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On the 14 Feb 2014 will be heading to HDB for my 1st appointment to purchase a HDB resale 3 rooms unit at Bedok North. The floor plan is as following: The whole unit need to be renovated and had been meeting up with IDs & contractors (yet to finish) and the estimated minimum amount is $28K. Each meet up require at least 2hours and repeating the same thing, but the good things about it is having different solution to the same issue. Please stay in tune for the next update.

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Hi all, I have been wanting to write about my renovation experience for a while now but have been putting it off until now . We took our keys back in July 2013 and officially moved in in Nov 2013. This forum has been a great source of information for me and I would like to give something back to the community. Hopefully, it will be of some benefit to anyone who is reading this . First of all, the floor plan: We started researching for our renovation since 2012. We read forums and flipped through home decor magazines at the library or bookstores etc. Take pictures - they might come in handy in future when you meet with contractors. A good idea is to write your notes in Google Drive so you can access them anywhere. We also kept a spreadsheet with all the quotation breakdowns from the contractors/IDs we contacted. This keeps things neat and easy to compare. Do include the prices of everything else you will need to budget for e.g. furnishings, electrical works etc. In this way, we knew for sure how much we spent in total for renovation (including all hidden costs!). Try to know what you want before going around asking for quotations. For example, we knew (after looking through countless magazines ) that we want a Scandinavian look for our house. That means: - furniture with simple and clean lines - bright, open spaces - light-color themes - wood-looking flooring - minimalism In short, there are lots of planning and research to do even before getting your keys. Do walk around home exhibitions (regularly at Expo) and furniture stores (IKEA). Shortlist the stuff that you like. Take note of prices and put them down in your budget spreadsheet. We had planned for a renovation budget of 40K (including furnishings) and I was quite proud that we spent within our budget AND did not compromise on the Scandinavian vision . Preview: I will try to narrate and dissect our renovation process in future posts in this topic so stay tuned! (I am rather slow in writing, so bear with me, hopefully just need a few weeks! ). P.S. In the meantime, you can head over to my wife's blog (http://yunzhijian.blogspot.sg/) for pictures and her views on our renovation (YES she has already finished her blog!! And I am still on my first post!!)

Hi, I will be a new house owner soon, expecting my keys within 6 months in Punggol With the house in sight, think its time that I start my renovation planning. Reading all the articles here, its going to take a minimum of 4 months to identify a good contractor. First, my preference is a direct contractor rather than an ID. ID's prices seem to be very high, adds complication to the process. Can make a mess. I'll be really thankful if you could PM me the contacts of some good "Direct" contractors. Sure will give you a gift if I take your advice. Right now, my budget is around 25K. Within this, what I expect is; New house is a premium BTO, so; 1. Flooring is already done 2. Kitchen has full tiles and Sink 3. Bathroom has full tiles and amenities My renovation requirement; 1. Do a nice kitchen setup with cabinets, door, etc 2. Master bedroom, full length wardrobe 3. Bedroom 1 and Bedroom 2, full length wardrobe 4. Hall - TV area, Shoe rack, false ceiling 5. Full length cabinet, study area for Study room 6. Cabinets in Toilets 7. Do a nice laundry setup in service area with cabinet 8. Aluminum grill for all windows 9. Simple wire grill for balcony 10 Plastering, Painting, Cleaning, Polishing 11. Additional carpentry work where required to do a nice house In addition, I will do the following, if the contractor is reasonable in pricing 1. Sofa with coffee table 2. Master bed 3. beds in 2 rooms 4. Dining table The most important is QUALITY. Looking for a Simplistic and Functional design. NO TRICKS, NO GIMMIKS. Like a contractor who says, white as white and black as black. I can share my floor plan when required. Thanks Jerry

