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nbdylovesyou

The Factory Life

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here it goes, after some time of soul-searching, house-hunting, money-parting, we've got a place. a resale 4-roomer in sgoon ave 4.

1st appointment: 23 november 2010 (just today)

2nd appointment: 23 december 2010

after all that, the next step comes the blood, sweat and tears of renovation. an experience we hope to learn from everyone here! we're opting for an industrial/foundry theme. we've always liked the unfinished, raw feel to an apartment, and hope to recreate this soho ambience (to the extent of our budget!) right here in serangoon!

final appointment set up with our ID this weekend before we sign up with them.

will update as frequent as possible, please feel free to share your comments/view/opinions!

 

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UPDATE: we moved in on 29th Jan 2011, 25 days after work started. Workers went back home for CNY for 2 weeks, what's left to be done are floor, wall, ceiling touchups, installations of kitchen glass door and toilet glass partition.

ID Verdict of J+N: 8/10.

Client relationship: Friendly, communicative and most of all, responsive. Never a black face, our dealings always went smoothly.

Responsiveness: Whatever needed to be amended was always rectified.

Workmanship: Not the best around, but you get what you pay for. Only carpentry work from them was kitchen cabinets; can open can close, nothing falling off so I take that as average workmanship.

Speed: 90% (less glass door and toilet partition) was complete in 25 days, not too shabby for a complete overhaul of a 4NG.

Caveat: The 2 IDs are fairly new to the scene, not the most experienced. Blur moments do arise, but in general they are eager to please and try to do a good job for their clients and are always willing to learn (as they did when encountering our cement screed floors). This positive attitude we will take over arrogant experience anyday.

Pictures courtesy of our IDs iphones, own pictures will be taken after glass and touchups are complete:

Living/Dining/Kitchen:

Photo1884-1-1.jpg

WIW

Photo1878-1.jpg

Wardrobe Vanity

Photo1881-1.jpg

Edited by nbdylovesyou
 

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haha, the industrial feel reminds me of your place.

wow! factory industrial? :) i like! staying tuned!

Welcome to renotalk,

I suppose your place should be in time before lunar new year.

Do look out for yearend/ post new year sale.

All the best in your reno-journey

 

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After a month or so of hiatus, we're back with lighter wallets, the keys to our place and the echoing remnants of the hacking din.

Work started on 5/1/10 (Wednesday), will see if everything can be squeezed in before the CNY festive season. Our IDs (N+J) have been excellent so far, communicative and fairly on the ball.

Everything will be redone, walls, tiles, electrical, kitchen, the works. The only things we're keeping are the main door, main door grill, windows and window grills.

I *had* a budget, but that has come and gone a long time ago. -_-

Floorplan:

floorplancropsmall.jpg

Last day (today) of hacking:

Kitchen/Dining Area

2011-01-07_12-57-21_172.jpg

Entrance to the 3 rooms

2011-01-07_12-57-28_38.jpg

New doorway hacked to link MBR and common room

2011-01-07_12-56-54_484.jpg

Wall hacking of MBR toilet so that we can shift the toilet entrance. Permit was delayed 1 week for this hacking which was next to the window

2011-01-07_12-56-19_890.jpg

For now, the weekend respite! Next monday, the real work begins.

 

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Day 6, not much to report. cement screeding of the flat has begun. 1 hour onsite pow-wow with J+N and the contractor to finalise details of measurements, finishing, etc.

Blurry pictures aside, no change from Day 3:

2011-01-10_12-46-28_125_KPT.jpg

2011-01-10_12-46-14_148_KPT.jpg

 

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good news, good news, and an even lighter wallet!

Met up with IDs today, they have set a 'move-in' date for us whereby all renovation except glass panel installation will be done. After the CNY 2 week break, glass panels will installed. Our glass panels consist of: shower glass partitions at both toilets, 3 panel glass partition for kitchen.

Since renovation started on 5th Jan, we are *optimistically* targeting 2nd Feb as the move in date. That leaves barely 1 month for all work to be completed. We predict a whirlwind of activity, what a start to the new year.

Since it was dark when we went to inspect the house this evening, no pictures until tomorrow. We bought lights and fan today, exceeded budget by twice what we had planned! But we both agreed that lighting fixtures was something we were willing to splurge on. Still intend to stick to the benchmark budget of 10% of flat purchase price for *all* renovation, fixtures, fittings, furniture and appliance costs. But we're cutting it mighty close, everything thereafter will have to be scaled back, lest we overstretch ourselves.

 

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good news, good news, and an even lighter wallet!

Met up with IDs today, they have set a 'move-in' date for us whereby all renovation except glass panel installation will be done. After the CNY 2 week break, glass panels will installed. Our glass panels consist of: shower glass partitions at both toilets, 3 panel glass partition for kitchen.

Since renovation started on 5th Jan, we are *optimistically* targeting 2nd Feb as the move in date. That leaves barely 1 month for all work to be completed. We predict a whirlwind of activity, what a start to the new year.

Since it was dark when we went to inspect the house this evening, no pictures until tomorrow. We bought lights and fan today, exceeded budget by twice what we had planned! But we both agreed that lighting fixtures was something we were willing to splurge on. Still intend to stick to the benchmark budget of 10% of flat purchase price for *all* renovation, fixtures, fittings, furniture and appliance costs. But we're cutting it mighty close, everything thereafter will have to be scaled back, lest we overstretch ourselves.

congrats!! waaa, 4 weeks for ur scale of reno is incredible! mine started 7 weeks ago and is already rushing like mad. ur IDs must be 神!

my glass work is also delayed. No kitchen glass door and bathroom shower screen. gotta bath very careful when i move in next Saturday. hehehe..

 

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congrats!! waaa, 4 weeks for ur scale of reno is incredible! mine started 7 weeks ago and is already rushing like mad. ur IDs must be 神!

my glass work is also delayed. No kitchen glass door and bathroom shower screen. gotta bath very careful when i move in next Saturday. hehehe..

from what we gather, there is minimal tiling work to be done, and almost *no* carpentry aside from kitchen, hence the faster pace of our reno. no built in carpentry, screed floors, all in all it's a fairly simple renovation from what we are told. everytime we meet our IDs and contractor, they tell me that our flat design/theme is exactly the same as what they have back home in their malaysian kampong.

both of us are probably the only people who would pay good $ to emulate what kampong villages were doing for pennies 30 years ago! -_-

Edited by nbdylovesyou
 

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today was furniture collection day! thanks to a good friend who helped with the shipping, went down to collect our aluminium navy chairs from his office.

quality wise, it's fairly decent. we intend to use the chairs for dining, study and misc purposes. being full-aluminium, we hope the chairs can last us a fairly long time. can't wait for the chairs to be 'worn' in with anodisation and scratches, i suspect they will take on an even starker industrial look then!

Edited by nbdylovesyou
 

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