Love Nest @ Casa

[princessandhergeek 1]

thanks sarah, that's really nice of you..

and yes, my place might be 'higher maintenance' but i'd rather it looks beautiful for a few years than not-so-beautiful for many years..i guess if you really love your home you will put in the effort to upkeep it..everything beautiful needs some work (especially women =p)..

having said that, white laminates have their supporters since you will clean any dirt immediately. bricks can be simply dusted regularly with feather duster..and open kitchen is not much of an issue for me since i cook with very little oil and don't deep fry at home..nothing a good hood can't do..at the end of the day, just need to be comfortable and happy in it..

carpentry issue not settled yet..i'm struggling to make sense of things too..mil insisted we use relative, insisting that his carpentry had good with internal laminates, promised to oversee things for us and all..she said she wanted the best for her son..but when delays occurred, when workmanship was so bad, we were blamed for being 'fussy' among many other things when it's obvious that they did a very bad job. bad workmanship aside, many other specifications were wrong and we have to live with it..in the end mil even insisted that we pay first before they do rectifications..

i don't feel good abt getting K to do rectifications and husband insist that relative should be responsible..mil and relative have been nit-picking on K's work when we pointed out their horrible workmanship..they are saying that my contractor is LAZY..between K and us, everything was communicated quite clearly and he did point out how things will be done and if there might be issues before going ahead..so we really have no issues with his work even when it might be at 95% instead of 100%..

payment will be an issue and another hard battle..since some 'discounts' and 'rebates' were promised by mil verbally..it's anyone guess how things will end up..

Hopefully your renovation (and everyone else) go smoothly! =)

hi itsy!

good advice there - indeed - just like women, houses also need maintenance to remain beautiful, and if the owners love the house, they will put in more effort to clean and maintain it.. oh well - we've already chosen the laminates for the kitchen and living room, so i guess the only other way is do fairer colours for the bedroom >.<

and, despite the weird happenings in your recent posts, i must say congratulations on our lovely house! nice to see how the splashes of bright colours would look like against the wood =D

when r u moving in?

hehe..

[theitsybits 0]

hi itsy!

good advice there - indeed - just like women, houses also need maintenance to remain beautiful, and if the owners love the house, they will put in more effort to clean and maintain it.. oh well - we've already chosen the laminates for the kitchen and living room, so i guess the only other way is do fairer colours for the bedroom >.<

and, despite the weird happenings in your recent posts, i must say congratulations on our lovely house! nice to see how the splashes of bright colours would look like against the wood =D

when r u moving in?

hehe..

there's always a second time...

we're planning to move in late Oct..there's still quite a few pieces of furniture that we need to buy..and need to start preparing for the wedding which is barely 4 months away - we have not done anything nor planned pre-wedding shoot..

[princessandhergeek 1]

there's always a second time...

we're planning to move in late Oct..there's still quite a few pieces of furniture that we need to buy..and need to start preparing for the wedding which is barely 4 months away - we have not done anything nor planned pre-wedding shoot..

=D ya~ i think with this first time, the second time will be easier and faster with all the knowledge gained from the brothers and sisters in the forum =D

anyway - quick go get ur pre wed shoot done! u need more time than that if u do not want to be too busy in the last two months leading up to ur wedding.. cos the pre-wed shoot is a long process (need to choose gowns/suits - go for shoot - choose the photo - check the album layout - wait for the album layout to print.. n if u haven't chose ur pre wed photographer or bridal studio yet, den u need to get one.. o.o not easy o.o n in the last two months - u'll need to figure out ur timeline for the day/ brother sister briefing/ logistics for the day, actual day photog and videog, photo montage (if u wan), march in music o.o i can go on and on o.o) this list gets even larger if u r a hands on diy bride o.o

jiayou itsy~~!! =D

[theitsybits 0]

=D ya~ i think with this first time, the second time will be easier and faster with all the knowledge gained from the brothers and sisters in the forum =D

anyway - quick go get ur pre wed shoot done! u need more time than that if u do not want to be too busy in the last two months leading up to ur wedding.. cos the pre-wed shoot is a long process (need to choose gowns/suits - go for shoot - choose the photo - check the album layout - wait for the album layout to print.. n if u haven't chose ur pre wed photographer or bridal studio yet, den u need to get one.. o.o not easy o.o n in the last two months - u'll need to figure out ur timeline for the day/ brother sister briefing/ logistics for the day, actual day photog and videog, photo montage (if u wan), march in music o.o i can go on and on o.o) this list gets even larger if u r a hands on diy bride o.o

jiayou itsy~~!! =D

i don't want to think!

thanks princess..

[Kerlyn 0]

Hi theitsybits,

Just got my keys a few days back and is starting my reno tml. We have the same floor plan but at different block. Really like your house design n envy that you got the money to spend so much on it!

[theitsybits 0]

Hi theitsybits,

Just got my keys a few days back and is starting my reno tml. We have the same floor plan but at different block. Really like your house design n envy that you got the money to spend so much on it!

hey are u at casa too? which blk are u at? it's possible to spend less and yet have something similar..we spent about 40k, so if you cut down on carpentry, or use laminates instead, or do not overlay toilet, use say PD doors for toilets, use wall paper instead of real craft-stone walls, it's possible to do something for around 30k or so..alternative is to do white 60x60 flooring with wood grain carpentry to save on flooring..

good luck!

[Kerlyn 0]

Hey, I'm at 420. I didn't start doing my research earlier, so the design is not as unique as yours. My reno cost is around $22k.

[theitsybits 0]

Realized that my day count is slightly wrong, as the days went by. Used a day calculator this time round! We started renovations on 4th June and it's already 18th June.

