Our Humble 3 Room Hdb Resale @ Amk

[iwanpeace 0]

Hi to all members here

This is a very usefull and interesting forum for all would be homeowners especially newbies.We can really share and gather vast informations and ideas among members.

Ok I would like to start my new blog about our overall experiences. Its a tiny 3 room HDB resale flat @ AMK.We just moved in around 1.5 months.It was really very tiring over the whole process of renovation, sourcing for furnitures, appliances,fittings etc and finally house moving.We got everything brand new as our previous are mostly worn out.But thankfully with all the efforts and resources,all turned out smoothly and its a place where we call home. As its my first time doing this blog, I really dun know much about all these stuffs and will try to figure out how to upload pictures as it seems alien to me!!! But hopefully with your patience, let me try to figure it out.

Lets start the topic with our new house.

Its a 32 year old 3 room resale HDB flat with everything in very original condition. In fact we been trying to look for flats around AMK or Toa Payoh. But I remembered when we went to online property search when we are ready, this flat came out under the first listing. Timing in end last year with valuation at $317k COV asking for $10k.The next moment I called up the agent and arranged a viewing the next day.

Prior to the viewing, we were still thinking how many people will turn up to view and counter offer. As flats around this area offers a superb location with nearby schools, markets,banks, food centres,coffee shops and with MRT just across the street usually asking for $25-$35K COV. Ok met up with the agent, he is a nice young chap. Went in with wife to view and place is in very original condition. Definately have to revamp the whole place, but frankly speaking

if paint up and do some touch up work also can but have to bear with those old concept of living.

Went one round around the flat and offered the agent COV of $8K. The next moment another group came to view the flat

and within 10 minutes another group came. Inside my heart it was like oh my god so many people come to view, better act fast or regret. The agent came back to tell us that the other party had offered $10K COV and I had to offer higher than him in order to secure.At first I was thinking whether it was wayang, but I told the agent that we liked the flat and hoped that he helped us out in talking to the owner in letting us have the place. Finally agreed COV $10,500.00 OK deal sealed and issued $1K payment

After the deal, we were still thinking will the transaction go through,is it too good to be true!!! Within 5 days, we issued another $4k prepared and signed OTP , We were told to wait around 5 weeks for 1st appointment and around 6-8 weeks for completion. 1st appointment went smoothly and it was around mid February completion finally completed. After we got the keys, we were very relieved and happy that we really secured the flat. This agent is very honest as he even told us that we do not have to pay him comm as he is acting for sellers side and even help us on paper works for submissions to HDB which we are very green to it. A very good young agent, well versed with rules and regulations highly recommended to anyone looking for a trustworthy agent by the name of Ben. PM me if you need his contact

Finally, the renovation process is going to start. But of course, prior to key collection, we had done homeworks on contractors, ID. As we saved spending much on COV, we decided to totally revamp the place with nothing spared......

Different contractors/ ID will give different ideas/concept. The worst concept was from one ID, hmm totally revamp,

how much your budget $80k,$100k or $150k we can do wonders to your house. But based on the way he projected,they are more interested in $$$ and doesnt seemed to have experience in techincial terms. Some contractors we seen are those uncle uncle types. OK OK here put sink support, there put stove support, put cornice in room, L box in living room, kitchen entrance put aluminium sliding door...very nice type one lah. They just dun seemed to understand our tastes and requirements. Sorry to say we are not those high end groups but we do have a taste and needs to our daily usage. For example ,me and wife have many clothing to store wanted to have a walk-in-wardrobe but was told to put 2 6ft wardrobe at both rooms so any extra stuffs would be stored into the next door wardrobe??? You know woman have lots of stuffs, they would like to display their stuffs and and can view and use it from one end.....

After much considerations which is the most important part in our considerations,why important part?...Will they deliever on time? Will they take $$$ and run? Will they do a good job as everyone seemed to say they can do well!!! Do they check on site progress on daily basis? Do they really have the experiences? We filtered to a contractor whom did my friend's condo whom was recommended to my friend who did his 5 room HDB. We went to view my friend's condo and was impressed with the workmanship. Double checked and tripple checked with my friend whether this contractor is ok as we are a bit kia su. So far so good no hidden costs, delivered on time and very sincere type contractor. Ok set time and met up with him by the name of Andy.

On the first meeting, we met up at his office/cum factory. We showed him the floor plan and photos and discussed on our ideas and needs. As we had many ideas and concepts, he sincerely told us that he is a contractor with his own carpentry workforce and is not an ID. He will come out with ideas based on his experiences and will see whether we are comfortable with him as he feels that we have very high standards. Time flies, we didnt notice we were there for almost 4 hours which we felt pei seh. He arranged for another meet up 2 days later.

We met again, though no 3D plans, he managed to plan out what we proposed and even have better proposals!!! Hehe.....

