The Hojichas' Little Renovation Stories..

[enigma 3]

Day 8 Update

No pictures as there is basically no progress for the past week. But good news is we have found our electrician, and he is going to start work soon, means renovation can finally proceed to the next step!! Whee!!

On the other hand, seems like K has handed our whole project over to his assistant, let's call him Mr A. K has let Mr A liaise with us instead of himself, could it be because we are using our own electrician and getting Evorich to do the flooring, so he is no longer interested in our project? Hmm.. just wondering if all K's projects like that, or just ours? Renotalkers and fellow K's customers, any comments on this?

Hi hi hoji,

Congrats on starting work at your place!

He's handling my unit as well and I liaise with him direct via text/ cell/ in person. Prefer to text as it's more convenient for myself.

Met him last weekend; I was there as carpenter needed measurement. Wasnt expecting to see him and he popped by (by surprise) and joined in the discussion( as well as checking the sealer and various paint codes with the painters as painting job is about to start.)

Edited March 3, 2014 by enigma

[hojichalatte 21]

Hi enigma, thank you... u mean Mr A? or Mr K?

yeah, most of the time, we text, but both of them are more well-versed in chinese.. english not so good. wow, painting job and carpentry already, means your reno is almost there.. congrats too!! mine is still far from it....

Hi hi hoji,

Congrats on starting work at your place!

He's handling my unit as well and I liaise with him direct via text/ cell/ in person. Prefer to text as it's more convenient for myself.

Met him last weekend; I was there as carpenter needed measurement. Wasnt expecting to see him and he popped by (by surprise) and joined in the discussion( as well as checking the sealer and various paint codes with the painters as painting job is about to start.)

[bert7332 10]

We started thinking about kitchen instead of living room, because kitchen requires most carpentry work to be done.. and this is my PERFECT IDEAL kitchen.

The thing is, we don't get wood solid tops in Singapore. Unless we go for laminate tops, which everyone has been discouraging us on that idea... so maybe we will go for all white.... or, light oak cabinets and white top. hee...

U can try looking at kompac plus .. Woody look kitchen top

[enigma 3]

Hi enigma, thank you... u mean Mr A? or Mr K?

yeah, most of the time, we text, but both of them are more well-versed in chinese.. english not so good. wow, painting job and carpentry already, means your reno is almost there.. congrats too!! mine is still far from it....

Oops I mean k. Actually I din know he has an assistant until I read from u n elin. All along I tot he's one man show.

Erm, my Reno has started sometime back.. Think most of the owners that started around the same period have already happily moved into their home sweet home.. Heeheehee

Me v relaxed.. Now only at painting stage.. Slow coach right.. ( Told him to 慢慢来)He can be fast if you want him to; will rush n hurry you for decisions de. Experienced it during tile selection process ~sweats~ have a feeling he's going to start pressing at my progress. Stressed. Lollll

[hojichalatte 21]

U can try looking at kompac plus .. Woody look kitchen top

Thanks, bert7332, ya! K shown me some kompac plus samples too.. but i find their table tops too thin.... not the kinda feel.. =p

Oops I mean k. Actually I din know he has an assistant until I read from u n elin. All along I tot he's one man show.

Erm, my Reno has started sometime back.. Think most of the owners that started around the same period have already happily moved into their home sweet home.. Heeheehee

Me v relaxed.. Now only at painting stage.. Slow coach right.. ( Told him to 慢慢来)He can be fast if you want him to; will rush n hurry you for decisions de. Experienced it during tile selection process ~sweats~ have a feeling he's going to start pressing at my progress. Stressed. Lollll

oooohhh, i still prefer K's style of working, enigma u r lucky to still get K overseeing your project! His assistant is nice too, but seems a bit too nice, "anything also can be done', and when we tell him what we wanted, also don't see him writing or drawing down, just listening and say can can can... K will always point out something can or cannot to us, and with that, you know he really understands what kinda feel or look you are going for..

[elin1029 23]

Possible to request he take back your project? Even if he were to assign an assistant, he should have made it known up front before you confirmed him as the contractor. In my case, he let me know before renovation started and I could still back out if I didn't like the arrangement. Of course, I was kinda in a rush and had no choice lah.

Initially felt a bit lousy, but then my assistant was good and I was actually glad she took it up instead of K himself. I hope in your case, your assistant would be as good as mine.