Day 102 - Friday

Backsplash was still not up although kitchen was ready more than a month ago. The relative must have sat on it as usual, everything is stuck at his end. I finally got a call from a Binson guy (just found out that he’s the project coordinator from the relative’s company) on Friday, asking if they could come and install backsplash later that evening. The husband got him to contact me directly since he was travelling. I told him that I’ll be available from 6pm onwards, and he requested for a later timing – between 9-10pm. Although it was a tad late, I agreed, since I really did not want to drag this any longer. Binson asked for my permission to give the backsplash guy (Ah liang) my phone number, and I obviously agreed, so that he could contact me if anything crops up.

So there I was, waiting alone at our home on a Friday night till almost 11pm and there was still no sign of my backsplash guy, no calls from Binson nor Ah Liang. I tried to call Binson up, but his phone was off. The husband landed at 10pm and asked me to go home when I told him what happened. We have not moved in and it was getting really late.

Ah liang finally called me at around 11pm, telling me that he’s at Balestier. It was way too late by the time he arrives, and I asked him to arrange for Saturday installation. He wasn’t able to give me a timing and told me that he will call me again to ‘let me know tomorrow’. It’s as if my life and schedule revolved around these people. I told him that I’ll be available from 3pm onwards, and he could come anytime after that, but give me a call first.

Day 103 - Saturday

Ah liang gave me a call at 10am, telling me that he can come now, arriving at about 11am. I already had something on and again told him after 3pm. We waited all till 630pm till he finally called and told us that he can’t make it today. He didn’t have any evening slots the week ahead too, and promised to come at 10-11am on Monday. I made him double-confirm that and had to get my parents to come over to wait for him since both of us were obviously working.

Day 105 - Monday

I was at a meeting, till my dad told me that ah liang was still not here when it’s already past 11am. I asked my dad to call ah liang directly since I wasn’t able to, and the husband did not reply to my message. Ah liang told my dad after lunch at around 2pm. The husband later got the message and called Binson. Binson told my husband that I wanted to liaise with ah liang directly and he was not in the loop. Basically, he does not know what happened and the flippant attitude was like it’s none of his business.

I was so angry! This Binson simply arranged this and did not follow up, not knowing that the backsplash was not done. Now, he’s putting words into my mouth saying that I wanted to liaise directly (I said no such thing), shrinking all responsibility. He told the husband that ah liang will come at 1pm.

So, ah liang says 2pm, Binson says 1pm. I called this Binson up, wanting to confirm the timing and confront him on the point that I wanted to liaise with ah liang directly. And when I told him that his guy did not come on Friday night, asking him if he told my husband that I wanted to liaise directly with ah liang, he hung up on me. I was so pissed and tried to call him again. After several attempts, he finally answered and told me that if I wanted to talk to him, talk to him properly. I continued, telling him that I did not say I wanted to liaise with ah liang directly, he hung up again! And refused to pick up my call anymore.

I was so **** angry. :furious:

This Binson was so rude and simply shrunk all responsibility by saying I wanted to liaise with ah liang directly. What sort of customer-facing person would have such attitude and have the nerve to hang up on disgruntled customers when his guy did not turn up as scheduled on 3 different days. Then, refused to even confirm timing nor apologize and simply shrink all responsibility, like it’s not his problem. No apology, no explanation, simply hang up and tell you that he will only talk to you if you ‘talk to him properly’. I was seriously fuming mad. He’s a project coordinator, and did not even do his job and have the nerve to have such attitude.

It’s already bad enough to stand us up 2 days in a row, and another to not turn up when I had to ask my parents to help and waste their time like that. I called Ah liang up again, and luckily he had the basic manners to apologize and explain himself. Even the sub-contractor had better manners than the project coordinator from a huge ID firm. Having said that, our backsplash is not white as we requested, and the silicon was not done properly, there’re visible gaps/holes, probably a job done hurriedly.

Something is very wrong with this relative’s company. Apart from poor workmanship, extensive delays, everyone is complaining about the bad service and staff refusing to pick up calls nor account for anything after the contract is signed. The communication between customers’ specifications and sub-contractors or carpenters is non-existent resulting in wrong works everywhere. It’s honestly appalling and the most frustrating thing is their attitude – not apologetic and still arrogant and rude which makes everything unbearably frustrating. Bad reviews from disgruntled customers are spurting in the cyberspace and forums, and our experience was exactly similar despite being relatives.

I suppose that given the relative’s attitude and poor management, his employees are embolden to act the same way towards customers too. And to anyone who would like to know which company to avoid them given my (and many others' ) bad experience, I’m willing to confirm your suspicions, just PM me. After going through this nightmare for the past 3 months, I really do not wish that anyone has to go through this. I see no merit in engaging their services, and no one part of our experience was even bearable nor acceptable. We had no choice but to appease the MIL, but everyone else have and can make the choice.

Nobody deserves such bad service and quality. Nobody.

[theitsybits 0]

Hey, I'm at 420. I didn't start doing my research earlier, so the design is not as unique as yours. My reno cost is around $22k.

that's pretty cheap! never mind, there's always a second chance someday. Having your own home is itself a joy le..

[PapaSmurfie 0]

hi yr hse is aimply gorgeous .. can share Mr K contact ?

thks

[theitsybits 0]

hi yr hse is aimply gorgeous .. can share Mr K contact ?

thks

thanks! PM-ed.

[May_dream1 14]

Wow! After the cabinets still got this backsplash problem! I also upset on your behalf.

[moss2000 0]

Hello itsybits

Appreciate if you can share your relatives' company name with me. Thanks!

And please hang in there! You've got a great house coming up

[El LoCo 3]

can u pm me too abt this FxxK Up company...thanks

[LLChing 0]

Can pm me the notorious company and Mr K's contact? Must warn my relatives and friends whose children should be getting their BTO flats next year. Many thanks