Kerio

Updates! Swung by the house this afternoon to check out progress and see if rectifications had been made. When we went by: - Ceiling cove lighting L-Box area dented, scratched and holey - not rectified. - The missing lights and malfunctioning lights are still not working - Hacked wall replastered, looks better now. - Laminate flooring still not rectified The workers were working on the ceiling for the air-conditioning units coming in on Thursday. We heard from the ID thereafter that there was some problem with the rectifications as the air con trunking was in the way, and that she would be liaising with Aron separately. Hopefully, everything will be done by Wednesday. Mirrors are up. Overall Progress is also good, though it seems like it'd require quite a feat to get laminates rectified (there were some clear scratches on our guest room laminates when we went by, presumably from the carpentry). Some minor carpentry issues need to be fixed, like some unevenness in the work, the bombshelter feature wall tic-tac system is tiny and not powerful enough to open the door. We also recall asking for handles for the kitchen doors (since I've always thought that the flat type with a slight angle on the top edge of the drawer is hard to open when your hands are full), but the drawers are handle-less. Wife is ok with it, so we're not going to raise this issue up in case it delays work even further. When we left, the glass worker was coming in to measure glass again (he mentioned he had gone by on Friday for measurements). We asked how long it'd take to fabricate glass, and he told us "a week", which means it's possible glass would come in on Thursday (hopefully) or Friday (mad busy but it's better than Monday). ID also mentioned the plastering and rectifications would all be done on Monday, which would be fantastic, if everything really comes into place on Monday. We also hope she means the coming Monday and not the next Monday. Since Ikea charges $5 per trolley per day if we store items at their place longer than 6 days, we had to go down only today to get our furniture. Unfortunately, we missed the very popular item and had to settle for a more expensive sofa-bed for the living room ($1,365 instead of $1,195). Total cost of furnitures bought today amounted to almost $5k, including installation! 4 trolleys full of goodies! Looking forward to moving in on Friday! All the installations will be coming in then: furniture, electronics, all our barang barang. So when I go by in the morning (with the movers and our barang barang), it'll be a mad rush to clean up before the furniture is installed; thereafter it'll be another mad rush to oversee electronics installation and mattress delivery, completed with a final cleaning after all that and some unpacking over the weekend! Looking forward to unpacking and seeing our house take shape!

Nice right, hurhurhurhur :3 Got a call this morning from someone who claimed to be the Director of ArtXend. Initial impression seems to be that he was shielding the ID and trying to dismiss our concerns (e.g. "Oh, only delays lah," and "oh, only minor problems lah"). For safety's sake, we're still going to send out that email to Kelvin (the Director) by the end of the weekend, though I won't be cc-ing CASE first. Give chance ma. Also, I just went down during lunch, and: - Ceiling for air con not rectified; cove lighting area not rectified - The missing lights and malfunctioning lights are still not working (noted on the 27 Nov) - Hacked wall still not replastered - Laminate flooring still not rectified Our air-con will be installed on the 9th, so if the ceiling is not fixed then, they won't be able to install it. They've already laid the carpentry over a part of the floor laminates, so I couldn't see if it was rectified. But if the guest room is anything to go by, my guess is that they covered the stains on the laminate with the carpentry, since the guest room's laminate is still not rectified. While writing the email, I managed to compile an interesting timeline: - Ceiling rectification: 27 to 28 Nov, then 30 Nov, and no news now. - Laminates: installed on 4 Nov, damaged and should have been rectified on 30 Nov, but apparently not. - Painting: 15 - 19 Nov as told by ID, but in actual fact was 20 - 25/26 Nov. - Electrician: Rectification of errors supposed to be 24 Nov, but not done up till now. - Air-con installation date: 22 Nov, 3 Dec, and of course now, 9 Dec. - Guest room (storage): 26 Nov, 3 Dec, and now no news. - Handover: 4 to 11 Nov, 22 to 26 Nov, and now 10 Dec - that's more than a month in delays. On the other hand, carpentry's going up very quickly, and the carpenters are super efficient!