We be having a walk-in-wardrobe in our master room with store room hacked away and reconstruct and creating a bigger wardrobe area. Hacked walls for master toilet entrance and proposed to have clear glass sliding door for toilet entrance which will make the room wider, features walls for master room. As for living/dining, we had wanted to hack away wall for open concept kitchen but for prayer altar purpose we deleted the idea. Proposed to extend the living room wider into the kitchen with newly built wall and clear sliding glass kitchen entrance. As for kitchen he proposed to have an island as my wife seems crazy about this??? Feature walls with mirror at dining, TV area... blar blar blar. Total revamp really means a lot of works... rewiring, plumbing,all tiling works, windows, plastering, carpentry, toilet sanitary wares, new lightings,kitchen equipments,doors etc,etc. I am really a bit scared at this moment, looking at all these stuffs which need to be done!!!!!

We discussed for a solid 2 hours before Andy asked us whether we have time to select tiles which is just around the corner. We happily agreed. We went to the tiles showroom which is Taugres at Defu lane. Tiles selection is ok though we seen a wider selection elsewhere. We were actually quite lost as we really dun know what to choose!!! At this time,Andy asked us do we mind going for some high end tiles which frankly speaking will looks very unique. We look around and based on his recommendations, we narrowed down to few models for different areas from Spain/Italy and China origin. It was another 3 hours in choosing tiles and we still have not quite decided. We feel that we really have chemistry with Andy and he seems very patience with us or maybe he can feel that we are comfortable with him.

To be frank, at this moment, I am a bit scared as all proposals seem very nice to us and really many things are involved in this project. I really dun know how much we are going to spend!!!!! I told Andy to work out the total costings based on what we discussed and choosed and was told will get back to us in 3 days.

Me and my wife have been discussing and visiting many places these few days for furnitures, appliciances but did not buy anything yet. Frankly speaking, in our heart we would want Andy to have the project done but dun know whats the total figure yet. If its too high, we will look for others again. So lets keep our finger crossed.

Andy called and made appointment to discuss further, he told us it will take us at least 4 hours of our time if we dun mind. Was told prices ranges as we need to discuss further on tiles, lamination selections etc. We met up and discussed. Oh thank God it was total relieved for me and wife, the price came in very comfortable with us selecting most of the materials with the higher grade. Though its a bit higher than we expected but we found it reasonable.

We selected Spain/Italy tiles for 2 bathroom, Spain tiles for kitchen, China 600x600mm high end super gloss homogeneous tiles for living area ( actually wanted marble but budget didnt permit ) long and wide strip Burmese parquet for bedrooms, and as for carpentry lamination selections, mostly from TAK high end line, Panasonic system 3

Inverter aircon with silver front panel. He told us to look around for sanitary wares as he had proposed to us very nice design sanitary wares and decide whether we would want to get from him as he distrbuites these products too. We confirmed with him on the spot without sanitary wares and paid 10% deposit and went home happily.

We had to wait another 2 weeks before completion and collect keys. Very eager to this date and meanwhile browsing around furnitures stalls, expo, sanitary wares showroom for good deals. After comparing prices from different sanitary wares showroom, we confirmed to be getting from Andy's side as his offer is too good to resist!!!!! We got ourselves a Slumberland tempsmart 2 3600 king size mattress at a very good deal at a shop in Jalan Pemipimp(warehouse sales)who was served by a very sincere and honest guy by the name Michael which compared to a lowest quote we found elsewhere was $800.00 difference. For sofa, it was recommended by Michael to an opposite warehouse which we cant really find this exact design eleswhere. It was a L-shaped leather sofa and was served by a nice guy named Stanley.To be frank, we been quite lucky all these while, all our planning and purchases are going quite smoothly and we have met many nice nice people in which we have committed with them. For lightings, we went lightings.com.sg at jalan besar and was served by Sky, friendly chap though we didnt buy much from him as we are using mostly T5 which we bought at Sim Lim Level 3 (Important highlight to forumers, if you planning to use T5, get Osram T5 the great baton as quality very good but cost more)As for dinning table, we got it from Novenna at Shaw Balestier ,very nice design with big solid stainless steel leg, but still waiting for exchange until now as set was defective when delievered, overall experience with them was ok as staffs did call to apoligise and explain.

Finally collected keys on 22 February 2012, me and wife very happy as we finally have a home of our own and everything went on smoothly. Really appreciated the help from agent Ben and thanked him sincerely and offered him an ang pow. Called up Andy(the contractor) at night and told him we have collected keys. To our surprise, he told us that he had already applied for HDB permit just one hour before I called him. This shows that he is responsible for his works, I remembered I did told him that we be collecting keys on 22 Feb but didnt expect him to follow up so fast. HDB only approves hacking all floor/wall tiles etc,laying of new tiles etc except for hacking of walls which is pending for approval which he claims around 1 week depending on HDB HQ. As for hacking of floor/wall tiles it can only be started 3 days after permit applied...Sighed.....wasted another 3 days...we really need to move in by 1 April 2012 and Andy promised us 6 weeks in total for overall job scope.

