dietgalvon
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Posts posted by dietgalvon
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On 10/28/2017 at 1:32 AM, blubugs said:Hi dietgalvon, I have been following your blog and will definitely look forward to your review on CX.
Just so you know, with your detailed accounts and pictures of the problem areas, I find them unacceptable (to me) and I am quite convinced that CX has not been up to standard or value (that you had paid for) as compared to other renovations I have seen. Even if your experience should be considered as an isolated one (to the good experiences that others has attested to), it is not a good enough reason for me to consider them anymore simply because one case is far too many, meaning who knows if they may treat my reno the same as yours!!
@blubugs Thank you for standing on my side!
I started a thread here hoping people can benefit from my experience because I benefited from others who shared. I share both good and bad issues I encountered. I try to be as factual as I can but it's up to everyone here to judge.
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On 10/27/2017 at 4:03 PM, plady said:Hello, thanks for sharing your renovation journey. Loads for me to learn! Possible to share your contact of your contractor? And No. 7 of your shortlisted contractors? Thanks in advance!
@plady As mentioned, won't be sharing my contractor's details. On No. 7, PM-ed.
On 10/28/2017 at 12:45 PM, fingerscross said:Cool comeback!
Well, if u look on the bright side, at least u will be walking down the aisle with a guy who will stand beside u and not in front of u saying "i told u so" when thgs go wrong.
@fingerscross Hahaha absolutely thankful for that!
On 10/29/2017 at 3:39 PM, teeteet said:Hi,
May I know if your track lights in the hall is bright enough? Also may I have the contact number of Ah Jia?
Thank you.
@teeteet Yup it is. PM-ed on Ah Jia's contact.
On 10/30/2017 at 1:41 AM, joko said:hi @dietgalvon! Beautiful house! Must feel so happy that renovation has come to an end (more or less?)... I am currently starting the renovation for my own place and was wondering if you could PM me the contacts for the following suppliers:
SERVICE YARD WINDOWS - JUN CONTRACTOR
BLINDS - U SERVICE
GLASS WORKS - AH JIA
Thanks!
@joko PM-ed
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12 hours ago, jez2014 said:Ah well, I see!
Good luck with the review! May I suggest though, that you don't burn bridges. You are still covered by warranty for some time mah.
Hahaha prior to us making full payment already ignoring us, and after all the blunders during rectification works, we definitely won’t be looking for them anymore.
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7 hours ago, Clarence Lye said:i think it really depends on individual luck.
the same ID/contractor may be good for others, doesnt mean it's good for you as we all have different level of tolerance and acceptance of defect.
So long i think if they are willing to rectify, it's still not so bad. Better than giving you 1000 reasons and then keep delaying your rectification works.
Overall from what i read here, J&E is not bad. I have 2 friends using them and are both okay as well.
Perhaps communication breakdown, or just sueyloh.@Clarence Lye This much, I agree. There were so many good reviews of J&E and I got to know them from this forum myself.
Did I not mention that they rectified the other defects or did people choose to only see that I posted about the defects that were unaddressed? I even posted that the guy who drilled stuff for us did a good job lah! However, it is also a fact that E ignored our texts and failed to rectify a good portion of defects.
Surely not communication breakdown, because from what I experienced, E takes some time to respond, but will eventually respond when we call him. He replies fast on our questions but not when issues cropped up.
1 hour ago, jez2014 said:Yeah, I have to agree with Clarence. Maybe some sort of communication breakdown occured, or just plain unlucky bah.
I think that there's no such thing as an incident free renovation, but as long as:1. the client is not too fussy/OCD
2. the contractor has rectified the mistakes
Then everyone should be able to move on bah.
TS, maybe you have not seen the REAL horror stories on Renotalk? There are people left with homes that are half renovated when the contractor or IDs abscond with the money leh!
We used JE in 2014-2015 and were highly satisfied. My brother is also getting his own resale flat sometime 2018, and we would still recommend JE to him.
@jez2014 Well, I've moved on after CX got the tilers to redo the worst issue i.e. the common toilet grouting. There were other defects caused by them but we were simply ignored. We got HDB to salvage the service yard door issue which was also bothering us and though it was not as perfect as what it came as, I decided to leave it as that.
To be fair, 3 weeks after my last text, someone from CX did call me (after they redo the grouting) and I still owe her a call because she asked if there was anything else that they need to rectify for us. I told her I wanted to call her back because there were so many things I wanted to feedback on, but I have no intention of getting them to rectify anymore. I had enough of seeing more dents and cracks each time they come up.
Surely my situation ain't as bad as those horror stories, but I think I did enough research to avoid that lah. Of course there are still people who had good experience and you guys should continue to recommend them! I'm just sharing based on my own experience.
ANYWAY, I will be doing a review with the good, the bad and relevant pictures so, I guess till then.
