Dream House For Jk + J @ Macpherson

[JonsMom 0]

Like most of the forumers, both my husband and I learned a lot from Renotalk. Thanks for the ideas, advices and tips from all of you!! Let us also share our experience here, we start with the renovation then go back to house hunting when not that busy.

11 years ago, we had a bad experience when we bought our 1st HDB resale flat. Due to budget constraint, we engaged a contractor to do some minor renovations. The contractor is VERY irritating because he kept missing out on the details (E.g. wrong sliding door frame color & track design, wrong kitchen cabinet doors design, and we got to pay if we want it be changed), which we’ve no choice but to accept their work. To the contractor, our minor renovation project is really minor to him, so he didn't bother to follow up with the suppliers/workers closely.

In late March we signed the OTP, our dream home @ Macpherson area - A lovely 5-room HDB resale flat (Point Block). Our 1st appointment in mid-May and key hand over in abt Mid-July.

After months of sourcing for the "best" ID/ contractor quotation, we finally confirmed our ID - 3D Innovative Design - Wilson Tan. Below is how we’ve come to this decision…

As this is our 2nd HDB flat, our initial plan is to engage an ID to help us in design works & manage the renovation schedule. In May, we attended Asia Pacific Furniture Fair 2011 & discuss with the following IDs.

1) ***** Design: They’ve an impressive, beautifully-designed showroom @ Ubi. As their renovation proposal is beyond our budget @ $43,000, we cannot afford to engage their ID service.

2) ****: During Fair, they offer standard home furnishing packages for HDB/ private properties. However their standard packages are not suitable and their proposed customized items are very expensive. The ID (a young girl) seemed just want to sell us their standard package. When we said we have limited budget, she said the kitchen looks "ok", can keep. The malay owner indeed kept the house very clean, but a kitchen cabinet had been used for 15yrs, no need to change?!

3) Plus+ Design: Their renovation pricing & proposal seems OK @ $22,000, by Nick, a very hard working ID. Never pushed us for unnecessary items, or talked nonsense. However, it’s only when we scrutinize the details that it’s still quite expensive for scale of work.

While browsing on Renotalk for good IDs/contractors, one day I somehow posted "Request for Renovation Quotation" on Renotalk and 6 ID firms (D'TRENZO, Ideal Design, 3D Innovative, **, Mac Dezigns & k*) called/emailed me. But we both happened be vey busy on work and taking care of our "terrible 2" son on weekends. We got no time to reply all with our item list. Also, my husband and I felt that “Engaging ID is too expensive!” Disheartened, we decided to save costs & go to contractors since we know what items we want to do. We got 3 contractors recommended by colleagues and friends.

Here are the findings:

1) IR Design: This is our preferred contractor in the beginning. Recommended by my colleague, his pricing is competitive & he’s experienced/ knowledgeable in our discussion & site reccee.

2) Sun Hup Interior Contracts: Recommended by my husband's colleagues. We went all the way to Woodland to their carpentry workshop and office, the lady is very friendly, but we found their pricing quite expensive for a contractor (E.g. Their carpentry costing is $1,800 for a 7" built-in wardrobe)

3) King’s Furniture Contract: Recommended by our resale flat ex-owner, we find their pricing very weird. They’re very cheap in carpentry works (e,g, $1,400 for built-in wardrobe, the boss claimed he has own carpentry workshop), but very expensive in other areas (plumbing, tiling, flooring…).

IR Design is a good contractor choice among these 3 as the boss, Roy Tan is a very nice person to work with and gave us technical advices. We almost signed contract with Roy. While waiting for contractors' revised quotations, Wilson Tan from 3D Innovative Design called me (a Sat night 10pm) and asked why I didn't get back to him. I told him frankly that we have limited budget, so we thought to get quotations from contractors only. He asked me to email him our item list and he would get back to me asap. He emailed me his quotation at 1am, when I replied his email at 2:30am, he called me to explain the quotation and he was in office. His quotation (rough quote, coz he's in a hurry to get back to me) looked good, the price is competitve with contractors. Then we invited him to go to the house for site measurement the next day, so can give us a more accurate quotation.

Because of Wilson's quotation, we changed our believe of “Engaging ID is too expensive!” And we found 2 more from Renotalk with good pricing or reviews for comparison:

1) Room for Ideas: This is a contractor recommended by RenoTalk forum with competitive pricing, but we could only found one forumer posted with photos. I asked Vincent (the boss) if we can go to his showroom to see their work but no showroom. Then I asked for more photos of the jobs they done, he said don't have. End up he brought us to see a site at Pungol, it's a new 3rm flat, not many works done by them but the workmanship seems ok.

