RetiredInteriorDesigner

Honestly ah.... i salute that guy for his creativity. can think of this reason transport carpentry work from JB to singapore. very sure you walk into other ID firms ask them if they got charge this or not they sure say wont have such thing. removal of remaining carpentry - by right will charge, so he's correct for quoting. because like example you want to dispose cabinet need proper disposal.... or you can call town council dispose FOC. like those table or what can la... but dont go overboard ask them dismantle and dispose kitchen cabinet etc HAHA you sign already, then no choice liao....

hi... " Asked to see their drawings and plans for our place but was told that they dun reveal their plans and designs for our place until after afew rounds of meeting with us!" of course la... if me i also wont reveal plans... briefly explain to you can liao..... later you take my plans, go give other people/find contractors do save cost then waste my effort planning and drawing..... just letting you know... that its the norm for ID's to not give home owners 3d drawings/sketches/ideas until they sign the contract. i can do a free hand sketch of the rough look, but you cannot take that rough sketch away.

hi Your friend is right ah... the door will be heavy..... Im assuming your sliding glass door is the top hung with the sliding mechanism on the top, no need to install tracks one ah. If im the ID, you got the money, i sure say can do la.... you want and you got money pay i got money earn i sure do for you. side note - the more uncommon the item is, the more unique the item is, the more expensive it will be, cause you will be paying a premium over it. if children run and bang straight on without noticing that its a door...... good thing can save space, look nice, looks brighter, wife cooking can spot check outside. you take food with both hand how you want to open the door to go out? everything also got good point got bad points la.... see if you really want it lo.... if me... i sure wont do.... cause im a simple man

hi jon very true actually, best is have good working relationship, if not sure end badly one thumbs up back for you

hi herman payment depending on companies payment policies lo.... some hold 5%. some hold 10 % unless you good at negotiating with your ID lo... or you yourself draft out one contract with your own terms and conditions ask ID to sign lo... dont say squeeze the most out of an ID la... ID also not easy to do lei.... you heard stories of homeowners being at mercy of ID's/contractors, i also got hear stories of homeowners very satisfied with their ID's/contractors. theres always two sides to the coins. And i also got hear stories of ID's/contractors at the mercy of homeowners lei... people lose money on lottery always complain, but when win money keep quiet. same logic what... bad news always spread very fast... no one hear the good news one... How's the payment to be done - follow the contract you sign lo... no choice you sign the contract you are bound by the terms and conditons. unless you can negotiate with the ID on how to pay before you sign hope i answered your question

Hi again Your question very short, no context. very hard to understand whats going on. But based on that one sentence, i can come up with many reasons why ID dont go up to check. You are the owner ultimately you need to accept it, I accept doesnt mean you will accept. Time is very precious if i stay at pasir ris and i need to go to jurong just to check 1 defect that the contractor say he already rectify it then my costing will be higher not worth the time. Its a simple rectification/problem in ID's eyes, not as serious to go down personally to check. keep going up till sian already so dont feel like going etc etc etc One more thing I want to elaborate about is about ID's handling more than 2 projects. It is very very very time consuming if the ID need to go down to 2 or more different places just to oversee the rectification of different small problems on the same day. For such things, just convey over on the phone to subcon, if they understand the problem and know how to fix, then there's actually no need for the ID to go down. because ulltimately as an ID its all about time management and coordinating. but of course la from the point of view of owners this is not very good and responsible la.... by right no matter how small or what best is to come down show face a bit, owner see your face see you more responsible more happy abit. last time i do many projects at the same time i also coordinate on phone.... hope i answered your questions

hi intonewife When i was an ID i really liked those dismantle/disposal quotations. very good money, very straight forward. anyhow hack this hack that dispose this dispose that free money already. somemore cost **** cheap. To hack and dispose one full height cabinet, $300. To hack and dispose one table - 50 dollars. etc etc thing is you sign the contract already so no choice gotta pay. not trying to doubt you or anything but sometimes people tell story like to tell halfway never say full story... so my question to you is - your renovation really ONLY consist of carpentry work, painting etc? did you miss out anything? If your renovation really consist of that, and the ID really never throw anything, never hire lorry or put those container below your house dispose items, really totally never dispose rubbish expect for the boxes 1 time, then i guess the only way you can try is to ask him outright lo... " wah dispose 1 box need charge $400 ah?" see what his response is lor.... sometimes ID will refund back la... sometimes will come up with story say they got throw... up to you to judge. but make sure you are correct first ah... dont anyhow make ID life difficult actually if the quotation overcharge or got some items never do but got pay money sometimes ID will just close one eye pretend never see, wait until owner find out eh why i being charge for this but never do, then ID will refund. But if its the other way around ID got do but never charge in quotation, you can almost guarantee the VO sure will charge haha... Hope i answer your question. Meanwhile some shameless advertising here ah. Do check out my website thanks! website same as my name

thought it extended to june 2015? or maybe the ID's anyhow say... i might be wrong though.... but im pretty sure it extended to june 2015

Oh ya just to add a point, the reason why I dont recommend contractors etc is NOT because i dont earn commission. The fact is that ive got a lot of good subcons that I can vouch for in their work, and i will be more than happy to share their numbers and all. But I want to remain as a neutral party, and i dont want people to misunderstand or assume that there's some secret commission i get for helping them find sales. To be very honest i can simply strike a deal with them telling them, hey for every one person i recommend i get a 10% cut from you, but by doing that i will not be very neutral.

hello again. cheaper method - paste those sticker/film on the window. got so many to choose like frosted film etc. but small quantity maybe not that cheap also. cannot recommend, cause i dont receive commission. hope i answer your question.

Hi deadend Google is your best friend. Because I dont take commission from companies, not gonna help them advertise HAHA. also to keep things from a more neutral point la... market price - google la... direct those contractors. that one is market price. haha but on a more serious note the thing about market price is that they are roughly about the same right now. 10 years ago maybe different because internet not like now, everything one click you can find already. 10 years ago i can probably tell my customers to do this kitchen cabinet per foot run cost 500 dollars cause this one super steady high quality wood etc. now probably they will compare the **** out of everyone first before making a phone call or visit to their shop hope i answered your question

hi roland. saw your email . reply this first later then reply your email slowly part by part - what is the best way we can bargain with the ID/contractors honestly i think the ONLY way is to compare quotations, get REAL referrals from REAL friends who you can BEAT if they mess up your place The best way, make real friends who are in this industry. Come up with some deal with your ID, you do very nice my home renovation plus cheap i refer 10 more people for you. ( both win win situation) But of course la you must have 10 people to do reno after that. online referrals can say how good and all, but real friends more reliable, and wont earn commission from each referral i think i will cover this part in my website later The underhand way - take their idea proposed and go out and find other ID and contractors - this method sure can find cheaper moving on How do we know that the ID/contractor has done their best in their quotation without lowering the quality? to explain the above, im gonna use an example im sure everyone here got go and eat at those 24 hours prata shops right? lets use maggie goreng for example. generally the "standard" of the maggie goreng is very dependant on the person cooking it.... somedays you go there and realize that the standard/maggie goreng not as nice as a few days back. why? because the person cooking it is different. Can the person taking your order ensure that the quality of the maggie goreng? of course he cant, because he is not the person cooking it. Same thing here, ID/Contractor you negotiate with is only the person taking the order, he cannot assure quality/standard of work. of course la maggie goreng can eat and eat, but renovation can only do once. so is actually see heng or sway, see whether the tiler that day is in a good mood or not, or the painter hungry/thirsty or not. Best way buy those packet drinks go up spot check then thank all the workers there for doing a good job ( even if its a bad job, keep their spirits up maybe they put more effort in doing work ) best in their quotation? - lets just say that theres always a best price after a best price. reasonable margin? What is a reasonable margin when you don't know the margin? besides how can one justify whether this is reasonable or not. ART is PRICELESS. But of course la some IDs i know earn not a lot but amount of effort put in is alot. i hope i answered your question....

