many renovation activities are still impossible to carry out up till now due to critical shortage of manpower. Many of the new home owners were told that they can only move in in Sep/Oct period or later. But Alvin did a great job to push for my renovation to be completed in mid-July as promised. Besides his ability to plan efficiently, he went his way out to hire (literally fighting for) the limited pool of workers available in his industry, instead of telling you that he has no worker or his regular pool of workers could not enter Singapore, etc. Of course this come at a price - much higher cost due to the shortage of workers. However, he absorbed all the additional costs without charging me an extra single cent. I called this credibility, responsibility and trust.

Well, you may question me is his renovation really so perfect. Honestly, this is not a perfect world, especially during the Covid-19 period. In the middle and at the end of the renovation, we did observed several minor discrepancies. Important is he rectified them without delay and without giving me any excuses. That’s really great.

At the end of the day, I believe I have chosen the very right person and company to renovate my house. I also gain a friend, and a reliable renovation contractor in the course of my home renovation. 

Thanks to Alvin again and those who came by to complete my house during this difficult period, Covid-19.

Attached are some non-professional photos taken by myself.

Edited July 22, 2020 by kcsum

[Nazra Sani 0]

Info

Area: Saujana Rd, Bukit Panjang

Type: HDB 4-room Resale, corner unit (1987)

Size: 104 sqm

We got quotations from 5 different renovation companies for our first home and found Alvin Aw from Matrix Concept the lowest. We got to know him through the recommendation from our friends and we realized how easy it was talking to him because he listened and communicated well. We did not engage any ID as we have a design in mind and working on it with Alvin was a breeze. Since we had no ID, we had to be involved as much in choosing the materials for the house; the flooring, the walls, the furnishing, the laminating, the number of cupboards and drawers.... but with Alvin's help and experience, he is able to advise us with those that suits our lifestyle because that is most important. He believes that the house must suit your daily needs and practical and not just cos it looks good. Alvin is one chap who will speak out the reality of the situation of the house. If something is not possible, he will tell you as it is and suggest accordingly. He also will help to save cost as much as he can without jeopardizing the quality of his work. He also can anticipate future problems to the house and will advise and ensure that any renovation done will rectify and not cause any problems for you in the future. It is no wonder that many home owners engaged Alvin to renovate their first house and their subsequent house after. Alvin has a lot of house-related contacts and is not stingy with knowledge. He will help you beyond his job scope and due the time spent together working on our house, we have became friends and someone we can rely on when we need any house-related help. And also, if you're as OCD as us, engaging Alvin will without a doubt help you with your OCD needs because Alvin is one heck of an OCD guy!

I'll let the pictures and videos do the talking.

Before Renovation

After Renovation

Comparison Before and After Renovation

Visit our #izdihomefornaz album for more !

[ccchua22 2]

On 1/15/2020 at 5:39 PM, Genoscidal said:

Hi, can you please pm me Alvin Aw's Contact to my email at
joshua_lam55 AT hotmail.com please? 

 

Thanks!

joshua lam please check your email. i send already

[Genoscidal 0]

Hi, can you please pm me Alvin Aw's Contact to my email at
joshua_lam55 AT hotmail.com please? 

 

Thanks!

[ccchua22 2]

Hi Everyone,

it been a long time after busy with my 2nd new house reno. ( my first house designer also Alvin Aw)

who is the designer for my new house ...........ALVIN AW!!!!(Clapping)

Finally My New house reno is completed, First i want to thank you Alwin Aw for his muilt effort to completed the project within 2 months. Given him a short time, i had to find another place to stay for this 2 months.

The Aftermath was WOW!!!!! as you can see the picture before and after, it was a total transformation of the house. My whole family was in full of happy tears, it is a dream house for my family.

I want to thank his crew members in hacking, plastering,carpentry, plainting, plumbing,Flooring ,windows, windows grilles, electrical, aircon and cleaning. His crew member is awesome, which some of them is from my first punggol house.

All cabinet works are done in-house.The alightment is highly power which i was impress by their workmanship and speed.

Alvin had recommend a few shop to buy our lighting (chan huat lighting) n toliet (Wasser bath) accessories which is good lobang and fashion

Alvin is always very responsive(even at night, i disturb him lol....) and he will try to find a solution to the issues that crop up suddenly. He even help me to setup my ancestor tablet after many trips of searching for the L shape stainless steel bar to hold the whole wooden board. Millions of thank you!!!

