4Rm Resale Reno Journey!

[hc28 0]

I have been a relatively silent reader on renotalk since I joined. Just trying to gather as much information as I can regarding the renovation process. I've decided to start a t-blog mainly to ask questions when i run into them and also to share about my renovation journey! actually its also because once reno over, wont be so excited to this t-blog already.

So we collected the keys to our flat about a month ago and only started looking for an ID then. never expected that selecting an ID was such a tedious process

Initially I had wanted to engage individual contractors for our renovation works. But my other half insisted that we get an ID as she is unable to visualise how the Reno will turn out. She also wants someone 'qualified' to advise on how to match colours. So no choice, we went ID hunting.

Selecting our ID!
Throughout the selection process, we met 9 IDs and a contractor. All within the span of 1 month before we made our decision. So everyday after work, i am just meeting with IDs. we set our initial reno budget at 30k, needless to say, all quotes came back bursting the budget.

I realised that most IDs assume that you have a BTO flat without even asking. They ask us to meet in the office and just bring floorplan will do even though i they ask if i have collected my keys. Some even ask me why they need to come down when i ask them to.

Mr P
On our first meeting with P, he was late for close to 45mins.But he was a reference from a friend. He was friendly, straightforward and easy to talk to. Challenged our ideas and also explained why certain ideas would not work out. Overall we felt that he understood what we wanted and easy going.

Mr R
R is the boss of his own firm and is also very experienced. He was very friendly and willing to share with us his past experiences. From him, we learnt many things regarding the reno process and he was also the only ID that managed to give us a solution which solved our "problem".

Mr T
T is a relatively young ID and was punctual on our first meeting. He was prompt in answering our queries and even provided us some 3d sketches during our second meeting. T has many ideas, but not what we wanted. He was more slighted to a sophiscated look and design which was too much for us. At end of the day, although he was able to give us a design that we were comfortable with and his final quote was very competitive, we felt that his design base was still sophiscated and not what we were looking for.

For the rest of the IDs, we felt that there was a lack of chemistry with them. One of them mentioned the designs we wanted were old fashioned and never bothered to follow up with a quotation. Some of them were straight to the point and constantly taking notes on what we wanted, basically like a contractor. There was also one who kept telling me that the layout of my unit 'sucks' and he would never have bought such a unit.

The contractor's quote we got was close to what P, R and T were offering with savings of afew hundred. so we ended up deciding to go with an ID.

Edited October 13, 2015 by hc28

[hc28 0]

last night, was my first experience shopping on taobao.

my chinese is cmi but i still managed to get something that I wanted.

Got this Kohler tap which is retailing locally at $300 plus (if im not wrong).

We met each of the 3 shortlisted IDs thrice. Once during the onsite survey, a second time to get their quote and a third time to finalise the works and their best offer.

We finally decided to engage P because he offered us blum hinges and evorich flooring at a competitive pricing. We also had references of his works and thought it was the right choice.

Although our unit was 25yr old, apart from the windows and broken marble flooring, you wouldn't be able to figure it was that old as the previous owner had renovated it once before. Despite that, we were still going for an almost complete overhaul of the flat.

this is basically the layout that we are going for. according to the contractors and IDs we spoke to, this is considered alot of carpentry.

Edited October 13, 2015 by hc28

[hc28 0]

hacking and dismantling works have started shortly after we have confirmed our ID.

we went down to hafary to pick out the tiles for our master bath. as we are only going to re-tile our master bathroom, we only spent 30mins there.

the tiles have since been delivered and tiling works have started.

work done by the tiler is quite good. I have no complains although i tried to find some misalignment, there were none. he was really quite good.

waterproofing in progress.

Edited October 14, 2015 by hc28

[43atCR 0]

I would be very cautious working with someone who has no sense of punctuality even in meet up. Imagine having to trust him to deliver the deadlines during your reno and after you have paid him.

[hc28 0]

I would be very cautious working with someone who has no sense of punctuality even in meet up. Imagine having to trust him to deliver the deadlines during your reno and after you have paid him.

we did consider his punctuality before engaging him. but he was recommended by a friend and we were happy with the quality of his wrk.

based on our friend's experience, apart from being late for appointments, he was able to deliver their house on time and without issue. which was why we went ahead and engaged him too.

so far he has been responsive to our queries and ongoing works are smooth. but let's see..

Update

In hindsight, I have learnt that there is no such thing as a reliable ID or contractor. Today, he may be reliable to you. But tomorrow, he might just be ignoring another client.

Edited October 13, 2015 by hc28

[hc28 0]

As the previous owner had just replaced the air-conditioner, we decided to reuse it to save cost. We engaged an aircon man cum electrician to wash our fancoil and the compressor. He will also be replacing all aircon piping and electrical wiring for our unit.

