SHARE with us your worst Reno nightmares!!

[randomchineseguy 1]

Also theres this story about a bad ID online. didn't name which but helpful to know what to look out for with your own experience.

"#1 Multiple and continuous errors in the quotations

There were errors in the quotations from the very start, which should have been a warning sign. We didn’t let it affect us because we figured they were busy, there were so many items on the list, it’s still a work in progress, blah blah blah.

Because this also meant we had to double, triple check the invoices. We simply couldn’t trust them to do a good job. And boy, we spotted so many mistakes. At one point, we pointed out SIX mistakes in one short invoice. The revised invoice had mistakes, too. Our final payment also had an item that was supposedly from another project.

For the record, I don’t think they were trying to cheat us of our money – they were just sloppy and unprofessional.

"

ya'll can read more here: 99.co/blog/singapore/my-bto-reno-was-stressful-learn-from-my-mistakes/

 

[randomchineseguy 1]

there are so many interior design companies now, so hard to know which one is reliable. even if their website looks legit, in the end they might provide rly bad service sigh. the communication between my ID and his contractor is sometimes... "laggy"? lol. not sure it's the ID fault for not updating or the contractor feels he need not follow.

[Haiza iza 0]

NW Interior

Very poor workmanship. I am one of the victim of NW Interior. They kept charging you more n more, adding on here n there. Renovation work took longer than expected. My worst nightmare! 

Edited February 5, 2020 by Haiza iza

[RenoEnthusiast2017 0]

Delet

Edited January 14, 2020 by RenoEnthusiast2017

[Nerol 0]

Contractor we regretably used: Mr Lai from Aik Seng Renovation Works

Dear all, sharing a very bad experience with renovation contractor and urge all to do more workhouse when selecting contractor. Hope this is useful to those looking for contractor.

I had engaged Aik Seng Renovation Works for my renovation and liased with the contractor who called himself Mr Lai and had initially thought of him as an old and experienced contractor as he constantly claimed to be doing good work by word of mouth.

However, the workmanship of the renovation was extremely poor as commented by all my friends and find him to be a very difficult person to work with.

All in all, I urge everyone to be very careful when choosing contractor and cross check with other’s reviews before making the same mistake.

Edited November 28, 2019 by Nerol
Retype

[gabrielss 0]

On 11/8/2018 at 2:43 PM, Firefly said:

My advice when choosing contractor which I learned the hard way. Google them to see if got bad reviews. Next check their physical office. If they do not have an office, raise red flag. How to look for them when there is dispute? The registered address in ACRA is only for service only. Think twice using a contractor who has no physical office. 

That's a pretty good advice. No one should have to go through all these bad experiences so must really do your research well before engaging anyone. Best is get your friend to intro if they are happy with their ID's services

[DeK 1]

JS Carpentry:

Wei Jie (project manager/designer) has been unresponsive. We hired JS to build a new kitchen. The team damaged our gas pipe during hacking, and we only found out through CityGas. Despite calling Wei Jie, he has been difficult to reach. The team of contractors (hackers, electrician, plumber) have not been punctual throughout the renovation. The hackers did not lay protective sheets and we're now delayed because of the damage done to our gas pipes. Irresponsible project manager and team of subcontractors. Wei Jie called back and told us to remove this feedback. Disappointing and stressful.

[Douglas 0]

Uniquerenotalk pte ltd 

Zacc lee. 

 

Please be aware of this company 

[Tiler Seng 57]

13 minutes ago, Silentnitestarz said:

Design Zest Pte Ltd (UEN 201700620C)

Designer’s Name: Rafale Chua

Date of Renovation: Jan 2019 till May 2019

We got to know Design Zest from renotalk. Mr Chua is the boss and also the ID of the company. He was persistent and sincere in following up with us in the beginning and upon signing contract with him, things turn out to be a nightmare.

Due to his bad planning, incapability to follow up closely with his contractors, our renovation took close to 4 months to complete instead of the original committed 8 weeks! He is wasting our time and money to be the one following up closely with contractors --> bad project management and he is always not on site!

What went wrong:

- Despite me sending him the dimension of my Bosch built in oven for my kitchen, he mistook it as electrolux oven and got the dimension all wrong and results in cutting the hole to slot in my oven to be WRONG. he and the carpenter insisted that all ovens are of STANDARD SIZE and refuse to listen to me even though i had shared the dimension to him for more than 3 times via whatsapp! No apologies from him at all for his though in the end he rectified the job for us

- We were told that one part of the kitchen wall cannot be hack and as it is a concrete wall. but after looking at our neighbour unit who has the same floor plan as us and was doing renovation at the same time, we realise that the wall is in fact hackable! Went through many rounds or argument before he willing to hack off that wall for us. this results in additional cost for hacking work!

