Minimalist-Industrial At Punggol Topaz

[Edwinlow7 9]

Hi where did you get your craftBricks from Malaysia? So your contractor did the installation?

Thanks!

Hi coppers!

I'll be writing a post on my experience of getting craftbrick from jb soon!

Edited January 24, 2015 by Edwinlow7

[Edwinlow7 9]

Getting Craftbrick from Craftstone Malaysia

Hi All! I know I (this is Edwin btw, the wifey insisted i blog this myself -_-") mentioned in my previous post that I will be posting something on our experience getting craftbrick from Msia. Thus here it is!! Sorry for the long wait though..

FIrstly, you must first know that there seem to be two different companies called Craftstone (You can try www(dot)craftstone(dot)com(dot)sg and (dot)my) Though both looks almost identical, the showroom and factory are in different locations. The company that most sg homeowners deal with is the .sg one, which has a office in Singapore as well as a factory/showroom in Malaysia (Jalan Air Hitam).

We have seem different people do it differently, for us, we decided on the following option: Purchase craftbrick from Msia and ask our ID to provide tiler to do it. Initially our ID quoted us about 4K to do the brickwall (Full height 2.8m x 4.5m length) using craftbrick that can be purchased from Hafary. We almost fell of our chairs! We wanted to try stucco wall, coz it cost less than half (our ID quoted 1.8k). However, after some helpful info from renotalkers and some research, we decided with this option. The tiler would cost me 1.7K and the craftbrick from Msia would cost about S$600. Almost 2K worth of savings from the initial quote from brickwall and only about 500bucks more than stucco! Lets do it!!

So.... first you need to contact the msia office and tell them which craftbrick you want. Serene from the msia office was very helpful and responsive. You can choose the colour you want from the .sg webite (CSI-***). You might also want to check with your ID/contractor how much would it cost for labour. Generally 1 box will cover 1m², so you need to do your calculation and order accordingly. Remember to factor in about 10% for wastage. You might also consult your ID/contractor for how much is needed. At the point of my purchase, 2 months ago, it was 110RM/box. With the good exchange rate now, you'll probably save alot more!

Upon confirmation of your purchase, you have 2 options. One is to ask for delivery from Msia to Singapore or delivery within JB (Of course you can drive all the way to their outlet to save even more). Delivering to singapore will cost you SGD250. However, delivery within JB (used to be free ) is 150RM (about SGD60!). We decided to save more money and asked for delivery within JB. We asked them to deliver to the Shell Petrol kiosk right outside the custom checkpoint and did the transaction there and then. You can tell them its the Shell along Jalan Yahya Aldatar. Here is video on how to get there after custom:

Here comes the tricky part, getting past custom. I was going to purchase 14 boxes, thus i thought it would be better to get a friend with car along. 7 boxes each car. manageable, your suspension won't die on you and getting one more person in you get more tax relief (at singapore side, SGD150/pax relief). Even the tax singapore is pretty ok, 7% only what. What is tricky is msia... I manage to put 4 boxes in my car boot, and decided to put 3 boxes in my back seat. This prove to be a mistake. The msia custom saw the 3 boxes and stop me and my friend. They claim that it is taxable (although we insist that it was for personal usage), they started to fish for bribes and after a some negotiation, I gave up. Paid a "compounded fine" of 200RM and drove off (Still cheap la..).

Sooo... my advice if you are getting it yourself, is to try getting all the boxes in your car boot. If you want to avoid all form of trouble, just pay the SGD250 for delivery to Singapore i guess. So that was the whole experience! Hope this helps!

Edited February 5, 2015 by Edwinlow7

[Yolo 1]

it used to cost 85Rm per carton, it rose it 110Rm?

So the compound fine is 200rm per car? Also, how much u paid for sg 7% tax?

[magpies 2]

Nice taobao wine bar table. Have you bought it? is it lovely?

[Edwinlow7 9]

it used to cost 85Rm per carton, it rose it 110Rm?

So the compound fine is 200rm per car? Also, how much u paid for sg 7% tax?

Yeah... i was quite surprised as well.. but after some chatting with serene, apparently there has been alot of singapore customer getting from them causing the singapore office sales to suffer. Thus prices has gone up. The free delivery within JB also gone... :(

It was 100RM/car, and it was after much negotiation. They initially wanted 500/car.. thanks to my malay-speaking malaysian PR friend, we got it reduce to 100RM/car! haha! hilarious actually!

There were 3 of us.. so we had SGD450 tax free, so our tax was like 9 bucks..

[Edwinlow7 9]

Nice taobao wine bar table. Have you bought it? is it lovely?

It's gonna be delievered next week! will update when we receive it!

[tarzanboy 6]

May I know only how much your ID charge you for the labour for the wall as I thinking of getting the craft brick from malaysian too thank.

[Yolo 1]

I think he did mentioned 1.7k for the tiler to lay the bricks for him

[tarzanboy 6]

I think he did mentioned 1.7k for the tiler to lay the bricks for him

thank My bad

[tarzanboy 6]

I think he did mentioned 1.7k for the tiler to lay the bricks for him

thank My bad

[Edwinlow7 9]

Updates - review of taobao purchase (part 1)

So things are moving along, albeit at a slightly slower pace (also partly our fault cos we were overseas and didnt have time to tie down some details with our id). Thus far, majority of the lights are up, brick wall partially done, carpentry 25% installed...

