Foreword: The purpose of marketing is to create a perception in the mind of the buyers. Marketing does not improve the actual performance of a product in anyway, and the fact is that most buyers are not concerned with facts, instead they would rather listen to opinions of friends or that of a marketing campaign. When it comes to buying a can of coke, the effect a marketing message on you costs you a few cents, when you buy an aircon, that effect will cost you a few hundred at the least.
In tropical Singapore, an aircon is considered a must by many. A quick look at the aircon ledges that I could see from my corridor outside my flat showed me out of the 8 I could see, 6 were branded under Mitsubishi Electric. So most home movers moved in in early 2017, and even if you have never heard of any aircon brand, you should be quickly able to tell which brand is most popular.
So I started my search for Air Cons on the same note as most other renovation items, without any brand or model in particular, but of course I was looking for value for money. I eliminated a few brands from the onset, as either had bad experiences with their aircons or related products. Namely elimated were LG, Panasonic, Sharp. So those in the running were the 2 Mitsubishis, Daikin, Samsung, York and Midea. After quickly searching several Air con retailers, I found that York had the cheapest packages for what I was looking for, for a System 3 aircon with each unit at 9000 BTU for the 3 bedrooms.
I already had a few quotes for Mitsubishi Electric 2 ticks (2 tick is their lower end model)(at the time of my purchasing, Mitsubishi Electric (the aircon company with the best marketing perception in consumers eyes (maybe because of Jack Neo). So after viewing a bunch of them, I decided to call Creation Aircon, a company based in Jalan Tenteram (Whampao Area) and the man over the phone told me that he was offering a York 3-system for $1899, and plus $270 for trunking parts upgrade (the top end consumer-grade stuff in Singapore, 23 gauge copper wire, Armaflex Class 1, 26mm pipe). So I was sold, on Gain City's website, I saw the price was $2400, so thats a saving of around $250.
So I went down to their showroom, with the intention of paying them a deposit, and met with the salesman. I did not take down the saleman over the phone name, so I did not know who exactly to meet. Anyways, the sales pitch went bad when I said I was keen in the $1900 aircon deal. He said no such thing, only Midea had that price point. So I walked away, thinking rubbish, if don't have such pricing, dont say over the phone. Then again, the person I met might have been greedy in his commission and just whack the price, higher than Gain City (the benchmark in the air con industry).
So I threw away Creation and went to Gain City at Boon Keng, and went there with the intention to by the York series, maybe their 4 tick (better) model, if not much cheaper. When we walked in, the salesgirl straight away brought us to the Mitsubishi Electric models and told us the story about the 5 tick model being out of stock till December and to take the 2 tick model. So of course energy rating is not the only measure on how good an aircon is, but in simple terms, would you pay more $500 more (+20%) for a 2 tick ME aircon or get a York 4-tick. So you can see how powerful the marketing of ME is, even the salestaff did not waste time with other models.
To be honest, I had never heard of York before scouting for an Air Con. I read up about them, and found its the consumer brand of Johnson Controls (a US building electronics company) and started its consumer business in Singapore only in 2012, so thats why I knew Carrier Man but not them. But I had heard of Johnson Controls and that turned me from thinking it was a China Brand and something worth buying especially if it is cheaper than the competition.
So we settled for York 4-tick (their better model), listed price at Gain City Boon Keng was $2550 ($100 less than online). After printing out or receipt, the salesgirl then told us that this model was on promotion, going for $2450. My wife decided to go for the Gain City 5-year warranty, so we paid $2600 in total. Also I signed up as a member and instantly got $26 in vouchers from them and they also threw in $60 worth of gain city vouchers, so in total they gave us $86 to spend at their stores. And of course for trunking they offered (and seems only to offer) the best parts.
So I felt we got a reasonable deal, paying less than the well marketed ME obsolete model. Kudos to ME marketing team!
Thursday, August 3, 2017
Wednesday, August 2, 2017
In comes Tileman
After rejecting all proposals we were presented so far, we had now decided to go ahead with hiring ourselves as contractors. I had a few favourable conditions to hiring myself as a contractor, including the fact that the flat was between my work place and home, so I could drop by easily to take a look at work and progress.
