schiz0id

Hey yaolong, Nice green tiles for the kitchen. Gutsy color! Want to check where you got the video door phone from and how much did it cost? I think my new place needs something like that too..

Hope he finishes that last item quickly. All the best!

Hmmmm... we are planning to get a Bosch washing machine. Can't remember if it has a digital display. Okay, I'll be sure to take note. Thanks for the heads up! Initially I was also quite puzzled why the tiler will tell me they like huge slabs. Especially for wall tiles! To me, I'd think it's heavy to lift it up cos they are so huge! We got the 45 x 90 slabs somemore (jus checked the sample for the dimensions). Oh well, I'll be sure to see if they need more than 1 person to lay the wall tiles in the kitchen

Haha thanks sleek for that! I must go tell mum... she's quite sad she won't get the digital display cos she says the temperature that she set may not be accurate

TILE SELECTION Since the tiles have been moved up to the unit and they should be starting tiling next week (hopefully), thought I should post a few pics of the tiles we have selected. Some pics are better with flash, some without. But the clearest picture will still be when the tiles are all up Living & Dining - The whitest tile that Hafary has that they still have enough stock of. Can't afford to wait for them to indent Bedrooms - Wood-lookalike tiles. Would've gone for laminates but was told it's not as scratch-resistant as tiles. So wanted to have the best of both worlds - wood-lookalike homogeneous tiles! Kitchen - The two that are labelled are floor tiles. Both dry and wet kitchens will have same wall tiles. This particular wall tile was most expensive in the whole selection and is one of our favouritest! If i'm not wrong, they are the biggest slabs too. Tilers love huge slabs, don't have to lay so many! Whitish (off-whitish?) non-slip floor tiles were chosen for the dry kitchen to create the illusion that the space is bigger cos our living & dining is white too. Initially wanted to use the same tiles as living but decided against it for safety reasons. Bathroom - These are the wall tiles for the bathrooms. The one on the right is for the "feature wall" (small puny area - not much of a feature ) They did not have the sample tiles for our bathroom floor tiles. 2 of the toilets will have dark brown floor tiles and the other toilet will have dark grey floor tiles.

Hey i'm interested in tech stuff too, but I would like to think I have a life leh.. 2 more weeks!!

About 1 week on average but some items that need more checks will be a bit longer. As long as you're not doing anything complicated, I guess should be around there. And yes, it sure feels good seeing the bigger open spaces after the walls come down! I also didn't know about the floor tiles, but I guess the permit is also for the noise? That's why they limit to 3 days each time. We had to use up some Mayer vouchers that's why we opted to get Ariston, else I think my mum would've gone with other brands. Our current Teka oven is serving us pretty well. It's more than 6 years old already and still going strong

Hey archenemy, Great to see you here! Haha, yesh... our dear fren so far so good. Hope he keeps up with the pace! Will be watching him closely for the next month or so!

No worries about it. Most happy to share with you what I know. Usually, HDB can take from 1 working day to 2 weeks (according to the HDB officer I spoke to) to approve the application for hacking works. What I understand is that on average it takes about 4-5 working days if nothing major. Ours being a jumbo, HDB told me it might take slightly more than 1 week. Eventually, they took about 3 days to approve hacking of floor/wall tiles. 5 days (from appln) to approve hacking of walls. And currently, we have 1 more item still pending - extending the main door. When I called the HDB Technical Officer, he said this one needs a longer time because they have to check if previous owner had bought the access area, thus the wait. We should get approval (or at least some word about the status) next week, according to him. Usually your contractor will send in the application. It is an online application where floorplans and descriptions will be sent to HDB for approval. If you are pressed for time, after sending in the application, call the HDB Technical Officer in charge of your unit to check the status. In my case, I spoke to him so often before submitting application and after, that when he picks up the phone and hears my voice, he already knows my block number. Just have to tell him my unit number again since so many reno works going on in that block. I have no choice but to trouble him to check for me (they have an internal system to check status while the letter of approval is being prepared and sent out) cos we are sooo hard up for time. But the uncle (TO) is really a nice guy so I guess i'm lucky Ours is what they call an "overhaul" - everything that can be hacked, was more or less hacked. We had ALL floor/wall tiles hacked, several walls being torn down, all the door frames removed, etc. Hacking came up to be more than 5% of the total reno works. Hope this helps in your planning.

Hey starbux, Thanks! We got the Ariston stuff from Mayer. The whole set cost us about $2000. Last week they were having some promotion where they absorbed GST. Not sure if they have any other specials now.

SHOPPING BASKET Weekend is here. Not much photos to post on progress so shall post the items we have bought so far. Ariston Hob Ariston Hood (Opted for slimline for more cabinet space. Mum has to get used to using slimline after having chimney for sooo long ) Ariston Oven (Self-cleaning. Would've opted for the one with digital display but double the price of this! ) Will post more as the shopping basket gets fuller!

Thanks pebbles! Hoping all goes well too...

Hey eden, Thanks for dropping by! Interestingly enough, today's the third day. Hacking works were approved for next week too. Not sure if it was approved by different officers. Permit was given for Monday as well cos some items had the green light first. Whatever it is, as long as we have written approval, all should be well. Hope my ID keeps up with this pace!

