The ID/Contractor Search. Part 2

It was a tough fight for us. Wants vs Needs. But who doesn’t love a pretty house to stay in?


Apart from realising our tight budget will never fit us into any IDs, we realised most of the ID seems to be only following my exactly layout. We know exactly what we want and I dictate very much the space planning. At end of the day, i realised i didn’t need to pay someone at a higher price to do all these planning for me.


Reading the reno forums gives much idea and recommendations to IDs/contractors. That is one very powerful channel for research. Otherwise, proceed with caution at Expo Home Fairs and IMM - there are lots of very intimidating sales personels. It is always gd to find out who are the highly raved IDs/contractors before approaching them. Speak direct to the person you wanna work with, at least u know for sure he/she is experienced and not some designer-wannabe fresh from schools.


The list of IDs we’ve approached and their brief review:

1) Unique D*sign (ID) - Extremely horrible hardselling and refusing to let us leave their showrm without paying the $1.5k for them to do up six 3D rendering. Price is high, but with lousy quality. No surprises abt that, i’ve been seeing their -ve reviews everywhere online.


2) Menag* Dzign (ID) - Dealed w a initially-nice young chap who turned extremely boastful abt his own designs eventually. Cunning to left out the wardrobe in his quotation so that it will meet my budget. When i say i have a budget, i expect everything to be done within that budget.


3) InnerRm (ID) - One of the more true blue designing house, which i’m really comfortable w. Sadly, that came w a high price tag too.


4) A&D (ID) - Gd reviews online, reasonably priced for ID range. Sincere ID attended to us (he’s one of the boss of the family biz anyway). But still abv my budget.

5) GPlan (ID) - Supposedly gd review online. Called me to complain abt his company’s problem, his fellow coll who absconded w customers’ payment for a WHOLE 30mins! And never came back w any quotation even after mths. Absurd.

At this point of time, my dearest decided to increase the renovation item list!
More things to do but w the same budget = TIGHTER BUDGET! So the list goes on…

6) Ideal House (ID), Impress21 (Contractor) - Gd reviews online as well, but never met up at all so no reviews 1st impressions. Unable to match my miserable budget.


It boiled down to last 3 candidates:

7) JGH (Contractor) - Recommended by coll n i even went up to view the two completed houses. Disappointed w the carpentry finishing, but if prices were to match, i could probably close an eye.

8 ) Relative (Contractor) - Family pressure, we had to approach him. i’m the least comfy w this arrangement because it is always harder to do things with relatives. Esp when i’m a fussy person by nature.

9) Ah Soon (Contractor) - Superman contractor who won my deal. His carpentry’s better than JGH and cheaper as well. The only minus point - he’s a super busy man that i have difficulty catching up w his speed over the phone. Our conversation never lasts for more than 1min.


Apart from the budget bursting, there are always 101 possibilities that things can go wrong in renovation. Go with someone that you feel comfortable with, talking n working. Extremely important!

The Contractor/ID Search - Part 1

Ever since the deposit was made and while waiting for the 1st appt with HDB, we started our search for the right one to do up our house. It was in a shift-in condition to those who aren’t fussy and particular, esp people like our parents. But further scrutinizing the unit, we believe we would be a little upset if we didnt do up our house the way we wanted it to be.

Now, an ID or a contractor?

ID (aka Interior Designers): most (not all) provides more visual aids and conceptualise the interior layout of the house to your liking and preference. It would be easier to visualise the output of the renovation with 3D pictures almost 90% similar to the actual end-product. Besides the visual part, coordination work from giving instructions to contractors/carpenters, right down to selection of lightings and furnishings, they will be there to advise.

Contractors: simply just provide the work. Usually does not come with any 3D pics. Hand-drawn perspective layout and simple furnishing advise, they may be able to help. But in general, they just follow your instructions and do the job. You’ll have to be the own designer for your house. Gd enough if u have a very strong idea of how u want your house to turn out. The $ saved from using a contractor could well be used to buy designer furnishings/ornaments that could always turn your house into another showroom.

So… which one?

After searching for months, asking for quotes after quotes, we have came to a conclusion that IDs generally charge MUCH higher for the same amt of work. Tight on budget = Contractor. Unless you are willing to forgo some not-as-important-work and allow the budget to be spent on those deemed as higher priority. Then again… its gonna be HARD! Very hard in fact.

Rule of thumb: whether speaking to an ID or contractor, ALWAYS (!!) give them a lower budget. Give them your actual budget, most likely they are gonna hit it exactly…and when u top a few items here n there, it’s gonna burst ur budget by a gd 10-20%. This… i’ve gathered from my own experiences as well as from feedbacks from various reno blogs.

