LLChing

MamaO, I think I can reply part of your question nia. At my last reno, during waterproofing of our toilets, wetness seep to our downstair neighbour's unit and short circuited their house whenever they switch on their toilet lights. They complained to HDB who told them that it cannot be help. Once our tiles are up and dried, the problem will resolve itself. If it persists, it means our tilers "bo kang hu", then our contractor has to make right the problem. Luckily, 14 yrs liao and not a peep from them regarding leaking toilets. This is our 2nd reno to the same unit. Hope no repeated incident. They are the 1st owner and everything is already 28 yrs old including their electrical wires. Praying very hard that nothing unpleasant will happen to our neighbours. Can be very frustrating one for them and us.

My desktop does not have WIFI too. It has a bigger capacity which is much needed by hubby for his work. Even if he upgrade his desktop to one with WIFI, he will still want to run on LAN in case WIFI got disconnected. Our other laptops will run by WIFI. Daughter also requested a LAN in the entertainment room, don't know for what leh!

@ MamaO - Yeah, Ah Soon gave us a rough quote of $3800(says ours a bit complicated) which is $155 cheaper than the discounted rate we got from Zenterra. To give our ID face, we are using Zenterra. We've concluded that Zenterra is not systematic in their quotation. It all boils down to whether you know the market rate for each individual item as well as your bargaining skill for further discount. Looks like they prefer to deal direct with the customer than through a contractor. There are other electricians around like the one used by RT- jshome. The rate seems good too.

If ceiling is already in "spall condition" and the vibration makes it drop off, does it mean ID also have to repair ceiling for neighbour? Our area has alot of spalling defects. Never do anything will also drop off one. What kind of damage huh?

Hi Muska, sorry to hear of your plight. When you rent the storage, do you have full control of the lock or the storage mgmt had a "master key" to your store? Or was it that whole warehouse kind where everyone are allocated pallet spaces for their items? Are there any check in/out documents reflecting what you have store/taken and on compensation for lost items? My concern is they may twist things around and claim that you din store those items there. No proof mah! That's why they dare to be so cocky! Hope you are able to settle the claim without hiccups.

Being technically challenged, we have decided to let Andrew handle the electrical for us. He will provide the plan layout with all the pts indicated, where to hide what etc. Our duty is to see, approve and pay up Being Day 3 of hacking, I'll pop in at my place to make sure the correct walls are being hacked. Hubby went up yesterday and noted that the 2 toilets, kitchen floor, all carpentry and aircon are gone. Upstair neighbour praised contractor in charge of removing the wood works and aircon as being very responsible. The lift was swept clean. Won't know there is reno going on Let's see if those removing the concrete debris are equally clean.

Ok, I've made a comparison between Zenterra's Lemonades (supposedly pre-increased pricing according to the boss) with our revised pricing also from Zenterra (supposedly current increased prices), ours is $284.80 more expensive (after 5% discount). I think that will be Andrew's takings if ID's commission is already built in. I've called Ah Soon last nite and he quoted a rough $3800 based on apple to apple comparison which makes Ah Soon's quote $155.80 cheaper than our revised quote. Ah Soon did mention that our electrical requirement seems to be a little more complicated. Moreover, Ah Soon is super busy right now. Based on the above, we have decided to let Andrew earn his keep and take over our headaches regarding the wiring thingy.

@May - Battle had an appt with Ah Soon, not me. Ah Soon hasn't get back to me, either by phone or email. I only managed to get him yesterday morning at 7+ am and he told me to email him our requirement. Done that and awaiting his response. Will get hubby to call Ah Soon this evening and get a rough quote over the phone 1st. Andrew seems to be anxious that we use Zenterra instead of someone else.

Didn't go back to look see. Went for haircut instead Drop by at Taka, Muji at Ion, OG, Tangs and came away empty handed. Hubby must have been praying very hard ..

Lucky you. Got the new ID to do up 3D Jia Shui Ohhh .. good solution for that unhackable pillar.Your overhead feature for the dinner table is below a beam, right? Still can hang those kind of lightings uh? Ours cannot. Too low. Revised quotes came in liao from Zenterra. Light pts $32, single $48, double $58, light instaln $8, LAN pts $120 with an additional 5% off the total of $4164 = $3955.80 agst previous quote of $4661. Slash $705.20. I think this is how it is being calculated, will feedback Andrew to make sure all items required are accounted for. No reply from Ah Soon. Understand from RT that he is busy with a current project and maybe many more on waiting list. What's more our request for quotes is quite last minute.

