Becoming Your Own 'phua Chu Kang'

[bluezzz 0]

hi bluezz, welcome to sengkang !!

did u get your EA during nov's WIS?

... cos i did. and renovating right now

Hi rummi,

I got mine on Feb'07. at N3C3 how about yours,

how much r u spending on the reno?

[mist 0]

Hi rummi,

I got mine on Feb'07. at N3C3 how about yours,

how much r u spending on the reno?

I'm fr seng kang tooo i'm from seng kang too! hii

but i got mine 1 year earlier living there now lo.

[rummi 0]

Hi rummi,

I got mine on Feb'07. at N3C3 how about yours,

how much r u spending on the reno?

hi bluezz! have u 'checked-in' to renotalk.com already?

im at rivervale drive. where's N3C3?

spending 32K on reno. wat abt your budget?

I'm fr seng kang tooo i'm from seng kang too! hii

but i got mine 1 year earlier living there now lo.

hi mist! have u 'checked-in' to renotalk.com already?

so u're the lucky one to have moved in by now. so how's life in sengkang?

im at rivervale drive. where r u?

[bubblepearl 0]

rummi, how u do ur own sourcing ah? can tell me how much u spend on each items? thanks!

[Odielim 0]

pros n cons... depends on budget, price and service they provide to you...

contractor - time needed to spend cooridnation works, decision making on the spot, monitoring the reno works to prevent them from delaying works, decision on materials and colours themes and all follow by the book or design from mag or paper.. any problems with contractor have to deal everything alone... but cost can be cheaper in the beginning but they might charge later for additional works - advise for those who have done a lot of research and have time for reno progress to monitor works, those on budget can go for ID cum contractor type.. they dont give much design advise but they can do the cooridnation for you, just lesser hassle then fully contractor type...

ID - can be competitive pricing and better advise on the design n cooridnation works mostly they handle, any problems with contractor, they will help the owners to solve... etc

from what i learn is that depends really on how comfortable you feel with the person whether contractor or ID... the service they can provide that you will feel worth to pay and feel happy about.. problems tend to raise during reno but as long they know how to solve it professionally, things will be ok..

reno works is not cheap and always try to consider carefully.. material wise sometimes cheap quotation may not get good materials for the reno works, so some homework done will help very much..

anyway, welcome those living in sk or future in SK...

N3C3 (Standard) oops around Block 300 area

welcome neighbours!

Edited March 1, 2007 by Odielim

[rummi 0]

N3C3 (Standard) oops around Block 300 area

welcome neighbours!

hey, hi neighbour ;-)

so tats anchorsvale area. hmm

rummi, can tell me how much u spend on each items? thanks!

hi bublepearl, tink tis may post to be rather difficult... what happenned is i have a subcon for every trade. so the list is gonna turn out loooooooong. eg, demolition is one vendor, tiling/plastering another vendor, false ceilign yet another, even glass is another... ...

[Odielim 0]

hey, hi neighbour ;-)

so tats anchorsvale area. hmm

hi bublepearl, tink tis may post to be rather difficult... what happenned is i have a subcon for every trade. so the list is gonna turn out loooooooong. eg, demolition is one vendor, tiling/plastering another vendor, false ceilign yet another, even glass is another... ...

hi hi

yeah the other side

rummi u got ur own contractors.. how is the experience?

maybe can advise on the rest and let them know

[bubblepearl 0]

rummi..u on msn? can i msn u to ask more things..keke

[rummi 0]

rummi..u on msn? can i msn u to ask more things..keke

of course, dear;)

just PM-ed u.

[sumobear 0]

Hi all,

Well...I think it is not easy to be in the boots of Mr Phua Chu Kang unless you have the knowledge of the renovation trade well. By going directly to a contractor, you have already cut the cost of the ID but you have to be the "designer" or you can ask the contractor for some suggestions because he may have the experience working with an ID before.

Engaging a contractor is good in the way that he can help you monitor and manage all his subcons, and most importantly he can lay his head on the chopping board for you if anything happens to the renovation. Getting individual subcons may cause some conflicts as you do not know the quality of works and do not knows whose fault will it be when something happens. You have to be answerable to yourself.

As for myself, I have only engage a subcon to do up my windows and grilles because I found out that my contractor markup about 1K for that.

Don't try to save the few cents and end up getting more problems.

[GnM 0]

welcome to the neighborhood.

Doing your own Phua Chu Kang ah?

time is one thing you gotta have.

Management skills is the other... cos contractors tend to do as they are told... and if you cannot properly translate your ideas into instructions for them to follow, they will usually mess up the job... so this is one thing you have to consider.

Actually, if you are worried about the material that your ID will give you, you can actually do research for the materials first, finding out about the price and the source, then after you make a decision on what you want, then call the ID/contractor to get them for you. Provide the source if need be... that way, you know exactly what you are getting

actually, we did consider doing a PCK ourselves too, but decided against it, cos cost savings, not much difference. Considering the amount of time you have to spend managing and coordinating... and if things go wrong, you have to accept the mistakes!

if you get the contractor or the ID, if you are unhappy, you can gripe till the changes are done to your satisfaction... and no extra cost! (this is provided you get every... and I mean EVERYTHING... written down clearly on your contract!) cos it is the mistake of the ID who did not make sure that the thing is done to your instruction... and you dun have to bear the cost of any damages during the renoworks as well

so do take that into consideration

Edited April 3, 2007 by GnM

[bluskye 0]

Just to share my experience. I'm currently doing my own reno. Currently so far so good, but can be tiring at times, cos everything "bao ka liao". My tiler, plumber, cabinets all either done by my father's friends or my relative's friends or my relatives. You gotta have your own design and know exactly wat you want. Here's some pros and cons.

Pros

1. Save some money. I don't really think its true that ID firms may be cheaper. Yes they may be cheaper, but only when they use lousier stuff or take shortcuts. There are many things which people like us won't know, such as tiles foundation got lay properly, water proofing got do properly, etc. My father used to be a contractor, so he's able to tell immediately if the guy is taking shortcut. He's helping me coordinate some of the things now. Learnt some stuff from him when doing reno. hehe

2. More flexibility. Heard from my colleagues they are brought to the preferred shops by the ID firms when purchasing lights, WCs, etc. When you are your own PCK, you get watever you want!

Cons

1. Tiring. Do it only if you can afford the time and energy!

2. Some things you may not know wat's the latest available technologies or ideas in renovation, so you gotta do alot alot of research on your own. But it can be fun also, cos you learn along the way, then you can go shops and see how some salesperson try to con pple. Eg for furniture, some shops tell me their furniture is solid wood, but those are only solid plywood, not real solid wood.

Edited April 4, 2007 by bluskye