Ok HDB approved hacking date 27 Feburary 2012 as 25 Feburary 2012 is a Saturday so hacking is not allowed!!!!! Exicting part is on the way. 27 Feburary 2012 Monday @ 930am one army bunch of well built guys came in with machinery tools etc and started hacking, by 500pm, hacking of floor/wall tiles were mostly completed except for kitchen toilet. Phew!!!!! That was fast. By 28 February 2012 noon, all hacking completed, we can see loads of building materials and bags of sands at the carpark area!!!!! By 6pm those workers cleared all debris into big container awaiting lorries and hauled up all building materials and sand. Its been very very hard hard work for them but can tell they are really good. Wife had bought them many many drinks,foods for them!!!!!

Now still waiting for HDB approval for hacking of walls, meanwhile, electrician, plumber have to come in to strip all wiring and pipings and fitted with temporary supply. Next step, tiler in for wall screeding etc. True enough, we waited almost 1 week for HDB approval to get the walls hacked. And wasted sometime here. Luckily Andy was experienced to manage to send in other guys as well, air-con, window measurements etc..... When wall hacking finally approved, it was hacked down within a day and Andy had to arrange to dipose debris offsite again (was told actually the previous debris container can hold all these loads, very pei seh leh). Works are being supervised strictly as I can say by Andy and everything is going smoothly without delays.

Tilers experience as I can tell is those (old bird) type, very skillfull and diligent, they do not rush the works and they took pride in their works. Tiles applied all very nice based on what Andy proposed on different locations!!!!! Well done. Waterproofing works to kitchen and bathroom are not spared. I was told by Andy they will do a 3 stage waterproofing system which I dun understand at first but after looking at the works, I can figure what they are doing.

All areas to be waterproofed are made extremely clean followed by prepacked waterproofing mortar throughout the entite kitchen and bathroom. Next coat of dun know what white liquid (waterproofing membrance applied throughout entire kitchen and bathroom again). All gulleys traps are using those HDB listed products with long necks.As me and wife required a water test whom heard from friends, it was carried out the next day. It wasted us a day of working time but we just wanted to be sure it doesnt leak in future.

Tiling continued, followed by electrician, ceiling guys, plaster man for walls, etc. It was like a battlefield with

well organisied and professional workers coming and go. All these while, I can say, Andy is very delicated to this project, really many thanks to him spending so much time and efforts for this project. We will see him daily on site inspections and on some days he will come as often as 5-6 times. Kudos to him..... Finally tiling works done, electricial works done, ceiling works, false ceiling cove lights, partitions to cover all those unslightly beams,concaved holes all nicely done up. Air-con done.....Very nicely done up with no sign of trunkings,pipings etc.

Sliding glass doors, toilet tempered glass box up piping all nicely fitted and blend very well with the toilet.Burmese long and wide strip parquet installed and awaiting to be sanded and varvished. Very nice compared to those original proposed standard Indonesia parquet. Was told by Andy Burmese parquet wood will turn out very rich in colour after sanding and varnishing.....Hmm.....cant wait to get it sanded and varnished!!!!!

Now awaiting for fitting of sanitary wares, carpentry works ,fitting of lights and painting works. 5 painters came in and started painting with sealer, we still can remember cannot tahan the smell after painting the sealer, really pity the painters to withstand this terrible smell.Painting works are very well done, can tell these boys are professional in painting.....remember seeing them cutting the lines while painting between ceiling and walls.....very straight and nice. Finally bedroom and main doors are in.Very solid and nice veener doors with stainless steel inserts. Door handles look very nice never regretted choosing this model though paid more.....

Carpentry finally arrives 24 March 2012. Master room walk-in-wardrobe,feature TV wall,dresser table,side table came, master toilet cabinet came, kitchen cabinet, island came, common toilet cabinet came. Have to wait for living area TV feature wall, dining mirror feature. As Andy promised for us to move in on 1 April 2012. He had to install those items essential for us. Appreciated for his help and kindness. Carpenters installed kitchen cabinet and island on the day itself. By 7pm on the same day , kitchen top guys came to measure the kitchen top and island and whole set of sink support which is covered by solid surface material( very very nice.....me wife and friends who have visited our place give thumps up for this design and idea by Andy). We still remembered the poor workers from kitchen top company suggest to bring back whole island to factory to fabricate solid surface material as it will be faster than rather installing here as design quite complicated many in and outs. Above carpentry works were fitted by 27 March 2012. Frankly speaking, at first me and wife were worried that carpentry might turn out not well done because of time frame given to Andy. Eventually it turns out well. With those TAK high end laminates choosen, the end products really make a big difference. We were given soft closing hinges and soft closing drawers sliders in the package but not from BLUM as it cost more but we find it fine with us.....No issues at all.

28 March 2012, electrician came and fitted all the lightings etc, Ostram T5 lighting makes a difference,nice rich colours, those blue tubes are from Saber as Osram dont have it really makes my entire kitchen and island float!!!!! Nice,Nice,Nice..... Whole house light switches,touch dimmers and sockets fitted with Schneider series with blue LED

indicators. Swee Swee ( but burn a big hole in wallet )

29 March 2012, plumber came and fitted all sanitary wares, me and wife simply love our master toilet with the amazing stand alone wash basin, toilet bowl, rainshower etc, together with the clear glass sliding door,lighting effects, it makes us feel that we are in a 5 star hotel. Thank You Thank You Andy for your superb ideas, wife very happy with the works.

30 March 2012, clearing up of debris, floor protection cupboards and chemical washing to whole house.Andy told us they be washing up again tomorrow after kitchen top and island top be installed.Place looks nice and neat after cleaning up and washing.Nice Nice Nice.....

31 March 2012, kitchen top workers came, carrying back the island counter with whole piece wrapped in solid top material.Splendid!!!!! The workers will be doing the whole day as it is not an easy job especially the sink support area. In the meantime, we had already arranged movers to move in tomorrow. Looks like we are meeting the timeframe except for living/dining carpentry works. No easy job for solid top workers, poor guys work till past 10pm. Andy and workers standby the whole day touching up, testing equipments and cleaned up the whole area till past midnight. Felt very pei seh and bad for Andy and workers as he is trying his best to let us move in by tommorrow which he did.

01 April 2012, movers arrived at old house, picked up stuffs and boxes, packed into 2 lorries and set for new house. Me and wife have very happy feelings and very exicited with our new home. Arrived at new home, movers very fast with their jobs, dun really take much care with our products, some even got scratches here and there. Sian lah. Paid them and was quite a bit pissed off with thier works. But wife told me to cool down as its our first day to our new house which I listened to her. Andy came around 1pm with one of his workers and plumber to connect kitchen sink and offered to help us organising our stuffs. Wife felt pei seh with the offer as we felt that he had already spent so much efforts in doing up our home. We declined the offer and offered them a good lunch opposite. Many nice food here leh.Hee Hee

02 April 2012, mattress, sofa, fridge, washer,TVs, dining table all arrived as agreed

06 April 2012, rest of carpentry works arrived and installed within sameday.

Overall experience, very tiring throughout but very happy with the finishing works, completed on timing, managed to move in on time. Andy provided a good service and most important good workmanship, highlighted many pointers to us which we are not aware of. Though no 3D drawings etc which we dun really quite figure out at first but the finishing results really turn amazing!!!!!No doubts with his overall experience gained through these years.

Clearing up stuffs and unpacking and displaying items took almost 3 weeks and it is also a very tiring process.But thankfully we have such a beautiful house that will zest up our moods upon returning home.

Many sincere thanks to those that made this house sales got through and became a wonderful home

Many Thanks

Agent Ben

Mattress Michael

Sofa Stanley

Lightings Sky

Taugres

Contractor Andy and his pools of workers

Btw i will try to figure out how to upload the photos

[haven32 0]

Hi Iwanpeace

congrats on moving into your new house. i would be moving out of AMK to punggol. going to miss amk.

just had my first appt and is looking for a contractor. can PM me your contractor Andy contact number

[happiness1818 0]

Hi to all members here

This is a very usefull and interesting forum for all would be homeowners especially newbies.We can really share and gather vast informations and ideas among members.

Ok I would like to start my new blog about our overall experiences. Its a tiny 3 room HDB resale flat @ AMK.We just moved in around 1.5 months.It was really very tiring over the whole process of renovation, sourcing for furnitures, appliances,fittings etc and finally house moving.We got everything brand new as our previous are mostly worn out.But thankfully with all the efforts and resources,all turned out smoothly and its a place where we call home. As its my first time doing this blog, I really dun know much about all these stuffs and will try to figure out how to upload pictures as it seems alien to me!!! But hopefully with your patience, let me try to figure it out.

Lets start the topic with our new house.

Its a 32 year old 3 room resale HDB flat with everything in very original condition. In fact we been trying to look for flats around AMK or Toa Payoh. But I remembered when we went to online property search when we are ready, this flat came out under the first listing. Timing in end last year with valuation at $317k COV asking for $10k.The next moment I called up the agent and arranged a viewing the next day.

