We're in the midst of arranging to see IDs / contractors. We have been really busy going to the house during lunch time. SOmetimes we skip lunch and bought a fillet to munch and a can of coke to share in the car. Sometimes we pop by the Whampoa market for a quick bite. Luckily the office is just 10 minutes drive away, which makes all the ID meetings worthwhile.
VERY BUSY!
#1 - The first contractor Christina is a female contractor, who came after a site meeting at the corner unit of next block last week. She's someone of very small build and rather soft spoken. Though she didn't come with any namecards or didn't have a notebook to jot things down, she IS very familiar with the structure of the house. Afterall, she has done 40 units (big and small projects) throughout the neighbourhood for the past x years.
We got her contact from a (sub)contractor who was painting another unit along the main road. Let's call it the "main road unit". The main thing I remembered about the "main road unit" was its very high bedroom ceiling, its huge bathroom on Level 1 and its shared bathroom on Level 2. We would like to replicate the very high bedroom ceiling, to compensate for our low ceiling in the living room.
Anyway I feel that Christina is experienced and reliable and is confident that she can complete our renovation so that our home can be in time for the ROM. I hope she can come back to us with a good quote and solve some of the space planning issues.
#2 - Mr Kelvin from GPlan. Very enthusiastic ID, very friendly, very frank. I thought our house viewing days are over, but nope. He brought us to 3 homes in a night yesterday! 2 homes in Toa Payoh and 1 home in Redhill. He claimed that his workmanship skills is good and wanted to "flaunt" it. Of the homes that I saw, his carpentry works is really not bad. Especially like his walk-in wardrobe and raised platform.
He's good in using glass and lighting in his designs. However, we all know that glass is expensive. And his average number of lighting points can go up to 60! *On the average, it is about 30 for an average home* He told me he is even bringing a glass contractor down to take exact measurements of the staircase. Has been pushing me to raise my budget, however it may be good because I would like to see what he can come up with.
Unfortunately, he called me a few days later to say that he won't be able to come up with a quote. Reason being, he is afraid to commit to the timing of fitting into my ROM schedule. I rebutted and asked - if timing is not the issue, is the budget the issue? Then there came his sheepish "yes". Of course I won't know what are his exact reasons, probably my budget (of 50k) is too low for his consideration or he simply has too many projects on hand to deliver.
Eventually I feel rather angry that he brought us around and very enthusiastically showed us all his works but in the end he rejected us. What a waste of time!
You can also check him out at Renotalk http://www.renotalk.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=2270
#3 - Mr Dave. He is the boss of Intradesign. Initially he wanted to push one of his staff to me but I rejected that - because what I actually wanted was to hear HIS opinion. Even his comments of "If I were you, what do I do.." and "The most expensive items are your front folding panels, the back wall and the additional toilet (of 5k) on Level 2." are very useful. Chuck and me felt that we got some insights from him.
After some time, Dave emailed me a quotation of a lump sum. He mentioned that his company policy is that he doesn't itemized the quotation and hence, a lump sum. That wasn't very helpful to us, because we're first timers and we really want to see where our costs are going to. There wasn't any layout plan and when I gave him a call, he said he'll only do it if I needed further discussion with him. Not a very sincere guy. He also only quoted according to the list we've given him, there isn't any creative input or any intention shown that he's interested to be our interior designer. Oh well.
Read more about him at Renotalk http://www.renotalk.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=1557
#4 - Ms Irene from Edgeline. She seems to be very very busy to fit in a site meeting with us but anyway it was then still too early to dismiss her. She came down yesterday and I must say I'm very impressed with her. She was clearly doing a Client Needs Analysis by asking us about our lifestyle, what kind of theme we are going for, our storage needs etc. I was initially worried that hacking away the tiles of the whole house will cost a lot (including the bedroom roof) but she advised that it is not the case. Instead, she mentioned that it is our front courtyard and backyard that will cost a lot. Most importantly she's says our budget is reasonable and that our place has a lot of potential! *happy*
Nevertheless, she did suggest some design ideas that we're quite open to. For eg, replacing one internal side of the master bedroom wall with glass. That sounds really cool because at the same time, it solves the hiding away of the ugly window. Oh well, I'm sure you won't have an idea of what I'm talking about. When I have more pictures (including the floor plan) another time I'd explain again.
Anyway, Ms Irene seems to be very professional. She measured some of the space and ceiling height because we didn't provide her with a full floorplan (because that floorplan came originally from HDB and it doesn't reflect the new extension of the house), took a lot more photos than Mr Dave, and is definitely more meticulous than Mr Kelvin. For the first impression, I would say I quite like her.
Apparently I still have another ID to meet today. Ms Diana from Dyeldesign. She was introduced by our friend and she designed this house on the hill. Very nice. Hope to get some new insights again.
After meeting more IDs, we have more and more concrete ideas of what we can do. Furthermore, we met a few people along the way that helps with our progress. For instance, Mr Kelvin brought us to one of his owners' place and this owner used to stay at Jalan Bahagia.
He gave some tips about ground treatment, roof screening and shared some stories about the neighbourhood.
We also met our new neighbour on our left - a young Malay couple (the mahjong couple we saw the other day is gone :(). They also got Christina to look at their place and I am thinking there might be a chance both our houses may go on renovation together (although his should be very minor).
This is such an interesting neighbourhood!
We hope all the quotes can come in before 17th of March (our completion date aka 2nd Appointment) and hence we can decide and go ahead with the start of the renovation.
4 comments:
Hi,
If you already have design in mind, we have a contractor that is staying in our neighbourhood. Her name is Christina and she had done many work there including mine. she knows the in and out of applying the necessary documents from HDB especially for our type of house. You need to have all the work approved to prevent any complication in the event you want to sell your house in the future. You can email me at wanwei@pacific.net.sg if you need her contact.
Johnny Hui
[...] pricing comparison, Christina is very much familiar with the area and the handling of submissions. *similar to what Johnny mentioned* She would spend 20 minutes explaining to us the whole process of plumbing - the digging and layout [...]
Hi Johnny thanks for your note :) Have been talking to Christina already. Would contact you soon cos we'll really like to take a look at your place :)
Hi, can you pass me Christina's mobile? My email is limweiyan@gmail.com. Thanks!
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