Teeny Weeny 3-Room Bto Flat

[DaddyWinter 10]

Introduction

Hello everyone, been lurking around this forum for 2months to get a better idea on renovating my new home.

TBH, I am a 1st time owner and have little to no knowledge on how to go about it, esp on a tight budget until I came here to read up. *Thanks all bros / sis for sharing!*

Anyway, we have finally gotten our keys around end of August, thankfully, my flat is not 'bestowed' with tons of defects.

Before getting my keys, have read a lot of bad reviews online for HDB optional component scheme and alas! I had opt for all the options.

For 3 years, not sure if my decision to get OCS scheme was right and keep worrying that HDB might get me a lousy quality flat.

Luckily, so far so good, only submitted 2 lines of defect, main door + 1 light switch. Others are checked by my I.D, he said, one of the best new flat he had inspected. (Some were no-eye see) Just pray a few years down the road, no funny tiles popping or such happen. *touchwood*

Here's my floor plan, as my topic suggest, it is itsy bitsy teeny weeny ! But my wife and I are contended. It should serve our small family of 3 well

I laid the structure of my furnishing on the floor plan, it is not drawn to scale cause I drew it myself on the paint app and my art is bad.

Would like to share the journey of my renovation to all future flat owners on a tight budget and hopefully to learn something from the experienced ones as well.

I.D sourcing with a 18k budget

Most of the decent designs (even 3-room) which I saw online, cost around 40k+ without any furnishing, that reminds me why there are so little 3-room portfolio design around. I mean... if you are someone who can afford a $40k+ renovation, you probably have opt for a 4 or 5 room, make sense isn't it? lol

Well.. many friends & relatives are aware that we are getting our new flat soon so they cannot wait to share their recommended I.D/contractors to us. With these contacts, we have met up with quite a number of them. I do not want to mention the I.D(s) which I did not shortlist. But one of the main reason is that they cannot work within my budget well even though they said they had tried their best. Most that I met up with are with positive attitudes though and I appreciate that, probably had my wallet to be blamed. So finally, I had decided to go with my friend's relative whom they themselves and a couple of our cliques had engaged him before with positive feedback.

He offered me some advice to do away un-necessary wants, and focus on my needs such as excluding shower screen in my already usable toilet and common room wardrobe since my baby is still small. So we redirect the budget to my MBR which he proposed as it is our resting corner and we should make it as comfortable as possible. In general, we skipped all the costly stuff for living room like L-box false ceiling, cove lights / down-lights etc which will also incur more cost on your electrical works. Electrical works can be a killer for my pocket so I try not to install additional points. Squeeze budget!

Final quotation

Hacking works

1 Haulage & debris removal

Masonry Works

1 Supply labour to construct kitchen base

Plumbing Works

1 Extend piping for kitchen & washing machine

2 Labour to install kitchen sink

3 Labour to install connect storage heater

4 Run & connect all inlet and outlet pipe

Kitchen

1 Fabricate & install 11' bottom kitchen cabinet laminate finish

2 Fabricate & install 8' TOP kitchen cabinet laminate finish

3 Supply & install 11' solid surface worktop

4 Fabricate & install Full height Cabinet for oven

5 Supply &install 2x 11' tempered glass backing 5mm

Living room

1 Fabricate & install 8' L full height shoe cabinet

Master bedroom

1 Fabricate & install platform bed in selected laminate finished with drawer

2 Fabricate & install simple bed headboard

3 Tv feature wall & Ledge

4 Install false ceiling as proposed + 5 light point + 4 led light fitting + 2 T5 light

5 Fabricate & install casement wardrobe 6' L full height

Painting works

1 Labour & material to paint whole house ICI / Nippon paint emulsion 5 colours

Miscellaneous

1 Provide general washing upon completion

2 Provide floor protection with corrugated paper roll

OPTIONAL (Included)

1 Fabricate & install 5' TV console & half height feature-wall with T5 lighting

2 Supply & install aluminum powder coated window grille for kitchen, living, 2

bedroom & service yard - Middle portion only

3 Supply & install sliding window at service yard

Total $ 17,290.00

ALL CARPENTRY WORKS BASED ON SELECTED LAMINATED FINISHED C/W SOFT CLOSING & ABS TRIMMING INTERNAL WHITE PVC FINISHES unless otherwise stated

Quotation still yet to include electrical / lighting installation works.

Update 8th Nov (handover date)

Electrical bill adds up to $860,thus totaling my renovation cost to $18,150

Edited November 8, 2014 by DaddyWinter

[DaddyWinter 10]

Renovation has just started a few days ago, with kitchen cabinet base & some electrical wiring works completed.

Meanwhile we are having headache with Furnishing. Wanted to get it by completion of renovation but totally unable to meet our budget of 10k.

Anyway would like to share what I had gotten for my house so far.

1st door opening 'ceremony'

Tecno Induction Hob TIH-280D

Wife wanted Induction Hob since years ago, she like how they look and how it does not involve gas. Also safer for our little baby

Rinnai in-built oven & Joven storage heater 25L

Taobao stainless steel 2bowl sink & rain shower set (will share again after installation, maybe month end?) They feel sturdy and not those kind of cheapo material. Definitely a good buy if it works. SG kitchen sink / rain shower set way too expensive!

