leonjennawong

(cont'd) Personality- One of the most important factors. If you cannot click, forget it. Renovation is a long journey and regardless of price or service, if you cannot click, you can forget the whole thing. This #CalvinTan is a fun & funny guy.. He will sometimes cook up devious plans with me to try to seek buy-in from our dear CFO. Hahaha… I think next time after my reno, if I got nothing to do & am around ubi avenue 3 area, I will ask him out for kopi.. Yep, I have just been simply whatsapp-ing him on design ideas, sending screenshots of my preferred designs.. He is a friendly guy to chat to though I do try not to disturb him at non-work hours (unless urgent la haha).. I can tell that he really wants to do up our place nicely if we let him… to quote him, he ever mentioned to me & my friend that he would not wish for the couple to not proceed with an item or design just because of cost, because he understands that they all come together to form a nicely built theme. He will also wish that your house can turn out nice so he can bring people to go and visit next time, or to use as one of his proud portfolio pieces…. And I find this #CalvinTan has quite good initiative also… he even collects & emails me pictures from his galaxy tab out of nowhere when he sees a design that is nice & will fit my theme.. The picture below was the picture sent by him to illustrate his recommended type of kitchen wall overlay tiles (we didn’t even ask him to send to us… needless to say, we are going for it! but with slightly thicker grey grouting lines. You can totally tell that we trust his taste in design by now.. hehe): Other Concerns Site coordinationAll IDs can get busy during peak period. So I asked him about site coordination.. You may remember that I mentioned about communication worries when the ID we spoke extensively to is not the actual site coordinator for your project, but some other supervisor that you hardly/never met before. ANSWER: #CalvinTan replied that every single wall with works will have its own dedicated detailed technical AUTOCAD computer drawing with all the dimensions visible for any sub-contractor or supervisor to refer to if they are in doubt, so they won’t anyhow mount or install. He showed me a recent project file & wah lao really a lot a lot of such drawings… also dunno how to tell you all properly… But trust me, really a lot. Hahaha.. *ticks box* 3D drawing qualityThis only became my concern after my last experience… I paid a small deposit (1k) for that ID to proceed with 3D drawing.. and honestly I was quite disappointed by it. Colour choice were wrong… I asked for him to put warm light effect but his 3D drawing put daylight… Out of four of the 3D drawings got 2 disappointingly coloured & hand-drawn perspective drawings. That particular ID was not cheap either, so call me demanding or not it’s ok, I still expected more… Anyway #CalvinTan reply was to show me his past 3D drawings that he did… Super. Swee. Really a sight for sore eyes. *ticks box* That’s all of my rantings about this super ID #CalvinTan from #PoshHome.. sorry quite loh soh. But really just to tell everyone how good he is. Won't do him justice if it's such a short post. hahahaha... Hahahaha now CFO & I have finally found an ID who ticks all the boxes! I can have a good night’s sleep now that we are going to put our reno project in his 14-year experience hands… I still owe you guys the photos of my new Scandinavian top view living/dining area layout, the brick-wall fibreglass sheet material & the korean wood wrap material for my vertical wood beam… Lastly, remember if you want my quotation, do PM me your email address k… I will be more than happy to share!

