ScrambledEggs 0 Report post Posted May 2, 2013 Really appreciate the updates on budget, it gave a sense of the estimated cost of renovation for a 3I. My husband and I spoke to 2 IDs- 1st ID CMI! Specifically told him/her our preference, yet continue to show us their portfolio of exactly what we don't want and keep emphasizing "i know exactly what you want..." . We really like the 2nd ID and will be meeting them this week to check out their proposal.In the meantime, still waiting for our 1st appointment date, our seller's seller is soooooo slow! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mawar 0 Report post Posted May 2, 2013 Hi Autumnwind,We tore down the wall between living room and kitchen, as well as as between the two bathrooms. Decided to combine the bathrooms into one. Will erect a new wall so that toilet sink will be inside the bathroom instead. Current status, hacking works completed, starting on masonry and plastering the walls. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jus4fun 4 Report post Posted May 2, 2013 Hi autumnwind, welcome to the 3-roomers' club & welcome to RT!! (wonder how i could have missed out a fellow 3-roomer.. haha! )Njoy ur reno journey! Looking forward to following ur journey & updates.. Cheers! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
autumnwind 2 Report post Posted May 13, 2013 Good to hear that you benefitted from the HIP! And you are super lucky to have such wonderful sellers!Yah! Our sellers quite friendly and cute. So we close one eye to small things too lah, and crossed our fingers along the way. We are super lucky with wonderful agent and neighbour too! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
autumnwind 2 Report post Posted May 13, 2013 (edited) Which contractor did u get in the end?We are thinking of revealing at the end, after the reno works are done. Really appreciate the updates on budget, it gave a sense of the estimated cost of renovation for a 3I. My husband and I spoke to 2 IDs- 1st ID CMI! Specifically told him/her our preference, yet continue to show us their portfolio of exactly what we don't want and keep emphasizing "i know exactly what you want..." . We really like the 2nd ID and will be meeting them this week to check out their proposal.In the meantime, still waiting for our 1st appointment date, our seller's seller is soooooo slow! Glad the budgeting info helps! I think budgeting is kind of hard, without knowing much about the reno world. Initially we told ourselves to keep everything to the minimal and set $12-15k budget. Now we are looking at $23k... I know what you mean by the 1st ID! I was hopeful and thought we would be able to select an ID/contractor after a few (i.e. < 5) IDs/contractors. We ended up contacting 13!! (We didn't realise that many!) Out of the 13, we met 8 face-to-face. Out of the 13, 3 didn't reply us, 2 gave us very rough quotes, 1 requested for on-site quotation. The reason for us meeting IDs after IDs is cuz of our budget...we did like a few of them along the way but their quotation... I hope you will be luckier than us, that the 2nd ID will be the one for you!If your 1st appointment is still quite some time away, I think the IDs/contractors will take their time to get back to you. That was what happened to us. We started in early March but only signed early May. We had to wait a bit (not unreasonable) for their quotations to find them too ex and had to look for new IDs/contractors, and the cycle went... Your seller doing contra? The process should take a bit of time with all the coordinating and paperwork... can use time to find a good ID/contractor! Hi Autumnwind,We tore down the wall between living room and kitchen, as well as as between the two bathrooms. Decided to combine the bathrooms into one. Will erect a new wall so that toilet sink will be inside the bathroom instead. Current status, hacking works completed, starting on masonry and plastering the walls.That's quite a bit of hacking! Your house will sure look very spacious when it's all done!! Big space in small flat. Hi autumnwind, welcome to the 3-roomers' club & welcome to RT!! (wonder how i could have missed out a fellow 3-roomer.. haha! )Njoy ur reno journey! Looking forward to following ur journey & updates.. Cheers! Thanks =) Must be cuz we haven't been very active here. Time really flies! Didn't even notice it has been 3 weeks since our last update. Edited October 19, 2013 by autumnwind Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
autumnwind 2 Report post Posted May 13, 2013 (edited) Review on IDs/contractors...As mentioned above, we made contact with 13 IDs/contractors. Have decided to keep them anonymous so will just discuss generally what we learned along the way. The profile of these 13 IDs/contractors:some are relatively big ID firms, some are small ID firms, some contractors, some well known on RT, some not mentioned anyway on the internet, some recommended by colleagues...We don't really like...1) expensive reno. hahaha =P2) IDs sometimes tend to be more insistent on their "design" and tend not to listen to our preference (as in they will try relatively hard to convince us)3) some aren't really meticulous...revised quotations were quite disappointing, missing the points we discussed in 2nd meetings. somehow don't feel that we can trust them to do our reno4) some IDs don't have much technical knowledge or will suggest things that contractors frown at We like...1) meticulous IDs/contractors - their quote quite comprehensive and detailed2) IDs/contractors with experience and knowledge to suggest alternatives (especially since we don't know much...)3) IDs/contractors who dare to provide warranty on their workmanship (though that's not a real guarantee too lah) Edited October 19, 2013 by autumnwind Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