Here is a quick review of our taobao purchases, at least those that have been installed. So far, we have been quite lucky, everything that we bought seems to be working fine. As with all purchases, price and quality go hand-in-hand so as expected the cheaper stuff we bought from taobao quality wasnt great but overall still acceptable (at least to us)

Schneider switches : we changed all our light switches to the ones from Schneider. I dont know much about switches but they look really good and work beautifully. (Sorry forgot to take pictures). Ok to buy

Link: http://detail.tmall.com/item.htm?id=17075684050&spm=2014.12193480.0.0

Bath room lights

We changed the light bulbs to LED ones. Quality wise not too bad but I thought the coverage was limited and hence not able to light up a large area. We are planning to install LED strip lights in our bathroom so we were fine with it. Just something to bear in mind.

Link: http://detail.tmall.com/item.htm?id=42004705460&spm=2014.12193480.0.0

Link (LED light bulbs): http://detail.tmall.com/item.htm?id=41647285432&spm=2014.12193480.0.0

Spare bed room light

Love this! Solid quality, came packaged nicely and looks really good. Good buy!

Link:http://detail.tmall.com/item.htm?id=39674480159&spm=2014.12193480.0.0

Bomb Shelter Light

bought this super cheap light (<$20) and quality wasnt great lah, casing was a flimsy plastic. But surprisingly very bright when installed in the bomb shelter. (Sorry no picture because its just a basic light). So ok to buy for bomb shelter since nobody will see it often and serves its purpose lol

Link: http://detail.tmall.com/item.htm?id=13157196521&spm=2014.12193480.0.0

Service Yard light

Another super cheap buy. Quality slightly better but still flimsy. I thought it was a bit low when hung up, also bigger than it looks.

Link: http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=37355445979&spm=2014.12193480.0.0

Dining light

This was quite heavy and solid. Not too bad but need to change the bulbs to LED, we turned this on for awhile and could feel the heat emitting from the non-led bulbs

Link: http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=41051660349&spm=2014.12193480.0.0

Track Lights for rest of the house

Great buy, the track lights look good! The husband felt that the lights could be of a more warm tone but I like it this way, brighter!

Link: http://www.65daigou.com/Product/Detail?url=http%3a%2f%2fitem.taobao.com%2fitem.htm%3fid%3d41596758299%26spm%3d2014.12193480.0.0

[wyldmint 0]

Hi there! Your track lights looks great, I am going to tong pang your link and get the track lights from the same shop on taobao

But wish to ask for your advice first:

i. how many watts did you select for your track lights?

ii. what light colour - 暖白光 or 中性光？

Did you also buy the tracks from the same shop? They only have 1 or 1.5m tracks though, the last I checked with my ID at the lighting shop was that i need around 4m tracks each side (i have a large living room and have 3 sides) and need to buy a joint as well, but I don't see the option to buy from the shop site.

Thanks in advance!

Thanks in advance!

[Edwinlow7 9]

Hi there! Your track lights looks great, I am going to tong pang your link and get the track lights from the same shop on taobao

But wish to ask for your advice first:

i. how many watts did you select for your track lights?

ii. what light colour - 暖白光 or 中性光？

Did you also buy the tracks from the same shop? They only have 1 or 1.5m tracks though, the last I checked with my ID at the lighting shop was that i need around 4m tracks each side (i have a large living room and have 3 sides) and need to buy a joint as well, but I don't see the option to buy from the shop site.

Thanks in advance!

Thanks in advance!

Hi there,

I bought the warm white one, 暖白光. On the wattage, I consulted with my ID and we decided on the 7w one.

The picture u see on my blog, that's a 4m track as well. You can get the connecter and the link below. If I'm not wrong, there's a L-shaped connecter as well if you need it. It's under the same link as the track, but there's an option to purchase 轨道条-直接头. How this helps!

Overall, I thought the quality of the track lights were decent. Not the best, but for the savings you can get, no complains!

http://h5.m.taobao.com/awp/core/detail.htm?id=43021117166&spm=2014.12193480.0.0

Edited February 14, 2015 by Edwinlow7

[Sashimilover 0]

4k for brick wall! That's about $29.50 per sq ft! Is that the market rate? My id charge me $8 per sqft only.

[wyldmint 0]

Hi there,

I bought the warm white one, 暖白光. On the wattage, I consulted with my ID and we decided on the 7w one.

The picture u see on my blog, that's a 4m track as well. You can get the connecter and the link below. If I'm not wrong, there's a L-shaped connecter as well if you need it. It's under the same link as the track, but there's an option to purchase 轨道条-直接头. How this helps!

Overall, I thought the quality of the track lights were decent. Not the best, but for the savings you can get, no complains!

http://h5.m.taobao.com/awp/core/detail.htm?id=43021117166&spm=2014.12193480.0.0

thanks a bunch!! it's really helpful the one that i went to see with my ID in singapore was going to cost be $85/6wbulb so ya..haha~