Haha register interest only. Not pre-order yet. Hope it won't be like last year where their system crashed due to overload!

I registered my interest for iPhone 4S already. Hope i'll be first in line to get it!

Oh, and I forgot to add.. there's lift upgrading going on at the same time. Lucky not all doing hacking simultaneously

Really pity the neighbours there. In my stack alone, there are 4 units doing renovation works. Concurrently... There are only 12 levels, 2 of which are common corridor areas. Leaving 10 units. 4 are doing renovation works. Go figure....

HACKING Been going up everyday to the new place to view the hacking progress. So far so good. The workers work faster than we imagined. All floor and wall tiles have been removed, together with some fixtures and fittings. Some before and current shots. BR4 New Study. Waiting for the left wall to be hacked to accommodate my parents' wardrobe. Dry kitchen. Common toilet's door will be relocated. New extended living room. Balcony doors have been removed. Right pillar to be hacked off too. So far with balcony doors gone, the living room is much brighter. Can't wait til the pillar is gone too!

Nice! Then you can give us a first-hand comparison of the two!

We'll all find out come Oct 28! Can't wait! Wondering when the telcos are starting their pre-orders...

Thanks joyous! Yah, have to push my ID everyday. He's been cooperative and responsive so far. So far so good. *keeping fingers crossed*

Thanks silversurf! Yup stressful time. Hope it'll be worth the stress!

ID/Contractor Selection (Part 3) The saga continues with B... Called me to ask for feedback. I thought that was his saving grace. Boy, was I wrong! Asked me to send email to his management (regarding the refund of the 3D fee) and cite the reasons why we are not continuing with him. I did. Guess what? He called me to say I put him in a bad light when everything was what I had told him over the phone and it was all factual. (Talk about denial.. ) Asked me to resend another email to ‘clear the air’ otherwise he can’t help me get back my refund. Naturally, good natured me can only be poked so much. I blew my top at him. To make matters worse, he told me they will deduct from the fee for the designer’s wages since they gave me more than 10 drawings in total. (incl the rectifications for HIS errors) I was literally going at this moment. (Nowhere in the 'contract' that we signed stated that deductions will be made for designers' remuneration) Long story short.. I was prepared to go to RADAC with this. Lady at RADAC said they will mediate for me if there is no reasonable resolution. Gave him 2 weeks to settle this case, after he told me some story about how his boss needs to check the number of drawings they gave us, blahblah... After 2 weeks, asked him the status of my case. He asked me to call his management, says he doesn't know anything. I did. Management gave me back the full amount. No questions asked. Says alot about the ID, doesn’t it? (And of cos, my trusting nature.. ) And with that, the saga with B is over. Thank goodness! Mum was quite happy with C and his design ideas. Signed on with C eventually and are waiting to see the results. Keeping fingers crossed that the end result will be worth all the drama!

ID/Contractor Selection (Part 2) Okay, so A is out of the race so far. He still sent us the quotation as promised though. Nice chap but no ‘feeling’. Okay, I think i’m sounding like i’m on a blind date. Anyway, when we first saw his quotation, we thought nothing much of it cos we had nothing to compare with. We had a ballpark figure in our heads and the figure seemed to fit in with the figure he gave us. Though I think reality finally hit mum She looked like she needed air for a moment. Drama Unfolds We were meeting B and C since before our first appointment. So this is how the events unfolded. Looks long, but it’s worth reading if you like drama. This is also to share what some IDs are capable of doing. Here goes nothing........ B Had several meetings with him. Mum wanted to see 3D designs but he said we had to pay nominal fee before signing contract. Assured us that if we didn’t sign with them in the end, we can get back full amount in vouchers and if we did, this amt will be used to offset the final amount. (we made sure it was stated in the fine print) Promised to give 10 drawings even though usual practice is 5, cos ours is a jumbo. So we waited. This is where it gets interesting... 3Ds were delayed and it came with errors despite our many meetings. The designs were also very simple and old-fashioned and he attributed it to our low budget. (The budget we gave him was the quotation from A - a high 5-figure amt) Even after telling him the errors, meeting after meeting, the errors were still not rectified. Each time, he blamed it on the fella drawing it. (Take some responsibility man! ) Sure didn’t help that most of the ideas in our bedrooms came from us. Yes, us. Non-professionals. Asked my youngest brother to design his own study area and send him the design. This upon hearing my brother studied interior design. (You wonder who’s the one getting paid right?? ) After the first few meetings, we kept asking him for the quotation, so that we can compare and decide soon instead of dragging the selection process. The quotation never came. Not until one month before reno was due to start. And guess what the quotation was.. (a mid 6-figure sum.. that’s more than 1.5 times our budget! ) By this time, we have already told him, we are not interested to work with him. He sounded shocked and said no customer has ever ‘walked out on’ him. Ever. (He was sounding like a spoilt child by this time ) We were all appalled by his quotation and how he could assume that we would sign with him when his quotation is so expensive! And you thought this is the end...

Oh my goodness.. it's really you, sh*tass. Looking at you man. Ha! Been following your tblog but figured it can't be you. Will be watching yours closely!