xiaodingdang

3 marbled seat chairs for sale. $40/chair. Self collection. Bukit timah area.

Dear Honeygal very sorry to hear abt the nbr of defects u encountered after hdover. Usu we won't notice everything till we spend more time in our new hse. That's y we must, from the start, try to have a gd relationship with our contractor. Nobody is perfect, and sometimes it is due to not knowing 100% what we want that our contractor does something 'wrong'. Then must ask the contractor to rectify. That aside, i am still not forgiving my window grille contractor for being such an ar**hole. (will go and hunt him down in his office if i ever discover something wrong done by him!) Since hdover last wk, Patrick is still quite happy to pick up my phonecalls, though actual action taken is understandably slower (since $$ had been paid). My most immediate prob is i bought lousy lights that need ballasts, and they are all faulty. Sigh. Not Patrick's problem, but he sent his electrician over to take the damned ballasts and light tube down for me to bring back to the shop for new ones. And he is asking his guy to come and fix them back for me. I m quite upset cos my hubby is giving me **** for buying lousy lights, and i cannot see well in our bedrm as our bedside lights are quite dim. But i try to see the brighter (no pun here) side when ironing, i cannot see the creases well, so can iron the essential clothings quite fast! If i want to pick, well, HB didn't do well for the following: 1) sink is still slanted to the left. 2)one kitchen cupbd dr is stained and has markings on the inside. 3) kitchen not fully tiled. Makes cleaning the area abv the windows v diff. 4) grouts not well done, esp in one of the bdrm. Ur hob is too near the wall? Maybe the guy thought it is safer in case got kids come by and something is cooking. I m just glad my reno is over. I dread the next time we move hse and i have to oversee everything again. There are really too many things that can go wrong and will go wrong in reno. Close an eye.... if u can.

Patrick is certainly v patient and totally unlike any contractor i came across so far. I m beginning to look like a goldfish whenever he says ok to every request i made. Somehow i keep expecting even a little reluctance to go an extra mile, and extra mile and then somemore. Nope.... no such thing from Patrick. M now thinking of more evil thoughts... like choosing a darker shade for the front door after he had painted it the colour i chose. But Patrick aside, the plumber i got as his sub-con doesn't seem to be doing Patrick a service. Threw away a water heater part, and failed to connect the air-con drainage pipe with the sink pipe for drainage (even though the pipe was hanging there... waiting to be connected. Even stupid as stupid does me know something needed to be done there. And i HEARD Patrick telling him to do precisely that 4 days ago. Now my kitchen sink's pipes are sweeswee... WITHOUT the aircon pipe connected to it. )

Oh... Jolly Bear was v serious abt his work. No alignment problems in my hse, so I was v grateful. He made full use of his pen, and water ruler. He even offered to take a shower while his co-worker hold the toiletries rack (its a corner, semi-circular type) to make sure the position he counter proposed didn't interfere with our shower movements. !! I was most grateful he hung the dining mirror perfectly. Hubby didn't really want the mirror there. If sing-ak... my head will roll. Thank you Thank you!

It is more exp. Normal ones cost abt $180 (S & I) by contractor. Maxden is $450. Maxden will come down to install for u. But m not v happy with svc. For $450, I had already asked my contractor to resize to his req 35cmx35cm dimension while retiling the chute area. Desmond from Max expected my con to do the 45deg slope for him as well. Well, if he had mentioned it earlier i am sure my con wld have done it if i had requested for it. He didn't, so he had to do the drilling himself, while grumbling all the time abt lazy contractors... I didn't think it was my con's problem how the slope goes since i didn't let him do the chute. So i don't think he was 'lazy'. And for $450, i didn't like hearing all those grumblings. And he was almost an hour LATE. The nerve of that guy.

I use Maxden, but don't know if it is really smell-proof cos my flat is on the 12th flr, and havn't started living in it, so.... But i share the same sentiment... don't want to bend and search in the cabinet for the chute when throwing rubbish. But quite ugly leh. today my very humourous contractor suggested i use the extra Ikea utensil rack over the rubbish chute. "Can hang curtain to hide the rubbish chute!". Lame.

I think don't need to replace the door, just tighten the hinges etc. Most HDB flats now req fire-rated doors. Very the exp to replace. Since ur wall cracked, must be a fire rated door, right? Heavy what. My con 'altered' my door instead of replacing it. Now works as gd as new. PM me if u want my contractor's contact. Don't think he will chop u like carrot...

