Why Are Consumers So Wary Of Ids And Contractors

[shorty 1]

Hi all,

I am about to reno my house. I am here for several months just to learn and research. As I read almost every single topic for renovation, I feel that we consumers are like a rabbit, any time we will be eaten by Tigers.

Is renovating a house so stressful? I answer, IT IS!!

So by searching from forums, I noticed that majority of forummers asking, if you want the contact , pm me...... I assume, mostly are self advertise group.

Is only the Blogs here are really interesting.

So......... I think, searching for a Reno company to renovate your house is not only stressful, it's also paranoid. People like me who has a tight budget, it's more headache than those having lot's of cash awaiting...........

Conclusion, can someone provide a very good idea in details...... How to choose a Contractor or ID in order not to get "Con" ?

It sounds bad isn't it? Con ? If not, why are there so many people so wary of "Them" ?

I am one of them!

[Sheridan 4]

From the few things that I've been able to read through and understand is there are 3 issues at hand when getting your place renovated:

1) Cost

2) Value

3) Time

1) We all have a budget, we all want to do every things for the price of 3-star things and expect a 5-star service (because we are paying) and 5-star quality. This is very unrealistic, we should instead be a little more proactive, try to know the cost of the things that we want to do. You might have surveyed around and know of 3 person who renovated their kitchen, for example costing $30,000 / $50,000 / $60,000. So naturally we assumed we should pay around $30,000 for our kitchen, but the thing is, is the $30,000 kitchen the same size as yours? Is the things done less then what your has? Their's 2 cabinet but yours is 4 etc, u get my drift. When you squeeze them, they will of course provide inferior goods, and when you still squeeze more, they would just want to finish the job ASAP, hence all rush job etc. That's why we should know the price, survey some shops spend a little more time (weekends) to go window shopping so we know that we aren't charge an exorbitant price, and know that they aren't giving us inferior goods, unless they justify it.

2) This is more like a risk to me, I rather pay more (I'm not rich) and get a better workmanship in the end. You are investing, these are not the things you will redo every year, so quality and assurance must be there, You pay peanut don't expect them to be there when things go wrong. You already know that they will earn a sum from you, make it worthy, but at the same time, like #1, know the price and don't get cheated, make sure its worthy.

3) Another side cost to us, we sometime have to take leave to solve problem, that one day leave will eat into us, consider it as you are wasting one day worth of pay, and many times when there are problems, one day leave is not enough. Hence having a good #2, could also saves you this. You are also paying for the service remember. Another thing about time is the renovation time required, I won't really rush them, instead I will ensure they have time to do a proper job, if that means a little more inconvenience to me now, I'm ok with it, better now then later, later will take more time usually.

Ultimately, there are those who purely just want to con you, if you met with them, all I can say is bad luck, and share them out to help a brother about. If you meet with the usual or good ones, I would like to spend some of my lunch time to visit them at my home and buy some food for them just to build repo and taking the chance to check up on the progress. Happy workers lead to better output.

[pster 0]

Hi all,

I am about to reno my house. I am here for several months just to learn and research. As I read almost every single topic for renovation, I feel that we consumers are like a rabbit, any time we will be eaten by Tigers.

Is renovating a house so stressful? I answer, IT IS!!

So by searching from forums, I noticed that majority of forummers asking, if you want the contact , pm me...... I assume, mostly are self advertise group.

Is only the Blogs here are really interesting.

So......... I think, searching for a Reno company to renovate your house is not only stressful, it's also paranoid. People like me who has a tight budget, it's more headache than those having lot's of cash awaiting...........

Conclusion, can someone provide a very good idea in details...... How to choose a Contractor or ID in order not to get "Con" ?

It sounds bad isn't it? Con ? If not, why are there so many people so wary of "Them" ?

I am one of them!

Felt the same way too. Thinking back, I was probably a bit too paranoid.

I would suggest using IDs/contractors who have worked with someone you know, so you get first-hand advice from your friends/relatives. I was also advised by friends not to use anyone without a review online. At the end of the day, word of mouth often works well for most people.

[greglhc 30]

I think the two types of ID and contractor which are home owner's two worst nightmares

1. Those at the onset who have no intention of completing the project. Meaning you made payment and they are uncontactable. Some just give the appearance of some work being completed e.g. minor hacking or putting the materials in the home. These are very few but it's a huge disaster. Pretty much can kiss your money goodbye. How to get back money? CASE is useless and small claim court is too much trouble. I have yet to see any successful cases of getting any money back.

2. Those whose company have cash flow problems. I believe they are sincere persons but poor at doing business. Expect delays and constant badgering for payments in order to purchase materials for your reno even though milestones are not met. They will be hardly contactable and project may never be completed and their company (pte ltd) closes down. Someone just had a blog describing their experience.

A few ways to mitigate this:

1. Don't get suckered into sweet talk, over promising and being pressured to sign with them. Once you feel like they are pressuring you to sign, immediately walk away.

2. Always ask to see their recently completed projects and speak to the owner who did transaction with them. In fact, look at 2 or 3 recently completed projects. Ask ID/contractor if you can speak to the owner privately. They should be honest and transparent and proud of their work.

3. Search on internet for nasty experiences with this ID/contractor. Don't just search company name, but the name of the ID/contractor. Company name can be changed easily.

The last type is those ID/contractor who overcharge for every single item. This is probably the most common as consumers have no idea who the normal price range is and as consumers, we kena carrot chop. This can only be mitigated by looking at other ID/contractor quotes to get a good sense of the price and the pricing structure.

Please note there are a lot of people who advertise here but under the guise that they are people with positive experiences with a specific ID/contractor. If they hardly have any posts, just recently registered and post a too-good-to-be-true experience, take it with a pinch of salt.

Overall this industry suffers from some black sheep and because consumers have little recourse, paranoia is natural for any newbies.

[shorty 1]

Felt the same way too. Thinking back, I was probably a bit too paranoid.

I would suggest using IDs/contractors who have worked with someone you know, so you get first-hand advice from your friends/relatives. I was also advised by friends not to use anyone without a review online. At the end of the day, word of mouth often works well for most people.

Yes paranoid is the main concern for consumers but my point of view, many people like us really do a thorough research before engaging a Company for their reno..... some did enjoy their process but many also had encounter very bad experience.

Me for example, I got one of the worst experience during my previous Reno, was slash deep and job was badly done, all material not good and I am not paying peanuts. So it leads me to be so cautious this time.

At the end of the day , I think Forums is very helpful also.............. Friends or relatives for first hand advice? Not all being so coincident right ?

[shorty 1]

I am not paying peanuts for all this, and some might said, it's wear and tear mah

But wear and tear will not happen so early after the reno....

I try to post pics but don't know it works or not.

That is why, I am so paranoid on choosing Ids & Contractors.

[shorty 1]

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/22/tyh7.jpg/

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/844/abkt.jpg/

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/513/02cq.jpg/

[Tiler Seng 57]

Very Sensible description all of you own my respect :good: