THE JOURNEY OF A MAGICAL 4RM TRANSFORMATION

[DODGEBALL 1]

Hello all,

Just want to contribute my experience with y’all as I have been a silent reader and have benefitted from all the tips and recommendation here.

Earlier this year. Before covid, my parents got the keys to a DILAPIDATED 4RM resale unit FROM **** [THE PREVIOUS OWNERS MUST BE SOME SLUM LOVER] and I was put in charge to source for ID/contractors to restore the unit to at least LIVABLE CONDITION.  As a young adult with zero experience with ID/contractors and first time doing renovation, I set out this journey by engaging my colleagues to seek their recommendation on ID/contractor they had used. 

After looking at the condition and budget (approx. 45k), I crafted out the main area to work on which are, rebuild the 2x toilet, kitchen, doors, gate, windows, flooring, re-wiring and re-piping! With this plan, I approached the first 2 ID (Company A and B) which were recommended by my colleague and I WAS ASTONISHED and HORRIFIED when both company came back with the quote.

Company A

Company A came back with a quote of $68,000 and they were quoting me on every single item such hot piping, cold piping, door stopper, toilet trap etc etc. It was way way out of my budget as I always thought such works cost around 30-40k because I always see those ALL IN RESALE HDB PACKAGE @ 35k from FB advert. So I met with the ID and had the 2nd round negotiation to remove some stuff and in the end we managed to reduce to around 38k but the catch is only do whole house vinyl, refurbish the kitchen with tiles, change doors and change new set of toilet accessories cause the ID had the cheek to suggest that toilet can wait for HIP and the windows and the rest can live with it. OF COURSE I was UNSATISFIED and decided to wait for 2nd opinion from company B.

Company B

Company B did not give me a good impression when I first initiate to book a site visit because the ID gave me the reply of, “OH WHEN DO YOU PLAN TO MOVE IN? BECAUSE I HAVE TOO MANY PROJECT ON HAND, IF YOU CAN WAIT 3 MONTHS THEN OKAY”  but I still decided to go on as I wanted a second opinion but it seems that the ID wasn’t as keen to take up my project as the site visit was delayed and delayed. Nevertheless, the ID did came and proclaim to be a FENGSHUI orientated ID, so we ran through the conceptualization routine and also made known my budget to the ID. ID promised that everything we want can be done within our budget and promised to send us the quotation the next working day.

So after a few days, I have not got the quotation and I WhatsApp the ID, TO MY HORROR, the ID was so busy that she did not have time to get back to office to do my quotation and floor plan! Finally, I was quoted a whopping $61,000 (SO MUCH FOR WITHIN MY BUDGET, but at least this quotation includes doing the toilet!). Also, I engaged a FengShui master to take a look at the floorplan and my FS master told me it was CRAP! All the positions and placing are wrong and if I were to follow it, IT IS DESTINED TO DOOM. ( so much for Fengshui oriented.)

Overall, I was not impressed by the 2 ID as they gave me the “TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT, I DON’T NEED YOUR BUSINESS” vibe, that’s why maybe the quotes were so high?

By now, I was feeling down and devastated, the thought of having to live in the UNIT FROM **** is driving me crazy. Then one day, I found out that one of my colleague recently completed her renovation and she recommended me the 3rd ID, Renoguyz.

 

RENOGUYZ

Having gotten the contact from my colleague over lunch, I WhatsApp RENOGUYZ and made an appointment on the day itself. By now, I wasn’t having much hope on this project. However, this turned out to be the BEST DAY OF MY LIFE AND ALSO ONE OF THE GREATEST THAT COULD POSSIBLY HAPPEN TO ME.

At 6PM, a guy casually dressed in flip flop, boxers liked shorts and t-shirt arrived and I invited him into the unit. He introduced himself as Nicholas, the owner and CHIEF ID of Renoguyz. First impression was he's a chill dude because he was armed with a pen and a piece of scrapped paper seemingly torn out from some old mail. During my explanation, he doesn’t seem to care or listen to what I’m blabbering but he would occasionally scribble some notes to show he’s working on it LOL. No measuring etc.  So I casually popped the question,” how much do you think this will cost, 68k?” and at that moment I saw the light at the end of the tunnel when Nicholas replied: “SIAO AH, 68K?! THE PERSON WHO QUOTE YOU THIS PRICE IS OUT TO CHOP YOU!, THIS KIND 40K++ CAN SETTLE” So we ended the appointment with me sending him the blueprint and Nicholas promising to send me the quote by the night.

Material selection

Before the start of project, Nicholas will take the initiate to meet up for material choosing. So first stop is to HAFARY for the selection of tiles. As I am not a artistic person, I tend to leave everything to Nicholas and from our conversation, I know that he is a COLOURIST EXPERT. So I’d tell him, I want this and this, Nicholas will be able to immediately visualize the colour pairing and get back with NO OR YES. Which is what I like about him, because he is honest and will not sugar coat to please his customer, if it’s ugly and doesn’t match, he will tell you in your face but will provide EFFECTIVE SOLUTIONS and not just leave you dangling there. I mean that’s why you engage an ID right?  To provide expert views and effective solutions

doubt yourself if you have engaged the right designer LOL!  Right here, we proceed to select the design and material for the kitchen and also finalized the concept we talked about during the site visit and also proceed to apply for the renovation permit. Next we proceeded to the select toilet accessories at his friend place, I find the price reasonable and also great service provided by them, one good thing about it is that you can change your items anytime you want and as the plumbers are provided by them, they will transport your items over when they are installing. Also i can add new orders conveniently by whatsapping the stuff I want and just paynow them.

Project Halt

So as I thought everything is coming into pieces, just 3 days before the start, the govt announced that we are going into circuit breaker and all project are put to halt. During this period, Nicholas will update me on the progress and showed eagerness to resume work. When CB was lifted, he quickly set up the required procedure to ensure works are restarted ASAP.

Renovation start

After months of waiting, the renovation has begun and first to go are the tiles in the toilet and kitchen.

Photos
 

Edited April 13, 2021 by DODGEBALL

[DODGEBALL 1]

so this is the part where the reno start, basically hacking of tiles, removing of aircon tube, electrical wires, water pipe, gas pipe etc and then installing back and also painting the house.

 

More to come on the after service and also completion of the project!! as i also need to convert my heic photos to jpeg to upload!

Edited April 13, 2021 by DODGEBALL

[KokoLala 0]

Hi,

I saw that you do up the living room as well. Do you reno the whole apartment or just the toilets and kitchen? I am in the midst of finding a contractor for my 4-room apmt too. Thanks

Adam