GnM

hmm... this will largely depend on the budget you have then we can recommend according to your budget. I have seen and tested mattresses that cost 5-figures to those that costs only a few hundred. Which kind do you prefer? Spring coil? Foam? Latex? Coconut Husk? Do you like the firm bed? Or a plush one? Give us a little more info, then mabbe GnM can recommend you one from his research !! Btw... check out http://www.renotalk.com/forum/index.php?sh...c=10449&hl= I bought all my mattress from this fella cos his service is really really good!

that bad ah? if taking to them no use, then take picture and call up the authorities. If worse come to worse, install a smoke alarm that triggers the authorities to come when smoke is detected. and when the fire engines come cos the alarms went off and they find that the cause is your neighbor, they will definitely do something about it see your neighbor scared or not!

I agree... talking to them help? if talking to the one who does it does not help, then talking to other members of the home may help

When people say china granite, they usually refer to the lighter colors of granite. So if you are going for light colors, it is usually china granite. Dark colors are usually from India. When they say China Black galaxy, the stone is from India... process in China. The difference between the Indian Black galaxy and the China Black Galaxy is the density of the sparkles in the granite. Even if you are just looking at Black granite... you can see the density of the Indian Granite and the China granite is different. Ask for samples to see and you can tell the difference when put side by side. As for quality process quality, with the china market opening up for more manufacturer to house their factories there, the quality control has improved somewhat. To ensure that you are getting the good stuff, get the sample home, soak them in a barrage of liquids that can stain (eg, orange juice, vinegar, sugar water, curry, soy sauce...etc) and see how the sample stand up to the abuse. If it is good, then that stone is the one for you. I have a little article on my blog about that which you can look up

aiyah... living in a flat is all about consideration and tolerance. If it doesn't happen thru out the year, just bite the bullet and "ren" for a while loh. I also cannot tahan the smoke from all the burning papers, but it is a religious ritual by the chinese for that one month, let it go. Close the windows for a while, when the wind clears the air a little, then open back lah. That is what air-cons are for... no? If we are easily riled and irked by these things, where is the harmony going to be when living in high rise apartments?

aiyoh... your floor to ceiling is 2.6 meter = 8 feet 8 inches liow my floor after laying the tiles is only 8 feet 4 inches... and I have a celing fan in every room (cept for the toilets, store and kitchen). You got additional 4 inches leh... No worries as long as the fan is installed on the ceiling itself and not on some lowered false ceiling. I can only touch the blade when I tip toe and only the tips of my fingers can touch the blade. If you dun throw your baby in the air when playing with him/her, there is no issue! The only thing you need to be mindful when you install the ceiling fan in the bed room is the height of your bed. If the bed is really high, then you have to be mindful if you have a kid who likes to jump on the bed.

if he offered you 8k then you would have to ask him what kind of material he is giving to you. There are lots of material in the market that can be used to make a piece of furniture. The problem is, different material will affect the durability of the furniture it is made into. For example, one of the cost cutting ways is to use a cheaper grade of ply wood in stead of the solid ply wood to do your cabinets. Chip board for doors instead of solid ply. Cheaper brands, thinner versions of laminates to cover the cabinets.... etc etc... the list is long. So it is not impossible to do the same project for a lower cost. Just ensure that the material used are the better ones and that it is all listed in the contract/quotation given to you for signing.

During my search for my plumbing needs when I was doing up my home, I heard that one of the way to fix a low pressure problem (if you really really really like your rain shower) is to get a storage heater. The combined flow from the storage heater and the cold water flow from the tap (for mixing) will be double that of the one directly from the tap source... thus making the pressure better for using rain showers. You can give it a try. The rain shower I have at home is a hand held one... and the water pressure at my unit is pretty decent... so I dunno if the above will really fix the problem or not.

it is not a matter of working out to endure the painting work itself it is the time required to pour into getting the painting project done Can you imagine... you work all week, then come weekend you gotta slave over a brush and a can of paint to do up the whole house! phew! get a team of painters, they do the job for you during the week, clean up the mess that comes from the drips and splatter for you and all you need to do during the weekend is to go inspect and find faults to rectify. Eng kar cheng! and the money you spent is really small as compared to the amount of time, sweat and effort you take to paint it the first time. Some more got to consider the uneven walls, the pock marks and scratches you have to patch first. If the plaster is not of the right mixture, the plastered area will crack when the plaster dries... can you imagine that happening to you when you are the one doing the painting? for the first time, I always recommend getting the professionals to do it... with most of the defects fixed, subsequent painting DIY would be so much easier!