autumnwind 2 Report post Posted May 13, 2013 (edited) Updates:Applied for fibre broadband. Courts @ HDB hub quite convenient! All the 3 telcos are there, can just go sign up for telephone/internet/cable TV after HDB appointments. We arranged OpenNet installation and broadband installation on the spot. Bought mattress and bed frame at furniture fair. Money wise, it definitely wasn't a deal. The good thing was that we could try many brands at one go. To caution people going to furniture fairs, be firm about walking away and coming back if you are really interested. Many sales people refused to let us go... Mum recommended the neighbourhood electrical appliances shop from which she bought most electrical stuff from. We went to check price, is indeed cheaper than big name shops. Came back and checked online, realised it's in the list of cheap electrical appliance shop on forum. It's Kong Tai Electrical Trading at Blk 504 Jurong West St 51 #01-221 Singapore 640504. They do delivery island-wide. Can drop by for the west-side people. Edited October 19, 2013 by autumnwind Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
autumnwind 2 Report post Posted May 19, 2013 (edited) Repeated post. Edited October 19, 2013 by autumnwind Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
autumnwind 2 Report post Posted May 19, 2013 Everything hacked in the bedrooms!The reason for hollow tiles for the entire living room and master bedroom, and no hollow tiles in the first bedroom:I don't know which contractor the previous owners got their tiling but apparently they only prepared the floors in the first bedroom and not the living room and master bedroom. According to my ID/contractor, they are supposed make holes in the ground, chemically treat the floor, then do tiling on top, such that the tiles will be securely laid. However, the living room and master bedroom floors were so smooth!! No wonder the entire flooring was hollow... We are glad that we decided to fork out that extra money to hack them all. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
autumnwind 2 Report post Posted May 19, 2013 (edited) Went shopping today! Bought lightings for installation next week. Bought six identical ceiling lights for living room (x2), kitchen (x2), bedrooms (x2) and two E27 bulb holders for the toilet and bathroom. Forgot to take photos of our lights! Anyway, to describe them in words, they are round, glass, plain ceiling lights with 32W circular tube. Round because I don't like squares and rectangles.Glass cuz it allows more light through than acrylic plastic ones.We didn't get electronic ballast, just took the traditional magnetic ballast. With magnetic ballast, the light will flicker a bit before switching on fully. However, according to the salesperson, electronic ballast shorter lifespan than magnetic ballast and more expensive (to be fair, by only $10). We think we can live with the short flicker so just took the traditional magnetic ballast. We went to Chan Huat at Balestier Road, didn't see what we like, went on to Jalan Berseh New World Centre. Think the lights there cheaper than Balestier Road. Rectangle glass ceiling lights were $80-$100 range at Balestier Road but two shops at New World Centre selling at $48. We didn't really do extensive comparison cuz quite lazy...just bought cuz cheaper, didn't look for cheapest. For more lighting shop review, I think these two are good! 1) http://www.vincentinteriorblog.com/singapore-interior-shopping-street-balestier-road-part-1/2) http://www.renotalk.com/forum/topic/60021-lets-go-punggol/#entry797382 Edited October 19, 2013 by autumnwind Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
greglhc 30 Report post Posted May 19, 2013 That's quite a bit of reno for 21k. Impressed! Hope to achieve such a budget with my own. Good luck! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
autumnwind 2 Report post Posted May 19, 2013 That's quite a bit of reno for 21k. Impressed! Hope to achieve such a budget with my own. Good luck!Are you looking for ID/contractor now? What reno works do you plan to do? Good luck k! I think we have quite a bit of luck, can save here and there, especially since government upgrading our toilet/bathroom! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
autumnwind 2 Report post Posted May 19, 2013 Not related to renovation but too satisfied and must share! After our trip to the Swedish shop in the far east, my fiance drove down the road of temples to this dark and ulu coffee shop for dinner. Good Year Coffee Shop (15 Tampines Ave)The bak kut teh!The service good and bad. Food served relatively fast, considering how packed the place was. However, they didn't manage to serve our veggie at all. Payment was quite a long wait as the staff trying to use the iPad system for food ordering, order amendments, billing... But regardless of the service, regardless if I will have to sit outside in the hot air again, I WILL RETURN FOR THE BAK KUT TEH! Hahaha. I can't say what exactly made it so nice but I love the richness of the soup, not just plain peppery taste but something more... Apparently other dishes are good too (according to hungrygowhere) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
greglhc 30 Report post Posted May 19, 2013 ya i'm looking for one now. unfortunately, the gov wont help to upgrade my toilet, only make me pay BSD lol.planning to hack all the floorings and tiling, hack wall, build wall, do over kitchen and toilet. as little carpentry as possible Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
autumnwind 2 Report post Posted May 19, 2013 Your hacking and tiling work will be quite costly but can save from the carpentry. We are doing 40ft of top + bottom cabinets which contribute quite a bit to our reno cost. Boh bian, we need them cuz no storeroom. Good luck for your ID/contractor hunting! Hope you find one within budget and have mo qi with! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