Advance gift from my elder brother, Electrolux Tornado Vacuum cleaner, looks cool! Love it

Naturai Air fryer, got it from a deal, just to test out if we really likes Air fryer food. Once more skillful we will get a better one like Philips? haha

Hair dryer is Panasonic Nano, good reviews about it too since nano-technology 'protects' your hair... lol? Not really bothered about that fact though. Just like it since it is not very noisy.

My dining set, got from Star Living, went many places to see, always unable to find a dining set at a reasonable price and to our liking. Finally found this as it matches our 'grey' concept well. Wife likes shades of grey so our kitchen cabinet, warddrobe, etc will be matched with grey....

Also signed with Kingsley Windows Furnishing for roller blackout blinds for my whole house. (MBR + Common Room + Living room) less than $600, pretty reasonable I would say. Rick from the co. is pretty patient and came prepared to our site visit thus we engaged him! The below pic is taken from google. Will install mine after reno is done

Nothing much to take from my flat yet but yeah below few pics just for a glance

Edited September 7, 2014 by DaddyWinter

[Troublemaker 31]

Welcome to Renotalk!

My 3rm resale flat is smaller than yours and as i am on budget, i do away with all those built-in cabinets (actually, i don't like them at all). I only did the kitchen area which costs around $2k+ and another 2k+ on the bathroom doors and <$600 on the bedroom doors.

You can consider to paint the house yourself. I painted it myself and it costs me around $400!

Enjoy your reno process!

[DaddyWinter 10]

Welcome to Renotalk!

My 3rm resale flat is smaller than yours and as i am on budget, i do away with all those built-in cabinets (actually, i don't like them at all). I only did the kitchen area which costs around $2k+ and another 2k+ on the bathroom doors and <$600 on the bedroom doors.

You can consider to paint the house yourself. I painted it myself and it costs me around $400!

Enjoy your reno process!

Hello~ hahaha, true, those built-in cabinets are indeed the costly one since they fall under carpentry category... But I really like something of my own in my own house so looks like I have to work a few years harder to make it happen.. haha..

Thank you for the suggestions ! Think they can really help save a lot but I really hate DIY since I am bad in art, I cannot even draw a straight line , straight enough.. I can imagine my whole house painting is wreck by me if I DIY. lol

[JohnB 15]

Congrats on your new home, DaddyWinter!

[kindaichi24 2]

bro can pm me ur ID contact?

[DaddyWinter 10]

JohnB: thanks bro

kindaichi24: sent ya for your reference ..

[Troublemaker 31]

But your reno fee is considered pretty cheap! Pls post more pics along the way!

[DaddyWinter 10]

Thanks bro， now waiting for 3D drawing, hopefully within these 2 days will be ready then I can share here.

After air-con piping done, should be some touch-up for trunking, paint 2 layers then start carpentry, after everything finish then will paint 3rd layer according to my I.D

Praying for a fuss-free renovation process for myself.. haha

[MrWhiteKnight 10]

goodluck for a smooth reno journey!

[HK N DN Daniel 2]

Thanks for sharing.

Can PM me your ID contact? Thanks.

[DaddyWinter 10]

MrWhiteKnight: Thanks! Read your t-blog before too.. Hope you have a smooth one too~

HKNDNDaniel: PM-ed you.. good luck!

[janesuah 6]

Another 3room BTO layout bigger than mine.. so lucky! hehe. I kept mine below 22k and also do away with false ceilings and cove lights too...

Btw you can try www.floorplanner.com for the plannings and layout

[DaddyWinter 10]

Another 3room BTO layout bigger than mine.. so lucky! hehe. I kept mine below 22k and also do away with false ceilings and cove lights too...

Btw you can try www.floorplanner.com for the plannings and layout

Really bigger? Hahaha still so small! I read ur blog too jane..yours so nice anyway i tried floorplanner but i totally dunno how to use..im supposed to draw my own floorplan? Or somewhere i can upload into it lol..i played with the website around 30mins n gave up -.-

[DaddyWinter 10]

9th Sept update

Aircon bought: Toshiba Inverter Sys 3 (18k for living room, 9k MBR, 9k common room)

Contractor: Hong Huat Electrical

Salesman: Tim Wong in RenoTalk

1st installation: Air-con trunking done.

Review so far: Tim is pretty knowledgeable and patient while introducing the different brands air-con to us. After some air-con 'orientation', we are confident that Toshiba is the one for us, (*made in Japan* stuff always have better QC) so had signed immediately. Tim also came for a site visit & coordinate with my I.D on the piping locations & units' placement. A little hip cup on the 1st installation though, despite the site visit and run through with my I.D. on the locations to do the air-con works, the contractors (a group of 3) came to my home - unsure how they should begin, like placement of my air-con units / piping to run through my rooms to the living room. Was a little disappointed and gan jiong because I expected the briefing to be thoroughly done before they came but the contractor quite steady and asked me to give my I.D contact to them, they will talk to him and start work. My I.D. on the other hand, came down to inspect the trunking for me in case they are still puzzled on how to run the trunks. Nevertheless, the contractors are quiet & serious in the work. Took approximately 3 hours to finish up the work. Wanted to thank them but they left pretty fast after packing as they need to rush to next site.

Overall I am still satisfied with the 1st installation. Time is not wasted to chit chat on phones etc. They did a basic sweep of the residues remains before they leave too.

Workmanship wise, will only judge after final installation and review after I have tested after 1 week. Probably 1month from now?

Some pictures on the aircon works.(Living area was took before the work was done, I had one but it was quite dark as it was already evening, might as well don't upload here)

Edited September 10, 2014 by DaddyWinter