Urgent! Case Or Sct?

[Sze Hui 0]

I guess looking for a contractor with HDB license is truly important. I nearly signed up with one that dont have, even though my frend told me about he's good service.But after further check, even the plumber n electrian he is using is also non-licensed, i decided to spend more and get one with a license. My reno is starting mid of this month, i hope everything will be smooth. But i did inspect the work of both the contractors (the licensed and non-licensed one) and they r pretty good. I guess the after service will be very important.

Good luck to u and hope that u resolve it asap. I do not know how much u spend on ur reno. But if its a huge amt, i suggest u shld really engage a lawyer to help u recover the cost. But from your story, it would appear to me that the contractor may not hv enough $$ to compensate u afterall.

[Niie 0]

I guess looking for a contractor with HDB license is truly important. I nearly signed up with one that dont have, even though my frend told me about he's good service.But after further check, even the plumber n electrian he is using is also non-licensed, i decided to spend more and get one with a license. My reno is starting mid of this month, i hope everything will be smooth. But i did inspect the work of both the contractors (the licensed and non-licensed one) and they r pretty good. I guess the after service will be very important.

Good luck to u and hope that u resolve it asap. I do not know how much u spend on ur reno. But if its a huge amt, i suggest u shld really engage a lawyer to help u recover the cost. But from your story, it would appear to me that the contractor may not hv enough $$ to compensate u afterall.

Hi SzeHui

Thanks for your reply.

I agree that it is important to engage a HDB licensed contractor. Should we engaged a contractor that is HDB approved in the first place, we wouldn't be facing so much difficulties now ; living in and celebrating festive seasons including Chinese Lunar New Year in a warehouse-like condition. After-service is important too. I personally believe that the person-in-charge must be responsible, efficient and reliable too.

I do not know how long this matter is going to drag. No matter how hard we try to solve this matter amicably (not by legal ways), my contractor and his company simply can't be bothered. During the last meeting when the carpenter came to dismantle some carpentry works, he requested for a payment of $10k from me. The carpenter said that he was told by my contractor that when he dismantle the carpentry works that day, I will pass him a payment of $10k. I was shocked as my contractor had never mention anything about it and I wasn't informed at all.

I have exhausted all means of communication. Chinese Lunar New Year is just 1 more day later. I seriously do not know how my reunion dinner is going to happen at this point.

[GHCY 0]

hi Niie,

sad to hear about your bad experience on your renovation works.

its very important actually to know that WHO will be looking after your renovation works.

engaging a well known or good company does not guarantee you that the person looking after your renovation will be good too.

its also a good idea that you get to know the person that is going to take care of your renovation works really well before your final confirmation.

anyway, if you dont feel comfortable with the person in charge, best dont commit.

i do not know how much is your outstanding with your contractor.( in terms of $$ )

but if you think its enough to do the rectification works or at least 70% of the cost, you should straight away get your lawyer to write him a ultimatum letter asking him to confirm when he can do the rectification works.

if he does not reply, get your lawyer to write him a 2nd letter stating that if he does not respond within a certain date, you will engage someone else to rectify the works and will counter-claim from him.

once you get your paper-work done, then you start planning on how to rectify your house defects.

i will suggest you divide your house to 4 to 6 sections depending on how you are able to move your furniture around to make space for works to commence.

it will be tedious but that will be the best way.

example (5 room flat) :-

section

1. kitchen and common bathroom

2. living room

3. dining room and bedroom 3

4. bedroom 2

5. master bedroom and master bathroom

in that way, you can concentrate on finishing each section first before moving on to the next section.

this will be the most effective way.

another method will be to move everything out of the house and stay in another place but the cost involved is not worth it and it will be better spent on your rectification works.

if you think that this is a good idea i can introduce some contractors to undertake the works for you.

however if there were some sub-contractors who were good ( like the carpenter ), it will also be a nice gesture for you to approach them and check whether they would like to undertake your rectification works or not.

wish you all the best.

remember, then you have finish with the bitter, you will know the sweet too well too.

God bless.

[cruise 0]

From experience, acid wash on floor after renovation can cause stains that cannot be removed when workers didnt do a good and careful cleaning job. However, contractor will make good the tiles by hacking off those pieces with stain and replaced with new tiles. Not an impossible thing to rectify.

if contractor refused to do then dont pay balance of renovation work. And seek further compensation from him to get someone else to replace stained tiles.

