Native02

Wah, you guys are fast at contacting me about this. I turned it off so that no one else will call them to do projects. If you want, I can turn it on again. But I am not the only admin of the site - Jason has access to it as well, FYI.

Haiz ... so many things revolving around this topic... Let me say a few objective words. As he wasn't talked about in renotalk before I knew him, I didn't know anything about him except that he was a contractor who rectifies some HBD jobs. Then, I didn't have any concept of registered or non-registered HDB contractor - me poor with no money, so everything on tight budget. Deciding on Ah Soon was really an adventurous decision. To make it more exciting, later I find out he's not a registered one. I'm now worried about kena HDB knock on door, but .. what for? I can't do anything to change that fact. Just hope everything he do is legal-ok so I no trouble. @To some forumers whom I told you Ah Soon was a HDB registered contractor, please accept my apology. I was really not aware of wat is 'HDB-registered'. I thought he do some HDB rectification jobs, so he should have been a registered one... :s Also, I thought got registered/no registered is not much difference, so I carry on recommending him cos frankly he is very value-for-money (we all know this) After so many PMs abt him "is HDB-licensed or not??" then I think, hmm.. maybe I shld not recommend him.. I'm not sure if Ah Soon is still a good option for cheap price, but no harm trying to get a quotation from him to compare, right? Especially when you're not particular about registered or not registered contractors. I think I got eye for good deals - that's why I think of 1 more option, which is to go to his brother Jason who is doing his own reno projects now. Similar quality and price without the air mileage. Jason tell me he works for his wife company (U and B renovation), and have a license (I think it's said on Jason's blog: ubreno.blogspot.com). No need to second-guess he do things legal or not legal. Already he completed a renovation project for my uni friend, she say not bad. Maybe I will start a new "Jason" thread and talk abt him there - not nice to post this in his brother's thread..

PM-ed you! @pinkpetter and aubrey: Well, I didn't have the problems that you mentioned, but I note this down. If I meet him again when he does renovation for my friends, I'll let him know. I wish him a good start. I'm really sad for him because his big brother isn't happy about him resigning to do his own business. Haizzz!!! Perhaps our old pilot uncle Ah Soon is still unhappy about losing the "right hand".

Well, as promised, I'm back to update you guys about Jason. Of course I wouldn't try to help him if he wasn't the one who did my renovation. So there're some pros about Jason compared to other contractors: 1/ If you've seen my place as well as Ah Soon's past projects and are happy with the workmanship, you'll have it with Jason. He used to be Ah Soon's right hand and the main worker who did all the co-ordination work for my project. He's very good at carpentry work too. 2/ Timeline and response: If you experience delay or had to play aeroplane with other contractors, it's probably much better with Jason. He's just splitted from Ah Soon and started his own business (probably on the small scale first), so he was just like Ah Soon 1 year back when Ah Soon was not popular yet. So your project is likely to be completed on time. 3/ If you like Ah Soon's price because it's lower compared to other contractors, you can also enjoy good deals with Jason too. If you dare to take some risks (because you think Jason is not popular in the forum yet?), you're like me 1 year ago when I chose Ah Soon. 4/ Jason has HDB license for doing renovation. Read my new blog entry about Jason here for more details, yah! You can PM me for Jason's contact.

Hee ... mine is $400. At night: Day time: PM me for the shop address, or you can read my blog for more details.

The fact is that Jason was the main guy who did everything for my renovation: from big things like co-ordination with the workers and giving advice, to small things like patching up here and there. He was also the first one I met before I met Ah Soon (if you read my very first blog entry in blogspot) and I always feel very comfortable with him. My wife's father commented that Jason was a very skilled and experienced worker, hard-working and reponsible. Everytime her father pointed out something to be changed, he always listened and taught the workers how to do. Probably he needs to learn more about PM skills, so splitting from Ah Soon to manage his own project is a good move for his future. I don't have another house to give Jason a try, but I'll do if I have. I like Ah Soon's price also, so I'm still keeping an eye on him, just in case my relatives + friends want to consider him for their renovation. But given the fact the I got so many bad comments about his flying aeroplane skill, I think I'll put Ah Soon in the waiting list. I'm happy to bring a lot of business to Ah Soon. From being a contractor that no one heard of, he's now the hottest contractor in the forum . From that reno experience, I find Jason not bad and always maintain good contact with him, so I just want to help him a bit. If he can prove he's capable, I'm happy to see he becomes one the of hottest contractors in the future I highly recommended my friends to try Jason because they're in very tight budget like me last time, so one of them will start their reno soon. I'll keep you updated.

I have been inactive for quite a while as we are preparing for our wedding. Recently I've received many bad comments about Ah Soon that it's very hard not to believe. http://www.renotalk.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=21215 So I hesitate to give out Ah Soon's number whenever I got PMed. I blogged more about our Ah Soon here: Ah Soon overrated? Also, Jason has split from Ah Soon and is doing his own renovation projects...(he'll be doing reno for one of my friends) Will be meeting up with Jason soon over coffee to "negotiate" for them, will blog about it later.