hi tarzanboy cement screed is the easiest cheapest and most convenient la and most value for money... actually everything got good and bad also, must see which one you like. even cement screed, also got bad things, like stains and all once kanna literally impossible to remove put a carpet over one area, 5 years later remove carpet can significantly see the the colour difference. if you like wooden flooring then go for it lo... since you tarzanboy ma joking ah. same thing got good and bad points lo good points look nice feet feel good bad points, maintenance lor, later lousy wood 1 year later wood shrink in size sure can see gap even tiles also got good and bad points easy maintain bad points - if kanna poor workman ship then gone case cause the laying process is very important click on vinyl floor in my opinion i dont think that one water proof la... you use one bucket full of water splash the floor dont touch it for a few days the water sure seep into the gaps of the individual planks. click on lei where can water proof. but of course la no one mop floor using this method ma. value is determined by you. you see which one you want then buy which one lo.... one example, if you got old people at home, you obviously wont go for tiles that are slippery even if they are **** cheap right? later you mop floor they walk around..... very dangerous.... hope what i reply answer your questions.

3 weeks to do simple renovation??? How simple is simple.... if you need advice/questions about renovation can ask me . no worries uncle here is retired interior designer. give advice FOC one... not like so many other people here all salesman.

Hmmm.... sensitive topic actually... what is the profit margin... To be honest there's no one straightforward answer to your question. but then again the answer isn't really that complicated either. Straight to the point, it can be as low as 0% ( or even making a loss ) or as high as 100 % ( or more ) why do I say 0% Its actually very rare for a renovation project to lose money ( maybe for new birds that are in this line doing quotations without seniors cross checking ) Two very very simple example for this would be the following Mary hires ID to put wallpaper at 4 walls in living room. price is agreed at X dollars. contract signed. ID then to his horror realized that the cost price is actually X plus 50 dollars. therefore ID loses 50 dollars on this project. Mary hires ID to put wallpaper at 4 walls in living room (using 1 roll) price agreed at 10 dollars, contract signed. owner goes on holiday ID then finds supplier to put up wall paper, cost is 9 dollars. So ID profit is 1 dollar. after installing ID goes to home and check, but when he is about to leave he slips and accidentally damages 1 side of the wall. because there is not enough left over to redo that one wall, ID has no choice but to buy a new roll, which is at another 10 dollars. at the end of the day, ID loses 9 dollars on this project. as high as 100% or more this is another extreme , same as the above, it is very very very rare for such a thing to happen. maybe 10 years ago IDs can pull off this stunt how? customers never do their own homework, put too much faith in IDs. No need to explain too much liao hor, willing buyer willing seller. this example quite straightforward. even simlim can sell one phone at a few thousand dollars.... So right now the question to ask is, what would be a fair amt/ percentage for IDs. to be honest, i have no idea. Time and effort needed to coordinate the projects, calling people, going down to different sites, making sure everything runs smoothly, creativity used when designing your home ( there is no price tag for art and creativity, like an art piece from van gogh already got people buying at a few millions)... another factor to consider is also how the ID runs his individual projects. A same project given to two different people will have two different costs tabulated.... Do note that im talking about cost here, not the final project quotation given to the home owner. Why is this so? because the costing is generally pegged at the amount of face the ID has. one example - Tom is a ID new in this line. Mary hires tom to do the painting of his home. Tom looks for subcon. Subcon sees that Tom is a new bird in this line, quotes tom at X price. Mary approaches RetiredInteriorDesigner, RetiredInteriorDesigner then looks for subcon who has worked for him for 20 years, and quotes him at (X minus 20 years of friendship and face price ) Im not able to speak for others, but lets just say that i rarely have projects with profit margins less than 40%, including the quotations i see flying around in these forums should they be my projects ( pretty sure i can hit at least 40% with that kind of quotations ) I hoped i answered your question. I will probably write about this in MORE DETAIL at my webpage. Do check it out And keep those questions coming !

Hello guys Retired interior designer of over 20 years here.... so feel free to ask me anything you guys wanna know about this industry and all... Cheers Sorry ah uncle find these emoticons very cute...

Well to be honest, with the right price Im sure there will be ton's of people who are more than willing to help you install...