Hello readers! Today, i am sharing more about our progress for our house renovation! If you have been following my blog, i mentioned in my earlier post that we collected our house keys to our house at Northwave back in Mar 19. (None of the vendors i engage are sponsored. purely just for sharing)
We engaged a defect inspection team to check the defect for our unit because we are not the experts and paying someone to do the job will ensure we don't overlook major defects.
The company that we engage was Absolute inspection. As our unit are partially furnished already, so we would think minimum renovation is sufficient. Our renovation budget was 10k.
When i mean partially furbished, it means some of the fittings and fixture has been built in and handover as a complete unit to us because we bought an Executive Condominium.
EC works almost the same as private property for eg, all the flooring, air conditioner, wardrobes, kitchen cabinet, kitchen stove, oven and bathroom fixture like the basin, mirror, shower area will be included inside so we could save on renovation cost compare to a brand new BTO flat that would usually estimate to cost at least 30-40k onwards. Of cos there are bound to have some owners who doesn't like the designs and would choose to hack and redo according to their own preferences even in EC settings.
When we first receive the keys to our house, we don't see a need to replace anything because both Jeremy and I feel we can use all the existing fittings and fixtures provided until there is really major wear and tear before we can replace it next time. So we are only adding on to what was given to us.
In terms of shortlisting our ID, i didn't really go and compare with different ID/Contractors as i decided to take the same ID as my cousin. Especially when i have stated my budget is only $10k.
The company he was initially working at is called the Sky Creation Design Ltd, his name Darren Lim. He has many years of experiences and we could tell he was quite experienced from our meet up conversation with him. He was able to tell us for eg if i have ideas to do certain carpentry, he will advise me whether it is possible or not recommended. He won't try to promise or guarantee everything is possible and i believe this is very important to me because if it's cannot be done in this way that i want, i don't mind changing to another way i think would fit well to my house decor, rather than telling me everything can deliver but it turns out to be different from what i had expected.
If you guys are interested to engage him, you may contact him at this number 91084363. You guys may read on and see the end result of the renovation.
Our total cost of the renovation was S$14k. Which i find it was pretty reasonable because i have requested for some add ons.
Before i go on about the $14k renovation package and what it includes, let me show you guys some of my pre-renovation photos of the house!
I love that the unit is v brightly lit up by the natural sunlight, especially when we were staying on the ground floor because i thought it would be dark compare to high floor, but i was not disappointed!
Our good size kitchen that was sufficient for us to have our fridge,washing machine and laundry system being placed inside and still having plenty of space.
Our unit is also v windy when we open the windows! Hahahaha
We bought a 3 bedder so there were 3 bedrooms.
Our common bathroom.
Our bedroom 1 & 2. I love the greenery view outside even before we start our renovation! It was already a ready to move in condition.
Our master bedroom.
Master bathroom.
Here's a video of the house tour that i took before the renovation!
I don't exactly follow any theme except i know the style that i want is simple, clean, modern.
Before i met up with the ID, i had already in mind what i want so it was more of checking with him what i want and for him to include in his quote.
They have a standard reno package as follows (quote price after GST was about $11k)
We could even have a free upgrade to opt for wallpaper instead of paint. For the whole house! Definitely we choose wallpaper over paint. Hahahaha
Professional services
- Space planning & furniture layout
- design consultation
- home styling & furnishing consulation
- 3D Computerised drawing for carpentry works only
- Project management & site supervision
- 12 months warranty with guaranteed after sales service
- free defect inspection
Foyer
- Installation of 4ft full height shoe cabinet in laminate
Living/Dining
- Design & Fabricate 7'L suspended TV consolo in laminate
- Design & fabricate 7'Lx7'H feature wall in laminate
Master Bedroom
- Supply and install '5Lx3'H Bedhead and 2 bedside table in laminate finish
Study Room
- Design & Fabricate 5ft study table in laminate finish
Misc works
- Paint whole wall unit with Nippon Vinilex 5000 Emlusion paint & ceiling with Nippon Matex white paint
- Paint whole sealer for whole house
- Labour for installing bathroom accessories (1 time installation)
- Laying of cardboard protection at affected flooring
- general cleaning upon completion
- haulage
- disposal of wood & renovation debris
Our total reno amounts to $14k because i request for some additional add ons as follows :
False ceiling for living room and all bedrooms.
Higher height for our bedboard in master bedroom instead of their usual measurement in their package.
Curtain pelmet for living room and bedrooms.