May, is this the end of mth project?

Hi MamaO, yes. Normally installation charges are listed separately for items which require "special" attention like basin, instant and storage heater. But can "cham xiong" with contractor to install small, easy items like mirror, mini sprays FOC lah

Increase so much ah? We have 26 light pts, 13 light looping pts, 3 single, 22 double, 2 LAN, 2 SCV and supposedly 37 lights to install. Andrew's initial estimation is abt $3.6K (certain items was omitted). When quotes came in, the total shows $3751 but after adding up the total just to be sure (my habit),the actual total is $4661. We even transfer all listed items onto excel and let the computer calculate in case both our eyes go "shoot the birds". Since Andrew is the one who decide the qty of lights, will have to ask him to re-assess liao. < lights = < pts = <$$

Now that we know KDK can be as low as $175, we will try our luck at Jurong West, an electrical shop we frequent. They do offer good prices too. @Lemonades - We will be using cat6. We spoke with William Wong too last Sunday but Daniel was the one who came to our place. ID told them to email me direct. Still waiting.

Andrew is doing 2 big 2 small now. After my hacking ends, another big one comes along. Some more got quotes waiting for Christine to type when she comes back. Battle, you read Lemonades Zenterra's quote on my blog? Most items cheaper than ours leh! Hmm. Haven't confirm with Andrew on electrician yet, I have emailed Ah Soon for his quotes. According to the old quotes from Zenterra, my wiring alone comes up to $4661 . Think we have a money printer at home huh! Yup, our hacking starts today.

Hey Lemonades, thanks for the info. Zenterra is supposed to have emailed me a revised quote half an hour ago which I have yet to receive. If the revised quotes are as what you have stated, it is more reasonable. LAN pt from your $90 to ours $150 is ridiculous. They are charging us $10 for lighting installation! I have been to their shop at Jurong East and saw that their KDK 3 blades ceiling fan is priced at $220 while my lighting shop downstair (also catered for contractors) is priced at $195.

@May - He heard my hubby loud and clear. Expect your hamper next year. :sport-smiley-004:

No lah, stay in hotel for 6 days 5 nights. Then we stay in serviced apartment across the road from my house from June1. Bo bian, tenant flying off May 31. Can go GSS everyday. If delay in reno, we'll have to stay at Andrew's house.

Yes, for those areas which I do not have downlights, my false ceiling is 2". Since I'll be using LED downlights which is thinner, those are 3" - 4" depending on the thickness of LED lights. My reno starts tomorrow.

Living room floor covered by corrugated paper and ply wood awaiting Monday's hammer. Once we check in at the hotel tomorrow, I am going to sleep for 5 days!! :sport-smiley-004:

Andrew will ask Zenterra's boss to revise the quotes instead of Ferrine. We leave it to him to nego. Immediately after your hacking, ours start. Immediately after ours, he has another house to hack. Ohhh.. this year, he is enjoying boom time!

Yoi May, can PM me Ah Soon's contact?

Not yet. Hubby called ID and asked who he should scold for coming out with something which is really EX and wrongly quoted too. Should it be him , Ferrine or the person who came to our house to see what we need. ID will discuss with us 1st B4 we decide to move our business elsewhere.

Is your quote from Hang Chin? Lighting pts at $18?? Got see wrongly? My cove light looping pt with light installation is $18 but light pts are $35. Add up their total hor. Ours wrong total and wrong quote for items not for us.

I am now struggling with this antiquated laptop cos our desktop is in storage. Tmr Hubby's frenz will help us move the big items like fridge, WM and TV to storage. The house is already 80% kang, kang - got echo. Contractor will lay the floor protectors as well as help us bubble wrap the piano on Sat. Electrical quotes came in. We've compared the prices with 2 others RT quotes and found that Zenterra's quote ranged from cheapest to most expensive. They charge $35 for light pts, $40 for fan and tel pt which is reasonable. What we don't like is $50 for single, $60 for double but the worst is $150 for LAN pt. That is like 40% above the norm. Arm twisting time! DISCOUNT!