vampree

Hi, anyone with feedback as to the using flat interlocking roof tiles ? Have heard varying feedbacks that it does not disperse heavy rain water as efficient as those traditional curve tiles ? Thanks

can check this out ? http://www.dfm.com.sg/Signages.html

Pebblewash stain very easily and hard to clean .. overtime, for those patches that are well-used, it will have a darker shade than others ... Most will use heavy duty homogenous tiles or ceramic ... Granite might be too slippery ...

i believe you can get any gardener to do so ... if u want, can PM you the gardener I use

(a) AMK and Kembangan area very different ... it's not like AMK and Thomson or Kembangan and Bedok .. (b) Purchase of house/condo/HDB depends: -> do you like the area you choose to live in -> access to amenities (eg) shops, schools (if u have kids), public transport etc -> price © For price comparison, goto URA website and search for transacted properties in that condo you interested in for a gauge of the price range (d) Best to view the condo, see if it fits your requirements (eg) family size, nbr of rooms, if u personally like the access in and out of that condo and area (e) Driving from Bedok area to North during morning office hours should be smooth as the traffic is typically the other way round ... I gather you should know the buying process and hence need not go into details ... basically you need to know your budget, if u qualify for the bank loan amount and also have spare cash for cash d'payment, renovations etc. Reno will depend on the condition of the condo and this will also affect the price you willing to pay for the condo ... for example, if you hate the current reno and estimate will spend close to 100K to redo the unit, you need to factor this when making your offer In brief, you must like the area first, then the condo and amenities it offers, do background check on recent transacted price, know your budget and cash amount willing to spend ...

hmm ... mine is wrought iron with chengnai ... all in inc motor is $3K but that was some time ago .... the autogate motor shd be in the range from $1K - $1.5K .. would advise not to have too heavy a gate as over time, it will affect the motor ....

PM you his contact .... maybe u can try his service his service onetime and see if he lives up to your expectation than engage on regular basis ...

i believe your lawyer can request from seller the floor plan ... do try asking for it. Without the proper floor plan, it is very difficult for contractors/ID to do proper quote .... alternatively, they can come down and take measurement ... the cost will depends on the quality of bathroom accessories you buy ... but since they are to be used in a wet area and frequent changing will be very troublesome, I suggest go for good quality bathroom fittings and do not go for cheap wares ...

i have a gardener that comes on a monthly basis just to cut my garden grass ... dun really need him to groom the flowers and such ...

i think u misread my reply ... not all main-con will have the 'expertise' to do everything under the reno-sun. So they will sub the work out to company/pple who are in that paricular field. His job is then to coordinate and manage the work done by these people. It is not commercially feasible for the majority of the IDs and Contractors to have expertise and dept in all areas of reno from Design, Build, Aircon, Solar solutions, Main Gate and Seurity, Accessories etc ... So even if u get the 3-1 aircon from Company ABC, dun be surprise if DEF Aircon Services come to your house to install them. Yes, they will have some pple that they worked with before and their own group of contacts but mind you, they will still add on the 'mark-up'. With regards to Quality - we are all threading on a fine grey line ... with a main-con or sub-con, you still need to chase after someone when the work is not up to your expectation ... if a job is sub-con, it just means the main-con has to go after the sub-con at your insistence to get rectification. Why still do skirting ? Leave them out and you save loads of money and also maintaining them ...

If you get a main-con to manage all the work, chances are it will be more expensive that breaking down the works. The main-con will add some 'surcharges' to the quote from the sub-con. For example, if he engages a roofing contractor and was quoted 20K, chances are he will apply a 5% or 10% charges on this line item. For air-con, another 5% ... and so forth. I think where possible, try to engage some major items directly yourself. Like roofing, aircon, electrical etc .. you'll be surprised at the savings .. but yes alot more work and hunting around but you can deal direct to get the lowest possible prices. But when it comes to coordinating, the main-con can still do the coordination and all ... For tiles, yes the same tiles can be prices different at different shops. A good start might be for you to head-down to one of the tile supplier and see for yourself which tiles you like and get the samples. Then you will have an idea what the flooring and tiling cost will be. Marble is good but maint is very high esp if you go for the white based ones ... To save cost, tiling half a wall as opposed to the full wall makes **** of a difference ... nothing a good colour scheme can address this ...