I cannot remember the name of the blue... need to go home and check heh heh... this is by far my most favorite color in the whole house! but I must admit, my wife has a better color sense when blending the colors for each room. And Colors DO matter when it comes to each individual room! I am now so proud of my home. It is always so nice to see it everyday when I knock off from work! heh heh the savings from DIY is really negligible if you compare to the whole renovation package cost. get a professional to do it the first time round... it will last for a good few years.. then you want to save when you repaint, that is another story altogether then. you will not regret it if you get the professional. The finish is so nice... and you can blame them for the shoddy work and get them to redo if the work is not satisfactory. DIY, if it is shoddy, most of the time you will just shrug it off and let it be, cos the rectification could mean a whole new can of paint, which is added cost!

the cost of tiles will largely depend on what range you choose. For kitchen, the usual sizes are about 300x300. And for a pretty reasonable good range of tiles, the price psf is about $2.50 - $3.20. Usually the labor cost vs material cost is about 1:1.5 you can check out the article Floors... how to decide? for a better write up.

the above are all very good pointers. what is important is you and your spouse must share the same idea of what you want before going to the ID to share your idea of what you want for them to do the design. I started a blog just for this... heh heh try going thru my blog... lots of interesting articles to get you started.

hmm... even with the payments already made, take pictures and send it to STOMP or something to let the rest know who lousy their service is. I understand the frustrations that come with paying lots of money for unsatisfactory work that you have to live with for a long time to come.

