Our Dream Home @ Woodlands Meadow

[mrslee07 21]

Hey guajiawen, nicely done up house!

our layout is very similar... and i'm also doing the shoe cabinet divider the way you did. So many things that I can resonate when seeing your design works.

I also chose Vincent as the curtain supplier and my living room curtain design is the one you chose for MBR! haha...

all the best in the final touch up and wishing you happy handover soon!!

[gashapon05 3]

hello, how much did you spend each for MBR toilet & Common toilet in overlaying the floor tiles & wall tiles plus labour? (excluding accessories)

[boonvui 0]

Hi Jiawen, could I have your curtain supplier contact? I will collecting my key soon.

[aluka 32]

Documenting the process we took for our choice of ID.

Key things we looked out for in order of importance

1. Cost taking into consideration workmanship

- bo bian since reno is expected to cost quite a bit

2. How comfortable we were relating to him/her

- very impt since we need to relay our hopes & expectations for at least 2mths for the reno period, and even before & after e reno

3. Experience and responsiveness of the ID

4. Portfolio

After contacting 15 different companies (realised it's this many only when i traced through my email archives!) with what we hope to do and our budget in Oct 2013, we waited for the responses.

Am not going to list down all of them here, but we had to send reminder to at least 5 of them before they replied (i think a few never did reply). Maybe at that point our project was still 1/2 a year to getting keys and they were busy with projects on hand. But non or slow responsiveness is a big no no for us. Even a few who replied within a week, but failed to follow up promptly after our follow up questions was also struck off our choice. If cannot even reply emails, how to trust in handling the entire renovation that stretch over two months? If MIA will be worse. Maybe this is why we had an easier time shortlisting. We eventually met up with only 6 IDs.

So a point to note for new homeowners, if possible (and can curb excitement), try not to request for quote too early. Busy big ID firms will not reply as our project is not on their priority. Plus if it just happen to be a busy period, their responses will be delayed and result in negative impression as well. But then again, if they can manage their projects and time well, I don't see why replies cannot be prompt. Really depends on how much importance we place on responsiveness I guess..

The 6 IDs we shortlisted (again w/o names as it can be sensitive - can PM me to ask if really keen) are as below:

ID #1

Did up the house of my husband's friend and my ex-colleague.

Cost was reasonable

Highly raved in renotalk forum

Experienced

Informed us when he is busy and when he can reply us (to prevent misunderstanding of slow responsiveness)

Reason for dropping: Charges GST. Which is a 4 digit amount for the amount of reno we had to do.. Otherwise we would have engaged him.

ID #2

Prompt in replies for all emails

Cost was reasonable

Only in the field for 2 years

No 3D drawings (As a form of saving cost for us. To pay if we want them)

Reason for dropping: Met up as we were impressed with the responsiveness. However, lack of experience and concerns about lack of 3D drawings made us decide to drop this ID.

ID #3

Prompt in replies for emails

Cost was on the higher end but providing BLUM hinges

More than 5 years of experience

Sales talk and try to "upgrade" what we originally wanted to do but is a friendly chap

Reason for dropping: Higher cost when compared to other IDs for the same amt of work required. Suay things happened both times after we met this ID (I know this is not his fault.. but I am pan dang.. so.... dropped him).

ID #4

Prompt in replies for emails

Cost also on the higher end but providing BLUM hinges

Soft spoken (worried about him handling workers under him)

Less experienced than the other IDs

Also a friendly chap

Reason for dropping: Higher cost when compared to other IDs for the same amt of work required. Soft spoken and we are afraid he cannot manage the workers under him.

ID #5

Prompt in replies for emails

Cost is reasonable but shot up after we changed a few things

About 2 years experience in the field

Reason for dropping: Lack of experience and can't really click.

ID #6

The ID we selected

Though not v responsive over email, whatsapp replies have always been prompt (so what i do is whatsapp to update whenever i emailed to ensure email is well received)

Over 30 years of experience in the field as their parents started out as a carpentry company

Brothers ventured out to do interior design, but carpentry work is in house by parent company

Both very hands on individuals

Reasonable quotation and good workmanship

Flexible with requests (even with areas like payment terms - likely as they own the company)

Recommended by a fellow neighbour from our FB estate grp

So far, everything is good. Only con is there's not much online reviews I can find, so it's up to individual's comfort level to engage them.

