Lucidacid

Phase #6- CARPENTRY WORKS It's almost done! After all the sweat, tears and lost brain cells, it's almost done! And I love it! The recessed area for our shoe cabinet is nicer than it looks. The lights there are not up yet... Kitchen! 60% done! One of my favorite spot. Study room table and movable pedestal (There's a reason why it's movable... for practicality) Cabinet in study room. Bedroom a little too 'woody'. Hope our bed can neutralise it!

Hello Fellow Renotalkers, Would appreciate your kind advices and thoughts on this. Have been in a dilemma for a long long time. Should I do a stucco brick wall effect or a craft stone brick wall? We are engaging an ID to do this for us, and I'm really grateful to Ivan. I called him in desperation and asked if they were willing to do up just this wall for me. He was so so nice and within 2 days, he met me at my convenience and I choped his services already. Initially the prices that he offered me were the same as my Contractor J, and another contractor whom I've sourced online, Contractor JW. However, after much negotiation, he brought down the price by $1000. $1000 ley! Stucco Brickwall Effect Advantages 1) About $1300 cheaper than a Craftstone brick wall. 2) Easier to maintain - no hidden corners or grouts. 3) Takes up lesser space, It's about 3CM thick only. Disadvantages 1) Looks plain and may look plastic-y Craftstone Brick wall Advantages 1) Very expensive because of the labour and quality bricks from Craftstone 2) Very pretty - gives a raw feel and nice to touch Disadvantages 1) Very expensive due to the materials and labour ((BUT BUT BUT, I managed to bring down the price by $1000. So now it is only $700 more expensive than Stucco... Hehehe I must be all IDs and Contractors' nightmare) 2) Difficult to maintain 3) Takes up more space Anyway Taobao sells bricks too, however, it's very powdery and Contractor J actually dissuaded us from doing so. One of his clients bought the Taobao bricks and even though they were more than willing to help fix it up, they told me that it really wasn't nice and that it was powdery. Another A* for them because they offered heartfelt advices and suggestions despite the fact I won't be getting them to do this for me... **Update: We decided to do stucco wall for easier maintenance! (:

#Phase 5 - Aircon Set-up and Boxing up **Please take note that it looks hideous now because it has not been boxed up yet, and the holes have yet to be plastered and covered. But in my opinion, the aircon trunking and drainage is hideous no matter what. Master Bedroom No trunking in this room apart from the door area. We placed the aircon nearer to the window because I'll be sleeping there. My husband is afraid of cold. Bedroom 2 Trunking in bedroom 2 leading to the aircon in MBR. Corridor A shoutout to the people from gain city for doing such a good job. Visited the apartment in the evening and everything looked perfect. Everything was clean, and aircon units were wrapped and taped to the wall. Yes, we paid a lot more but we have heard that gain city does good installation. We tried switching our units on, and they were very quiet! Previously I was still very worried because nobody we know has gotten MHI.

Will be answering your questions here, in hope that people with similar questions will benefit from this... A) Can you share your exp while dealing with contractors especially with your selected ones. I think firstly, my husband and I decided to prioritize what mattered to us the most. So it goes in this order, 1) Value for money (At first I wanted everything to be cheap, but our relatives told us that cheap will guarantee that the quality will be compromised. Since it is a house, longevity of each item should be a concern instead of being concerned about the price only.) 2) Personal values + morals - I'm just too jaded by unscrupulous IDs and contractors. Sometimes I suspect all they see us as cash cows only. Every ID talks about different things. For example; One of the IDs, told us that iquartz was cheaper than solid top and that solid top was better. I then found out afterwards, that it's nonsense. He also said that Kompacplus was the cheapest. I went to another firm, and they told me Kompacplus is very expensive, but not worth it. The IDs whom I've met smeared each other's name, which is totally different from our personal values. We know we definitely don't want to work with people like that. Recently, I've placed deposit with this ID to help me do my stucco brick wall effect. I know he isn't the cheapest option, but I just took his offer because I was very tired running about finding the best of everything. His price was reasonable so... 3) Quality - We've been to show flats and see how the quality is like. Like I mentioned above, the contractor whom I have engaged, has immaculate workmanship. Some of the other contractors did not have any show flats for me to visit so I wasn't too sure about them. B) Do they itemilise your quotation to U and how long did they took to provide ur 3D? Yes, they do itemize my quotation apart from plumbing works and electricity works, it came at a lump sum package price. Price was reasonable, so I took it. From my understanding (may not apply to all firms in Singapore), IDs will usually not quote you for this yet until they are billed by their electricians. So this is where they will slot in the hidden cost, and mark up their profit margin. My father engaged an ID for his house, and ended up paying so much more than he should if he had engaged a contractor. It took me 1 week to receive my 3D rendering. C) My wife's frd share her own exp where Most wld say no prob n yes to everything but end up they over promise n under quote which swell up later with add ons. How diff is J&E when compare to ID? Whenever J&E says yes to anything, I make it a point to write it down, snapshot the paper and send it to them in the whatsapp group chat. They too, take a photo of the cheque, and contracts and share it in the whatsapp group chat. This ensures transparency. Especially so for J&E when they have 15 or more projects on hand and would probably forget about the nitty gritty details. That could be one of the reasons why I'm enjoying so many additional perks now! Free this, free that! So far, my revised quotation is lower than what it originally was. Kept asking for discount and free things on different days. Horrible me Hope this isn't too long winded and would help you!