hard to tell without more info (eg) actual dimension etc ... example "Tiling work for 2 toilets $5,600" will depend on the size of your bathroom and the tiles chosen right ? Alot of difference between a $2 tile and $3.50 tile but agree that for inter-terrace the painting is quite expensive i guess you a rough guide would be something closer to 10-15% off this $81K. best to get at least 2-3 quotes to compare ... also good to be as specific as you can to get an accurate quote ... for example, Painter A might quote you $5000 and Painter B quote you $7500. Why ? Becos Painter A is quoting based on emulsion paint vs Painter B's better 3-In-1 ?

Hi all, need to do some tiling and hacking works .. not a major overhaul but some masonry works .. any good contractors to recommend ? Thanks.

if ERA has counter-offered an amt, Small Claims will still tell you to try and settle between yourselves because there is 'communication' established ... and if there is an impasse, then go legal route if the other party 'bo-chap' you, that is, ignored all claims, not attempt to discuss and talk and being totally unreasonable, then Small Claims is the router subject to the TCs (ala <$10K). google Small Claims .. there is a fairly good and simple writeup inc process ... at the end of the day, both parties must make genuine attempt to resolve the problem and claims first instead of running towards Small Claims .. else they wld be swamped right ? hence the need to ensure some prior attempts at brokering 'peace' has been tried but failed ... then no choice la ... remember, to keep all agreements black and white, events log and even person spoke to (date and time) ... all these would then comprise into a log of events to show that you have tried to contact them to resolve and they either 'bo-chap' you or try to be funny.

If I remember correctly, (a) amt < $10K, then can goto Small Claims .. (b) trying to claim excessively, this will work against you .. as part of the Small Claims process, you must show that you are willing to compromise and have made all attempts to settle out of court with the other party

Really disgusted with ERA's tactics ... if blue_skies has not resorted to going to Small Claims, they would have ignored and bullied blue_skies and many others in the same predicament. By going through Small Claims will mean they have another 'black mark' against them and 'wisely' agreed to settle out-of-court. Many of these companies would dare the consumer to goto court believing 9 out of 10 would back-out. I almost went the same path (ie) Small Claims over a car purchase ... in the end, the dealer agree to sort things out between us. That is why in big $$$ purchase/transaction, always make sure T&Cs are well noted and all uncertainties captured in black and white ... all verbal agreements count for nothing unless you have creditable witness or manage to record them down ... if u need to a nag and err on the cautious side, do so. yes, you might lose that house or that tenant or that car ... but would u rather spend weeks and months going back and forth worrying, losing your temper, spoiling your days/nights and making countless trips to courts to sort things out ?

anyone with good reliable plumber to recommend ?

thanks for the note ... i'm not laying tiles just that the open balcony are cracking up over the years and need to be waterproof again ... hopefully the normal contractors can help ... will check with them ... been out of the reno scene for awhile ... need to look for good plumber as well ... geez ...

Hi, looking to get a reliable waterproofing company to do my open balcony ... any recommendations and estimated cost ? Thanks

wat do you expect ? of course the sale fell through ... sigh ... sometimes getting a good agent is akin to striking lottery ... i guess to many amateurs in the industry ...

I think it's about there ... the contractors need to earn to pay their workers too ... i believe Hendon C provides a good quote.

who did u get quote from ? i found a flyer on the same subject ... u can call to find out ... Tame Promotion 6552 1732. Neber used them before so dun know !

telephone point and scv point are 2 different thing and 2 different cables/wires ... so if major renovation esp for older houses, best to re-run the entire house wiring (for both SCV and tellephone) ...

i can't remember where I subscribe (more than 3-4 yrs ago) ... i remember it was offered together with the subscription ... thereafter, ST will bill me annually ... I believe you can ask for it when you subscribe ... if not, can buy from Toyogo warehouse ... sorry can't help much ...

it is similar to the circular tube that the others are talking about but this is rectangular .. like a longish loaf of bread (sorry for lack of imagination) ... the one I saw in Toyogo warehouse is red in colour and has the words "Newspaper" ... mine is provided by Straits Time and is silver