6) #CalvinTan from #PoshHome (continued)- and the story continues... Design- Ok I already had an idea of what I want for my house layout, because I had talked to so many IDs before, namely #JamesTng from #ImageCreativeDesign who helped me to come up with the layout shown below: (TAKE NOTE THIS IS NOT MY CURRENT DESIGN) Of cos this is the standard modern contemporary style you will see on #rezt&relax or #cissern or #absolook, actually almost all ID companies' portfolio nowadays for a standard BTO 5 room flat... which was probably why we wanted to do it the same way too because kenna influenced... Standard as in we wanted living area cove lighting... put the glass/granite dining table behind the sofa ala rezt&relax modern contemporary theme… put an edgy-looking bar counter at kitchen entrance etc. So with this "standard" modern contemporary layout & design mindset, we told #CalvinTan that we wanted a scandinavian theme for our home (CFO and I decided on the theme just before meeting #CalvinTan because we saw so many nice photos on pinterest)... After that what followed was a huge upheaval on our original idea. This #CalvinTan TOTALLY removed/changed/chopped/revamped my initial house arrangement idea! Initially I was like AHH! WHY! #CalvinTan explained to us that to achieve scandinavian theme, we have to have 80% white, with wood accents & one variant of scandi theme is to throw in some pastel colours after that... He patiently explained and advised us to: · remove our idea of having cove lights & our bar counter because these 2 items offer too much of a modern-feel to the living/dining area.. · He told us if we wanted accent lighting, he can replace cove lights with long white track lights that can lend more to the white scandinavian-theme & also give the illusion of elongating our living/dining area… · relocate our dining table away from the original spot behind the sofa, because scandinavian theme works best when you have a bright and open space. He removed the dining table, and pushed our sofa back a bit more to create this 'open space' illusion.. After this discussion... We had a breakthrough in realising his design competence... After that initial visit, we went back and just casually looked at our collection of scandinavian photos on pinterest.. out of no particular reason really... And you know what, in the end we went with all of his recommendations. Because what he said was right! There were NO photos that can be found with all these bar counters.. or cove lights... or cluttered living areas... In the end CFO and I were more appreciative that he gave us sound advice, and took the time to steer us in the right design sense. Instead of just trying to make our money by putting items there that wouldn't have worked (for the theme). #CalvinTan also voluntarily included a quotation for dining area ceiling beams that I didn’t ask for initially.. (of cos not free la..hahaha) He included this in because while he was doing up my quotation, he thought that it would be one of the stand-out features of my living/dining space to spice up the scandi theme even more.. So I did a search & even whatsapped him on the designs that I found… see below pictures: CEILING BEAMS: WAH LAU EH SEE ALREADY MY LEGS WANT TO TURN INTO JELLY. TOTALLY IN LOVEEEEEEE WITH THE WHITE/WOOD CEILING BEAMS LOR! But pending CFO approval lei.. CFO said wasting money cause no practical use for them.. Just design only, no practical function… Sigh. See how lor. Maybe my CFO will decide to be nice and let me proceed with my beloved ceiling beams. Hahahaha… *cross fingers* my dear viewers, please help me to pray that my CFO approve my purchase request. Hahahahahaha… Also another point I want to bring up, which sincerely leads me to believe that #CalvinTan is the most design-oriented ID I have met, or ever will meet. If he suggests something that is not quite within your preference or budget, we tell him and CHOP! next idea comes along, CHOP! next idea comes along… This guy is good & he knows his design. Even when we get a bit too carried away when we see other people’s house ideas, he will offer his design input and many times, those new ideas that we think are pretty are not even aligned with our Scandinavian theme!! Really thankful we have a design-oriented ID to fall back on & bring us back on-track & prevent our house from going rojak. Oh yeah, even my sister signed up with #CalvinTan! (And my sister is what you would term a design-design-person; She works as a graphics designer, so you cannot anyhow smoke her with your designs. She knows her Eclectic from Scandinavian from Industrial theme) BTW I think she is going for a mix between scandinavian & industrial theme… Now my conversations with my sister/bro-in-law & with CFO are like, “eh actually the wallpaper design quite nice hor?” “hmmm dunno lei.. issit Scandinavian… looks more mid century lei..” “hmm nvm, ask #CalvinTan lor.” “...ask #CalvinTan lor.” Hahahahahahhahahahhaa… such is the design trust we have placed in him. In #CalvinTan We Trust. Remember I said he is like a creative karang guni? He has this huge collection of funny-funny materials in his showroom cabinet which is just full of all these material supplier brochures, concept wall supplier brochures etc.. The korean-imported woody grain wrap-laminate that he recommended for my wooden vertical beam; the #formica laminate that I'm sure some IDs have not even heard of (because they only use #lamitak & cannot find CFO's preferred kitchen cabinet colour )He recommended using nyatoh wood for my wall planter featureThe solid wood planks that he recommended I use for my bay window(see earlier post #7 for the pictures of the solid wood planks)He has this unique brick wall feature that is basically just a fiberglass sheet (still with the 3D brick effect) that can be mounted on the wall like wallpaper… lemme see if I can find any photos, will post later..SEE HIS SHOWROOM CABINET ON THE RIGHT HAND SIDE OF PHOTO. FULL OF BROCHURES! LOL.