- Insist that my washer is too big (in fact it was pretty standard size and dimension is also provided) and thus the kitchen table where the washer is at need to be leveled in order to fit the washer in properly. this results in uneven kitchen table height. one part of the table is higher than the rest of the kitchen table! he told me this is pretty common but i could not accept, and demand for a change to even out the height. 

- his tiler mess up my water piping and results in my washer pipe to choke and flooded my kitchen! He arrange for his plumber to come down to rectify but his plumber is always late and have to come down 3 times in order to resolve the issue. the workaround was to have a extension pipe routed from my sink (very UGLY!! and take up space in my kitchen cabinet)

- he has bad management of his contractors and never closely follow up with them. he was seldom on site and my husband need to be there to spot check his contractors on many occasions. there is once he mention his tiler will be there on monday to touch up my brick featured wall but did not turn up! he wasnt aware his tiler did not turn up till my husband told him! again, this delay our reno work. 

- The reno was completed on mid may, last payment of 5% was made on 21st May and till to date, he have not return our condo access card and warranty documents back to us! he took our gas stove to sell to his client (but client rejected as not suitable for their kitchen) and that stove is still with the client and not return back to us yet as well!!

Throughout the whole renovation process, he always have lots of excuses/reasoning when things does not turn out well/or got delayed. For example, tiler did not turn up as committed date is because his sister got cancer and affect his mood! WTH! 

He was suppose to return the stove, access card and docs back to us on multiple occasions but in the end didnt because 1) client celebrating hari raya, not at home. 2) client was back home late, couldnt get the stove from them in time 3) he met with an accident and thus couldnt return the items back to us! if there is a will, there is a way. I find it perplexed that this is not a one man show company, he has assistants and colleagues as well. if he couldnt made it, why cant he get someone else in his co to pass us the card and docs first? he can also mail us the items via registered mail or speedpost too! we always have to send him reminder messages but was ignored/delayed in responses a few times. 

this ID is a thumbs down and highly not recommended! please take note and engaged on your own risk!

Is good to lock his name online and let him findable at anytime to warn the rest of the home owner

[Silentnitestarz 0]

Design Zest Pte Ltd (UEN 201700620C)

Designer’s Name: Rafale Chua

Date of Renovation: Jan 2019 till May 2019

We got to know Design Zest from renotalk. Mr Chua is the boss and also the ID of the company. He was persistent and sincere in following up with us in the beginning and upon signing contract with him, things turn out to be a nightmare.

Due to his bad planning, incapability to follow up closely with his contractors, our renovation took close to 4 months to complete instead of the original committed 8 weeks! He is wasting our time and money to be the one following up closely with contractors --> bad project management and he is always not on site!

What went wrong:

- Despite me sending him the dimension of my Bosch built in oven for my kitchen, he mistook it as electrolux oven and got the dimension all wrong and results in cutting the hole to slot in my oven to be WRONG. he and the carpenter insisted that all ovens are of STANDARD SIZE and refuse to listen to me even though i had shared the dimension to him for more than 3 times via whatsapp! No apologies from him at all for his though in the end he rectified the job for us

- We were told that one part of the kitchen wall cannot be hack and as it is a concrete wall. but after looking at our neighbour unit who has the same floor plan as us and was doing renovation at the same time, we realise that the wall is in fact hackable! Went through many rounds or argument before he willing to hack off that wall for us. this results in additional cost for hacking work!

- Insist that my washer is too big (in fact it was pretty standard size and dimension is also provided) and thus the kitchen table where the washer is at need to be leveled in order to fit the washer in properly. this results in uneven kitchen table height. one part of the table is higher than the rest of the kitchen table! he told me this is pretty common but i could not accept, and demand for a change to even out the height. 

- his tiler mess up my water piping and results in my washer pipe to choke and flooded my kitchen! He arrange for his plumber to come down to rectify but his plumber is always late and have to come down 3 times in order to resolve the issue. the workaround was to have a extension pipe routed from my sink (very UGLY!! and take up space in my kitchen cabinet)

- he has bad management of his contractors and never closely follow up with them. he was seldom on site and my husband need to be there to spot check his contractors on many occasions. there is once he mention his tiler will be there on monday to touch up my brick featured wall but did not turn up! he wasnt aware his tiler did not turn up till my husband told him! again, this delay our reno work. 