So I knew the first step in the renovation chain of events was tiling, so I had to find a good tiler who was not out to skin me. Into the picture comes THREE E BUILDING CONSTRUCTION PTE. LTD. I found this guy on Carousell, mainly trying to push their German vinyl flooring, but also they did everything. I first made contact with one of the parners, Bryan, who in 2017 was a fresh grad at 25 years old.
I felt odd meeting him at first, as he seemed quite young compared with the stereotypical uncle out there. I arranged to meet him at one of his work sites in Woodlands, where he was doing both homogeneous tiles and vinyl, so I got to see both. I felt he was sincere and based on the flooring work he had completed, he was also competent. To further encourage me to hire him, he said 100% COD terms. No deposit! I was just there to hire them for tiling work, so the amount to pay was not too huge, but it is quite trusting on his part to expect his customer to do the work without a deposit. This may change in the future once they start to meet people without money.
But I was sold. His pricing was tile laying labour cost @ $3.80 per square foot, and with our estimated area of around 760 square feet, that came up to $2888. This amount would include skirting, all tile cutting, etc. Their BTO package price with screed was $6200 and $4500 without screed and with tiles costing at $3 per sq foot. These prices are nett, including haulage, etc. As a quick comparison, the earlier horses wanted starting from $8k, and when you include all the misc additional costs, the nett amount for SAME work would have been around $8.5k at the minimum.
So this was a no brainer, $2k+ in the pocket sounds good to me any day of the week. Hired.
Moving forward, we had earlier once visited the few Tile Show rooms on Balestier Road, near Ah Hood Road. The showroom with which the tiles we liked was Hup Kiong. If you have read from the beginning, you would know we were all for value for money. We were looking for wood inspired tiles that looked natural like wood, and Hup Kiong had some from Ceramica Magica, an Italian tile manufacturer that looked good, felt nice to walk on and costed $4.50 per sq ft. For the bed room, we took a shade darker and some Turkish tiles (which later from the packaging I found out was manufactured under an Italian company) at $3.90 per sq ft. Both tiles were of good quality and priced very competitive. The Ceramica Magica tiles were called Honey from the WoodTime collection and were planks of 90x15cm and the bedroom tiles were 60cmx15cm planks. We decided to have a clean flow, where the outside area tiles would join seamlessly with the bedroom tiles, but if you see carefully you would see the transition from longer planks to shorter planks and a variation in colour. The Turkish tiles we also bought from 2 different shades at 50/50 quantity each, to add more variation in tile colouration.
When it came to payment for the tiles, our contractor or tileman, Ron (partner of the guy I met at the showflat) was there. We were given a 10% discount of the full price (so paid a nett price of appx $4.35 per sq foot for the tiles). So important lesson here, if your contractor is good (like Ron), they will share their commission with you in terms of money saved on the cost of tiles. Also I would recommend going to smaller players, as mentioned, the giant Hafary does have lots to choose from, but do note that you are paying a premium for them to pay their IDs and for their huge business costs, so you are unlikely to get value for money.
*Three E Building faces the same competitive renovation landscape as any other business, it is just that they have streamlined their business and done away with all useless expenses and pass the savings to their customer. For your understanding, a few days ago I was pumping petrol in my bike at SPC and I saw a BMW 5 series pull up infront to pump. Out came out a young man, I guessed in early 30s and he wore a T-shirt with Nippon Paint written behind. The way I put the picture together is that this guy is an ID, and thanks to overcharging clients who were foolish on cost savings, he could afford a BMW. So if you ever wondered why money not enough, you might want to find out where the outflow is and if you paying more than you need to
So I knew the first step in the renovation chain of events was tiling, so I had to find a good tiler who was not out to skin me. Into the picture comes THREE E BUILDING CONSTRUCTION PTE. LTD. I found this guy on Carousell, mainly trying to push their German vinyl flooring, but also they did everything. I first made contact with one of the parners, Bryan, who in 2017 was a fresh grad at 25 years old.
