Hypothetical Question: Which Id Would You Recommend If Budget Wasn't An Issue?

[WoodandSand 0]

Hi Everyone,

I'm sure for most of us, budget is definitely an important factor, or at least it is for me!

But I'm just curious, if money wasn't an issue, which ID would most of us recommend?

Thanks!

[Air 0]

Hi Everyone,

I'm sure for most of us, budget is definitely an important factor, or at least it is for me!

But I'm just curious, if money wasn't an issue, which ID would most of us recommend?

Thanks!

I would go for Intradesign (Angeline) since so many of you recommended her ..hahaha....got a quote from her too but was too ex and no breakdown so we didn't even consider....

And I would go for collective designs too!

[raincole 0]

I would still go for one which I'm conformtable with. Then i will ask him to source for the material which are of good quality.

[Devilaz 0]

I wont go to ID anymore thats for sure.

[zirhk3355 1]

If budget is not a constraint, you would try REAL interior design consultancy services, who charges for designing alone.

These are the people who are specialised in design works and they do not contracting services; you can either appoint their panel of approved contractors, or you look for a contractor yourself and have them do project management for a fee.

One that I really like (but can't afford) is Y2:Space, http://www.y2space.com. Their botak principal designer, David Tay, was a top designer during the 80's.

[artintarch 0]

hi,im very new here. bump into this forum while searching for id. been reading these forum since last month but juz sign up coz is find some interesting topic and i also wanna share with u guys as i find that its very useful and could help one another in searching for an id or things that have to do with our reno.

i agree with zirhk,

if u have the budget u could try to go to those profeessional id who is passion about design. their fee is a bit on the high side..guess its about 10 - 15 percent out of the contract sum but it also depend on the scale of your total cost. the higher it is the lower their interest are.

these id firm usually have their own identity in which it developed through their philosophy or watsoever. so u can expect wat u will be getting or how ur house will look like when u engage them. those contractors id are very different. they usually dun have the identity and always restricted themselves by the style (modern,contemporary,etc etc). im not sure whether they are certified coz anybody can call themselves an id but when executing their design or even when planning then we can see whether they are up to standard and worse when we have sign a contract with them. like it or not we have to bear with it. from wat i experience, as i manage to follow the procedure with a friend of mine, who engage a professional id, i realise that this id talks about design. he explain how he gonna design and why, there are wat they call precedence studies, the essence and watsoever, very cheem. very design oriented and very cheem. the next meeting, he produce some graphics that look exactly like my friends interior with design in it. i thought he took some of his past project but when he told us that its my friend house using computer generated graphic, my jaw dropped. apart from that he did have something like working drawings and explain to us how he going to execute it in order to achieve the desire design..very professional. in total after the first meeting, he produce 1 layout plan, some working drawing and 3 graphics and my friend yet to sign a contract with them! well after the 2nd meeting, they were so convinced that they sign them up.

[zirhk3355 1]

hi,im very new here. bump into this forum while searching for id. been reading these forum since last month but juz sign up coz is find some interesting topic and i also wanna share with u guys as i find that its very useful and could help one another in searching for an id or things that have to do with our reno.

i agree with zirhk,

if u have the budget u could try to go to those profeessional id who is passion about design. their fee is a bit on the high side..guess its about 10 - 15 percent out of the contract sum but it also depend on the scale of your total cost. the higher it is the lower their interest are.

these id firm usually have their own identity in which it developed through their philosophy or watsoever. so u can expect wat u will be getting or how ur house will look like when u engage them. those contractors id are very different. they usually dun have the identity and always restricted themselves by the style (modern,contemporary,etc etc). im not sure whether they are certified coz anybody can call themselves an id but when executing their design or even when planning then we can see whether they are up to standard and worse when we have sign a contract with them. like it or not we have to bear with it. from wat i experience, as i manage to follow the procedure with a friend of mine, who engage a professional id, i realise that this id talks about design. he explain how he gonna design and why, there are wat they call precedence studies, the essence and watsoever, very cheem. very design oriented and very cheem. the next meeting, he produce some graphics that look exactly like my friends interior with design in it. i thought he took some of his past project but when he told us that its my friend house using computer generated graphic, my jaw dropped. apart from that he did have something like working drawings and explain to us how he going to execute it in order to achieve the desire design..very professional. in total after the first meeting, he produce 1 layout plan, some working drawing and 3 graphics and my friend yet to sign a contract with them! well after the 2nd meeting, they were so convinced that they sign them up.

