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Hi, After years of reading and admiring all the T-blogs, it is finally our turn to contribute. Received our keys in Jan and since it was nearing CNY, we decided to only commit after all the new year celebrations. Due to our tight budget, we were only looking at contractors and we had a theme in mind, thus we some sort knew what we wanted. Met with 3 contractors and here is our honest opinion on all. H*o : we requested a quote from the famous Mr. K but I think he was too busy with projects, we were attended to by his project executive lady K. Quote is on par with ID rates, very patient, listens to your wants and needs. during our first meeting at K's office, she listened to what we want and during that meeting she didn't really note down on what we wanted but when we received the revised quote, we have all the items listed, am really impressed with that. However, due to her young age we feel (might be wrong) that she is inexperienced. Whatever questions we asked her, she told us that it's up to us and if we like it. S*v*n St*ges : was invited to view a neighbor's flat, D quoted us for our place. Sad to say, no connection, had his own ideas and only cared on design aspect. Quote wise, most expensive amongst all with the least carpentry. J: after reading "lovescandi" T-blog, we or I shamelessly admit that I love love her place. If you have not seen, please read her blog. She so kindly gave me J's contact. During our meeting with J, we felt the he is very professional, sincere and honest. Tells you directly what can be done and what cannot. He gave lots of suggestions and advices. Us being first time home buyers and novice to home renovation, we need someone who is experienced and knows what he is doing. We chose J out of the three as he and E made us feel very comfortable during our meetings. Also, we felt a sense of assurance, sincerity and flexibility. We will be commencing reno soon, finger crossing all will go well..

Hello. I am new here in the forum and I am planning to renovate my place in Novena. I am needing some inspiration on the design, specifically with a Scandinavian theme so I can get my stuff from Ikea. Any helpful tips from you guys? Thanks.

Hello all! My hub and I just went to Malaysia to buy fans and we would like to share our experience. We have been reading through renotalk and we found that the most highly raved shop to buy fans in Malaysia is Tampoi lighting and Starworld. Given the positive experience and reviews by other Singaporeans, we decided to go there to check out the Aeratron AE3, in hope of getting a good price. However, much to our disappointment, the prices there were pretty steep! We were intending to get two of the Aeratron 50" fans (one for my friend) but the salesperson said that the price could not be reduced further. One Aeratron fan was going for around RM 1600. Since we did not expect that the fans would be so expensive, we did not have enough ringgit on hand to buy the fans we wanted. Fortunately, one Malaysian colleague of ours told us that we could check out another shop called HT lighting, where the price there might be cheaper. Refusing to pay the huge amount for the fans, we decided to take a cab down to HT lighting. We were greeted by a friendly salesperson when we arrived. The shop is not as big as Tampoi and only a selected number of fans r on display. We did not see the Aeratron fan on display and were so worried that the shop may not carry this fan. Luckily for us, they have the fan! And even luckier for us, the price was way CHEAPER than Tampoi! By a few hundred ringgit!! Man were we glad that we did not buy the fans from Tampoi and made the decision to come down! They did not have the stock available in the shop, but at another outlet so the sale lady kindly drove us the place to collect our fans. After collecting our fans, the lady offered to give us a lift to city square! So nice of her! We highly recommend this shop, given their good service and cheap prices! Note: We heard from the sale person that prices for imported good will be re-adjusted from September onwards, so do get the fans and lights early before the price hike! They have the vento fino fans too. There is another shop called Best light nearby which also sells fans and lights at a cheap price, but they don't carry Aeratron.

Hi everyone! Just wanted to recommend Teng Hong Renovate. I renovated my BTO 4-room flat last year with them. It is a small family run business and the owner is very down to earth and easygoing. Pricing wise is very competitive too. I did not engage an ID, so I told Mr Low (the contractor) what I want to do with my place and he advised us accordingly whether it is doable or not. Here's some photos of my humble abode. I demolished the wall between the kitchen and dining area, and the wall between my living room and bedroom 3 for a bigger space. I really love the outcome of the renovation! Highly recommend Mr Low! You can contact them via their facebook page and they will give you a quotation. Hope this helps!