Just to have a feel of the difference. My initial proposed works cost me $24k - $28k to get an ID. After throwing in additional overhaul for another toilet, kitchen floor/wall tiles in my reno list, contractors are quoting me ard $24k. Now, feel the diff?

**$24k isn’t the lowest, btw. My final contractor quoted me even lower.

Things to look out for in the search

We did make a couple of mistakes when it came to buying this house. Our parents couldn’t help much either, their idea of an ideal house differs a little too much from ours.

This small little checklist could also help in deciding if you would prefer to wait for the lucky lot from HDB ballots or to go ahead w a purchase in the resale market.

The most serious mistake we made was that we placed the deposit for the house without much negotiation. After inspecting the house for the 2nd time, we realised there’s quite a bit of renovation to do. Too late, price had been fixed. Given a choice, i would have negotiated with the seller because of the overhaul i have to do. That may make him lower his asking price a little, making it a even better than 'good buy'.

Having gone thru’ many many renovation quotations, here are some of the things i’ll look out for in my next purchase (that’s if i ever will shift).

1. Tiles - Living rm/Dining rm/Bedrooms/Kitchen (floor n wall)/Toilets (floor n wall). The variety of floor tiles/laminates makes tiling still pretty affordable. It is the hacking n demolition cost that kills. A major overhaul of a typical 4rm flat here can set us back by $2000 just to hack the existing tiles. Overlaying is another option, but there’s always a heated debate of over the popping of tiles underneath the overlaid tiles.

2. Walls/Ceiling. Rockstone painted walls (my nightmare!) and relatively old flats will require extensive plastering and the cost is high! Ranging from $1400 - $2200, this is another killer that burst my renovation quotation. Hacking of walls to enlarge spaces may also require assessment and approval by profession engineers. Additional cost again.

3. Kitchen cabinets/Bases. Another hacking job involved if the bases and cabinets aren’t to your liking. If cabinets are still in gd condition, there is an option to change the laminates and refurbish to make it look new n gd. Bases, i had an ugly looking one and it stretches all the way into the service balcony. I’ve meet contractor that warn me if i just hacked the bases away, the waterproofing layer may be damaged, i would be restricted in wet-scrubbing the kitchen floor. Solution: to chge the entire kitchen’s flooring = hacking + tiling = expensive!

4. Sink Taps/WC/Water heaters. If you intend to overhaul the toilet, this isn’t of relevance. Otherwise, do ensure all the above mentioned are working. My WC wasn’t flushing btw.

5. Windows and grills/gates n doors. Windows n grills, need i say more? Esp for those units along the common corridor, the window grill are recommended to be fixed w quality materials for security reasons. Wrought iron grills/gates r more expensive than aluminium, but are more secured as well. If the unit is near the stairs or lift lobby, it is a requirement to install fire-rated main doors as well, and the replacement of this door is quite expensive shd one decide to chge because of aesthetic reasons.

HDB and most banks only issue loans based on the valuation of the flat. Anything above that will have to be paid out by cash, which effectively lessen the budget you’ll have for renovation. A very rundown flat probably cost lesser in cash terms, but a major overhaul will cost quite a fair bit too. So weight the pros and cons, as well as the balance sheet!

Moral of the story: scrutinize the flat as much as you can, and bargain as hard as you can!!

The Search for the One.

The set up of this blog is mainly to archive my renovation process and the research i’ve did for the renovation of our matrimonial house.

The search for our house started off and ended within 2 days. That was an extremely quick search which never failed to amazed a lot of people. I know of friends who searching for weeks and months, only to find themselves confused over the tons of units they have seen.

I wouldn’t dare say this is a dream house for us, we are trying hard to turn it into one. We started the search with a little thought of ‘doing the norm’ - take weeks to get the house we want, that is. But our housing agent from Dennis Wee was gd. He understood our requirements and waste no time in bringing us to the units that we were not interested or simply beyond our budget. Coming back to it, I don’t have an idea of a dream house, i just need a house that’s spacious enough for the both of us. Having said that, it also has to be on high level, lift-landing level, single step to unit, big bathrooms, near my mum’s place… etc.

Main thing to note: there may be 101 important criterion to meet for the house, but one has got to prioritise which goes to the top list and which are the gd-to-have. A gd housing agent that knows your exact needs helps to make the hunt a less time consuming one too. Remember, no budget is too little (i’ve met agent who criticized me for my fussiness given my meagre budget), it is only how competent the agent is.

Oh yes, not forgetting some who r extremely into fengshui, do let your agents know the ‘directions’ that benefit you/family in the hunt, not to waste time in seeing units that are gorgeous in interior and location but failed in FS.

All in all, we saw a total of 7 units in the nearby vicinity and found this 4A 107sqm that’s 20mins walk away from my mum’s place.

Next up.. What to look out for when bargaining with the seller.