Prior to the viewing, we were still thinking how many people will turn up to view and counter offer. As flats around this area offers a superb location with nearby schools, markets,banks, food centres,coffee shops and with MRT just across the street usually asking for $25-$35K COV. Ok met up with the agent, he is a nice young chap. Went in with wife to view and place is in very original condition. Definately have to revamp the whole place, but frankly speaking

if paint up and do some touch up work also can but have to bear with those old concept of living.

Went one round around the flat and offered the agent COV of $8K. The next moment another group came to view the flat

and within 10 minutes another group came. Inside my heart it was like oh my god so many people come to view, better act fast or regret. The agent came back to tell us that the other party had offered $10K COV and I had to offer higher than him in order to secure.At first I was thinking whether it was wayang, but I told the agent that we liked the flat and hoped that he helped us out in talking to the owner in letting us have the place. Finally agreed COV $10,500.00 OK deal sealed and issued $1K payment

After the deal, we were still thinking will the transaction go through,is it too good to be true!!! Within 5 days, we issued another $4k prepared and signed OTP , We were told to wait around 5 weeks for 1st appointment and around 6-8 weeks for completion. 1st appointment went smoothly and it was around mid February completion finally completed. After we got the keys, we were very relieved and happy that we really secured the flat. This agent is very honest as he even told us that we do not have to pay him comm as he is acting for sellers side and even help us on paper works for submissions to HDB which we are very green to it. A very good young agent, well versed with rules and regulations highly recommended to anyone looking for a trustworthy agent by the name of Ben. PM me if you need his contact

Finally, the renovation process is going to start. But of course, prior to key collection, we had done homeworks on contractors, ID. As we saved spending much on COV, we decided to totally revamp the place with nothing spared......

Different contractors/ ID will give different ideas/concept. The worst concept was from one ID, hmm totally revamp,

how much your budget $80k,$100k or $150k we can do wonders to your house. But based on the way he projected,they are more interested in $$$ and doesnt seemed to have experience in techincial terms. Some contractors we seen are those uncle uncle types. OK OK here put sink support, there put stove support, put cornice in room, L box in living room, kitchen entrance put aluminium sliding door...very nice type one lah. They just dun seemed to understand our tastes and requirements. Sorry to say we are not those high end groups but we do have a taste and needs to our daily usage. For example ,me and wife have many clothing to store wanted to have a walk-in-wardrobe but was told to put 2 6ft wardrobe at both rooms so any extra stuffs would be stored into the next door wardrobe??? You know woman have lots of stuffs, they would like to display their stuffs and and can view and use it from one end.....

After much considerations which is the most important part in our considerations,why important part?...Will they deliever on time? Will they take $$$ and run? Will they do a good job as everyone seemed to say they can do well!!! Do they check on site progress on daily basis? Do they really have the experiences? We filtered to a contractor whom did my friend's condo whom was recommended to my friend who did his 5 room HDB. We went to view my friend's condo and was impressed with the workmanship. Double checked and tripple checked with my friend whether this contractor is ok as we are a bit kia su. So far so good no hidden costs, delivered on time and very sincere type contractor. Ok set time and met up with him by the name of Andy.

On the first meeting, we met up at his office/cum factory. We showed him the floor plan and photos and discussed on our ideas and needs. As we had many ideas and concepts, he sincerely told us that he is a contractor with his own carpentry workforce and is not an ID. He will come out with ideas based on his experiences and will see whether we are comfortable with him as he feels that we have very high standards. Time flies, we didnt notice we were there for almost 4 hours which we felt pei seh. He arranged for another meet up 2 days later.

We met again, though no 3D plans, he managed to plan out what we proposed and even have better proposals!!! Hehe.....

We be having a walk-in-wardrobe in our master room with store room hacked away and reconstruct and creating a bigger wardrobe area. Hacked walls for master toilet entrance and proposed to have clear glass sliding door for toilet entrance which will make the room wider, features walls for master room. As for living/dining, we had wanted to hack away wall for open concept kitchen but for prayer altar purpose we deleted the idea. Proposed to extend the living room wider into the kitchen with newly built wall and clear sliding glass kitchen entrance. As for kitchen he proposed to have an island as my wife seems crazy about this??? Feature walls with mirror at dining, TV area... blar blar blar. Total revamp really means a lot of works... rewiring, plumbing,all tiling works, windows, plastering, carpentry, toilet sanitary wares, new lightings,kitchen equipments,doors etc,etc. I am really a bit scared at this moment, looking at all these stuffs which need to be done!!!!!

We discussed for a solid 2 hours before Andy asked us whether we have time to select tiles which is just around the corner. We happily agreed. We went to the tiles showroom which is Taugres at Defu lane. Tiles selection is ok though we seen a wider selection elsewhere. We were actually quite lost as we really dun know what to choose!!! At this time,Andy asked us do we mind going for some high end tiles which frankly speaking will looks very unique. We look around and based on his recommendations, we narrowed down to few models for different areas from Spain/Italy and China origin. It was another 3 hours in choosing tiles and we still have not quite decided. We feel that we really have chemistry with Andy and he seems very patience with us or maybe he can feel that we are comfortable with him.