Thanks froggy! Yeah, I think after seeing the house empty for so long, it's really nice to go by and see a hive of activity. Plus, it's nice to finally see the house we designed and color co-ordinated take shape!

Oh ya, we smsed the ID and she called us to clarify that the laminate I saw is actually concave.. So it's the back of the cupboard. In other words, the hood will be open view, as previously planned

The last picture is from our neighbour's house! Yup, our apartment is a 4-room; with all the carpentry in, it looks a lot smaller. Now we're considering if the feature wall for the bomb shelter, for instance, is too big and bulky. The daybed is also larger than we visualized, though that's not necessarily a bad thing

MBR Toilet. The original sink we chose couldn't fit (it's the same size as the Common Toilet sink, so Punggol Vista owners take note; the size for the sink for the MBR is smaller than the one in the common toilet), so ID selected a sink that was slightly protuding. I haven't seen it yet, but I think it should be ok. Walk in wardrobe - I love it! Wife will too, I have no doubt. 2 points to complain about though - 1) the floor protection is still not up; but wife and I have decided that there's no need to remind her anymore - we'll just scrutinize the floor when we move in and get her to replace laminates and tiles that are damaged. We paid $180 and no protection was ever laid properly in the rooms! We're really sore about that. In contrast, our neighbour, who also paid $180, had this: The ENTIRE FLOOR is covered with cardboard, and taped so that it doesn't shift. I'd GLADLY pay $180 for that. Ours, NO. 2) the Ceiling and plastering is not fixed, even though it's supposed to have been done yesterday. Sigh, I think it may really be possible that her workers are playing her out by intentionally ignoring her (would explain why the painters were swearing at their boss when they came by to do the job that was supposed to have been done a week ago).

Updates! As I mentioned previously, the carpenters doing the installing are extremely efficient. After the carpentry reached on Tuesday, work started on the kitchen cabinet yesterday and when I swung by during lunch time just now (Thursday), quite a lot had been done: Bomb shelter feature wall! We love this, but there's that little gap on top, which I assume will be patched and covered with laminate. I will be going by when it's done to poke at it. If the inside is hollow, the laminate will simply fold in. Then I'll call the ID to get her to rectify. Living Room Feature wall - This was really the feature that sold us on hiring her initially. You can't see it from here, but it has a leathery texture, which cost slightly more. Kitchen cabinets - I had assumed the hood will be hidden, until my ID told my wife the hood is open view. RECTIFICATION TIME!! Study Room Daybed. Not very happy with the big gap between wall and bed, but it's necessary for the electrical outlets, so bo pian. I have thought of some interesting ways to hide it though. Bookshelf! When I saw this I was like "Dun dun Duuuuuun" cos it's really ominous and big. But considering I have packed at least 5 boxes full of books, I think this may not even be enough. The space left isn't that much though.. time to reconsider the room plan.

Nice design! The living room reminds me of an apartment I saw in a Swedish magazine - bright, airy and cheery! I LOVE the full height windows!