Actually most professional designers I know does not do anything for you at all until you signed up with them. This is very difficult for most Singaporeans to accept, given that we can easily get some visualisations, graphics and 3D from any of the shops in IMM or those neighbourhood ID shops.

Another thing is also, Singaporeans always like to get very involved and sometimes stubborn in sticking to their own 'designs' and preferences. I had a friend who engaged a designer for his terrace house, but end up he don't like the designs that the ID gave him and formulated/amend all by himself. The designer just draw out accordingly. So problems when construction is about to begin and the designer start to ask for payment, my friend dun feel good in paying because he was the one who did came up with all the designs!

In brief, most of us, like myself too, are sometimes abit too focused on material gains lor. We are willing to pay few thousands extra for marble flooring, but to pay few thousands just for an 'idea', we will run far far away. Its hard for us to pay for intellectural property and unfortunately design services is one of such. When we realised that we have to pay like a 5-digit figure and nothing is done at all, its very difficult for us. We rather take the money and spend it on having better materials, finishes, etc. And that is why contractors-cum-ID are getting more and more popular - we are only willing to pay for something that can 'touch', can 'see' and 'feel' one.

Perhaps these are the reasons why professional designers are getting fewer and fewer, most of them venture overseas because their work are less appreciated here.

[artintarch 0]

thats the problem u see when contractor cum id start to do design when they noe little bout design instead they tend to see materials. i still feel that we not onlie pay for id idea but on the whole project. that means watever is paid to the id what he does is to do project management that include hiring contractors,coordinate with them other than selection of materials may it be expensive marble or lower grade marble watsoever as long as it does not channel away from the design intention. owners are like boss,id run the show, contractors are foot soldiers...hahahaha..juz joking.

watever it is, its up to individual on how they look into these. wat i can understand is that contractor id are jeopardizing the image of a designer coz they did not cover all the areas of an id. they juz draw and recommend but they noe nuts (most of them) in executing it. put aside knowing an id role.

[TYM 0]

If budget is not a constraint, you would try REAL interior design consultancy services, who charges for designing alone.

These are the people who are specialised in design works and they do not contracting services; you can either appoint their panel of approved contractors, or you look for a contractor yourself and have them do project management for a fee.

One that I really like (but can't afford) is Y2:Space, http://www.y2space.com. Their botak principal designer, David Tay, was a top designer during the 80's.

Nice designs there from Y2:Space, can get some ideas.

No money to engaged their services, so can only "copy"

[zirhk3355 1]

watever it is, its up to individual on how they look into these. wat i can understand is that contractor id are jeopardizing the image of a designer coz they did not cover all the areas of an id. they juz draw and recommend but they noe nuts (most of them) in executing it. put aside knowing an id role.

This is the problem of all people who's ricebowl is dependent on intellectual property, eg music, arts, designs, etc. See how hard is the music industry fighting against piracy, but at least they are able to get some headway. For furniture-makers, they can also sue for copyrights.

But ID...?? Can they sue a contractor for copying their design out of the magazine, eg the way the LCD TV is placed, the shape of the feature wall, etc? No way, at least not now - who will want to pay to register a patent for a 'design' of, say, a custom-made headboard?

However, the counter argument would be, if you are so good, nobody will be able to copy you and/or jeopardise your image. And that's the dilemma of a professional designer lor...

Edited April 20, 2007 by zirhk3355

[waileong 0]

How can anyone recommend an ID to you without knowing what you like? Some people want price cheap cheap, some people want cutting edge design and price is not issue, some people want ID to take care of everything, etc.

It's like recommending a car. Without knowing if you want a big car or small car or 4x4 or sports car or whatever, how can we recommend anyone?

[waileong 0]

Hypothetical answer: the guy who charges the most. Maybe the guy who did the St Regis residences.