The ID drawings look good! Can't wait to see it become a reality!

Hi Harriette, what a lovely view! Absolutely droolworthy!

Welcome to the EM club and enjoy the reno process!!

Hi all,

Hubby and I recently bought an EM. Located next to a swimming pool/pond, this EM commands good views from the glass balcony, yard and master bedroom. It is also bright and breezy. We hope to transform this place into a lovely home for our family.

It is hard to find a HDB flat with a glass balcony.

Bukit Panjang Plaza (a shopping mall) and the upcoming MRT station are within walking distance.

this is beautiful, are all units with same glass balcony?

Hi Mark, half of the units in the block come with an L shaped glass balcony like mine.

The other half of the units come with a glass balcony, but with walls on both sides. So it feel more like part of the living room, rather than a balcony.

Congrats on your purchase! nice view smooth smooth reno for u

How is the reno going?

Hi Vanessa, we are still evaluating the quotations from various contractors. Hope to appoint a contractor soon.

Hi Vanessa, we are still evaluating the quotations from various contractors. Hope to appoint a contractor soon.

Ah....yea i took ages with that too...some contractors took ages to come back with a quote...i think one of them...almost a month!

Hi all,

Hubby and I recently bought an EM. Located next to a swimming pool/pond, this EM commands good views from the glass balcony, yard and master bedroom. It is also bright and breezy. We hope to transform this place into a lovely home for our family.

It is hard to find a HDB flat with a glass balcony.

Bukit Panjang Plaza (a shopping mall) and the upcoming MRT station are within walking distance.

HI Harriette,

Welcome to the neighbourhood! I been trying to get a 4 room corner unit around the pond without success and bought a 5 room corner unit behind the long block on the right in the photo you took a year ago. No more pond view but happy with my purchase coz I get more much space in this older flat for fraction more and its bright and breezy as well, just like my sister's unit at Senja across the street from yours

If you are commuting to orchard/chinatown by bus you will have a love-hate relationship with the bus service 190. It runs very frequently at 3-10 minutes interval, takes 20-30 minutes to reach Orchard Road during off peak but it's always packed! But thanks to the angry commuter who uploaded the video of her long wait for the bus and finally board one on the 13th attempt (very unusual, must be some big event going on that day??) , we will get a new bus service to orchard road this weekend

Edited November 15, 201312 yr by sarah833

HI Harriette,

Welcome to the neighbourhood! I been trying to get a 4 room corner unit around the pond without success and bought a 5 room corner unit behind the long block on the right in the photo you took a year ago. No more pond view but happy with my purchase coz I get more much space in this older flat for fraction more and its bright and breezy as well, just like my sister's unit at Senja across the street from yours

If you are commuting to orchard/chinatown by bus you will have a love-hate relationship with the bus service 190. It runs very frequently at 3-10 minutes interval, takes 20-30 minutes to reach Orchard Road during off peak but it's always packed! But thanks to the angry commuter who uploaded the video of her long wait for the bus and finally board one on the 13th attempt (very unusual, must be some big event going on that day??) , we will get a new bus service to orchard road this weekend

Sarah! You are back! Welcome back!

Thanks Ness!

Came back on Tuesday and still having a very bad jetlag! Been sleeping during the day and stayed awake till 5am past two days.

Hi Sarah,

Thanks for the warm welcome. It is quite hard to get a unit around the pond. We tried to buy one in 2007, but were out-bidded by others. We even engaged a housing agent to distribute flyers for us but were still unsuccessful. In the end, we bought a 5-room across the street in Senja (probably near your sister?). We were happy in our current place as Bukit Panjang Plaza, N5 park and the swimming pool are just a short walk away. We did not try to find a new place.

But somehow, my hubby happened to read the classified one weekend, and saw that this EM was available. We simply popped over to take a look and somehow bought it successfully. It was totally unexpected.

Hi Harriette,

Lucky you! My sister stays in a 5rm flat next to Senja LRT station, on the 13th floor. I stayed at her flat for a while after I sold my walkup apartment and I quite like that area but after doing some research on the resale price I realised the slightly older blocks around the ponds and the much older flats like the long block with bigger floor area are better value (to me) - for the same price I can get a corner unit on a higher floor compared to a low floor corridor unit at Senja. I didnt plan to buy a 5rm resale flat but just happened to chance upon the advertisement on PropertyGuru. It was within my budget so I just asked my agent (my good friend) to contact the owner. It was love at first sight and I made the offer on the spot.

Looking forward to see the transformation of your new nest!

For the past 1.5 months, we have been busy sourcing for contractors. As part of the deal, my IDs contacted 3 contractors for quotes. I wanted more choices and I contacted another 6 contractors on my own.

Eventually,

- 5 contractors quoted about $75K to $81K

- Mr K quoted about $109K

- one contractor quoted $130+K

- two contractors declined to quote

I shall elaborate a little about 4 of them:

1. Patrick (Ho Bee Renovation) - quoted less than $75K, however some items were omitted.

When I bought my first home (a 5-room flat) in 2007, Patrick was very popular in Renotalk. I think he could be the Mr K of that era. Initially, I was very keen to work with him. Unfortunately, forum comments about his attitude and workmanship in recent years (from 2010 onwards) were very negative. Hence, I decided not to take the risk.

http://www.renotalk.com/forum/topic/2131-ho-bee/page-39

2. Mr K - quoted about $109K

Mr K is very busy. I contacted him on 22 Oct 13, but his earliest available date to meet me was on 6 Nov 13, and he could start work only in Mar 2014. Recent blogs from Tangie and Plainsharon suggest that he is very stretched. I prefer someone who could be more committed. His price is quite high too.

3. William (My ID's regular contractor) - quoted about $75K which was the lowest quote we received

This is the contractor that my IDs usually work with. He did the renovation works for my ID's home, Vanessa's EM and 2 other on-going projects for my ID's clients. Advantages of picking him would be:

(1) he is familiar with how my IDs work

(2) his workmanship seems ok, judging from my ID's home which I visited several times

(3) his quoted price is the lowest

However, we didn't choose William. We decided to go with Mr Yeak instead.

4. Mr Yeak (our chosen contractor) - quoted about $81K. Reasons for choosing him are:

(1) he does not over-commit himself. He told us that he schedule his jobs such that he could pay personal attention on every job.

(2) he seems scheduled and organised, which is quite similar to how I work

(3) his workmanship seems ok - I visited one of his client's home. I have also read positive forum comments about him.

Hopefully, we made the right choice.

Renovation will start tomorrow!

Edited December 9, 201312 yr by Harriette

Good! All the best!