Hi fellow Renotalkers, I have actually been silently browsing through the renotalk forum for quite some time now, soaking in ideas and getting information and tips on what to do or not do during reno, and also what to buy and where! Having learnt alot through the t-blogs and posts here, I figure I should also share our renovation journey and perhaps some things experienced along the way. Perhaps 1 or 2 of you may also take something away, be it an inspiration or a practical lesson. Our story begins on the 14th of April 2013, when I successfully proposed to my then gf, now wife (who shall henceforth be affectionately referred to as "E"). Having successfully sealed that part of the deal, we set out looking for a place to call home, which as a lot of you know isn't the easiest thing in the world. Some of the factors we considered were as follows: - Near to either E's or my parent's home (easy for childcare needs in the future) - Within 0.5 km of an MRT station, especially on the North East Line (so that E can get to work easily) - Size of the apartment must be at least 1100 sgft (E grew up being used to lots of space at home) - Toilet must not be in the kitchen! - A yard area separate from the kitchen - Preferably North/South facing (so you don't get the evening sun) - Has to have sufficient natural light! We didn't want to ballot for a BTO because that would mean we would have to wait very long for our unit, but we were willing to do so for an EC. In particular, we tried balloting for some return units at The Topiary, but after umpteen failed attempts at balloting for 4-rms, 3 rm dual keys, we decided to look at resale flats instead. Plus, it's easier on the pocket. Our search was narrowed down to the following locations: - Upper Boon Keng opposite Kallang MRT (superb location for both private and public transport; flats which just finished MOP; but friggin expensive for a HDB) - Serangoon Central (great location but relatively old flats; expensive as well) - Potong Pasir (again, great location but the oldest flats out of our shortlist) - Sengkang (not as busy as Punggol, and valuations seem to be the cheapest here. Flats are also bigger) For those of you with more money and want to buy a HDB, you should really consider Upper Boon Keng and Jalan Membina in Tiong Bahru, but that's just my opinion haha. We viewed over 20 flats before we stepped into our current home. In fact, we put in an offer for 2 other units before this one. The first unit that we liked had a condo style layout on a high floor, relatively close to Sengkang MRT. BUT, the owner was then asking a COV of 100k (crazy!!). I think it was because he had marble floors through the living room and real parquet elsewhere. We put in an offer which was slightly in excess of half that amount, but was rejected. On hindsight, it was good that he didn't accept because that would be an insane amount just to pay for COV. The second unit was a fair bit away from the MRT, but the layout, space and facing was just superb. We put in a bid for less than their asking, but was quickly told that somebody offered them their asking. A bit of regret felt on not being able to get this unit. We were starting to get a bit tired and exasperated with the search when our agent suggested another area in Sengkang which we had not personally scouted in Prop*rtyG*ru, and we went down not expecting much. You know that feeling where you step in and feel so comfortable that you know it's home - that's the feeling that we got when we first stepped into our new home. It also helped that the former owners were very warm and nice people. We sealed the deal that evening when the owners accepted our COV offer which was a bit less than their asking. It isn't by any means the perfect home in terms of fitting all of our criteria, but it certainly comes close to it. Sorry for being long winded, so without further ado, here's presenting our floor plan: Uploaded with ImageShack.usTo be continued on my next post..

Blk810 Jurong West St 81 4A flat up for sale by owner. Sincerely selling 107sqm/1152 sqftHigh floor, totally unblocked, super windy and facing north/southwell kept, move in conditionnear amenities & 6 primary schools within 1km. downstairs got 1 primary and 1 secondary schoolall 3 rooms got airconmaster bedroom and 1 common bedroom got buid-in wardrobkitchen furnished with top and bottom cabinetsPlease call 9423 5750 for viewing. No agent please.

Need some minor works, including 1. Power points needed (3 of them for TV etc) at bottom of wall, circuit breaker is on the top side 2. Replace old broken sockets in the kitchen (3 of them) 3 Replace old water heater, install new one 4. Power point extension for additional water heater (3KW, 220V) How much would it cost? Does it makes sense to do it DIY, since hardware shops sell everything nowdays and very cheap. If reasonable offer, then I dont mind giving job to electricians too.

Hi everyone, I have been following Renotalk for some time and now being eligible to purchase a flat of my own, the time has come for me to make some contributions. After viewing more than 10 units, I finally found the place I would call home at Yishun. Although the COV was quite high for a 3 roomer, the location is excellent and the layout, clean and simple. My floor plan: Being a simple guy, here begins my simple Renovation Journey. More to come...

