Resale 4Ng @ Bedok North

[NSW 0]

Hi all,

A newbie has to start somewhere before he/she can graduate from n00b status.

Have been silently stalking many posts and blogs in the lead-up before deciding to start my own t-blog.

My wife and I will be receiving the keys over 2appt later today to this hdb:

We saw the high COV as a payment for a more spacious-looking unit which is (relatively) immediately available as opposed to having to wait for a BTO. Hence the crucial need to keep the renovation value-for-money while functional and long-lasting to suit our needs.

Have just used the "Get Renovation Packages" feature in the forum, hoping it all goes well...

Edited May 12, 2013 by NSW

[NSW 0]

I am not sure if my sentiment echoes any of that experienced by new couples, but I am eager to make sure I "start everything correct".

Hence, despite being (supposedly) trained in the pure sciences for my degree, i went ahead to engage ... a fengshui consultant. He supposedly helped GE with their office layout as well...

So after seeking the FSM's views, my wife and I came up with our own layout that would not incur the wrath of unknown forces and/or elements, and to serve as something our future ID/contractor can work on/consider when they infuse their own elements into their design/quotation:

We wanted something open, functional and clean. It wasn't that difficult, except for the toilets! They were so small! And despite the fact that the 2 toilets were back-to-back, we were unable to knock down the dividing wall to merge the 2 toilets because the drainage pipes are unfortunately on both sides of the wall... that is perhaps the least-desirable dis-feature of the unit...

Edited May 12, 2013 by NSW

[NSW 0]

Without any clue on where to begin (for a long while renotalk just seems like a wealth of information that is too convulated to navigate), a long-time friend of mine recommended I give ZL Construction a try: http://www.zlconstruction.com.sg/.

The small showroom/office prominently displays their various certs, quite confidence-inspiring undoubtedly. Boss is young! But a well-groomed chap. Turns out that he is the original boss' son, now taking over and trying to grow the family business.

Armed with the floor plan and little other knowledge, he personally tended to my wife and myself for 3 solid hours. My wife complained that I was overly-caught up with getting "everything right" and was micro-managing details which are irrelavant for a first meet. (I didn't know I was tense and rapidly-firing questions throughout ... sheesh.)

Anyway, le boss walked us through the process and provided more explainations whenever I asked for more details. He brought the discussion back on track whenever I veer too far off into the details and provided an initial quote with everything itemised.

After factoring in the FSM's views as well as several new considerations which arose from the final inspection before 2nd appointment, we re-requested for a quotation from ZL, through the renotalk feature as well as several other companies. Hopefully the multiple quotations will reach us soon and serve us well ...

[mrmerry 2]

My advice is bro, think bout what you really want... In terms of look n feel as Id sometimes lead u down a road that they like or cheaper to do, but it might not be what you want.

Look Ard for more ids, or contractors if u know what u need.

Before plunging down the rabbit hole, it's good to have a idea where u wanna go!

Best of luck for your renovations!

[sheepz 0]

I'm also from Bedok North! We have similar floor plan! I totally agree with you the toilets are small thus our master bedroom toilet vanity has to be built outside the toilet to accommodate a bigger shower area.

[Bengologist 1]

Hey there! Welcome to Renotalk!

It's really essential to get a few more quotes to compare and see which ID firm offer you the best in terms of price, workmanship quality, services and how well you 'click' with the ID.

In addition, do flip a few interior designing magazines or read more about it online (or on renotalk) so that you have a feel or idea about the theme you wanna have in your home and the layout of all the furnitures.

I make the mistake of not having a good idea about the layout of my furnitures, so I made numerous changes to the original design which probably pisses off my ID (he didn't mention it but I guess he's boiling inside, hahahaha... )

If you have any queries, feel free to write it so that we can share our opinions too.

Anyway happy reno!

Cheers!

[NSW 0]

hi sheepz, would you mind sharing some photos or layout? We are still exploring ideas to maximise our available space..

[sheepz 0]

hi sheepz, would you mind sharing some photos or layout? We are still exploring ideas to maximise our available space..

Hi NSW,

You can see my t-blog http://www.renotalk.com/forum/topic/38448-minimalist-home/

[NSW 0]

Today we collected our keys. It was a swift process! Was in and out within ten minutes. We are now proud owners of somewhere.

The calls also came in fast and furious, despite the short turn-about of approx 12 hours from submision through the renotalk quotation feature. Received 3 or 4 calls from IDs/contractors in the hour just before the HDB 2appt.

However, most of those who replied were not available for immediately meet up except the rep of 9 creation (http://www.9creation.com.sg/). He was professional, sat down worked through in detail and offered his fair bit of input. He demonstrated great spatial awareness and design intution. His portfolio of works wasimpressive too, and he seemed genuinely interested in creating a dream home for us.

