Lôft I'klektic

[Makanology 29]

Hi meeko, thanks for dropping by! Guess you are one of the rare few newer clients who managed to have a good experience with Alan. From a certain viewpoint, it would make many of us envious as Alan's treatment of most of us was nowhere as pleasant as yours. I believe most of us didn't treat him shabbily. In fact, we still put in lots of effort to communicate / coordinate with him but this was one-sided only...

To date, there has been no after sales service rendered by Alan. During our renovation, we saw him around 2 - 3 times only. We wouldn't have missed his presence cos 3 weeks into the project, my hubby showed up daily. Then from week 5, we moved in to stay in the master bedroom already while the renovation was still ongoing...

There are some forumers that still have ongoing projects with Alan and they are having a really bad time working with him. Let's hope all will go well for them as my hubby and I truly understand and feel for their situation.

In any case, Meeko, it is amazing that you are staying true to the oriental & Rajasthan theme. Like the souvenirs that you brought back from your trips. Sometimes it is such touches that will turn a house into a home which you have accomplished that. Congrats!

[lme 0]

From my interactions with Alan, black face and complaints associate quite well with him.

[retchlow 7]

Hi meeko, thanks for dropping by! Guess you are one of the rare few newer clients who managed to have a good experience with Alan. From a certain viewpoint, it would make many of us envious as Alan's treatment of most of us was nowhere as pleasant as yours. I believe most of us didn't treat him shabbily. In fact, we still put in lots of effort to communicate / coordinate with him but this was one-sided only...

To date, there has been no after sales service rendered by Alan. During our renovation, we saw him around 2 - 3 times only. We wouldn't have missed his presence cos 3 weeks into the project, my hubby showed up daily. Then from week 5, we moved in to stay in the master bedroom already while the renovation was still ongoing...

There are some forumers that still have ongoing projects with Alan and they are having a really bad time working with him. Let's hope all will go well for them as my hubby and I truly understand and feel for their situation.

In any case, Meeko, it is amazing that you are staying true to the oriental & Rajasthan theme. Like the souvenirs that you brought back from your trips. Sometimes it is such touches that will turn a house into a home which you have accomplished that. Congrats!

and i'm one of the lucky few

[hkk 0]

Really amazed and envious that meeko had such a good experience with Alan. Does he choose which projects he cares more about and who he treats nicely...? We have always been polite and reasonable with him too but wasn't reciprocated. On most occasions when he came into our place (only at our request, never on his own will btw) he would be in a foul mood which made us scared to request for too much. More than a few questions or comments on the works and you will literally see smoke coming out of his ears

It has now reached a stage where we have given up on asking him to help on rectifications and doing our own DIY as much as we can. We just have to accept shoddy work unfortunately and he probably has achieved his aim of frustrating us enough to give up...sigh

On what inthechouse said on the good points of Alan, I think responding to messages and not cancelling on meetings is just basic human courtesy in any walks of life and industry

[meeko 5]

Thanks Makanology!

Like Retchlow and myself, I guess there are other satisfied customers of Alan out there. Perhaps they are less active on forums or choose not to participate. I thought I should speak up to give my take as well since my reno was quite recently completed.

Hkk, very sorry to hear that your reno process isn't going well. I can imagine how disappointing it is to be looking forward to watching the plans for your new home unravel, and have it beset by frustrations.

[Takaishi 44]

maybe meeko can share your overall cost for reno? maybe its a huge project thus the emphasis placed?

[meeko 5]

Hi Takaishi. I doubt my budget would be considered a big one by any ID or contractor (it was below 100k). My home is a 1272sqft 3 bedder condo. Didn't do anything really complicated in terms of built in carpentry. The major areas would include new marble flooring for the living and dining, carpentry for my kitchen and wardrobes. Tiling for the bathrooms etc. the rest would be the standard painting and electrical.

The main reason we chose to work with Alan on our reno was his really competitive pricing (I find that he's quite transparent pricing and cost wise- no hidden costs). We also followed a few reno blogs where he was the contractor and heard about his workmanship. So far, no complaints.

Really don't know what has caused the difference in experience. Perhaps he is stressed by many ongoing projects?

[meeko 5]

By the way, when I mentioned less than100k in my previous post, I meant that that was the final figure I paid. Not the initial quote. Found that he was quite easy going with the costing, closing eye here and there for minor jobs. Which my hubby and I truly appreciated. That's why I was quite surprised to read of so many negative feedback in recent months.

[simplehuman 1]

I do not know if it is the value of the contract amount that explains why the differential treatment.. Mine is a HDB 3 rm, and I believe for most 3 rms, the reno cost is only a fraction (one-quarter to one-third) that of yours.

Your good experiences with Alan seemed almost unimaginable to me. For us, it is not at all exaggerating to say that the experience we had with Alan is nightmarish. We have lost count of the number of mistakes that we have pointed to him for correction and the shoddy workmanship of some of his sub-cons (especially the tilers, plumbers, electricians, supplier for wrought iron gate and especially the group that laid our parquet flooring). I do acknowledge that he fixes most of these mistakes. However, these are not conveniently solved without numerous hours of coaxing and sweet-talking with him. Towards the end of the project when 90% of the project costs are already paid, we were almost totally ignored when there were still major items outstanding. My husband and I took turns to SMS and call him, urging and nudging him to complete the works to the extent that we were almost begging him on our knees! Just imagine the anguish of having to stay in a uncompleted house with newly installed items breaking apart! It was H E L L for us. In the end when everything failed and we still can't get him to finish up, things turned really ugly. We actually threatened to bring him to CASE as matters were way beyond our control did he finally give in to finish up his business.

Edited February 6, 2014 by simplehuman

[simplehuman 1]

Just to update on my earlier post here with regards to my leaking tap..

