JS21

Our contractor said the bedroom doors can be sawed, but will be ugly<--Duh! He said the cement screeding people will know what height to do. So I guess on that day, both of us have to be around to make sure the layer of cement used have to leave a gap of at least 26-27 mm for the timber strips inclusive of 2-3mm allowance.

We're letting Jason Parquet do the timber flooring, that's why it doesn't really involve the contractor. He only say after the cement screeding for bedrooms, they'll do the marble height accordingly so that whole house would be level. But thing is, the door height is very low, so if cement + flooring material too thick, have to dismantle the door liao!

The HDB people are coming to my place to cement screed the 3 bedrooms on Monday. What height shall I tell them to do? I'm supposed to mark it out on the wall. My marble height is 20mm, and timber strip height is 24mm (inclusive of layer of plywood beneath). I'm thinking as thinly as possible as, 1) too high, and looks like I have to dismantle all the doors! 2) I don't want the ceiling to be even lower if cement is too thick. Is it possible to do just a very thin level, enough to level the floor? Any comments & ideas will be appreciated!

You are right. It's not the same guy. The new guy quite screw up (imo). Few days ago, my marble put at my block's lobby for a few hours UNATTENDED, before he sent his men to cart it up. He told my husband, anything missing, he'll pay. So my husband decided not to wait not knowing when they'll appear, marble arrived around 3pm, he left, leaving the marble unattended. Then at 7pm, the haulage guy called him saying he does not want to be responsible if any tile is misiing, so my husband gotta make a trip back to count the no. of tiles. Luckily, nothing missing. Then yesterday, my contractor ordered the white cement, a tin of bondage stuff, and other miscellaneous stuff wrapped up in a huge bag. It was also left unattended for many hours! My husband called the haulage guy who again said anything missing, he'll pay. Initially he said 7pm will get his men to haul it up. At 8+pm, we went to check, the stuff were still there, only thing is, one hole in the bag, and the tin was missing! My husband called the haulage guy and told him something's missing already, and within minutes, the haulage guy suddenly turned up with all his bangala workers! He said since morning, he saw the stuff and already there was a hole, already like this! He was quite defensive. My huaband don't want to be involved, tell him that's between him and our contractor. So sickening, I think it's that haulage guy's fault, but anyway, see how they're gonna settle it. Hopefully it'll be replaced, and they wouldn't try to substitute it with a cheaper product or not use it at all. Moreover, our contractor don't know why so kan chiong to pay the haulage guy, already paid him already. Now wanna settle things, even harder!

Can someone tell me is it true that for Tanglin Halt, haulage cost is fixed, whether it's for whole house or just living/dining. The haulage guy told my husband the haulage cost is $950 for our 4 room unit, whether be it for whole house or just living/dining. Is that true? Can someone verify that for me? We only need haulage for living/dining only, really don't want to be kotoh! Tks!

Sorry gotta rant abit again. The more I think about it, the more infuriating! When I want to spend, he call me "tua CC" <--meaning BIG car need lots of petrol and money. When I'm trying to save money and cut cost, he call me "niao". Then what does he want? Yesterday he never coordinate with marble supplier properly, got angry, then accuse me of making a fuss out of the dry/wet base marble laying. What has that gotta do with that?! All he does is criticize me, really very hard to live with him...

The haulage fees are so freakin expensive. Only haulage needed for living/dining, and it's $950 for 4 room units now, regardless of whole or half unit. Previously it was $850, they just keep increasing the rates! Anyway my hubby talked to them to reduce to $900. Still ex. And yesterday they never coordinate properly, the marble people came and dump the marble downstairs, nobody to haul it up! My husband gotta rush down to get the haulage guys at last minute. Although they brought up the tiles, they wanted him around to check and count every piece to make sure nothing was missing. For that, he took it out on me, and blame me somewhat for inconveniencing him.

Wow, you are fast! Already found your ID before you even got keys! I also got my place at the Aug selection 2 months ago. Took a Tanglin Halt unit. Got keys on the 12 Oct. Gonna start reno soon, but with contractor only, no ID. I like to decide and design on my own! I dare not confirm anything with anyone until I was sure the keys were in our hands, after that, it was a rush to confirm as many things as we can. Think I gonna start my own reno blog soon.

