4Rm Resale Reno Journey!

[Ahyong81 3]

Lol. We got same taste for washing machine and toilet tiles. I wonder what else we have that is the same. Lol

The kitchen you also choose bright red with white, just that i choose black with red. Because I like cooking and baking (although I am a guy), actually guys can cook better .. haha later all the ladies start fuming me once I type this..

If I choose white, very fast it will turn color haha based on the high cooking volume I will be doing in my wonderful kitchen

[Ahyong81 3]

bro you brought the house with your wife right? or?

[hc28 0]

The replacement of all my water pipes left gaping holes in the already finished false ceiling. This would be touched up after the remaining windows were replaced as I had wanted to box up the aircon compressor hole (this hole only exists for older flats in case BTO-ers are wondering).

As I found out much later, contrary to the excuse my ID gave me, I could box up the area first and change the windows later. Either way, the window installation wouldnt damage the box up.

At this point, the relationship between my ID and I was very tensed. We were 4weeks away from my appliances being delivered which is also 3weeks from the agreed handover date. The carpentry details had already been discussed and agreed but at this point, with much of the works outstanding (debris not cleared, vinyl flooring, painting and marble floor polishing not done, Windows not replaced), I was skeptical that he could deliver on time.

I was sick and tired of the delays and insisted that the ID keep me updated. He promised that these outstanding works would be completed by the time the carpentry arrived, about a week later.

During the week, not a single work was done. On Friday when I called, he even had the cheek to tell me that my windows would be installed the next day with the ceiling guys coming over to do the box up and cover the hole left by the plumbers. I requested to meet him immediately.

Firstly, changing of Windows is a noisy work that cannot be done on a weekend.

Secondly, changing windows requires a hdb permit and the permit was not even applied. How to install???

Needless to say he tried to brush me off saying he was busy and such. But I had enough of his nonsense and insisted to meet him. When we met, there were raised voices, table slamming and thats when we decided to drop him.

He agreed to refund us the outstanding amounts up to where works were stopped. But it took us 3whole weeks and another ultimatum before he repaid us in full.

[hc28 0]

bro you brought the house with your wife right? or?

Yup. Hahaha. but my wife is not an avid renotalker.

Edited October 13, 2015 by hc28

[Lazyfatcat007 5]

Oh dear, your ID is such a s***head! Hope your new contractor is better and your renovation is smoother now. Do keep us updated! Jiayou!!

[hc28 0]

even though our renovation works were facing delays, we proceeded with shopping for our home appliances.

i have no preference when it came to buy kitchen appliances but my wife wanted a fridge that came with a water dispenser. she also wanted a fridge that was conventional and not the new inverted design where the freezer is at the bottom. Also, it must be 2 doors that opens to one side only.

so far, we have only come across one such fridge which is the samsung RT5982 which comes in 3 sizes. the smallest doesn't have a water dispenser. the price of the medium and the large was about $100. hence we decided to go for the large one. i was also told that the medium one is made in china/thailand and the large one is made in korea. since samsung is from korea, it only makes perfect sense that they should come from korea. maybe the salesman just wanted me to part with an additional $100.

for washing machines, we chose the samsung WD90 combo mainly because i like the color and my wife loves the cool eco bubble. from what i understood, only the 9kg/6kg combo comes in grey, which matches the scheme for our kitchen. not sure if 2 of us can fully utilise the washing machine, but im hoping it lasts till we have kids. when i bought the washing machine, i thought i hit the jackpot with the best deal in town. but it seems like someone else beat me to it.

Edited October 13, 2015 by hc28

[nextstep 3]

Bro so sorry to hear your experience with your previous ID, hope everything from now will go smooth smooth.

[hc28 0]

Oh dear, your ID is such a s***head! Hope your new contractor is better and your renovation is smoother now. Do keep us updated! Jiayou!!

thank you! my new contractor is quite good i must say and things are going quite smoothly!

Bro so sorry to hear your experience with your previous ID, hope everything from now will go smooth smooth.

thanks! things are much smoother with my contractor now!

[hc28 0]

due to our kitchen layout, our kitchen sink was limited to 31.5inches.

When we first started with our renovations, we had wanted to get an undermount granite sink with 50:50 double bowls. after reading this thread, we starting looking at kraus sinks on amazon. but kraus granite sinks although reasonably priced (qualifies for amazon free international shipping to SG), exceeded our maximum length of 31.5inches. with no other choice, we started looking locally. We visited hoe kee to look at the blanco sinks. We only found one that could fit into our kitchen and came with a 50:50 double bowl. However, the problem was with a 50:50 double bowl, the regular sized pots and pans couldn't fit into the bowl. we agreed that this would pose serious challenges when it came to washing and decided to forgo the 50:50 bowl.

