Advice Needed On Choosing Conractor / Id

[icejelly2011 0]

Hi all ,

I am new here and i am going to renovate my first HDB flat unit. I am still in the midst of choosing / engaging a contractor/ID

I need some advice here. I am down to 2 companies now, not sure which to choose.

Company A, is an ID that negotiating with us, she is recommended by my colleague who has just completed the renovation. the price of the quotation is out of our budget( about 5k more) , but she is a kind lady , very responsive and also give you some advice on our idea. What i like about her is that she come in prepared during the meeting, so far , i only met her twice.But

she has done some homework for our home design.My colleague said their carpentry work is very good, i also personally went to her house to verify and yes indeed is very well done. But i was told that there are different kind of workmanship between Condo ( my colleague new home) and HDB. I am not sure about this .My colleague didn't do flooring , so i can't tell that how's the workmanship for the flooring.

Company B, this is the traditional uncle with lots of experience ( seems like), quotation wise cheaper than Company A by 3K ( still over our budget) , i have only saw their work of our neighbor, but i didn't really pay attention on their workmanship. He claims that he is the boss so thats why he can give us cheaper quotation. But he didn't give me a good impression because he was the first few contractor that we contacted but in the end he only give us the quotation after 3 weeks, that was we keep chasing him for the quotation then finally he sent to us. He told us that he was too busy and the person to do the quotation was on leave. But our neighbor home look very nice , and they didn't complain about the contractor.

Between this 2 companies, definitely we have to up our budget , just that we don't know which to choose.

The concern for the ID is the money issue and not sure is it worth to pay so much if the work not well done. While the concern for the contractor is i am afraid he gave us too much promises, and also not sure about their workmanship.

Please help to give me some advice, i need to decide really soon.

thank you in advance

[Johnson Lee 1]

Hi, I would urge u to go n take a closer look at ur neighbor hse again n chat with them on their experience with the company B. From there u can make a better decision to make extra more for ease of mind.

[renoseeker 0]

Hi icejelly 2011,

maybe you can take a look at this thread for tips on how to select renovators: http://www.renotalk.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=24479

I think that the person that you choose must be someone you can really work with and have good communication between the two of you. If it was me, I probably won't hire the uncle. He doesn't seem serious about your job. (give quote 3 weeks late, too busy etc)

If he's like that before you sign the contract, just imagine what will happen after you sign. You hold the money so you are king...so don't take crap from people. Just my 2 cents.

[icejelly2011 0]

Hi icejelly 2011,

maybe you can take a look at this thread for tips on how to select renovators: http://www.renotalk.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=24479

I think that the person that you choose must be someone you can really work with and have good communication between the two of you. If it was me, I probably won't hire the uncle. He doesn't seem serious about your job. (give quote 3 weeks late, too busy etc)

If he's like that before you sign the contract, just imagine what will happen after you sign. You hold the money so you are king...so don't take crap from people. Just my 2 cents.

Hi , thank you for the advices , yes, i have choosen the ID , although the price is higher abit ( about 2-3K) difference, but we really feel comfortable to work with her. going to sign the contract this weekend, hope everything go smoothly...

[xiaofu 0]

from what i see...the lady seems to be the right person...at least she's attentive and professional enough to handle your job

but 1 thing to keep in mind is that you must monitor closely on the after sales service as well...

some individuals behave differently after you signed...all the best!

[renoseeker 0]

icejelly2011, i just want to wish you all the best for your reno

maybe after the reno, you can come back and share with the forumers how you find the experience to be. Good luck!