[Niie 0]

You should publish the name of the firm so that others will not engage them ever.

Hi joshdes

Thanks for your reply.

The firm is DMX Constructions. According to ROC, it is formerly known as Decor-Max Constructions.

The firm's website is http://192dmx.com/

Hope that no one will be in the same situation as us.

[Niie 0]

Hi Niie

Sounds like we had the same experience so I'll share what happened to us further down this reply.

Like Renosotong said, only thing you can do now is document EVERYTHING TO EVERY DETAIL … from the dates and sequence of events to every defect found. This will be important if you decide to go the legal route.

The documentation can help bolster your case that the house is not in a ‘liveable state’ due to the bad reno works. (However, remember that ‘liveable’ is very subjective depending on the judge.) You must also show you have made every possible gesture (phonecalls, emails etc) to be amicable and reasonable in your requests.

You may also use this documentation and approach the free legal clinics offered through the Law Society – list can be obtained through CASE. These are done at your nearby Community Club or Town Council. Basic legal advice only but at least it is free and you get a better idea of your legal standing.

Unfortunately, from our experience and your description so far, it does seem that your contractor is not interested in collecting the final payment, much less doing an adequate job. They also know that homeowners have limited legal actions (through CASE/SCT/Lawyers) unless you willing to spend more money and time. So they rather ignore you (and all the CASE/Lawyer letters you can throw at them) until their own sub-cons chase them for payment, then they appear again with their hands out.

(SCT is probably most effective as they can ultimately send a Baliff to impose a writ of seizure and sales. Limitation is the under $10k claim, some fees required (approx. $350) and the time spent.)

If you have the Time, Energy and Money to fight for your legal rights, go to the lawyers and SCT and, quite frankly, hope that the contractor responds, as there are few quick and easy legal recourses for the homeowner. If you want a ‘liveable state’ as soon as possible, maybe consider rectification by other contractors ( no guarantees though…)

For your own mental well-being, you may also consider another avenue… please see http://singaporeseen.stomp.com.sg/stomp/sgseen/got_service_or_not/854160/contractor_breaks_our_glass_door_yet_insists_we_pay.html#commentSection. (remember what I said about documentation…)

Finally, Our own bad contractor experience:

1) Contractor first provided a full quotation list (e.g. A-Z = $30K) of renovation items with a verbal agreement that end of the day will only be charged what was actually used. Good chemistry then cos recommended by designer whom we trusted (then)

2) Along the way, like you, we found shoddy workmanship, broken equipment etc

3) After a delayed handover and a lot of deficiencies, we started chasing for Final Bill so as to pay them off and close the job. They delayed for 6 weeks, in spite of us chasing them so we can PAY them!!! They missed a final deadline and stopped communication.

4) Went to CASE, who said since we are the ones actually owing the contractor money, we are still liable. However, CASE also said since the Original Quotation was no longer accurate, it is up to us to prove what was actually done and for the contractor to prove his Original Quotation is still accurate.

Lawyers said the same thing and advised that the next legal step is to send them a ‘Legal Letter’(but must pay the lawyers of course.) However, the Legal Letter has no real ‘power’ beyond getting lawyers involved…

So we started measuring every tile, cabinet and wall against the Original Quotation and calculated a new figure based on works ACTUALLY done. To that we also proposed a reduction for the overall shoddy workmanship and damage done to our items, as advised by CASE. Final outstanding figure: a few hundred dollars. Then we waited…

5) 6 months later, they sent another email demanding for payment on Original Quotation. We sent them the detailed list of works actually done. They stopped communication again.

Hi AngryOwner

I was wondering if we used the same contractor?

My family and I never had the intention to go through the legal ways. We wanted them to finish up the remaining works, pay them and then we can begin a new chapter in a new house. However, DMX Constructions seemed not willing to do so. Our Christmas, New Year and now our Chinese Lunar New Year are ruined by them. Apparently, they don't seemed to be apologetic about it.

Hmmm did your contractor contact you again for payment?

