Author: amanda

As mentioned in previous post, Mr T reach our flat earlier than me. He pasted the masking tape and drew arrows on it to indicate where the pipes will run!

In the end, he was also around when the citygas pple came in. They discussed about the piping and installed it the other way instead.

I personally like it that the pipes are run this way because this means that it will be totally covered by the cabinents.

Mr T promised to show me the drawings next week.. hope he keeps to his words!

Went to the flat today and saw that the wet works were done! Mr T is always on time OR earlier when we fix an appointment. I am very impressed with his dedication to my reno and hope that he keeps up the good work! 🙂





As for painting, it was still work in progress… I seriously love the colours I choose..hehe.. i have no idea if it’s the natural lights in my home or are the colours just so nice… haha.. I like it very much!!! Don’t ask me since when I’m into green… BUT i am just into green now..

The painter did a good job of covering the aircon trunking and concealed the cracks!! 😀 The trunking seems to have blend into the wall.. very satisfied. Just that they have not painted the ceiling properly yet. Spoke to the painter and he assured me that another coating will be done and he will do the touch up after lights are installed

FYI, Mr T also noticed the dents created by the careless aircon technicians. He told me that he will get his contractor to ‘knock’ it back for us! He took initiative!!! very good!!

Handed Mr T the 2nd payment and looking forward to the next phrase of the reno. !! This means I got to break out of the W.W.S and start buying the toilet acessories, fridge and washer asap!!!

Mr T called me to arrange for the gas pipe installation.

I called citygas and the installation will take place on Jun 17!
Mr T told me he will be there… I hope I’m in safe hands!

My dad brought me to Yontat today so that I could pick out our bedroom doors. Just to set the record straight, we didn’t opt for doors when we signed with HDB yrs ago because we thought that we will be hacking the walls of 1 room to mk it open so we don’t need the doors. However, things change.

I reached their office and was greeted by a HUGE array of doors! I was expecting to be greeted by some unfriendly saleperson (according to the forum) However, Mrs Ng helped me. Lucky me! She was v patient and she showed me the diff. between hollow and solid doors. I was looking for white doors, but learnt that the only kind of white doors are the painted type ( which is cheap BUT will not last) I went for the PE veneer doors ( laminate) Hollow @ $230 each. I would have chosen the solid ones which is $280 each but it’s only the bedroom doors so i figured out that hollow is alright and i seriously feel that they are similar

Design 6 chosen as follows:

Colour looks better in reality! ok.. so doors settled. As i am using the hinges HDB provide, I have $10 discount for each door

Total: (230-10)*3+7% GST = $706

The cost cld have been lesser because they recently had a price increase!

Date for measurement: June 17
Installation date: July 5 ( It’s long because they have a long list of customers BUT i don’t mind the wait because my reno shld be done then!)

If you are like me and you need to get doors for your flat, go to Yontat. No regrets! The price is confirmed cheaper than what your ID/contractors cld offer you

Blk 1014, Eunos Ave 5, #01-36,
Singapore 409740

Tel: +65 6742 8446

I contacted 11november for quotes

Choose the following for 1 living room and 3 bedrooms – quoted $980 *gasps*

Initially wanted to use curtains from Ikea BUT the rod is not suitable for our windows 🙁 My mum is willing to mk the curtains for me.. what i need are the bloody rods! Mr T kindly want to rec a curtains person to me – hope I can get rods from him. If so, the estimation for rods will be $120. Curtains fabrics are cheap. DIY cost is cheaper than going with curtains mker!

Need lots of luck on this!

I decided to change contractor to Mr T ( will be using a different one from what I blogged previously)

Reasons:
1) My parents feels that Mr T is better as his package is comprehensive and comes with the hob/stove, sink/tap – We don’t have to source for it
2) Carpentry quality is good and nice. We saw about 5 of his showflats in sengkang/punggol area. Comes with soft hinges
3) Pricewise is reasonable

To me, I just feel that Mr T is about my parents age and they feel that he is more experienced

After meeting up with Mr T for about 4 times ( 1X last yr with BH, 2X last yr with my parents, 1X this year with my mum) my parents were VERY bought over by him. I mean.. there’s NOTHING wrong with him – he’s just a contractor who is loittering at every new estate. I heartlessly turned the original contractor down and sign with Mr T on 12 June

Problems with original contractor:
1) Takes long to get back to me with updated quote
2) Promise to give me quote and drawings on FRIDAY BUT i didn’t rec anything from him! He didn’t even bother to email/sms/call me that he can’t meet his deadline.

