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Christopher

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Posts posted by Christopher

  2. Posted

    Different firm has different payment schedule, most of them go by progressive payment. whichever it is, never give cash outside their office or showroom and never issue cash cheque. Ask for official receipt after making payment, thumb of rule is to get proof that you did make payment so that you won't be label as the one not paying.

    If you deal direct with sub-contractor than it's a different ball game all together. :yamseng:

  3. Posted

    Hi bobby,

    Welcome to RT, i guess you can ask for a draft schedule on the works involved. the contractor or id should be able to provide at least from when to when what are to be done. from there maybe you can drop by once a week or twice if you are really free to see the progress yourself. otherwise you can request for update once every two to three days since your id or contractor may not be doing your job alone.

    Hehee, unless you are really lucky like me to have an id that is present at my place almost everyday when i was doing my renovation years ago.

    Thanks, Mike!

  4. Posted

    Hi rumrum.

    Sad to hear that, in any case the waterproofing is very important. If not done properly than there will be leakage problem which will be very much a hassle later. I think you have to stress to your contractor on the important of moving in and also did you ask or rather inform him/her that you need to move in by a certain date?

    Anyway, if really cannot delay handover of your old place maybe you have to consider moving in a little early like maybe kitchen cabinet is not install yet but at least have water to bath and a place to sleep? Can alway eat out, guess you can discuss with your contractor on the schedule or to at least have a proper room to sleep and a toilet that is fully functional? there's always a way to solve your current situation

    hihi, tks for your advise. I did tried to talk to my buyer for extension but they refused. So I can only rush my contractor to finish this month. Finally I see more works done. Waterproofing for 2 toilets, plastering for all wall tiles in kitchen and 2 toilets. The wall tiles are up for master bedroom toilet and kitchen. At such progress, I do not know if my contractor can finish everything by next week??? My contractor really cannot stand my husband nagging almost everyday.

  5. Posted

    Hi Christopher,thanks for your explaination,i understand what you trying to say,i guess at the end of the day it just the chemistry between us and the i.d as this project is going to take a few months a least,from drawing to project handover.Actually me and my hubby dun mind to pay a little bit higher if the design,workmanship and materials is better.Thanks once again. :-)

    Indeed!! chemistry is very important & like i tell lots of my friend too to see if you have it or not with the id. If can't click than it's really hard to get him/her to do up your ideal house. Budget to each individual it is rather subjective. In any case, good luck in your renovation. It's a tiring affair and lots of paitent is required to get the ideal house done up. hehe, you are not buying an apple so got to do lots of research before commiting & hope you can finalise soon so that you can move on to the next step :good: Look forward to see your t-blog.

  6. Posted

    Hi vinsyeo,

    See my posting which i replied to you. Sorry for late reply as i've been travelling. Nevertheless, it's up to you as like i mention the feeling is very important. Maybe you can pm me the name of the id? I have lots of friend in the circle and maybe i can get some info for you.

    I spoke to one of their ID recently at Expo and seems like a reliable company.

    The only downsize is their Condo Package doesn't include ceiling L-Box, false ceiling or cove light whereby if you take other ID company, thier Condo Package does include the ceiling carpentery work.

    Nonetheless, it would probably be one of my shortlisted one when I get my key.

  7. Posted

    Hi vlemontea,

    Sorry for the late reply, apparently i was travelling. Yes and no for your answer, as in expo they might give you good package price and this applies the same to all companies, i've never trusted package as end of the day they will find ways and means to upsell other things that will bring the contract sum higher. No doubt they might give special price in expo but think again they need to spend how much to join the show and these cost are ultimately from us the consumer.

    If you ask me, i will prefer to ala carte and ask for discount at the end of the day before i drop my signature on the dotted line. Just my 2 cents worth, however what i said might not be music to some so it's your own feel and chemistry with the person that talk to you. If you feel good and budget is within what you expect than go for it!! Good luck in your id hunt.

    Hi Christopher,so it mean that firms that participate in expo show we need to pay a higher price for their design?I heard from my

    colleague that expo package is very attractive in term of price and item quote?Is it true?May need your advise?

