Kerio

Thanks! That's what he told me too - no heavy wok, no violent stir-frying (not sure if my stir-fry is violent, maybe it needs more kung fu). Now thinking of changing to gas hob instead

Has anyone heard of EF hobs and hoods? (Apparently they're the sister brand of the Elba brand) Wife and i purchased an EF hood and tempered glass hob from Mega Discount yesterday, currently mulling over whether this was a good decision considering we read some stories about how some tempered glass hobs shattered for no reason.

Wah, so siong! Think maybe have to save up for it then.. actually can probably get a hob+hood combi with Everjoint within the month Maybe I go Kallang Leisure Park Mega Discount see first; if they have the gas hob types then can consider doing a transfer Haha thanks! We quite like the layout, though the kitchen and dining areas are a bit odd. Then we told the ID we were going to knock down the kitchen wall, and then we saw a beam on the ceiling connected to the kitchen wall which might make hacking impossible =.=''' We're still outstanding quite a few 3D designs! Waiting for our ID to clean up the stuff and send to us - the colors are all wrong for the ones we currently have (not posted here) haha...

Ya large damage sia. But we over-budgeted a bit so managed to save a substantial sum. Wifey and I had the same thought about the lowest price matching too! But overall the prices quite ok; less by $10 - $20 or so don't think I'll make too much noise. But for the 42" TV, I think $699 is the normal price haha.. so kena ketok for that one. The rest of it was not bad, particularly the LED TV - I think $1999 also quite typical prices for LED TV, though 46" quite a good deal. On hindsight, maybe should have gone Everjoint for the hobs and hood.. not very satisfied with the selection, so may just opt to cancel it from the order and go Everjoint look look see see first. Does Everjoint accept Credit Card payment? Thanks! I was reading some guidelines on RT sometime back about 46" being sufficient for about 2m or so, so that was what I was looking for since our living room is 3.15m long. If I include the feature wall and couch, perhaps left about 2m just right. We were trying to move about 2m back in the showroom so we could get a better perspective, and it seems quite alright for us... but that may be because we have a 40" Tube TV in our tiny 2metre room currently, so eyes already a bit pak jiao. But anyway in typical Guy Fashion, whack the big big tv first, because difficult to get wife to upgrade in the future haha

Don't worry BlurRhino, your apartment will come soon! There's a lot of homework to do meanwhile Just bought quite a lot of items from Mega Discount! was actually intending to do a bulk purchase with our next door neighbor, but the prices and terms sounded very reasonable, so we just laid down a deposit for these items: Purchases from Mega Discount EF Hob HB-AG390, EF Hood CH-BS52A, Bosch Oven HBN 331E2J @ $1,700 Bosch Washer WAE 18161SG @ $899 Bosch Dryer WTV 74100 ME @ $760 Bosch Vacuum BSD 3023 (FOC) Hitachi Fridge RZ481EMSX @ $799 LG Plasma TV PJ-250 @ $699 Philips 46" LED TV 46PFL5605 @ $1999 After wife haggled a bit, managed to pull the price down to $6800! Sales person was very nice too, though our last request had him scratching his head a little for places to cut from. I read some bad reviews of Tempered Glass Hobs, so we may change it; we'll do some research first to avoid wasting the store person's time. Mega Discount has a "match lowest price" policy too, so should be quite safe. I'll be going around to compare prices of the above models in the next few days

Hey Neighbour-to-be! Which block are you in? From what I hear, 601C's keys are being released quite quickly; my next door neighbour already have their key collection date appointment set for the 15th Sep; mine is 16th Sep!! Yaaaay ID must choose carefully wor; if in doubt I suggest you go for the ones that are frequently used by our fellow Reno-talkers. You'll find that when there's a general vote of confidence from several people, you'll rest easier. For me I went for a lesser known ID company; but we clicked with the ID and found her to be really responsive, though workmanship is still a question mark at this point in time. Our idea was that for a company to be in business since 1985 must mean they're doing something right... though in hindsight it could mean all sorts of negative things too. Meeting ID on Tuesday for discussions and see amended 3D designs! Keys arriving 2 months before expected, but that may mean we'll be able to move in before Christmas!

Thanks all! Our direct neighbour's getting their keys on the 15th Sep, so ours should be coming very soon. Think the delay for key collection is because we opted in for the doors. Default HDB doors look quite nice for our block, thankfully.