To be frank, at this moment, I am a bit scared as all proposals seem very nice to us and really many things are involved in this project. I really dun know how much we are going to spend!!!!! I told Andy to work out the total costings based on what we discussed and choosed and was told will get back to us in 3 days.

Me and my wife have been discussing and visiting many places these few days for furnitures, appliciances but did not buy anything yet. Frankly speaking, in our heart we would want Andy to have the project done but dun know whats the total figure yet. If its too high, we will look for others again. So lets keep our finger crossed.

Andy called and made appointment to discuss further, he told us it will take us at least 4 hours of our time if we dun mind. Was told prices ranges as we need to discuss further on tiles, lamination selections etc. We met up and discussed. Oh thank God it was total relieved for me and wife, the price came in very comfortable with us selecting most of the materials with the higher grade. Though its a bit higher than we expected but we found it reasonable.

We selected Spain/Italy tiles for 2 bathroom, Spain tiles for kitchen, China 600x600mm high end super gloss homogeneous tiles for living area ( actually wanted marble but budget didnt permit ) long and wide strip Burmese parquet for bedrooms, and as for carpentry lamination selections, mostly from TAK high end line, Panasonic system 3

Inverter aircon with silver front panel. He told us to look around for sanitary wares as he had proposed to us very nice design sanitary wares and decide whether we would want to get from him as he distrbuites these products too. We confirmed with him on the spot without sanitary wares and paid 10% deposit and went home happily.

We had to wait another 2 weeks before completion and collect keys. Very eager to this date and meanwhile browsing around furnitures stalls, expo, sanitary wares showroom for good deals. After comparing prices from different sanitary wares showroom, we confirmed to be getting from Andy's side as his offer is too good to resist!!!!! We got ourselves a Slumberland tempsmart 2 3600 king size mattress at a very good deal at a shop in Jalan Pemipimp(warehouse sales)who was served by a very sincere and honest guy by the name Michael which compared to a lowest quote we found elsewhere was $800.00 difference. For sofa, it was recommended by Michael to an opposite warehouse which we cant really find this exact design eleswhere. It was a L-shaped leather sofa and was served by a nice guy named Stanley.To be frank, we been quite lucky all these while, all our planning and purchases are going quite smoothly and we have met many nice nice people in which we have committed with them. For lightings, we went lightings.com.sg at jalan besar and was served by Sky, friendly chap though we didnt buy much from him as we are using mostly T5 which we bought at Sim Lim Level 3 (Important highlight to forumers, if you planning to use T5, get Osram T5 the great baton as quality very good but cost more)As for dinning table, we got it from Novenna at Shaw Balestier ,very nice design with big solid stainless steel leg, but still waiting for exchange until now as set was defective when delievered, overall experience with them was ok as staffs did call to apoligise and explain.

Finally collected keys on 22 February 2012, me and wife very happy as we finally have a home of our own and everything went on smoothly. Really appreciated the help from agent Ben and thanked him sincerely and offered him an ang pow. Called up Andy(the contractor) at night and told him we have collected keys. To our surprise, he told us that he had already applied for HDB permit just one hour before I called him. This shows that he is responsible for his works, I remembered I did told him that we be collecting keys on 22 Feb but didnt expect him to follow up so fast. HDB only approves hacking all floor/wall tiles etc,laying of new tiles etc except for hacking of walls which is pending for approval which he claims around 1 week depending on HDB HQ. As for hacking of floor/wall tiles it can only be started 3 days after permit applied...Sighed.....wasted another 3 days...we really need to move in by 1 April 2012 and Andy promised us 6 weeks in total for overall job scope.

Ok HDB approved hacking date 27 Feburary 2012 as 25 Feburary 2012 is a Saturday so hacking is not allowed!!!!! Exicting part is on the way. 27 Feburary 2012 Monday @ 930am one army bunch of well built guys came in with machinery tools etc and started hacking, by 500pm, hacking of floor/wall tiles were mostly completed except for kitchen toilet. Phew!!!!! That was fast. By 28 February 2012 noon, all hacking completed, we can see loads of building materials and bags of sands at the carpark area!!!!! By 6pm those workers cleared all debris into big container awaiting lorries and hauled up all building materials and sand. Its been very very hard hard work for them but can tell they are really good. Wife had bought them many many drinks,foods for them!!!!!