This is a running tally (which will be updated once HO is done) of the shops we've gone to and our general review. Final Tally of Reviews from Reno Experience: Purchases: Air con - Aron & Sam from Imperial Distributors: HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. Very good response time, highly efficient and conscientious workers. Installation site surveyour was very experienced and workers very on the ball. When they say 3pm they'll be there, they MEAN 3pm they'll be there. Mega Discount @ Novena - RECOMMENDED. We were served by Henry Bong (haha, unique name right) and Patrick, and we got the bulk of our electronics like TV, washer, dryer, sound systems, fridge, hob, hood, oven from them. The people there are highly knowledgeable, and the prices are excellent. Although there will always be cheaper alternatives for certain items (e.g. Goh Ah Bee's Hobs) at certain times (one of the TVs we purchase consistently went at a lower price when being sold by Gain City, Harvey Norman, Best Denki etc during their "only 10 sets only" promotions), the overall savings you'll enjoy from them is really quite substantial. Arranging for delivery is also a breeze - one phonecall and it's done. 2 things of note are that first, one of their deliveries was postponed by 3 hours and the person didn't call me until I called him. Best to check delivery times, especially for new apartments - you don't want to sit at the front porch staring forlornly at debris while waiting for someone to come 3 hours later. Second, the variety they have is not large, though it should be adequate for most home owners. There's another outlet at Kallang Leisure Park, but I've not been there. Serta @ IMM - RECOMMENDED. Some of the best mattresses available, Lowest price matching, good prices during discount seasons; and no extra charges for the worker to lug the mattress up 16 floors if the mattress doesn't fit in the lift. Friendly and accomodating sales people who don't push you around, and instalment plans for those new couples who've overspent on reno (like us). They even keep the mattresses your purchase for up to 3 years if your house isn't ready, and they match a lower price if there's one available throughout that period! Overall experience was extremely pleasant. *** curtains - KIV. ID brought us to this one, but we felt the designer/salesperson was professional and gave sound advice. In addition, the prices were competitive with external parties, despite commission being given to the ID. If you approach them directly, prices might be cheaper. Quality TBC as they're not fixed up yet. Lightings.com.sg - ID actually brought to another shop but we KNOW we got ripped off only because we'd been to Lightings.com.sg. Sales people at Lightings.com.sg were professional and knowledgeable, and not at all pushy. They made good suggestions and of course, their prices are very good. ID actually told us that just because it's cheap doesn't mean the quality is good when we mentioned Lightings.com, but apparently, the shop she sent us to also stinks, because both our toilet lights are not working and the consistent, worrying flickering before the lights come on are very much worse than the one in my room, which I actually bought from Home DIY. It could be an electrical fault, so I hold off my review until I hear the fat lady sing. But in any case, Lightings.com.sg is RECOMMENDED, at least just as a default choice if you're lazy to choose simply because the risk is lower. *** Boutique & Poh Seng - ID brought us to *** Boutique; prices were pretty high, and we only managed to squeeeeze it down because we had pictures and prices from Poh Seng. Although we're certain Poh Seng would have been cheaper, we decided to go ahead with *** because we knew the ID would make some commission from the sale. On hindsight, we should have just gotten our items from Poh Seng. In terms of pricing, Poh Seng, GR Link come RECOMMENDED. When visiting Jalan Besar area (where Poh Seng is), remember to go right beside the shop to check out GR-Link; some of the items are actually cheaper than Poh Seng's. Another lightings.com.sg shop can be found there too, as well as the shop where the little toilet ventilation fan can be found for a good price (Central Aluminium @ 30 Kelantan Road, #01-85) Reno Firm - ArtXend Design: NO. NO NO NO NO. Read posts starting from day 1. If ID suddenly manages to pull herself together in the last 2 weeks (now 1.5 weeks), maybe I can still say something nice about them. For now, NO.

Thanks Reiki! Actually, I was already depressed enough, and now this nonsense from the ID. I think the only thing fuelling my spirits right now is my rage. Currently drafting the email to her boss, but I'm still waiting to see if things improve by this week. If she can't rectify and do checks on the quality of reno in the apartment for even the last 2 weeks, the very lengthy and detailed email WILL be sent out to her boss cc CASE. I really don't want to start a fight right at the end of things, but if the final product is really unacceptable considering all the concessions we've made (in terms of not directly telling her boss and letting her delay works here and there and even lying to us about paint being done etc etc), I don't think I need to hold back anymore, since there's no way we can part on amicable terms. If she's reading these posts, I think now would be a good time to get all the workers away from their other projects to work on our place just for a day or two, just so they can finish what they started PROPERLY. At least this way, we can part with a handshake and the testimonial that at least she pulled through in the final 2 weeks.