- The reno was completed on mid may, last payment of 5% was made on 21st May and till to date, he have not return our condo access card and warranty documents back to us! he took our gas stove to sell to his client (but client rejected as not suitable for their kitchen) and that stove is still with the client and not return back to us yet as well!!

Throughout the whole renovation process, he always have lots of excuses/reasoning when things does not turn out well/or got delayed. For example, tiler did not turn up as committed date is because his sister got cancer and affect his mood! WTH! 

He was suppose to return the stove, access card and docs back to us on multiple occasions but in the end didnt because 1) client celebrating hari raya, not at home. 2) client was back home late, couldnt get the stove from them in time 3) he met with an accident and thus couldnt return the items back to us! if there is a will, there is a way. I find it perplexed that this is not a one man show company, he has assistants and colleagues as well. if he couldnt made it, why cant he get someone else in his co to pass us the card and docs first? he can also mail us the items via registered mail or speedpost too! we always have to send him reminder messages but was ignored/delayed in responses a few times. 

this ID is a thumbs down and highly not recommended! please take note and engaged on your own risk!

Edited June 9, 2019 by Silentnitestarz
typo error

[Preeya Tanabalan 0]

At wits end!

Edited May 6, 2019 by Preeya Tanabalan

[AnniKwan 0]

Had a horrendous experience with a marble/tile supplier by the name of Hup Kiong located at Defu Lane. Rejected a no. of tiles during dry lay but they still appeared at my house for tiling. Complained to my ID and subsequently went to Hup Kiong for another round of marble selection. When the marble tiles were eventually layed and paper covers removed, I realised more defective tiles were used. Even my toilet floor tiles were not spared. The sample looked good during selection but after installation the tiles are filled with tiny holes when light is shone. Too many crooks in renovation business!!

[Tiler Seng 57]

On ‎6‎/‎24‎/‎2018 at 7:27 PM, Dove Dark Choco said:

My worst nightmare with Blank Canvas Contractor Pte Ltd (UEN: 201525372N)...

A simple renovation which can take about 4-6 weeks to complete it took them 4mths to complete it!

Made a deal with this guy name Praveen & Vinith. 14th Feb collected 1st payment....hacking job done on 22nd Mar.. took them more than 1mth to start the major work...

8th Apr 2nd payment made...wiring & plumbing work is not even done...only waterproofing & tiling done...

After the 2nd payment made, they called telling me that the cashier order I gave them bounce...in the end it's actually their management mistake for not updating the banks their updated company name..

**** starts after the 2nd payment...job being delayed...we are getting updates from their contractor Hassan (claimed that he have more than 30yrs experience in the renovation industry)...NO FOLLOW UP & UPDATES from both Praveen & Vinith...

Wiring took them more than 6 weeks to complete it..and their contractor keep asking us money for the job done when he should be getting it from Blank Canvas...

We check the house every single week & most of the times, there's no workers or job done...

And the most wonderful part is, whenever we  bring in the furniture that we ordered, the contractor will be around doing their job causing lots of inconvenience to us...

When we moved in on the first week of June, the kitchen was not even complete...in other words...no kitchen cabinet...no cooker...

We have not choice but to eat out or order in... more unnecessary additional cost....

They promised to complete the renovation by  end of April but only complete it on 14th June with both water heaters is not working....

After the last check on 22nd June Evening, our water heaters still not working yet  Praveen kept pressing us to make the final payment...

Please do not engage renovation service from Blank Canvas Renovation Pte Ltd...they have the worst staff named Praveen (very unprofessional & rude & irresponsible), Vinith (MIA & unresponsive most of the times) & their 3rd party contractor Hassan (keep asking us money & delaying the reno works)

but initially why did you engaged them? did you see any other owner's feedback or are they approved HDB contractor?....casetrust etc???

appreciate you warning the rest, but this shouldn't be happening to you instead.

[Chubbyfat2 2]

There is that time that I have experience the delay of handover of my new home. The renovator told me that it will be done by 4 to 6 weeks. However, it turns out to be a much longer timing ! 
That makes us to missed out our auspicious timing to move in the house by that month. As we go everything according to plan, but the renovator is not available to make it on time for us. So I was also wondering, why the always delay the work and stuff -,- . It have been awhile since the incident , so we also gave up on everything. Everything was perfect it was just the delay that got me pissed off . 

