familyof4 0 Report post Posted May 9, 2009 the sctatch is **** obvious! I agree with growler to let uncle know so that he can try his best to salvage... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
pinkpetter 0 Report post Posted May 9, 2009 Don't worry... tell uncle. He will probably replace the place like the rest say. They should have covered the area... haiz. Workers.. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
smartie 0 Report post Posted May 9, 2009 Chinese old uncle? It's a different removal team from mine. Try to tell Uncle early so that he can rectify it. Yes, chinese old uncle. Called uncle yesterday but he was busy. Will try to call him again today. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
smartie 0 Report post Posted May 9, 2009 At this juncture, I feel it's appropriate to write about how we finally decided to engage Ah Soon as our contractor. Warning: long post We started looking for IDs and contractors around 3 to 4 months ago. During this 3 to 4-month period, we asked for quotations from 9 parties. 7 of them are IDs, 1 is a contractor who then referred us to a design firm in the end, and the last is Ah Soon. Out of the 9, 2 never got back. Wasted our trips down to their offices (both are IDs btw). Of the remaining IDs who gave us their quotations, 1 really stood out (let's call him K). We met K at a fair in Expo, showed him our floorplan and explained our requirements. Around 2 to 3 weeks later, he not only gave us the quotation, but he also did a space layout plan and suggested designs for our TV wall and MBR walk-in wardrobe area. From that point till recently, I think we have met up at least 5 times. He produced various 2D drawings and a 3D drawing for the TV wall to help us better visualise, and when we suggested the cost of that is too high, he tried his best to tweak his design based on our budget. We are quite impressed with his enthusiasm and friendliness and felt comfortable talking to him. The only thing that prevented us from engaging him is the price. It's not sky high, but it's stretching our budget. So we decided to seek out quotation from contractors to see if there's a significant difference. First contractor we seeked out was recommended by booy's acquaintance. Happens that his name is also Ah Soon, but he's not the superstar Ah Soon. Met him once to talk about what we want, and on the second meeting to see our flat, he brought a 'friend' who actually belongs to a design firm. In the end, the quotation was even higher than K. Disappointed, we tried the original Ah Soon next. As expected, we had a hard time trying to get him, but finally got to meet him on Sat 25 Apr. After that, we eagerly waited for his quotation. The shortlist was now down to him and K. We were getting worried that uncle is getting overloaded, and we will have to monitor more closely if we engage him rather than K. In the end, booy and I agreed on a price difference threshold, i.e. if the price difference exceeds this threshold, we will engage Ah Soon and commit more of our own time to manage and monitor. Otherwise, we will spend a bit more to engage K and relax easier. Uncle flew us aeroplane twice regarding our quotation. The first time he said he will deposit the quotation into our letterbox, but when we went down specially to open our letterbox that night, it was not there. Second time, he promised to get his son to email us the quotation. Again, no email came. Judgement day finally came on 5-May. I managed to contact Ah Soon that afternoon to pass us our quotation that night at our place. I was actually recovering from illness that day, but I still dragged myself and drove to our place with booy. Uncle was late by 2 hours, but we were glad that he finally came. He went through his chinese quotation with us and when he gave us the final figure, we knew that he has emerged the winner. We have sent K an email yesterday on our decision of not engaging him. So far no reply yet (which is partly why I'm not naming him or the ID firm here). Both booy and I felt a bit guilty cos he has really spent a lot of time and effort on us. If $$ was not a constraint, we would have signed up with him. Not sure whether he comes to renotalk, but we still want to thank him for all the things he has done for us. Have not signed anything with uncle yet, but he agreed to send someone to tear down the MBR wardrobe first so that we can go buy our new air con and get the installation done during the beginning stages of renovation which will start 2 weeks later. Uncle asked me to translate the quotation into English and let him sign. I decided to do one in both English and Chinese instead. Supposed to give it to uncle yesterday during the dismantling of the wardrobe but in the end he could not turn up as he was held up by some matters. booy as quite impressed by the bi-lingual quotation though. Haha... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ivy 0 Report post Posted May 9, 2009 yah yesterday uncle was really caught up with some workers issue. probably that's why he can't make it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
booy 0 Report post Posted May 9, 2009 Already called Uncle and inform him.. He said he will replace the affected laminated flooring.. not too sure how is he going to change.. Most probably the whole wardrobe area.. But now I'm afraid that it would be a different colour from the current one.. Keeping my fingers crossed.. Side track a bit.. The quotation that Smartie came up with is really impressive.. Exactly like those ID kind with categorisation.. So maybe Uncle Soon can consider outsourcing to him.. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
smartie 0 Report post Posted May 9, 2009 As promised, here are the photos of the items we bought from S & C yesterday: Coffee table: Dining table: Dining chair: Bedframe: Some of the fabrics available for the bedframe. We chose the 2nd one from the bottom. It's black with a bit of shimmering. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
booy 0 Report post Posted May 9, 2009 By the way, the table top is changed to clear glass top because I don't fancy black top.. And the dining chair is changed to black after much persuasion from Smartie.. I wanted white very badly.. But for practical reason, I dun really have a choice.. Just read a thread abt S&C at Singapore Brides.. pretty bad comments inside from a few customers.. now I'm starting to get worried of the things that we bought.. Melvin and wife are very helpful and they gave us a lot of advice.. Now we can only hope for the best.. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
spoiltbabe 0 Report post Posted May 9, 2009 yea, black seats are more practical though i agree with you that white will stand out more (unless you choose those 'plastic' seats or with removable covers) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tower 0 Report post Posted May 10, 2009 Can check what was the valuration when u bought your new resale flat in Dec 08? Condition is marvellous. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
poseidon_gal 0 Report post Posted May 10, 2009 I saw the comments too... By the way, the table top is changed to clear glass top because I don't fancy black top.. And the dining chair is changed to black after much persuasion from Smartie.. I wanted white very badly.. But for practical reason, I dun really have a choice.. Just read a thread abt S&C at Singapore Brides.. pretty bad comments inside from a few customers.. now I'm starting to get worried of the things that we bought.. Melvin and wife are very helpful and they gave us a lot of advice.. Now we can only hope for the best.. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
XiaoBinBin 0 Report post Posted May 10, 2009 I saw the comments too... can share link via pm? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
booy 0 Report post Posted May 10, 2009 yea, black seats are more practical though i agree with you that white will stand out more (unless you choose those 'plastic' seats or with removable covers) No choice bah.. I dun think I have the energy to wipe every now and then to maintain the whiteness.. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
booy 0 Report post Posted May 10, 2009 (edited) Can check what was the valuration when u bought your new resale flat in Dec 08? Condition is marvellous. The valuation is 405K if I rem correctly.. The owner is very clean and maintain their things very well.. Plus they like to renovate every now and then themselves, therefore condition is slightly better.. Your owner gave you a lot of things.. hee.. Ours are only the fixtures.. Edited May 10, 2009 by booy Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
booy 0 Report post Posted May 10, 2009 I saw the comments too... Have you bought things from them? I think it might also be a matter of luck bah.. Because a lot of things now are from China anyway.. it's just how good the QC is.. Quite a few people in the forum bought from them, so only time will tell how the goods are... can share link via pm? http://www.singaporebrides.com/forumboard/...html?1241889659 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