Just came back from the house to see how progress was (and to confirm rectifications were made). Living room is stacked with carpentry, neatly arranged on protective lining. The water stain is gone from one side, but the carpentry was obscuring the paint stains on the other side so we didn't see if it was gone. The guest room has become a store room for the carpentry it seems. Kitchen carpentry is up but the corner of the kitchen area was supposed to be open so we could have a swivelling tray inside. We told her this when we were discussing the kitchen cupboards, but apparently she forgot. Carpentry is actually not of very good quality. Besides this, there are several defects in the wood (including a crack in one), and most of the wood is held together with industrial staplers. I'm hoping that's only for security, though with their track record, I'm starting to have doubts. Toilet is removed. The toilet light was working here, a pleasant surprise. However. Shortly after my wife tried it, the light didn't work anymore. So both toilet lights are not working and the missing light is still missing, but electrician will be coming by again. Wife was most definitely NOT OK with the dents and scratches in the cove lighting area - to be honest, anyone would be cheesed off looking at it. Holes, dents, scratches - you name it, they have it. Plastering of the hacked wall will be done tomorrow. ID had previously suggested we get the air con person to install anytime after today (Tues). Ceiling work is somehow postponed to tomorrow (Wed) without us being informed. If I had called the air con guy to come down tomorrow, and we had ended up having to pay one more trip for the air con people, would they reimburse us? I wonder. Wife smsed ID to ask if carpentry was to be done on Friday and since 2 more rounds of painting were to be done, was 6 Dec (Next Mon) a good idea for the air con to be fixed. Since air conditioning units are usually installed after the FINAL coat of paint, we had to find out when the last coat would be up. New proposal by ID: The air con installation date is now Thursday. Great, another postponing. Wife then asked when the handover date would be, since we had arranged for most of the delivery to be done on 10 Dec (Next Fri), and the ID's response was that the delivery could continue, and that she'd "get things cleaned up. Glass may be slightly later. U may move in". Ok, so let me get this straight. 1) We can arrange for delivery on the 10th, although glass works are outstanding. So that's not the official handover date? When is it then? January 2011? WHEN?? Everytime we ask her it's "Next week", "Next week". We've been "Next week"ed from Mid November to 24th November to 3 December to 10th December and now, apparently, KIVed. Great time management. 2) We can move in, but we'll somehow have to be around to ensure the glass works are done. Wife of course, asked how long would it take, when it'd be up, and if it'd be messy. Response is that measurements will be taken on Thurs and Fri, and it'd take a week to fabricate. My math isn't that fantastic, but I think that means Next Friday. Apparently not. Best part is, she included in her SMS that it's the peak period, timeline is very tough and jobs are very full. I think that's the whole point of the time schedule. An ID uses the time schedule chart to allocate workers, locations, when to do what. Using that schedule, the ID can give the owner a better estimate of the completion date and not delay consistently. Plus, we started consulting with her in July, and signed with them in August. We got our keys on 16 September, and reno started proper on 28 Sep, after HDB's rectifications. One would think the schedule would have been followed more or less to the tee. Even barring unforseen incidences like HDB's further rectifications (an event I pointed out, that occured because she hadn't done what we had suggested she do very early on, which was to check for hollow tiles), work should have carried on swiftly. So now that it's hit the peak period, we take a back seat for other projects that have popped up meanwhile? Who's fault is it that it's delayed, really? Would telling us these things make us more likely, or less likely to feel understanding? If things get any worse, I will be following all my colleagues' advice by writing first to her boss, and if her boss takes her side or brushes me off, it'll be sent to CASE, outlining every single detail and extracting every SMS and email and exchange. I've had enough of this nonsense. Clearly she's not paying attention to time management and simply CANNOT deliver on her promises. Everytime she says something like "Wednesday tiling will be up", it actually means "Friday tiling will be up/starting". In the end, we are the ones to suffer. For two bloody months this circus has carried on, and I am no longer having any more of it. But in any case, I think the most powerful testimonial of the company's work, integrity, timeliness and reliability can be found in the posts I've written, detailed chronicles of my experience with them. Ironically, the description of my t-blog (ramblings and much foaming at the mouth) has turned out to be true, after all. As often quoted to me quite frequently in my Business Law lessons, a cautionary note to all potential customers: Caveat Emptor.

Yeah! XD Got kitchen cabinets also ma, and then WIW shelves, book shelves, 2x feature walls and bomb-shelter feature wall etc Heh heh heh, we won't have an open house immediately (need to look for spots to do rectifications first), but you can always just PM me if you want to drop by to take a look on a weekend after its done We also want to regulate the flow of guests! After this fiasco, we just want to sit back, relax.. and grit our teeth at the dented cove lighting area. Yes! Some IDs get angry when customers make angry demands for them to speed up, or fix errors, or buck up in general, but they fail to see that the stakes are much higher for us. After they're done with one project, they simply move on to another; but their customers have to STAY in the house. And, we'll be staring at the errors every single day for 5 years and worse, PAYING for them. Maybe they should ask themselves: Would they pay $42,000 for something defective? I dare them to say yes, and I'll do their houses for them, complete with bad cementing and tiling and scratchy laminates.

Haha, thanks froggy! Actually, our testimonial of her hasn't exactly been glowing, so we're holding off until she completes the entire project to make a finalised assessment. Though with only 1.5 weeks left, plenty of rectifications and plenty more to do, chances are something will pop up and we'll have to shake her up a little. What can I say? If she had conscientiously supervised the workers, pushed them to do their job (e.g. painters), managed time and projects properly, all these things would not have happened. Maybe she was busy with another project. Maybe even her own married life. But that's certainly no excuse to screw up this project (and our lives) and still expect us to be nice and understanding, because we'll need to suffer the next 5 years (that's 60 months) paying off loans for all the things being done in the house now. I think if someone told me to pay $400 a month for 5 years, asking for perfection isn't that unreasonable.

Went by during lunch to check on progress (and to ensure rectifications are done before carpentry goes up). 1) Kitchen cement base is rectified, though the tile jutting out is still there. Not sure if that will be fixed but wife will be deciding since I'm ok with it either way. 2) Paint stains on laminates in all rooms not fixed yet, but the guy was there when I dropped by. Actually, I really feel sorry for him - his original work was beautiful. The laminates were laid perfectly, everything was so smooth and flat with no warping, and to have to redo something already perfectly done because the painters decided they didn't want to be painters but abstract french artists (complete with swearing) in disguise was disappointing, not to mention really unfair to him. Anyway, ID has informed us the rectifications will carry on, so we will be dropping by to see probably every evening this and next week to confirm it's fixed. 3) BOTH toilet lights are not working now. Fan-tas-tic. Big hole in ceiling still there. ID has informed us this will be fixed, though she didn't exactly tell us when. If it's still not fixed by Friday, we'll remind her again. (sigh) 4) WIW gap not addressed yet. Perhaps it really is for slotting carpentry in. Will go check anyway. 5) Number lock not changed yet. Perhaps I'm being paranoid, so as long as nothing gets stolen, I'm relaxed. If it does, they can be sure I'll hold them fully responsible. 6) Floor protection has been laid by carpenters (yes, carpenters!! ), who seem highly efficient at what they do. Unfortunately, no floor protection in other rooms, like the one below: Scritchy-Scratchy Workbench on my un-rectified laminates. Joy. In addition, I was mooching around admiring the rather well made carpentry when I realised the cove lighting areas are dented. Asked wife to consider if she still wanted to raise this to ID, considering rectifications might just delay handover further. I was telling her if she was willing to live with it, I would as well. On a positive note, I realise we have A LOT of carpentry. (Weeeeeeeeeeeee) And the carpenters, like I mentioned, are really hardworking - I was expecting to see crooked corners here and there and people sleeping around, but the carpentry was actually pretty good. They were shifting all our items up using the lift (imagine if we had stayed on the older estates! They'd have had to climb up stairs lugging all those things!), and all of them were perspiring like mad. I wanted to go to each one of them and shake their hands, but after this round of "life lessons", I think I'll wait for the carpentry to be fixed (this Friday) before offering my thanks. Anyway. According to her email, carpentry was supposed to be installed on Monday, and was supposed to be finished within 3 days while solid surface and glass was being fabricated, and the ceiling (for the aircon) was supposed to be rectified last weekend. Looks like there're delays again since carpentry has started on a Tuesday, rectifications are needed for the laminates before carpentry can go up, and est completion for carpentry is Friday. At least she's more responsive now, and starting to react more quickly to our requests (my wife's, anyway. She may have read my rather harsh posts, but it's not like I'm maligning her, because it's all true). Let's hope this trend continues until she delivers it to us next week. Next week! Seems like so fast