Hi guys, Just want to share my humble 4RM BTO flat. My wife and I wanted something really simple so we opted for loose pieces of furnitures centred around a colour scheme of white, brown and maroon. Hope you like it! Also, any ideas on where I can find affordable art pieces?

I have always wanted to start a blog, and decided to do it slightly differently with others. Instead of recording down my reno journey, I hope to do a review on the decisions made 2 years back. Just a quick description on the house design: 4 room BTO Hack a bedroom to make the living room bigger Reno + Household appliances + furniture cost = 50k Light wood, white theme and a simple clean layout Minimum built in carpentry and "ID-style" stuff Flooring (Evorich Vinyl) Original floor plan (minus the bedroom wall that we intend to hack): Space Planning: Lighting Plan: Actual Living Room photos: That's all for today! Will upload the photos of other parts of the house in the new few posts!

BTO Toilet Bowl Brand: Saniton 2 sets to let go $90 each. Using 6” S-pipe outlet Text me at 81 86 99 92 to deal.

Hi, Has anyone used PLLX Studio as reno contractor before?

Hi! We have been following the posts here for the longest time and it is finally our turn. Here's the typical and unexciting hdb floorplan haha ps: we hate the aircon ledge position

Hi all, Just here to briefly share my pleasant experience with my ID. I had compared several ID firms previously but ended up choosing this ID which I do not regret! I stumbled upon this ID firm when I was making my rounds around several buildings with all the ID firms while looking around the showrooms. (BTW good to get a few quotations from several firms before deciding!!) I was pretty skeptical as the design firm looked small scale but approached them anyways, as i wanted more options. I ended up choosing this ID as I felt that designer was sincere and there was chemistry . Other ID kept hard selling and just wen through their usual sales pitch with a general quotation... My ID had no qualms about asking what are my requirements and slowly went through all the areas with us then drafting up a customized quotation. It was also good that our designer was understanding and helped to alter the designs according to fengshui I had requested haha. We kept bothering her with questions and changes (oops) but she was patient and provided opinions and made changes accordingly. Final result of the house was great! Worth it although it wasn't the cheapest quotation but it matched market rate so it was acceptable. But maybe its due to a lot of inbuilt and carpentry that I wanted to get done hahaha.