The reason why used a self-sourced eletrician was because his quotation was substantially lower than what the ID's electrician quoted me. The difference was > 1k.

anyway, rewiring and tiling works have been completed.

i also wonder why my ID cannot ask his guys to lay the floor with the corrugated paper which i have paid for.

As our kitchen layout is longish, we have decided to do a L shaped kitchen which looks similar to this:

The L-shape will help us segregate the kitchen from the service yard which older HDB flats do not have.

We initially had some headache with the L layout as our kitchen comes with a refuse chute which unlike similar flats, is not at the end. It is somewhere at the 3/4 mark of the kitchen. Hence, we decided to push back the L such that the refuse chute will directly face the opening of the casement cabinets. Because we wanted the L layout, we also had to compromise on the maximum length of the sink we were getting. This serverly limited our choices of sinks.

Edited October 13, 2015 by hc28

[hc28 0]

I wonder how some bros do their picture quite big on the t-blog. my pic is so small except for the one i pull directly from other website.

Edited July 30, 2015 by hc28

[hc28 0]

anyway need to go shopping for wc. i have read somewhere before that more water ticks is good as its water saving. but pressure will be low.

can any bros advise on this?

also can advise on any particular brands of wc to look for. our budget is about 300 - 350 each. dk if its enough to get a good-to-see and use wc.

Edited October 13, 2015 by hc28

[nextstep 3]

I wonder how some bros do their picture quite big on the t-blog. my pic is so small except for the one i pull directly from other website.

you can upload your photo to http://photobucket.comand link back here, so the photo will show much bigger.

Hope this tips help.

we went to pick tiles during the week after works started. forgot to take pic at hafary but we only have few tiles to pick as we are only redoing the mbr toilet.

however, the tiles have since been delivered and the workers also tidied up the house abit.

Tiler also started work and doing waterproofing

the tiler seems to be quite experienced. alignment of the tiles so far is quite good. lets hope things keep up this way and after grouting should be able to see more clearly whether got misaligned tiles anot.

aircon man came in to lay the waterpipe. tomorrow going to start aircon works and rewiring of my whole house again.

actually aircon and electrical man is the same man which i found myself. instead of going with the ID's electrician. decided to find my own through recommendation as his price is more 'reasonable'.

anyway need to go shopping for wc. i have read somewhere before that more water ticks is good as its water saving. but pressure will be low.

can any bros advise on this?

also can advise on any particular brands of wc to look for. our budget is about 300 - 350 each. dk if its enough to get a good-to-see and use wc.

Did you manage to get your WC?

[Ahyong81 3]

For your tap and shower set, the more tick means the water coming out is lesser and thus actually you might spend more water on bathing or washing due to lower water output. If you buy those with one tick, you can still control to have maximum water flow or minimum water flow using the handle.

[hc28 0]

Did you manage to get your WC?

Yes. We got our Magnum wc from heritage.

We thought the price was reasonable. But I wonder why they tried to charge me gst when the price tag already states 'w/ gst' and give me some reason such as new rules etc. Luckily I didnt buy it and insisted that they sell me the wc at the price I was quoted. just FYI, the salesgirl who served me and the one who billed me were 2 different persons, which MIGHT explain.

Overall, shopping at heritage was still a pleasant experience. But I'm not going there on a weekend. Just too crowded

[hc28 0]

Since my last update, alot has happened. It has indeed been a stressful and trying time. I have since dropped my ID and switched to using a contractor instead.

After the aircon and electrical works were completed, my works were put on hold as we needed to have our windows changed before tiling around the window could be completed. My MBR aircon trunking also could not be run as a part of the trunking area had no tiles.

Ceiling works also could not start as the aircon trunking works in the MBR had not been completed.

The window installation was constantly being delayed and it was not until I issued an ultimatum to my ID 3 weeks later, that my windows were finally installed. Even then, he only arranged for the bathroom windows to be replaced. Imagine my frustration when I found out.

After the installation, our works resumed with the remaining tiling works and aircon trunking completed. Plumbing and ceiling works were up next.

Guess what, the plumber 'refused' to show up. Not once, not twice, but 3 times in a row. I wonder if any plumber was arranged to turn up at all. By then, the ceiling guys had completed work on my false ceiling and it wasn't until I insisted on using my own plumber and my ID absorb the cost (2 times what was quoted) that his plumber surprisingly shows up and replaced all my piping. I wonder if it happened by chance.

The ID has also finally decided to get his guys to cover up my flooring.

Edited October 14, 2015 by hc28

[Ahyong81 3]

Lol your toilet feature wall looks so similar to mine haha Same taste ah

[hc28 0]

Lol your toilet feature wall looks so similar to mine haha Same taste ah

Lol. We got same taste for washing machine and toilet tiles. I wonder what else we have that is the same. Lol

[bykaraanne 30]

So the contractor is just going to pick up where the ID left off? How did you stop working with him?

But such a bummer. Hopefully things go more smoothly for you from now on!!