Hi Lakmy, Glad to be able to help. As mentioned in my blog, it is the original intend to share my experience with others so that they have a good starting point rather than muck around in the dark wondering what to do Just came back from my wedding break, so a little late in the reply. Hope I am not too late. Just to add to what Devilaz has commented, I have inserted mine in blue Hi All! Have been reading as much as I can in Renotalk since we decided to look for our own place... so have a year's worth of knowldege- gathering. Kudos to GnM (Golden nuggets ) deal.gif , OdieLim (Glad to find a home as colorful as mine will be!) paint.gif , The Utilitarian Reno (whose kitchen inspired me...) good.gif and loads of others. I will try to start my blog to run along with my Reno ...or else will note it all down and put it down with pics at the end of the Reno. For the present what do the experienced and the experts think of this quote? (I have been told the workmanship is quite good and they back this up with a warranty for 8 years!) Shud I go by my gut feel and go for this or shud i chk out some more quotations?? I have 2 extensive Quotations and this is the 3th which has reached the revised stage. Plus talked to most ID companies in Expo and got a rough quote...,most of them were almost double my budget And have preliminary quotes from 3 Id's online. Is that enuff of scouting around? I am yet to receive quotes from any contractor. Are most of them too busy? Patrick from Ho Bee who is popular on the forum cant spare me an appointment for the next 2 weeks Quotes is never enough. Just that what is the main purpose and what do you want to do for your renovation? Compare on the quotes may seems to be ok. But still the amount of money you paid will be the grade of material you are getting. As long as you think you and your wife are comfortable with the ID/contractor you are considering, then it is enuff. If there is even a slight doubt that he will not be able to deliver, or if you have any feeling of discomfort about the quotation this fella gave you to do your reno, then look some more. Lots of reno contractors and ID in the market to choose from. Try not to rush into signing the contract. Take into consideration your wife's feelings as well. Cos she is as much into the renovation as you are It happened to us, where I was all ready to go ahead with the signing of the contract, and my wife has concerns about the ID, I dropped the ID with no second thoughts and never looked back. What do you think of this quote as opposed to a quote from a contractor? It really depends on luck. There are good and bad contractor in the industries same goes to ID too. But in the recent years contractor's negative area seems to be more. There are quite a lump sum of our poor forum mates whom caught into this. sad.gif With the Keen competition in the reno business these days, they offer almost the same things already. Contractors are also offering space planning, designing and consultation as well. Will there be a lot of savings if I use a contractor? Not true... The more you save, the grade of material and workmanship will drop too. As mentioned above, the cost savings is really negligible for most, unless of course, you choose some award winning designer to design the reno for your home, then that is another story (eg: Spacious) Then again, if the price of the reno is too cheap, the alarm bells must be ringing as well! Think about it. If most of the quotes you get are around, say $20k, suddenly some one is offering you at $10k, would you dare to put your money with them? Depending on the brands of materials you use, type of material and intricacies of the furniture designs, the cost for the same item (eg a wardrobe) would vary. Also, expect to have additional cost of about 10% of what you get on the quotations, cos you will never know what you may have missed during the quotation phase. We did additional works due to the uneven ceilings and walls which require plastering to achieve the look I require for my designs. The last minute change in some designs to fit the beams and fixtures which we overlooked during the quotations was also added during the renovation itself. So be prepared to pay at least 10% more for these unforeseen works that arises during the work progress. Rgds, Lakmy WORK DESCRIPTION AMOUNT Masonry Works To hack away concrete base for the cabinets $150.00 To supply and overlay non-slip homogeneous floor tiles for the kitchen and store $1,300.00 To supply and overlay non-slip homogeneous floor tiles for the 02 baths $800.00 To supply and overlay non-slip homogeneous floor tiles for yard $500 To supply and construct concrete base for the cabinets and fridge $350.00 To supply and construct sunken shower kerb for the 02 baths $200.00 For tiles, what are the range of tiles you are getting? no dimension is being stated either. On point 4, contruct washer and fridge base, please get what model you want an let your ID/contractor know. So they wont anyhow build it then you will have only a limited model to choose from. as mentioned, there is no dimension stated, so it is hard to compare. How many rooms is your flat? looking at the works done, there is a yard, I am assuming it is a 5 room or a EA. Go thru my site, I have some calculation yard stick for you to use to see if you are being quoted a fair price. Should be on the topics on flooring. Also, make a trip down to the supplier of your tiles on your own to see what is the cost price of the tile. Usually if you buy thru your ID, your ID would quote you slightly higher as they want a cut in the price of the tiles as well. The trick to save is to get the supplier yourself, then get the ID to buy from the supplier at the price you got quoted from the supplier. It all boils down to your bargaining skills liow. as for your sunken shower kerb... you got to get your ID to check if it is approved, especially if you are thinking of doing an overlay. I wanted to do