nirvana 0 Report post Posted September 22, 2009 Photos time! Little tour around my house: Dining area: Living area: My tiny kitchen: Yard: Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nirvana 0 Report post Posted September 22, 2009 Walkway to rooms: Bad photo of mbr: Check out the tiles of the mbr toilet. My friends lup these the most 2nd bedroom common toilet: Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Pinklady 0 Report post Posted September 22, 2009 Hi Nirvana, you really got a very good buy @ the eastern part of SG, congrats! i like the tiles of the mbr toilet too, so special! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
worldangel 0 Report post Posted September 22, 2009 The toilet tiles really does stand out haha... Anyway as long as you are happy with the house, who cares what others say? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nirvana 0 Report post Posted September 22, 2009 Thanks everyone for the comments. Actually I bought it in a spur of the moment. Been house hunting for about 1-2 months and seen so many HDB in Marine parade, bedok and Kembangan area.. then realised price all very very high, almost reach private apt liaos.. so went on to look at private apt around simei, tanah merah and Bedok area.. Dun dare to even think of Kembangan cos of their prices. More of see see look look when I came about this unit and it is liked boomz (courtesy of Ris low). Just connect with this house. So bought it within a week. When I sign the papers, I nearly got a heart attack when I saw the price the previous owner paid. He bought during Sars period and it was just under $500k!! Sigh.. dun care la.. like can liao. who cares what others say. Hor, Worldangel Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
worldangel 0 Report post Posted September 22, 2009 Thanks everyone for the comments. Actually I bought it in a spur of the moment. Been house hunting for about 1-2 months and seen so many HDB in Marine parade, bedok and Kembangan area.. then realised price all very very high, almost reach private apt liaos.. so went on to look at private apt around simei, tanah merah and Bedok area.. Dun dare to even think of Kembangan cos of their prices. More of see see look look when I came about this unit and it is liked boomz (courtesy of Ris low). Just connect with this house. So bought it within a week. When I sign the papers, I nearly got a heart attack when I saw the price the previous owner paid. He bought during Sars period and it was just under $500k!! Sigh.. dun care la.. like can liao. who cares what others say. Hor, Worldangel Haha yea When I bought my flat, there were also negative comments about the house but what matters is both me and my hubby like the house a lot. We can sort of feel an affinity with the house when we walked in for the first time, that's why we purchased it immediately the day after we viewed. Luckily we did that because heard from the agent that there was another person who offered a higher COV than us the day after we bought the house... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nirvana 0 Report post Posted September 22, 2009 Ya loh. That happens for me too. In fact, my agent was rejecting buyers as we were signing the contract! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nirvana 0 Report post Posted September 22, 2009 (edited) One of the first thing I did when sourcing around the IDs and contractors was to draw up the budget. Cos we have limited funds after paying of the 5% cash downpayment, we have to watch every cent. So after asking around from IDs and contractors and of cos useful advices from fellow forummers I did up a budget guide for us. Could be useful for some of fellow forummers who are starting reno: Renovation cost - This is the quotation that your ID and contractor draw up for you. This usually includes Hacking and laying of tiles, carpentry work, painting, cleaning and polishing of house, plumbing, false ceiling, install kitchen and toilet fittings for you etc. Usually they will KIV the electrical works cos can only quote when they survey onsite Electrical work - Includes wiring, install new lighting point (very crucial if you are doing downlights thru out your house), install new powerpoint. Some may include installation of ceiling fan but i think it is better to get the fan guys to do it since they are specialists and can do the balancing thingy well. Try to put aside min $1,500 to $2,000 for this. Kitchen and toilet fittings - In the beginning I blur blur thought it is inclusive in the reno quote by ID and contractors. Then realised need to budget for that! Includes kitchen sink and tap, toilet basin, tap, toilet bowl, shower bar & mixer tap, storage or instant heater, plus all other accessories e.g. toilet paper holder, etc.. This one budget about $2,000 at least. Ceiling fan - Again this is another extra cost. Cheapest ceiling fan quote i got is Fanco basic fan with no light at $75 excluding installation. Installation about $35 more. Quote from lightings.com.sg Aircon - This one I very headache. Cos condo they go by conceal piping. I no choice have to change everything cos the aircon is ancient - as old as my house. When on, machiam got aeroplane in the house. If you need to hack and change piping, and need 2 compressor (4 units) prepare about $5,000 for it. Lightings - All your downlights, fancy hanging lights, wall lights all fall under this category. Downlight cheapest quote again from lightings.com.sg is $21 for 18watt one. Remember to ask the full quote for downlights cos some lighting shop quote the price of casing only. The full functional downlights price is casing+bulb+ballast. Again, the guideline given by most IDs is $2,000. I am squeezing into $1,500 and cutting away all the fancy lights. Furnishing - Curtains, cushion, runners, candles, painting. The soft furnishing are very important to complete the homely look. The bulk of cost comes from curtain. Dunno how much to budget for this cos I haven come to this part yet. Hee.. will update next time. Last but not least, the furniture and appliances - Sofa, dining set, mattress, bed, TV, home theatre system, Washing machine, Fridget, oven, hobs & hood, Microwave, Iron, Rice cooker, kettle/boiler, vaccum cleaner all falls under here. This one up to individual to budget cos the price range really varies for this. I got all these in an excel file and everytime there is some changes to the reno quote I will update it so I will know how much budget I burst. This way it helps us to be grounded when shopping around for stuff. If you guys want a copy of the excel just pm me la. I do up swee swee abit so can jian ren and hopefully can help abit for those who are starting reno. Edited September 22, 2009 by nirvana Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Angel81 1 Report post Posted September 22, 2009 Congrates on ur new place! Looking forward to the transformation. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nirvana 0 Report post Posted September 23, 2009 (edited) Wanted to try out some ID firms in the beginning. Approached KNQ associate, Loyd Pek (who did one of the houses in the T-blog), Fuse concept (a VERY nice patient Keith attended to us), Jason (yup, brother of Uncle Soon), Uncle Soon, Henry from ID Note, lastly a friend's previous contractor/ID. Settled for Henry cos his quote is the lowest and most comprehensive. He is the only one who remembered every thing we wanted to have and put it on paper for us. It was a surprise to us that Henry quote was lower than Jason's cos we thought Jason/Uncle soon tops the most value for money contractor. Jason did not cover all the items that we wanted in the proposal. So.. Henry better choice la.. hehe.. As for Uncle Soon, hmm.. did not even get to the proposal stage. He was scarily busy and that frightened us away. Fuse concept comes second to Henry in terms of attention to details and tops my chart for great services. Keith was very thorough in his initial meeting with us and was forthcoming on what can be done within our budget. Did up 3D sketch for us somemore before signing. But for the same amount of money, can do more things with Henry so.. did not go with him. KNQ is the other nice ID firm which did up 2D sketches for our house. Again budget is an issue cos the initial quote already burst our budget given (then i gong gong, gave higher limit of my budget) so... sigh.. Oh had to do a special mention for Mr Yeak. I approached him but he turned me away nicely saying that he can't fit me into his schedule and next time when I do reno for HDB can come to look for him again. Really quite taken aback but was impressed by his time management which i am sure translate to good QC for his existing clients. That was my little quest in finding the right contractor and we are quite happy with Henry so far. Always contactable. Even acc us to select tiles and offer to go down to select the toilet fittings with us. But no hurry for that so we told him we will do our rounds ourselves. Edited September 23, 2009 by nirvana Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nirvana 0 Report post Posted September 24, 2009 Reno started on 12th Sep. Did the knocking of the wall thingy advised by my fs master. Hacking of kitchen, toilets, removal of the wardrobe in mbr done in 2 days. Now they are doing the cementing stuff. Next step would be the tiling works *excited* dunno how the tiles will turn out. I am so sure it will be different from the showroom where we can only use our imagination to visualise the result. Anyhow, as the aircon pipings go through the kitchen and toilets we will have to decide on the air con fast! However the aircon guy recommended by Henry is really expensive. $6,200 for System 4 (10+10+10+10) mitsu starmex. wah lau.. confirm exceed my budget by ... 20%!! So while sourcing for our toilet fittings in Balestier, we came upon this shop which sells aircon and ceiling fans. And the boxx just came down yesterday night and he quoted us for the same thing $5,100 for System 4 (13+13+9+9) mitsu starmex and if we do not want to change the piping (which he says is in excellent condition) then it is at $4,100. What a vast difference! So needless to say, we settled for the Balestier uncle and will go down to his place to sign the order. He is quite nice cos we started asking him if he does electrical works and though he does not, went on to advice us on the quote given by our contact through Henry. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Reiki 0 Report post Posted September 24, 2009 Hehehe, just to say 'hello'. Can't wait to see more pics!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Supersimon27 2 Report post Posted September 24, 2009 Reno started on 12th Sep. Did the knocking of the wall thingy advised by my fs master. Hacking of kitchen, toilets, removal of the wardrobe in mbr done in 2 days. Now they are doing the cementing stuff. Next step would be the tiling works *excited* dunno how the tiles will turn out. I am so sure it will be different from the showroom where we can only use our imagination to visualise the result. Anyhow, as the aircon pipings go through the kitchen and toilets we will have to decide on the air con fast! However the aircon guy recommended by Henry is really expensive. $6,200 for System 4 (10+10+10+10) mitsu starmex. wah lau.. confirm exceed my budget by ... 20%!! So while sourcing for our toilet fittings in Balestier, we came upon this shop which sells aircon and ceiling fans. And the boxx just came down yesterday night and he quoted us for the same thing $5,100 for System 4 (13+13+9+9) mitsu starmex and if we do not want to change the piping (which he says is in excellent condition) then it is at $4,100. What a vast difference! So needless to say, we settled for the Balestier uncle and will go down to his place to sign the order. He is quite nice cos we started asking him if he does electrical works and though he does not, went on to advice us on the quote given by our contact through Henry. Wah ... which aircon guy henry recomend u .... heng u didn't get from that guy .... 2k is a big different Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nirvana 0 Report post Posted September 24, 2009 Dunno leh.. My hubby to be is the one liaising with all the contractor, aircon man, electrician guys.. I just handle the budget hehe.. Actually 1k difference la.. cos the 6.2k includes changing of pipings. But still.. 1k is alot too leh.. can do alot of carpentry work.. Simon, I saw your post on Henry's electrician and though tempted to engage him since he is good at after sales service but he also quoted us very high leh.. $50 per new lighting point and we are doing 30+ downlights.. so it is already more than $1,500!! This quote is pretty good if it is for conceal price but.. we are doing false ceiling so abit blur why the electrician quote us $50 leh.. sigh.. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nirvana 0 Report post Posted September 24, 2009 Hehehe, just to say 'hello'. Can't wait to see more pics!! Hello back!! *wave* Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