2) Summit Design Studio: This is an ID recommended by RenoTalk forum with competitive pricing. I called the company for the recommended IDs William & Ben, both not in, the ID answered my call is Nicolas. We met him at his showroom with our floorplan and item list. He listened to us and come out with quotation the same day. But we found his price is market price, not too expensive, not cheap also.

After getting all the quotations, we entered the items and prices into an excel sheet for comparison. We found Wilson quoted us competitive price and he gave us suggestions on how to renovate our house when most contractors just listened our request. Then I searched for reviews of 3D Innovative, but found not many of reviews (good or bad), how to decide to go for a relaible contractor or an ID with the items we want in reasonable price?!

Our conclusion on engaging Wilson as our ID is based on:

• Pricing: Their pricing is the most competitive @ contractors’ price range. They manage to offer several extra things with the same budget (e.g. redo the living room ceiling, feature wall design, shoe rack space design).

• Showroom: We’re also impressed with their gorgeous, beautifully-designed showroom @ Ubi. We find their showroom design quality is really impressive.

• ID: As we cannot find any reviews in RenoTalk, we’re skeptical about engaging a new ID contact. In the end, we decided to take the plunge & go with 3D Innovative Design because of our ID, Wilson - Wilson is the person who really make a Difference! He convinces us to take up his renovation proposal as his pre-sales service is top-notch.

He is able to propose some designs (e.g. living room’s ceiling, feature walls, dining room’s mirror wall, bathroom design). When we liaise with the contractors, they simply quote based on our requirements.

Of course, chemistry is also important as we need to work together to transform the house into our sweet home. We feel we’ll get along well with Wilson on this renovation project.

Home renovation is an important decision as it’s our 3rd highest value purchase (after our house & car purchase) – that’s why we spent so many months over it.

Renovation was started one week later after we signed the contract. I'll post some photos later, we still have to purchase some items like hood, hob, oven and rain shower set over the weekend.

P.S. I'm new to renotalk postings, have to learn how to PM and posting photos.

[jackychun 0]

All the best for your renovation works...

[mummymantras 0]

Let's see the floorplan!

[JonsMom 0]

Over the weekend, my sis, niece and nephew came to visit us, they just back today.

Sure! I'll try to post the floorplan and some pre-reno photos tomorrow.

[potatoes 0]

Jonsmom, hope you have made the right choice. I agree with you that the chemistry between u and ID is very impt. No matter what, whether it is ID or contractor, they need to make sure they meet baseline profit. ID are able to offer more value added services like 3d design, bring u to choose tiles, bathroom items& lightings....

[JonsMom 0]

Jonsmom, hope you have made the right choice. I agree with you that the chemistry between u and ID is very impt. No matter what, whether it is ID or contractor, they need to make sure they meet baseline profit. ID are able to offer more value added services like 3d design, bring u to choose tiles, bathroom items& lightings....

Hi potatoes, thanks for visiting! I agreed with you, selecting the person-in-charge is more important than selecting the ID company. Our ID is very hard working person, but also has many jobs on hand. So we try to do our own sourcing except tiles selection as tiles are provided by him. Other things we got to pay our own, we source ourselves. We saw some IDs bringing their clients to shop lightings, WC, basins... but those shops we found very expensive. For example, a 2x13w downlight in a shop @Balestier selling $28, we bought $18 and this price may not the cheapest. Our ID helped us found a bathtub from his usual shop Lucky K****$350, and this is for contractor's price. Shop's price is $389 (not include the drainer). But we found one selling @ $290, same brand same model with drainer. I'm not saying my ID earns the commission, but we prefer to do our own sourcing to find a cheaper one as we also have tight budget.

I've just visited your t-blog, we started the reno on the same day 18/7. But it seems your EM has already done a lot! Mine basically just the 2 toilets, ceiling, electrical works and air-con piping.

Your ID seems going to do a lot of things for you, how do you keep it at your tight budget? We already exceeded our budget (30k)by 10%, and also paid 33k COV.

May I ask you how to PM and post photos? I want to upload my floorplan and some photos to update our reno journey. Thanks in advance!

[JonsMom 0]

Let's see the floorplan!

Can you teach me how to upload image?

[Rover 0]

Can you teach me how to upload image?

Upload ur pics to http://imageshack.us/ or http://www.photobucket.com, and copy and paste the IMG tag code here.