Same as before,There is no hidden costs at all.Everything was explained clearly before hand. items can be add or remove and charge us at cost from the suppliers.

Electrical power socket and lighting installation is pre-design so the cost can be know faster. Last minutes add in some lighting , alwin aw purchase the lighting for us personally.

My family  are super happy that Alvin Aw and his crew who did their best to make our house so beautiful and cozy.

My highly recommendation to you all is Alvin Aw from matrix concept, confirm steady one!  Dun need to think liao, Just give him a call and meet up.?

Find him below link

https://www.instagram.com/matrix_concept/

 

Edited January 2, 2020 by ccchua22
typing words

[ccchua22 2]

On 12/27/2019 at 11:18 PM, kcsum said:

hi, can someone provide me Alvin's contact? My email is kcsum69@gmail.com

tyvm in advance.

hi kc sum, i had reply your email. pls check.

[kcsum 0]

hi, can someone provide me Alvin's contact? My email is kcsum69@gmail.com

tyvm in advance.

[ccchua22 2]

On 7/14/2019 at 12:05 AM, Quinnie said:

Hi,

Can anyone please pm me Alvin's contact? Thank you very much.

email me at ccchua22@yahoo.co.uk

[ccchua22 2]

jejuSnow, email me at ccchua22@yahoo.co.uk.

i still cannot use pm function.

[JejuSnow 0]

Hello! Thank you for the informative sharing! I am also keen to do without an ID, and work directly with a contractor. Can any kind soul here please PM me with Alvin Aw's mobile number pls? Thank you!!! 

[Angong 0]

Glad to find this place and pls allow me to also share our experiences with Alvin.

Alvin was strongly recommended to me by a family friend of mine, giving credits that Alvin is responsive, honorable to his works etc, by then I had in fact gone through a few IDs already with ideas here and there. Thinking no harm to meet another ID to give it a try, but soon after met Alvin I realized he is very different from other IDs, Alvin looks at the project as a whole from not only designing point of view but also from actual renovation site works point of view.

Not like other ID engineers working for a firm who just lead your through designing stage but the actual reno works pretty much on the hands of the site guys, on which situation we might often find that we ourselves sometimes have to play some role to do site check, feedback and calling back the ID for certain following up.

But clearly Alvin is not the same case, we are very impressed not only by his extensive and comprehensive ideas, knowledge and experiences in designing the house with an “overall picture” mindset from space planning, coloring mix to even furniture selections, but also we are very impressed by his knowledge with actual site project basically worry free for us as to e.g electrical works, air con piping run etc, he had all these layout in mind since the designing stage so that when came to actual works, layout had been optimized to maximize space use (e.g wardrobes designed with no sharp edges so that no much view blocked) and beautify the looks (e.g air con pipes run is hidden with no cross over).

One more point I would like to share is that Alvin has a strong and experienced project team, can see throughout the works that Alvin’s team had been working with him over the years so that with the harmony & bonding, the team can carry out the works precisely to fulfill the designing concept with qualify and efficiency, thanks to that we are the very first batch to move in the Bidadari new town, as so our house becomes a showcase at the area, LOL…

One last point to share is that after the project, even though starting as ID of our house, but eventually Alvin has become our friend, basically every small thing if we might need help, he always attends to it even though is out of his work scope.

Just to share a pic of our house now, we like and enjoy the coziness and atmosphere created.

[Rajpal Singh 0]

Hi guys

This is way overdue but I finally got some time off my busy schedule.

Alvin Aw from Matrix Concept was first introduced to us by a friend of mine who had some work done at his office. He was highly recommended obviously.

Back in 2013, my wife and I had planned to renovate my parent's flat at Blk 469B Admiralty Drive, Sembawang, which was rented out for four years and was pretty much in a state of disrepair. We received quotes from 5 renovation contractors. Alvin's quote was the second lowest. However, he understood us and his ideas were both practical and imaginative. The look we went for at the time was industrial/scandi. 

