cleong

For 60k COV the place better be in an almost move in condition

Hi Learner162, you will need to apply for permit to convert the wash area to be a toilet. And the toilet will be small and lack ventilation windows. While it is a cost-saving measure to retain the flooring they will be vulnerable to careless workers and accidents while the rest of our house's renovation is going on. I did kitchen carpentry, built-in wardrobes for two of the three bedrooms, vanity counters for two bathrooms and retiled the kitchen, balcony and bathrooms. I also did the windows, staircase, and balcony sliding doors. The total bill came up to nearly 50k and that doesn't include electrical wirings, nor does it include bathroom fittings or house lights.

Congratulations on arriving at the finish line!

Hope you managed to move in already - I'm still sitting around with a thumb up my arse waiting for the paint (and lacquer) to dry.

Perhaps my experience with my contractor has left me jaded. For example, my staircase was supposed to have finished last week. But because of one mis-cut glass panel, the completion has been pushed till Wednesday, in order for a replacement to be cut and fitted. One glitch and the completion is delayed. 2.5 months, if properly used from start to finish, is way more than enough for a brand new 4 room flat. But you've said "next week" a couple times on this thread already - I admire your optimism though.

If your ID has poor control over her people, things will still fall behind. Be prepared. 4 days is too short for you to move in. Try not to let other people's desires spoil it for you. You might actually have to overlook qualitative issues in order to have that Christmas party in your home. But you and your wife are the ones that have to live with the problems for years to come. Haste makes waste.

My friend, I am a fellow sufferer just like you. I don't have an ID, but I have a coordinator. My renovation is actually simple, no fancy deco or feature walls etc. My renovation started in mid-September 2010 and is ongoing till now. I can only *hope* that it completes by mid-December. Even so, it would be 12 weeks, double of the original 6 weeks promised to me. Even the fact that I had told them I was getting married in mid-November wasn't enough motivation for them to not ruin it for us (to move in after our wedding). I had already picked up on the slow work progress in mid-October, when I found on several occasions no one working at our place. They assured me it'd be done by early November, so I began demanding a work schedule and setting them incremental deadlines (which don't work by the way). I found that at this point of time, when so many HDB flats are changing hands, the contractors have more jobs than they can handle. Since our renovation contracts don't have an LD (liquidated damages) clause, its hard to obtain financial motivation for contractors to finish the job quickly. Tie the customer down, and take your time to finish the job. The sh!t part is that if you insist on pushing ahead with your other plans (such as deliveries and installation of other stuff) you'll just cock up the whole process and make things worse. Things would get paint splattered, damaged, stepped upon, scratched, dropped, you name it. They will always come up with excuses - handphone no battery, no stock of tiles, worker fall ill, worker quit, family member died got to attend funeral, got pulled to other project, etc etc etc. You'll hear them all. As my flat was a resale unit, I required extensive hacking of old floor tiles. Can you believe it took three extensions of HDB hacking permits spanning two weeks to get it done? Admittedly it was an executive maisonette, but I only hacked the kitchen, toilets, and balcony floors as well as realigned the kitchen entrance. Going down daily to check was no use either. I've seldom felt as helpless as this, watching the contractor deploy one or two workers a day to lay tiles, or poke around with a paintbrush. My coordinator could only keep telling me "I will check" when I complained to him about slow progress, lack of labour committment, etc. He didn't do much coordinating as far as I could see, because he couldn't control his resources. In the beginning of November it was so bad my coordinator would not answer my calls or text messages. I had to reach him through a third party. Like you, I was suddenly told to get my airconditioning sorted out. This, after I told the coordinator beforehand to give me early notice, and was assured it would be early enough. They had crap workers too - one notable incident had them laying out all the bits and pieces for three toilets on the floor (while painting and plastering etc was going on) only to discover that they needed to buy the connecting pipe to the floor trap. I pointed out that the toilet has so many small bits and pieces and you leave it out for people to kick around and later tell me parts were missing from the package? Then as the klutz was packing the stuff up, he dropped a spanner onto the cistern lid, breaking the corner off, right in front of me! I was so livid all I could tell the coordinator was "Change it". Then they first managed to break the Open Net socket box, then later completed the destruction by chopping the fibre optic cable where it entered my flat. Final paint finishing is delayed because Open Net's earliest installation date is first week December and the trunking needed to be covered before final finishing can be done. I've f*cked them upsidedown when things got really bad, but things didn't change. They still work at the same pace and committment as before. Now I only look upon them with disappointment and disdain. Today I just discovered one of my shower head handles was scratched. Thankfully its not the Grohe one, else I would have more ammo to shoot them with again. The only saving grace is that workmanship was generally decent for the tiling (even gaps), carpentry (good workmanship), and windows (save for one bad worker from the window sub-con who was careless with my frames). Defects I pointed out were rectified fairly quickly. The upshot of all this is that at this stage, I've held back on making many of my intended purchases as the house simply isn't ready to receive them. Good luck with it, its a learning experience and you'll be smarter the next time.