Hey guys! Wow suddenly so many requests... So I have amended my signature so that #CalvinTan detailed contact is on my signature! Hope everyone can see it! Anyway for those asking for the detailed quotation break-down, how do I send you ah? Through email is the best right? Please PM me your email addresses if you are interested in getting my #PoshHome quotation!:)

Hey ptqbe! Yeah nice grain right! Completely in love right now. Hahaha.. See my latest post on quotation! (just above this one)

Blogging from my mobile while on a gym cycling machine now... Haha don't judge. I need to keep moving my left knee on low resistance motion to regain my range of motion since my ACL reconstruction surgery 2 months ago... So might as well save time and blog as well.. Anyway here goes.... Quotation - what can I say... I cannot be any less direct when I say that #CalvinTan is the CHEAPEST of all the IDs that I compared with.. (see above post for comparison with other IDs that I met) I honestly think that I am doing quite a lot of works.. And my quotation came up to 35.5k only.. And it would've only amounted to 29k if not for my solid wooden bench and the ceiling feature that I'm planning to do to spice up my Scandinavian theme! (provided my fiance approves.. Heh Heh... Anyway "fiance" shall be referred herein and after as "CFO" - Chief Finance Officer) Another ID quoted so much for quartz kitchen counter top.. For #CalvinTan, it was just a small fraction more expensive than solid surface top.. So obviously we are going for quartz! Happy happy.. I hope #CalvinTan doesn't take this as a cue to increase his price, but honestly, my experience with other IDs is that my fiance and I were trying so hard to remove items from our quotation to fit into our reno budget... AND NOW, #CalvinTan quotation is so unexpectedly cheap that we are planning to add even more aesthetic items into our quotation!! (such as: - quartz top for master bathroom sink - overlay master toilet Wall tiles - ceiling feature white beams - solid wood bench with woody grains.. Yum yum.. - white wall tiles with grey grouting overlay for exposed kitchen walls - full kitchen carpentry! - Complete false ceiling coverage for living and dining area - wooden trimmings for my hdb window frames to cover the ugly aluminium white.. - Even a nice glass door for my kitchen with modified handle to wooden type to spice up Scandinavian theme...) And yes, my quotation is alrdy inclusive of a sample size of electrical points (totalling about 1.3k).. Which usually other IDs don't even include into their quotation. So actually, my quotation (when comparing with other IDs) is only 27.7k!! Also, no GST! Can you believe it! NO FREAKINGGGGGG GST! Hahahahahahaahahaha I really feel like my friend and I unearthed a gem.. I would be happy to share his contact and my quotation.. Just reply here and I will get to you as soon as I can.. Good things must share. Hahaha.. More posts coming up about his designs, personality & my other concerns!! Cheers people

Hi Songz! Thanks I will try my best to keep you all updated! Excited about my renovation journey!