I completely agree porkypork! I'll probably be dropping by every other day henceforth to ensure the rectifications are done. In particular, I want to ensure the rectifications are done for my floor before they decide to lay the carpentry on top of the defects. I got my air con from Imperial; I'll PM you the details

Updates! Just checked with Aron and he has confirmed the insulation in the living room is Class "0"; he's also arranging for a Monday installation, since air con is supposed to be installed after the final coat of paint. They've come by for 2 additional trips to date FOC, and I have to say I'm very impressed with his responsiveness and experience. Besides the issue of the false ceiling, I must say I'm quite happy with their service. During the piping, his workers very conscientiously piled all their barang barang in a heap in the centre of the living room, and when they needed to drink water, they'd walk over to the heap, drink from their water bottle, screw it close and walk back to work. None of them were smoking, and all 4 of them were working at once. Progress was extremely smooth throughout. The only gripe i have is that they sort of threw their extra unneeded items all over the living room, but I suppose that's because it was full of large heaps of debris anyway. Wife also smsed ID yesterday to confirm when the handover date would be, and ID replied that it would be next week. To play safe, I've arranged for all our deliveries to arrive on Friday, 10th Dec, the final day in the next week. We had originally arranged for our boxes to be moved into the guest room (which would then be locked) on the 26th November (last Friday). ID had suggested that date, we assume, because the doors would be up. Since the doors we chose were out of stock, we had to re-order and hence we had to postpone the moving of boxes. To avoid any more complications, we arranged it to be on the 10th as well. Doors are supposed to be up this week, together with carpentry and rectifications to our laminates. Glassworks and solid surface as well, if not next week. So on 10th December, I'd need to receive my : - Boxes (really early, like 7-8am) [postponed twice] - Mattress (in the afternoon) [postponed 4 times to date] - Electronics and Installation (to confirm) [we told them mid November. Surprise! ] and do a lot of cleaning. That's if handover isn't delayed again. If it is, I'm still sending everything in, because I'm honestly sick and tired of calling so many people to postpone things.

Ouch! Did you headbutt him back? Perhaps could have also kicked him a few times and taken all his money?

Your ID sounds like a very experienced person Laminates are always more fragile because they're prone to damage from just about everything - water, sharp objects, even strong sunlight over extended periods of time (I hear they warp, but then just about everything does under strong sunlight), which is why either protection is needed or it comes last if no carpentry is installed. We, on the other hand, are being charged $180 for floor protection that is, quite literally, non-existent. SIGH. Going down to confirm rectifications done later in the evening. I'm almost certain that the iD would forget some of the rectifications to be made, because she has a dam* bad memory and doesn't take notes. Good luck for your Reno too!)

Yup, got it

Wah, you have 27 cove lightings!! And I thought I had a lot haha.. You have one in every room? Did you include cove lighting (i.e. below the top hung cabinets) in the kitchen as well? Since there's only one lighting point, it might help to brighten up the kitchen a little I'm using storage heater also, but no rain shower But at least the shower head is interesting, it has a mist function so instead of showering we can just get slightly damp haha

