HDB 2 room BTO Reno Journey 3 (Aircon works) By Gain City

My ex colleague wanted to buy me aircon which I had thought of buying initially but gave up the idea as it's expensive due to utility bills and maintenance. 

So suddenly wanted to buy me AC which was not in my schedule so there was a fair bit of disruption.

I also had to rush down gaincity ang mo kio to get it. Ex col picked Mitsubishi electric starmex 5 ticks system 2. 12000 and 9000 BTU for hall and bedroom. 

The person who served us was very busy as it was a weekend and I was surprised there were a lot of people as it was my first time there. 

His attitude quite heck care and we din pose much questions and within 10 min we bought it plus the 5 yrs warranty. The rest of the time were spent waiting for him. 

They managed to get me installation within the following week on a Thursday.

I thought I could install the kitchen cabinet while waiting for AC but due to the change in schedule cos of AC and taobao shipment for the sink and delay in flooring , Andy from Yong Heng said cannot make it. I also told him I would use another supplier for the shower screen and kitchen door as I had already enquired for so long. All this hiccups and delays n miscommunication made us angry . He was pretty rude and I felt angry why he was like dat suddenly.  I did remember Andy asking me to do the kitchen glass door but I said no as Im not going to buy AC . I'm not sure had I asked him on shower screen and his answers. I guess I'm pretty tired with so many overwhelming things going at same time n time is not on my side. 

Now gain city called me 1 day before to inform me an appropriate time period. From 9 -12noon to 10.15-10.30am.

There was some problems too.ask them not to call my ex col but they did so I had to tried calling in their hotline which took so long but managed to get them.

I arrived 10am and the installer called me at 10.30 to inform that they are coming at 11am. 

Two guys one is friendly the other quiet and taller. I talked to the friendly one a fair bit.i din realise AC installation took a day. Sigh. 

Really bored. But happened that morning taobao shipment called and they were coming with 3 invoices. Wow I'm lucky cos I ask them to call 1 day in advance. Lucky I'm there too. 

They came at 12.30pm after I had run down to nearest coffee shop to buy coke for installers. 

There were a lot and heavy stuffs. I was cracking my head where to place them as there was an earlier taobao shipment on the same week. 

The AC installer need space to put their tools so I put some in storeroom and kitchen , mostly in living room.

While waiting for taobao shipment, the delivery guys did call me half Hour before reaching. 

So I called my dad as he helped me to buy Dulux paint from his contact and I needed to book a grab for him to come over. There were some calling back and forth between dad and the grab driver. 

After the grab taxi was done, the shipment came. My dad waited downstairs to help him carry up. 

Lucky Peter from Teck Lee Seng saw him and help him bring up. 

Once I settled the shipment. I was hungry and asked dad to eat at coffee shop and bought lunch for the guys. 

I came back at 3 pm and jus nice the AC guys told me they were finishing soon. Everything worked seamlessly. 

They did a good job patching and cleaning. Taught me how to use my ac. 

Gain city gave 40 bucks voucher and tons of voucher to win Mazda 3 car. A magnet photo frame and one time discount on service. 

They packed up very fast. When I left the flat saw their van drove past. 

The magnet photo frame broke when i put it up when i moved in, thats ok. Dont intend to have it. My friends said they did a good job in installation and patching was done nicely.

They did lay protective covering for the floors and clean the debris after. They also taped the bathroom holes to prevent debris from getting into floor trap. I asked them to help me wrap up the units as there be painting and other works so dont want it to get dirty. Its good this was done before painting as painter could paint over the piping and over the dirty stuff.  

The aircon is very cool.... Good job!! :)

HDB 2 room BTO Reno Journey 0 (Shopping for Contractor)

Ok i had local Peter from Teck Lee Seng Reno which was a verbal quote. Peter does not do those very nice soft copy quotation but his handwritten prices were more reasonable than his partner, Daniel. He is responsive too, can whatsapp him using voice message or type chinese. Tip: I suggest using Peter if its small reno work with no interior design needed.

I felt i needed more for comparison. 

Therefore my sis intro me local Victor from Visual Dreams, a friendly guy which he recommended me his colleague Edwin Foo Senior Design Consultant, he was ok, responsive and professional, he tried to understand my needs and they do provide spaceman works. I find his soft copy quote very typical ID which i cant afford. 

So then i started hunting for contractor on renotalk forum and found Designer House, Ronald Goh.  (Forumers recommended to go to contractors and engage separately to save cost.)

Ronald from Designer House received good reviews on renotalk forum and he was prompt to reply all my email enquiries. His soft copy quote were good. But i still have my doubts.

I tried looking and found nothing online. So i ask my dad to recommend our ex neighbour, a contractor. Cant remember his company name. I find his quote rather expensive, it could be poor communication and also he quoted based on my dad's character. In the later part, he was rather slow to come up with final quote, guess he knew i wasnt going to use him. However, he made an effort to meet up my dad and pass him a nicely done and printed on good quality paper quote. Thanks a lot ex neighbour! :)

My bro gave me 2 company to contact. Mason & tiler works interior design in Tampines. His whatsapp quote based on floor plan were ex and he took so so so long to reply. I think he was not very keen thats why.