Replacing one of the side table to change as enclosed dressing table in master bedroom.
Installation of kitchen glass backing.
Before placing a deposit, i asked lots of questions to the ID.
Basically i asked if 3D drawing will be provided because i think this is the most important component such that both ID & customer can have the same agreement of how the renovation work look like after seeing the 3D works.
What a customer tell the contractor, the contractor might not translate to reality because their interpretation might be different.
Many tend to feel they know what they want and doesnt require an ID because they have the misconception that you will need to pay more for their designing fee, so they rather engage a contractor and explain what they want to the contractor but the result might be so different.
I am very particular of how my house turns out, so it was good that our ID is both an ID + contractor.
After we have finalise our quote, we went on to place the deposit and our ID send us the first draft of the design.
For our false ceiling in living room, i opt for a L shape design instead of cove ceiling as i expect dust will accumulate over time inside and i didn't want any creature to be laying eggs inside next time when the house aged over time.
This was our 1st draft, which i am obviously not pleased with it that explains a few other draft after the revision.
Draft 1
Draft 2
Draft 3
The final artwork to proceed ahead.
1st draft of shoe cabinet
Change to half but it look ugly so i request to change back to full height again
I went to seek some opinions from family & friends and do a voting, majority prefer using just one color instead of dual tone so i requested for a single color tone for the shoe cabinet.
For study room, my first impression was it looks good, but i realised our bedrm flooring and wardrobe is not going to be this grey color as shown in the above draft. So i request them to use my house flooring and change the color of the cabinet to match as close as possible to existing wardrobe and flooring in my house. Overall i just want the color tone to match with the existing color tone in our house.
This was so much better so i proceed with this design.
Draft 1
I told the ID i want a dressing table so instead of 2 side table, one of the side table to convert into a dressing table especially i use my dressing table daily. I don't like the fold down mirror as i feel it's not feasible because i put on makeup everyday, i need storage and the fold down mirror style doesn't seem to be able to store more.
I remember getting my inspirations from Qanvast, Pininterest before i found something similar like this picture below that i wanted to express to the ID.
It was drawn inside the draft and i love it so this was the final art work.
After we have finalise the designs, the ID begin their work by getting their workers to laid floor protection first.
As we opt for wallpaper so the ceiling painting is not included, so we decided to paint ourselves to save some $.
After the flooring was laid, we inform the electrical side to start their wiring before ID can install the false ceiling which usually takes about 1-2 days.
For electrical work, initially we request a quote but our ID quoted 2.3k, so before we place the deposit, i have also checked with him whether we can use our own electrican. This can help to offset the overall cost because the ID electrical work is usually mark up, he was fine with it so i only need to coordinate the meeting session between my ID and the electrican to discuss how the lights is suppose to be installed etc.
During the meeting, it turns out they know each other as they met during their army days. Before that i did my research online and text several electrican to ask for the quote, and some electrical company guy are just so rude. Being first timer, i might not know how the electrical works, so i tend to ask more to understand but its almost like a sin to ask them so much question. WTF. In that case, i was having some issue finding the right electrican until Jenny know that i am looking for electrican and introduce me her friend whose family run this business so i manage to text the guy and it was so much easy. He was responsive and was always ready to answer my questions. Needless to say, eventually we engaged their services.
The company name is TKG Services. Unlike other electrical company, they allow me to purchase our lights from instead of getting from them.
If anyone is interested to use this electrican, do drop me an email to get his contact number! Soon the renovation work started!
The process of wiring work and installation of false ceiling.
After the wiring and false ceiling has been installed, we painted the ceiling so the electrican can install all our lights.
Happy when we see all the lights has been installed!
After the lights has been installed, carpentry works are next!
This is our master bedroom, my enclosed dressing table!
After all the carpentry work is done, there were general cleaning and disposal before the handover.
I have begin to coordinate all the delivery on the same day such as our sofa, bedframe, mattress, electrical appliances such as TV, washing machine,fridge, installation of our steigen laundry system
I will be sharing more of the vendors that i used in my official move in post! Look out for the post till then!
Vendor mentioned in this post as follows :
- Defect inspection - Absolute inspection
- ID - D brain studio ID Darren Lim, 91084363
- Electrical works - TKG Services, Dominic
- Downlights - Tampoi lightings in JB
- Ceiling fan/ceiling lights, kitchen ceiling lights - HT lighting in JB
- Laundry system - Steigen Singapore
To read more on our house related posts, click on the link below