one for my toilet, but it was not approved by HDB... so I had to scrap the idea. Plumbling Works To supply labour to install 02 WC closets,02 wash basins,02 instant heater,02 handspray, kitchen sinks and toilet accessories $500.00 Usually, for this, other than relaying of piping, we would try to negotiate for free labour to install the basins and accessories. This would save you about $200-300. See if you can get it reduced. Carpentry Works 1 To design,fabricate and install a L37ft of top and bottom kitchen cabinets c/w ABS trimming doors carcass,designer handles and shelves @ promo price $2,553.00 No freebies? Stainless steel rack? no frosted glass nor sandblast glass panel? Didnt even state what is the internal color too. Also check on what brands of laminated can be choose from? smile.gif Like what Devilaz mentioned above, ask for the freebies. you mentioned that you need to hack the cabinet base. May I ask why? Do you intend to do the suspended cabinets for your kitchen? 2 To supply and install a L16ft granite top as the kitchen worktop @ promo price $1,440.00 3 To design,fabricate and install a L3ft altar with granite top for the store $300.00 4 To design,fabricate and install a L4ft laminated shoe cabinets c/w mirror backing for the foyer $1,000.00 A bit on the high side... $250 per ft. Didnt state internal color for cabinet too. For the Granite you are getting, what kind are you looking at? Dark colors or light colors? If you are going for the popular galaxy, or black, do ensure that you can get the Indian ones... cos they say Indian Granite is not as porous as China Granite... so the chances of staining is smaller. As for the shoe cabinets, are they floor to ceiling? What kind of laminates do you get to choose? How high is the mirror? Do note that mirror for doors means lots of finger print... so take note when doing your cabinet design. 5 To design,fabricate and install a L13ft laminated wardrobe c/w casement doors and TV cabinets at masterbedroom $2,860.00 Full height or normal? didnt state either. As for casements door what material is given? Frosted glass or wooden door? Ask for full height mirror is possible. Most ID will throw in. The price is a little on the high side comparing to those that I got about one year ago. Prices may have changed a little, so take a look at the prices you got for your other quotes. Is the TV cabinets going to be in-built into the wardrobe? That means that your wardrobe space is going to be reduced. Take the following into consideration when planning your wardrobe configurations... a) The amount of clothes you and your wife existing has. Can the configuration you have in mind cater to your needs? b) The potential amount of clothes that you are gonna get (based on your shopping patterns observed during courtship... do you buy clothes often?) c) Are you going to have a vanity? Is it gonna be inbuilt into the wardrobe or seperate? d) How bout storage of bedsheets, towels, blankets...etc? Did you plan for those? e) How many drawers are you planning? The more drawers there are, the less space you have, the more material you use, the higher the cost. f) Are there any beams at the place you are planning to place your wardrobe? Do you have to build around it? Cos if there is, the space would be different as well. Any glass on your casement doors? What is the laminate they gonna give for your wardrobe interior? 6 To design,fabricate and install a L5ft laminated casement door wardrobe for bedroom 2 $1100 If can purchase of the shelf will be good. Unless the shape is odd. 7. To design,fabricate and install a L6ft laminated casement door wardrobe with dressing table for bedroom 3 $1,320.00 8 To design,fabricate and install a L2ft vanity cabinets with granite top for 02 baths $800.00 Question... why do you need a vanity cabinet for your common toilet? 9 To design,fabricate and install a L12ft of laminated books cabinet with workstation $2,730.00 Others 1 To supply and paint the whole house with ICI/NIPPON paint $1,500.00 Grade of paint? How manu colors involve? you must ensure that ceiling color is not one of the color choices for selection. Some contractor play their cards such that they give you, for example, 5 colors, but the ceiling white is also considered as one of the selected colors. You also have to find out if they are going to give you a base coating before painting the desired color. You also have to find out if they will do minor plastering for bumps and dents for the walls before painting. Sometimes, there are some tiny holes like pimple holes that will be come very prominent after the paint is applied. So minor plastering is required to achieve a smooth finish for the wall. 2 To supply and install 02 10mm tempered glass shower screen for the 02 baths $960.00 Take note though... this is something you have to maintain everyday or the water mark will be very unsightly. If you can, for practical purposes, do without the screen. Toilets in most of the Houses in Singapore is small, there is no need to segregate wet and dry toilet areas... so less one item to wash and maintain, more money in the pocket 3 To supply and clean the whole house using chemicals before handing over $200.00 I managed to convince my contractor to do this for about half the price quoted here... see how good your bargaining skills is 4 Haulage fess $300.00 5 To supply and install 02 white powder coated aluminuium bi-fold doors for the 02 baths $400.00 Total for this page $21,263.00 7% Goods and service tax $1,488.41 GRAND TOTAL WITH 7% GST $22,751.41 I also notice that your quotation did not include electrical works, piping for water, kitchen sink and washer. These are the potential hidden costing for your case. How bout the shifting of electrical points? Installation of light fixtures? Painting of doors? Gates? Sewer pipes? These are all potential hidden costing... and could add up to a thousand plus minus... so do take note. Hope it helps... All the best to your renovations!

