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MrWhiteKnight

A New Beginning...

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Decided to have a change of new environment. We can't afford to change to a new flat and we really love our location very much. (3minutes walk to the MRT station and 7minutes to the shopping mall.) The next best solution is to renovate the place.

And just in time, HDB is here to do Home Improvement Program for my house 2 toilets!

When i decided to reno, i started sourcing for IDs and contractors. I had recommendations from friends as well as from RENOTalk's quotation service and forums.

Also i was attracted to a particular ID firm's online portfolio. So i started meeting up with numerous IDs to brief them on my needs. Which was really simple. As due to budget constraint and the well kept condition of my current house now, i do not need any extravagant or fanciful reno.

My requirements was simple.

Living room

- Need ideas to utilize the spacious foyer area

- TV feature wall and console

Kitchen

- Hack & Redo L-shape top & bottom kitchen cabinets with counter top. (HDB will hack the current top cabinet to replace water piping and do some waterproofing, no reinstatement on their part)

Rooms

- Hack existing floor tiles as most of it is already cracked & hollow. Can't do overlay.

- Replace with homogenous tiles

- Hack and rebuild build in wardrobe for all 3 rooms ( existing one in good condition but as we hack the floor away, the wardrobe will be affected)

- TV feature wall in 1 room

I met about 8 IDs from renotalk, 4 from friend's recommendation and 1 which i was attracted to.

Only 4 of the IDs from renotalk came back to me with a quotation and 1 of them subsequently followed up with a second meet up.

My friend's recommendation quote was on the high side and the other one was really very blur.

The one that I was attracted to, the guy came and he was patient and we had some chemistry.

Will update more later...

Edited by MrWhiteKnight
 
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IDs that I contacted either just randomly or through friend's recomendation.

Lourve Design (Sheena)

Met her at her office at Sembawang shopping center, sent her my floorplan. She replied with afew questions and didn't get back to me with a quotation. Subsequently I gave her a call and she said she have left the company.

No follow up from anyone else in the company.

Interi Koncept (Valerie)

Heard raving reviews from an ex colleague that had used her, his relative also used her about 2 years ago and says that her price was reasonably good.

If i'm not wrong, she's the boss.

She came down to my house to do a site survey and we had some discussion. Received a quotation from her within the week, however it was on the high side for me base on the things that i was looking to do which wasn't much.

She also couldn't be bothered to follow up or be open to negotiation. Overall feeling i get was that maybe I wasn't her target group as she had the "take it or leave it" attitude.

I wouldn't deny her portfolio seems really nice, but then again. I have a budget to stick to and she wasn't friendly enough for me to consider her.

Contractor: Annie

Heard my friend raving about how she managed to work within my friend's budget and yet still deliver good results. However, she sent a guy down and from my conversation with him. He is almost as clueless as me when i raise my concerns on flooring, hacking of wardrobe etc...

How can i trust him when he can't even answer simple questions? Next was he had trouble sending me the quotation as he kept typing the wrong email address. After giving him an alternate email. He forwarded the mail without the attachment.

How careless and blur? I cannot convince myself to entrust him with my house renovation if he cannot be careful with the little things.

Contractor: Max

I had 3 ex colleagues using him. With 2 out of 3 giving him the thumbs up for his meticulousness as well as value for money. However, 1 of them did told me that workmanship was "so-so" only.

Shortly after i got a quote from him, which was really reasonable. 1 of my ex colleagues dining room tempered glass door suddenly dropped and shatter. Even though he was fast to respond to my ex colleague's calls and helped them with the situation. I was apprehensive about his work now..

Now for the IDs that contacted me through renotalk's request for quotation services.

96 Degree (An****y and Be**y)

Came, took a look, asked some questions and never send me any quotation. Not a single update from them thereafter. Maybe they think it's not worth their time and effort as mine is not a full scale big budget project.

D'trenzo

Received their quote via email, quotation was ambiguous but price was slightly lower than the rest.

Gallant Concept (Andy)

2 guys came down and 1 of them had a different idea from all other IDs that i had met in regards to utilising the space in the hall (foyer). Credits to him for thinking out of the box even though at the end I wasn't comfortable enough to accept his idea.

They came down a 2nd time to present me with their quotation despite me telling them that sending me thru email will be fine and if i had any queries i will get back to them.

They came and went through the quotation item by item and we had some further discussion. Within the next 2 days they got back to me with a revised quote. I will say they are quite efficient and diligent in wanting to deal with me.