 

[shsh 0]

Hi all,

I have a story too and it's still ongoing. ID is not even afraid of small claims tribunal.

 

TL;DR - Ken Tan (Tan Ken Liang, 9***8226) delayed our renovation of a 4 Rm HDB (2 bedrooms without furnishing) by almost 6 months. This delay might have stretched further had I not intervened and paid the carpenter and electrician myself on his behalf. Till today, more than 1 month since we moved in and almost 2 months since I paid on his behalf, he still owes us $7350 in total with no concrete promise of repayment, only delay tactics. Please exercise caution with him if he has approached you as an ID. He switches companies so I have no idea which firm he is with now, but he has a termination record from my investigations.

 

My wife and I were contacted by Ken Tan in early 2017 when we made a request for IDs on renotalk back then. He was representing Se7en ID (no longer). Eventually, because of the *****, we decided to go with him in March, paying the first 15%. We prepaid 2000 for the first 40% out of good will on 6 Jun 2017 because he claimed cashflow problems, and then $15000 as the rest of the first 40% on 28 Jul 2017 to commence works. In 29 Jul 2017 we received the keys to our house and wanted to commence screeding for laying of vinyl flooring. This met with delays and only ended on 11 Nov 2017 which was attributed to HDB's appointed screeding contractor. We took it well, but expected Ken to begin work immediately. Nevertheless, he made excuses that workers were out of town due to the holiday period. We only signed the HDB permit in January 2018 for Ken to begin wall hacking works, meaning from Nov to Jan nothing was done.

 

Then, Ken requested a downpayment of $2040 for electrical works to commence, which we promptly paid on 10 Jan 2018. In the days following, we selected just the master toilet tiles and some water fittings and Ken claimed to have to go for reservist. This brought us to early Feb 2018 already and the hacking was still not done. On 6 Feb, Ken projected completion in end Mar/early Apr. 9 Feb, Ken claimed hacking would be done on 12 and 13 Feb. but when we followed up on 15 Feb it was still not done. He cited 'being busy and held up' as reasons. Hacking works were only confirmed to be done on 23 Feb 2018. We asked him for a schedule of works on 12th Mar, which was never fulfiled. On 13th Mar, he requested for an advance payment of $3000 despite not having done the masonry works yet, which we turned down. 31 Mar we went down to see the house, only to see that nothing much had been done, only the tiling of the master toilet and some minor masonry works. 

 

April came, and the platforming was still under progress on 17 Apr. On 19 Apr we asked about the 3D drawings, which were never shown to us even after the renovation was finished. And on 19 Apr he asked us for the second 40% saying carpentry work was going to start. However, a lot of the flooring and the masonry works were still uncompleted then. We asked him for the schedule again on 19 Apr, which he delayed until 22 Apr and finally only sent on 23 Apr. This schedule depicted that all renovation would end by end May. Seeing this we paid the second 40% on 25 Apr 2018, and asked for a receipt which never came. The vinyl flooring was not completed all the way until 21st May, despite his claim that everything would be done by end May. On 21st May he claimed carpentry was already in progress. On 2nd June we went down, and saw no carpentry. When we confronted Ken, he finally admitted that another carpenter was taking over the work. On 6th June, he said that carpentry would be coming in on the 14th. When we came on 15th, the carpentry was half done and things looked abandoned and untouched for some time. On the 29th he told us his carpenter disappeared. On 2nd July, we met Ken and his new carpenter at the house. We were reassured the work will proceed quickly and yet by 15 July carpentry was still unfinished. When we went up on 18th, we realised virtually nothing was added compared to 2nd July. And Ken still had the cheek to ask us to leave him alone that day. This dragged until 7 August and still the work was not done. On 14 August he said a new carpenter was taking over, yet by 27 August the carpentry was still in shambles and then he said the earliest handover would be Sept 3rd week. On 8 Sept, still not much movement at all and on 17th I was still unable to see good progress and then on 21st October he said carpentry delayed till 1st week Oct. On 24 September, windows were still missing, not a single piece of carpentry was completed and toilet vanity table was not even installed. One week later still nothing done. 