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23 hours ago, justiceleague11120 said:Hi I must comment that I have much interest in your unit and am sorry to hear of such events,
but I am sorry not for you, but for J & E.
in fact your should count yr blessings that you choose them.
why i can make such comments? cos i am one client who actually went to your unit and look at their worksmanship and sign up with them.
I have gone to see more than 6 other contractor jobs and none pleased me more than urs.
Yes, i am a client of them and my unit was handed over last 2 weeks ago and here i am writing to say that you may not even know they have done good things to u.
let me educate u a bit.
1) All the cabinet doors used by them are actually 18 mm thickness unlike some contractors who will give between 12 to 15 mm, meaning they dun cut on quality.
2) your Kompacplus top, in case you din know is actually all flushed in same directions, urs is L-shaped; if they do not have designer sense, yrs will be one side horizontal and one side vertical. so this shows they pay attention to their works. I dun tink you even know actually such layouts costs more and maybe E also din tell u
3) their internal coloured PVC is nice; i have another quote that normal white pvc is cheaper than them but to top up is actually higher than J & E.
4) carpentry does not have much sharp edges and finishing at one glance is good.
Next i also believe after yr sage J & E have improved;
E was the one who asks us to do a thorough defects check before we start reno
1) he even asks me to pour water and buy a scrub to scrub the bathroom floor. Due to budget i only overlay one master bathroom; common bathroom only did a kerb. E says if HDB developer already did a bad job ; they cant rescue ( GIGO. ) he mentioned got 1 case, likely urs that they din even do anything in the common bathroom but after washing; all the grouts came off and owners requested them to redo. so he wanted make sure it din happen to us and we must check properly.
2) E also asks us to check on the aluminium windows and frames. again he cited a case that owners may not have checked properly; hdb Developers may touch up themselves by spraying over defects and then after our cleaning up washing, the marks become evident and then they kanna blamed. He says why will they want to damage clients'hse when $$ not collected full.
3) items are not to be delivered before handover. again E says and advised us to check all reno works properly before arranging delivery cos they dun wan to be blamed for items not under their control as accidents can happen.
anyway my project i must say is well run and kept to the schedule i wanted, so i will rate them 8 out of 10. sometimes they rush me too much over the whatapp groupchat for delivery items and lights and plumblings fittings but overall it was a pleasant reno journey and i have paid them full on handover day le.
@justiceleague11120 Great to hear that you had an awesome experience with J&E. Like I mentioned in the previous post, what I shared here is based on my experience only, and others might feel differently. There were many good reviews of their carpentry in this forum, which was why I engaged them eventually. You can share your pleasant experience and recommend people to them if you like!
That said, on one glance, anything can look fine; it takes more than one glance to find a cracked tile. But workmanship is not based on ‘one glance’. In all honesty, J is very knowledgeable in carpentry and I’m not doubting that. That was why for my MBR wardrobe which I paid $4.4k for, other IDs quoted me only $3.3 to $3.5k but I still engaged them. It is no doubt that carpentry was one of the least problematic of the journey, but it is not perfect to the extent that it justifies the price difference and whatever we were made to go through.
Thank you for your attempt to ‘educate’ me; but I have done a fair bit of research to know enough. We trust(ed) their expertise in carpentry, hence we paid a premium for it. For the Kompacplus, it was two rectangle pieces, not 2 pieces which was cut in diagonally to the corner, hence it wouldn’t cost more. This much, I’m sure.
Thank you for letting me know what E said about our issues like the common toilet grouting and the aluminium window frames. Because he went totally radio silent on us.
We approached HDB after E (or his tilers) did a slipshod job in patching the grouts. HDB acknowledged that the job was poorly done. But I did mention that recently CX got the tilers back to redo it and it’s okay now. This shows that the tilers can do a proper job, but they chose to spoil things instead (that’s worse than simply not doing anything at all). As the project manager, he ought to manage his tilers. If I have to manage his tilers, I would have outsourced all the tiling works.
For the aluminium window frames, it is not possible I did not spot them before they came up to redo tiling works at the kitchen because I mentioned above I spent 5 hours cleaning the whole area scrapping off paint stains left by CX’s painters. If there were any defects, it would have been surfaced already. Also, when I sent the pictures to E, he did not respond at all. Instead he responded to you on my issue but did not rectify the obvious scratches and dents. I wonder why.
Regarding “items are not to be delivered before handover”, I trust he is referring to the glass top which was scratched. Handover was on 29 July, the glass was delivered on 8 Aug, how is that before handover? I’ve reminded him to ask his guys to be careful with our new glass top. All black and white – in our whatsapp chat.
Glad that your project was on time. Because unfortunately, ours took 11 weeks and 4 days for a “6 to 8 weeks” project which he estimated. Handover was supposed to be a week earlier but his reason for the delay was “having another handover on the same day”. In fact, even on handover day, the works are not completed and he told us to leave his padlock on so that his guys can complete the rest within the next few days (which they did not until weeks later). Ultimately, their rectification works (minus the common toilet grouting and the unaddressed defects) completed only in end September.
Well, I wasn’t done with the review I wanted to write on them but your reply prompted me to write part of it out already. Sorry that this sounds more negative than I hoped. Being someone who does tonnes of research before deciding on a vendor, I am very upset with my own choice because my fiance actually preferred the last ID we met. He gave in to me, but I caused him more trouble because he was always the one who took leave to take care of these.
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On 10/19/2017 at 4:55 PM, boon said:Hi dietgalvon, love your house! I actually read from the first page to the last haha.
Really like how you source stuff from taobao too
Sorry to hear that the journey hasnt been such a pleasant one and that there is so much pain even now. Hope you're able to reach a amicable solution with your contractor.
Can I request for you to PM me your contacts for:
1) SERVICE YARD WINDOWS - JUN CONTRACTOR
2) BLINDS - U SERVICE
3) GLASS WORKS - AH JIA
4) INSTALLER FOR YOUR DIGITAL LOCKS
@boon PM-ed (hope I PM-ed the right person)
8 hours ago, Waffles said:I am thinking to sign with CX reno but chanced upon this experience.
By the way, have you managed to settle everything with CX?
@Waffles A lady from CX called us up recently and offered to re-do the common toilet grouting, and they did. Previously we got HDB's help to mitigate the damages on the service yard door, but I wasn't pleased that the damages were created in the first place (and they refuse to acknowledge). Nevertheless, it's a pain dealing with them and I would consider it as case closed for now.
We weren't wow-ed by their workmanship to be honest (workmanship was the reason we didn't got for an ID despite the similar (or even cheaper) quotes). They did not fulfill the value we believed they could give us (in addition to the many blunders) so I wouldn't recommend them based on my experience. It may be different for others.
8 hours ago, Jas28 said:A very Nice Home and thanks for sharing your experience on your renovation Journey.
Do you mind sharing the contact for the below
1)window Jun contractor and the toilet PD door and the quote 2)J&E
3)electrician contact 4)ID - MH of L**** P****** S******* 1. PM-ed on windows, PD door was through my contractor
2. I won't be sharing their contact as I personally do not recommend them
3. Electrician is through my contractor
4. PM-ed
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On 10/17/2017 at 6:26 PM, Blade07 said:Sorry to hear that you encountered so much trouble for this contractor at the end. If it's me I would definitely not pay them the last % as the works are not finished to an acceptable condition.
Nice shelving from taobao. May I have the link too. Am considering that too.
@Blade07 Yup, there are way too many things to pick on such that I'm still not done with the review on them.
Anyway, if you're referring to the bomb shelter shelvings, here it is: https://ezbuy.sg/product/20000001769476.html.
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On 10/16/2017 at 9:45 AM, Ng Jia Minh said:Hi,
Can you ok me the contact for renoguyz?
Thanks
@Ng Jia Minh PM-ed
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On 10/9/2017 at 12:26 PM, Lunffy said:Nice! how often do you need to charge or change the battery? Does it use normal battery? Quite worried about the lock losing power and you're stuck outside the house.
Can you share the installer contact?
@Lunffy Was told that the batteries can last 6 months to a year. My friend's low batt alert came when it's close to a year. The Samsung one has an emergency key (which I will keep with my mum who lives nearby) and I believe the Gateman also has its mechanism; I haven't really explored it!
I used mydigitallock's service.
On 10/9/2017 at 12:43 PM, spikeling said:Hi, I am also interested to get the Gateman Lock. Do you have the Qoo10 link? Thks!
@spikeling The seller is CnK21.
5 hours ago, fingerscross said:Hi, will try to keep my advise short since i am unable to pm u. If i were in ur situation, i would not fix the toilet tiles and whatever damaged items b4 coming to an agreement with contractor on the amt of discount to be deducted frm final payment. I wld advise on taking a softer approach when dealing with your contractor mainly bcos those thgs are not part of the contract. Have u wondered why those thgs r damaged and not thgs supplied by contractor like cabinet etc....just some food for thought here.
@fingerscross We ain't even aggressive towards our contractor, we told them the issues, sent the pictures and put forth our enquiries as a matter-of-factly (no more smiley faces and all but surely not mean to them). But firstly, they denied the damages and when I further explained, they simply ignored us. So, we are quite at a loss, surely cannot be waiting for them forever. They had ignored us for 2 weeks.
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Hello all, it had been 7 months since I first started this thread, and 5 months since renovation started. We have pretty much settled with whatever sh*t our contractor had left behind. E did not get back to us on our query on the VO, the damaged service yard doors and the lousy job their tiler had done.
UPDATE ON COMMON TOILET GROUTING
HDB officer came and left. He said CX's tiler did a poor job in patching up the grouts and they won't be able to rectify it. He advised that the re-grouting is too small a job that he doubt any contractor would do. He advised us to go back to CX. My fiance did consider, but I'm rather worried (hiccups after hiccups when they came over and worse, we are completely being ignored now). For now, we would want to get a tiler to redo it for us so do drop me a PM if you guys know any tiler who don't mind doing a small job like this.