By the way, based on your perception of 'livable state':

- having approximately 79 boxes in the living room,

- no shelving units for the built-in bookshelf in the study room,

- shelves and drawers in the walk-in wardrobe are either missing or unstable,

- boxes and bags of clothing lying all around in both the bedroom and walk-in wardrobe area,

- 8 missing kitchen cabinet doors

is this considered 'livable'?

Hope to hear from you soon. Thank you.

[Niie 0]

From experience, acid wash on floor after renovation can cause stains that cannot be removed when workers didnt do a good and careful cleaning job. However, contractor will make good the tiles by hacking off those pieces with stain and replaced with new tiles. Not an impossible thing to rectify.

if contractor refused to do then dont pay balance of renovation work. And seek further compensation from him to get someone else to replace stained tiles.

Hi cruise

Thank you for sharing your experience and letting us know our rights.

At first, Mr Kenny Cheng claimed that I was the one who created such stains on the tiles. Then a month later, he said that it was neither his fault nor mine and we should not pursue this matter anymore as it had already past. On that same day, before he left, my daughter overheard him telling his worker that it was the carpenter who stained my tiles.

He proposed 2 solutions with regards to the stained floor tiles:

1) polish the tiles again which will not 100% remove the stains

2) hack away and replace with new tiles

I settled on hacking away and replacing the tiles. Mr Kenny Cheng word of advice is that we should listen and follow to his schedule as he is an experienced contractor. A question was posed to him which he was unable to answer. "The process of hacking and replacing the tiles meant that we will be trapped inside our room for a few days as the process of laying and letting the tiles settle requires a few days whereby nobody should step on the tiles. Does it mean that my kids do not need to attend school and I do not need to work? The only place we have assess to is the walk-in wardrobe. So we do not need to attend to our daily needs such as food and the nature call for that few days?" Isn't this ridiculous?

Edited January 29, 2012 by Niie

[Niie 0]

hi Niie,

sad to hear about your bad experience on your renovation works.

its very important actually to know that WHO will be looking after your renovation works.

engaging a well known or good company does not guarantee you that the person looking after your renovation will be good too.

its also a good idea that you get to know the person that is going to take care of your renovation works really well before your final confirmation.

anyway, if you dont feel comfortable with the person in charge, best dont commit.

i do not know how much is your outstanding with your contractor.( in terms of $$ )

but if you think its enough to do the rectification works or at least 70% of the cost, you should straight away get your lawyer to write him a ultimatum letter asking him to confirm when he can do the rectification works.

if he does not reply, get your lawyer to write him a 2nd letter stating that if he does not respond within a certain date, you will engage someone else to rectify the works and will counter-claim from him.

once you get your paper-work done, then you start planning on how to rectify your house defects.

i will suggest you divide your house to 4 to 6 sections depending on how you are able to move your furniture around to make space for works to commence.

it will be tedious but that will be the best way.

example (5 room flat) :-

section

1. kitchen and common bathroom

2. living room

3. dining room and bedroom 3

4. bedroom 2

5. master bedroom and master bathroom

in that way, you can concentrate on finishing each section first before moving on to the next section.

this will be the most effective way.

another method will be to move everything out of the house and stay in another place but the cost involved is not worth it and it will be better spent on your rectification works.

if you think that this is a good idea i can introduce some contractors to undertake the works for you.

however if there were some sub-contractors who were good ( like the carpenter ), it will also be a nice gesture for you to approach them and check whether they would like to undertake your rectification works or not.

wish you all the best.

remember, then you have finish with the bitter, you will know the sweet too well too.

God bless.

Hi GHCY

Yes I agree that it is important to know the person whom I will be handing my house to for the renovations.

This is what DMX Constructions claims on their website:

Try Us, quotation is free. If we are not awarded, no need to call us, we would not call to pester U. Really, no obligation! We promise.

However, it is not what we experienced. Prior to deciding which firm to engage, Mr Kenny Cheng kept calling my property agent to ask him about our decision. My property agent, in turn, kept pestering me (indirectly) to engage DMX Constructions.