I felt odd meeting him at first, as he seemed quite young compared with the stereotypical uncle out there. I arranged to meet him at one of his work sites in Woodlands, where he was doing both homogeneous tiles and vinyl, so I got to see both. I felt he was sincere and based on the flooring work he had completed, he was also competent. To further encourage me to hire him, he said 100% COD terms. No deposit! I was just there to hire them for tiling work, so the amount to pay was not too huge, but it is quite trusting on his part to expect his customer to do the work without a deposit. This may change in the future once they start to meet people without money.
But I was sold. His pricing was tile laying labour cost @ $3.80 per square foot, and with our estimated area of around 760 square feet, that came up to $2888. This amount would include skirting, all tile cutting, etc. Their BTO package price with screed was $6200 and $4500 without screed and with tiles costing at $3 per sq foot. These prices are nett, including haulage, etc. As a quick comparison, the earlier horses wanted starting from $8k, and when you include all the misc additional costs, the nett amount for SAME work would have been around $8.5k at the minimum.
So this was a no brainer, $2k+ in the pocket sounds good to me any day of the week. Hired.
Moving forward, we had earlier once visited the few Tile Show rooms on Balestier Road, near Ah Hood Road. The showroom with which the tiles we liked was Hup Kiong. If you have read from the beginning, you would know we were all for value for money. We were looking for wood inspired tiles that looked natural like wood, and Hup Kiong had some from Ceramica Magica, an Italian tile manufacturer that looked good, felt nice to walk on and costed $4.50 per sq ft. For the bed room, we took a shade darker and some Turkish tiles (which later from the packaging I found out was manufactured under an Italian company) at $3.90 per sq ft. Both tiles were of good quality and priced very competitive. The Ceramica Magica tiles were called Honey from the WoodTime collection and were planks of 90x15cm and the bedroom tiles were 60cmx15cm planks. We decided to have a clean flow, where the outside area tiles would join seamlessly with the bedroom tiles, but if you see carefully you would see the transition from longer planks to shorter planks and a variation in colour. The Turkish tiles we also bought from 2 different shades at 50/50 quantity each, to add more variation in tile colouration.
When it came to payment for the tiles, our contractor or tileman, Ron (partner of the guy I met at the showflat) was there. We were given a 10% discount of the full price (so paid a nett price of appx $4.35 per sq foot for the tiles). So important lesson here, if your contractor is good (like Ron), they will share their commission with you in terms of money saved on the cost of tiles. Also I would recommend going to smaller players, as mentioned, the giant Hafary does have lots to choose from, but do note that you are paying a premium for them to pay their IDs and for their huge business costs, so you are unlikely to get value for money.
*Three E Building faces the same competitive renovation landscape as any other business, it is just that they have streamlined their business and done away with all useless expenses and pass the savings to their customer. For your understanding, a few days ago I was pumping petrol in my bike at SPC and I saw a BMW 5 series pull up infront to pump. Out came out a young man, I guessed in early 30s and he wore a T-shirt with Nippon Paint written behind. The way I put the picture together is that this guy is an ID, and thanks to overcharging clients who were foolish on cost savings, he could afford a BMW. So if you ever wondered why money not enough, you might want to find out where the outflow is and if you paying more than you need to
Tuesday, August 1, 2017
The 2 leading horses in ID
So out of the 5 guys we met, we had 2 Interior Designers (one I would say is a semi-ID type business) that we had decided were good and we were going to give our business to.
The first was one my wife preferred, they were also recommended by a colleague, so on our first meeting, we met them at 2 projects they had completed recently (one of which was my wife's colleague's house). Let's call them Sundram, based on the main designers similar name.That was really quite nicely done. They had done some hacking of walls and colouring based on Feng Shui and even hacked one of their bedrooms to make it into a walk-in closet. They were very professional, both in their work and sales. The 2nd project they showed us was an average one, with a smaller budget (maybe 20k) that was also quite decent, going with the industrial look that the owner wanted.
