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Hi, Just want to check with everyone here if you have ever paid for a 3D design drwaing(s) from an ID and not sign the renovation contract with them before? How is the payment like? Re-fundable? and how much? The ID I am meeting requested for $500 to do the 3D design(s?) which will be off-set from the renovation contract if I sign with them, however if I don't it is non-refundable. $500 seems a bit steep... Dont know if anyone has experienced this before? Any advice on this would greatly help. Sorry I wont be identifying the ID so as not to cause them any trouble. Just want to find out more information on this. Thanks!

I have already submitted the OTP for the puchase of a resale HDB. I understand I have 6 months to sell off my current HDB flat. If any of you have sold off your HDB, can share how long it took? Can include HDB type and location details? Also what if I am unable to sell off in the 6 months period? What will happen?

Hi everyone. We received our keys to the flat in end March this year. after meeting a couple of IDs, we confirmed one in April and started renovation work in the first week of June! Both of us like wood, and we like textures. Along with the fact that we are beach lovers, we thus wanted a "resort" theme for our house. Woody, white, beige, clean, spacious looking, etc. Just imagine a villa in Phuket or a resort in Maldives. i know it doesnt tally with the topic title.. but read on =) Our brief to the IDs: Platform bed Built-in TV console Huge shoe cabinet with design cover-up bomb shelter overlay tiles for both toilets replace HDB given toilet bowls, sinks, shower heads etc. No walk in wardrobe (too dusty and takes up 1 room) vanity dressing table in the master bedroom and the usuals carpentry wardrobe in master bedroom and bedroom 2, toilet vanity cabinets. etc And the theme must be uniform throughout the house Review of the IDs: I screened the names of the IDs and companies (except for my ID) because I believe different people might have different experiences with them. Anyway one bad ID does not make the whole company bad. My best advice is to look for IDs that have experience doing the theme(s) you like. The first ID I contacted was actually the company that did Xiaxue's renovation. I cannot remember the company's name now, but you can easily google it. This ID wasnt the one who did XX's house anyway. The ID Wi***e wasn't very creative, and the ideas she gave are the standard stuff. She's the template kind of person, either lazy or can't be bothered. anyway even though the quotation was pretty close to what we eventually signed but it's just the lack of confidence that she will do a wow job for us that led us to strike her off the list. We then met with R*x from Fuse Concept, whom we signed with eventually. On the first meeting he showed us a house that he did which wasnt what we had wanted. He showed his creativity and sincerity early, and we really appreciated that he took pride in his ideas and dared to think out of the box (what we call "think like an ID and not act like a contractor"). The extraordinary part was that he unearthed what we truly liked. Because we like wood and textures, we always assumed we wanted a resort theme. however he had the foresight and proposed so many 'new' ideas to us that we fell in love with, at the same time, still maintaining the wood, textures and things we wanted to build. along the way while reading lots of Square Room and Home Decor magazines, we realised that resort theme just would not be achievable to the standards we think we want (no spacious hdb, no high ceilings, no sea, no balcony...). R*x tried his best not to recycle the ideas and materials (even tho sometimes we insist at what he thinks is common. I always tell him it's common to him cuz he is an ID but to me, it's new and innovative hahaha). Most importantly, he used our budget very well. We managed to do alot of things + capentry with the limited budget we had. Third on the list that we met was Da**el from Id*** H**se. Well we met up with him because he did the renovation for our parents' current house (2 toilets and 1 room). He was around our age, and thus quite easy to talk to. he has some interesting ideas here and there but needs to be pushed/encouraged to explore further. However having worked with him before, we knew that he was 'bullied' by his contractors sometimes because of his youth and minimal experience and that means as customers we may get pushed back in terms of schedule or workmanship because he cannot win them over. the good thing about him is that he's upfront about practicalities and feasabilities of designs. he would not hide the facts from you but helps you understand the pros and cons to make informed decisions. He quoted us around 30k from the first round but alot of things we wanted were not included or were compromised. We then reminded him we still have budget to play with, so pushed him to rethink his proposal and quotation. however due to unknown reasons he took a long time to come back with the revised quote, and by the time we signed with our ID he still hasn't come back to us, so naturally we dropped him. any vendors who take too long to get back to you without any updates is a bad sign in our opinion. at least a "sorry i have been busy, i will come back to you by xx xx" is better than radio silence. Then there was this OMG and still laughable story about the 4th ID from Me**r Squ**e. His name is Ja***. For all the IDs above, the first meeting took at least 2 hours to go through our requirements in detail. however Ja*** was done with us in 20 minutes. he asked very little specific questions in terms of measurements, said he was very concerned about social media because nowadays (facebook, forums etc) have alot of influence (on consumers). Even though we could not really click with him, we gave him another chance to present his quotation cuz who knows maybe he can come up with something good. He proposed (or kind of insisted) that we should hack the wall between the kitchen and service yard because it will extend the kitchen and that we should do a open concept kitchen even though we did not want to. Plus he told us that our budget was more than enough!! At the second meeting, Ja***'s quotation came up to a good 10k more than the budget we gave him and which he claimed was more than enough. He seemed to have forgotten what he claimed.. okay nevermind. his ideas were mediocre (honestly can't rmb much of what he proposed), but he wasn't well prepared. Whatever sketches or layout proposals he showed us at the second meeting was what other IDs drew on the spot during our first meetings with them. and the killer sentence was when he proposed that we have shower curtains instead for our toilets because they are so small........ followed by laughter. thereafter, he also changed his mind and said he now proposes not to hack the wall between kitchen and service yard (errr... you proposed and then you killed it without good reasons or explanation to your client). when we asked him if a PE endorsement is required to hack walls, he wasnt sure... He then tried to arrange a third session with us but inside us we knew we were saying goodbye to him. we were not comfortable with his working style, nor his personality. totally zero chemistry. The other innovative ID we met was Ke*** from Spa** Se**e Stu***. He is actually an ID whom we admire very much as his works are unique and daring. He did not give template solutions and he is also a furniture maker. There were many things that he DIY for his clients, like buying table legs from Ikea and customizing the table top. He gave us unconventional and unheard of ideas, like building ceiling beams, wall pipes that act as bookshelves, and leaning walls and surprisingly his quotation was not that expensive. It was a very difficult choice to choose between his creativity and R*x's. The reason we chose R*x over him was because we clicked better with R*x. Chemistry matters to us because afterall it is a long period of working relationship and we wanted to be sure we chose someone whom we could feel comfortable with, in terms of discussing and rejecting ideas. Ke*** was extremely professional and so serious such that the discussion felt a bit uptight and we were worried we may not be able to communicate our ideas to him during the process. However we would recommend him if you like loft and industrial designs, which seems to be his expertise. Lastly we met up with J**n from The 80s S***o. She was open and easy to talk to, and was also someone who takes her job seriously with 8 years experience in the industry. Honestly I like their designs very much. They have this knick knack ability to use simple ideas or materials that you don't usually associate with home decor, to demarcate an area or transform the space. However her quotation was the most expensive at around 55k-60k. Comparing the various quotes, their carpentry costs were like at least 10% higher than the other companies. Because we have alot of carpentry requirements, we were not willing to settle. However meeting up wtih J**n actually turned out to be a blessing in disguise even though we did not work together. She gave us a brilliant suggestion to enlarge the master bedroom, which we later explored with our chosen ID. We're thankful for her help unknowingly. Sorry for the lengthy intro/review. I am uploading the pictures... Edit: here's our floorplan so you can see the overall layout.

