Good Experience With Renovation

[doaaron 0]

Hi all,

Sorry if this is a double post. This is my first time on this forum.

my wife and I purchased a resale HDB in Bishan at the end of August, and the renovation completed roughly 2 weeks ago. We were lucky to have chosen an excellent Interior Designer / Contractor, and I would like to share my experience with anybody interested. I would like to say first off that I am not profiting in any way by making this post.

We started searching for contractors who were recommended by others through forums and friends. We engaged to such contractors (one was V-Max Interior), and we also randomly engaged two other contractors whose offices were near where we were staying at the time. Of the four contractors, a few things stood out for V-Max interior.

1. Vincent, our contractor, has a very can do attitude. We had some pretty tough requests which we ran by all four contractors (such as hacking down walls, moving doorways, and concealing certain piping). The other three contractors either simply said it couldn't be done, or simply tried to avoid making any promises. Vincent would patiently listen to our ideas, think, and then propose how they could be done.

2. The prices quoted by V-Max Interior were very competitive compared to the other three. Only one contractor offered a lower price, but he had a very negative attitude about what could be done, and noticably, some of our main requirements were missing from the contract he offered us.

From the discussions with the four contractors, it was tough to make a decision as V-Max Interior, and another contractor both seemed very promising. In the end we chose V-Max Interior, and we are very happy with our decision.

Our house is approximately 100 sqm, and the work we had done included the following main items:

1. Changing the flooring of the whole house except the kitchen and store room. We used HERF flooring which so far has turned out to be excellent (very beautiful too).

2. Re-tiling both bathrooms.

3. Completely changing the layout of the common bathroom (it involved a lot of hacking, and creating of new walls and doorways).

4. Redoing the kitchen carpentry and built in wardrobes in each of the three bedrooms.

5. Installing of kitchen and bathroom applicances and accessories (water heaters, oven, stove, sinks etc).

There were of course a lot of minor changes/improvements. Vincent also did a survey of the house and pointed out a lot of issues that needed addressing. The entire renovation took less than 2 months, and Vincent himself was there almost every day to oversee the work being done. As we've only recently moved in, the place is a little messy, and we're still in the middle of buying some furniture. Anyway I quickly took a few photos and I've included them here:

http://doaaron.smugmug.com/Other/2013Spnewhouse/32958936_Bhgfs2#!i=2856225878&k=HfzqB9d

Honestly these photos don't really do the work justice. I will take some better photos when I have the time. If anybody has any questions, feel free to ask. In the meantime, if you are looking for a good reliable contractor, consider V-Max Interior. BTW, I am not profiting in any way by making this post.

http://www.v-max.com.sg/

Aaron

[mar9aret 0]

Hi,

Would you mind letting me know how much the work cost? I am looking to renovate some bathrooms and install built in closets.

Thanks,
Margaret

[doaaron 0]

Hi,

sorry I didn't notice your post. I'm guessing you've already found out the info you need.

I probably shouldn't give exact numbers out, so I will say that the biggest cost for the bathrooms was to remove all the old tiles and install new ones. The cost mainly comes down to material cost as I think the contractor has arrangements and earns his profits through discounts with the suppliers. However there are some labour costs which are unavoidable. There are other costs too such as plumbing and installing fixtures. For the wardrobes, just google Singapore carpentry and you should find websites that give you a cost estimate. Ours fell in line well with the estimates. Again a lot of it is material cost.

regards,

Aaron