Category: Renovation

Our main intention is to do up the kitchen and the masterbed room toilet. Our flat didn’t come with doors, we didn’t get it with HDB because we thought we will custom mk it. oh well, now we regret.

Things to be done by other vendors:

1) Install lights at other areas of the house other than the living room. Will get the electrican at lights store to do installation. My dad say cheaper. ID quote me 2.5K for electrial wiring and installation!!!

2) Windown griils. Unexpected item on our list. We didn’t want this to be done BUT my parents insist that it needs to be done since it’s mid-floor. BH say ‘Just do it’ Will do this together with the doors

3) 3 doors for bedroom + 2 Toilet doors. ID quoted $250-300 each door. My dad found cheaper ones for only $150. He kindly want to bring me to the factory.

4) Air-con. We only wanted system 2 ( 1 air con in masterbed room and 1 in living room) My parents say bad idea – mk system 3. I’ll listen to them ,the diff of 1 aircon only about $400

5) Ceiling fan. My parents say better to install ceiling fan though I say whole house will be airconditioned. Because I will be installing ceiling fan, I will need to have false ceiling to mk lights for the living/dining area. Definitely not getting a fan with weird lights attached to it ( OK.. i might change my mind with the false ceiling .. I pray v hard that they have ok looking ceiling fans w lights – need to go shopping soon!!!!)

Things we are giving up:

1) No washer. we will bring clothes home to US to wash or just wash at our family’s place

2) No hecking of wall. Reason is it is NOT cost effective. HDB permit will be needed and will take 2 weeks to approve. Furthermore, more haulage fees!

Things to be done by *chosen* ID/contractor:

Wet work
1.      Construct a cement base for kitchen cabinet
2.      Construct shower kerb

Plumbing
1.      to re-run partial stainless steel pipe for kitchen
2.      To supply labour to connect inlet & outlet pipes for kitchen sink
3.      Install sink and water heater

Toilet at Masterbed room
1.      To supply and install thick frameless glass shower screen
2.      Build cabinet under sink to enclose pipe
3.      Help install toilet accessories ( like mirror)

Kitchen Area
1.      Fabricate and install kitchen cabinets with solid ply laminate
2.      Fabricate and install sold surface worktop at kitchen cabinets
3.      Tempered glass sliding door for kitchen entrance

Living room area
1.      Erect false ceiling with cove light at living/ dining area
2.      False wall/partition to even out part of the living room wall

Painting works
1.      Supply labour to paint whole house

Electrical works
1.      Supple labour to wire the lights at the false ceiling area
2.      Help install ceiling fan

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Wished BH was here 🙁

I have been back in SG for abt 4 days and had been busy with the home renovation and distribution of spree items. I have NOT met a single friend yet – guilty but I need to settle this huge renovation rock off my chest. Once renovation starts, I will have ample time to meet-up with everyone ( I hope)

List of ID/contractor we touched base with:

1) Design Profession – Kate. The FIRST ID both of us saw. Met her last year in Oct and we have a good impression on her. We find her honest and experienced. She was able to explain to us everything newbies

2) Mr Toh (can’t recall his company’s name) – The contractor/ID loittering at our blk. Both of us saw him and his show flats. My parents saw the show flats too. Thought the price was v reasonable! Tempted to sign with him BUT decided to shop around somemore

3) Ideal House – Daniel. Great reviews on renotalk. I also have a friend on facebook who engaged them and put up beautiful pictures of her home. I went to the office alone and was helped by a tall, dark and handsome young man. haha… almost got blown away. Now waiting for his quote. It was nice talking to him. Told BH about it and he was like ” don’t go to him because of looks!” danger zone! anyway, the supposedly good ID in this firm is Mr K (k=kenneth, i belief) Still waiting for quotation from Daniel – he gave me many insights to the nitty gritty details of the home which WE/other designers left out. Upz!

4) Inside Living – Jun. BH met her once in Oct, she emailed quote to BH. The price was reasonable! BUT I thought other stuff were missing. I gave her a call and went down to the office to look for her. Ironed out some details and made changes (according to what Daniel suggested to me). Hopefully this quote will be MORE comprehensive with no hidden cost. BTW, electrical works are so ex! It was 2.5-3K according to her AND it was left out in the quote… no wonder quote was so cheap!

5) 3D innovation – Melvin. Contacted by him as BH put our info. on renotalk. Nice to talk to BUT no good guts. Though he say the company is BIG BUT i cannot find any reviews. Most likely give a miss

6) ID note – Henry. Super recommended by Renotalk. However, there’s mixed reviews on him. He seem nice on the phone and told me to email him what I want to do and he will get back to me with the quote. Emailed on 20 May – waiting.

7) IR design – Roy Tan. He had done a fellow treelodge’s home in April, looks nice on picture and have great reviews too! Called him on phone. Same case as Henry , told me to email him and he will get back to me with the quote. Emailed on 19 May – waiting.

8 ) 9 lives – called NO ANSWER. Emailed on 19 May – no response. Most likely is out.

FYI, the CONTRACTORS ( not IDs) which I found are not picking up calls !! Maybe contractors are not good choices

Will stop looking at this pt because too many quotes… v confusing and alot of decisons to make 🙁

So for now, I am tending towards #1 ( need to ask for quote again if all else fails), #3, #4, #6. Hope the price is right!

According to the floor plan, walls that cannot be hack is shaded. The wall that I want to hack is unshaded!
The question is…. how much to hack the wall?

For our kitchen, I am hoping to cut cost by NOT building so many cabinents… so…. I intend to source for such grids in SG or get BH to buy these grids and ship to SG. Love how convenient and good looking these grids are! Above all, such grids are cheaper than carpentry.

Both of us have a rough image of how our home will look like… so for the past few weeks, I had been looking for reliable contractor/carpenter to contruct the cabinents. I was quite apprehensive about not going with an ID BUT I figured out that I don’t need an ID because I know what I want and ID might wanna have his own input on designs.. which might add cost? hmm… hope we are not mking a wrong move here

So, I have sourced for 3 contractor/carpenter.. I shall contact them right away for quotes when I’m back… I’m excited… yet scared…

I like the open concept of the apartment , like what we have here in US. I really hope tt hacking the wall between the living room and the kitchen will not be that expensive :X and you know what? I think it’s a HUGE misconception when pple think that open kitchen = stinky home after cooking…. come on… i do massive cooking everyday… yes.. there’s smell of cooking BUT open the windows for ventilation and use air freshener or scented candles, the smell will be gone in no time!

ok fine.. I rather have the open concept of the kichen than install heavy glass doors that leave fingerprints..