I just collected my BTO key in Pasir Ris , looking for a reliable and honest renovation company to do some painting , Kitchen cabinets and build in wardrobes . Any recommendations from anyone?

Hi All Expert, Could you kindly help me see through if this quotation is reasonable? I am very new in this and my flat is coming either late 2014 or early 2015. Demoltion & Hacking Works To provide labour and tools for the following hacking works: 800.00 To hack partial wall at Master Bedroom To dismantle door and frame at bedroom 2 Masonry Works To make good doorway between Master Bedroom and Walk-in Wardrobe. 400.00 To construct concrete hollow block wall at former door way at Walk-in Wardrobe. 450.00 To construct concrete shower kerb at Common and Master Bath. (Tiles to be purchased seperately) 600.00 To construct wall panelling with cement boards in cement screed finish ****. (TV wall only) 2,850.00 Carpentry Works (All cabinet interiors finished wfth white PVC finish, c/w BLUM soft closing hinges, unless otherwise stated.) Kitchen To design and construct top and bottom cabinets in laminate finish along Hob side. (L 2600mm) 2,380.00 To design and construct top and bottom cabinets in laminate finish along Sink side. (L 2100mm) 1,960.00 To design and construct full height cabinet with oven compartment in laminate finish. (L 600mm) 980.00 To design and construct top cabinet in laminate finish above fridge. (L 900mm) 460.00 To supply and install solid surface work top to bottom cabinet counters. (L 4700mm) 1,390.00 To supply and install coloured glass backing between top and bottom cabinets. (L 4700mm) 1,050.00 Walk-in Wardrobe To design and construct casement wardrobe in laminate finish. (L 5700mm) 5,320.00 To design and construct low heght cabinet with glass top and drawer with pigeon hole compartments in laminate finish. (L 1000mm) 750.00 To design and construct sliding door in laminate finish c/w mirror on one side. 1,200.00 Master Bedroom To design and construct bay window settee with storage in laminate finish. (L 2400mm) 1,230.00 Master Bath To design and construct vanity cabinet in laminate finish c/w solid surface top. (L 800mm) 690.00 To design and construct vanity cabinet in laminate finish c/w mirror on doors. (L 800mm) 590.00 Common Bath To design and construct vanity cabinet in laminate finish c/w solid surface top. (L 800mm) 690.00 To design and construct vanity cabinet in laminate finish c/w mirror on doors. (L 800mm) 590.00 Sllower Screens To supply and install fixed shower panel at Master Bath. 490.00 To supply and install corner unit sliding glass shower screen at Common Bath. 1,200.00 Door Works To supply and install semi-hollow doors in veneer finish to 2 Bedrooms. 760.00 To supply and install tempered glass swing doors at 2 Baths. 1,500.00 Option to install PO door at 2 Baths. ($900.00) Plumbing Works To supply and install stainless steel pipes for gas heater. 180.00 To install kitchen sink and tap with supply pipe and waste pipe connection. 180.00 To dismantle old basin and install new basin and mixer at 2 Baths. 240.00 Others To supply labour to paint whole unit's interior only, with ICI paint, Max 5 colors. (Minimum 2 coats) 1,100.00 To provide labour and material to lay protection board and plastic cover for renovation work. FOC To provide labour and material to do professional cleaning for whole unit after renovation, includes cabinet interiors, windows and doors. (2 trips) FOC Project management and site coordination services. FOC

