Our First Home - 5 Room Bto

[Emiclus 2]

Hi all, I decided to start this blog now cos I think its highly likely I'm gonna be getting my key in the next month or so despite HDB advising we'd get in the 4th Qtr of 2014.

A large part of me doesnt want to engage an ID as its cheaper to just go ala carte but I dont know if its worth getting myself into that kinda hassle of liasing with various contractors?

A shot of my floorplan which I'm not entirely pleased with

[mintyvintage 52]

One vote for ID! Save the hassle and planning!

[Emiclus 2]

One vote for ID! Save the hassle and planning!

but its about 50% cheaper hence the dilemma! hah

[mintyvintage 52]

Not true entirely. I know ppl who used id and spent 25k and ppl who used contractor but spent 40k. Lol!

[Songz 132]

You may lias with only 1 contractor who is overall in charge but this will usually result in higher costing and usually similar to ID costing (However note that the costing do not vary that much)

If you can source various contractors yourself it will be much cheaper mostly.

However sourcing the various contractors yourself, you will need the following :

1. Knowing clearly what you want and planning in advance.

2. You got to follow up with the Reno closely as when defect is out, mostly each contractor will push to the other party

3. You need good time management of how things are to proceed.

4. You need a lot of free time as you are the person to supervise everything

5. No advise from anyone mostly when you meet with issues like color, placement, how wiring should be run and etc

Hope this help and good luck for your Reno.

[Emiclus 2]

You may lias with only 1 contractor who is overall in charge but this will usually result in higher costing and usually similar to ID costing (However note that the costing do not vary that much)

If you can source various contractors yourself it will be much cheaper mostly.

However sourcing the various contractors yourself, you will need the following :

1. Knowing clearly what you want and planning in advance.

2. You got to follow up with the Reno closely as when defect is out, mostly each contractor will push to the other party

3. You need good time management of how things are to proceed.

4. You need a lot of free time as you are the person to supervise everything

5. No advise from anyone mostly when you meet with issues like color, placement, how wiring should be run and etc

Hope this help and good luck for your Reno.

Hi Songz,

Thanks so much for your insight and taking the time to list it down for me. I will definitely be getting a diff contractor for plumbling, electrical and carpentry. I was hoping to learn here which I should do first so I can take the steps to plan!

[Emiclus 2]

And so, I sat down this morning and planned what I needed in terms of renovation and it doesn't look like much

Living Room

- Ceramic Tiling for Living Room (4850*7500)

Bedrooms Parquet Laminate for 3 bedrooms

1. Master BR - 4850*3200

- White Doors with Brown Trim

- TV Mounted

- Built in wardrobe

- Vanity Table as an extension of the wardrobe

2. BR 2 - 3750*3000

- White Doors with Brown Trim

- Built in wardrobe

3. BR 3 - 3750*2900

- White Doors with Brown Trim

- TV Mounted Kitchen

- Built in cupboards

MBR Bathroom

- Conceal pipes

- Build in cupboards for storage

- Shower Screen

Common Bathroom

- Shower Screen

Edited July 31, 2014 by Emiclus

[OceanEleven 203]

but its about 50% cheaper hence the dilemma! hah

Hi Songz,

Thanks so much for your insight and taking the time to list it down for me. I will definitely be getting a diff contractor for plumbling, electrical and carpentry. I was hoping to learn here which I should do first so I can take the steps to plan!

I wonder where did you get the figure from.

Take carpentry, it ranges from $180 per ft and up for full height.

Unless your carpenter can do for average $100 to $120 per ft full height, I dont see any 30% savings, let alone 50%.

Using different contractor is feasible if you are there to coordinate and plan and you will be the secretary of all your contractors.

For instance, electrical running thru carpentry, carpenter needs to know where to cut and electrician must inform.

So dont expect both parties will there or call each other and ask directly, most definitely you are the one doing the parroting.

Aircon trunking is another issue, some installers choose the easiest way out. ie no drilling or punching thru and finish with numerous exposed trunking.

So you have to be there to supervise and make decisions. With ID, he/she can aide in planning.

And of course, there will be no one willing to be responsible for the odd damage. eg defect on carpentry near plumbing etc

Suddenly you will be surrounded by Robin Hood and you will have to dig in your wallet to pay for the rectification.

Certain items can be done ala carte, such as flooring using laminate/vinyl but some are better left with one person in charge.

With one ID/contractor, you will know who to go after.

Edited July 31, 2014 by OceanEleven

[Emiclus 2]

I wonder where did you get the figure from.

Take carpentry, it ranges from $180 per ft and up for full height.

Unless your carpenter can do for average $100 to $120 per ft full height, I dont see any 30% savings, let alone 50%.

Using different contractor is feasible if you are there to coordinate and plan and you will be the secretary of all your contractors.

For instance, electrical running thru carpentry, carpenter needs to know where to cut and electrician must inform.

So dont expect both parties will there or call each other and ask directly, most definitely you are the one doing the parroting.

Aircon trunking is another issue, some installers choose the easiest way out. ie no drilling or punching thru and finish with numerous exposed trunking.

So you have to be there to supervise and make decisions. With ID, he/she can aide in planning.

And of course, there will be no one willing to be responsible for the odd damage. eg defect on carpentry near plumbing etc

Suddenly you will be surrounded by Robin Hood and you will have to dig in your wallet to pay for the rectification.

Certain items can be done ala carte, such as flooring using laminate/vinyl but some are better left with one person in charge.

With one ID/contractor, you will know who to go after.

my friend went to a couple of IDs, got a quote and then went to a contractor with the same designs and paid HALF.

I'm aware of these issues but since I am on a budget, I guess I will need to work around these problems.

[Emiclus 2]

I've been missing from this space for awhile! Got my key on 2 January and believe it or not, to date I have yet to finalize a contractor.

Working around a budget definitely isn't easy but we've decided on the following 'must-have' items. We opted out of flooring from HDB in the fear that I would end up with something I didnt like.

1) Flooring (homogeneous tiles) for the living and dining room

2) Floating 5ft shoe cabinet

3) Wall Mounted Shelving behind the sofa

4) Hack off half the kitchen wall separating the dining and the kitchen so it has a semi open concept vibe

5) Overlay both toilet floors (the HDB tiles just seem to show up dirt SO easily)

6) Replace both toilet doors as HDB gave a huge wood door which would hit my shower screen each time.

7) Swing door shower screens for both toilets

8) Overlay toilet wall tiles in L shape for both toilets

9) WIW for Bedroom 2

10) L shape wardrobe in MBR

11) Open shelving in BR2 to display the hubs toys

The one thing bugging me is how to conceal the TV wires WITHOUT doing a feature wall.