Hmm..how much more must I pay for cement screeding 3 bedrooms?

Contracter told my hubby the type of laying that was recommended to us was the dry base type, which means cement screed, wait for it to dry thoroughly for 2 weeks, then lay rubbery cement and paste marble on top, wait another 2 weeks. More work lor, and he say he can do it for us. Hubby also explain after cement screeding living/dining area, 2-4 days later, can ask HDB people to start cement screeding bedrooms. Then together wait for 10 more days, before laying marble. Wait 2 weeks for marble to dry, then can immediately start laying timber strip. Can save 2 weeks this way, total 1.5 months, provided can coordinate everyone to be on schedule.

Actually I'm also quite confused. I also thought for marble, they lay cement and paste the marble on top, then wait to dry for 2 weeks. But dunno why the marble supplier told us to cement screed first, wait for 2 weeks for it to dry thoroughly, then lay marble with some rubbery glue to seal it and wait another 2 weeks, total 1 month! If done correctly, will prevent popping out of marble. I think you mean why not cement screed the whole house at one go instead of in 2 parts. I think the reason why is that the cement height for marble and parquet is different. So we gotta know the marble height, then cement screed the parquet accordingly. Our living/dining will be cement screed by contracter, and bedrooms by HDB. Honestly, there're so many parties involved, namely contracter, parquet people, and HDB cement screeders..the communication must be very smooth, and we must know exactly what to do, and different people tell us different things. Our timber strip flooring also has layer of plywood beneath, so must factor that in. Is there are better way aorund this???? Our contracter said it's better to get HDB to cement screed first. And as you know, HDB takes forever to do things! Then parquet people said marble should be done first, know the height first..etc Also, if while waiting for tiles to dry, how to do other parts of the house? In this case, will disturb the drying process since other parts of house must excess by walking through the curing floor.

Mine's natural. That's her recommendation, must check with my contracter to see what he says. But most likely will follow her advice to be safe. What kind of marble is yours? Cement screed only 2 days?! Yipee! But I'll double check with parquet company to be sure of best steps to take. Rather don't take short cut.

Marble lady told us before laying marble must lay cement first, then let it take 2 weeks to dry, mininum 10 days. After that lay marble, another 2 weeks waiting! That's one month gone already. Next step, cement screed the bedroom floor by HDB, takes 2 weeks to dry. Then lay timber strip, another 2 weeks. Total 2 months gone! My aircon trunking not yet lay also, cos aircon salesman said he need to know floor height before laying trunking, which means my aircon trunking can only be done after whole house flooring is done. Gotta protect flooring! I was hoping to do aircon trunking first, but now cannot cos we still dunno floor height and my marble flooring work supposed to start this week! Was hoping no need protect flooring, let them knock knock bang bang, don't care. Now extra work needed to protect flooring.

Hi everyone, true true..will take all your words into consideration. Got to strike a balance between being cautious yet without being too niao ji! My reno will not be ready by 15 Dec, hubby told me will be around mid Jan, cos the marble takes time to dry...timber strip also takes time...so in-between lots of waiting for the drying. Abit sad, but it's ok lah, as long as before Chinese New Year! :P

Hi zirhk3355, haha paiseh, I must be super duper niao kana then. Haha. But since he already agree, don't care, put all those in. Yeah, think must add that clause you stated..more reassuring even! Sigh! Can't blame me for being stress, I'm not really enjoying the reno process, having to deal with hubby's bad temper and lack of patience and personal attacks instead of comforting reassuring words.. Today went to look at my marble dry lay, also not very satisfied, but just diam diam.. pretend I'm ok with it. Maybe I should stop being so fussy, life will be easier... Choosing the materials to use and hoping it will match with the rest is really a chore! So stress that I'm so fussy yet it looks horrible for the end results. that fear eats me up.