Very long winded post ahead on our reno requirements & our ID selection. After 3 years and 4 months of wait from BTO Sales Launch to key collection, we have finally stepped foot into our house with kosong $$ in our CPF accounts lol. I had benefitted from the sharing from this forum and thought I would share my simple reno too, although don't know will benefit anyone or not haha! Anyway, prior to key collection, we had decided on our ID, chosen our tiles and laminates and seen the 3D drawings liao. Cos we were also planning for our wedding and I didn't want everything to come together for us to make decisions, very overwhelming. First, let me start off with presenting our very typical floor plan: We had chosen this layout with the household shelter in the kitchen cos we didn't want to spend money on doing up a feature wall just to cover the household shelter's doors. Things we had decided that we want, prior to meeting IDs: 1. Most important - flooring (tiles in living/dining area & vinyl in bedrooms); 2. TV wall + suspended console; 3. L box in living room; 4. Ceiling fan in living room above sofa area; 5. Kitchen carpentry (top & bottom cabinets & drawers, sink, hob & hood on the long side; bottom carpentry on short side); 6. Glass door to separate kitchen from living/dining area; 7. Base for fridge & washing machine; 8. Full height wardrobe in MBR; 9. Full height wardrobe in BR 2; 10. Ceiling fan in BR 3; 11. Painting for whole house; 12. Windows in service balcony; 13. Window grills for whole house; 14. Electrical works; and 15. Plumbing works After meeting a few IDs, we added: 16. False ceiling in dining area/corridor. We didn't want cove lights despite it being recommended by a few IDs. In fact, we eliminated the ones who insisted that we do cove lights - if this also cannot then I foresee we may have disagreements in future so, eliminated! Once we had an idea of what we wanted to do, we met up with quite a few IDs to discuss. First, we went to a big company to see whether these can fit into our budget. The ID was kind of helpful but didn't give us a friendly feeling. He gave some good ideas and some nonsense ideas. Felt like he was trying to smoke us. Asked us for our budget and then the quotation was exactly our budget. Then keep pushing us to sign on the spot, despite us telling him that he was the first ID we met and we needed time to consider, plus key collection was still an unknown date of at least 3 to 4 months away. Plus the company was quite empty despite it being a big company with a few branches - on a Sunday afternoon! Second, we passed by this ID shop and saw the staff inside quite busy, decided to just approach them to ask for quotation so that we would have a better gauge of the market rate. The ID was friendly and after listening to our requirements, gave us some ideas and feedback. Like there would be a beam between the living area and the dining area, based on his experience and a few other suggestions (which I had forgotten now haha else I can share with you guys). We were impressed by him drawing out how he plan to do the TV area, the kitchen and the wardrobe. Gave us an rough estimate of the quotation on the spot, based on the stuff we wanted, and then emailed us the quotation. Anyway, his quotation was not the cheapest but also not the most expensive. Third, fourth, fifth etc, we went to quite a few more IDs and we rejected them mainly because: 1. Insist that we do cove lights; 2. Never get back to us; 3. Unbelievably cheap (lol humans - too cheap cannot, too expensive cannot); 4. Not so convincing, the ID sounded like he was unsure (scared he chut pattern then we all faint together); 5. Expensive!!!! Then it was decision making time. We couldn't find any reviews of the second ID online, despite the fact that the company had been around for 20+ years. No reviews nvm, as long as no negative reviews - our thinking is that, if really jialat sure got people complain online lah... Felt that we could click and got the feel, so we decided on him, after comparing the quotations, although I keep niam-ing my bf that some stuff a bit expensive, but still within our budget (which we didn't tell him). After deciding on him, we met up to sign the contract and he passed us the paint colours book for us to choose colours. We then decided to meet up another time to discuss on colours, laminates etc cos we were quite tired after work. So we met up and first, his partner brought us to the Lian Hin Seng at Balestier to choose tiles and being the fast decision makers that we are, decided on the tiles rather quickly. Returned to the shop to choose laminates, vinyl flooring and to confirm that the paint colours we had chosen can match the flooring. A week later, received our first draft of 3D drawings and had some amendments. To be honest, the amendments to 3D drawings were a bit slow but also maybe cos our key collection also donno when lah, not priority. After we informed him of our key collection date, the revisions came faster. Nonetheless, so far so good. Next post on key collection + open door.

Hello everyone, i want to share with you all my recent renovation with this interior designer. I had my kitchen re-renovated from a re-sale apartment and very satisfy with the end result. The re-sale apartment i bought has many damages to it and i had no idea where to begin. I consulted many ids and what made me nailed down to this id herself is that she was very specific with her descriptions and explanations. I have gotten many ideas from her for industrial theme. But one problem was i live far from this company and have little time to go down for consultation as i have kids to take care of. But the id was willing to come down to my convenient despite she have many other things to handle and even brought me to one of her showrooms. She even brought the real life samples down after she sent me a few in picture form thorugh whasapp. That was when i made up my mind as i feel that she has the overall package. Although she only told me she started ID not long ago but can see she's very meticulous and her boss is there to back her up. Moving on to the renovation process after i closed the deal with her. Oh and her company's quotation are reasonable thats why i dont dare ask for much discount. But of course don't expect it to be cheap too because the worksmanship is really on par with other company's. So here are the few pictures she updated me with during the renovation from day 1. I don't want to post too many but if you would like more feel free to pm me :). I'm more than willing to share them with anyone. All these were done in less than 3 weeks. I'm moving in soon too. On a sidenote, as i was on a budget thats why you can see i did not want to do the base for my cabinets, fridge and washing machine. They did strongly advice me on some things to do or not but i'm very picky. Overall they are very knowledgable.