[potatoes 0]

Hi potatoes, thanks for visiting! I agreed with you, selecting the person-in-charge is more important than selecting the ID company. Our ID is very hard working person, but also has many jobs on hand. So we try to do our own sourcing except tiles selection as tiles are provided by him. Other things we got to pay our own, we source ourselves. We saw some IDs bringing their clients to shop lightings, WC, basins... but those shops we found very expensive. For example, a 2x13w downlight in a shop @Balestier selling $28, we bought $18 and this price may not the cheapest. Our ID helped us found a bathtub from his usual shop Lucky K****$350, and this is for contractor's price. Shop's price is $389 (not include the drainer). But we found one selling @ $290, same brand same model with drainer. I'm not saying my ID earns the commission, but we prefer to do our own sourcing to find a cheaper one as we also have tight budget.

I've just visited your t-blog, we started the reno on the same day 18/7. But it seems your EM has already done a lot! Mine basically just the 2 toilets, ceiling, electrical works and air-con piping.

Your ID seems going to do a lot of things for you, how do you keep it at your tight budget? We already exceeded our budget (30k)by 10%, and also paid 33k COV.

May I ask you how to PM and post photos? I want to upload my floorplan and some photos to update our reno journey. Thanks in advance!

Ya, I was also like u at first.... Dont know how to upload photo until I explore renotalk. On this tblog page, there is on the 1st topic instructions on how to upload photos. U can test anything on that blog to see if it works without being offended. U should just try it.

I find myself exceeding my budget also... ...from a humble 35k now 40k

Edited August 12, 2011 by potatoes

[stardust205 0]

Actually I would think ID genrally earns commission thru referal of clients to shops, although it does not neccessary translates to higher costs on the clients side. I suppose this is fair as IDs also wanna earn some 'extra' for the additional services.

I personally would prefer to source on my own too - more choices and allows myself some 'freeplay'

Welcome to Renotalk and looking fwd to pcitures from ya!

Hi potatoes, thanks for visiting! I agreed with you, selecting the person-in-charge is more important than selecting the ID company. Our ID is very hard working person, but also has many jobs on hand. So we try to do our own sourcing except tiles selection as tiles are provided by him. Other things we got to pay our own, we source ourselves. We saw some IDs bringing their clients to shop lightings, WC, basins... but those shops we found very expensive. For example, a 2x13w downlight in a shop @Balestier selling $28, we bought $18 and this price may not the cheapest. Our ID helped us found a bathtub from his usual shop Lucky K****$350, and this is for contractor's price. Shop's price is $389 (not include the drainer). But we found one selling @ $290, same brand same model with drainer. I'm not saying my ID earns the commission, but we prefer to do our own sourcing to find a cheaper one as we also have tight budget.

Edited August 12, 2011 by stardust205

[snaem85 1]

hopefully everything goes well for u, sis! :sport-smiley-018:

i am still sourcing for ID. such a headache. surffing RT website seems like a 'must' nowadays. haha.

btw any idea whats the market price now for tile/psf?

[blazing 0]

3 to 4 bucks for sq foot, you can get decent homogenous polished tiles.

Matt tiles shouldn't cost more.

Other types, like quartz tiles, marbles will cost a lot more.

[JonsMom 0]

hopefully everything goes well for u, sis! :sport-smiley-018:

i am still sourcing for ID. such a headache. surffing RT website seems like a 'must' nowadays. haha.

btw any idea whats the market price now for tile/psf?

Hi snaem85,

so far everything goes well, although there're some hiccups, my ID is quite reasonable and helped us solved most of them.

yes, you're right! if don't surf RT website, I think we might be kanna many chops during the reno journey. Not only info/advices on sourcing ID/contractor, but also sourcing of other fittings, house appliances and curtains...everything related to reno. My personal suggestion is to get at least 3 IDs and 3 contractors (if you know what you wan to reno) for comparisions in terms of price, service, and ideas. But most important is to get someone reliable, both ID company and the designer. So far, we have no regret on choosing this ID.

we only change the tiles for toilets, we selected those $2.8 to $3 psf, this price is not counted labour cost. Hope I can post photos of my toilet wall tiles later. checking how...

[JonsMom 0]

Ya, I was also like u at first.... Dont know how to upload photo until I explore renotalk. On this tblog page, there is on the 1st topic instructions on how to upload photos. U can test anything on that blog to see if it works without being offended. U should just try it.

I find myself exceeding my budget also... ...from a humble 35k now 40k

thank you! I saw that topic before, but forgot where... it's under forum tblog. just created an account and photobucket, will upload some photos soon.

[JonsMom 0]

Upload ur pics to http://imageshack.us/ or http://www.photobucket.com, and copy and paste the IMG tag code here.

thank you, Rover!