However, i just felt that chemistry was lacking between us. Just no "feel" to choose them. Their quote is reasonable too and the ideas that they have were not the usual ideas i was presented with.

Will recommend to others to have a discussion with them to get some ideas if they are looking for something different.

Space Living

Quite turned off by him trying very hard to put his competitors down by repeatedly telling me that the other IDs are all sales man, not designers nor contractors. As such i am only paying a fat pay cheque to them for nothing.

He also repeatedly told me that he can match his quotation to the one I'm keen on if i use his services.

Really a turn off as he didn't came up with any proposal. Just wants to "undercut" his competitors.

After meeting up with all the IDs that contact me or i contacted them. My mother was attracted to only 1. Personally i was won over by this ID's patience in listening to us and not just doing a rush job trying to "see see look look" and then rush off. For every concern that me or my mother brought up he patiently listened and tried to advise. Even though he didn't have the best idea for us, this point alone scored him some brownie points.

We also felt some chemistry with him.. However, his ID firm have one bad reviews online and no other good reviews or further information with regards to that bad review. Hence, we didn't dare to sign with him despite him meeting us 3-4 times to discuss ideas and quotes.

It is only after meeting up with him numerous times, checking their facebook page and portfolio regularly did we dare to put the downpayment.

I will reveal & review him when I post the 3D drawings. Keeping my fingers cross that following our heart sometimes is not a bad choice after all.

Edited by MrWhiteKnight
 
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Glad that some unhappy things are over and a new beginning with a new Reno to the house will start afresh

Good luck to your Reno

 

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Glad that some unhappy things are over and a new beginning with a new Reno to the house will start afresh

Good luck to your Reno

Thanks! Indeed, hope a new environment will help us have a new start.

 

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Finally done with the hdb home improvement program to upgrade my toilets & change water pipes.

After waiting 2 weeks, gotten the permit to proceed with my hacking & renovation works.

Din expect that what seem like a small scale project is now looking like a renovation of the whole house!

Will upload the first draft of the proposed 3D drawing from my ID.

Made some changes here & there. Yet to see the final draft.

But hacking is gonna start on Monday!

 

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So our finalised quote is as follow:

Living Room

  • Full height shoe cabinet
  • TV feature wall with suspended tv console
  • Full height display cabinet
  • L Box with down lights

Kitchen

  • Remove and rebuild existing L-shape top & bottom kitchen cabinets
  • Full height display cabinet

Bedroom 1 and Master Bedroom

  • Hack existing ceramic floor tiles
  • Lay homogenous tiles
  • Hack existing build in wardrobe
  • Build and fabricate new build in wardrobe

Bedroom 2

  • Hack existing ceramic floor tiles
  • Lay homogenous tiles
  • Hack existing build in wardrobe
  • Build and fabricate new build in wardrobe
  • Half height 3ft TV feature wall

Base on our simple brief of Cosy Modern, ID came back with these proposed drawings and layout.

Our comments and feedback in red.

Shoe Cabinet at foyer

gallery_62481_485_73910.jpg

TV Feature wall with suspended console and full height display cabinet

gallery_62481_485_50219.jpg

Kitchen

gallery_62481_485_55850.jpg

We wanted top & bottom L-shape cabinets but he proposed this to allow more natural lighting in and to make the kitchen look bigger. We are still undecided if we want to go with Black counter top or White counter top. Only change here is to change the see through glass doors to only 3/4 as base on our usage and functionality, the bottom of the display cabinet will most likely place dry food stuffs, hence it will be abit untidy and unsightly if it is to be glass doors.

Master bedroom

gallery_62481_485_9311.jpg

My mother is not pleased with the wardrobe design, in her own words she said "this design so common, looks like bought it from a furniture shop. Then what for i ask him design one for me?"

So we showed him afew designs that my mother like and ask him to come up with something. I feel most of the designs i like mainly have some mirror or glass but my mother doesn't like mirrors or glass reflecting her.

Have requested him to used glossy and shiny/bling laminates in his design instead.

Bedroom 1

gallery_62481_485_33312.jpg

Simple but nice, find that it quite matches the theme of our living room. No changes required except to choose the laminate for the wardrobe.

Bedroom 2

gallery_62481_485_63624.jpg

My bedroom! Love the idea of the black tinted glass, feels quite classy. But I don't like this pattern of the laminate. Chose a black theme instead.

Dislike the 2 white pieces of board there as the mini console. Feels kinda ugly.

Showed him a design that was simple yet classy i found online, however that design is towards the left side of the feature wall, which my ID said my left side is already the window wall, hence he will design something similar towards the right side.