6) #CalvinTan from #PoshHome - initially I was so tired of meeting IDs already.. can you imagine, having made your mind already and then someone else comes along and tells you that you must go and meet this so-and-so because he is good/cheap/etc etc? Sigh. My good friend, Mr DF Muscle, recommended him, and i was just being this usual irritating & skeptical person la... hahaha... sorry Mr DF Muscle. heh heh... I questioned about the materials that this #CalvinTan uses... whether got hidden costs or not... how come so cheap.. maybe it's those bogus contractor... hahahaha. aiyah in the end i decided that I ought to go and meet this #CalvinTan as the quote was really cheap. Go and see lor, no harm. BEST DECISION OF MY RENOVATION JOURNEY. PERIOD. (so far la. hahahaha) This #CalvinTan is good. As you all already can tell, of course I am going to engage #CalvinTan services. In fact, I recommended him to my sister & bro-in-law... and they were also impressed with #CalvinTan & signed up with him!! So did my good friend Mr DF Muscle, and another couple! One shot 4 people sign up with him together! What I'm trying to say is, you can't go wrong if so many people are going for him... Just go and meet this #CalvinTan.. (oh yeah IMPORTANT, apparently he only does referrals.. too busy for walk in customers liao, so you can mention Leon & Jenna from Renotalk recommended you.. help us to say hi to him!) First and foremost, let me share with you renotalkers about my decision-making, and how I decided on #CalvinTan... I brought up some concerns that I experienced with previous IDs & also, from reading about the bad experiences of other renotalkers... here goes.. Workmanship - Honestly I am quite scared of this. I read from renotalk of this house owner who was bullied by a carpentry contractor.. apparently the carpentry laminate tore off at one side because of this 'tree stump' protrusion on the carpentry piece. The house owner tried to ask the sub-contractor politely if they can replace or do sth about it.... To which the sub-contractor said, "no la it's lidat one!! all carpentry pieces are lidat one! because we are using real wood ma! really you are the only person who complain about such things lei... real wood is good one.." and they proceeded to mount the lousy thing onto the wall. Sigh. I brought this up to #CalvinTan, and he just told me.. that he has quite a stinky reputation at sungei kadut area among the carpentry people for being very NGIAO with his carpentry requirements! (fussy in english) hahahaha music to my ears! he assured me that he will never let that happen to his clients. And as you read here, you may think "chey, just lip service ma, I also can".. But lemme tell you.. I have been conversing with him for the past 2 months or so? And this guy is one honest & fun bloke. (if not i also don't dare to recommend here haha). *ticks box* Anyway we decided that just to have another additional layer of control, we asked to go and see his existing site project... absolutely no problem... the wallpaper were all pasted nicely; not senget/slanting, the ends of the wallpaper were tucked into the inner angles of the wall so you won't accidentally keep brushing it & peel it off, carpentry was all nice and solid... drawers, hinges worked like charms... tile grouting were all even & thin... false ceiling nice and smooth with hardly noticeable joining lines.. somemore what ah? oh yeah. Do take note that I went to see TWO of his site designs! And already got people living in them liao.. All so prettily done up! *ticks another box* The existing home owners were at home feeding their baby when we came in for the site visit.. And, call me sensitive, but I think the fact that they allow #CalvinTan to bring other potential clients down to see their unit, shows their trust & satisfaction with him. Honestly, if I were an unhappy client, I wouldn't want anymore to do with this fella correct? hehe.. oh and #CalvinTan was nice enough to purposely find a previous project that was also scandinavian-themed, so that my fiance and I can see his designs... NICE! (did I mention before that we want scandi? Yay!! Exciting!!) Materials - You can tell that this #CalvinTan is different from other IDs... He seems like he collects materials & other useful deco items... like a creative karung guni. hahahaha joking la. While my fiance & I were discussing about our scandinavian-theme; he introduced us to other materials that no other ID brought up: - He recommended putting a vertical beam with a veneer-look-a-like wrap that is imported from korea, to give an even more wood-like feel to the vertical beam.. which cannot be achieved with veneer.. (aiyah no photos to show, I will upload another day) - Also my fiance got wind of xiaxue's house reno & absolutely loved the kitchen colour... initially I thought it was a bit bright and kns. hahahaha... aiyah but she is the one who is going to whip up delicious meals for me next time, and the more regular user of the kitchen, so kitchen preferences I let her have the entire privilege of designing.. wise advice from my dad. Anyway another ID just couldn't find the colour.. and insisted that xiaxue used #lamitak.... of cos that ID was right.. (in fact he made a lot of effort to research the colour) But the colour that my fiance wanted, was the post-photoshop-overexposed-edited colour on xiaxue's blog.. So when it came to #CalvinTan, he just went through with us his #lamitak board (see picture below!!), cannot find. Then he brought out this #formica brand laminate book & started to find for us, IMMEDIATELY FOUND THE RIGHT COLOUR!*ticks box* #LAMITAK BOARD PEEK AT #POSHHOME SHOWROOM (SEE THE #LAMITAK BOARD HAHAHA) Still on Materials... - Also just the other day, he was telling me about his supplier bringing in this batch of solid wood cut straight from the tree trunk WHICH LOOKS SO PRETTY OMG to manufacture into a solid wood bench for me to put as a functional bay window.. so that it can double up as a bench for people to sit too when we have guests over.. Completely fell in love with it & can see how it will totally rock my scandinavian theme. I am so proud of it and excited to see the finished product!!! See the pictures that he sent me via whatsapp! SOLID WOOD Can tell his materials are a bit out of ordinary & more suited to us young first time home owners who are going for all the "in" home themes now... scandinavian, eclectic, industrial, modern contemporary... I gotta go now (my fiance pulling me to the gym, CNY eat too much nonsense liao) but stay tuned for my quips on his quotation, design, personality & other concerns! Cheers & huat ahhhh...