Now still waiting for HDB approval for hacking of walls, meanwhile, electrician, plumber have to come in to strip all wiring and pipings and fitted with temporary supply. Next step, tiler in for wall screeding etc. True enough, we waited almost 1 week for HDB approval to get the walls hacked. And wasted sometime here. Luckily Andy was experienced to manage to send in other guys as well, air-con, window measurements etc..... When wall hacking finally approved, it was hacked down within a day and Andy had to arrange to dipose debris offsite again (was told actually the previous debris container can hold all these loads, very pei seh leh). Works are being supervised strictly as I can say by Andy and everything is going smoothly without delays.

Tilers experience as I can tell is those (old bird) type, very skillfull and diligent, they do not rush the works and they took pride in their works. Tiles applied all very nice based on what Andy proposed on different locations!!!!! Well done. Waterproofing works to kitchen and bathroom are not spared. I was told by Andy they will do a 3 stage waterproofing system which I dun understand at first but after looking at the works, I can figure what they are doing.

All areas to be waterproofed are made extremely clean followed by prepacked waterproofing mortar throughout the entite kitchen and bathroom. Next coat of dun know what white liquid (waterproofing membrance applied throughout entire kitchen and bathroom again). All gulleys traps are using those HDB listed products with long necks.As me and wife required a water test whom heard from friends, it was carried out the next day. It wasted us a day of working time but we just wanted to be sure it doesnt leak in future.

Tiling continued, followed by electrician, ceiling guys, plaster man for walls, etc. It was like a battlefield with

well organisied and professional workers coming and go. All these while, I can say, Andy is very delicated to this project, really many thanks to him spending so much time and efforts for this project. We will see him daily on site inspections and on some days he will come as often as 5-6 times. Kudos to him..... Finally tiling works done, electricial works done, ceiling works, false ceiling cove lights, partitions to cover all those unslightly beams,concaved holes all nicely done up. Air-con done.....Very nicely done up with no sign of trunkings,pipings etc.

Sliding glass doors, toilet tempered glass box up piping all nicely fitted and blend very well with the toilet.Burmese long and wide strip parquet installed and awaiting to be sanded and varvished. Very nice compared to those original proposed standard Indonesia parquet. Was told by Andy Burmese parquet wood will turn out very rich in colour after sanding and varnishing.....Hmm.....cant wait to get it sanded and varnished!!!!!

Now awaiting for fitting of sanitary wares, carpentry works ,fitting of lights and painting works. 5 painters came in and started painting with sealer, we still can remember cannot tahan the smell after painting the sealer, really pity the painters to withstand this terrible smell.Painting works are very well done, can tell these boys are professional in painting.....remember seeing them cutting the lines while painting between ceiling and walls.....very straight and nice. Finally bedroom and main doors are in.Very solid and nice veener doors with stainless steel inserts. Door handles look very nice never regretted choosing this model though paid more.....

Carpentry finally arrives 24 March 2012. Master room walk-in-wardrobe,feature TV wall,dresser table,side table came, master toilet cabinet came, kitchen cabinet, island came, common toilet cabinet came. Have to wait for living area TV feature wall, dining mirror feature. As Andy promised for us to move in on 1 April 2012. He had to install those items essential for us. Appreciated for his help and kindness. Carpenters installed kitchen cabinet and island on the day itself. By 7pm on the same day , kitchen top guys came to measure the kitchen top and island and whole set of sink support which is covered by solid surface material( very very nice.....me wife and friends who have visited our place give thumps up for this design and idea by Andy). We still remembered the poor workers from kitchen top company suggest to bring back whole island to factory to fabricate solid surface material as it will be faster than rather installing here as design quite complicated many in and outs. Above carpentry works were fitted by 27 March 2012. Frankly speaking, at first me and wife were worried that carpentry might turn out not well done because of time frame given to Andy. Eventually it turns out well. With those TAK high end laminates choosen, the end products really make a big difference. We were given soft closing hinges and soft closing drawers sliders in the package but not from BLUM as it cost more but we find it fine with us.....No issues at all.

28 March 2012, electrician came and fitted all the lightings etc, Ostram T5 lighting makes a difference,nice rich colours, those blue tubes are from Saber as Osram dont have it really makes my entire kitchen and island float!!!!! Nice,Nice,Nice..... Whole house light switches,touch dimmers and sockets fitted with Schneider series with blue LED

indicators. Swee Swee ( but burn a big hole in wallet )

29 March 2012, plumber came and fitted all sanitary wares, me and wife simply love our master toilet with the amazing stand alone wash basin, toilet bowl, rainshower etc, together with the clear glass sliding door,lighting effects, it makes us feel that we are in a 5 star hotel. Thank You Thank You Andy for your superb ideas, wife very happy with the works.

30 March 2012, clearing up of debris, floor protection cupboards and chemical washing to whole house.Andy told us they be washing up again tomorrow after kitchen top and island top be installed.Place looks nice and neat after cleaning up and washing.Nice Nice Nice.....