The floor plan was challenging. in fact it was ridiculous. What the heck were you thinking HDB?! My floorplan is the first, and probably the worst. Fan Shaped, Pizza abomination. Click on this link to see. Mine took top prize for HDB ridiculousness.

https://www.renotalk.sg/bizarre-hdb-floorplans-which-will-leave-you-flabbergasted/

Anyway, I digress. After about 3 good months, Alvin and his team completely transformed the flat. This was the plan Alvin and my wife came up with. (I can't think in 3D). Alvin is a purist and he uses sketches, not 3D rendering like most cut throat "interior designers" use. We used a free online software to help the process.

Alvin was always contactable and he often presented multiple options for us to consider. He saved us some money as well by suggesting cheaper options and also by advising us against over indulging in certain luxuries.

When the house was done, we were absolutely amazed with the final outcome. Total gutting, flooring, doors, kitchen rework, rewiring, toilets, basically everything came to about 58k. (2013 price)

Anyway, here are some pictures from that project.

 

 

Fast forward to 2018, my wife and I were on the hunt for our own property. By this time, Alvin and I were already family friends and he accompanied us on house viewings so we could pick his brains for renovation estimates. He gave us some awesome recommendations and told us to avoid committing on one house which my wife and i had pretty much fallen in love with due to the some fundamental, including structural flaws with the development.

We finally decided on a 1900 sq ft unit at Pasir Panjang. Once again, Alvin helped us build our dream home with quality fittings and at a good price. He delivered on time and I have absolutely no complaints. My wife and I are truly happy with his work and would strongly recommend him.

Before this starts to sound like a love letter to Alvin, some points.

Alvin does not do 3D rendering. So for the spatially challenged like myself, this can be difficult.

He needs to be reminded on certain jobs. Haha he forgot to do install some fittings after the tile work was done and we had to do some reverse engineering as a result.

His tilers are phenomenal.

He uses good quality plywood. I never knew there was a difference until i saw some pretty crappy wood at a friend's place.

He can be a bit stubborn. But give him a chance. He REFUSED to change the colours of my doors once. Now I thank him for not listening to me.

I shall leave his instagram account at the bottom of this thread for ya'll to see. My project is one of the earlier ones in his insta called Landridge Condo.

https://www.instagram.com/matrix_concept/?hl=en

 

Cheers

[J Lin 0]

My wife and I were searching for a professional with our new place. We were introduced to Alvin by a mutual friend whom has his place done up gorgeously by Alvin from Matrix Concept. 

After engaging him, we soon realise working with Alvin was such a breeze.  While engaging us, he is open and always first listen to our vision and ideas. He has no qualms in recommending us suitable cost efficient style/things to do while executing quality craftsmanship. Through out the project we have no difficulty in reaching out to him which make him very reliable and responsible.

Prior to engaging Alvin as well, my wife and I have done our own research. In terms of value in market, Alvin has provided us with the most value for money quotation without any hidden cost. 

I am confident that Alvin will make any of the project he come across, a Dream. Any house he inspires, a Home.

Edited September 30, 2019 by J Lin

[Quinnie 0]

Hi,

Can anyone please pm me Alvin's contact? Thank you very much.

[Akuma Tan 0]

Hi Guys,

It really amazing this thread, long live since 2011 till today 2019.

Its been 8 year! Yet the thread is having good comments and going strong !

Needless to said that, if Mr Alvin don't live up to his good work, this thread wont survived till today .

 

My Verdict are

Duration Time : Good

Price : Excellent ( Market Value , Best is no hidden cost )

Work : Excellent

Communication : Excellent ( Very Chatty )

 

And when the Reno completed, be it you go with top designer or the Cheapest ID. 

These will have lots of nitty-gritty aftermath issue, and this man live up to his passion.

You show him the issue, he resolve it or provide alternative solution.

 

Ok, cut the advertisement !

My Project, a 4RM Pre-own HDB Flat 

NO Reno but Overhauled it to what I wanted, and yes with some good logical advise from Alvin to get things rite !

As an appreciation gift for his good work, I did up a video montage for him and wish his passion (Yes passion , I don't think he required it as business ) long live !!!

Alvin's Instagram link :  https://www.instagram.com/matrix_concept/

->   My Project montage Link   <-

 

Cheers !!!

 

Edited July 7, 2019 by Akuma Tan
Insert Video Link