Hope my review help for those who are looking for your IDs at the moment!

Will continue to update my experience with my current ID. Have already emailed him my preferred choice of carpentry colour and wall paint colour. So the next step is to wait for the 3D designs. Really can't wait! =D

Hello,

Can you please share with me the ID you have chosen and your final feedback on them?

TIA

[guojiawen 101]

Ya I really can't accept the joint lines.. That is why u need to avoid using white laminates...

How much did u pay for ur sanus bracket?

Haha. But I like the clean look of white laminates.. Can't have the best of all worlds I guess!

Got my sanus bracket for $120 from Kallang Mega Discount Store

[guojiawen 101]

Nice! Your house is coming out pretty well!

Thanks! Hope my deco style will fit well with the theme and make it even nicer

[guojiawen 101]

Hey guajiawen, nicely done up house!

our layout is very similar... and i'm also doing the shoe cabinet divider the way you did. So many things that I can resonate when seeing your design works.

I also chose Vincent as the curtain supplier and my living room curtain design is the one you chose for MBR! haha...

all the best in the final touch up and wishing you happy handover soon!!

Thanks mrslee! So qiao we have many commonalities for our Reno. V similar taste. ^five haha.

Saw ur 3D before, it's really nice. I'm sure both u n mrlee can't wait for handover too. will lookout for updates from ur blog

[guojiawen 101]

hello, how much did you spend each for MBR toilet & Common toilet in overlaying the floor tiles & wall tiles plus labour? (excluding accessories)

Hi there, my toilet tiles are by HDB, I didn't overlay it. Sorry can't help for this

[guojiawen 101]

Hi Jiawen, could I have your curtain supplier contact? I will collecting my key soon.

PM-ed.

Have you confirmed an ID or decided on a theme? Will suggest to do the curtains only after the home design is firmed up.. It can be used to blend into the theme or jazz up the house nicely

[guojiawen 101]

Hello,

Can you please share with me the ID you have chosen and your final feedback on them?

TIA

PM-ed you the contact

Will be sharing my final feedback when the house is handed over sometime this week.

[koori 45]

Will try the leather cream... Still crossing fingers

Hi JW,

I think leather care lotion / cream might work, even if it is synthetic leather. Mum's place sofa is synthetic leather, from year 2012. It's still ok now, no cracks. The leather care lotion was just some random purchase from the 'car care' section - lots of products available for car's leather seats.

[guojiawen 101]

Hi JW,

I think leather care lotion / cream might work, even if it is synthetic leather. Mum's place sofa is synthetic leather, from year 2012. It's still ok now, no cracks. The leather care lotion was just some random purchase from the 'car care' section - lots of products available for car's leather seats.

Thanks Koori, I'll take care like real leather sofa and see how it goes

[guojiawen 101]

More pictures!

Nothing spectacular about our toilets as the tiles are all from HDB.

To cut cost, we did not change anything about the common toilet. Just added on the shower screen and did up a vanity cabinet with mirror.

For the master bedroom toilet, we changed the toilet bowl + basin and did up the shower screen as well.

All bathroom accessories from Song Cho have been drilled into place as well.

Will be buying dehub's toilet brush from taobao and placing them in both toilets.

[guojiawen 101]

Kitchen + Digital Lock

Up close pictures of my kitchen undermount carysil granite double bowl sink.

My brandt tempered glass 3 burner hob.

Digital lock installed!

To be honest, hubby and I must be the most hands off owners ever when dealing with our very first home renovation. Though back in SG, we were not around for the defects rectification / installation of stuff so far. *Oops*

Curtains up tomorrow! I'm not free and cannot be there to supervise the installation but hubby will be there. Will ask him to take some photos so I can share it tomorrow night!

[guojiawen 101]

Sneaked out in the middle of the night to bring my sis to our new home... and we saw that TV is up!