Hi all! Hubby and I are longtime lurkers of renotalk and finally decided to start our very own renoblog! After a long long wait of over 3 years (from BTO release in March 2010..), we have finally collected our keys on Childrens' Day this year! (Auspicious date! Sign of things to come..? ) Ours is a very very small 3 room in Sembawang, just 67sqm 'big'. Here is our floorplan:

Dear all, We have just gotten our keys to a new standard 4-room HDB flat. Totally clueless about reno quotation. Would appreciate any advice on the quotation below - is it reasonable or not? Thanks for all the advice. Masonry works – tiles range $3 psf and below Homogenous floor tiles **** and dining area (60 by 60cm) – $1950 Homogeneous floor tiles at passageway (60 by 60cm) – $525 Overlay kitchen floor tiles – $850 Overlay common toilet floor tiles – $480 Overlay common toilet wall tiles – $1350 Overlay master toilet floor tiles – $480 Overlay master toilet floor tiles – $1350 Construct kitchen base c/w side tile finish 19.5ft – $350 Construct fridge and washing machine base c/w tile finish - $200 Construct shower screen kerb at master toilet c/w side tile finish - FOC Construct shower screen kerb at common toilet c/w side tile finish – FOC Lay craftstone at dining area L8ft x H8ft - $2400 Lay level up floor level at 3 bedrooms – by client Laminate flooring works Lmainate flooring master bedroom - $975 Lamiate flooring bedroom 2 – $715 Lamiate flooring bedroom 3 – $715 Kitchen Kitchen cabinet top hung laminate finish 17.5ft- $2100 Kitchen cabinet bottom hung laminate finish 17.5ft- $2100 Granite kitchen work top black galaxy 17.5ft – $2100 Full height kitchen cabinet for built in oven in laminate finish - $600 Install dish drainer – FOC Install kitchen hob and hood – FOC Main Entrance Full ht shoe cabinet in laminate finish 3ft – $840 Living Area Full ht feature wall in laminate finish 6ft – $1680 Suspended TV console c/w flip up glass door in laminate finish 6ft – $900 Designated sette c/w storage in laminate finish 11ft - $1650 Master bedroom Designated 6” height platform c/w storage 90 sqft - $2340 Designated half-height cushion bedhead for queen size bed approx. 6ft x 2ft - $650 Walk in L-shaped sliding and casement full ht wardrobe in laminate finish 11ft – $3520 Master bathroom Suspended vanity in laminate finish 3ft – $360 Solid surface vanity top 3ft – $240 Storage mirror in laminate finish 3ft – $420 Plumbing Works Supply labour to install 2 set of bathroom accessories ($150) Supply and install tap, inlet and outlet piping and kitchen sink ($120) Glass work To supply & install a 10mm clear tempered glass at kitchen entrance. 3ft W x 7ft H $ 600.00 To supply & install 1 set 10mm swing clear tempered glass shower screen at master-toilet. (1 fix panel & 1 swing door) $ 388.00 To supply & install a 10mm clear tempered glass at master toilet entrance. 3ft W x 7ft H $ 600.00 False Ceiling 1. L-Box cw false ceiling Living & Dining Hall. ($900) 2. false ceiling at passage way. ($400) 3. L-Box cw false ceiling Living & Dining Hall at Master bedroom. (FOC) Window Grilles based on 3ft height – Lump sum $1200 To supply labour and material to install sliding window grilles aluminum silver at Main bedroom (SMG 361) To supply labour and material to install sliding window grilles aluminum silver at bedroom 1(SMG 361) To supply labour and material to install sliding window grilles aluminum silver at bedroom 2 (SMG 361) To supply labour and material to install sliding window grilles aluminum silver **** room (SMG 361) To supply labour and material to install sliding window grilles aluminum silver at service yard (SMG 361)

Hi All, I'm getting my new hdb home 4room latest by June 2014 I guess... Will like to seek opinions & source for renovation quotation from you guys as well.. Like to know: 1) is it a must to use ID for renovating? looking for reliable & responsible contractors as well... 2) if no ID, is there any good contractor out there that does almost same work scope as the ID? 3) walk-in wardrobe in the bedroom is a must from my partner... looking to spend around $20k, will it be enough...? 4) already opted for flooring & doors done by HDB which I think may be a mistake to do that on my part but already done.... 5) need help from you guys to recommend me reliable IDs & Contractors for these... 6) please leave contact or website if any as well.. Please post your comments or pm me if u like. Thank you very much...