Thanks, I'll find some way to take up the gap. Much appreciated.

Is anyone using the Ikea Rationell damper? http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/60159704

Hi, I've bought an Ikea king size bedframe and also a Sealy King size mattress. I've belatedly realized that the two might not be the same dimensions. Now, I haven't fixed up the bedframe yet, so I could still return it if I needed, but I really like the design. Can anyone confirm that the mattress will fit into the bedframe, but will be slightly "loose" fit? Is anyone doing what I'm intending to do, because I quite like the bedframe. Thanks in advance.

You're one of the 25-storey point blocks by the canal right? I've been a Pandan resident almost all of my life from the Blk 41x area. I always found the dual-entry into each unit quite interesting, but it means twice the number of wrought iron door grilles.

My feeling is that it is a legal but private matter between the TS and the agent, so HDB may only just advise, without coming in to be an arbitrator.

I feel that if you don't need much "design" component then you don't need an ID. But if you are thinking of fancy stuff like feature walls, etc, then perhaps ID has a better idea. I trawled online property ads particularly for EMs that were nicely done up, saved the photos, and showed them to prospective contractors saying I wanted a design like that, or certain elements of the design. Of course everyone has a budget - I don't think anyone would tell a contractor, here, have a go, I have a blank cheque.

Cheaper to get different suppliers/contractors the cost the savings against your time, effort and stress of managing the works. Unless you're a veteran in project management, and you know the subject well, otherwise you would be better off leaving it to the experts.

The 2 gentlemen are named Messrs Pang Kien Lun and Teoh Gean Keat. I want to make it a point to name them because they are good and honest gentlemen and if readers wish, they could request them specifically. I went to Coolserve requesting for these two guys specifically and was told that they were servicing personnel not installation personnel. So they won't do full installations.

Good luck, stand by to apply leave, rush down to your flat, rush around buying stuff, and nag at contractors!

I'm also using a sliding glass door for my kitchen. Works better that way, I think.

We had started our renovations on 9 September 2010, the hacking works were originally slated to take three days but ended up taking more than a week. The contractor claimed that the wall and floor tiles in the kitchen and bathrooms were 2-3 inches thick and took a very long time to remove. Now he's projecting to hand over by end of October.

I'm probably a little cheaper than you because I will be retaining the existing marble floor and parquet flooring upstairs, although both will be refurbished/refinished. Currently still on target to complete under 50k (excluding electrical wiring) although purchase of white goods such as toilets, taps/sinks put a huge dent into the bank account. Three toilets is no joke. Contractor originally quoted 6 weeks to complete, its looking more likely to be 8-9 weeks, so be prepared.

Murder happened there a few years back, one Filipino tenant killed a fellow Filipino house mate

Hope you didn't buy Block 16 #16.

Any comments on Franke hob and hood combo? Its not a common brand but the competitive pricing caught my eye: FTC 912 XS cassette hood and 3-burner hob FHEL 7632 for $699 (before GST, and before shop discount) FFN 906 XS chimney hood and 3-burner hob FHEL 7632 for $899 (before GST, and before shop discount)

Amazing transformation for a mere 15k! Did you do up the kitchen as well?

Actually I will be switching the location of my shower and toilet in the upstairs common bathroom as well. As the downstairs plumbing is still within my own unit, it is not a problem that can't be fixed with a bit of money. I feel such an arrangement is more logical than having the toilet right at the end. My contractor has also gotten approval for the change of location and plumbing. freshpoison77, be aware that the 3Ds that you have got from your ID give you a false sense of space because they show you perspectives that you wouldn't see in first person.

Well, hope you get the permit then, because I had considered extending into the void also but rejected on grounds of cost. I had intended to keep the cost down by using almost all of the original layout. I only enlarged my kitchen entrance. Renovation started 1 day before Hari Raya this month, they have six weeks to complete (hopefully). I don't have a T-blog because I don't intend to show my home in public domain (sorry). Anyway, right now its just all hacked apart and resembles a warzone in Iraq. You can get a rough idea of the kitchen layout at http://floorplanner.com/projects/19198911-serangoon-em (switch to 3D and pan around!) but I have changed the layout later on with the contractor, so this isn't the most current one. Where I saved money on was because the original marble flooring was in really good condition, and wasn't an obiang 80s design. The parquet flooring was a bit worn but I was assured it could be refurbished as well. I also cut down on much of my carpentry.