Hi bsxk, Yes we did realize that too but we have been to some show flats at Fernvale Riverbow. We were surprised by how the architect or whoever supposedly to think of the layout placed so much thought into that estate.Their kitchen was long enough, unlike ours; There was a indent for a wardrobe to fit into the different rooms; Their toilets weren't placed in such an awkward position. Hehe. But yes our estate is good too of course! You can check Hoe Kee, I just bought my sink, Grohe, at a heavily discounted price. The dimensions are just about right with the mixer placed at the side, or Heritage Gallery, which I'll be dropping by to take a look this week! Yes... Because our fridge is gigantic and doesn't fit anywhere else in the kitchen. It's probably going to block a little of our service yard entrance. We wanted to hack it down, but it is too hefty!

Oh no! Which contractor? If it's contractor J's project, it could be my flat because they were shocked when they first found out about how close the toilet bowl will be to the sink (Honestly, i think the designer of this estate who came up with such a floorplan probably didn't bring his brain along to work. ). The depth of the cabinet is affected - we are going to make it shorter, and got a counter top sink which, fortunately, fits well. (: I think what you saw was the moodboard of what I plan to do! But it's not the actual... We are going to have a top cabinet on top of the sink because we need the other side to be clear so baking will be easier for us. A top cabinet would make it a little claustrophobic for us.

Done! (:

PMed you! (:

Hi KenCan! PMed you the contacts. Whoa, a difference of 10k is a lot! Do look out for hidden costs quoted by the IDs offering you at a cheaper price. Also, check the materials provided for the carpentry and kitchen counter top! Hope this helps!

PMed you! (:

Done! (:

Here is the list of works I've done and the overall price. My am I glad with it. It's my dream house! Hope everything will turn out fine! 1) Study Room Hack Bedroom 3 wall, one side partial hack, the other side full hack including door. Glass panels with aluminium frame + Glass door with aluminum frame. 2) Stucco brick wall effect for the entire wall from shoe cabinet onwards. 3) Study table with pedestal on one side of the wall, the cabinet spanning the whole side on the other. 4) Overlay all kitchen and toilet and service yard tiles + Entrance kerb <- done free! 5) Iquartz U series table top with 12 ft bottom kitchen cabinets and 9 feet top cabinet, and 2 feet full cabinet. 6) Vanity cabinet for toilet with Mirror cabinet / Glass panels for toilet 7) Aircon ledge for living room 8) Shoe Cabinet 9) Lighting + Plumbing + Adding of any accessories at any number at anywhere. 10) MBR Wardrobe, Dressing Table etc. 11) Baywindow with storage and PVC Settee It has everything that we want even though it's my first house. Total cost: Estimated $35k + My cousin did wardrobe, kitchen cabinet, and false ceiling and she already spent $28k plus with another contractor. So so happy!!

http://detail.tmall.com/item.htm?id=42775308783&spm=2014.12193480.0.0 Hope this helps! (:

Hi! (: Oh my. Then laminates is definitely way cheaper. I got the the waterproof ones with lifetime warranty at $6.80 psf (before discount). That's what I did too. I appealed for HDB screeding. One thing though, if you get them to do screeding be prepared to be upset because 80% or so of the time, the floor that they do up isn't flat. I have a lot of bumps in my house and I'm still trying to rectify it after a month and a half. ((:

Furniture: Electronics God has been extremely good to us! Our bosses and friends have contacts all around town and so, we got everything at half of our budget. Example: We saw the exact same tiles at Hafary but it's about $5-6 per square feet. We got them at $2.30-$3.20 per square feet. And now electronics too! My best friend works in Samsung, so I got all these at more than 50% cheaper than Best Denki, Gain City etc. 55" FHD TV 12KG/9KG Dryer + Washer Humongous fridge. My fiancé and I drink lots of water in a day so the water supply was a must to us despite the space constraint in our HDB kitchen.

Hi! For my living room I decided to go for laminates since my workplace is using the exact same ones and they look gorgeous. Moreover, it's a place with high traffic and I always pour water onto the floor in large amount by accident. But yet, after years and years, it still looks gorgeous. Found out they are waterproof. Tiling is probably cheaper but I don't like the cold feel under my feet and the need for upkeep of the grout! So yes, I'm sorry I can't help you in the quote since I'm not doing it! Hope this helps!

Taobao Purchases ||1] 1) Door stopper (We don't need this anymore because we decided to install arm slider at $50) - Contact us if you want this. Giving it for free, but you have to pay for the registered postage hahaha! 2) Fake Ideaco Trashbins (I bought the real one too, and it's awesome because the plastic bag cannot be seen) 3) Kitchen Faucet 4) Dining Pendant Light 5) Directors' Lamp 6) Industrial Lights for toilets 7) Normal Lights with remote control and interchangeable light colors. 8) Bedside lamp <- This is so pretty, but PM E told us we should abandon this since our unit was a corner unit, meaning that the lighting points, if I were to add any extras, cannot be concealed. Thus they will be bulging out like a sore thumb. They cannot drill into outer walls for fear that it will compromise building safety. Letting this pair go at cost price. Do contact me if interested.

Phase #4 - Tiling + Wet Works Okay, they called me down on a tuesday when Hubby was working. I went down happily not knowing what to expect but lo and behold, I was asked to make so many decisions. This was something all the other renotalk posts did not prepare me for. Kitchen (Incomplete) We had contacts from our bosses to get Italian tiles at heavily discounted rates.. Less than $3 psf!! So yes, all our tiles are italian tiles and I really love them. This tile was a tad longer than the usual subway tiles so initially Project Manager E (PM E) was very worried how it would look. But it turned out to be more than okay. I love this more than any subway tiles I saw in Hafary. The best thing? It's matt. Pardon the horrible lighting because the lights are not up yet. Sorry! 1) Tiling Kitchen Wall Do you want flushed? or '工' designed? We chose 工.Do you want white grout? black grout? or cement grout? We chose cement grout. 2) Tiling Kitchen Floor Do you want step ladder or flushed? vertical or horizontal? We allowed them to decide for us (because our tiles are 900mm, way longer than the usual 600mm so it might not be flat if we did it other ways). The 3D rendering actually showed the tiles to be done vertically, but again, it was done differently, it's horizontal now.Do you want tile drop or kerb? We chose kerb. 4) Tiling Toilet Wall Do you want horizontal or vertical? We chose horizontal. Where do you want the tiles to start? (At this point I had a headache already) We chose to start from the corner where our eyes could see clearly so the tile will appear longer. The hidden corners had shorter/cut tiles. Do you want white grout? black grout? or cement grout? We chose cement grout for the floor, and black grout for the wall. ***Take note that black grout will fade over time, while white grout is difficult to maintain. Cement grout is easier to maintain but when it's dry it's close to white. When it's wet, it dark grey.MBR Toilet My fiancé was a little upset with the way the wooden porcelain tiles were placed, but PM E explained that vertical placement allows water to flow to the train easily compared to placing it horizontally. In the end, we settled with this because I find this pretty too! Wrong choice: I chose the black wall tiles because my current house has a very white toilet... and it peeves me off every time I step into it because dust and hair and all disgusting things can be seen on the tiles. However, black tiles also mean that soap scum may be easier to spot over time! *Best combi, White walls, black floor. Never ever ever ever use black solid top for the surface of your vanity cabinet (My current house has this combi). All the soap scum.. oh my. Common Toilet We wanted the same combination for our common toilet but the wall tiles were sold out (meaning that they did not have the quantity we needed). So saddie. But it's okay! Though it's not my favorite corner of the house due to the size. It looks decent too! 4) Entrance Do you want them to sand it round or do a pvc to hide? We chose sanding it round. Next Up: Aircon Ledge + Aircon Installation + Painting

All replied to! Except for blue_diamond, I think your inbox is full!