So on the day we met, after viewing 2 of their projects, we had a sit down meeting going through all the things that we wanted (they were the last we met, so by now we had our requirements more or less fixed as we were repeating them again and again and again, which is good so you know what you need to do). So they said normally they are not the lowest in pricing, but instead offer great quality and market rates for things like haulage, etc, which they claim it is important to pay as our other semi-ID was "under quoting" us for that. They also harped on using quality workers and Singapore based carpentry, which they said had a minimum costs but better quality (vs those who do it in JB).
The other semi-ID we met were who I will call Robin Hood, as they are the cheapest we found, for ID works and I found them on Carousell. They also brought us to 2 units they completed / almost completed, to view their work. I think one of their mistakes was that they brought us to 2 of their low budget projects. So if you are ID or anything, here is a tip, its ok to take up low budget projects, but don't use them as showcases for your works, it will make you look bad! So anyways my wife was not impressed, I was impressed by their low carpentry prices, even their Quartz started at $88 per foot run (you can use this as a reference to how low the market price is).
We then took a few days off to discuss about which horse to pick. My wife was in favour of Sundram, but I was more towards Robin Hood, believing that they just showed us low budget projects and could do better. So we arranged to meet both these guys one more time.
For Robin Hood, we met them at another of their projects, which they claimed was better than the first 2 they showed to us. We went, we saw and while it was better, it was also basic type level (mainly I guess as the client wanted that type of design). But my wife said no, no to their excel opening, Malaysian carpentry and average finishings.
We then met Sundram for another go, Sundram definately put in more effort into the sales, trying to contact me to answer any questions, etc. They also offered professional ID services, which Robin Hood did not, like 3D rendering (apparently it costs 20 average priced movie tickets to make), space planning, etc. They also ensured they would do the job well, which is to trust them, which we did, but only thing is that we did not trust their price. I think they overquoted us by $5k, so in the end we also decided not to go with them.
So after some quick thoughts, we decided instead to employ overselves as the contractors. It is not as difficult as you think, with minimum brain power, willingness to do leg work and some Internet research, you can save a couple of thousand, up to the $5-$10k we were intending to save. While saving money was an aim, we also were ready to use these savings in interior designer profits, to buy better products and anything extra of course we would keep in our pockets or to pay back DBS for our loan.
We also managed to take a look at our direct neighbour's unit, he was quite friendly, and of course keen to show off his $80k renovation done unit. Definitely his unit was very nicely done, although very specific to his and his wife's theme. Loads of black paint that needed loads of light to look presentable, full hacking of some walls and a creation of a TV room in one of the bedrooms (which is a bad idea in 5 years if your 2 children are 5 and 7 years old). But this guy spared no expense to redo his home.
The moral of this post is quite simple, being stupid is not free. Especially if you are not earning too much, if you are going to overpay $5k, thats 2 months salary gone? Could you be doing a better job cheaper if you were in charge? If you can, its better to roll up your sleeves and do so.
Another thing is the Hafary situation. I had never heard of them until I needed to do renovation. But once we started with the meetings, everyone was harping about Hafary to buy our tiles from them. See Hafary is not really the best or worst tile seller in Singapore, they are definitely the biggest, with a huge warehouse in Sungai Kadut another large warehouse in Changi near the prison, but their huge business also needs to earn a huge profit to keep going and their shareholders happy. They get their huge business by alot of marketing. I saw their name sponsoring tiles in a show-case room at Ikea Tampines. Any contractor that insists you go to Hafary (or any other competitor) is getting a commission for the tiles they sell to you. My guess is Hafary gives them a huge comission, as much as 20% to their top referral contractors. So if you had a 4-room flat with 760 sq ft and go for $4 per sq foot of tiles, your ID will get at least $300 in their pocket and maybe up to $600! So you are unlikely to get a good deal with Hafary, unless your ID shares / gives you their share, so just take note that when you see the retail price on tiles, they include the contractor comission.
The first was one my wife preferred, they were also recommended by a colleague, so on our first meeting, we met them at 2 projects they had completed recently (one of which was my wife's colleague's house). Let's call them Sundram, based on the main designers similar name.That was really quite nicely done. They had done some hacking of walls and colouring based on Feng Shui and even hacked one of their bedrooms to make it into a walk-in closet. They were very professional, both in their work and sales. The 2nd project they showed us was an average one, with a smaller budget (maybe 20k) that was also quite decent, going with the industrial look that the owner wanted.