I'm in Punggol! Ya, agree a WIW will be quite tiny.. but wifey is quite keen on it, so guess I'm ok ba.. anyway, best not to argue with the wife on this Ya, that's what we were thinking of, to fix the area where we sleep (I sleep near window, she sleep on the other side) so that we'd get accustomed to it.. but must see the space first, cos I'm afraid of heights =.= I'm quite worried about the air-con installation/repair.. I keep imaging the air-con men supporting their weight on the shelves and then "accidentally" breaking them. Or worse, scratching or damaging the carpentry But that area won't have any clothes I think, most likely will just be a vertical strip of wall with a mirror. A bit waste of space but should be ok since it's at the end of the cupboard, so the mirror will just look like it's separate. New apartments so small, quite hard to do space planning There was one ID who suggested knocking down the adjacent room to make a large WIW, and we really loved the idea; but the company had a bad reputation so we didn't choose them eventually. Wanted to port the idea over to the current ID, but too expensive le...

Haha, if it's a wardrobe, then it's exactly like ours! We're intending to build a walk-in wardrobe beside our bed, that's why we're intending to push the bed all the way to the bay window. ID was mentioning that it might not be a good idea (e.g. if the wife is pregnant, difficult to get out of bed), but we're still considering. One thing is that we're also facing the same problem as you - a L-shaped wardrobe would block the air-con window.. so I told the ID to build a mirror-door there; this way we have a mirror in the wardrobe, and when the air-con is to be repaired, we can just swing the door open. Only thing is, it's listed as a "feature wall in MBR Walk-in Wardrobe", and costs us a whopping $640!!! I've heard of cases where people will make an entire sandwich and eat it when sleep-walking haha! Let's hope I won't be so resourceful as to find the keys to the window to unlock it while still asleep =.=|||

Hi Bearlynn! I noticed your bed is flush against the wall; wouldn't the person sleeping against the wall have difficulties getting out of bed? The reason I'm asking is because we're considering doing the same thing to make our MBR bigger.. though our bed might be flushed against the bay window, which means if I sleep-walk, I might need to wear a parachute.

Thanks! Hope I will have more to update soon!

Haha thanks! I'm usually the anonymous stalker watching the other t-blogs here wahaha

Ya! We're on the 14th floor, so should be quite windy too

It's at Punggol Vista! Looking forward to Punggol 21! Though from what I heard from a friend who works nearby, the only atmosphere around the area right now appears to be the scent of drainage from the nearby river. Which is why I intend to air-condition the entire apartment (minus the toilets)

Heh heh, thanks! A bit small, but then all apartments thesedays are around this size >.<

Post dated 26 Aug 2010 DECISION TIME My wife and I have come to a decision after the months of consideration. If the ID doesn't come up with the promised 13 views in the correct perspective and colors in the next correspondence, we have decided that we'll drop her. We might need to find out how to get the $1k deposit back (refund is done in value of accessories, not cash refund; even if no actual performance of work was carried out), and we might even incur a hefty penalty for cancelling the loans, but it's safer to incur a loss there than have to suffer through years of misery in a badly made house. But it'd have to be soon, since it'd mean we'd need to source for a new ID. And no more risks this time, we'd go for the established, well tested ones from the forums. Post dated 31 Aug 2010 3D Perspectives Submitted our HLE application yesterday! A lesson to be learnt from my little HLE adventure: If you're getting a BTO flat, Don't try to submit a new application unless HDB requests you do so. The one you submit when you first apply for the flat is still applicable and will continue to be until your flat is ready; HDB will send you the old copy for amendments and you send it back. After the amendments are sent out and approved, the HLE is valid for 3 months. E.g. if you apply for a flat in 2007, you will have to apply for a HLE (mandatory) then. In 2010, when you get your flat, HDB will send you the HLE letter you filled out in 2007 for amendments. Attach relevant documents, and send back. Also received the 3D drawings from our ID. Most of the designs are right this time, so we're quite pleased. Although not 100% accurate (the L-shaped shelves in my study room are missing! Being a bit of a bookworm, that's travesty!), the ID promised she'd change them by Tuesday. Some pics below: Kitchen - we decided on Matt laminates, not sure if that's a good idea. Black and White theme as well (colors to be changed in next meeting). Living Room - Right on the money. The rest of the 8 3D perspectives need to be recolored, but at least everything's more or less there. Good progress all things considered. Also found out she's getting married on Saturday, so being able to run through all the designs and so on while preparing for her wedding must be quite tough. Since we have a soft spot for these things, all is forgiven. And the wife really clicks well with her, so we'll be staying with this ID, I guess. Let's hope the workmanship is good!