After going through demolition, carpetry, wet works, his true passion really shone (pun intended) when we spoke about lights. However, he is a strong advocate of cove lighting, which both my wife and I are not comfortable with (to his credit, he did try to align to us by subsequently terming it "lizard light", reflecting our concerns with critters making the recessed area their adobe). Hope his quotation will turn out reasonable in a few days time.

[NSW 0]

Met up with yet another ID this evening, a rep from D'trenzo. He is a self-confessed conservative; and found our proposed layout very "hotel"-ish (for reasons I can't really phantom).

He latched on very quickly to our want for having the unit feel "open", and suggested that instead of dividing a room by 2 to house the walk-in-wardrobe corridor and the study; we knock down the entire wall and have a huge room instead. The original MBR will then house a L-shaped wardrobe and will feature a wooden laminate raised platform with a dressing table. Additionally, there is actually allowance to extend the cramped MBR toilet outwards (subject to HDB approval of course) . Having a larger toilet definitely caught the attention of us.

However, the disadvantage is that the study area is dramatically reduced to 2 tables. 4ft and a 6ft length just beneath the windows. I have technical concerns as I run a desktop and I would be worried about water splashing. Also the desktop will undoubtedly take up much space. In addition; we wanted to separate the work/PC/table area from our bedroom for work-life balance. Lastly, we would like a "protected" quiet environment for studies/work, especially if a little one comes our way in the future.

Admittedly, there are many considerations and visiting ID after ID can really get tiresome very quickly...

[NSW 0]

Repeat: Meeting multiple IDs can be tiresome indeed...

I shall attempt to summarise the meetings in this post instead; will add on to this list as time goes by ...

1. ZL Construction www.zlconstruction.com.sg \ Jake

   Young boss, competent, daring and innovative with ideas and materials. Inspires confidence. Took many preliminary ideas from here. Very responsive with ad-hoc questions. Glad we started off here.
   

2. 9 creation www.9creation.com.sg \ Andy
   Our ID seems very "lao jiao" and professional. Sat through to work out many details. Has good spatial awareness and design intuition. Genuinely buys into our idea. A lightings and mood person. Revealed that he is the "teacher" for many D'Trenzo IDs (his previous company). We found ourselves reaching the same conclusions to the design aspects of the unit very often and thus find that communication of ideas is very smooth.
   
3. D'Trenzo www.dtrenzo.com \ Adrain
   Self-confessed conservative. Finds our idea very "hotel-ish. Built on the "open" feel and proposed merger of 2 adjacent rooms.
   
4. DeFONG www.defong.com.sg \ Kevin
   Surprisingly close to my flat location and thought that if we were to engage this company it might be geographically easier for them to monitor our project (lol). ID seems competent and reliable but seems more contractor-like; he is able to see what we are trying to do and came up with an itemised quotation very quickly. Very no fill no nonsense. (and as some other forummers mentioned: buffed body .. eye candy for the ladies)
   
5. Loyal Innovations (no website) \ William
   Proposed an alternative design which we are keen to take up and modify to suit our own needs. The design change will basically allow us a rectangular living room area which is longer than the existing kitchen. However, that entails a major structural change and will likely drive the price up. Strange that the name card mentions that he is doing ERA work as well (buy/sell property).
   
6. LS2 www.ls2.com.sg \ Poh
   The contractor himself came up to our unit. Was the only one who requested to see the unit before quoting. Gave off a very very 忠厚老实 (superbly honest and trustworthy) feel. Genuinely interested in helping us make the best of the unit. One particular idea which stuck with us was his suggestion of re-conditioning the existing solid fire-rated door instead of changing it; reason being its a good door; hence we can just removed the added ornamental wooden panels stuck on it, sand down, and paste over a laminate of our choice. Will save tonnes of money (exaggerating but you get the point).
   
7. Plush Living www.plushliving.com.sg \ Eddie
   Promotes himself as a very 诚恳 person. Provided an alternative layout but did not enquire if I had any FS guidelines. Alternative layout was a hand-drawn layout and hence we couldn't really make out the intentions. Pending a meet-up

Edited July 10, 2013 by NSW

[NSW 0]

My wife and I have finalised on our design after hearing inputs from MANY people:

There is quite a fair bit of restructuring and a gamble we wish to take with the application of permit to HDB.

We want to extend the MBR bathroom space, relocate the store room to be parked as part of our huge kitchen, have a nice rectangular living/dining area and still have glass panels for the open concept:

And no visualization is complete without the 3D factor:

For the next post I should remember to take photos of the existing place when the chosen ID/contractor heads down for a site visit!

[Makanology 29]

Interesting layout - functional and good division of space and flow. Hope HDB will grant you the permit soon!

[mishmish 7]

Big dining area! I like the idea of having seperate areas for dining and tv watching. Wish I had that luxury of space.

[jus4fun 4]

Hi dude, congrats on ur flat & welcome to RT! Like the way u plan to transform the hse, n what such professional drawings u did up! Hope HDB will grant u ur wish without any hurdle! All the best! Looking forward to see the transformation & ur dream come true! Cheers!