So on the day we met, after viewing 2 of their projects, we had a sit down meeting going through all the things that we wanted (they were the last we met, so by now we had our requirements more or less fixed as we were repeating them again and again and again, which is good so you know what you need to do). So they said normally they are not the lowest in pricing, but instead offer great quality and market rates for things like haulage, etc, which they claim it is important to pay as our other semi-ID was "under quoting" us for that. They also harped on using quality workers and Singapore based carpentry, which they said had a minimum costs but better quality (vs those who do it in JB).
The other semi-ID we met were who I will call Robin Hood, as they are the cheapest we found, for ID works and I found them on Carousell. They also brought us to 2 units they completed / almost completed, to view their work. I think one of their mistakes was that they brought us to 2 of their low budget projects. So if you are ID or anything, here is a tip, its ok to take up low budget projects, but don't use them as showcases for your works, it will make you look bad! So anyways my wife was not impressed, I was impressed by their low carpentry prices, even their Quartz started at $88 per foot run (you can use this as a reference to how low the market price is).
We then took a few days off to discuss about which horse to pick. My wife was in favour of Sundram, but I was more towards Robin Hood, believing that they just showed us low budget projects and could do better. So we arranged to meet both these guys one more time.
For Robin Hood, we met them at another of their projects, which they claimed was better than the first 2 they showed to us. We went, we saw and while it was better, it was also basic type level (mainly I guess as the client wanted that type of design). But my wife said no, no to their excel opening, Malaysian carpentry and average finishings.
We then met Sundram for another go, Sundram definately put in more effort into the sales, trying to contact me to answer any questions, etc. They also offered professional ID services, which Robin Hood did not, like 3D rendering (apparently it costs 20 average priced movie tickets to make), space planning, etc. They also ensured they would do the job well, which is to trust them, which we did, but only thing is that we did not trust their price. I think they overquoted us by $5k, so in the end we also decided not to go with them.
So after some quick thoughts, we decided instead to employ overselves as the contractors. It is not as difficult as you think, with minimum brain power, willingness to do leg work and some Internet research, you can save a couple of thousand, up to the $5-$10k we were intending to save. While saving money was an aim, we also were ready to use these savings in interior designer profits, to buy better products and anything extra of course we would keep in our pockets or to pay back DBS for our loan.
We also managed to take a look at our direct neighbour's unit, he was quite friendly, and of course keen to show off his $80k renovation done unit. Definitely his unit was very nicely done, although very specific to his and his wife's theme. Loads of black paint that needed loads of light to look presentable, full hacking of some walls and a creation of a TV room in one of the bedrooms (which is a bad idea in 5 years if your 2 children are 5 and 7 years old). But this guy spared no expense to redo his home.
The moral of this post is quite simple, being stupid is not free. Especially if you are not earning too much, if you are going to overpay $5k, thats 2 months salary gone? Could you be doing a better job cheaper if you were in charge? If you can, its better to roll up your sleeves and do so.
Another thing is the Hafary situation. I had never heard of them until I needed to do renovation. But once we started with the meetings, everyone was harping about Hafary to buy our tiles from them. See Hafary is not really the best or worst tile seller in Singapore, they are definitely the biggest, with a huge warehouse in Sungai Kadut another large warehouse in Changi near the prison, but their huge business also needs to earn a huge profit to keep going and their shareholders happy. They get their huge business by alot of marketing. I saw their name sponsoring tiles in a show-case room at Ikea Tampines. Any contractor that insists you go to Hafary (or any other competitor) is getting a commission for the tiles they sell to you. My guess is Hafary gives them a huge comission, as much as 20% to their top referral contractors. So if you had a 4-room flat with 760 sq ft and go for $4 per sq foot of tiles, your ID will get at least $300 in their pocket and maybe up to $600! So you are unlikely to get a good deal with Hafary, unless your ID shares / gives you their share, so just take note that when you see the retail price on tiles, they include the contractor comission.
