Mid Century @ Resales Bedok Reservoir

[keyik 0]

Finally I decided to have a T-blog here, simple reasons that we will like to share our gained sweat & sweet that from unit sourcing till renovation, and of cos furniture expenses!

We rent HDB, condo and landed property for the past 5 years and really tiring to share the unit with others with limited freedom in the space such as laundry, kitchen and of cos living room! We had good housemates who become our very best friends and bad housemates who don't care others' feeling, do what they like .

Long story short, we are easterner hence those units that we hunted all located in east. Having said that, it's not a cheap place to stay in east due to most of hdb all are very expensive. We had to test water of the HDB market in mid 2012 and we engaged an agent source us unit. The agent brought us to Marine Parade 3I HDB selling at 410K but asking 60K COV . That's really turn me off although I like the location very much due to we have not much cash to pay for the COV and of cos we are looking at least 4 rooms. We have no choice continue stay with our rent unit to save more bullets for our dream house.

A year later, mid 2013 we begin unit hunting again...however after thoughts we decided to focus in Bedok Reservoir with few reasons:

* it's located in east

* it's nearby central of SG instead of Tampines, Pasir Ris area

* those unit selling history in HDB website mostly within our budget

* there is future MRT to be completed in 2017!

[getzski 1]

hello new neighbour, welcome to the reservoir.

[Troublemaker 31]

Welcome! Do share with us your floorplan!

[keyik 0]

Unit hunting

We begin unit viewing in sep 2013, from 4NG till 5I HDB with total of 21 units within a month. Finally, we have confirmed and booked 4A HDB in end Sep. It was a long haul process of first & second appointment, bank loan that took us 3 months till end Dec. There was a hiccup between seller and us that seller reluctant to move out on 2nd appointment as they claimed their house yet ready ...that's not an excuse! The seller even threatened and almost hit my agent while she helping us on unit inspection before handover...poor gal her. In the end, we extended them another week to move out the place...thanks god they moved out during extension period.

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Here is the floor plan of our unit...it's 4A corner unit and squarish (d most important!). We will hack down kitchen wall to have bigger space in living area and common room wall to connect toilet for would ease for my MIL during her visit.

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Edited April 29, 2014 by keyik

[keyik 0]

to be continued....

Edited April 29, 2014 by keyik

[keyik 0]

hello new neighbour, welcome to the reservoir.

Thanks, where exact location u stay?

[keyik 0]

Welcome! Do share with us your floorplan!

Thanks...I'm trying to fix photo upload prb..dunno y still unable to upload

[keyik 0]

ID or Contractor?

We have our interior design in mind that ID won’t be in our list… however the most concern is the workmanship whoever we engaged! We contacted few contractors that referred by friends & RT, too!

Contractor J

Refer by friend claim workmanship not bad. After floor plan sent, no follow-up from him. DROPPED!

Contractor J II

Refer by friend that helps him a lot from reno. He gave a lot comments during site visit on measurement however more than 2 weeks then received his quotation. The funny part is after I engaged with another contractor then he called me after 3^rd week ask will we consider to hire him. DROPPED!

Contractor R

Refer by my hubby colleague claim he has a lot of ideas on reno. He indeed gave us lot ideas during site visit such as minimalist concept, skirting change to stainless steel bar instead of old fashion tile skirting, etc. He even promised can do everything what we want within our budget that impressed us much.

Contractor A

Refer by my friend claim she has good customer services. She has a lot of restriction of reno works during site visit.. such as we gonna reuse the room doors but need to repaint them, she told us that can’t be do cos door can’t be close after painted! Furthermore, we found that her reno concept very old fashion so DROPPED!

ID E

I have his contact from RT reno list. He is a friendly & humble guy, meet us few times before we get keys. We like his service and ask for his project viewing for us to visualize his workmanship. However no follow up from him since then. DROPPED!

Contractor K

Nothing much to cover as everyone know him well. Trust his workmanship that posted in RT. He has very busy schedule but managed to fix him up for site visit & quotation. He is good in services, we have quotation 3 days later among of all contractors we met!

Conclusion

We were finalizing between Contractor R & Contractor K, both quotation about same however we choose K …reason – he is experienced in mid century/ industrial/ Scandinavian reno concept & know what we want, and of cos we trust his workmanship. He is patience to listen what we want..& countless quotation revised

We dropped R because d material that he provide are so so quality with higher quotation. We asked for discount but he is reluctant hence no go.

[getzski 1]

Thanks, where exact location u stay?

right in front of the new upcoming DTL3 Bedok North MRT, by the PIE Bedok reservoir exit.

where's yours? the layout seem to suggest it is near my area cos it is very similar

[Songz 132]

Good luck for the Reno.

Think not much worries since a lot of work done by Mr K so far all are fine

[keyik 0]

Mr K

Mr K is well known in RT as there are many ppl praised on his attitude & workmanship, that’s make me have strong preference while contractors shortlisting. Perhaps I would share my point of views to have more people know about him, of cos my comments abt him will update periodically to ensure all RT forumers to have a second thought on the contractors/ ID selection.

Part I - Meetings before reno begin

We called him for site visit quotation during mid-Dec, eventually he told us that he has busy schedule only available a month later however we told him that we wouldn’t wait for so long, then he changed to end Dec for site visit, which we ok with it. The first impression that we have on him that he is quiet person, wherever we show him here need to be hacked or add –in carpentry all reno stuff, he listen and doing his measurement & notes quietly. After done all sort of measurements, he promised us will send us quotation within a week.

Few days later, we have to change our design again after FSM recommendations, we called him again to have second site visit for the reno changes. He has no complain & agreed to meet us again, and of cos he redo all his measurements & notes according to our changes. That’s make me sure so paiseh due to a lot of changes. He sent us quotation within a week & follow-up that other contractors don’t, he gains a credit point from us. We were comparing his quotation with others, his quotation has no breakdown but he promised us whatever HDB required, he will do it completely. He is a straight forward person as we told him we may considering to have carpentry ourselves instead of hire him, he tells: “if you don’t want me do carpentry, I will take out the carpentry cost BUT I will add more cost on others in the quotation. Cos I gain no profits from carpentry & I have to gain profits from others.” His statement really caught me in shock that how up-front he is.

In the end, we decided to confirm him due to RT reviews & his patience with us for countless meetings. He told us that the entire reno will be completed between 8-10 weeks that 4 weeks on plastering & tiling, another 4-6 weeks for the remaining like electricals, plumbling, painting, false ceiling, carpentry, & final touch up. We would need to know the timeline for us to have better planning on house moving and of cos gotta give notice to my landlord for not renting his unit anymore.

Part II – Reno begin

To be continued…

Edited April 30, 2014 by keyik

[keyik 0]

right in front of the new upcoming DTL3 Bedok North MRT, by the PIE Bedok reservoir exit.

where's yours? the layout seem to suggest it is near my area cos it is very similar

ohh...then u staying blk 6 or 7 series there. Mine is nearby Kaki Bukit MRT there...blk 1series

[koori 45]

There was a hiccup between seller and us that seller reluctant to move out on 2nd appointment as they claimed their house yet ready ...that's not an excuse! The seller even threatened and almost hit my agent while she helping us on unit inspection before handover...poor gal her. In the end, we extended them another week to move out the place...thanks god they moved out during extension period.

Wah.....so drama? I'm thankful my previous owners got their new BTO flat and moved out way before completion date...no need to argue on dates.

Good luck for your renovation coming up~

[keyik 0]

These how my house looks like...paiseh..the seller yet move out during 2nd appointment

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Edited April 30, 2014 by keyik

[keyik 0]

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