Probably you asked for a lot of things rite?

I got it from www.sanseionline.com/. Went around a lot to check out the price, and finally got an affordable one hehehe... contractor's price: $260 (see my signature). 1.4m long. My contractor Ah Soon did all the installation, so not sure how much he charges for the bathtub itself, but I think it's very cheap. You can ask your contractor if it's possible to install one.

Wah, you all so fast~~~! I just added 2 more columns - initial quotation and final quotation. Everyone must have a good bargain with him, and this will be useful to newbies to know Ah Soon's "bargaining limits" XD ~~! Just hope Ah Soon dun find out about this spreadsheet, or he will know we pa kah on him. :|

If i have disappointed you for disappearing for a very long time, please accept my apology. We've been so busy preparing for our wedding (looking for the right hotel, photographer, air ticket, honeymoon trip, ...). But ... YAY ~!!! Most of the things are going to be finalized soon, so I have a bit time for blogging. Visit the below link (my blog) for the updatesssssss New UPDATE IMPORTANT: Whosever block is 213 Yishun that used my name (hehehe ) for getting good deal from Ah Soon, please call him back. Reason: Ah Soon lost your quotation!!! @Ivy: so far I have no prob. @Prolin_g: check your email ya!

Hi Leew, you got PM.

I'm looking for an affordable MUA on the actual day (night only). Any kind souls have any recommendation? My budget is around $400 +/-. Is it possible to get a good MUA? Appreciate your help. Please drop me a PM if it's not convenience to reply here. Thanks a lot.

OMG!!! How's the situation now? Don't faint now ... Must get him re-do it

Hi Charemme, We came up with our own design, but our contractor gave more input and suggestions along the way. We showed him some pictures from renovation magazines hehehe ... Also asked him what should be done here and there ... Seriously, if you have tight budget, go for contractor. If you want a very very special and unique house, you may go for ID. But do take note that lots of contractors claim to be IDs but they're just like contractors.

Hi fellow renovaters, How's your renovations going on? I hope it's fine

News ... news ... news ... Open House on 20/12 (Sat) + 21/12 (Sun) Let us know if you wanna come for a visit

It's about the glass panel at the TV console. At the same time, i'll ask his bro to help me drill the wall for my IKEA mirror too (I'm scared of cracking the whole wall) hehehe ...

Wow that's fast!!! He still owes us 1 last item

@Richman: I emailed you the list. It has a lot of remarks on those highly preferred flats because I did research on each of the potential flats. Also, it's not the completed list because we only compiled the list near the date we went down to choose a flat. So I only have the list of available flats at that point of time. Good luck and be our neighbor ya? @Redang: not sure, cuz we haven't moved in yet. Moving slowly bit by bit. I'll announce the date once we're ready hehe. Btw, your house is soooooooooooooooooooooooo nicely renovated , make me jealous

Key collection day!!! Congratulationsssss

I think mine is glossy white (all my carpentry work is in this color), but actually i'm not so sure if it's glossy white ( i just see that it's white and shiny ehehe). I just chose it from the laminate books and give him the code, then he went to order it from the factory. So if you want something, you must show it to him and give him the right code. Yah, he said he's under a lot of stress and pressure now because of too many projects at the same time. After some time, you'll know his schedule more. He's usually not in Singapore on Sat/Sun, and that's the only time he's not reachable. I like him for his kind and honest character. But I was angry about my wardrobe because he tried a new carpenter on me (There'll be some blog entries about his workers' mistakes ). He accepted his mistake, re-did my wardrobe and fired that carpenter already. So rest assure that he won't try to cheat you, but you have to check your renovation regularly because not all of his workers are skilled.

Hi Richman, Cally was right about the price. And from what I know, there're no similar available units left around this area, unless you want to ballot for the Built-to-order exercise. I saw your PM asking about contractor's contact, but sadly my dear Ah Soon (aka contractor) emphasized that he wouldn't take up more projects until Chinese New Year is over. He has in hands a lot of projects (most of them are from my recommendation) and he wouldn't want to commit to something that he can't deliver on time. It's because it costs him more manpower if a project is delayed. He still owes me a few small things. Hmmph! So if your house reno can wait until CNY or so, I'll recommend you to him, else I think you have to look for another contractor. @To other forumers: please don't get mad if I don't reply your PMs for the above reasons. My contractor said he's too busy to receive so many calls that ask for quotation but he can't receive more project until CNY. Let me know if your renovation can wait for another 2 months, else ...

Can't remember the number of attempts, but half a year back, I got Q.00017 for a Build-to-order flat at Punggol MRT. But we rejected because it's really far from everywhere else. Then now finally we get 1 at Queenstown MRT . This is our first attempt, but the result came out very late (in April '08). Q number was also not good, so we end up choosing 2nd floor

Some more updates at the moment @richman: we went through HDB balloting exercise. These are left over units from the exercise 2 years ago.