Makeover For 30 Year Old Home In Marine Parade

[chynaho 0]

Having read many T-blogs here at renotalk, I'm inspired to start my own T-blog to record my journey into getting an 'extreme' makeover for my hubbie-to-be's 30-year old flat(roughly) in Marine Parade. At the same time, I also hope that this t-blog would be a blessing to all who intend to renovate their homes.

As with most couples, money is indeed a big constraint. Especially so for us as we are planning for our wedding in October concurrently. We decided to keep our renovations simple and practical and stretch our money as much as possible. In fact, we started sourcing for an id/contractor in March 2011. This amount of time (more than 1 year!) had allowed us to think through and clarify what we want. We also managed to seek quotations from quite a number of ids/contractors since we had more than sufficient time. Looking back, having more time to decide made it easier for us to narrow down to our eventual selection.

[ffdog 0]

Welcome to RT. Cong on ur coming wedding and reno started.

I m so excited to know tat we r using the same ID - Orange.

I beliv u will feel happly with her like what i feel so far.

I started my reno and t-blog earlier & will update with pic once time allowed.

Please keep update ur t-blog and share ur pic too. Thx.

[chynaho 0]

My Floorplan...

Edited June 7, 2012 by chynaho

[chynaho 0]

Finding the right id/ contractor was indeed the biggest decision we had to make before renovation can proceed.

Ids/Contractors we went to

1. Hubbie's mother's friend – Contractor 1

- contractor who gave us the lowest quote of $32k. This was a 'friend' price as Hubble’s mother and him are old friends.

- Looked at existing reno works.

- The workmanship for the flooring and plastering were good but carpentry was fairly old-school. After looking at 3 of the units he was renovating, we came to the conclusion that he applied a standard protocol treatment to all the flats; i.e. all the flats looked the same, even the tiles, kitchen and carpentry works.

- Hb and I were worried at the fact that he had a tendency to miss out items in his quotation. Lastly, he didn’t really seem to listen to what we want. Instead, he kept telling us what he could do. So it's a no for us.

2. Contractor 2

- recommended by hubbie's ex-colleague.

- went to look at his previous reno project.

- was impressed by his clean workmanship; carpentry was also good with neat lamination.

- Upon quotation, we almost peng because quite a number of items we had requested for did not go into the quotation and the cost was already $42k. So it's a no-no for us.

3. Ho Kee – Contractor 3

- Received quite a number of good reviews in this forum

- Good friend of mine used them and her flat turned out really well

- Contacted them through phone, was asked to email them our floor plan but no response after that

4. Square room interior design - ID

- friend had previously used them for their reno

- Id was J. He is young and lacks experience, and provided some ideas that appeared good but impractical.

- Lost our floorplan after our first meeting. We felt he lacked responsibility so we didn't want to hand our house over to him.

5. Rezt and relax –ID

-Id was C and S and they were used by my present colleague.

-Reputable company as they appear often in TVs and magazines. However, price quoted was one of the highest - 58 k! Way over our initial budget.

- Realised that the company was the draw as it offers lifetime warranty carpentry and stuff. We felt that paying a premiere for this is not worth the money.

6. Artrend -ID

- Good concept and workmanship. Very sincere id by the name of S who is meticulous. Even hb was impressed by her.

- The most expensive id firm we approached. Original quotation was $65k! They managed to trim down the price to $48k by cutting down the number of things to be done but we felt that it doesn't make sense to pay so much more for a brand name.

7. Box plan Design –Contractor-like ID

- Friend's friend recommended P.

- Very experienced; could tell at a glance what are the renovation items we need to do when he came for an onsite visit.

- Claims to be an id but both hb and I felt he was more like a contractor. Also total cost was pricier than Inside Living.

- No HDB licence so we didn't want to take the risk

8. Inside Living - ID

- One of the first companies we approached (March 2011)

-Our church friend used them for his Reno and we thought the workmanship was good. They recommended J but when we reached the firm, Orange approached us.

- Very friendly and gave us good advice and asked what we had in mind. At that time, she was willing to help us check when she was uncertain.

- We were impressed first by her sincerity and patience with us. We went back to her in August 2011 but didn't confirm her as we still wanted to look around. - - Finally in March this year, we went to her again as we thought the pricing offered was reasonable and we trust that she would do a good job in renovating our house. My hb also said that this round, she sounded more confident as she had already done quite a number of projects by then.

- Our eventual choice for our home

[chynaho 0]

Some learning points from our search for an ID/contractor:

1) Contractors may not be cheaper than ids. Ids may not be more expensive than contractor. The choice of which one to use depends on the individual. For us, we hope the id could help oversee our progress. Hence we prefer it over a contractor.

2) It's good to shop around for an id and find one who can click and work well with you. Also the greater exposure allows one to gain new ideas.

3) It's important to roughly know what you want so it'll be easier to convey your ideas to your id; i.e an L-box differs greatly from cove lighting, pricing differs for different items

4) Compare prices. We created a simple spreadsheet to compare pricing across items. You will be astonished to know that the prices can differ a lot.

5) Remember that renovation only provides you a 'shell' for your home. After the reno costs, there's still lots of things you have to buy and pay for; I.e furniture, lightings, toilet furnishings, electrical goods, electrical works etc...

6) Get the essential and necessary first if budget is limited. Then you can cater to your wants more easily later.

[ffdog 0]

Wa, u too search so many I'd/contractor b4 sign with Orange. Wish we all hv smooth & nice reno by her.

[taichipanda 3]

My Floorplan...

Wow... you have a big kitchen (i like!).

[chynaho 0]

Thanks Taichipanda...yup the kitchen is really big...but the sad thing is that there is only one toilet in the house.

[chynaho 0]

Hb and mum had been staying there for almost 30 years after they moved in. When I asked hb why he didn't want to do anything about his place (only paktor for 1 year then), his answer was really sweet. He said."I'm waiting for my wife to decide what she wants to do to the house."

Let me share more on what the flat used to look like. When you see the pictures, you will understand why I say this is an extreme makeover.

Living Room

Hb and I hate the liver pink marble flooring. Plastering was also badly done.

Kitchen

Semi-tiled kitchen walls and mosaic floors, looking totally 1980s. The kelly and lime green kichen cabinets are also so old-school. The insides of the wood are also disintegrating.

[chynaho 0]

Kitchen (continued)

Protruding pipes make the kitchen look cluttered. Retro bin chute.

Amazing hob and hood that my mother-in-law (to be) used for 30 years!!!

Edited June 7, 2012 by chynaho

[chynaho 0]

The Toilet & Bathroom

Sink positioned outside (we intend to shift the sink in); single Cubicle toilet and bathroom (recently upgraded)

Unsightly pipings running all over

Can't remove these pipes below so have to make do. Id is intending to remove the smaller pipe below.

Edited June 14, 2012 by chynaho

[chynaho 0]

The Rooms

Old HDB doors with airvents

Flimsy partition

Bedroom 1

Built-in wardrobe that's going to give way any time soon

Parquet floor that badly needs polishing

Edited June 7, 2012 by chynaho

[taichipanda 3]

If money is not an issue, hack all and change everything brand new at a big hole in your wallet.

[chynaho 0]

Bedroom 2

Furniture has been removed.

Horrible plastering job

Messy trunking

Old bedroom doors that would be replaced.

[chynaho 0]

Bedroom 3 (semi storeroom)

Ikea wardrobe

Hanging light bulb in the room (makes the room look dim and unappealing)

More...

Jialat plastering and bumps on the wall

Old-school switches that need to go