Thanks porkypork! Actually, that point about floor protection covers was in the nasty email we sent to her. My wife demanded that the ID replaced all the damaged floorings from the dirt, water and sharp objects. A part of the living room was virtually unprotected when we dropped by, and since the debris wasn't cleared, the sand, nails, construction materials were all over our tiles. In fact, when we brought our friend from Treelodge over, they almost stepped on a plank with a rusty nail in it, doing a scritchy-scratchy all over our tiles. The laminates, when they were initially laid, were beautiful (except for the WIW one). We even mentioned to the ID that we loved the laminates. Then of course, she had to scr*w it all up by not laying proper protection, and damaging the laminates in the course of painting, and I'm sure, during carpentry. And you're right; laminates can't go through chemical wash, only tiles can, which is why we're hopping mad. And the ID doesn't even seem to really care that her workers have, since day 1, dutifully scr*wed things up on a routine basis. To top it all off, she seems really angry that we were nasty with her. I ask you. Her workers (and by default, the company): - Can't tile or cement properly. - Spill drinks over our laminates. - Forget to lay protection over our tiles and laminates. - Lie about paint being complete and still swear vulgarities during the course of painting about how the boss is complaining they're not doing work. - Have had dismal progress since 28 Sep, when reno officially started. Even if I take out a week for aircon installation (2 days) and additional HDB rectification (3 - 4 working days), it's still close to 2 months already. - Almost forgot: Can't even patch a wall straight after it's been hacked And carpentry or glassworks aren't even up, yet, too. I wonder what surprises those will bring. And She's angry with Us?? SIGH. Good luck for your reno Porkypork! And remember, when in doubt, go for Word of Mouth. Ask around to see if anyone has gone through a satisfactory renovation and specifically go for that person in that company. Our learning point so far is that experienced or expensive companies doesn't mean better companies. It's entirely possible they've just made mistakes for a very long time without learning anything in the process.

Here're the list of items requiring rectification: Cabinet Base requires screeding - you can see how the tile I placed there appears to be lifted up in the front. The cement is actually concave in the corner. ID has indicated this will be done today. Walk in Wardrobe laminates - there's a 1cm gap between the plaster wall and the laminates; this could be for the wardrobe, but I raised it to the ID's attention anyway, just in case. Ring of water left by the painters' pails. It's at the exact location where our day bed will be constructed, so highlighted it to ID to rectify. Also, splashes of paint water all over the precious laminates. Big water stain in guest room, requires fixing. ID has indicated that the laminates will be fixed tomorrow, at the same time as the carpentry; not sure how that will turn out. Hopefully she'll be there to oversee to avoid anymore unpleasantries. *fingers crossed that ID will change for the better* The air-con/false ceiling fiasco hasn't been settled, but it seems the air-con company's not paying; which means ID may need to absorb the rectifications costs eventually. If she asks us to pay, we'll probably get her to bill the air-con company. For one, the aircon person and the ID were both discussing the details during the site survey, and I had absolutely no idea what they were talking about. I'm not sure who is in the right and who is in the wrong, but I sure as heck know it's not me, because my only contributions to the entire discussion were to give my inputs on where I wanted the units and to state my two requirements: - "Reduce Trunking", and - "Hide whatever you can in the false ceiling". So we'd be very surprised if we're asked to foot the bill for a mistake caused by what is clearly a breakdown of communication between 2 parties we employ to work together. To raise an example of this: Company A and Company B are hired by the Government to create a machine. A and B get together to discuss the specs, going their separate ways to get their respective work done. When they get back together to fit the machine together, they realise it doesn't fit together because one of them got the specs wrong. So, do they: 1) Go to the government to ask for money to fix the problem 2) fix the problem and one of the party has to absorb the costs or split the cost 50-50 if the fault is unclear 3) not do it at all since no one is paying to rectify, but still ask for money for the completed work from the government I think it's quite clear that 2 is the correct answer here.

Thanks fifteenmay! We're going by today to see if rectifications are going to be done, since carpentry is going to be up tomorrow. It wouldn't do to have water stains and bad tile work being covered by carpentry intentionally. Although we'd otherwise turn a blind eye, bad tile work and cementing would really hurt if we snubbed our toes on it, and water stains would, of course, affect resale value, considering they'd be permanent after 4-5 years. We're still waiting for this to turn into a Interior Designer Fairytale story, where the ID suddenly and unexpectedly changes the manner and style of working and gets everything done efficiently and with high standards of work. We originally picked this company because we thought it had a good reputation and high quality of work, though some online testimonials stated otherwise. I used to work in an Interior design company (for about a week or so, just as a temp staff to help clear some paperwork), and even though I know how the usual practice is to promise and assure (actual delivery of promise is sorted out afterwards) so that the contract can be signed, at least they delivered properly. The lady boss came down on her workers hard when they were skiving, and personally went down to oversee various projects everyday. They had a large gantt chart in the office with who was doing what projects, allocated workers properly and were highly effective. Last I heard, they had branched out into a different business. Pity. It was my hope that the company we picked would do things properly, not half-heartedly by postponing things then rushing to do a shoddy piece of work at the last minute. We're still hoping this will turn out into a good testimonial for the company, and that they would buck up. Let's see what happens in the next 2 weeks.