Aiyoh, then like that might as well not put, work with "trust" lor. Haiya, no choice. I don't wanna fight with husband over a stupid contracter! Cos I think bound to have some changes here and there, and I can imagine, if I go up to contracter today and say, "I wanna add in this clause....", his face colour will change! Since my husband wants to work with him so much, then I gotta make sure it'll work out with this man. At the most make him agree to hand over at certain date, but no penalty involved? Let me see how trustworthy he is. Anyway even if 15 Dec, I can't get house, I still have a roof over my head.

Shall I include expected date of completion in the contract? What "penalty" should I include for not completing work on time? Eg. If I want him to put down "Expected Date Of Completion: 15 Dec 2007". If not completed, then what?

Gee! I don't think I'm too much. But dunno why he say until like we're the FIRST customer he's met that's like this. (meaning everything must be so clear and in black and white) Anyway, I think I don't have much of a choice, if I still want to hold back and delay, my hubby will blow his top! So most likely I'm still settling with him, hopefully it can still work out. I'm supposed to send him my fax/email of the amended contract for him to follow. Gonna send soon...

He's those old uncle type, quite patient, whom my husband sees as someone who just wants to do this to earn a living, not out to cheat people! For me, I prefer to play safe. I was hoping he would be more accomodating and understanding when customers wants to include details to be safe. instead he seems to take offence. Already one week ago, we said we want to just do the marble laying first, and confirm the rest with him later as we haven't finalise what we want. He did not allow! I can understand why since his quotation for marble laying is the cheapest compare to the rest. I notice what they do is quote some items cheap, and some not so cheap to balance out. I notice every contracter does that, hoping the cheap items will attract you to them. So he didn't allow us to do his cheap marble laying service. I decided to be fair, and quickly decide on the rest of the items so that I can get started! Now I want some details in the agreement, he's not understanding to that at all, and just want us to trust him.

That's what he implied that since we want the details, he will not be as flexible. So it seems anything out of it, he might charge or refuse to change. Those details I want were agreed verbally, I'm afraid he will say yes yes...then conveniently forget when the time comes since nothing was written down! Eg. system door in red, I wanted a deep red. In the limited color sample range, there was only one shade of faded red, not what I want. He say he'll show us sample of the color we want. I'm afraid after I sign with him, then he say don't have that shade. Then I'll be stuck with using that faded red color or forced to select from his limited brochure range! Also for kitchen frosted glass panels, he told us he'll be giving us 2. Then we want the pneumatic lift up kind. He said actually he's only giving the normal swing door kind, not pneumatic. But then he said ok, he can include...all these only say verbally. Bu it was not written down in contract. Then I'm afraid when the time comes, he'll forget he told us ok, then say if we want pneumatic doors, have to pay more! Etc. Etc. These are the kind of scenarios I anticipate and hate to face!

OK, let me type out what was written, perhaps help me analyze? 1. Supply labour to lay marble ****/dining hall, install copper stripe at 3 door entrance. In Bold, what I want changed: Supply cement, sand & labour to lay marble ****/dining hall, includes 3X polishing. Install copper stripe at 3 door entrance. 2. Fabricate and install 10mm tempered clear glass shower screen for one toliet. Fabricate and install 10mm tempered clear glass shower screen for master bedroom toliet. 3. Supply and install door frame and naytoh bi-fold door at kitchen entrance. Supply and install door frame and naytoh bi-fold clear glass door at kitchen entrance. Paint frame and door white. 4. Design and fabricate shoes cabinet full height L-3.5ft in laminate finished at main entrance Design and fabricate shoes cabinet full height L-3.5ft in laminate finished at main entrance with build-in mirror & color polyester for interior. 5. Design and fabricate top or bottom kitchen cabinet in laminate finished c/with system door, L-20.5ft Design and fabricate top and bottom kitchen cabinet in laminate finished c/with system door (in red and creamy white color), L-20.5ft, c/w silver color door knobs and 2 pneumatic frosted glass panels. Distance between top and base cabinets is 60cm. 6. Construct base for kitchen cabinet and washing machine 7. Fabricate and install built-in wardrobe with swing door in laminate finished and color polyester for interior for 3 bedrooms Total L-19.5ft Fabricate and install full-height built-in wardrobe with swing door in laminate finished and color polyester for interior for 3 bedrooms Total L-19.5ft. c/w door knobs and 3 built-in mirrors. 8. Supply and install door frame at passageway. 9. Supply and install ply wood with laminate finished for 3 bedrooms, total L-26ft Supply and install ply wood with laminate finished for bay windows of 3 bedrooms, total L-26ft 10. Supply and lay floor tiles at store room Supply and lay homogeneous tiles (60 x 60cm) at store room 11. Supply and install build-in cabinet with frosted glass aluminium frame swing door at common toliet 12. Supply labour to install kitchen sink, wash machine inlet and outlet pipe and heater tank Supply labour to install cooker, kitchen sink, wash machine inlet and outlet pipe and heater tank 13 Haulage fee 14 Acid wash for whole house 15 Supply and install 6 nos of 13Ax1 SSO 16 Supply and install simple cornice at kitchen area 17. Supply labour to install dryer bracket. 18. Supply labour to install toliet accessories such as rain shower, mirror, toliet roll holder, towel rack for 2 toliets. Term of Payment: 10% deposit, 1st payment:30%, 2nd payment:30%, Final payment: 30% Term of Payment: 10% deposit, 1st payment:30% (upon 10% completion), 2nd payment:30% (upon 80% completion), Final payment: 30% (upon 100% completion) Is that too much of me to ask to add or change those words in bold?