We started hunting for a HDB resale flat early this year and after a long process, we finally found a place that we love in Tampines. As we are starting our renovation, my husband (Tikiman) suggested that we should start a t-blog on renotalk. After all, we have gained a lot of information scouring through this forum, and it would be nice to share our own journey. The reasons we chose to buy a resale HDB unit : 1) Older units are bigger in floor space. 2) We dislike the bomb shelter because it is located in the middle of the unit like a sore thumb. 3) New HDB are built so close, neighbours can share salt/sugar via the kitchen/yard. In our search for a HDB apartment, we identified few requirements to fulfil: 1) Quiet and peaceful neighbourhood 2) Square layout without odd corners 3) No bomb shelter 4) Airy units with large windows / high ceiling 5) Corner unit 6) Last but not least, LOW COV haha... Tampines is a mature estate and individual neighbourhoods show unique characteristics. In the course of our search, we have walked the different neighbourhoods of Tampines at nights, off-days and on weekends to have a sense of the surrounding and to shortlist the neighbourhood that we like. Afterall, we can renovate the internal space of our apartment to fit our taste/requirement, but we usually have little control over the outside surrounding. Will share more details on our unit in the next post... Tikimum

Hey everyone, Just wanna share with everyone our experience relating to our first home (awesomely superb feeling!) and the renovation works in progress... A little backstory here: Basically my older sis and I are Malaysians working and living in Singapore, and being foreigners here, we never had the luxury nor privilege to have a permanent residence to call our 'home'. For myself, I have been here for almost 10 years and have moved a total of 14 times! Have had a share of nightmarish experience (loan sharks, crazy land-lady, backstabbing housemates) while renting, and despite the sky-high property prices, we have had enough and my sis made a good choice to get a pink IC so that she can buy herself a flat under the singles scheme. So, the place actually belongs to my sis, while I fancy myself a squatter, although my sis views me as her personal ATM (*cough blood*) and sai kang warrior to obsess over the itty-bitty details related to the renovation because I am that particular about aesthetics and comfort - but mainly aesthetics, job hazard, I suppose The story starts about 1 year after my sis got her citizenship, when we found a small, old 3-room with an excellent location (MRT nearby!). COV was painful, but the time saved from the travelling will compensate, at least that's what I keep saying for reassurance. Here's the floorplan:

Earlier this week my neighbor started renovation. Due to an unpleasant experience a few months ago with this exact same unit I made it a point to take a look at the HDB permit. Sure enough, no renovation work is allowed on Saturday, Sunday and Public Holiday. The permit is valid till 5th August. Alas, today (Saturday!) I was woken up at 9+ in the morning by knocking and machinery work. Thinking that maybe it would be a quick job I patiently waited for it to finish so I could fall back to sleep. Finally called HDB at 11.30am to lodge a complaint. There was just no use waiting. Clearly they were not going to cease any time soon. I was routed to EMS to make a report since HDB is closed during weekends. The officer I spoke to promised to get in touch with the contractor regarding them flouting the rule. I also messaged my friend to update him on the situation because the night before I was telling him that I was looking forward to sleeping in today after functioning on a daily average of 3 hours sleep for the past week due to the noise. He offered to follow up with the calls if necessary. The noise continued incessantly except for twice when the workers had a break. My friend made at least 5 calls in the next 6-7 hours and every time he was promised that an officer would come to check. You would think the officer was sent from somewhere in Malaysia? Or maybe HDB does not reimburse transport allowance to their employees so they have to walk? In any case, nothing was done at all for those agonizing hours when I was lying in bed like a zombie with a pounding headache! All that knocking and eeeeeee....eeeeeeee from the machine stopped only at 7pm! And to think that renovation has to stop at 6pm even on weekdays! I have heard many cases of NATO from government agencies over the years. Seriously, after my experience of countless empty promises today I must say that they are unfortunately very true! As for the reason why I paid attention to the permit this time is because this is actually the SECOND renovation in the past 6 months! Some time after Chinese New Year my nightmare began. Since renovations are nothing to be alarmed about I just tried to bear with it, even though I sleep in the morning. After about a month there were still stacks and stacks of cement in the corridor so I told myself to rough it out a bit more. By about 1.5-2 months I could not stand the nuisance any more (no respite during weekends also) so my friend and I went to talk with the owner. What shocked us was that he denied about the renovation even though we saw a worker carrying a bucket of tools emerging from the bedroom behind him. There was also another bucket lying on the floor in the living room. When we pointed them out to him he relented and promised to tell his workers to be aware of the noise level. However, there was no improvement and since there was no HDB permit I wrote to Town Council instead. TC "taichi" the case to HDB and I dropped it as there was no permit, which after so long I presumed was expired and taken down. Barely 3 months have passed when I have to suffer again. I can tolerate the weekday noise if I have to. But I will absolutely not stand it when I am entitled to some peace and quiet during weekends! What is the use of HDB issuing permits when they will ignore complaints when irresponsible contractors flout the rules? May as well save some trees! Who knows how long I have to grin and bear it this time? The previous renovation took about 2 months and I was severely sleep-deprived. But hey... I survived the god-awful, bloody frustrating knocking and knocking and knocking but I do not want to go through it again! Especially when they have no right to do a single knocking on weekends! Below is the offending unit #12-452 in Blk 824 Jurong West Street 81. (photo taken in April when we popped by to talk to the owner) Totally irresponsible contractor! Totally incompetent HDB! PS: Not only have both renovations affected my quality of life and well-being, the wall tiles in my unit have sustained huge crack lines from ceiling to floor in various places as well!

Hi all, I need some advises as to whether my kitchen quotation is reasonable for a resale 4A! I will only be doing up my kitchen cabinet, changing it from long layout to L-shaped instead. I am not sure if my quotation is considered steep for such renovation as I will not be hacking off my walls and floors. Appreciate fellow friends who are experience in renovation to help! Breakdown as follows: Hacking Works Supply labour and equipment to hack off existing stove support Supply labour and equipment to dismantle existing top and bottom cabinet Total - $1500 Masonry Works Supply labour and material to apply waterproofing membrane base on HDB standard - $150 Supply labour and material to construct 50mm ht cabinet base with side tiling - $400 Supply labour and material to construct 50mm ht fridge base with side tiling - $180 Supply labour and material to install stainless stain rubbish chute - $300 Supply labour and material to erect new half height wall using hollow blocks - $480 Supply labour and material to apply cement screeding - $280 Total - $1790 Plumbing Works Supply labour and material lay inlet for sink using stainless steel piping - $250 Supply labour and material lay inlet for washing machine using stainless stain piping - $250 Supply labour and material lay inlet for basin using stainless stain piping - $250 Supply labour and material lay inlet for sink using PVC piping - $150 Supply labour and material lay inlet for washing machine using PVC piping - $120 Supply labour for installation of taps - $80Supply labour for installation of kitchen sink - $120 Total - $1220Carpentry Works (Using solid plywood in laminated finished c/w ABS edging for all doors only, cabinet door c/w inhouse soft closing) Design, fabricate and install top and bottom kitchen cabinet using high pressure laminate finish and ABS edging (TOP 17FT, BOTTOM 17 FT) - $4200 Supply and install full height cabinet - $1100 Supply and install solid surface kitchen worktop c/w 50mm ht backsplash and 38mm ht edging - $1190 Total - $6490 Miscellaneous Works HDB renovation application and permit - $200 Purchase of sand - $400 Haulage services - $350 Flooring protection using corrugated board - $250 Clearing off rubbish and debris to designated area - $200 General cleaning for the whole unit - $250 Total - $1650 GRAND TOTAL - $12650