Previously, I told fiance that I want to leave a bad review here, to warn others against CX. He didn’t think that’s necessary because everyone makes the final choice themselves. But that day, he told me, “the least you could do is to leave a bad review for them”. LOL.
I'll get to it, asap. In the meantime, posting one of the final items we got for our home.
DIGITAL DOOR LOCKS
This is seriously one of the best things I've bought for the home. I LOVE THEM TO BITS. It is so convenient entering and leaving the home now! Doors unlocked within 2s with one fingerprint, and doors locked automatically after you enter/leave the home.
Background: Asking me to bring keys is one of the hardest things. The fiance and I got locked out of my home a couple of times because I rarely bring my keys lol. So, this is a necessity for us.
Cons: My mum reminded us of the possibility of being locked out if any of the locks fail us (especially we have it on both the metal gate and main door), but I chose to go all out. Keyless is still my priority. Furthermore, my friend who installed both had told me that so far it's been good for her.
I did a fair bit of research and decided to get my locks off qoo10. Take note that not all locks can work on HDB metal gate. I also sourced for my own installer because the recommended installer from qoo10 seller charges a bomb.
Metal gate: Gateman F10 $127
Main door: Samsung DP930 $405
Installation: $300 (both) +$100 for Gateman remote control
Here's the end product. The Samsung door lock goes well with my taobao door viewer (both are in rose gold)!
Although my metal gate and main door locks comes with fingerprint/pin and fingerprint/tag key/pin respectively, you can only use one feature to unlock at any one time. You can deactivate any feature, but not use more than one. Fingerprint feature is my favorite because it takes only 2s to unlock (tag key too, but it's not keyless so I don't fancy). ^^
View from the inside of the home!
Can you spot the Gateman remote control at the side?
Well, I got the lock off qoo10 without opting in for the remote control because I don't know what it does. Turns out, the installer told us that it would be hard to unlock the Gateman lock without the remote control (they sell it for $100).
The two options are:
1) Unlock using pin/fingerprint from the outside when you're inside the house.
2) Open the metal box of the lock using a key, reset 'something' which will open the gate, then lock the metal box back.It's impossible to unlock the metal gate lock from the inside and seriously to use a KEY to reset a digital door lock? Of course we chose to top up $100 for the remote. It opens when we click the 'open gate' button.
JUST. SO. AWESOME.
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7 hours ago, Songz said:Mind sharing the link of the bean bags.
@Songz Here they are:
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15 hours ago, Pooroldman said:Hi ,
So Ezbuy deliver to yr Door step ? Or collection point ? ( Carpark)
Thanks
@Pooroldman Delivery to home, but they do charge a delivery fee.
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On 9/29/2017 at 11:11 AM, Peterborough said:Can I have contacts for these contractors? many thanks!
SERVICE YARD WINDOWS - JUN CONTRACTOR
BLINDS - U SERVICE
@Peterborough PM-ed
On 9/30/2017 at 6:35 PM, laylign said:Hi @dietgalvon, may I know what is your evorich vinyl flooring colour? Thanks in advance!
@laylign I chose Ice Maple
On 9/30/2017 at 9:49 PM, Songz said:The beanbags look so comfy !!!
Just to check where did you purchase the bean bag and how much dies it cost ??
@Songz They sure are comfy; one of them came with removable cover, would be better if both came with removable covers! Both are from taobao - about $150 each.
On 9/30/2017 at 11:06 PM, simks said:Hi dietgalvon,
Thanks for sharing your reno journey. I would like to check with you for the name and contacts of the 3 ID/contractor below, and also for the window installation please. Thanks so much.
ID/Contractor - N from R*******
Contractor - E from DX I*******
ID - MH of L**** P****** S*******@simks PM-ed
22 hours ago, sgdollposse said:Hi @dietgalvon, may i have the contact for your windows? For the taobao items that you've purchased, do you assemble them yourself or you get your contractor to do it? Do they come with assembly manuals?
Lastly, any particular reason for not having wall skirting? Many thanks!
@sgdollposse PM-ed you on windows vendor.
For taobao purchases, we assembled mostly ourselves, save for the TV console that our electrician kindly helped us. Not all come with manuals and I do admit that it could be quite a headache. But the fiance managed to fix everything up because he can tell from the screws where they belong (lol). It would be a safe bet to get your contractor guys to help, though!
As for skirting, main reason was that I like my furniture flushed to the wall and it looks more minimalist like that. Doesn't collect dust too!