The other 2 we had minimum interaction with
In the earlier post, I mentioned we met with 5 IDs, contractors, etc, before we started any works, so this post is about 2 others we met once and no more, mostly as they were too expensive.
The first guy we met was at his house, which was in a neighbouring block, he is an ID and he had some good ideas, like a partitioned walk in wardrobe in the MBR, and he put a mirror to block his aircon ledge access window getting rid of that ugly window. He also merged his kitchen with his service yard, making the kitchen longer and more functional, which was an interesting idea. We also first heard of the word "Blum" and saw it in action, which we now know sets the industry benchmark for drawers and casement doors. In the end, as we did our spreadsheet and compared the competitors side by side, we struck off this guy as he was too expensive in the itemized breakdown and did not shine in terms of quality of his works, he was average.
The other man my wife met, was a project coordinator, so he was not really an ID or contractor, but some guy who just outsourced everything except his profit. He was recommended by her colleague, but ended up he was the most expensive. My wife met him just once at our unit, and after his over priced quotation, we never bothered to contact him again.
So the moral this post is to create a spreadsheet with all your requirements for work, compare the contractors side-by-side. Even if you do not choose them, you can see how many thousands you have saved by not picking them. Also it is important to note that you need to compare apples with apples, as renovation has alot of variables, so try to compare them on same terms, eg. if for tiles one guy gives you price with $3 per sq foot of tiles, and another guy charges for $3.50, you will need to bring the $3 guy up, by adding $0.50 x your estimated floor area.
Few other things I learnt includes that some contractors will want you to pay more for using tiles other than the "standard" 60cmx60cm tiles. Throw away these guys if you want to use wood inspired tiles like us. Although they claim that workmanship costs most and takes longer, there are competitors who can offer the same price, perhaps as their tilers are more skilled.
Another open lie by these guys is that HDB does not do screed for tiles. When you fill up the form, you can choose your floor finish and their are like 4-5 options including tiles, vinyl, marble, screed finish, etc. So you can submit an appeal for tile finish, but of course it is up to HDB to accept or reject your application. Especially if you want a full tile finish, some contractors / IDs may want to earn more from you and tell you that you need to do a cement screed together with the tile laying (not true), so just be wise when they tell you nonsense.
The first guy we met was at his house, which was in a neighbouring block, he is an ID and he had some good ideas, like a partitioned walk in wardrobe in the MBR, and he put a mirror to block his aircon ledge access window getting rid of that ugly window. He also merged his kitchen with his service yard, making the kitchen longer and more functional, which was an interesting idea. We also first heard of the word "Blum" and saw it in action, which we now know sets the industry benchmark for drawers and casement doors. In the end, as we did our spreadsheet and compared the competitors side by side, we struck off this guy as he was too expensive in the itemized breakdown and did not shine in terms of quality of his works, he was average.
The other man my wife met, was a project coordinator, so he was not really an ID or contractor, but some guy who just outsourced everything except his profit. He was recommended by her colleague, but ended up he was the most expensive. My wife met him just once at our unit, and after his over priced quotation, we never bothered to contact him again.
So the moral this post is to create a spreadsheet with all your requirements for work, compare the contractors side-by-side. Even if you do not choose them, you can see how many thousands you have saved by not picking them. Also it is important to note that you need to compare apples with apples, as renovation has alot of variables, so try to compare them on same terms, eg. if for tiles one guy gives you price with $3 per sq foot of tiles, and another guy charges for $3.50, you will need to bring the $3 guy up, by adding $0.50 x your estimated floor area.
Few other things I learnt includes that some contractors will want you to pay more for using tiles other than the "standard" 60cmx60cm tiles. Throw away these guys if you want to use wood inspired tiles like us. Although they claim that workmanship costs most and takes longer, there are competitors who can offer the same price, perhaps as their tilers are more skilled.
Another open lie by these guys is that HDB does not do screed for tiles. When you fill up the form, you can choose your floor finish and their are like 4-5 options including tiles, vinyl, marble, screed finish, etc. So you can submit an appeal for tile finish, but of course it is up to HDB to accept or reject your application. Especially if you want a full tile finish, some contractors / IDs may want to earn more from you and tell you that you need to do a cement screed together with the tile laying (not true), so just be wise when they tell you nonsense.