PENDING Still waiting for the 3D designs and reno permit (for the reno loan). We had considered the possibility that the 3D designs are badly done because the first deposit hasn't been paid (since the reno permit is still pending on their end, and my wife's cheques can only be issued when we get the keys), but dismissed it when we thought of it since the $1k was the downpayment for the 3D drawings in the first place. Edit: ID called to tell us the Reno Permit will have to wait as it requires some dimensions which none of us know yet, so they'll hold off the first payment until after key collection. Meanwhile, she'll send us the 3D drawings once they're done, but she'll be checking through to ensure everything's ok. We're actually very impressed with her response time, and we're really hoping things will work out, since we quite like her. She's pleasant to work with, to be honest. We've realised that trusting your ID to do his/her job well is probably one of the more stressful things in life. On the one hand, you know that you'll be paying close to $1000 per month for the next 5 years for the reno and hence nothing must go wrong or you'll be VERY angry, but on the other hand you know that the ID is your choice, so if anything goes wrong, you can only complain all over the place and blame your own judgement. It is an industry that could do with better regulation than the RADAC or HDB Certification, both of which don't guarantee good workmanship or trustworthiness. (the RADAC certification is more or less bought, and HDB certification is based on whether they follow safety and dumping regulations - none of which are directly relevant to the quality of work done.)

Wanted to set up a blog in Renotalk but realised the date of post kept reflecting 2009, so decided to use the thread format instead. ============================================== Disclaimer: All posts are my personal views and opinions - it is not my intention to do harm, injure, defame or libel any religion, ethnic group, club, organization, company, or individual, and I will not be held responsible, nor will be held liable, for anything anyone says by way of comment which contravenes local laws through the comments’ content, implication, and intent. All the events chronicled are based on my experience, and your final assessment should only be reached after your personal analysis of the company via a personal visit and interview with the prospective renovator. This blog was supposed to be a cheery online diary chronicling the ins-and-outs of my renovation process, with the ultimate goal of giving credit to the renovation company for a job well done and to show off a well renovated apartment. Unfortunately, as you will read, it turned out to be a painful experience for me. That said, it would be unfair to penalise the company for the errors of one renovator, as I'm sure there're capable renovators in the company who are more than able to do a better job. ============================================== To recap, we had some problems with the 3D designs our ID provided for us - first we were called to pay $1k deposit for the 3D drawings (the original agreement was for 13 views of the house), which we did. We then went by to look at the hardcopies 2 weeks later and only saw 2 drawings, and the perspective was inverted. We were very disappointed since the ID company was quite far away from our place, but ID told us the layouts were done but the pictures were not rendered yet. So we went back after some time (1-2 weeks? Can't remember) and this time we were shown 3 drawings - only one additional, and the perspective was STILL inverted. At that very point in time, I started reconsidering the ID. Then they told us they would send us the 3D drawings via softcopy only if we signed the contract with them (I recall seeing this for other ID Companies too, so apparently this is industry practice); so despite my misgivings, we signed, contacted our banks, and waited for the 3D drawings. We received 8 drawings in our email after a few days, but only 5 were ours (including the 3 we already saw); the other 3 belonged to another project they were doing. And the perspective was STILL inverted. SMSed her to take her time with the 3D drawings but to get them right (i.e. to get them done professionally), and contact us when the drawings were ready. UPDATED PCD - Early August 2010 HDB just updated our probable completion date, so the estimated date we'll receive our apartment is likely to be sometime around late September. We're just going to go with AXtXend for now, and see if things improve. We certainly do hope it will. Floorplan and HDB assigned tiles for the apartment attached for reference.

Are Supreme laminates good for long term use? Think it's from Malaysia (if I remember my ID's words correctly).

My wife and I are going for a more ecletic feel - we have light earthy tones in the living hall, black, white and chrome in the kitchen, turquoise in the guest room, maroon for the study and olive green for the MBR. Still in discussions with the ID to see how the finished 3D design will look like before we make a decision

Hi IceMocha, Could you share your quote with us if possible? Thanks!

Hi, can I have the contact for Aron too? We're preparing for our house coming next month (we hope)

Hi delynn, We shortlisted Square Room previously, and we've seen the craftsmanship from one of their IDs (Vince). They're not fantastic at space planning, but overall service, quotation and workmanship is quite alright. I believe the company has also been on home decor magazines quite a few times. I think it's quite specific to the ID though; sometimes a really good company can have a really bad ID who will give you horrible service and workmanship, so ask for samples of his/her work if possible.