I totally had no plumbing experiences and dunno exactly how to fix that tap, but I managed to call up the Town Council whom eventually got a worker to come down to turn off the mains for me. Surprising efficient, the worker came down in 30mins! Following instructions from my dad, I bought a plumbing tape and spanner and managed to lessen the leak but its still dripping water occasionally... believe I may have to live with that permanently.

Thanks to Mr Alan's plumber -- Ah Beng.

[Makanology 29]

Just to update on my earlier post here with regards to my leaking tap..

I totally had no plumbing experiences and dunno exactly how to fix that tap, but I managed to call up the Town Council whom eventually got a worker to come down to turn off the mains for me. Surprising efficient, the worker came down in 30mins! Following instructions from my dad, I bought a plumbing tape and spanner and managed to lessen the leak but its still dripping water occasionally... believe I may have to live with that permanently.

Thanks to Mr Alan's plumber -- Ah Beng.

Mr E here. Thanks to him too, for taking away all my hot/cold water hoses without my permission. The best part is, i have to change to a 1/2 gauge 3 way pipe connector with 2x 3/8 outlet that cannot be found in SG. I also have to buy them from amazon, as well as the the hot/cold water hoses that has the different connectors.

[Makanology 29]

I do not know if it is the value of the contract amount that explains why the differential treatment.. Mine is a HDB 3 rm, and I believe for most 3 rms, the reno cost is only a fraction (one-quarter to one-third) that of yours.

Your good experiences with Alan seemed almost unimaginable to me. For us, it is not at all exaggerating to say that the experience we had with Alan is nightmarish. We have lost count of the number of mistakes that we have pointed to him for correction and the shoddy workmanship of some of his sub-cons (especially the tilers, plumbers, electricians, supplier for wrought iron gate and especially the group that laid our parquet flooring). I do acknowledge that he fixes most of these mistakes. However, these are not conveniently solved without numerous hours of coaxing and sweet-talking with him. Towards the end of the project when 90% of the project costs are already paid, we were almost totally ignored when there were still major items outstanding. My husband and I took turns to SMS and call him, urging and nudging him to complete the works to the extent that we were almost begging him on our knees! Just imagine the anguish of having to stay in a uncompleted house with newly installed items breaking apart! It was H E L L for us. In the end when everything failed and we still can't get him to finish up, things turned really ugly. We actually threatened to bring him to CASE as matters were way beyond our control did he finally give in to finish up his business.

E here, it is just the same for us. Try imagine that we have to move in on that fateful day regardless without the following:

1. window grilles, corridor facing. All our belongings are packed in boxes stashed up.

2. a broken old main door, no lock no nothing. It is only held together by a cable with a number lock. Not even the gate!

3. no lights in the room and bathroom. Bloody ****, they can fix up the fans but not the lights?

4. no hot water in the bathroom and no water supply in the kitchen.

5. no power points in the kitchen. We already have a washing machine in the kitchen and we had to go for 5 days without washing our ****ing clothes.

He ****ing avoided our calls the whole day and only replied to us at night giving the usual lame excuse of: Eh, guys your schedule too tight and rushed, there is no way i can do it.

We gave plenty of time, coordinated as well as we could to our and his utmost convenience. The only thing we required for him to do was: just make sure that our bedroom and bathroom was properly equipped for living. Yet, he chose to ignore that and do what suited him best.

There are so many things that got messed up which i don't even want to ****ing talk abt it. I personally took up whatever was needed, and fixed it up all by myself.

For those who can actually come here and ****ing tell us what good he has done for you, please get the **** out of here because i don't need that. And due to all these unpleasantries caused by him, we had to quarrel with each other for weeks for choosing to use Alan and making our lives a few years unhappier. Furthermore, it was during the week where we are supposed to get wedded and all. Where was he then? **** him, he doesn't even care about how he fixes our stuff.

[meeko 5]

Makanology, I can see that you've been really badly affected by your experiences. Sorry to hear that. I was just offering my own opinion, based on my personal experiences. If you think it's meant to gloat at your and the other unhappy customers' misfortune or annoy you, then you're mistaken.

I didn't realise that this page is only meant for "Alan Haters". While I'd love to be able to agree with the majority (as it seems), my conscience would not allow for it.

To all those who have or are still going through difficult reno processes, my sincere best wishes. I hope that you get what you hope for and have your expectations met as best as possible.

Thanks and good fortune to all for the year of the horse.

[hkk 0]

have to agree with simplehuman and E on the nightmarish experiences. because of Alan, I also quarrelled with my wife many times for choosing to use him and over whether we should ignore / insist on fixing unsatisfactory works.

its fine if the workmanship of his team is not up to scratch but his attitude to us is pleasant and willing to talk things out, but shouting at us in our first new home is just totally uncalled for, unfair and out of line.

the experience has caused us so much stress, and we are hoping no one else has to go through this

a few more days and it will be 4 months since day 1 of renovation and there are things that are still not fixed yet, and ours is only a 1000+ sqf apartment. can you believe this.

Edited February 6, 2014 by hkk

[lme 0]

Dear meeko it seems like we are the people Alan hates as he decided to mess up our beloved homes and do a good job for you.

In all honesty, I am happy for you. You are lucky not to get our experiences, of not being able to foresee when it is possible to move and settle for my case. By the way we are putting up at temporary accommodation so every day of delay costs us money.

Much appreciated if you be careful not to categorize those who gave a negative review just as a bunch of people who love to hate Alan. If majority say the same, then clearly you (and some privileged few) happen to be the rarer cases.

So perhaps your views may not be reflective of the general work that he gives others?

He messed up big time. And this review is here to let others know that one risks taking up such nonsense when engaging this irresponsible person.

Edited February 6, 2014 by lme