ANother contact he gave was Steven, he does commercial and govt projects. He gave relative good whatsapp quote based on floor plan but very very unresponsive. Guess my project was too small. He had helped reno my bro house and he said he was not responsive after job done.

My big sis gave me a Malaysian contractor also called Peter from LLoyd Building Service. A very nice man and easy going. Again he does whatsapp voice message or type chinese only. He was quick to want to go down to see and give a better quote but i was too tired from going down just for 10-15 min for a quote. It took me 1.5-2 hrs to reach. SO i came up with a video and floor plan for an excel quote from him (his prices included GST). Actually i was very sick then, i tot i needed to see a specialist. His quote was good....but as one or two of the items were ex i fished around and found suppliers who can provide cheaper quotes for those items. 

These suppliers i found through the ads pasted on the lifts.

It was then i got to know Yong Heng Aluminium Engineering works, Andy, a Malaysian too. SO u have to use whatsapp voice message too. Or type chinese characters.

Yong Heng Aluminium Engineering Works

Most Malaysian contractors you have to type chinese or use voice message as their English is not good. Or if you can speak malay.

I asked him about window grilles. I found his price were good so asked him to go down and have a look. During this time Peter from Lloyd Building Service were not responsive as he was preparing for his trip and there were holidays during then and as he is a devout Christian, calling him on Sunday is a no and also cannot call on public holidays as he might go to Malaysia.

Prior to deciding to use Peter from Lloyd, i did ask Peter/Daniel from Teck Lee Seng Reno to give me an official quote instead of the verbal quote given. My family felt the prices were still negotiable but Daniel refused to give discount.
Actually the grilles quoted by Peter/Daniel was good. But as he refused to give discount so i looked for Lloyd Building Service.

Andy from Yong Heng quoted me SGD400 for the middle portion for living, bedroom and kitchen. Peter from Teck Lee Seng quoted SGD350. But Andy from YH was cheaper compared with other suppliers.

So i decided to call Andy to my new place for an actual quote. I only did living and bedroom which was SGD300. A little expensive as Peter from TLS told me at a later stage (which i come to that) but since i already had come this far....

Andy told me he does kitchen/sink/tv cabinet, wardrobe, laminate flooring, door, etc. Just no painting and tiling.

I asked him to quote me the door and kitchen cabinet, it was cheaper than Peter from Lloyd Building Svc. 

So i edited the quote to remove kitchen cabinet and door given by Peter from LBS....he was ok. But he was away for a long time.I waited for him to come back while Andy finished up installing the window grilles for me.

There was a miscomm with Andy and he brought a brown colour grilles to match my silver window. So my advise is....pls ask him to write down the colour on the quote.Then inform him through watsapp again. Just once will do.

i just accepted the brown grilles and din complain as i really cant remembered who's the one ...

Then Peter from LBS was unresponsive after he was back from trip. He gave me vague answer on when to start.I thought shit...my schedule a bit late cos i waited so long for him to come back. Then he gave me such answers.

Well probably he felt cant earn much after i remove so many items away. in fact  a lot of contractors doesnt like to work with 2 room BTO. Too small to earn. Unless im rich i can afford to do more works. 

That was a clue that he doesnt wan to accept my job but felt hard to refuse.

Prior to this..during the day when i installed my window grilles i met up with Peter from TLS. He said he can help me installed floor tiles and shower kerb only. At that time i had no time to source around and felt his quote was the cheapest for floor tiles among the quotes i had gathered. Peter was a very helpful person and easy to talk to.

So i knew i had to say gd bye to Peter from LBS and ask Peter from TLS to start my reno le. Peter from LBS readily and happily said ok when i said i asked someone else to do it.

Peter from TLS at the same time readily accepted this job and could start on a Sunday which i had chosen to start reno.

HD Tiling Works-Adrian

Adrian from HD Tiling offer a better price for floor tiling.

So my flooring,acid wash and kerb from TLS Peter (shifu is Ah Boon), kitchen cabinet and door from Yong Heng Andy.

HDB 2 room BTO Reno Journey 2 (Flooring, shower kerb works) By Teck Lee Seng - Peter

Went to Lian Seng HIn@Balestier to pick this semi polished homo tile@$3.60 on Thursday

Peter advised me to go semi polished as it would be very slippery if i picked those polished ones esp one i saw and liked which was super smooth.

Bedroom - Peter also helped to check HDB works and found out the door needed rectification

Cement and cardboard delivered on same day i picked the tile

I start my flooring on 14 May 2017 Sunday morning. Did a simple prayer.