Hi everyone! This is Mrs JohnB here. We have learnt a great deal from the users on RenoTalk. Which heater to choose, where to route the air con trunking, how to spray paint, etc. What a treasure trove of helpful homeowners and information this forum is. Thank you. We are excited to finally have a t-Blog. Please feel free to share your opinion; we are new to renovation and would appreciate your advice. So, here goes.

Shall blog about my renovation journey. Here's my floor plan- Eastbrook Cranberra. Booked a flat on oct 13, after close to 4 years of wait, we received our keys on May 17! Key collection was easy, we got quite an early time slot @ 8.15. Took up the Eqtia fire insurance the night before(online payment), so chop chop go down HDB sign HLE>collect keys>open water and electricity>pay town council bills. My ID is from Absolook, Took up a package from them in Dec 16. just the basic package with a few add ons. Decided to outsource the rest as i believe i can get a better deal. My package from Absolook, will talk about the add-ons later. $13297.96 Construct 50mm Cabinet Base Construct 50mm Washing base Construct 50mm Fridge Base Plumbing Supply labour to connect Sink inlet/outlet supply labour to install 2 set bathroom accessories Supply labour for 2 Bidet spray Supply labour to install 1 set storage water tank Misc. Supply labour and material for whole house using NIPPON Vinilex 5000 Labour for chemical washing Labour and material to lay corrugated paper. Accessories bundle Rinnai Cooker+ Hod Monic Kitchen+ tap Magnum 30L storage heater 2 sets 7pc bathroom accessories + mirror 2 sets bidet sprat Design and install 20ft kitchen cabinet with 1 set of stainless steel dish-drainer, 1 panel aluminium frame galss panel, 3 set soft closing drawer, all soft closing hinges for doors Suppy and install 10ft 20mm thk Quartz kitchen worktop 6 ft sliding wardrobe fabricate and install 48 sqf TV feature wall panel Fabricate and install 6ft TV console -Free blum blu-motion + HK aventos More to be updated.

SENGKANG HDB 4-ROOM MODEL 4A UNIT FOR SALE! * No agent fees Very well maintained and clean unit Marble and parquet flooring Convenient and accessible location - 1 min to LRT station, 7 mins to Sengkang MRT station Plenty of amenities around including Sports Complex, supermarkets, shopping malls, eateries, ATM and movie theater Within 1km from Nan Chiau Primary/ High School All races and Permanent Residents (PR) are eligible Please drop me a private message or call me at 8170 7241 for a discussion.

Hi I was quoted from my ID: 1 - bed platform with underneath storage for my master bedroom - $2,550 (2900mm x 2700mm) 2 - Platform for living room area $3,240 (3300mm x 3500mm) Anyone can share with me on the usual market rate for bed platform and living room platform for 4 room BTO carpentry work? Is there any recommended and reliable carpenters?

Hello everyone, i want to share with you all my recent renovation with this interior designer. I had my kitchen re-renovated from a re-sale apartment and very satisfy with the end result. The re-sale apartment i bought has many damages to it and i had no idea where to begin. I consulted many ids and what made me nailed down to this id herself is that she is very nice and patient and willing to go through every single detail with me. But one problem was i live far from this company and have little time to go down for consultation as i have kids to take care of. But the id was willing to come down to my convenient despite she have many other things to handle and even brought me to one of her showrooms. She even brought the real life samples down after she sent me a few in picture form thorugh whasapp. That was when i made up my mind as she is so sweet and nice and i can clearly see that she will put in 100% effort to my home renovation. Moving on to the renovation process after i closed the deal with her. Oh and her company's quotation are reasonable thats why i dont dare ask for much discount. But of course don't expect it to be cheap too because the worksmanship is really on par with other company's. So here are the few pictures she updated me with during the renovation from day 1. I don't want to post too many but if you would like more feel free to pm me :). All these were done in less than 3 weeks. I'm moving in soon too.

Dear all, Anyone has any experience dealing with Ronnie Renovation Contractor?. How was it in terms of their workmanship, delivery of work and ability of following through their promises to customers. Kindly share. Thank you.