Edited March 5, 2014 by elin1029

[hojichalatte 21]

Possible to request he take back your project? Even if he were to assign an assistant, he should have made it known up front before you confirmed him as the contractor. In my case, he let me know before renovation started and I could still back out if I didn't like the arrangement. Of course, I was kinda in a rush and had no choice lah.

Initially felt a bit lousy, but then my assistant was good and I was actually glad she took it up instead of K himself. I hope in your case, your assistant would be as good as mine.

Thanks, ya i asked him before.... he didn't say exactly assigned the whole thing to his assistant, but he said he is overseeing it together too. well, it's vague...

[enigma 3]

Thanks, bert7332, ya! K shown me some kompac plus samples too.. but i find their table tops too thin.... not the kinda feel.. =p

oooohhh, i still prefer K's style of working, enigma u r lucky to still get K overseeing your project! His assistant is nice too, but seems a bit too nice, "anything also can be done', and when we tell him what we wanted, also don't see him writing or drawing down, just listening and say can can can... K will always point out something can or cannot to us, and with that, you know he really understands what kinda feel or look you are going for..

Oh isit? I dunno cos all along I liaise and sees him direct from the beginning, I tot it's standard for everyone else. He told us frankly that handover before cny is tight, but assured that work will be done just a matter of coordination. Since we are not in a hurry to move in, we decided to not rush and do it at a more relaxed pace and can think longer ~fickle minded (Even told him to settle his more urgent projects first)

Yea, he doesn't write anything down either (say no need wor) so maybe it's a trade practice? He did draw on the walls especially during electrical planning stage, guess it's for the convenience for owners/ contractor/ sub con. Suggestions were given, some were questioned esp those we were excited about (我不是第一天做contractor leh) and sometimes he simple say 你喜欢你是屋主嘛.. No fault of his, as he's not an id (even Id designs based on owners preference) and ultimately we are the ones staying in the unit for the years to come.

If u have any questions can just ask him, he's fast in responding. But at times when he's with customers or he's unsure of the answers, he will double check with sub cons (我要check一下leh) and revert back later. But he's can't remember quotations thou at least for my case. haha.. That one confirm will take long time! Lol

I don think he visits mine a daily basis, since my progress is slowww and nothing much to see(we don either, hahahaha.... ) I only pop by as and when when there's something going on that needs me to go n decide what I really wan (SO tied down with work) or after work is done. IMO he good sub cons, they are very nice and accommodating people who knows their work well. Mine is an old tired looking resale unit that came with old flat issues which requires an overhaul. But at every start of the next Reno phase he's there to discuss with us and the sub cons together and work proceed from then onwards. So far, we like what we see very much.

What's next at your Reno site?

Btw, you having gotten your tabletop samples? Faster than me leh... Lol...

[bianzi 52]

I spoke to mr k before.. He said he will normally oversee northeast projects while mr A looks after the north projects... Anyway... Anyone knows if the contractors they use are hdb certified? His company is not hdb approved.. But as long as the contractors carrying out the work is hdb approved... Then it is alright

[hojichalatte 21]

No lah, not yet select, just had a look at the samples only.. the next step in my reno progress is tiling for the bathrooms lor... As for the writing down part.. K does a bit of writing down, but his assistant not so much.. and end of the day, they write / dun write, they still keep forgetting stuffs too.. haha..

later I post some aircon trunking pix up... super headache about how it turned out!! With the aircon trunking, i also duno how they are going to overlay tiles in my bathroom now..

Oh isit? I dunno cos all along I liaise and sees him direct from the beginning, I tot it's standard for everyone else. He told us frankly that handover before cny is tight, but assured that work will be done just a matter of coordination. Since we are not in a hurry to move in, we decided to not rush and do it at a more relaxed pace and can think longer ~fickle minded (Even told him to settle his more urgent projects first)

Yea, he doesn't write anything down either (say no need wor) so maybe it's a trade practice? He did draw on the walls especially during electrical planning stage, guess it's for the convenience for owners/ contractor/ sub con. Suggestions were given, some were questioned esp those we were excited about (我不是第一天做contractor leh) and sometimes he simple say 你喜欢你是屋主嘛.. No fault of his, as he's not an id (even Id designs based on owners preference) and ultimately we are the ones staying in the unit for the years to come.