Find id to renovation

Any electrician or have good contact of electrician kindly pm me. I am asking this for a friend, wanting to - dismantle 6 current downlight - Install 6 new downlights ( 3 of them hole must add fibre board for false ceiling ) - Add one new lighting point and install one hanging light. Kindly pm me for the quote, thanks!

Hi All, I'm new to this forum, as my new house is estimated to be ready on october 2014 and new to this i would like to get some advice with regards to engaging an ID / renovation contractors. 1) What should i look out for when engaging an ID/Renovation contractors? 2) When meeting up with ID for the first time, what should i talk about or asked the ID? 3) Budget of 25k to 30k is it enough to renovate a new 4room HDB flat? Would also appreciate any other advice you guys can offer me or share with what you did for the first time meeting up with an ID. Thanks

Its been a while since my last post. I have finally made my choice for my ID. I will be getting my keys next Monday and will post pictures regards to my reno Journey shortly.

wow... 49% off... of course BUY.. haha i bought my grohe shower system from heritage for 15% off only... and the tv... it is seriously good! the triluminious display i did not manage to buy that cos it was OOS already when i wanted to buy.. so i had to settle for the W800B instead

Hi Songz, while stocks last so hv to call them up to check. The week before they offer other colour, when I go down they left with pink n green colour. Then last week they offer another model with black n dark brown so I went down again n bought this dark brown set. It really worth it.You can try call 6747 5050 and check

Hi all! Waited for 3 years and we finally got our keys in 12th June 2013 at Punggol Crest. I have always love the French, shabby & country style/furniture, hence the topic title 'Frest' came about. Currently, reno is going halfway now, I'm gonna share the journey and our experience with finding IDs & contractors. I guess what everyone first did was to upload the floor plan. So here it is !

i think this color is still more special than white. and gives the natural look. =) hope it will turn out to what you like.

more study room / BR3 pictures day view - love the side cupboard tht we are using for books and files and the pastel shade study desk. you might be able to tell we love the 'crate' or 'plank' effect for furniture lightened to see the true colors night view with my lumio book lamp

I'm looking to renovate my kitchen and toilet (non-bedroom attached) which will involves tearing/removing everything (such as the old kitchen cabinets, kitchen table tops, toilet's floor title, etc), however I'm unsure what's the average acceptable price range I should be looking at for such renovation work. To be exact, I'm looking to replace my current kitchen furnishings with non-wood funishings (such as stainless steel). Can anyone kindly share with me the average acceptable price range for such renovation work?

I think its the same brand of flooring as me. The silver thing is a foam type material which it is place below the Vinyl to prevent unevenness if I remember correctly.

Hi, I have used this Designer Isaac (Livinz Synthesis), he is nice guy. Good workmanship, reasonable quotation, meet deadline, good customer service and with follow up. His name is Isaac H/P:90086496 he did quite a nice job for my home and he manage to work within my budget. Just give him a call to get a no obligation quotation from him see if he is able to work within your budget. You may visit their website and look for review. Hope this info helps.

Hi, can u pls pm ur Id contact? Appreciated

Did u wall Mount ur play bar?

Hi turnaround I am new to this forum....just got a 5 rooms resales ... Appreciate if you can PM me Quote 2 & 3 Thanks

Totally agree. Try to imagine and you're the lucky one who strike the TOTO. Should just list out the company name of the ID/Contractor here.

Thanks! Dimension is 160 x 230 cm

Hello Jason, pls pm me at angcm73@gmail.comNo ID required. Thksangcm

Time for some DIY! I really love hands on stuff =)))) We are going to do a photo collage wall. Bought our initials from Taobao. The alphabet came in original woody/maple color which i think it doesn't go so well on my dark wall @ walkway: Hence, we went to spotlight and grab a color tube (but don't know what kind of paint, acrylic paint?) This can be used for wood, plastic & metal: Final look =))) :

6th floor, Val: 435, 1 busstop away from MRT. Is 45 COV too much?