Hey eveste! don't be stressed! you have a long time to start learning and planning... the fact that you are here now is great! My new flat is along Yishun ave 1.. diagonally opposite to shaugnessy.. hehe

OK actually I would like to talk about our experience with the choosing of IDs first... Of cos it started with the dilemma between main contractor & interior designer... ultimately we decided to engage an interior designer because honestly we are not really 'design' people.. we only know how to see and point and exclaim that we like this, that everything... a bit worried that our house will become like rojak after that... hahaha... We started off right here in renotalk... my fiance posted our floorplan in this forum and a few IDs started to call up.. We met the following: 1) #James from #ImageCreativeDesign - he is one of the most sincere IDs we have met & ironically he is one of those who called us as a result of us posting our floorplan up in renotalk. When we met him we were complete NOOBS, and I must give him credit.. he really did explain a lot of technicality to us... we went to his showroom and he showed and explained to us the pros & cons of materials (laminate, veneer, solid surface, workmanship concerns when using certain materials etc.) In the end decided not to go with him because we had a rude shock when suddenly got 7% gst.. (told you we noobs liao, didn't even know got gst).. Also our first visit took a looooooong time to finish. 4 hours talking about our designs and our preferences. can you believe it. hahahaha.... well, the turn off was that on the 2nd visit, suddenly he brought in a 'kah kia'.. he mentioned it's to help with on-site renovation stuff... we had concerns if there would be any problems with communication between us and this 'kah kia'.... all adds to the chemistry breaking down i suppose... another fact was... the quote is also not that cheap wor.. my fiance and i ended up trying to remove stuff from our quotation to try to fit it into our budget.... oh well.. not going ahead... 2) #michelle from #absolook - we actually met from one of their harmless 'open house' events where they seek permission from one of the clients to, well.. open house la. the design was very modern contemporary.. like rezt&relax type lor.... didn't go with her in the end because no chemistry & the quote was not that cheap either... 3) #cissern - spoke to a couple of their sales staff before at dunno which interior or furnishing expo... the latest was this guy with thick black spec frames.. omg. bad breath. and i don't know... why so many modern contemporary designs on show! haha... anyway not very impressed with sales pitches... so... skip.. (oh yeah, one of their sales guys even told us that cissern got the sole right to replace BLUM hinges with their own company name on it.. he even showed us the hinge with the cissern logo on it.. i am honestly a bit skeptical la.. BLUM is such an established brand lei. why would they let another company remove their company name/logo lei....? anyway even if that were true, i don't see how having their company name on my kitchen hinges is supposed to impress me. for all you know, you are paying more money for those hinges, for them to pay royalties to BLUM... aiyah, guesses. i think the bad breath clouded my judgement. heh heh..) 4) #rezt&relax - i think the most expensive? we didn't get a quote per se but we talked to their sales designer... and he was telling us that our reno cost will come up to about $60k. SIAO! omg. but they do mention that they have life-time warranty... so.. maybe there is a market out there... home owners who do want life time warranty.. but for me, the initial outlay for my reno matters more.. next time things spoil because of usual wear and tear den so be it... hehe.. people say no money cannot afford to be fussy. BUT i say, no money, all the more you need to be fussy so you are clear and sure that you are getting the best you can! =p 5) the legendary #MrK from #h20interiordesign - somehow managed to get a meeting with him despite his tight schedule.. his meeting was very fast.. i think in 30mins? My good friend also told me that his experiences with contractors are lidat one.. chop chop straight to the point, and it's a bit one-way... you just tell them what you want and they will absorb.. from time to time he will chip in and suggest a slightly different way of doing something because of material limitations etc. etc. technical stuff basically... initially he was our best bet... cos we heard so many good things about him... somemore.. omg no gst. you know hor, if my reno costs 20k, i would have to pay 1.4k gst... thats like another piece of carpentry lei. our govt is rich enuf... anyway #MrK is not very cheap also lei... I think renotalk has made him too famous.. as a result he is too busy... supply and demand theory kicks in... end of story - prices raised. hehehe... andddddd.. just when we thought that MrK was the definite choice.............................................................................. (sorry to be continued, need to go eat reunion dinner liao. btw all you readers, happy CNY & HUAT AH! =p)

Just let me start off with my floorplan.. nothing too spectacular... govt give you what you take what.. *bo bian* heh heh... It's a 5 room at Vista Spring @ Yishun.. internal floor area 110sqm... Let's hope we can turn it into our dream scandinavian home...