If you already got a contractor/ID, then it is best that they walk thur the home with you to check for defects. Cos if they dun, any defects after they start work could be blamed on them. So they will usually be quite thorough when checking with you. If not, then visit my blog to get you started. I used to like you, lost after getting my keys... so i worked on a blog to get people in the same situation started on something Congratulations! Welcome to the homeowners club! heh heh...

check out this thread... http://www.renotalk.com/forum/index.php?sh...amp;st=40

anytime.

hmm... if you are searching for ID, i will post this again... I posted it before, for your benefit... here it is again some of the comments and feel when we were searching for our ID

Super turned off by their sales tactics. Met them during the expo modern living 2006. Was attracted by their flyers indicating some of their reno packages. went to talk to one of them with my wife, and was a little enticed by the packages they offered, including EF hood and hob 1st turn off when they ask us to commit deposit to get a quotation told them we were interested to see if the packages suit our budget before any commitment, they tell me a flat no-deposit-no-quote crap 2nd turn off when we wanted to take the flyer to leave, they stopped me, saying that their packages flyers cannot be taken out of the booth They are not willing to even part with their pamphlet on the offers they are giving, on top of that, didn't like the one who served us. How can you expect them to give in to you when you are asking for changes or worst! rectifications? ok... lost my interest. Smiled and left with my wife, no second word, no need to look back!

it is not entirely true that "Good Things May Not Be Cheap And Cheap Things May Not Be Good." with a little foot work and plenty of homework, one can easily get good things at cheap price! It is a matter of whether you are willing to spend that amount of time and effort to go around hunting. Take for example, my dining table. I fell in love with the one that i saw from scanteak... but the price tag is >$1k for the table alone. Each chair is $799 before discount. that will work out to >$3k for a dining set with 4 chairs. I was not placated. We went hunting around and finally found one shop in AMK selling a similar design table with chairs that look the same as the scanteak ones. Got the whole set at <$1k. Same sturdy design. Same beautiful look. Or our lamps... the decorative ones my wife fell in love with when she saw it at some designer shop that sells it for >$500 a piece. We went hunting all over the island and found a shop selling a the same design piece at <$700 for a pair! Now they are proudly hanging in my home. Same goes for contractors and designers... for the same wardrobe design, there are so many prices, how does one know if the contractor is the one for you? I wrote it all in my blog... LOOK, FEEL is always important when you are viewing the current projects of the contractor. Look at the works done. Touch the edges, the surfaces... etc to see if they are properly done. Then ask if this is going to be the same group that does your home. ask for names and info about the team.. who is the carpenter, who is the tiler, who is the electrician.... etc etc Then make the decision to see if you like the contractor enough to fork out that hefty amount to get he job done for you like i mentioned, lots of home work required. Go look at people's blog... they usually post their contractor's firm there. PM them to ask for the name of the companies that did their home. Ask questions... lots of them. Do searches to find the company that you are looking for. So many home owners here in this forum, I can safely say, almost all companies doing reno and id design can be found here. you just need to do that extra effort to find that is all.

wow... you are good! you actually managed to keep a very tight rein on your budget. Way to go!

wah... brother here got big budget leh! Granite for the whole house!! From my previous research, lighter colored granite are mostly from China. In terms of porous density, it is not as good as the Indian granite. But indian granite are only good for dark colors. I am not really sure about the codes for the different color tones. I know a shop in IMM that has a wide range of natural stones. Shop name is Awin. In a small corner of IMM. You can go there to check out the stones to see if there are any on display that will suit your needs. Point to note though... his prices are not all that cheap. But he has the best display of natural stones I have come across. So go there to get information is the best!

aiyoh... where got such things wans? If there is, confirm will be posted in the papers liow. we went thru >36 quotations, most of them with second appointments before we decided on the one that did our home. So no worries. If everyone is like your friend, how in the world are you going to be sure that you got the best deal for your buck? I would say Humbug to your friend. The money is yours, you have to do due diligence to ensure that you are satisfied with what you are paying for. If you think that the current list of contractors/ID is not up to your mark, then go ahead and look some more.

this one is really new. I must try this thanks for the tip!

this was what I wrote about a year ago when I approached them for quotations...