We then visited bathroom warehouse with the intention to look at craysil granite sink. there is only one model that will fit into our kitchen, comes with a double bowl, but in an odd shape that i do not really like. luckily for me, once we reached the kitchen sections, my wife chanced upon this tempered glass monic sink and immediate said, "i like this. can it fit?"

although it does not meet any of our criteria of what we wanted for a kitchen sink. suddenly, double bowl or single bowl doesn't matter anymore. granite or stainless steel also ok. its overmount, deep enough and can fit the regular pots and pans. immediately told the salesperson to get me one new piece. one less item to look at.

just a sidenote to fellow renotalkers. I read that blanco sinks have some hazing issue after usage that can be difficult to clean off. perhaps this can be part of your consideration.

apart from our kitchen sink, we have also settled on our hob and hood.

Bosch 2 burner gas hob with black tempered glass

the reason why we chose bosch is because after you remove that circle gas burner, the silver metal piece is flush and makes for easier cleaning. the hole is also in the centre which makes it less likely for food or overflowing water to drip into the cabinet below. I have noted that many gas hobs have their tempered glass mounted on top of the metal piece which will make cleaning slightly more difficult as they will get trapped at the sides where the tempered glass and the metal piece joins.

Techno hood

we picked this tecnogas hood mainly because of its design and with the LED touch controls. .which seems quite cool. i'm not sure how good it is but its definitely not comparable to fujioh which everyone is raving about. the reason why we didnt get fujioh was because it was big and bulky and we are not expecting to do any heavy cooking. i am also not sure how to measure the effectiveness of a hood to decide which works best. maybe its because i'm not interested.

Edited October 14, 2015 by hc28

[hc28 0]

After the whole issue with our ID, we engaged a contractor to complete the remaining works such as replacing the windows, doors, painting works, flooring and carpentry. Almost every other day, something new is added or some works ongoing. Our contractor, like every other contractor (i believe), does not text us any photos and seldom replies to our messages. He also does not bother to tell us what works are being scheduled unless we ask. If there is any issue that requires clarification, he will call us instead of text us which I believe is more efficient. If we discover any 'defects', we will just send him a photo and wait for his call.

Just 2 days after we engaged him, our aircon opening was boxed up together with the gaping hole in the ceiling left by the plumbers.

This is the box up of the aircon opening in one of our common br. the aircon compressor is outside the window. These windows will also be changed.

smoothing of walls and first coating of sealant had also started. the plumbers did not bother to remove the debris such as my old WC. but they bothered to take away all the s/s water pipes they replaced.

Edited October 16, 2015 by hc28

[bykaraanne 30]

Ya my contractor also like that. But he's very friendly and visits my house everyday and helps me take pics if I never go. Haha!

Good that your reno is back on track!!

[hc28 0]

Ya my contractor also like that. But he's very friendly and visits my house everyday and helps me take pics if I never go. Haha!

Good that your reno is back on track!!

My contractor is also a very nice uncle. He will go up but he does not take photos for me. He say when I got time I ownself go up see better. But I do know that everytime something is done, he will go up and inspect.

I think most contractors are very nice and friendly people.

Edited October 14, 2015 by hc28

[Ahyong81 3]

Actually to be frank, ID and contractor are the same group of people. Its just a different way of calling. People think that ID are more atas.. but contractor are also slowly moving towards the designing element.

The ID I got, he is also more of a contractor, but he is so nice that he will ask for my opinion before actually commence the work. So far, his group of workers are also very efficient. Every time when there is something that need to be improved, he will give me appropriate solutions.

I know that most people will think that by hiring a ID, the ID are suppose to do everything for us. That is why they are more expensive in term of cost and labour. However, to be frank again, I dont think one should give 100% freewill to the ID to do up the house or design the house. End of the day, its our home and only we know what we want and what we dont want. The ID/contractor will never be able to give us 100% of what we want.

If you are talking about architect, they have the necessary qualification to design and built, thus they are the expert to build any home from scratch.

Those ID, where got need cert.. Anyone can just go and work at a ID company and called themselves Interior Designer.... hai....

Edited October 14, 2015 by Ahyong81

[bykaraanne 30]

Contractor also very scary one! Not true. Haha.

But when we find good ones, it's like the BEST.

I love my contractor and his funny whatsapps and updates.

[Ahyong81 3]

contractor are more pro then ID. but the only thing is dont expect them to whatsapp you update every day Its just not their way of doing things.