Predaking, did you get your ID/contracter to write in detail too? Did the person do it willingly without showing an unhappy face? We're kinda used to him already, in fact he was the first one we saw. It wasn't through any recommendation, we're walk-in customers. Which makes me even more careful since there're no prior feedback. We wanted to use his services since overall his quotation is reasonable and he is quite a patient man so far. He told us we're the first customer he has met that is like this. While going through my requirements, he seems to be forcing himself to be interested, when I can sense he's losing interest in our small project. Afterall, we're only letting him do $13K, as we're getting our own marble and parquet supply, and only need him to provide laying marble service, kitchen cabinets, and other carpentry services. He told us ours is just a small project. Makes me feel we're just small time customers who have BIG requirements.

Abit depressed now. We want to sign up with this contracter. However his contract agreement is very brief, and having read enough horror stories of rogue contracters, I thought it's best we get him to rewrite the contract to include more details. He wasn't happy about it and said there should be more trust between the two parties. Although he was willing to change, but his attitude scares me somewhat. He said since we want everything to be so clear, then if payment is not on time, he'll stop the work. He said no more such thing as rogue contracter, everything's done prim and proper nowadays! As if. Then what does he expect, us to be at his mercy after signing the contract and putting a sum of money with him? Although he has been rather patient so far compare to others who seems in a perpetual rush always, I notice he tends to forget what I told him I want. Eg. I said I want granite kitchen countertop (2X), he still wrote down in quotation as "solid surface". 2 days ago, I said I want a mirror to be in the shoe cabinet, initially he said this is supposed not to be included, but he can add it in. It wasn't stated in the contact he prepared, and yesterday again I told him I want him to include mirror in the contract agreeement, and he seems to have forgotten again, and repeated again, this one actually not included but I can add it in for you. I told him it's nothing personal, and even if I go to others, I'll do the same, make them write it detail. How now? Should I sign with him? My hubby is not keen on looking for more contracters. He likes to settle things fast! And it very impatient if this drags on. Again, he's not on my side when things become rough, and told me, if he's the contracter, he'll be also very irritated with me!

Need some insights here. Should I make tempered glass swing door for the MBR shower area? The shower area is longish rectangular shape, afraid the width might be too narrow for bathing after installation, or that it will make it difficult to sit on the toliet bowl with ajar legs (sorry if too graphic), since toliet bowl is located just next to it. Anyone installed and with no regrets? Need to know soon as I'm gonna sign with contracter soon!

Haha! Ok, thanks for all your helpful comeback lines. zirhk3355, maybe I shall invest in some of those child leashes for the kids during housewarming...heheh..*evil* I can imagine a bunch of kids on leashes! Then it's the parent's responsibility to use them and not blame me in case their "kids action really fast"..and fall over my grille-less windows.