In advance: sorry for the long post! This first post is pretty much a summary of 4 months, so bear with us, the newer posts are going to be shorter After being married for a few years, my wife and I were finally ready to purchase our first home. The wait for a BTO would be too long, so after a search on the resale market we found a 4 room flat in the west of Pasir Ris that matched our needs. A corner unit, 108 square meters, with a layout that we can work with. The state of the interior of the flat was nowhere near what we were looking for, so we already knew from the start that we wanted to do a full renovation. In February we sat down for two weeks, purchased the floor plan of the unit from HDB, and started thinking about what we wanted. We came up with a revised floorplan, more or less to-scale drawings of kitchen cabinets, laundry room, even some very rough perspective drawings of our feature wall in the living room, the feature bed head and the bathroom. With the help of the enormous amount of information on this forum (too many different threads and people to thank, so just a general THANK YOU towards this entire community!), we shortlisted about 10 interior designers and contractors. We sent our package of the original floor plan, the revised floor plan, and all of our drawings complete with a list of specifications to each of these companies in late February, with the expectation of receiving quotations that will help us compare apple to apple. I have to say it was quite successful. With some minor exceptions we received quotations that were comparable, and we visited each and every company that responded to us. Some were very eager, some sounded eager and then their excitement died down, while others maintained a bit more composure. I'm going to write down the companies we visited and our experiences with them, so anyone looking for a contractor can draw their own conclusions. It's really important to find the right person to work with. My wife and I both work in the creative field so we can handle the design conceptualisation portion, but we need someone who can bring our ideas to fruition, someone who can tell us "no" when we need to hear it, and who has the right connections and time to do the coordination, which I believe we found. Anyway, the contenders: ROUND 1: Sense Ideas Design We met with Renato twice. He's an incredibly friendly, talkative guy, who had a good understanding of our design intent. Ultimately, we ended up not shortlisting him further due to his price being slightly higher and us having a better gut feeling about the others. Summit Design Studio When we visited Summit, we were met by one of the staff who had definitely taken a close look at our drawings and knew what he was talking about. The problem here was the quotation. Summit has a "no hidden cost" policy and it shows. Their quotation was easily 30% higher than the rest, and it was just something that could not be overcome. We had to cut somewhere and unfortunately we didn't continue with Summit. ID Note We heard so many great stories about Henry from ID Note that we could not leave them out of the list. We eventually met up with Henry's colleague, whose English wasn't too good. Their showroom cabinets were nearly falling apart and their incredibly competitive quotation was competitive because everything was priced at its absolute lowest. Lowest range tiles, lowest range laminate, no additional works like screeding. It's a practice that we felt a little tricked by and we decided to not go with ID Note. Ideal Design Interior Christine from Ideal was actually the first to respond to our package, and met us at McDonalds in Pasir Ris, which was easy for us. Our biggest issue was that we prepared this set of documents to give everyone all the information they needed, but she never took a good look at it. We worked a solid 2 weeks to get this done, so we felt a little disappointed with that. Ultimately, this was probably the main reason we didn't continue with Ideal. Earnest Interiors Earnest Interiors was one of our favourites at the start based on several raving reviews and their impressive portfolio. Unfortunately, when we finally met the guy, there just wasn't a click. He didn't make us feel very good about our house by calling it very small (I know 108 square meters is no mansion, but tiny?) This together with a non-competitive quotation made it easy for us to not go with Earnest. Carpenters When we first met the girl from Carpenters, she hadn't taken a look at our drawings prior to the meeting. She also hadn't printed them out, so we had to bring out our own copy. Since this was the second time this had happened (first time with Ideal) I was already a little frustrated, but I walked her through our entire design from start to finish. She had not heard of Caesarstone before, or even quartz for that matter. She saw no possibilities to shift the sink to the other side of the kitchen, and her overall logic was just flawed. The quotation was also littered with errors and was not itemized. It was very easy to cut Carpenters from the list. ROUND 2 Rezt & Relax Ivan Lin from Rezt & Relax was the first one that got us really