Advice And Comments Needed For 4 Room Reno

[taiji 0]

Hi everyone,

I'm new to this forum. Thank you for dropping by.

I bought a resale 4 room HDB and am looking for renovation service.

I went to Singapore Expo yesterday to check things out.

Below are the few companies I shortlisted

1.) Arts and thots

2.) Rests and relax

3.) *****

4.) LS2 (not in the exhibition)

My questions are as follows;

1.) All 3 companies has quoted about the same price at 40k or more. I read through some of the posts dated back in 2005 and the reno cost for a 4 room HDB was about 28k to 32k. Has the price increased over the past 2 years? Is the price quoted to me reasonable? I just hope to know what is the current market price.

****** look more attractive as their package include a wardrobe, toilet doors and System 3 aircon

2.) What are the usual standard procedures? For example, the ID ask for my floor plan so that they can do some planning and conceptual work to present to us. After that, what is the next step?

Some companies threw free 3D perpsective drawing even at the very first stage of presentation. Is it some gimmick that was packaged in already? Will there be any complication if we decided not to proceed on?

For those companies that don't provide free 3D drawing, if we enter into stage 2 with the ID, I believe most companies will expect some registration fee or deposit (whatever they call it). Same question, will there be any complication if we decided not to procced on?

3.) According to our preference, we may not choose to heck down or lay homogenous titles (we can go for other material instead) based on the ID's design. These are consider cost saving, however, the ID told us that the package chargeable main amount is fixed and that we cannot use the amount diference to offset the

main amount. Is that true?

If it is true, what are the other things we can usually opt for beside the those items like kitchen cabinet, wardrobe etc to subsitute in?

4.) Most package include plumbing works to heck toilet floor and re-piping. Mine is a 29 years property, I am curious how the ID re-route the ugly looking pipes to make it look better and spacious.

5.) Any good and affordable recommendation for solid surface worktop material?

6.) What are you comments and view for the above listed companies.

Any advice and comments are welcome.

Thank you very much for taking time to look at my post.

Your comments and advice are greatly appreciated as it will help us to work out our plan easier.

Edited September 10, 2007 by taiji

[cherlyn 0]

Hi everyone,

I'm new to this forum. Thank you for dropping by.

I bought a resale 4 room HDB and am looking for renovation service.

I went to Singapore Expo yesterday to check things out.

Below are the few companies I shortlisted

1.) Arts and thots

2.) Rests and relax

3.) *****

4.) LS2 (not in the exhibition)

My questions are as follows;

1.) All 3 companies has quoted about the same price at 40k or more. I read through some of the posts dated back in 2005 and the reno cost for a 4 room HDB was about 28k to 32k. Has the price increased over the past 2 years? Is the price quoted to me reasonable? I just hope to know what is the current market price.

****** look more attractive as their package include a wardrobe, toilet doors and System 3 aircon

2.) What are the usual standard procedures? For example, the ID ask for my floor plan so that they can do some planning and conceptual work to present to us. After that, what is the next step?

Some companies threw free 3D perpsective drawing even at the very first stage of presentation. Is it some gimmick that was packaged in already? Will there be any complication if we decided not to proceed on?

For those companies that don't provide free 3D drawing, if we enter into stage 2 with the ID, I believe most companies will expect some registration fee or deposit (whatever they call it). Same question, will there be any complication if we decided not to procced on?

3.) According to our preference, we may not choose to heck down or lay homogenous titles (we can go for other material instead) based on the ID's design. These are consider cost saving, however, the ID told us that the package chargeable main amount is fixed and that we cannot use the amount diference to offset the

main amount. Is that true?

If it is true, what are the other things we can usually opt for beside the those items like kitchen cabinet, wardrobe etc to subsitute in?

4.) Most package include plumbing works to heck toilet floor and re-piping. Mine is a 29 years property, I am curious how the ID re-route the ugly looking pipes to make it look better and spacious.

5.) Any good and affordable recommendation for solid surface worktop material?

6.) What are you comments and view for the above listed companies.

Any advice and comments are welcome.

Thank you very much for taking time to look at my post.

Your comments and advice are greatly appreciated as it will help us to work out our plan easier.

hihi.. welcome to this thread! wow im sure u will receive tons of replies here.. the bros and sis here all v helpful de wor...

aniwae.. arts and thots not v gd ley. i heard tehy r gd sales ppl but after work is so so ley. beta consider carefully again.

***** price quite steep de...

when u look for an ID, first of all, the ID must let u feel at ease and confortable. the ID must show u their works and willing to bring u go see their owner's completed or semi completed flat so that u will have a see and feel for yrself this ID's design, capability.. to put it simply, if this ID is good or not good...

then hor.. b4 u sign anythg, ASK QUES.. SHOOT QUES.. make them put down in black and white. veh impt lor...this will acts as a protection to u..

remember dun get attracted to their gimmicks or their free gifts or their sweet tok...

must stay calm and remain calm...

then dun need go to so many IDs get quotation (this what i felt personally) cus u will be 'ruan'...confused ah.. so many, all roughly the same, how to choose rite? then u will get headache....

best if u can get ppl to recommend u.. (folks here, any ID to recommend?).....cus smtms its the word advertisement that matters rather than TV, NEWSPAPER advertisement.....

then enure the ID from the beginning till end will be with u.. from designing yr floor plan, to buy lights, furniture, hardware, decor items etc.. this the same ppl will follow u and accom u.....so that at any point of time only one people knows yr tiking, knows exactly what u wan..and feedback and issues go backt o the smae ppl......

there r some IDS... sales is one man, design is another man, supervision is another man.. wah.. imagine u tell the sales man what u wan.... the story will goes from a to b to m.. then outcome is Z... not what u want, even more JIALET...

so for flooring, what u decide to do? the norm i believe is homo tiles for LVR and LAMINATED Flooring for rooms lor....u need to do overlay for kitchen and toilets??

ASK IF deposit is refundable? if not refundable, can it be used to purchase other thgs?? this most impt...

dun be SO KAN CHIONG to commit or pay deposit ist....

[Air 0]

Those IDs in exhibition usually are more ex....if you are budget-constraint, I would advise you to source for other IDs. I've been to the expo once and what most IDs told me is that they are "branded", got blah blah awards....from this, u can tell their prices are also "branded".....

I've been quoted by ***** during the expo and their prices are

We have specifically told the ID our budget and in the end he still burst our budget by 50%. We dropped them. At the end of the day, we want an ID who listens and tries to work things within our budget and not happily suggest things that we do not need or want and try to psycho us to accept...

Would advise you to visit more IDs and source for more quotes. From your list, all the IDs seem to be quite high-end.

[Cantona7 0]

Hi taiji,

I understand the feeling of getting a reponsible & honest ID is nt easy in this industry.

For me going to expo getting the package are their tricks cos their package are veri restricted any changes or additional items will have to top up and the price sometime can be veri scary.

There are many good reputation ID firms in Spore that doesnt need exhibition to get customers cos they have alot of referrer having good comment on them. Try reading here in Renotalk on those ID firm to find out more about them.

Try to get more fredback from ur friends or the friendly forumers here b4 u signed on the dotted line.

[RenoGuru 0]

Come to RENOGURU

i will explain to you step by step how should a Reno discussion be....

Pm me