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19 hours ago, Clarence Lye said:btw, can u share with me ur contact to do the metal trimming for ur vinyl?
iwanna do for my main door only. evorich say theirs can't do and will have to trim door -.-
Suggest me the ugly rounded trimming which is nono@Clarence Lye Evorich did it for me. Initially my liaison told me that too, but I don't believe that trimming will result in the need to trim door because it's really thin. So I told him to get his guy to bring an extra piece for the main door nevertheless (if need to trim then I will not go ahead). But end up, it works fine. Lol.
You need to confirm if the trimming is the same as mine though. Heard that there are some bulkier metal trimmings in the market.
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14 hours ago, fingerscross said:Your toilet tiles look terrible. Hope you will reconsider about regrouting yourself. My advise is to get your contractor to regrout the tiles. The funny thing with tile grouting is the more you want it to stay, the more it comes off on its own. Those you wanna remove, just holds on for dear life. Especially grey coloured grout, it seems tougher and stick better compared to the white
My prev reno, the living room tile near the entrance had cardboard stain. Area was 1/4 of your toilet. Tiler took abt 1.5 hrs to scrape away and regrout. He was v careful, and still a tile chipped in the process. It wasnt obvious so i just let it pass.
However if u think u are up for it, do get a pair of gd knee guard. You'll most likely be on all four for hours.
Good luck with the rectifications......the final bit of the journey can sometimes be a nightmare.
@fingerscross I know right, but what can we do when this is the kind of work we are given? My contractor is rather popular so I'm truly stunned by the quality of work!
6 hours ago, Lunffy said:Thanks for the wonderful & helpful review! I've learnt alot from you.
Understand that your reno cost you 31k, can i check roughly how much you spent in total?
I'm thinking 50k inclusive all electronic & furniture purchase for 5 room... Not sure doable or not..
Can you pls provide the contacts for:
SERVICE YARD WINDOWS - JUN CONTRACTOR
BLINDS - U SERVICE
GLASS WORKS - AH JIA
@Lunffy Renovation cost us about $31k, other works that I outsourced and appliances cost us about $13k but together with the items needed for a home to be functional, I think we spent a good $47-8k. Actually I'm not too sure where the money goes to especially when I bought a considerable portion from taobao.
It's good to cater for unexpected spending; in the course of setting up a home, the money really flow out like water lol.
By the way, PM-ed on the contacts!
5 hours ago, Clarence Lye said:waa looks terribe with all the damages.. definitely a no-no to accept it.
make sure they rectify it before any VO or last payment is made. This is not acceptable.@Clarence Lye I really wondered if I was being all too perfectionist by picking on these. We have decided not to let their guys come into our flat because they cause more damage every time they came to rectify things. What an irony. I've told them I will hold payment until I find someone to rectify these, though I'm not sure where to begin other than waiting for HDB to reply me. Until now, contractor is still trying to deny that damage caused by them though. Would anyone in the right mind do this to their own flat? *rolls eyes*
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Happy news first - that is we have already cleaned up the house again after the tiling rectification and moved things back to where they belong. So glad now fiance and I can shop online/play game in the same space. This journey had been rather exhausting especially nearing the end, I don't even have the mood to update on my buys for the home anymore. Coupled with the endless OTs and wedding in 2 months, I try to avoid this whole renovation topic because it stresses me out. I am scared, lol. But I'm here because I just gave some serious thought to what I need to reply my contractor on some outstanding issues.
We bought the silicon tube from Home-fix promptly because the gaps bother me to no end, especially the one above because it face the main door. Just need to scrape the excess off the flooring, haha.
We also decided to clear up the service yard - the cleaning, sorting, assembling the shelves and eventually putting the stuff back took us almost a day. Got the shelves from taobao, but each shelf consists of 160 screws to tighten! Poor fiance, I do not recommend DIY-ing this at all, should just pay to get this done lol. Ladder also from taobao - really useful as I cleaned every single tile in the kitchen! Pheww, the amount of dust from the tiling rectification is crazy.
Here's a picture of our completed living area!
We decided to go without a sofa but surprisingly both our mums seems to like our beanbags!
We thought the older generation would prefer seeing a sofa in the living room haha.
What's outstanding is the common toilet, which we are still waiting for HDB to get back to us because we want to re-grout the entire toilet ourselves. Initially told E there are gaps in the grout, tiler patched up some gaps with cement. When we said we want the effect as in the kitchen (it was nicely done), tiler's next move is ... as what the pictures below show.
The toilet floor is completely dry at the time of taking the photos and it's so gross I don't know what to say. This certainly wasn't the state it was in when I handed the flat to my contractor.
THE LAST...
I think I mentioned that I took 5 hours to clean the service yard windows and bi-fold door because of the many paint stains on them. When I was re-cleaning the last weekend (after tiling rectification), I noticed that... the door was 'disfigured'.
We didn't even highlight any defects on this door, but it somehow this happened. The marks in the second picture gives me goosebumps everytime I look at it.
This was the last straw. I was angry that this happened, but even more angry that the workers did this but no one surfaced to us. I do not condone dishonesty. I don't believe it is not obvious that these are defects, please.
New scratches and dent too, but at least it doesn't give me goosebumps.
I'm sure someone, somehow, somewhere, something was done because this patch of grey was not there when I cleaned the area previously.
These were the scratches I found prior to the tiling rectification (in this pic they have sanded the sharp edges) and together with other scratches, I agreed to live with because J said it is BSC's windows and he can't do anything about it. Buy hey, doesn't mean you need to give me more scratches lei!
We decided to take down J&E's padlock - at that point, we only knew that we cannot afford to let their guys into our home anymore because there's more destruction every single time. I have emailed HDB to see if these can be salvaged, though I highly doubt.
By the way, E has responded that they will compensate for the glass top, I will let him know that I want the full sum to be compensated. And also after discussion with my mum, I decided to surface a few other issues. I haven't had the time to talk to my mum (no thanks to OTs) so I haven't replied E for 2 days. In case E thinks that we want to run away from the last payment, I better text him right after this.
Important! Please always hold the last payment of the renovation amount until you are 100% satisfied. I am so glad I held the last payment though initially I didn't intend to do so. I even overpaid from the initial quotation amount. But there was a VO so there's still outstanding payment to be made. Sigh.
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On 9/19/2017 at 10:05 PM, Songz said:Love the flooring color, really make the house look cozy
Like the table glass too but will it be hard to clean (Eg. Smudge marks and etc) ??
@Songz Thanks! Most proud of the flooring and laminate we chose, haha. Ehh so far the glass is good, easier to clean the table in fact!
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2 hours ago, iichigoz said:Hi there,
Is it possible to tell me the cost of your blinds? You only did your living hall?
@iichigoz Would be better if you contact the vendor to ask for a quote. I did Venetian blinds for living and MBR, roller blinds for the two common rooms.
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On 9/15/2017 at 11:32 AM, homesweethome96 said:Hihi dietgalvon,
Can you pls provide the contacts for:
SERVICE YARD WINDOWS - JUN CONTRACTOR
BLINDS - U SERVICE
GLASS WORKS - AH JIA
Thank you in advance!
@homesweethome96 PM-ed
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RENOVATION IS
(ALMOST)OVER!Well, I'd consider it to be so. Contractor was only willing to rectify the affected tiles at the kitchen wall, we are just very exhausted to argue anymore. Because their guys are very careless (resulted in chips on our doors and windows), before rectification, I reminded E to ask his guys to be careful with our stuff, especially the glass top on our dining table.
Initially the fiance spotted that there are gaps between carpentry and wall/floor, but to save any contact with J&E, we decided to get the silicon from Home-fix to DIY. But again, Murphy's law: two deep scratches on our glass top, along with many smaller scratches.
Texted them, message read, but no response at all (as usual). -__- Well, so be it. I'll get to the review on them soon, but in gist, I really regretted my choice. Argh, why did the fiance not insist on engaging the ID instead!
In the meantime, I'll do a review of the other vendors I engaged for the home! The irony is that, I have less issues dealing with my vendors compared to my contractor.
FLOORING - EVORICH HERF VINYL
Liaison: Kenneth
Flooring, we love it. The platform constructed by them, was all good as well.
The main issue I had was the capping that they used. I was initially told that no capping would be used, so I was rather unhappy when I saw the ugly capping! And more so after the liaison person told me that Evorich doesn't carry the slim trimming I wanted so it cannot be changed.
But hey, he did change it in the end.
He did tell me to give him 2 weeks to see how he can help me but I wasn't optimistic. But one day ,he just told me that he managed to source for the metal trimming and fixed a date to come down to change.
Next issue, the vinyl was rather uneven. We thought it was the uneven cement screed (it could be).
Promptly, he arranged for someone to come down on a certain date. And viola!
SERVICE YARD WINDOWS - JUN CONTRACTOR
I outsourced because IDs/contractors are charging about $500 to $600plus. I chanced upon his contact and contacted him.
Everything about this contractor was how I liked it to be. First meeting to sign some application form to install windows: 5 minutes. His guys came down to install windows: 45 minutes. Fast hand fast leg, and cleaned up the area after that. Showed us on the spot that the windows are smooth. Fuss-free!
BLINDS - U SERVICE
Initially, thought that they are a little weird for being pissed because we asked for a quote from another vendor. However, their pricing is very reasonable, and while choices of types of blinds is rather limited, the quality is good (venetian blinds better than the other vendor, roller blinds exactly the same as what the other vendor offers).
The fiance was there during the installation and he loved how good their workmanship was. The couple also taught the fiance how to maintain the blinds, how to open the windows when blinds are down, etc. Did saw a few reviews subsequently that their replies are curt, slow, etc. But our experience with them has been alright. (Better affinity with the fiance, though. Not sure why he likes them so much!)