However, I was willing to give him a try because he’s my friend’s friend. Sigh… My parents just think original contractor is insincere and I was just wasting my time

————

True enough, I’m surprised HOW quickly Mr T work! On the very day I signed the contract, he also supplied his LOCK to secure my place. Next we went to his showroom to choose paint colours and carpentry laminates! wah… Today, he came down and told me how to run the aircon trunking ( which the technicans didn’t listen) and his worker also placed tiles in our home already. According to him, he will lay floors with protection and painting + wet works will start tml! I think IF i engaged him once I reach SG, my home will be done or almost done by NOW!

My sis bought this from Daiso to match with my carpentry 😀 Thank you!

The above shld give u a clue what colours we are going for – Hope it turns out nice! pray hard that the reno will go on smoothly. I don’t think I can take another heartache…

1 word.. HEARTACHE 🙁 Bloody technicians came 1 hour late!!!! I paid for the disgusting high parking fee for 1hour of waiting!!!!

Finally…

The trunking kills me.. the home is already not perfect… but the trunking mks it worst!! The technican refuse to follow the way my contractor told me and did it HIS way instead!! I even told him ” You don’t see me girl then bully me ok!” TMD! My only comfort is though trunking is visible, at least it’s neat

While nursing my heartache for the bad trunking … the silly technician decided to carry the compressor via the service yard window and damaged the window frame! ok fine, it’s just 2 small dents.. but it hurts 🙁

I know they can’t do anything abt the dents – so I just gave them a bad feedback on their survey form 🙁 OK i am glad that the glass panels didn’t break. haiz… it’s a small thing but i feel sad. To think that my sis bought Macs for their lunch, they still do a rubbish job. Gain City is such a disappointment!

/EDIT: 10pm Gain City salesman called me and I told him about his technicans. Seriously, I was super upset and I told him what happened to my barely 1 week old window frame! Hope those fellows will learn from this lesson 🙁

Overall, I am quite pleased with the doors and windows. I was afraid that the bi-fold doors will be out of place in the walkway BUT it turned out fine! The installer was very patient with me or rather my dad, the bi-fold at master bedroom was not very well done BUT he redid it twice to mk sure that it’s PERFECT!

Besides that, they also applied for windows installation permit – which i totally forgot to ask them about! hah.. only got the permit in the letter box on the day they intend to install.

I admit that they are not the cheapest pple to get for the installation. However, looking at the work they had done, I think it’s worth it!

For records, CITYGAS is different from SP (Singapore power)

Right after I bought the instant heater, my dear sis chitchat with her collegue and found out that CITYGAS WATER HEATER is only $168 and there’s FREE installation. At that point, I regretted my purchase of the instant heater. I asked the SP person about the CITYGAS heater ysterday and realised that the FREE INSTALLATION is only mounting the equipment on the wall of the service yard. The plumbing part ( 2 pipes to connect hot/cold water) needs to be done by a plumber!

I told my contractor about this and he explained the whole process to me. He even suggested how to tell the Citygas pple to run the pipes. The est. cost of plumbing for the Citygas water heater is about $350!!! wow! so expensive! The reason is because the distance from the service yard to the toilets is quite far, so the pipes need to be long. Besides that, drilling will be needed. Gasps! So, I didn’t quite believe that it’s so expensive, I called another seperate plumber and ask him for quotes. This other person quoted $400-500!!!! Price is even higher..

Fine.. I will just go with instant water heater. Installation cost is at most $50!!! (most quoted me $40)

To make sure that I am making a good decision, I called CITYGAS and enquire about their heaters. I was surprised that the customer service officer is sooooooooooo polite and patient to explain everything to me in details!!! Thumbs up for customer service! Finally, SG is catching up with good customer service. It’s interesting that she even advise me to think through properly before making an implusive choice to choose Citygas heaters! Anyway, I wanted to call to make appointment for Citygas gas installation BUT she advise me to look for my stove first ( decide on whether the connection is left/right, measurements 2.5ft/3ft) then mk the apointment

I haven’t bought the stove yet… hmmm…. not sure if I shld buy the items myself or go shopping with the contractor and buy together with him

Blessed are those who have your other halves with you when doing reno 🙁 I think I’m just gonna miss a chance of my life… not sure if we will even have a chance to really mk a nice home – everything for this flat is not what I want it to be…