Reno Must Be Jai Yen Yen ........and A Super, Super Overdue One

[IPineapple 3]

I have not updated my T-blog for a long, long time that it's gone missing or I don't know how to find it. Anyway decided to start a new T-blog to document the reno process.

Mine is a super overdue reno, since I have bought the flat almost one year ago. Yah, for past one year the ants and xiang qiangs are my tenants, but cannot get rental from them.

On the brighter side, this gives me ample time to think and design the house. Met up with 20 over contractors and IDs,yup..super siao right. Met all sort of ID; arrogant, rude, exppensive, cheeky, friendly, sincere, forgetful. Long story short.......in the end i shortlisted 3 who have a good attitude, technical knowledge and sincerity. Personally, i do not need super atas or creative ID (comes at a HIGH cost of course) as I'm already have my own design concept and coming from creative industry i can be very stubborn in my own concept. Sometimes not a good thing either.

More to come.....to be continued...

[adidaem 6]

I have not updated my T-blog for a long, long time that it's gone missing or I don't know how to find it.

There you go...

http://www.renotalk.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=41615

There is a default filter for forum view that you can change at the bottom - change from 90 days to all and you will be able to see all the old t-blogs.

[Nimzo 0]

Hallo xiong ler,??

Hehheheehe

[revox88 0]

There you go...

http://www.renotalk.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=41615

There is a default filter for forum view that you can change at the bottom - change from 90 days to all and you will be able to see all the old t-blogs.

Hi Adidaem, great tips hahah manage to find my very first blog in Renotalk in Y2007 but then all posts inside cannot be viewed

Used to have a hard time finding my old post and password thus sign up an new account.

[IPineapple 3]

There you go...

http://www.renotalk.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=41615

There is a default filter for forum view that you can change at the bottom - change from 90 days to all and you will be able to see all the old t-blogs.

Haha...thanks sis Adidaem you are really the old bird here.

[potatoes 0]

Ipineapple, Congrats! Finally u r starting ur reno.... When r u starting? I remember your curve balcony. Look forward to see pictures of your new place.

[IPineapple 3]

Ipineapple, Congrats! Finally u r starting ur reno.... When r u starting? I remember your curve balcony. Look forward to see pictures of your new place.

hi bro..nioe to hear from you.

haha..ya finally started...almost a year liao. Hacking started yesterday.

Will post the update soon....hehe....yes the big curve balcony is my love and hate.

I will post why later...

[dracwy 0]

looking forward to seeing some pics!

[IPineapple 3]

Signed the OTP for this unit last March with high COV(2011, ya more than a year ago)

My first appointment was one or two week before the GE2011 and YES, my area is the most talk about and contested GRC. Guess you guys know where is my place already.

And good or bad (still dun know), during my second appointment i became a HAMMER from a THUNDER! Many worries like property value drop or etc...., but no choice bought already so LL! Have to think possitive.

The owner is also one of a kind. Wanted us to give them extension for 4 months, so out of good will i agreed (since i'm not hurry to move). but lucky they found their unit less than two months.

The most DL things happened after they moved out, i found lots of discrepancies. Really want to use vulgar words, but better not in public media (though i scolded them now in my mind).

The marble floor is fully of scratches, windows leak when its rain and balcony wall plaster falling apart. ****, we were cheated. The owner used some non water-proof normal plaster to plaster the windows area and balcony when he was selling the house, so non of us noticed.

Now when its rain my living will kenna "ponding"! Not every fifty years but everytime. @#$%!@@

After paying high COV this is what i get. Warning to people who going to buy the resale house, please check thorought esp during the 2nd viewing. If i know its such a problematic house, i will not pay such high COV to them.

Ya..then came the cooling measure from government. I should have waited till GE is over then start looking for house.

Anyway this is the story of my house purchase experience. Expensive lesson. Hope things will get better.

Howeever, have no regret of this apartment:

-The environment is pretty good

-Mine is a walk up unit (not elder citizen friendly), so no left and right neighbour. My very own personal space, very secluded i like. My floor has only 2 units each at a corner.

-An unique huge curvy balcony, so i can have my alfresco coffee session.

-North East facing so no afternoon sun.

Thinking of these factors made me feel better after all the unpleasant events happened.

This is the floor plan of my unit. Very challenging to do space planning. Took me many rounds of alternation.

Edited August 4, 2012 by IPineapple

[IPineapple 3]

Ok back to my contractor selection.

As i mentioned, i have met many contractors/ID and almost all the popular contractors and ID from renotalk. haha..crazy right. The process is very tiring but i really need to find the right one after spending so much on the COV. Not much cash liao.

Have to spend wisely this time.

All my three shortlisted ID, i find it very confortable communicating with them:

ID J: Speaks mandarin and not comfortable talking in English, but he is very patient and responsive. He will offer advice to me and brought me to his projects.

ID R: Speaks English only, very patience, responsible and creative. He is able to offer many creative advices. One thing to note he is very busy as he is the boss and have serveral projects on hand at the same time.

ID S: My friend recommended him to me. A very quiet guy, he will just listen to what you need but will also give suggestion when need to. According to my friend though he is quiet and very busy (he is the boss) but his workmanship is very good. Anything you need him to do just text him and he will get it done. Price wise he is the most competitive.

