Going The Extra Mile In Service

[00ttik 0]

As busy working couple, we don’t really have time to supervise renovation via contractor so we decided to go with a ID to save us the time and effort. This is our story.

First, we left the ID search till very late because the developer could not confirm when they can give us the keys to our unit. Being newbie, we did not factor in the CNY factor whereby many workers will go back … so we only started talking to ID (at Expo) on the 2nd week of December when our target move in date was by end January (or latest 1st week Feb) . Brave Huh?

In summary , we talked to several IDs at one of the expo shows.

Rest &Relaz : Eager guy, space planning concept was ok , but could not promise delivery before CNY after working out the space plan for 1 week.

Cissern : Promised delivery before CNY , but package price was already high and with the extras added in, and on hindsight, can notice many hidden costs.

*** : Promised delivery before CNY , but quotation was done on the spot and not very professional. Don’t feel comfortable with the ID serving us .

Plush Living : Promised delivery before CNY subject to condition of defect rectification after CNY . Fast in proposing space planning and quotation ( given next day - points for speed and responsiveness) . Comfortable with ID although he seems new.

Rest of them did not get back to us or during the show, told us that it’s impossible to delivery before CNY.

In the end , chose PLUSH LIVING despite (A) not being the cheapest and (B) heard some bad experience from someone . (My personal take is that regardless or whichever company (although some company have more share of bad reviews) , there will always be some good experiences and bad … it really depends on whether you are comfortable with the ID and trust in them to push for you)

General

PL was willing to state in their contract that the handover will be 23 days after we finalize the design and pay the installments..which seems fair as if we keep changing the design , no one can promise the delivery by a certain date. Our ID William, and his manager were also aware of our budget and tried their best to fit into it although in the end, we still exceed our budget due to our own additional requirements .

Throughout the whole selection and design process, our ID really put in a lot of time and effort to explain to us what they plan to do , at all hours of the day and even on weekends . Kudos to him for the effort and patience . We really spend many many hours selecting materials for laminates, wallpaper ,curtains , lights ,etc with him (every meeting with him (either at their office or at the lights/curtains) is at least 3 hours !) .All furniture purchases we did ,we keep calling or texting him on the colour , dimension ,etc..to see if it fits the design concept and he was very patient to response quickly most of the time. His manager (David) was also part of the discussions from time to time and gave good solutions/alternatives.

Here are the concept pics :

Then when renovation started, the service quality really shine through . All co-ordinations with the MA of our condo unit was done by the ID , including getting the PE to approve the hacking of the walls even before actual handover of the keys so that work can start immediately after handover . It seems that our ID was also the site supervisor as he himself was at our unit very often to check on the quality and to make sure installation of carpentry was per his drawings ,etc. He also coordinated the timings to ensure that no time was wasted as he has a short window to handover the keys to us , which he did earlier than promised and thus allowing us to move in earlier actually .

Some during reno pics.

What impressed me was the dedication to service .(eg. helping to coordinate with the main contractor of the condo who were still doing touch up works so that defects rectifications was done in concurrent with reno to minimize down time ) They were also very accommodating to any last minute changes that we had and tried not to add to the costs if possible.

The reno process , of course, was not a bed of roses and hiccups and some minor reworks needs to be done (eg. flooring was not cleaned up after reno , some minor carpentry and wallpaper touchups, door that was removed during reno process was not well taken care of , and so got some dinks here and there but nothing really major) .

Here you can see the actual (after move-in) conditions and make a comparison with the concept pics.

In conclusion , I believe that PL is one company that really believes in customer service (or it might just be the team that was assigned to me) and they delivered quality works . Not the cheapest in town , and their lighting / curtains guy that they use are really really not the cheapest either (so far good quality though) , but if you want peace of mind , I think I would not hesitate to recommend them ,especially William and David.