Mr Kenny Cheng appeared to be a very nice person in the beginning. He was quiet with few comments and he was a 'CAN' man (everything we said, he replied "Can!" but after that, everything became what we deemed as "cannot" as those are not what we agreed on in the first place). However, there is another side of him which began to surface after we delayed payment due to the many defects and incomplete works which we had repeatedly requested them to complete first (which they promised to do so before we moved back). The designer, Mr Kelvin, would call me and tell me that Mr Kenny's boss chided him about the delay in our payment and if I do not make payment, the subcontractors would not want to come down to rectify and complete the works. I empathized Mr Kenny Cheng and made payment the very next day. Once payment was made, he SMS to express his thanks. And then the next SMS would be asking me for payment again. I can't help but began to have my doubts as there was an increase in unexpected disappearance acts such as overseas trips and overseas guests/clients (which he remained uncontactable for days). I wondered how they were going to complete everything (works not completed, serious defects not rectify, unable to extend rental anymore as the place had been rented out) within such a short time frame (2 weeks) for us to move back?

Thanks for your concern. We had actually thought of a place-by-place plan to allow commencement of rectification and completion of our house. We had shared this plan with Mr Kenny Cheng but this plan never commence at all.

Personally, my family and I felt that DMX Constructions' subcontractors who did our house are not up to standard at all. In fact, nothing was done correctly and nothing was done properly. Can you PM me the contacts of your contractors? Many thanks in advance!

[superuser 0]

This is what I found from the website you gave the "about us" part

About Us

We have been in this business since 1985

What we believe :=

If we cannot take care of our Customers, someone else will.

After project handed over, retention balance paid, we get worry if U stop calling us.   

It's your house, we listen to your ideals, enhance and implement.

Try Us, quotation is free. If we are not awarded, no need to call us, we would not call to pester U. Really, no obligation! We promise.

Obviously, this company saying they are irresponsible if you read carefully.

[Niie 0]

This is what I found from the website you gave the "about us" part

About Us

We have been in this business since 1985

What we believe :=

If we cannot take care of our Customers, someone else will.

After project handed over, retention balance paid, we get worry if U stop calling us.   

It's your house, we listen to your ideals, enhance and implement.

Try Us, quotation is free. If we are not awarded, no need to call us, we would not call to pester U. Really, no obligation! We promise.

Obviously, this company saying they are irresponsible if you read carefully.

Hi superuser

Thanks for your reply.

Mr Kenny Cheng and Mr Dennis Ng (the owner of DMX Constructions) looked honest and kept reassuring us that they have been in this business for many years. I guess I didn't realise it until it was too late. Hope that people who engaged this firm will not be in the same situation as us.

[Niie 0]

Hi fellow renomates

Our story was published on 27 January 2012 by The New Paper. We have not hear from Mr Kenny Cheng and Mr Dennis Ng since the last email Mr Kenny Cheng sent on 17 January 2012. 5.56pm, requesting for payment from us. We were told by Mr Dennis Ng when we approached him on 23 November 2011 that "if you are not satisfied, don't pay" repeatedly. Since then, they did not ask for payment until the recent saga where the subcontractor asked a payment of $10k and Mr Kenny Cheng last email for payment. The following is the extract of Mr Dennis Ng response. We were told by the reporters that Mr Kenny Cheng could not be reached for comments.

Renovation Nightmare as published by TNP

THE NEW PAPER Friday, 27 January 2012

Living in 'warehouse', after contractor dispute

MR DENNIS NG, 50, OWNER OF DMX CONSTRUCTIONS, SAYS:

“Based on the contract, she is supposed to pay a certain amount. It is not paid up, so it is a no go.

“She still owes us about $8,000, excluding a retention fee of 10 per cent which she has to pay only when the job is complete. In total, she owes us $12,000.

“She moved in before renovations were completed. The remaining work is mostly carpentry jobs. She did not tell us about any defects within two weeks of moving in. But when I visited her, she started complaining.

“I sent her a list of defects and am waiting for her approval to continue the works. But up till now, she has yet to acknowledge the list.

“We have approached a lawyer and were given advice to send Madam Tan a letter stating that if she doesn’t pay, we won’t complete the job. We want it to be black and white this time.

“I think that Mr Cheng and Madam Tan are both in a dilemma right now.

“Madam Tan is probably worried that even if she pays up, Mr Cheng wouldn’t want to complete the job.

“The two of them need to clear their ‘mental block’ first. We are educated people. We have done nothing wrong. It is the customer who didn’t follow the agreement. If they want, they can cut their losses and find another contractor.”