I think my reply is a little late but this is important and hopefully it'll help someone. One of the above mentioned designing firms are working on our house and it has been a nightmare. We had to make a police report on one of the staff they had fired and go to the Sub Court to file a complaint against this person.
Our contract with the co stated that they accept cash payments and this ex staff of theirs took $6K cash from us to purchase air con units, lights, hood, hob, sink and tap for our hse but he absconded with our money and did not pay for any of the items.
We selected the lights but the retailer refuse to deliver it coz it was not paid for. Initially the co didn't want to bear any responsibility but we had receipts from the cheat with the co's name on it so they relented and paid for the lights, sink and tap. We had people coming to our hse to dismantle the hood and hob and some leaving letters to say that the air cons were not paid for and they want to dismantle the air cons.
On top of all these, the reno for our house is still not completed and it has been 12 weeks and we have a baby coming anytime now. It is taking such a long time coz their work is really sloppy and our weekends are burnt doing the ID's job supervising the workers and making sure that they are doing their jobs properly.
The lesson learnt from this experience is to buy your own stuff, always write crossed cheques to co and if you can help it, decide on the design for your house yourself, flip through Home & Deco mags and engage your own contractors and I'm not talking about designing firms.