31 March 2012, kitchen top workers came, carrying back the island counter with whole piece wrapped in solid top material.Splendid!!!!! The workers will be doing the whole day as it is not an easy job especially the sink support area. In the meantime, we had already arranged movers to move in tomorrow. Looks like we are meeting the timeframe except for living/dining carpentry works. No easy job for solid top workers, poor guys work till past 10pm. Andy and workers standby the whole day touching up, testing equipments and cleaned up the whole area till past midnight. Felt very pei seh and bad for Andy and workers as he is trying his best to let us move in by tommorrow which he did.

01 April 2012, movers arrived at old house, picked up stuffs and boxes, packed into 2 lorries and set for new house. Me and wife have very happy feelings and very exicited with our new home. Arrived at new home, movers very fast with their jobs, dun really take much care with our products, some even got scratches here and there. Sian lah. Paid them and was quite a bit pissed off with thier works. But wife told me to cool down as its our first day to our new house which I listened to her. Andy came around 1pm with one of his workers and plumber to connect kitchen sink and offered to help us organising our stuffs. Wife felt pei seh with the offer as we felt that he had already spent so much efforts in doing up our home. We declined the offer and offered them a good lunch opposite. Many nice food here leh.Hee Hee

02 April 2012, mattress, sofa, fridge, washer,TVs, dining table all arrived as agreed

06 April 2012, rest of carpentry works arrived and installed within sameday.

Overall experience, very tiring throughout but very happy with the finishing works, completed on timing, managed to move in on time. Andy provided a good service and most important good workmanship, highlighted many pointers to us which we are not aware of. Though no 3D drawings etc which we dun really quite figure out at first but the finishing results really turn amazing!!!!!No doubts with his overall experience gained through these years.

Clearing up stuffs and unpacking and displaying items took almost 3 weeks and it is also a very tiring process.But thankfully we have such a beautiful house that will zest up our moods upon returning home.

Many sincere thanks to those that made this house sales got through and became a wonderful home

Many Thanks

Agent Ben

Mattress Michael

Sofa Stanley

Lightings Sky

Taugres

Contractor Andy and his pools of workers

Btw i will try to figure out how to upload the photos

Hi iwanpeace,

Its great that you have got a place at such a low cov with good location and went through the whole renovation process smoothly. Me n OC now looking around for resale flat. Not decided on one at moment as we are not in a hurry.

Hoping to find one with a low cov too.

Congrats on getting your new house and the right decision

[iwanpeace 0]

Hi Iwanpeace

congrats on moving into your new house. i would be moving out of AMK to punggol. going to miss amk.

just had my first appt and is looking for a contractor. can PM me your contractor Andy contact number

Hi haven32

Pmed you

[Charlenebth 0]

Hi iwanpeace

Mind to PM me your contractor's details? TIA!

[yhliang 1]

Cant wait to see all the pic. Welcome to amk

[iwanpeace 0]

Cant wait to see all the pic. Welcome to amk

Thanks for welcome us to AMK. Very nice estate indeed,neighbour's very friendly....Surroundings very peaceful

[iwanpeace 0]

Hi iwanpeace,

Its great that you have got a place at such a low cov with good location and went through the whole renovation process smoothly. Me n OC now looking around for resale flat. Not decided on one at moment as we are not in a hurry.

Hoping to find one with a low cov too.

Congrats on getting your new house and the right decision

Thanks,

We are very lucky indeed to find this place. We feel very homely when we return home daily.

We love to stay home whole day to rest and relax on weekends.A very relaxing home indeed

Good luck on your search..... COV should be lower now....

[Nexer 1]

Hi iwanpeace

Can pm me the total cost of ur reno?

And the contact of ur contractor

Thks!

Awaiting exciting for ur photos!!!

[Unagii 0]

Hi,may i have the contact of your contractor too?greatly appreciate

[questar6381 0]

Hi iwanpeace,

Thank you for sharing your experience.

I just collected the keys to my resale flat in Hougang ytd.

Could you kindly PM your total cost of reno? and your contractor's contact no.

Many thanks!

[iwanpeace 0]

Hi iwanpeace,

Thank you for sharing your experience.

I just collected the keys to my resale flat in Hougang ytd.

Could you kindly PM your total cost of reno? and your contractor's contact no.

Many thanks!

Hi questar6381

Sorry for the late reply was very busy with work recently, just pmed you

[and888 1]

Hi, will it be good to upload some images for our viewing? How do u feel on the workmanship of the renov? Thanks.

[renohome 0]

Hi iwanpeace,

Can pm me your total reno cost too? Thank you!

[jjellye 0]

hi, i am currently starting my search for my reno id/contractor, can u pm Andy's contact as well. he sounds like a nice and very responsible guy!

if you dont mind, can you share with me your quotation as well? thank you!