GLASS WORKS - AH JIA
Actually, by the time I was sourcing for a glass top, I knew I didn't want to get J&E to assist even though I didn't have any contacts. Things weren't that bad between us yet;I was tolerating his non-response etc so I told the fiance I want to deal directly with the vendor whom I pay even if it's more troublesome (which isn't at all!).
This turned out to be my favourite vendor actually!
Liaising was a breeze: he would fix a date to take measurements, send a quote, fix a date to install, and that's that. Super fast and fuss-free!
You probably can't spot anything wrong with this photo. And initially, we didn't too. One day later, I realized that one side is not cut out to fit my table nicely. I texted him, feeling afraid he would not care because we have already paid him.
BUT his response was again prompt. No questions asked, he said he will change a new piece for us. Gave me a date, and his guy really came to install the new piece of glass. Actually his guy say that the glass is cut in a straight line, it is our carpentry that is not straight. But anyhow, they changed it for us immediately!
The bonus is...
This piece of glass that was a cut out of my glass top due to the L-shape. I asked him to let us have it since technically we paid for it. My mum wanted it for her coffee table and I gave him the dimensions, asked him how much it costs to cut to that and to temper the sides of the glass. My mum thought it's not worth it so I told him to just give me the raw glass.
End up, my mum say it fits her coffee table perfectly, and the sides are tempered. She even asked me if I paid the vendor to give her what she wants lol. I don't know if he accidentally did it according to my dimensions or what, but this was a pleasant surprise.
We will be getting him to make a new piece of glass for our glass top that J&E damaged. Top-notch service!
Till the next!
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On 9/11/2017 at 10:51 PM, Clarence Lye said:idont like the grout powder, it still looks/feels cement to me.
Any recommend grout shield?
I'm looking at this grout shield from GroutShieldSingapore and seems good from review.. but to apply on top of our existing grout.. will it be too "uneven" as it's on top of the existing grout..?@Clarence Lye Grout powder beats having real cement smacked in random parts of my toilet!
23 hours ago, spooky said:Since the uneven color is because the tiler filled up the gaps with cement but not grouting powder, can't he do another touch up by using the grouting powder? Instead of re-grouting the whole floor. Or do they need to mix the cement and the powder before touching up the gaps? Very lazy of them if they just applied cement alone the first time around -_-
Grout shield goes on top of the grout (cement/powder). It acts like a sealant. Pros is that it doesn't look like cement, doesn't turn dark when it's wet, hence looks cleaner.
@spooky I really wonder why! He could do the service yard one perfectly but my contractor say he had to scrape the original grouting and re-grout so it's a lot of work. We could tell that tiler didn't want to do it but seems like even contractor also cannot manage him. I don't know anymore. -___-
Thanks for the info! I'll explore grout shield after I settle the current grouting issue.
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7 hours ago, spooky said:I completely understand how you feel and the emotional/physical exhaustion that you must be going through. Towards the end of reno, you get so tired of it and you just want it to end, even overlooking some imperfect areas because you don't want things to drag on forever. My toilet grouting is a big issue too. I am looking to regrout and apply a layer of grout shield on it. If your grout color being uneven is the only concern, you can consider grout shield as well. Can choose from many colors and it supposedly keeps the grout looking clean. Hang in there... you'll get there eventually. Bit by bit.
Thanks @spooky for the encouragement! It will be the end if all goes well tomorrow as they rectify the last bit; I just hope they don't break my stuff in the process.
When I asked my contractor, he said to re-grout, we have to scrape out all the existing grouting (he say tedious that's why tiler doesn't want to do -_-) and then re-grout using the cement mix powder. Does the grout shield goes on top of the powder? I've put up a request to get the powder from HDB lol. Hope they would entertain me.
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12 hours ago, Songz said:Everyone want their place to be perfect of cause.
There are sure to be some give and take during renovation but for me if its eye sore then I will not accept it.
If you have all have decided to close the chapter , move on and enjoy those parts of the house that was good (Just my 2 cents worth)
@Songz of course! I looked past the imperfections in workmanship and the fiancé, he took it upon himself to rectify what we can do ourselves instead of getting contractor to rectify it. We really tried our best to compromise!
Honestly, even if anything was an eyesore, and contractor refuse to rectify, what can we do? We eventually decided to regrout the common toilet ourselves because we couldn't accept its current state.
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UPDATES ON RECTIFICATION WORKS
Well, following the SECOND rectification (first was during 'handover', second was after the handover as we were told we can get them to rectify what defects we find after we moved in), what's outstanding were some some small defects that we later found, and the one that was outstanding since day 1: the common toilet grouting.
Sine it was just that bit, we decided to clean the home thoroughly and move furnishings to where they belong. We also came to terms with the extra VO imposed on us even when we had to clean off the paint stains ourselves (I took 5 hours just to clean the stains on the service yard door frames and window frames) and decided to focus on our wedding that is less than 3 months away instead.
BUT things don't always go as planned.