My score: 3 mirrors (2 toilets, 1 dining area) 1 glass shelf for toiletries 1 iron wrought wall shelf 2 Ikea flower wall light shades 4 wall clothes hanger pegs 3 curtain rods 2 kitchen wall racks for utensils/knickknacks 3 stainless steel shelves (Ikea) 2 brackets for bamboo sticks 3 towel racks 2 nails for clocks Is this a 'normal' number of FOC things to fix? Paiseh leh... think the fat jolly guy who did most of the work is now just jolly.... lost weight liao. Took almost 4hrs, 2+1 (boss turned up halfway to help out) workers. Even I was exhausted. And I only stood around and looked pretty. Tell me ur score!!

Just a note on engaging separate window/door guys to do for u rather than from ur contractor. U have to be careful on coordinating the work done by both parties as they do not have the interest to save trouble for the other party. My hopper guy and window/door guy complained that my contractor did not pave the way for them. i don't blame my contractor cos it may be real oversight on his part, and he is not paid to do the extra to make it easier for my sub-cons. But i believe if i had asked him to do extra (such as the slope for rubbish to drop smoothly, rather than the hopper guy doing it), he wld have done it with no complaints. A word of caution: there r many window grille companies waiting for carrots to chop out there. Be v careful! Btw, my con is Ho Bee.

Hi Honeygal for tiles overlay, most contractors will not recommend it for old flats, esp in the kitchen and wet areas. Not only may the old tiles give problem, the underlying waterproofing may be worn out and leaks may happen. When ur below neighbours complain.......ha.... jialat liao. 'Height and space' are not important factors in tiles overlaying. Oh, sometimes its better to go at it alone. My hubby lets me decide most of the time, but when he tries to be funny, boy, WW3 hovers. His latest inspiration is we shld have "nice wooden pattern" laminate for the kitchen cabinets. My god, its so dated. Everyone knows the cabinets are made of wood, don't need to scream it IS definitely made of wood by laminating the pattern on it as well, right? But to avoid being called a dictator, I offered to let him decide on what goes in the kitchen as long as he promises to take care of kitchen chores on wkends. BTW, wooden pattern goes with tiles. ie country style etc. Solid surface (which we are having) goes with more modern patterns. Agree?

wow, thanks! Feels a little better that I m actually getting some freebies from HB! M prepared to pay for the wall though i didn't ask for it. I am such a sucker, contractors can rob me blind. M choosing the more exp laminates for my LR and BR cabinets, and actually feel paiseh! Have to keep telling myself 'don't feel bad! U r paying good money for that!!!! ' yes, am enjoying the journey. Tried to document it but m really too busy. Brought camera but kept forgetting to take the 'Before' photos before everything was hacked away. So far, a pleasure dealing with Patrick and his petite Mrs Quek.

My new but very old 3rm flat (older than me in fact!) is currently und reno by Ho Bee as well. Sigh... at last count, the damage was $24K. HB is not cheap, but workmanship so far from what i can see is quite gd. Patrick is also v exp in what he does, and he sets a high std for himself in his work. As a haggled mother of 2 very active boys und 6yrs of age whose maid just ended contract, i m not in a state to really go over reno matters. Eg: there is an ugly slate of black-whatever just outside my kitchen entrance. As i m not redoing the living rm flr, it seems like the fugly thing has to remain. Twice, Patrick asked if i wld like it 'made gd'. How? not in the mind to think, so i kept saying let it be. Today he looked like that fugly thing gotta go. It bothers him that i can be so bochap. There are many things alr done but not listed in the sales order. So i m not sure if he is charging me or not. But i suspect its foc, or he wld at least warn me first cos i kept murmuring 'burst budget' while talking to him. He asked his worker to build this really solid pc of wall to replace a phoney rotting pc of wood panel disguised as a wall at the kitchen entrance. Cement+support beam now stands where a pathetic pc of wood used to stand. I actually told him just put a pc of plywood in place so that the kitchen entrance can be sealed when the aircon is on in the LR. He laughed and said it will be v ugly. Maybe i am weird. Really cannot be too bothered over such nitty gritty matters. Will update (if i remember) if the solid wall is FOC. My boys can do whatever they like with the wall now. It WILL NEVER collapse.

Thanks for the info. Seems like I have to pay GST for his services.

May I know how much u paid for MN sink? Sim Siang Choon quoted prices starting from $190 for double bowl sinks with SS buckets.

Is it a must to pay GST to the agent on top of the 1% commission? My agent and i agreed on 1% for buying but nvr talked abt GST. Not v happy with him, so hoping to not pay him GST.