 

October came, and 4th Oct he sent us some pictures of carcasses at the carpenter's factory. Still nothing moved after that and on 7th Oct he asked for the last 5% payment. . By now we had no trust in him and refused to pay. 17th October, still incomplete. On 21st he claimed that the carpenter still couldn't start because he was shifting offices. By now the carpentry had already dragged 2 months. On 24th October he finally admitted that things are not moving because I refused to pay the last 5%. At that point we gave up and through a bit of investigation we found out the carpenter and contacted him directly through phone. This led to the explanation that works were stalled because Ken owed $7000 and by right the works had been possible to be done much earlier before his office moved. But because of this $7000 deficit this work was delayed. Angered by this and Ken's lack of transparency with us, I arranged to meet the carpenter, the electrician (who referred  the carpenter to Ken) and Ken himself on 26 Oct 2018 at my apartment. 

 

Ken brought along a friend, presumably to act as the witness. With all present, I gave my word to the carpenter that I will personally pay him $3000 to restart works, and $4000 when carpentry works have been completed. I would also pay the electrician for the electrical works myself, bypassing Ken. Ken would then reimburse me $3000 first the following week and then $4000 for the carpentry works. Ken will also continue to supply the other missing items, such as timber for our TV console, partition creation, glass works etc. Carpentry works eventually ended on 12 Nov 2018, and electrical works ended soon after. Once again, Ken delayed the supply of glass for my half open kitchen and mirrors amongst other items. He also could not pay up the $3000 despite saying he would do so, and even when the carpenter issued the final invoice for 17 Nov 2018 Ken still refused to pay up. On the 18th, my wife and I had no choice but to move into a semi complete apartment with missing glass works. In the interim, we had to pay the general cleaners $200 on Ken's behalf on 14 Nov as well. This general cleaning was notably done without first having an acid wash as stated in our quotation. Even today our master toilet tiles have unremovable stains which contrast greatly with the tile colour. 

 

On 23 Nov 2018 we got Ken to get his plumber over to take a look as the master toilet vanity table showed some leaking below. The plumber believed that the copper pipes hidden behind the vanity were leaking and this incurred $150 from the carpenter for services rendered to remove and fix back the vanity. During the removal the plumber Ken engaged was unhelpful and late, leading to a lot of unhappiness and lost time. In any case, Ken agreed to bear responsibility for this defect, and rightly so. By now the total amount owed by him was $7350. Originally we had given him till 31st Nov to pay up, but out of goodwill we extended this to 15 Dec 2018 as a hard deadline, failing which we promised to file small claims against him, and also include financial damages due to rental paid because of the 6 month delay (we were staying in a rented unit) to the nominal sum of $2500. 

 

Between 18 Nov and 15 Dec, I had to take it upon myself to correct the numerous defects due to horrible partitioning, plastering and painting. I had to scrape paint droplets off the vinyl flooring, buy wall putty and sandpaper to fill up and smooth out pitting on the walls, and repaint entire walls due to peeling paint and overly thin coats of paint where the white wash beneath could be seen. My decking wood stain was also not done properly, resulting in mutliple dull patches, but out of worry for my unborn child I could not afford to restain the wood.

 

15 Dec came and went and Ken never said a single word nor tried to work out a concrete repayment plan. He showed no remorse in delaying again. So on 15 Dec I filed a case against him. Despite presumably receiving an email and snail mail of the case, Ken said absolutely nothing and remained silent. Meanwhile, we kept having strange beetles appearing in the master bedroom where there were some dried bamboo used as part of the deco. On 25th Dec morning, we were awoken by a relatively loud repetitive snapping sound. I found a beetle biting out a 5mm wide hole in one of the bamboo and trying to crawl out. At this point i contacted Ken to show him the photos and asked him for the contact person of the bamboo supplier, which he ignored. I also asked about the payment, which he just kept brushing aside, saying he would give me a date next Mon. A quarrel ensued over the phone, and he progressively extended the date to "before Chinese New Year" despite me telling him that this amount was saved for my daughter's delivery fees in January. Yes, my wife was pregnant throughout this horrible renovation and yet there was no extra effort from Ken to expedite it. And now he still owes us money and never showed any signs of wanting to pay it, from his lack of initiative to work something concrete since beginning of November when I first paid $3000 on his behalf.

 

I am not sure if I ever will get my money back, but I would like to warn those who have engaged him to be extremely prudent about the renovations. I have heard from his sub-contractors that he may have gambled away our money during the course of renovation, resulting in delays. While I cannot confirm this myself, it seems like a plausible reason for all these delays in renovation and repayment. Ken switches companies and he has been terminated before, so for those who are looking for an ID, please be careful with this person.