excited about the process. He took his time with us, we spent a solid 2 hours in his showroom to discuss the details of what we wanted, his quotation, and how we can try to keep it within budget. His design aesthetic seemed really good, and the company itself comes across as very reliable with a focus on quality. We met him two more times for some value engineering, trying to make the entire package affordable. Unfortunately, we eventually found ourselves in a situation where we took out quite a few significant things from the quotation, and it was still over budget. My wife and I were both quite sad that we had to make the decision, but we dropped Rezt & Relax in the last round.ROUND 3 Artrend Zhi Qi from Artrend did not follow our initial quotation. She made a few small changes to our design that made the overall cost lower than the others. When we met her at their Balestier showroom, she showed us a sketch of our living room that got us extremely excited. There were two moments where we almost signed with Artrend, but didn't as there were still some small things nagging at us. Small details omitted from the contract: no replacement wall for a hacked door, no main gate, etc. Albeit small things, they still added up to a few thousand dollars in all. Telling her that we decided to sign with another company was the toughest. She had a great design aesthetic, my wife (designer) and her really hit it off and were on the same page when it came to the look of our home, and she came across as very knowledgeable and experienced. If money was less of an issue we probably would have signed on our second appointment when she gave us a really good discount. I would definitely advise anyone to at least visit and see what they can do for you.W.J. Design & Renovation Contractor A few days after we sent out our drawing package, I got a call from Clifford Lai from W.J. Design & Renovation Contractor (let's just call them WJ from now on because we're going to be using this name a lot). There was a small issue with our drawing: we had shifted the position of our toilet in our proposal, and that is something you can't do in HDB flats apparently. I called HDB to check and he was right. He was the first to point this out to us, while some others didn't even point it out at all. His quotation was definitely competitive and transparent, itemized, and when we met him we immediately had a really good feeling about working with him. His strengths made up for our weaknesses, he has a similar design perspective, he told us when something is impossible immediately, and he thinks about the end result even during the concept stage. Example: we wanted a glass shower screen at the bathtub, and from plan he could already tell that we were going to have a problem with opening the ventilation panels. If he hadn't and it would have been fabricated, these are the kind of things that I would feel annoyed with. After visiting him three times and emailing back and forth with amendments, and questions, and value engineering, and more changes, we finally decided to sign with him. He was even able to add in a few FOC items to sweeten the deal. So here we are! The contract is signed, the renovation loan with RHB bank approved, initial payment is made and we ran through the process with him. Step 1 was going to be to select the tiles. He gave us three suppliers that we could go and visit together, and we decided to stick with what's probably the most known supplier: Hafary. More on Hafary in the next post! We hope that with this blog we can give people inspiration through our concept ideation and design aesthetic. We also hope that through this blog, first time home renovators can understand a bit about the processes involved in a full home renovation and also the challenges that come along with it. Most of all we just want to have fun with our renovation and share this experience with like-minded people who will enjoy reading our posts and hopefully gain some valuable insight. We are both very open-minded people who welcome constructive criticism. Feel free to comment or feedback on any of the decisions that we have made. We are also open to any ideas or suggestions that you feel might work in our space that we may have overlooked or not considered. Cheers! Chrizz & Hilikusleech

Established since 1981, Hoong Fatt Heng Renovation Pte Ltd, HDB license: HB-09-4071G Specialize/Direct Service: 1) Hacking Works/ Reinstatement for commercial properties, HDB, Landed, Condo 2) Tiling Works for commercial properties, HDB, Landed, Condo 3) Ceiling Works for commercial properties, HDB, Landed, Condo -We assure all our customer that our tilers/skilled workers has a minimum experience of 10-30 years in laying tiles, therefore giving you piece of mind for workmanship -Viewing of tiling workmanship available (Prior to exisiting customers agreement) -Tiles supplier include Soon Bee Huat Trading, Hafary Pte Ltd ,Lian Seng Hin, Taugres, therefore giving customers a huge tiles gallery to choose from. -Alternatively, you can provide us your 3D drawing (if any) from your own freelance designer and we can provide a quote for you. Interested, pls call Tony @ 90061763 or pm me.