And to prevent any PMs on price - here it goes : our reno costs 24K excluding furnishings (additional costs over our budget of 20K due to mega big balcony that we wanted chengal decking and for laminating the 9metres long bay windows ) .

cheers!

[thyehua 0]

QUOTE (cwlow88 @ Sep 13 2007, 07:43 PM)

Usually you would think that the reno companies that advertise big, or have the best promotions, or the best visibility are the best.

My experience from Summit Design in May and June of this year has been great! We found out about them from an Expo at Changi. My wife and I had a few companies come and visit our condo on Grange Road. Summit Design provided the most professional, value priced reno and best follow up of all.

Our experience from the time they started reno till the end, and even their after reno service has been great! Sure there are some problems along the way, but my project manager William and his boss Victor always provided an empathetic, professional approach. Their positive attitude and good follow up made our experience better.

I am pleased to say our home looks great and my wife and I are very happy. If I had another home to renovate, I would not hesitate to go back to them.

Sincerely,

Low Chee Wee

HI guys,

When i came to tis forum and view all forumers topics i saw Summit Design upload by cwlow88 and im agreed wif him cos i recently sign up wif Summit Design and engaged Ben as my id, he's a nice chap wif good attitude n fast respond, most impotant things is tat he hlp me to save cost la... As u guys knows ba.. times are so bad now we need to thighten our belt n sure abt everyone hv thier own budget rite? But Ben is so considerate, when i hv my 2nd appt wif him to recieve my quotation n its unbeliveable.. for the same item n same design wif other few id which i visited, i hv save almost up to 2k ! He really really hlp me alot by saving abt 2k!! Im appreciate to Ben as he is different frm other id which he never push sales to customer, he wil listen carefully to yr needs n proposed to u n hlp u save cost. Since im so lucky to met up wif Ben, me of course will hv to share my joys wif all forumers, u guys if wan to reno yr house or still lookin for an id, should try to look for Ben frm Summit Design. Contact him at 98555583. Im sure he can hlp u guys to save$$$$ jus like me ya..!

Cheers...

Can PM William or Ben's contact to me?

Is this William still with Summit Design?

How come there's no thread for Summit Design???

[soduku 0]

Reno Firm: Summit Design Studio

Id: Ben

Place: "The Premiere" Tampines Central

Reno Cost: 10k

Lcd: Samsung

Your T.V feature looks good ya....!

[Randy 0]

Hi all,

Ha.. I posted a similar post like this in another thread, but seeing the topic I think this should be the right place

I want to share with everyone about my contractor ah Ben.

Last Dec I got in contact with a contractor name Ben Ching (I call him ah Ben), after some discussion & consultation with him I decided to let him proceed with my home renovations.

I must say he did a fabulous job for me with a what must say a rather low budget, and really short time.

Initially I thot I should go to big companies as they are more reliable, but I found that their quotations were all mostly on the high side.

I guess what I want to thank him the most is that Ben is really sincere and helpful to me (The first time he met me he said that even if I decided not to use him he would still give me consultation for free so that I will not be cheated - i told him I didnt know much about reno and stuffs) and I really appreciate his experience in this line - some of his advices were really good (example: he taught me about using C-Channel for my skirting instead of the normal design due to my uneven wall, top kitchen cupboard that open upwards etc). As for the low price he quoted me, he mentioned something about his sources from Malaysia that's why he can quote me cheaper than the rest, hm..ok I better not share his trade secrets.

So yes, many thanks to ah Ben!

Well, for friends like myself (really green and inexperience folks looking for an Interior designer & contractor) you can send an email to him at simplyyoudesign@hotmail.com to contact him. I dont want to put up his personal number here to prevent plank calls, dont want to sabo him. But if you are interested just email him, he usually checks his email on his mobile so should respond to you fast enough.

Disclaimer: I am not getting any commission for doing this! Haha... but I guess part of it out of gratitude for ah Ben.

Ok, just doing my bit for this community, going back to work...

Randy