Ah Boon Tiler and Peter in yellow

A few days after work commence

Ah Boon Tiler said my tiles v hard to cut. Have to use hand.Take a longer time

Ask Ah Boon to help me correct the slope at the main entrance so my wealth is not leak out

I did the shower kerb for the shower screen , these glass contractors dont do kerb.  U can also do the kitchen cabinet kerb, i heard it make your cabinet more lasting. I didnt do it. I opt for full flush kitchen cabinet without legs or kerb.

After the floor was done a week later, Peter washed the kitchen and toilet to install kitchen cabinet.  

Touchup and complete washing not done yet. He said to lay the cardboards to protect the tiles since i still have many installations or works to be done.

HDB 2 room BTO Reno Journey 1 (Window Grilles works) By Yong Heng Andy

Before window grilles

Andy from Yong Heng was at least 40 min earlier than our appt

Fixing outside while waiting for me

HDB 2room BTO living room window grilles

HDB 2room BTO bed room window grilles

Counter top and cabinet swatches

Solid surface top

Marble Quartz Top

I chose this....as he gave me a good price i cant say no

Pick this....like laminated surface. Fell in love with it.

Done on 03 May 2017 , for living and bedroom SGD300. Yong Heng Aluminium Works -Andy. Process took about an hour.

Its good to start the window grilles first before laying the floor tiles. In case the installer drop the grilles but it will become dusty when the flooring is in progress. Anyway it still be dusty with other works like aircon,painting and tiling.

Hmm i really dunno to do it before anything else or the last few process. i think better last few steps. Cos later very hard to clean.

Oh yes i bought the bedroom door from him too. 

2 room HDB BTO with no OCS - Key Collection on 13 Mar 2017!!!

Prior to key collection,  i emailed to HDB asking if i could still opt in to OCS as i wanted to save money for reno. But the answer which i knew was no.

I was feeling nervous and jumpy as i dont have enough money for reno and there seem to be no news though they promised within Q1.

January passed with Chinese New Year...then mid February i received HLE SMS telling me my loan was approved....March..i thought maybe its a blessing for me to buy more time to save more money. 

LOL i was wrong as they had promised, they sent an SMS on the first week of March telling me a date (next week) to collect my keys. Wow ....that was fast!! There was no letter or email.

So i logged on to HDB using Singpass and read the letter from the web and changed the key collection date as i was busy with work and also i wanted to pick a good date.

From the web, i dont really understand how much i have to pay. I tried emailing the HDB officer but no reply.

I was early for my appointment but took some time to get a queue number as i dont know which counter to go to. Not to worry there are a lot of customer officers to help. I went over to apply the fire insurance as advised by a blogger.
Its so cheap...SGD2 plus...and very fast. (located on first floor near toilet)

Etiqa Fire Insurance Counter@HDB

I missed the queue as i thought they would stick to the appointment time. Hmm i dunno who to seek help to be called again so i tried the reception in the centre.
Shortly after my number was called and a lady served me. She gave me a bag and documents telling me some important points. Signatures...and she calculated the amount i had to pay and she asked how would i like to pay. I decided to use cash since amount wasnt huge after deducting my CPF.  She advised me to go to 2nd or 3rd floor for payment then come back to her.  She settled the last documents and im a proud owner of a 2 room BTO flat!!

Free keychain from HDB, there is a canvas bag too

One year warranty, pls note of the underlined highlighted by HDB officer

Pls report rectification works before reno!

Another tip given by HDB officer for conservancy charges

Next i went over to open an account with SP Services which was fast too and fuss free, the person who served me was good looking as well.

My sis came over and we celebrated at Jap restaurant next to HDB Sales office after opening the SP account (if u dont intend to reno quickly, u can open this SP account later as once u open the account, they bill you mthly....so sad). In addition, the first bill will be more ex..there is a deposit...cant remember how much it is...mayb 60 or 90. Every mth the bill is a few dollars. Even though you dont use it.

My son happy meal with toy

Thats mine!! YUmmy!

After eating, we went down to new flat happily taking train and bus.

We met up with Peter from Teck Lee Seng Reno Contractor and he was a friendly upbeat uncle. He showed us some of the flats they had done before i even had the chance to set foot to my flat. There was a good feel but my family said to ask for more quotes first before deciding which was good advice since im a newbie.

I was surprised when i opened the door to my flat it was smaller than i tot. And many odd corners, i felt this flat would be challenging. 

I was pretty impressed with HDB contractor Chip Eng for the work they had done for my unit. Happy that the toilet design was good compared to my parents one.

My floor plan, its a lousy layout but windy and less sun.

Hall

Toilet

Kitchen

As Peter from Teck Lee Seng Reno Contractor was around, i had no time to take a closer look and decided to call it a day and leave ....will be back soon. :) Oh Peter gave me a verbal quote of SGD7k for the works i casually enquired.

As we were leaving, many contractors hijack us to introduce their services. Very stressful to shoo them off...haha.

Just tell them you have someone in mind. 

taken from kitchen

Kitchen

Kitchen

2 room kitchen

2 room kitchen

2 room hall

Hall

window view from hall

Hall view

bedroom view

Bedroom view 

HDB 2 room BTO with no OCS