Sorry for the extremely late reply! I was quoted $35,000 plus before discount, for hacking of the wall for my study room and replacing it with glass panels with aluminium frames + door, kitchen carpentry, bay window with pvc settee, brick wall, shoe cabinet, wardrobe in mbr, dressing table + side tables, vanity cabinet + glass panels/door for shower areas + overlaying of tiles for everything else apart from our bedrooms and living rooms wall and floor, and also plumbing and electrical works which come as a package. There are many miscellaneous stuff as well that other contractors/IDs would also include in the list. I wouldn't say that they are extremely cheap, but reasonably priced compared to other contractors, and definitely cheap compared to IDs. We were quoted $44k - 50k and above for the works mentioned by IDs.

Hi Hazellina07! That's nice! E is too busy to deal with the screeder, especially so when our flooring is outsourced to wood culture ourselves. They don't reply messages or whatsapp messages! We had to call them in the end in order to engage their services. I believe your renovation will turn out well, or even better! (:

#2 Phase 2 - Cement Screeding We decided to get the HDB to do our cement screeding instead of our contractors in order to save cost. Apparently, all home owners who booked their flat before last year (2014) November gets free cement screeding for their homes. Of course, there are a few terms and conditions: 1) It will take about 4-5 weeks (It only took us 3 weeks to wait) 2) You can't do tiling after engaging HDB's contractor to do cement screeding 3) It's a standard 40mm 4) You need to email them to appeal/apply for it Since my husband and I planned to overlay our kitchen and toilet tiles, we needed them to do 50mm for us and so, we had to top up $550 for it. It still meant a lot of savings for us since our contractor quoted us $1400 (Before the need to use pre-pack cement). However, we regretted it so much. This was the cause of our renovation delay. We had them rectify the bumpy spots for 3 times already and it gets worse each time. My husband is a man with good temper and he almost never flares up. Well, this time, he slammed the door, punched his fist on the wall and scolded the guy so badly. If you happen to get Ah Guang to do your HDB Cement Screeding, request for a change, and avoid him at all cost. He is dishonest and continuously insisted that our floor was already straight. He only measured the smooth areas and raised his voice. Our laminate tiler insisted that it was impossible to lay the tiles on the floor without us feeling the unevenness after laying it. So now we are so so stuck. No choice lor. Suck thumb. #Phase 3 - Overlaying of Tiles + Hacking of Wall YAY! We still believe that our house is going to look gorgeous. At the end of the day, it isn't our intention to make a show flat, but a place we can call home. A place that is warm and cosy, and we can totally see it happening already! (: An advice: Do not go for laminate flooring if you plan to hack your wall and replace it with glass panels. You'll end up with hideous capping/profiling beside the glass panels like us. Boo hoo hoo.

Yes, they really have a lot of projects. Had to keep chasing them for my things and sometimes they get done wrongly. My renovation has just started. (:

Wow! I kept looking out for our fellow neighbors renovations here but could not find them. Did not expect that there are many neighbours using this platform too! He is really tied up, and honestly, I do regret a little engaging his services. You should only consider him if you are not in a rush to move in, and you have a lot of free time to manage the project yourself. Only then should you consider him. Just a heads up, you will have to continuously chase him for things, and things are always not fully done to your request. Personally, I feel that they are really really stretched too thin and are not ready for new projects. However, I know that they may be trying their best already. The project manager doesn't sleep until 1 am plus almost everyday, works 7 days a week, and is endlessly working.

472A (: It is? I thought all 4 rooms for this project should be the same. I agree that the kitchen entrance is very near the main entrance. Which is very annoying especially when I'm planning where my shoe cabinet should be. My neighbors are planning to change the kitchen entrance by building up a wall and hacking down the other due to feng shui concerns, but I'm keeping it due to budgetary limits. If I change the entrance I might have to sacrifice my see-through study room, which is a must-have for me.