Dear all, Anyone has any experience dealing with Ronnie Renovation Contractor?. How was it in terms of their workmanship, delivery of work and ability of following through their promises to customers. Kindly share. Thank you.

.Dear all, Anyone has any experience dealing with Ronnie Renovation Contractor?. How was it in terms of their workmanship, delivery of work and ability of following through their promises to customers. Kindly share. Thank you.

Hello everyone!!! Beginning I've been a silent reader for many months now and I thought it should be my turn to contribute what ever I can back to this community! I had this sudden urge to pen down my experiences since we are 3 days away from the ACTUAL renovation. I am surfing the net for all the nitty-gritty stuff for our house, stressing myself out over those and thought coming here might be a good idea at 3am! So here goes! How it started... After my 'then' boyfriend proposed to me last year, we started looking out for properties in the eastern and north-eastern side of Singapore! R (now husband) and I prefer a newly empty space for us to build a home together so naturally our first choice was to ballot for a flat through "sale of balance". We didn't pin our hopes too high cause our queue number was out of the number of available units and there were little units among them which we shortlisted. We started browsing through resale flats for months while R was still optimistic about our ballot (never say die). Months and months of waiting and finally our prayers were answered! We got one of our favorite units! Search Early this year, we finally locked in our first 'love nest' at TPY HDB Hub and we started searching (almost frantically) for both ideal moodboards and ID/Contractors. Before we started anything, we sat down and had a serious discussion about finance. Zero loans. So we have extremely strict budget to work with and we broke it down into 3 sections. Renovation (quote given by ID/Contractor) Electrical (wirings, sockets, switches, lightings) Furnitures & Appliances (Bed, W/C, fridge etc) I must say this budget has been working extremely well for both of us cause we made it as detailed as possible, itemised, and did quite a fair bit of comparison! Be as realistic as possible and ask around with your family or friends for quotes! Most of them are more than happy to share! Back to the search for ID/Contractors. Thanks to renotalk, my knowledge about renovation widened, deepened and saved me from looking too noob infront of those guys. lol. Both R and I prefer engaging an ID because we both lack quite badly in the creative department and we are hoping to minimize the need to liaise between different suppliers or contractors. Nevertheless, all in all we met up with 4 IDs and 2 contractors (semi-ID) over a period of 2 months. This is by far the most tedious process for both of us cause it fried our brains so badly. It's not until we met these professionals that we realised renovation has A LOT, A LOT, A LOT of details and factors to consider. 1) ID A A was the very first ID we met and we had no idea what to expect from the meeting! We met up near my place, he was early, dressed well, pretty young and speaks well. He nervously took out few sheets of papers with drawings on them and I could see his hands trembled a bit. When I saw those papers infront of us, I like him already! He came prepared with proposed space-planning sketches according to my specifications through a 20-mins conversation prior to our meeting! Of course, he also prepared a drafted quotation based on what he drew and the quotation wasn't too bad! Though not all details were captured, he was really patient in jotting down our needs/wants and identifying any potential difficulties in our ideas. We were having our hopes high on this ID and really excited in receiving his revised space-planning sketch and quotation but sadly, he did not send us till almost a month later. 2) ID B We met up with B right after ID A and we weren't really pleased. First of all, he was late for our first meeting, I refused to wait for another 30mins so I called the meeting off. R was being kind and suggested we should give him another chance since he apologised genuinely, we did. Okay, so our first meeting happened and unlike ID A, he is very down-to-earth in both his dressing and his personality! He was punctual, cheerful and very approachable. He also came to us with a draft and he is definitely way more experienced than ID A. As much as he would accommodate all our crazy ideas and wants, he would stop us nicely to inform us of the pros and cons of materials/ placements/ appliances etc and the potential roadblocks we may face. The first meeting with him took 2 hours and he didn't even at any point sneaked a peek at the time. I couldnt remember how long, but he came back to us within 3 days with a hand-sketched space planning + 3D of EVERYTHING we discussed via whatsapp. We could feel his eagerness in our projects and was pretty sincere. I shall continue the rest another day. it's 3.20am now and I should catch some sleep! Will try to post the visuals next time Night night!