As I stared at the kitchen shelf I put against the half hacked wall, I noticed something wrong with the wall tiles. It was already 10+pm and we were ready to leave after a whole day of cleaning. But I decided to check the whole piece of wall.
It is full of tiles laid unevenly, tiles with jagged edges, a cracked tile, and a tile with a dent in it. I literally sprawled myself on the floor in disbelief. After 3 long months of renovation, followed by 1 month of cleaning up, we really wanted to move in there already.
And this bloody wall which we paid $1.7k to hack and make good in total, came with so many flaws.
We labelled everything, and when E confirmed the next date of rectification, we wrote down all the issues on the masking tape, and even numbered the tiles that are to be changed.
We also moved EVERYTHING back into the rooms because we didn't want to dirty all our furnishings which had already been cleaned, including the living room and kitchen. We just wanted this thing to end and focus on our wedding.
LO AND BEHOLD
1) All the minor defects found were rectified. Electrician remained the only redeeming factor throughout this journey.
2) Common toilet was not re-grouted. Grouting was filled with cement here and there i.e. grouting colour is still uneven. I wondered if it was done deliberately that the bottom of the white wall grouts are now stained with cement. AND I GIVE UP - told the fiance that I will re-grout the ridiculous toilet floor myself because it's pointless the toilet is just getting more hideous, and they will just say no works are done here and refuse to rectify it.
3) Only 1 tile at the kitchen wall was replaced. Uneven and cracked/dent tile ignored, jagged sided tiles were simply filled with grouting powder. When queried, E said that the cracked tile is directly next to our carpentry, so cannot be helped.
At this point, even fiance, the Mr Nice Guy also almost exploded lol. While we were very stringent with HDB, with us getting them to replace even uneven tiles, our contractor which we paid for is giving us this.
AND THEN WE MET J
Conclusion
1) We are being difficult by picking at every single crack in the wall tiles that cannot be seen from a distance.
My reply: I spotted the crack when I was standing from my new kitchen shelf that is at least 45cm away from the wall. Proceeded to show J a chip in one of the tile that was replaced but we did not raise because it is not major (actually I wanted to raise but at that time, fiance the nice guy disallowed).
2) Accept the crack/etc and he will give us some rebate.
My reply: Rectify it. (In my mind: If money was the main consideration, we wouldn't have picked them because they ain't cheap. If money was the main consideration, we wouldn't pay $150 to replace 8 tiles in the MBR toilet.)
3) The affected tiles will be replaced. One tile that has jagged edges is not caused by them so cannot change (ok, that piece I may have missed out during HDB rectification, so give benefit of doubt).
4) Live with uneven tiles because after hacking it is not easy to lay tiles evenly. (We let this slide.)
5) J & E gave conflicting versions regarding the $150 that we had to top up for the half-hacked kitchen wall. J said it includes making good the tiles affected. But we did not pursue because we are just tired - fiance is relieved they agreed to rectify the bloody wall.
6) The frame of the windows right beside the half wall suffered some cosmetic injuries which cannot be helped because it is BSC's windows. Yup, got to live with them lor.
***I hope no one will go feedback to E about this because I am just sick of listening to any explanation that turned out to not be factual. I hardly can deal with untruths. Can't wait for this episode to end.
Project Muji Home - of white, wood and chrome
in Reno t-Blog Chat - HDB BTO Interior Design and Renovation
Posted
Well, I've decided to do a full grandmother story of our journey with CX instead of a brief review. So it'd be in parts and I'll be writing on it when I feel like taking a break from wedding prep.
WHY WE CHOSE CX
I got to know of them through renotalk and many raved about their carpentry workmanship. We went to them, and J gives a good vibe probably due to his years of experience. Yup, till today, I do think he is very experienced and surely knows his carpentry works well.
The determining factors eventually were:
*Hearsay because we were told that there ain't 'almost completed' projects for us to view. We decided to go with them still as I told the fiance with the amount of raves, we don't need to view their projects lah.
What we were prepared for:
Fiance is someone who values service (i.e. ID) more while I am okay with working harder on my own but I value quality more. My argument at that point was, that CX has a carpentry firm right below his office and it is no doubt that J has the right expertise. I convinced the fiance to go for quality, instead of service because simply put, "service we can do ourselves but quality we certainly need someone with the right expertise".
As such, I expect nothing except QUALITY for the price I paid (let's not mention the amount of things we have to take on ourselves due to the lack of their involvement, which we do not blame at all, as after all, they are not IDs).
BEFORE WORKS COMMENCED
Honestly, at this stage there was nothing I couldn’t stand about E because we gave them leeway knowing that they can be overwhelmed with projects. As you can tell, we are also very paisei to ask them to help us further because we know they are busy. So we took it upon ourselves in many aspects of this journey, even in the later parts of the journey. Most importantly, we practically free up ALL our weekends and change plans to fit their schedule so as not to cause delay on our end.