Clueless Single's 4Rm Reno

[koori 45]

Clueless single lady who only started looking at renovation blogs after the first OTP in Nov13.

Currently still awaiting the completion appointment - it's next Monday after a long wait...

Not too sure if I will have time to update this regularly, but wanted to record my first house's renovation.

For a resale flat that is around 16 years old, place is in pretty good condition. COV wasn't too exorbitant as well.

Original Floor plan purchased from HDB as below :

The current owner had knocked down the store and combined it with bedroom 2. The original Master bedroom entrance has been sealed up and moved to bedroom 2 area.

Picture not to scale, but the floor plan looks like the below now. {sorry for bad drawing, i just used paintbrush and drew some lines}

I believe all the walls done up were hollow block bricks as they gave pretty solid sounding thunks when you knock on it with your fist.

Notes added :

Place is in Woodlands. [i just realised I never said where my place was located after so many posts.]

Area is 106 sqm.

Edited March 25, 2014 by koori

[koori 45]

Selection of contractors / IDs :

Started asking around in December. Every contractor / ID seemed to be very busy during that period.

Heard from at least 2 ID / Contractors that it would be best to avoid Chinese New Year season. Workers are stretched thinner during this period, and more mistakes tend to occur. [?] I have no idea if this is true.

It's a moot point for me because my resale flat's paperwork will only complete in Feb 2014. Early renovation is not an option as the existing owners has a relative staying in the flat and did not agree to the indemnity form to release the flat for renovation.

The Contractors / ID I talked to :

1. Contractor 1 : recommended by relative. Has some suggestions, he can tell you what HDB is likely to approve or reject. Or maybe the ID firms can do that too, but won't offer information until you ask? No 3D. Pricing wise slightly lower than IDs.

2. ID firm #1 : contacts via renotalk. Came to my place to meet in person for discussion. Has some ideas that I liked, would probably have gone with him if Contractor 1 didn't reply.

3. ID firm #2 : contacts via renotalk. Also came in person for discussion. Did not like the space planning proposed...I think he can tell I wasn't keen too. No follow up at all since his meeting me in Dec13 till today.

4. ID firm #3 & 4 : only communicated via email.

5. ID firm #5 - did not call me...but sent me a quote via email. Based on the furniture placed in the floorplan, they seem to have assume flat is for a married couple plus 2 kids.

The renotalk request is pretty overwhelming.

The firms started blurring together after the 4th call. I can't differentiate who is who...the first firm who called me asked me to their showroom to discuss...but to me, that means I have to take annual leave to visit the showroom, so I just went 'let's see if I have time', and forgot about them.

I started ignoring calls after the 5th firm.

After the whole day of speaking about the same thing over the phone over and over again, it's tiring....plus I was working overtime that day. No mood to talk anymore when you are still stuck in the office at 8pm....

I am not naming the ID firms. Basically nothing that super 'chop carrots' show up in the quotes.Some charges a bit more on this item, some charges a bit more on that item...no one is consistently cheaper than others across the board.

I decided to go with the contractor instead of an ID because :

1. I have zero custom carpentry, only the kitchen cabinets will be custom. And I want only bottom cabinets.

2. I do not want cove lights/L-Box

3. I have no theme. If you really want me to talk about it, my theme is = simple and easy to maintain.

4. this contractor is still slightly cheaper than the ID, though no 3D will be provided.

With the limited scope of custom made stuff I have, I probably don't need 3D to know what it would look like anyways.

[claypot 46]

Welcome to RT. Best wishes to your reno.

[ahhboi 15]

Woohoo, welcome! I'm a single with a newly bought 4A corridor flat as well.

And sama sama, after the 4th call, I started to ignore the rest too. lol

[Songz 132]

Welcome to RT.

Wish you a smooth Reno journey,

[koori 45]

Welcome to RT. Best wishes to your reno.

Thank you! Have been a silent reader at your blog.

Woohoo, welcome! I'm a single with a newly bought 4A corridor flat as well.

And sama sama, after the 4th call, I started to ignore the rest too. lol

Thanks! Haha....thanks for confirming. At first, I started feeling I was rude to ignore calls since I was the one who put up the request. After rejecting a few more, no feeling liao.

Welcome to RT.

Wish you a smooth Reno journey,

Thank you! Have been a silent reader at your blog too.

[LionFlyer 8]

All the best!

I am a Clueless Single Guy starting my reno next week. Also going contractor route, but house is relatively new (5 years old, 4 room). I think it is a lot of times, expectation management. There is a lot of things you can do but there is only so much money. And yes, low maintenance is key for us singles. Less complicated, better. hahaha.

[happylady 0]

Wish you all the best! I am single lady and bought a 4A flat too but mine is intermediate unit Cannot find a nice corner unit. Just started renovation.

Sama sama gambateh la and wish us have a smooth Reno journey.

[ahhboi 15]

Woo, suddenly all the single 4 roomies all appear.

[koori 45]

All the best!

I am a Clueless Single Guy starting my reno next week. Also going contractor route, but house is relatively new (5 years old, 4 room). I think it is a lot of times, expectation management. There is a lot of things you can do but there is only so much money. And yes, low maintenance is key for us singles. Less complicated, better. hahaha.

Thanks. All the best to your reno too.

Yah, pocket now sporting a big hole after the cash payment on the flat, and there are still a long list of stuff to buy besides the reno.

Wish you all the best! I am single lady and bought a 4A flat too but mine is intermediate unit Cannot find a nice corner unit. Just started renovation.

Sama sama gambateh la and wish us have a smooth Reno journey.

Thank you! Wishing you all the best on your flat too. Mine is a corridor unit too....first unit beside lift lobby - so all my neighbours on that lane will need to pass by to reach their units...seemed pretty quiet in the 4 times I went there, so hope that's the normal state of things....

[koori 45]

Woo, suddenly all the single 4 roomies all appear.

didn't know there were so many of us. Had been a silent reader and see a lot of blogs on BTO flats...so difficult to 'copy'. Hahah...Hoping to see more singles put up stuff leh...

I totally clueless coz been staying with parents all along, and when they did reno, I was too young to remember.

[Songz 132]

Hahaha ~

The above few post all I totally agree ...

[bianzi 52]

Singles corner? I just submitted my loan application after otp. Exercising next week. Been reading through the forum until my eyes rolling off ,,

[koori 45]

Singles corner? I just submitted my loan application after otp. Exercising next week. Been reading through the forum until my eyes rolling off ,,

Hehheh...no lah, not singles only corner. Everyone welcome.

Probably my tittle says 'single' so all the singles came in. Me too, have been reading for the past few mths.

[koori 45]

I don't have pictures of the current state of the place, I was too paiseh to ask for permission to take photos when viewing the flat.

Will start taking photos once I get my hands on the keys Monday.

Below is the proposed layout:

Considerations :

1. Storeroom wanted.

2. Keeping the existing marble flooring in the living room and bedrooms so wanted to minimize the knocking down of walls - which will likely affect the flooring.

3. Wanted to change the common bathroom's entrance so that it isn't the first thing I see when I step into the kitchen.

There is no wall separating the kitchen with the living room, the line seen on the floorplan is just to show the separation of the areas, there isn't a solid wall on this line.

I am pretty much 'stuck' with an open-concept kitchen unless I wanted to spend money building walls.

Contractor suggested full height glass doors....but as usual - 'high maintenance alert! '....haha....

I'm not sure if my impression is correct - I always see the office cleaner lady spending a lot of time cleaning my office's main entrance full height glass doors....so it looks like a lot of work to me....

Anybody have full height glass doors separating their kitchen from their living area who can advise on the maintenance?

If my impression is wrong, I will be considering glass doors! Haha....

Edited February 16, 2014 by koori