Thanks Istel.. Wife and I sent an angry email demanding her to do several things over the last week; the posts above and the email we sent her were rather harsh because our emotions were running high, but it does not mean they were not true. In fact, wife and I are not prone to angry outbursts until we're pushed beyond our limits, and she was really pushing it when she : 1) lied to us about the paint being up, and 2) told us (when the hob, hood and oven were due for delivery) rather curtly that the hob and hood are ours, so she wouldn't be there, despite the fact that she would need to change the combination of the lock since quite a lot of people knew the combination number by then. It was unfortunate for her that the date of delivery and us seeing what wasn't done coincided with my grandmother's wake being held, and I had to be away from it just to oversee delivery, hence only adding to my (by then) already brimming fury. And she had the nerve to send me "just do what you need to do, I'll handle the necessary". Yeah, right. Not to mention the fact that she was not present during both days of the air con piping installation, and didn't take notes when the air con man was there to tell her about the air con size etc. As it turns out, the ceiling height is wrong, and rectifications need to be made - and of course, now we need to sort out the messy business of who's going to pay for it (point: definitely not us, since we're not involved in any way in this affair). In fact, I seem to realise that not taking notes seems to be a rather bad habit of hers, despite the fact that she rarely remembers the amendments we remind her about. The inverted floorplan, wrong color combinations and not telling us when items are due for delivery despite us constantly telling her to let us know at least 2 - 3 days before they're due for delivery, hence causing us to have to arrange for air-con installation within 2 days (not to mention make payment for $4k+ without any planning), which managed to be done only because Aron's team was incredibly accomodating. I originally thought she had a good memory or by experience knew what was to be rectified, but that is clearly not the case. In fact, she called me when painting was going to be done, to "confirm which room was the study room". For info, our guest room is aquamarine, and completely empty. Our study room is maroon, with a daybed and shelf constructed. This raised serious questions about whether or not she has her head in the right place, if she can't even remember which room is which. It's like getting married, then forgetting who you're supposed to marry. Went by today to see what progress had been made after the nasty exchanges: 1) trash has finally been cleared. 2) water stains on laminate floors not rectified yet. The floor laminate where the daybed is supposed to be installed in the Study Room also has a water stain in a ring shape (from the paint pail the workers left on the floor. Good Job, again.). Also, there're several paint and water stains on the laminate floors in the Guest and study room besides that one, which I will, of course, be confirming that they're fixed properly, since she doesn't go down to do site inspections frequently (which would explain why she didn't know the paint wasn't up and that most of the schedule wasn't being followed). 3) The kitchen cement base hasn't been rectified as of today, but I'll be going by on Monday to confirm it's properly fixed before carpentry is up. 4) Lights are up, though one is missing and the MBR toilet light is not working. Also, the lamp I bought from ikea is chipped. We checked the lamp before fixing it up, and we were very careful with the lamp glass precisely because we didn't want to chip it. In any case, the chip is quite minor, and no one really looks closely at lights, so we're just shrugging it off. 5) First coat of paint for all rooms are finally up, but painting on one wall is missing, though that could be the feature wall (i.e. It'd BETTER BE. I'm already cheesed off. Any more of this nonsense and I'm off to CASE.) One thing of concern is that Aron's installers also gave me the wrong insulation for the living room air-conditioning unit. Maaaaan, my reno process is just a nightmare. Things would have been a lot easier with a responsible ID who oversaw everything... Sigh.

I love your dining set!! Looks so cool!!