Hey hey I am finally starting a T-blog of my own! Have been an avid follower of this forum for a short while... Since October 2013? But this forum has really helped my fiance & I alot & we managed to learn alot about house renovation from here.. the basic technical knowledge.. like the difference betweeen laminate & veneer... quartz counter top better or solid surface better... etc etc.. So new home owners don't fret!! This forum will be your best friend with all the helpful people around! Heh heh... Well my fiance & I are just a simple young couple trying to make a life together in our small red dot... getting married soon, so we wish that HDB will quickly hand our keys over to us!! Ok disclaimer: I hope I will find the time and strength to continue to update as often as I can… ahhh nowadays quite busy.. So, here I am! Just for this space to be a record of our renovation journey & appreciate all advice given by all you renotalkers.. Thanks in advance lei.. hahaha...

Hi all, sorry we have been really busy lately. Their contacts are as follows: James Tng: 9875 9809 Mr K: 9022 2321

Still available? Could you upload a picture here?

Anyone here knows what kompactop is made of? Looks like normal laminate to me lei...

Since the last update, we met up with #imagecreativedesign the 3rd time: We have viewed a couple of 3D designs and drawings. I have to say, the kitchen was EXACTLY what I wanted. I absolutely loved it. We couldn't really decide on how we want the living room, bedroom and toilets to be, so that still requires some discussion. After further discussion, the quote turned out to be almost $29k. Of course they managed to give some discount. We really wanted to go ahead and sign the contract, but since it was a huge amount to spend, and we haven't discussed till this stage with any other ID, we asked him to wait. He was very patient and understanding, no hard selling. We managed to meet up with the LEGENDARY #MrK. But this guy is from #H2Odesign. I think there is another one from #IdealHouse? Anyways, he is more like a contractor uncle. He obviously knows his stuff and has surprisingly creative ideas too. Our friend compared James's and MrK's quote before and MrK's is cheaper. We have shared our ideas with him and still eagerly waiting for his quote! We went to #Absolook's open house and spoke to Michelle. Nice lady to talk to! We went ahead to discuss our reno and design plans.. quote also turned out to be roughly $29k. But we discussed it at the open house in a rush so there were many things to change in the quote. We haven't seen the final quote yet. Comparing these 3, we find ourselves ranking #MrK first. Mainly because of his many other good reviews and generally cheaper quote. He did mention that some have feed backed that his quote is more ex. #Imagecreativedesign is a little pricey even though we love his service and attitude. We find ourselves trying to remove or reduce things here and there so that it is still within the budget. #Absolook's Michelle is a little inexperienced because she is quite young.

PM-ed all of you!

Thanks so much kstoh! I read ur blog on ur new place last night, it's really great!! One of the prettiest homes and most detailed blogs I've read in here..

Sorry kstoh, another question.. Pls pardon my noobness... Got another 3 questions.. Sorry for taking up so much of your time.. 1) Ur Cove lighting is using fluorescent tubes or LED strips? 2) White light and not warm light right? 3) did you paint the ceiling a darker colour shade to bring out the Cove lighting effect even more? Looks really good.. Thanks!

Omg kstoh, ur living is **** nice.. Ur photo has convinced me that I must go for Cove lighting in my living room!! Haha and thanks so much for assuring us noobs that the ceiling fan will not necessarily cause flickering shadows with the Cove lights... But.. I still have a question.. Paiseh.. Haha =p my question is how many inches is your ceiling fan? Did you buy those shorter blade type? Thanks so much again for your advice and guidance

Music box, hope you can see this.. How many inches is your ceiling fan? Did it cause flickering shadow when you turn on your Cove lights at the same time? I need some advice on this... Can't imagine lei... =p

Hey steelze, how many inches is your ceiling fan in your living room? Did it cause flickering shadows when u turn it on with your Cove lights? Thanks so much!!

Cedric Omg I love your balcony lights!! Can u pls let us know where u got them from? Pretty house!

Which firm is this Mr K from?

Pm-ed you as well!

I have pm-ed you guys! Update: The lady who was supposed to meet us from #IDEmboss has left the company and did not assign us to anyone else. We have decided not to follow up with them. The Mr K from #H2O design is a little unresponsive on msgs sometimes. We are still keen to meet him.