3 Room Hdb - Maximum Reno, Minimum Budget

[RLB 3]

Opps I missed that part haha.. I am so envious of you! I wish HDB was as efficient for my permit. In fact I am still waiting for the approval of one more wall for the storeroom area. All the best to your reno journey!

[chngster 6]

Day 4 Renovation

All sewage pipes have been changed to new ones. As our place will be having HIP next year, we opt out of the program and do up all the items ourselves. Even though after subsidy it is only a fraction of the cost, however we hear many complaints about the workmanship of the HDB appointed contractors and also the quality of the materials being used. Workers only took half a day to complete. Yet another efficient team.

By the time I got to the house after lunch, there was only one worker who was working on the cement screeding of the whole kitchen.

[chngster 6]

Weekend shopping

Went to Kong Tai to buy electrical appliances after comparing prices with most of the major shops like Harvey Norman, Courts and Best Denki. Bought the following and probably have saved closed to $400-500 overall.

On first look, Kong Tai (located at Jurong East) look like a shop that doesn't carry much stuff. But the sales staff are very friendly and helpful and I would say even patience to find out what you want and even give recommendations. Very friendly staff and also have no problems even if you are only enquiring on prices without buying. You don't need to pay the full amount upon ordering, just a deposit of about $100 and pay the rest upon delivery.

So we decided to buy the following,

Hob and hood

Fridge

Oven

Ceiling Fan

Would go to them for more electrical appliances if necessary.

[chngster 6]

Day 13 of renovation

Andy and ganged came and changed the aluminiums windows. All nice and white. Took a little more than half the day to complete the job. The grilles will be up nearer the completion of the house.

[chngster 6]

Day 17 of renovation

House is still going thru the long process of water-proofing and cement screeding. It really takes a long time as they need to be dried and processed and adding more waterproofing and waiting for it to dry again. So is the cement screed process. They need to smoothen the walls and floors and then let it dry and do touch up. It shd be done by this week where they will lay the kitchen and toilet floor tiles. Hopefully all will be in schedule.

In the mean time, we went to another phrase of renovation. Shopping at TaoBao. Finally the long awaited shopping for sanitary fittings and lightings. I spend almost 2 months going thru many shops almost in the whole of Singapore. IMM, geylang, jalan besear, balestier. And honestly the prices are about the same throughout the shops but quite atrociously priced above TB. So we took the leap of faith of maybe poor quality and bad service. But what the heck, I save almost 60-70% so who cares. The most I chhange my lightings and fittings every 1-2 years since its so cheap. Haha. Below are my list of items I bought.

- kitchen sink with tap (free gift of stainless steel dish drainer, wooden chopping board and a 6 set knive set.

- master bath toilet bowl ( free gift of toilet paper holder and toilet brush)

- master bath wash basin with tap

- 2 towel rail

- toilet paper holder

- 3 stainless steel floor trap

- 2 rain shower sets

- washing machine tap

- 4 ceiling lights with remote control

- 2 tracks with 10 track lights

- set of 3 pendant lights.

- 2 toilet lights

- chalk wall wallpaper

- doorbell

- and a box of Lego for the kids.

Total damage - $1380. I bought them if wed night, and according to the tracking numbers, all have been delivered to my shipping warehouse. Only left the kitchen sink as they will only deliver next wed. So keeping fingers cross and all that will be delivered smoothly.

For those that are interested to buy from Taobao, here's a good news. They have open up to Singapore market. They actually accept NETs and credit card payments now. Don't need to go thru agents anymore if u know how to do it. They also have shipping to Singapore as well but I figured they won't be cheap. Just need to arrange your own shipping if you have one. I'm using Amcon as most of the forummers here are doing.

Good luck to all that are considering shopping at Taobao.

[chngster 6]

Photos of some of the things i bought on TB

[MrWhiteKnight 10]

hi can share the link for the stainless steel floor trap? thanks

[lobo76 0]

 

Arrival of the 2nd digital lock

This digital lock took a week longer than the first one that arrived. Nevertheless, package was recieved in good conditions complete with manual (Korean though) and 4 key tags. Will only be installing it when the door is up. Will be doing a test though once I can get hold of the English manual.

 

Did you check with your ID if he has issues with digital locks? I got my digital lock a year after renovation and had a bit of a hard time find locksmiths to install it. Regular locksmiths seem to not know how to do it.

p.s I got one with biometric (fingerprint) so that I don't even have to carry keycard.

[chngster 6]

 

 

Did you check with your ID if he has issues with digital locks? I got my digital lock a year after renovation and had a bit of a hard time find locksmiths to install it. Regular locksmiths seem to not know how to do it.

p.s I got one with biometric (fingerprint) so that I don't even have to carry keycard.

Hi lobo76

I have another contractor where I will be getting the iron grill gate from. They do customization of grilles and doors to fit digital locks. So I guess in a way it is covered. They sell digital lock as well as installation. Of cos if you already bought a digital lock from somewhere, they will still help you install but at a higher price. I'm getting the grille from them so in a way it's nicely package together with lock installation at a reasonable price.

[chngster 6]

hi can share the link for the stainless steel floor trap? thanks

Hi WhiteKnight

Here's the link

http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a1z09.2.9.274.R9Tz96&id=27498584242&_u=d223cjni6e5f

[chngster 6]

More pics of the things that i bought on TB

[chngster 6]

Finally, the long awaited revised 3D Drawings. Overall accuracy about 85% as some of the fixtures are not ours. But the look and the feel is what we are looking at. Found out that the TV console area is a bit bare as we didn't want a TV feature wall. But I guess we will do something about it later. The kid's room feature wall is also not flowing with the children's room theme. Have discuss with the ID and he will fix up something.

Well we will see how the actual house will look like after it's fully completed.

[chngster 6]

Day 21 of renovation

Came back to take a look at the house and found that I have no main door at all!! Its like an open house to a refugee camp, haha. House is now secured by a flimsy metal gate with a number lock. Wonder if this is common. They have cement screed the living and bedrooms. They are still in the process of waterproofing the common toilet and the kitchen. However tiles have already been placed in the MBR toilet. At least 1 thing is complete.

I was told that the kitchen tiles shipment has also been delayed. was suppose to arrived on the 10th, but it looks like it will only arrive end of the week which is tomrw. ID said he will plaster the walls and ceiling first. It should not pose any delays so lets keep the fingers cross.

My TB items have all reached Amcon. They are supposed to be shipped out today. So it shd reach latest 10 days from now. Can't wait for the items to arrived. Hopefully all in good hands. I must say most of the sellers or the delivery service in China are very good. The kitchen sink seller says it will take 7-10 days to reach the warehouse but they only took 5 days. It all is good, then the next shipments will be mostly furnitures.

[sentinel 11]

Finally, the long awaited revised 3D Drawings. Overall accuracy about 85% as some of the fixtures are not ours. But the look and the feel is what we are looking at. Found out that the TV console area is a bit bare as we didn't want a TV feature wall. But I guess we will do something about it later. The kid's room feature wall is also not flowing with the children's room theme. Have discuss with the ID and he will fix up something.

Well we will see how the actual house will look like after it's fully completed.

An island! Nice!

[chngster 6]

An island! Nice!

Hi sentinel

Yes, its for the missus and children to bake cookies and make cake and throw flour. Original plan was to extend to the living room but I guess its an overkill. haha