    Regards

  9. Posted

    lejosef,

    I dont know how you got into this trouble.. hahahaa, anyway like you i too feel that cheap things dont come good. I went there and was impressed with the size and i start thinking if it's not impressive than maybe it's not trustworthy. Anyway, I rather go back to my id for my extension works since it's not a lot, it's too good to be true when others are in market price range and this is far off.. lol :yamseng:

    think bb has split personality very tiring. :dancingqueen:

    it's all written up there. the threads were here few weeks ago.

    do u search a company before u pay so much money? if anyone kaypoh enough like me, just search lamidoor simon or blve blue on this forum. or go to google search. so easy and i cannot plant everything on internet right? i'm not the only one who suspect GENSNONO and not the only one accused of being james. everyone post negative comments is james or his fren? or maybe one of the investors who lost thousands? :dribble: it makes me angry to see dishonest ppl. if u can find any good reviews feel free to share here. :P

    here is another renoblog that mentioned blve and blue. he got quotes from many IDs and also thought blve and blue is cheap. same job, end up quotes from 30k to 97k. guess who gave the 97k quote? go get few more quotes compare and do your homework take down the market rates per item ppl share in this forum.

    http://www.renotalk.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=39266

    i'm not going to post much here. blve and blue has my floor plan and know my personal details. not happy i say bad things come spray paint how? they talk like ah long. :jawdrop: no need to believe me, read for yourself i have nothing to lose. i never choose them, no loss and can't say their work no good. the reviews and unprofessional management responds scare me off already. they also have so many management issues (not i say one read the drama they post).

    thank god i found a good id and just starting my renovation :yamseng:

  11. Posted

    If your plc is a HDB, than best to get one with HDB licensed renovator. Without that, HDB will not be able to assist you if :

    1) Waterproofing not done properly and leaking / Any job that affect the flat - Unlicensed Renovator cannot be held responsible since they are not approved by HDB and they can also get away, since HDB won't go after them.

    Just an advice, If normal standard price for many firm is about there and versus what is given is so far apart, don't you smell something not right? Take your time and read more.

    I don't know this company till I read comments by several posts for and against this company. Also saw posts by the company against the same few forum people said to be one ex employee posting regularly against them in every place where hey appeared in this forum. Quite strange. So I visited them yesterday in their showroom. The company has a large showroom and seems ok. I saw 1 client leaving after signing with a guy called Simon who is the md and he later served us. He show us the ocntract worth 40+k which we looked through as he photocopied my floor plan. There were also 2 couples selecting materials in the place with other sales. So I am not sure if the posts about the conning people as Simon looks straight forward not those contractor rough contractor or ah beng type. He show us around and explained in details what kind of materials they used. Impressed with their kitchen accessory. At $100 to 150 not too expensive. But i got limited budeget and my kiychen so small to fit them all. But the under sink tray looks good at 150. Can keep my wet sponge, vim bottle, scupes in tray. Definitely will consider thst. He said if we do whole house includiing flooring, the sink, taps, sanitary ware, basin are likely to be packaged free or low cost into the contract. We will see but seem true as I saw couple selecting sinks taps and they are bargaining to include which one. I saw the post dated in agust last year about they conning people highlighted by the same guy in this thread, they would have Being closed by now or changed their name Blve blue, very hard to pronounced isnt it? They said they got factory producing doors and carpentry in sungei kadut called lamidoor www.lamidoor.com which is a plus I think. The doors in their showroom are nice but more expenisive than nato wood door in my current house. My house comes with dors so no need. They have own laminat, hardware and tap company all owned by him. He offered to show us some of the running sites. laminate inside wardrobe is quite nice and price good compared to another I'd who quote me PVC. Let's see te actual quote. On hdb licence i also ask they said they already applied and shown me te application. But the other 4 id i visited or got quote, only 1 listed as he is a contractor , no design, and the other 3 slso not listed. Is the hdb licence a must as I don't know? I guess do more research. I short list Blve blue and 3 D innovative so far. I will get more quotes to compared.

  12. Posted

    Yes, I agree. Show pics for good. Anyway, I spoke to my friends whom are carpenters and designer and suppliers who are in renovation circle. If they sell so cheap than all IDs will go buy from them, my carpenter friends says 1 cents worth of goods is worth 1 cents. Go figure out..

    The dark side of forum is when the framing start, it'll never stop until the moderator remove all the post. In the end, u dunno whether is it a backstabbing or the real case of a conman company.

    If really Blveblue is good, u must tell us and show us some nice photos.

    If they are conman, also tell us how they con u of ur money. Cheers :)

  13. Posted

    You are wrong bro. Everything inside and outside the cabinet are in laminate - the back panel, cabinet sides, shelvings top and bottom, doors front n back, of course with abs edgings.

    Yes, the Internal is definitely HPL laminate! Wood grain and you can choose any laminate in wood grain color or their patterns. Normal laminates that you find in those laminate books samples.

    The guy assure me it is laminate and ask us to use a coin or key to press against the laminate to see if it can be dented. It does not. He said PVC plywood dents.

    Brand I think is donotti and very nice.

    Reno done by Lamidoor www.lamidoor.com Call 90054593 Simon

    Call him lay if don't believe and I know they are very busy. They also stock and sell sanitary ware, sinks, taps, bathroom accessories under another company call Best Price Taps.. Showroom in Arumugam rd.

    This is found on their website ----

    "We mainly use 18 mm thickness + 0.8 mm laminate front and about 0.8/0.7 mm laminate back solid wooden door panel.  All our carpenty comes with high quality soft closing hinges and slides (side or under-mounted) without any extra charges.  Our vanity and sink carcass comes with stainless steel soft closing hinges to combat humidity and moisture in the area.

    We are one of the very few carpentry firms in Singapore with a hot press for lamination, thus ensuring superior high quality of our doors and laminate gluing.

     

    For internal laminate cabinets, we are currently the most competitive company. Internal laminates cabinet especially for kitchen are hightly favoured for long lasting kitchen surfaces inside the cabinets in kitchens, wardrobes, shoe cabinets and other carcass storage units."

    I must say if this company is selling so cheap than their business must be booming & of course no time to answer phone call!! How about the price for kitchen cabinet than? I tried calling 4 times since morning till now but no answer so how can i find out more?

  16. Posted

    I would like to recommend a brand called allure, it is a water PROOF flooring. Similar to laminated just that instead of wood it is vinyl, i think, Not sure about the actual name. It is rubber by nature. I am using it for my whole house including my kitchen and of course except the toilets.. heheh

    Vinyl tiles might be good in terms of water, however it requires very even & level floor in order to lay it. When removing it in future to change other type of flooring will be pose a problem as the residue is tedious to remove. They are not very thick as compare to tiles or laminated floor. Applying vinyl floor has a headache in getting skirting to cover the side and this is when provider come in with pricing which is not justified. Just my two cents worth, nevertheless it's still each individual liking and i see houses with vinyl tiles done up real nice.

  17. Posted · Edited by Christopher

    I have only the following word for laminate floor = All the same but some differ.

    IMPORTANT : Country of origin = quality of product = THE HUGE DIFFERENCE!!!

    Maybe a few question to ponder on when shopping for laminate floors

    The establishment of the companies providing the products will boils down to how secure you are when purchasing from various brand.

    Examples like when the company start operation? How Reliable and active in market? Office premises rented or purchase? The number of employees? After sales service? Any achievement of the company example like organization association or awards by certified bodies? All above will give you a sign that are you getting from a serious company or just another company.

    I've raise this few factors to ponder over is because i seen many laminate flooring provider close down since it came into our shore. I've also seen distributor dropping reputable brands like pergo overnight and go for another brand as there is little margin or whatsoever reason. If you buy a product not knowing you will get support when in trouble or requires support than it's like buy and talk later when face problem. Lastly the product you choose must be to your liking as there's no point getting something for the sake of getting it. Overall if maintain properly laminate floor can last for good 10 over years.

    My previous flat's laminate was installed in 1998 and when i sold my flat in 2009 condition is still pristine only thing is color outdated hahaaha. I will not put any name here as i do not want to create an impression that i'm promoting any brand but my previous contractor did recommend me a reliable product and share a lot of information on laminate floor. Just my two cents worth. :P

  18. Posted · Edited by Christopher

    my bro did boxup of the planter area...costs nearly 1k. the chengal wood will stain your tiles...but other than that its ok.

    Natural wood will gives this problem. Especially serious if you stain darker color on your decking. IT will leave a trace on the planter or balcony. Sometimes even the exterior wall of the planter area will be affected if the plank are higher than planter box. If using WPC than no such problem. :) It's common for natural to produce "juice" over certain period of time..

  19. Posted

    Hi Christopher,

    In this case, which iron wood will you actually recommend for a planter size? Is the price range same as WPC?

