You're seeing this as a battle between you and the contractor. It's a win-lose situation now. What's the point of going on like that?

There's only two reasons why things turned out like this:

a. He's dishonest and out to swindle you

b. You're unreasonable and asking for too much and paying too little.

You need to figure out which is which.

More importantly, you need to change the situation, or change the contractor.

To be honest, the relationship and progress was smooth-sailing until the painting incident - the subcon refusing to let me use Medifresh 3-in-1 when we had topped up for it. After the painting works were taken out, mutually agreed by both parties, the expensive pipe came up! Then bim bam, in a few days, more issues came up. But thankfully, reno progress is still smooth. I just have to be more vigilant.

We spend money, must be happy to spend! It's not about the cheapest quote. They are not the cheapest quote, but we chose them coz they guarantee good follow-up, peace of mind, customer service, etc.

My total reno bill to this main con is less than $20K for the works done on hacking, wet works for 2 toilets, plumbing (without kitchen), plastering, cornice and box-up, 2 windows, grilles, toilet doors, shower screens and gate. Do you think that is too much or too little?

Flooring, aircon, electrician and carpentry are all separate contractors. Adding all up, you will know my total reno bill not $20K, just that the main con doesn't get the bulk of the profits since everything is split up. So you are spot on there that their bottomline is affected but on the other hand, they have definitely made $ from all the other mark-ups.

all these hor - part and parcel of reno. almost everybody has to go thru....

heng i didnt kena...

Flooring, aircon, electrician and carpentry are all separate contractors. Adding all up, you will know my total reno bill not $20K, just that the main con doesn't get the bulk of the profits since everything is split up. So you are spot on there that their bottomline is affected but on the other hand, they have definitely made $ from all the other mark-ups.

What happened happened. What's going to happen, or what could happen-- that should occupy you more.