Togg

Thanks minchui. Yah.. I am looking for something higher... Maybe will get those storeroom rack people to customize one for me...

Hi edenstrauss - thanks for your note. Really appreciate that... will try to think positive and hopefully will get over this not so good feeling soon. You are right, I am a mother but not so new lah... had long past the post natal blues phase, no worries.

Don't know why I have this feeling...I am upgrading and should feel happy and have been looking forward till recently when we are just about to move... Could be due to the stress from the not so good Reno experience / stress from the move / uncertainty in this new change / feelings for existing home (first home after marriage).. Anyone experience or heard of this? I hope this is temporary just like post-natal blues or pre-marriage stress..

Dear experts, I'm not sure if this is the best place to post my query. I would like to move my washing machine to my toilet due to the space constraint in the kitchen and am wondering if there is anything in the market that can hold the washing machine above the floor for the following reasons: - so that it will not get well - no more back strains when I use my front load washer... - gives me more room to do hand washing in the same toilet - ideal space for pails of bedsheets or soiled clothings that need to be soak overnight.. Not sure if those racks to stack washer and dryer can be used for such purpose (place washer at top level and leave lower part empty). This seems very unstable and unsafe to me... Has anyone tried raising the washer before? How do u do it? Would be great if you could share any useful advice...thanks in advance

How about replacing toilet bowls? Any haulage fee required?

Sandy, it seems like we can only tell if the contractor or ID is registered with HDB or not there. But can't tell if their service is good or not there, am I right?

AIyah, i also know but how to give if something that cost only 1k plus is being markup to 3-4k -see already also heart pain... All the remaining items add up (if can take) also wont add up to be so much....hence, agree that finding right ID is important... My bad luck - never check properly and sign...will publish the quote here to get some advice from the experts here next time before signing if I ever do it again....

Sandwu, your are right some shops share their commissions with the ID without increasing the price for customer... So most important is to do homework to check market rate first before buying (if you are particular about price)... Too bad for us, some recommended by our ID are so much higher than market rate, good thing is we did homework and rejected their offers... but bad thing is ID got upset and markup their costs elsewhere to charge back to us.... Haiz...

There is no difference in price so long as it is not recommended by your ID.haha Safest is to ask ID what is suitable for your theme then you source around, shortlist those you like then ask ID for advice before buying... My ID was dying to sell us his contacts for curtains, lightings, electrician, etc and was upset with us when we chose not to use their contacts... haiz, anyone who knows of any ID who has no conflict of interests, please share....

Hi kingpin, I am not expert but I can share with you some important yet painful and costly lessons that I've learnt from my recent Reno - always finalize the designs or 3D first and do all the necessary negotiation for the items to do before signing contract. Most ID may charge from 500-1k on design fees which can be offset against their fees if you decide to sign with them. I made this mistake by signing before confirming the design. After signing, any change in design is an added cost to the overall cost...and they have all sorts of reasons to justify the increase.. Some of the added costs are to make up for the lost commissions from things that we don't want them to do after we found out that they markup more than 100% on those items or we don't feel that it's worth the money customising... Another mistake - as my ID is highly recommended by my friend and I've read some good reviews about them on Reno talk and they appear sincere, patient, nice guys... So i went ahead to sign before finalizing the details and before collecting my keys thinking that changes and revised quotes can still be negotiated with the same manner... But I was wrong and ended up paying a super high price...worse still, workmanship also not as good as what I've heard l'm surprised that the quotes you got from the ID and contractors are comparable because we found out that our ID charge a markup of 100% for some of the items they quote us...we only found out after we signed with them... hence, a bit regret to engage ID because they didn't really offer good advices or nice designs (ended up i tell him specifically what i want) and yet charge so high.... Haiz....sad