    Typically ironwood pricing is about $26psf. If you can get $24 is REALLY very good price, I have heard about this price but so far never encounter nor came across anyone near me installing with that type of pricing. It's difficult to judge as there's so many species however inferior species are easy to tell based on the color. It will be like chengal wood if you got the inferior ones. Price will be higher than WPC for sure but if you are ok with fake looks than WPC is fine. Personally, i can't accept the WPC grain as it is so fake.

  20. Posted

    In that case, i really do wonder whether the 1.5K chengal wood is real stuff or not... cos the ID kept emphasizing that the chengai wood needs 60 yrs of grown then can cut down...

    Btw, Christopher... it would be good if u can share with us on your knowledge of outdoor timber... i am still figuring out which is better... chengai or wpc.. and lately i even heard of a new wood called marabu.. there are so many kinds but which is the better ones in terms of the durability under the sun and rain... and also the maintenance level. I read some forum that chengai wood need funishing every few years to restore their "glory"... there are so many grey area and i really don't know which is which. And even so, so i engage other coy who are well specialized in outdoor timber OR i should just let the ID handle everything.... price and quality is really a concern to me....

    Hope to hear from you soon.

    Thanks

    If I'm to choose and looking at having something reliable that will be iron wood, however iron wood is a term not a wood species and there's tons of species classified as iron wood. durable and hard and there's lots of different grade as well. WPC is man made wood with plastic, the surface will have scratches which you wont be sanding it off. palm wood on the other hand is not recommended as there's a lot of splinter but cost to install is relatively low. Typically ID firm engage or outsource this portion to supplier or main con to do the job, of course there is some minor mark-up involve. However, there's a lot of supplier as an end-user you wont know who is good or bad. Unless you have seen the work somewhere, example from your friend house etc which is done by direct supplier otherwise do not take risk.

  22. Posted

    i heard that those man-made pvc materials are prone to scratches.

    Yes for chengai i understand that if <100 sqft will be a lump sum charge.

    There is no old chengal in the market now, however there are many fake chengal which is not even really suitable to be used as outdoor decking. $400 - $600 is really low. Now havent we heard of good thing doesnt come cheap. Real chengal is different, i can bet not all sales person will know. (Real wood expert will know). i can guarantee you it's not available even you have the money nobody will sell you.

    Due to high demand of so many condos and dbss with planter therefore resulting in people going for quick buck. Wood will shrunk and warp in no time if install inferior quality. I've develop great interest in outdoor timber and did substantial studies if any of you are keen to know more i'm more than willing to share.

  23. Posted

    No 1 rule for applying wallpaper, always do a coat of sealer first

    Paint is better for older apartments, and wallpaper is nice for newer apartments.

    If your apartment is old, the walls might have moisture which causes the wallpaper to stain. It will look very ugly. And this is even with me using a good brand like Goodrich.

  24. Posted

    Hello all

    I just got my resale flat at bt batok 3A unit.

    I would like to paint my ceiling, toilet, rooms kitchen and living room. Looking for painters to quote me but they ask questions that i also dunno how to answer..

    Hope to seek advices here...

    1. What kinda paint is good for ceiling and walls?

    2. Which brands to use?

    3. Normally, how many coats is enough?

    4. What are some "hidden" costs?

    TIA~

    Hi,

    Most importantly get the person to view your place and get the quote after that. Do highlight what are the areas like door and pvc piping etc. Usually the paint that you can choose will be either nippon or ici. However the price will be more steep. There are also some which do computerized mixing of paint to either nippon or ici color this will be more cost effective as compared to actual one. Also look at the types of colors that you can have for the whole house, like maximum 4 or 6 colors. Also the doors etc are additional charges to some. Standard are 2 coat of paints, some include undercoat. For ceiling commonly a lot of people use white matex emulsion paint. Hope this information helps a little as it was impart to me by my contractor when i did my reno :)

  25. Posted

    i think the main obstacle to raise the whole floor equally is not that of christoper's budget, but because he is already living in the house. if he is not already living in the house he would probably hack out the old tiles.

    if you are not already living in your house, and you do not wish to hack out your old tiles, your suggestion would work nicely. (you would need to make modifications to your doors though.)

    BINGO!! It's so troublesome to do flooring when you are already stay-in. Even doing laminate is also dusty and dirty, the after-match clean like mad!! :bangwall: regret not doing it during my reno as i wanted to move in fast simply because i sold my place before buying.

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