The rest of the ID that i had met i would not mention or give any feedbacks maybe i don't have that much chemistry with them so dun wan to break their rice bowls.

Sometime these depends on fate as well.

I would recommend the above 3 ID as I know they are at least the proper one. But if you don't have any design idea or concept and looking for those ATAS ID firm, maybe they are not the one for you.

Ok back to my Final ONE! Surprise, surprise he is none of the above.

He is the black horse...last minute crossed my finishing line if not my final choice would be one of the three above. hahahaa

In actual fact, I rejected him before because his initial quote was way beyond my budget. He then followed up with me again and asked me how he can help me to meet my budget by trying his best since i was referred to him. At first, i was kinda skeptical as I'm not sure how much he could reduce. I had read about him in RenoTalk before and he was referred to me by other forumer so i knew what how good he is, plus seeing him so sincere i decided to give them another try and met up with them to review my plan again.

What i liked about him is he is very sincere and knowledgeable. He tried to match my budget without removing the items i want and advice using other materials to substitute what i needed to achieve my design. This is what i call creative and problem solving. I had met up with some ID who want to revise their quotations with me but were only asking me to take out the items. WTH! This is not solving my problem; they are just looking for an easy way out.

I'm also very frank with my ID that i don't not have much cash left and have many other financial burdens at the moment.

After negotiating and discussing with him, he finally gave me his best price. It's slightly over my budget but acceptable for me to stretch that bit.

Ok, time to reveal. My selected ID is Donny and James aka TEAM DJ.

They are a team so those of you who have followed others T-blogs would have read about them too. This is another good thing, cause i have two persons managing my home reno. Donny is very experienced and knowledgeable on the technical apects, while James is more towards design aspect. So when i need technical advice i will get Donny and design advice i will get James.

Till now i would say they are good and very efficient. Most importantly. they are very responsive and responsible. Whenever i need to ask them something they will always get back to me even if i cannot get them right away, they will call me or sms me back later. The whole reno progress is fast and smooth, hehehe maybe a little too fast for me to catch my breathe.

I will update the my progress...stay tuned.

Those who need my contractor contact please feel free to PM me. Happy to share with you.

Highly recommended.

Edited April 23, 2012 by IPineapple

[mango13 0]

[quote name='IPineapple' timestamp='1334828317' post='710475

Hi IPineapple, I know who's Mr D, he is a very sincere & nice guy, althot he dino get my job but he will still text me & chk how's my reno process

[ayazumi 0]

You don't reveal we also know. Too obvious. Hubby and myself said our next house renovation will look for him if he is still working in this line.

[OnTheRoad 0]

Signed the OTP for this unit last March with high COV(2011, ya more than a year ago)

My first appointment was one or two week before the GE2011 and YES, my area is the most talk about and contested GRC. Guess you guys know where is my place already.

And good or bad (still dun know), during my second appointment i became a HAMMER from a THUNDER! Many worries like property value drop or etc...., but no choice bought already so LL! Have to think possitive.

The owner is also one of a kind. Wanted us to give them extension for 4 months, so out of good will i agreed (since i'm not hurry to move). but lucky they found their unit less than two months.

The most DL things happened after they moved out, i found lots of discrepancies. Really want to use vulgar words, but better not in public media (though i scolded them now in my mind).

The marble floor is fully of scratches, windows leak when its rain and balcony wall plaster falling apart. ****, we were cheated. The owner used some non water-proof normal plaster to plaster the windows area and balcony when he was selling the house, so non of us noticed.

Now when its rain my living will kenna "ponding"! Not every fifty years but everytime. @#$%!@@

After paying high COV this is what i get. Warning to people who going to buy the resale house, please check thorought esp during the 2nd viewing. If i know its such a problematic house, i will not pay such high COV to them.

Ya..then came the cooling measure from government. I should have waited till GE is over then start looking for house.

Anyway this is the story of my house purchase experience. Expensive lesson. Hope things will get better.

Howeever, have no regret of this apartment:

-The environment is pretty good (minus the annoying neighbour dogs which keep barking everytime someone walked past their door. Don't know why they like to open their door knowing their dogs like to bark at people. Hope the dogs will die soon. Me very evil hor but it's really annoying. )

-Mine is a walk up unit (not elder citizen friendly), so no left and right neighbour. My very own personal space, very secluded i like. My floor has only 2 units each at a corner.

-An unique huge curvy balcony, so i can have my alfresco coffee session.

-North East facing so no afternoon sun.

Thinking of these factors made me feel better after all the unpleasant events happened.

This is the floor plan of my unit. Very challenging to do space planning. Took me many rounds of alternation.

The positive side of lightning becoming hammer is that the residents get to benefit since both will work harder to prove themselves or to win back the constituency. Don't worry!

[IPineapple 3]

Haha...those who follow the T-blogs will definitely know who he is...haha...

Yup, that's why we selected him though he is not the cheapest (mid range or above slightly) but his sincerity and knowledge tells me I can trust my reno to him.

[thedottyness 0]

Gd luck!

I really like ur curved balcony.. but seems like the layout must be a major headache for u??