Looking forward to the see what he can come up with!

Edited by MrWhiteKnight
 

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More or less confirm with the design with the exception of MBR wardrobe design.

Despite spending an hour with him choosing laminates and showing him some designs that my mother likes, he came back with the exact same design as the first draft with only the change in the wood color. =.=

 

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After some miscommunication with our ID, we finally had HDB's approval and permit to go ahead to carry out the renovation and hacking!
So it begins...
LBOX%2BCollage.jpg
We thought we could save cost when HDB didn't have to hack our Lbox away when they upgrade the sub electrical mains, however as advised by our ID to change the electrical wirings and rewire them so as to have a safer environment we still have to remove the Lbox.
Thankfully though, this time I am pretty sure that I do not want the idea of "L-Box with LED down-lights".
We will see what can be done after removing the L-Box, perhaps just leave it or make do with some cornice.
SP%2BC.jpg
My dad did some soundproofing works on his own previously when I complained that he on the TV too loud and it was disturbing me from sleeping at night.
Apparently it isn't 100% effective at all and because he had alter the SCV point there, the signal was really weak. Removing it to make way for a custom make TV feature wall.
20140826_143507.jpg
Gonna build back the wall in my room which was hacked away by the previous owner and my dad only used a partition board on it and use the wardrobe in the MBR to hide it.
Works to be done for all three bedrooms:
  • Hack the existing floor tiles
  • Lay homogenous tiles
  • Hack existing wardrobe and cornice (affected when we hack the existing floor tiles
  • Build & fabricate a new build in wardrobe
  • Plaster in new cornice

BR%2BHACK%2BCollage.jpg

Sand%2BCollage.jpg

I think tiling is gonna start tomorrow! Looking forward to see how the floor will turn out, as I spent lots of time researching and browsing through renotalk before choosing the tiles at Hafary!

 

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Hi there, can i check when did you or your ID submit the request for hacking? was it before you obtained the keys (before completion) or only upon completion then u submitted the request for hacking?

 

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Hi, mine is I'm currently staying there.

But from my knowledge, if yours is a resale unit it can be submitted only upon completion as then the house is under ur name. Applying for permit needs to be in the name of the owner.

HTH :)

 

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Hi there, can i check when did you or your ID submit the request for hacking? was it before you obtained the keys (before completion) or only upon completion then u submitted the request for hacking?

But from my knowledge, if yours is a resale unit it can be submitted only upon completion as then the house is under ur name. Applying for permit needs to be in the name of the owner.

HTH :)

Yep, MrWhiteKnight is right. Only after completion transaction done. Also depends on what time your resale transaction is..LOL. Mine was in the late afternoon so my contractor had to submit the permit application the next day, coz the computers still hasn't been updated with my name as the owner,

Alternatively, if the ex-owners are comfortable, they can sign a idemnity form (renovation) to authorise you to carry out renovations on the resale flat before the completion. Go hdb site and search idemnity form to get a copy.

You bear all the risks after this point though, so you have to be sure you are comfortable with that too. [ie. any defects,leakages, watever, HDB will look for you, not for the current owners, even though technically the house isn't yours yet without the completion appointment.]

 

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Went home and saw the workers cementing the fabricated concrete wall slab and laying the tiles for the bedroom.


The tiles design mixed with streaks of cement on it made me doubt my choice of tiles.


As I was still in the vicinity in the evening, i decided to go up to see how's the progress for the day.


I am very surprised to know that the workers have left the premises before 5pm.


Most of the tiling have been done except for the MBR.


20140827_135736.jpg



MBR tiling to be continue tomorrow


20140827_171347_mh1409132122159.jpg


My pseudo marble flooring, this photo doesn't do it justice as the grout lines have not been filled. The actual end product looks so much better!

20140827_171052.jpg


As of now, things are on schedule. Electrical works will start tomorrow with the re-wiring of the whole unit, setting up the electrical points and running the air-con piping. I guess it will end by mid next week before we can proceed to cornice, painting and the measurements for carpentry works.

 

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Woke up on Saturday to hear some bad news from my ID.

After removing the current cornice and false walls for re-wiring of the electrical works, he saw that my original walls is in bad shape. Lots of chip, holes, uneven surface!

the previous contractor merely plastered the areas that were not conceal and areas that was gonna have build in cabinets or false wall he din bother to patch up or plaster. they were all covered up giving us the impression that everything looks good!

Now my ID is suggesting that we plaster up the whole house otherwise just trying to render n smooth will not be good enough.

Haiz.. $$$$$ again

 

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