From Rags To Riches.. Our Second Home In Pasir Ris

[Jaschar83 0]

HI everyone,

I have joined Renotalk for a few months ever since we have been house hunting.. Despite the very high HDB prices, we sold our 4-room and bought a 5-room flat next to my parents in law's place.

From rags to riches is my story of how we bought our first HDB home with no money in the bank and as little as $2000 in CPF to having reaped some profit to finally be able to do up a nice home of our own.. after 5 years..

My hope for this reno blog is also to honor my very hardworking ID Jimmy who really put in a lot of effort and gave his 200%.. He truly deserves a chance for your next home.. (scout's honor!)

I started sourcing for quotes by submitting request for quote through renotalk.. I had 5 contractors who came for the first site visit when we exercised OTP..in the end only a few quotations was received and hardly any follow up...

Contractor 1 is a family friend and was highly recommended.. he came and gave his advice. However it took him a long time to give us the quote and even so, the quote was never done. I had to go to his office and then he started quoting on the spot. Also he never replies email or smses.. which I'm so used to coz i'm always checking email and the revised quote never even came. I wanted to save money by doing laminate flooring and he was quite against it and said laminate flooring is not good.. Decided to drop him in the end..

Contractor 2 is very artistic and creative and gave lots of creative solutions but also cost alot.. She was quite enthusiastic and immediately booked a date to meet up with me next but she never called when the date was over.. It was tentative so I also forgot about it. Then she messaged me one day that she was on medical leave for one month and could not meet me... When we finally meet again, it was awkward and to cut the long story short, she messaged me one day that she is on leave and would not be able to follow up on my project and passed me to another colleague...

Contractor 3 was the second to arrive on the first site visit and stayed right till the end to observe all other contractors and discussed more things in detail. He was giving all the practical solutions and very opened to my ideas. He is not design trained and is a professional tiler before he did sales with the ID firm.. So he was very helpful to give all the advice with regards to tiling work, which was my major expenditure.. He was also prompt to return calls and messages and emails.. Till date he has revised the quotation 6 times with no qualms at all and even helped me cut costs by suggesting I buy certain furniture instead of doing built-in.

In the end I decided to pick Jimmy though we have not signed any contract officially.

Edited September 25, 2011 by Jaschar83

[Jaschar83 0]

My floor plan

Edited September 24, 2011 by Jaschar83

[Renmapiao 1]

Looking forward to your postings and lots and lots of pics Jaschar83

HI everyone,

I have joined Renotalk for a few months ever since we have been house hunting.. Despite the very high HDB prices, we sold our 4-room and bought a 5-room flat next to my parents in law's place.

From rags to riches is my story of how we bought our first HDB home with no money in the bank and as little as $2000 in CPF to having reaped some profit to finally be able to do up a nice home of our own.. after 5 years..

My hope for this reno blog is also to honor my very hardworking ID Jimmy who really put in a lot of effort and gave his 200%.. He truly deserves a chance for your next home.. (scout's honor!)

[Jaschar83 0]

Hi Renmapiao thanks for being my first visitor to post! I really didn't think anyone would read my Reno Blog.

Today we went to Gain City and got some great deals - Here are the major buys...

Fisher & Paykel Top Loader GWL12 10.5kg washer for $809 - able to wash King size comforter

Philips LED TV 52inch Model 52PFL8605/98 for $1999

Philips Bluray sound bar Model HTS7140/98 for $699

Midea System 3 Inverter air-conditioner with free 5 years extended warranty for $1999 exclude $150 bracket and $180 upgrade of insulation and piping

Europace Portable Aircon EPAC10J with free stand fan for $719 This is for my common corridor room

Total furnishings and appliances

System 3 aircon $1999

Sofa and dining $2998

Queen bed with single pull out bed $999

Washer $809

Shoe rack with sliding door $549

Black PVC Ottoman bench $199

Gas Dryer (2nd hand) $150

Portable aircon $719

Rice cooker $69.90

Multi-cooker $129

Iron $29.90

Water kettle $39.90

Aircon bracket and upgraded insulation $330

Extended warranty for TV $232

LED TV $1999

Soundbar $699

It really feels good to be doing so much buying.. but we have almost exhausted our budget..

Items left to purchase:

Instant water heater with rain shower set by 707

WC and basin for both bathrooms

Bathroom accessories

Edited September 25, 2011 by Jaschar83

[Jaschar83 0]

I have booked laminate flooring for my living/dining and bedrooms..

This is the colour.. it's whitish..

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Kitchen flooring will be hacked and re-tiled...

Common bathroom flooring will be overlaid with tiles

Master bathroom wall and floor tiles will be hacked and re-tiled

Balcony flooring plan to put artificial turf and still sourcing for supplier.. appreciate any help!

[hansolo 0]

welcome to the neighbourhood... me currently stayin with parents in PR n will oso be moving to my own hse in PR... simply too much in love with PR that both my wife n i refuse to move to other estate.

[Jaschar83 0]

Have chosen sofa and dining set from Cellini. Both for $2998.. opted for synthetic leather to save $1k.. else will be $3998

Dining table is 1.8m by 0.9m l x w

[Jaschar83 0]

welcome to the neighbourhood... me currently stayin with parents in PR n will oso be moving to my own hse in PR... simply too much in love with PR that both my wife n i refuse to move to other estate.

Thanks actually my first home is also in PR and the same street too.. except it's too tiring to walk to my in law's place so we decided to get one really near as my MIL looks after my kids..

I moved here from Jurong East after getting married..

[Jaschar83 0]

Before renovation

Part of the storeroom was hacked. We will be hacking away the remaining part of the storeroom to make a larger living room.

Existing door is less than 2 years old and looks new. Will be reusing, only that the door will be trimmed due to laying of laminate floor

Bottom three images show master bath... will be doing a major revamp here...The wall tiles are pretty new too but not maintained as well as the common bath and the floor color isn't too nice..

[Jaschar83 0]

Will be keeping the whole kitchen cabinets.. also less than 2 years old and maintained pretty well.. Colours are not too bad too.. Comes with built in oven, hob and stove etc..We are bring our existing fridge from old place.

Common bath wall tiles look really new thus will be overlaying flooring.. Actually the floor color isn't too bad but seller says she can't get rid of the tile stains.. so my husband wanted new flooring

[Jaschar83 0]

Window grilles are less than 2 years and it's a nice silver so we are quite lucky..

Wanted to save on hacking balcony flooring so will be sourcing for artificial turf to have lots of green in the house. Lowest quote for 77sqft is $300.. Still looking for other quotes.. I bought a slide for the kids to place in the balcony..

One part of the main gate... doesn't quite suit the theme of our home but gonna hold that first and prob repaint..

Main door is really old it's HDB original but we will be having lift upgrading since we are the top floor so hopefully can get free door from town council

I like the outside area of our home is really breezy and spacious for the kids to ride bicycle etc.. gonna put an old set of bar table and stools from Ikea... but not sure if they will be taken away

[dreamygal 0]

Turf in the balcony... Nice...

A nice and safe place for the kids. Is your balcony very big? My hubby wanna put wooden deck for our balcony.

Your kids still very young? Mine 4 plus and another coming 2 in a few days time.

[Reiki 0]

From rags to riches is my story of how we bought our first HDB home with no money in the bank and as little as $2000 in CPF to having reaped some profit to finally be able to do up a nice home of our own.. after 5 years..

This sentence moves me. It is how many of us start too, Jaschar83.

Congrats on the purchase of the flat. Have a smooth reno.

[Jaschar83 0]

Turf in the balcony... Nice...

A nice and safe place for the kids. Is your balcony very big? My hubby wanna put wooden deck for our balcony.

Your kids still very young? Mine 4 plus and another coming 2 in a few days time.

Hi! My balcony is about 3.3m by 2.1m.. Not sure if it's considered big but the slide and many others of my Little Tikes toy collection.

Your kids are slightly older than mine. My boy is 3 yrs 4 months an my girl is 1 yr 9 months.. The age where they love to climb n play slide

[Jaschar83 0]

This sentence moves me. It is how many of us start too, Jaschar83.

Congrats on the purchase of the flat. Have a smooth reno.

Thanks! It's so nice to finally afford some renovation.. My reno works will amount to about 19-20K exclude laminate floor for whole house abt 4.5k and furnishing abt 15k

Edited September 27, 2011 by Jaschar83