If u have any questions can just ask him, he's fast in responding. But at times when he's with customers or he's unsure of the answers, he will double check with sub cons (我要check一下leh) and revert back later. But he's can't remember quotations thou at least for my case. haha.. That one confirm will take long time! Lol

I don think he visits mine a daily basis, since my progress is slowww and nothing much to see(we don either, hahahaha.... ) I only pop by as and when when there's something going on that needs me to go n decide what I really wan (SO tied down with work) or after work is done. IMO he good sub cons, they are very nice and accommodating people who knows their work well. Mine is an old tired looking resale unit that came with old flat issues which requires an overhaul. But at every start of the next Reno phase he's there to discuss with us and the sub cons together and work proceed from then onwards. So far, we like what we see very much.

What's next at your Reno site?

Btw, you having gotten your tabletop samples? Faster than me leh... Lol...

Hi bianzi, I guess so.. cos K stays in the east... so i'm geographically at disadvantage? haha... i didn't know pick contractors must pick one who stays near me de lehh... Hmm... should be certified, cos he told me he and his contractors had to go take some course for hacking walls due to the new govt. law/policy...

I spoke to mr k before.. He said he will normally oversee northeast projects while mr A looks after the north projects... Anyway... Anyone knows if the contractors they use are hdb certified? His company is not hdb approved.. But as long as the contractors carrying out the work is hdb approved... Then it is alright

[hojichalatte 21]

Update: Day 23rd

AIR CON TRUNKING

We are such green birds that we do not know how should air con trunking run... and also restricted by HDB corners here and there ... SEEMS to me, that HDB built the model thinking "nobody will install aircon in the living room, and that most people should have false ceilings" -___-" And so happens, we are the opposite of what they think...

We are going to have an aircon unit in the living room, as me, Mrs Hojicha is very very afraid of the hot weather... and we are not going to have false ceiling as Mr Hojicha thinks it's lowering the already-very-low ceiling.. and now we are kinda stuck!! Somebody plss give us some ideas to salvage these hideous and awful looking trunking?? Not so worried about living room, coz we are going to do box-up, but for the MBR and MBR Bathroom, we didn't planned to do any before, now I seriously think we need to do something about it! (*ka ching*! that means more $ flying away...)

As you can see above, the MBR has this trunking at the top of the entrance, if we extend the boxup outside to MBR door, maybe still can hide part of it, but the trunking on the wall, may be exposed? It's just a short one, so we are still ok with that...

The main problem I guess lies with the MBR bathroom!! It has this hideous trunking right above the shower head, we are on the top level, so there is no box up in the ceiling... so means in future, everyday when we shower in there, we are going to see it right before our eyes... Since we are going overlay wall and floor tiles in bathroom, do you think we can overlay tiles on these trunking as well??

And the little hole on the left top, is where the aircon water is going to come out from... we leave it there for the time being, so that the wall tiles can be overlayed first, the Gain City people will make the second visit for aircon installation, and then we can decide whether to extend the pipe to the ground, or bend it to the water hole below the shower head.... Too bad, it's not going via the vanity cabinet side, if not we can hide them under the cabinet!!

Any suggestions are welcomed pls!

Edited May 5, 2014 by hojichalatte

[yan01 29]

Wa your aircon trunking is really very obvious .. especially in your toilet, I cant put rainshower at tt area anymore .. I think the gain city pple jus choose the easiest way to them, n not the prettiest way. I read at some tblog who share their woes on aircon trunking if u or id is not there to supervise them.

I think the trunking will b better after painting as it blends to the wall. But I dono ur toilet how ....

Edited March 10, 2014 by yan01

[alfredt 27]

i thought the aircon guy should move the trunking towards the ceiling instead of just cutting across the call like that.

[hojichalatte 21]

Wa your aircon trunking is really very obvious .. especially in your toilet, I cant put rainshower at tt area anymore .. I think the gain city pple jus choose the easiest way to them, n not the prettiest way. I read at some tblog who share their woes on aircon trunking if u or id is not there to supervise them.

I think the trunking will b better after painting as it blends to the wall. But I dono ur toilet how ....

i thought the aircon guy should move the trunking towards the ceiling instead of just cutting across the call like that.

Yeah loh... very upset about the trunking done in aircon... but I am just wondering is it because most people have false ceiling/the lighting box-up, but I don't have, that's why they can hide their aircon trunking, and mine are all exposed? Hmmm.. my bathroom wall tiles are grey in colour, maybe I paint the trunking grey too... or black...

[yan01 29]

i didn't so false ceiling in the rooms as well. only at the living room. so my aircon trunking are visible but painted, and i think it looks ok.

nowadays BTO toilets have the boxup area to hide the water pipes right... most of my aircon trunking in the toilet go inside there. i dono if they can help you redo the trunking, mayb u can c c look look how your neighbours do?