Thursday, July 27, 2017
So the appointments begins
We arranged to meet in total one contractor, one semi-ID (offered incomplete ID services, so a semi-ID) and 2 IDs. Also went to Darwin interior, but the guy handling us put us on a very low priority, so when he followed up with us one month, it was already passed the selection period, I guess they dont really care unless you are throwing money at them.
At the start of the jounrey, we were sincere in meeting our vendors, we were not there to waste their time or ours for that matter. We were thinking that in the end, we would hire one of these guys, a contractor more likely than an ID through as we heard that would be cheaper.
So when we met the first contractor, we ourselves were not fully sure what we wanted, we did go through all the basic things, like tiling, wardrobe, kitchen and few other stuff. He was ok, gave us tips on how we could save money, by not doing certain works and instead living with what HDB had given to us.
He also gave useful tips:
At the start of the jounrey, we were sincere in meeting our vendors, we were not there to waste their time or ours for that matter. We were thinking that in the end, we would hire one of these guys, a contractor more likely than an ID through as we heard that would be cheaper.
So when we met the first contractor, we ourselves were not fully sure what we wanted, we did go through all the basic things, like tiling, wardrobe, kitchen and few other stuff. He was ok, gave us tips on how we could save money, by not doing certain works and instead living with what HDB had given to us.
He also gave useful tips:
- Get HBD to do cement screed with tile finish if you want to lay tiles, by right they don't do this, but if you do fill up the HDB Screed Appeal Form and put tile finish, they should be able to. After all, its just a "rough" finish and they use less cement than a vinyl or screed finish, so it means more cash in their pocket
- Don't throw away any freebies. Our SOBF came with doors, and although they waste alot of space for toilets, he said to keep them and once spoil after a few years, then throw away and replace with what you want
- Keep things where they are meant to be, eg in kitchen, where fridge and water points are, just follow. The more choices you have, the more you have to spend as well
Tuesday, July 25, 2017
Post Key Collection
So we move forward, collected the key, went to see the bare unit (the original owners that dropped out opted for doors, so we had that), but no tiles, which was good, as HDB tiles are normally boring and generally designed to meet all needs.
So everyone came along, we are relatively modern, so our first visit did not involve any fruits, and we just went in to look see and congratulate ourselves. Baby was with us too, for her it must have been really boring with loads of grey and white to see and nothing else.
As with most other BTOs, the few areas completely done include the bomb shelter, kitchen, service yard and 2 toilets, which had sinks, shower heads, etc included.
So at this point we just had one contact for a contractor, whom we started our renovation purchasing actions with. This is basically to meet up with the contractor or interior designer and run through what you want and then try to get them to quote you so you can compare.
Before this we had decided to stick to a low budget (in relative terms) of $20k for our works. While the budget was low, we were not going to go for cheap cheap cheap also, instead we were going to concentrate our funds on the few basic works required and a few of our prefered finishings.
In short terms, our required job scope was (just giving you the final summary after changing here and there):
The other thing I did was to apply for a cement screed with my HDB branch office, as mentioned by the contractor. He did say that you need to tell them to do a rough finish and in the form I submitted, I indicated tile finish on common areas and vinyl finish in bedrooms, which we later changed to 100% tiling for durability and long-lasting life of the tiles.
So everyone came along, we are relatively modern, so our first visit did not involve any fruits, and we just went in to look see and congratulate ourselves. Baby was with us too, for her it must have been really boring with loads of grey and white to see and nothing else.
As with most other BTOs, the few areas completely done include the bomb shelter, kitchen, service yard and 2 toilets, which had sinks, shower heads, etc included.
So at this point we just had one contact for a contractor, whom we started our renovation purchasing actions with. This is basically to meet up with the contractor or interior designer and run through what you want and then try to get them to quote you so you can compare.
Before this we had decided to stick to a low budget (in relative terms) of $20k for our works. While the budget was low, we were not going to go for cheap cheap cheap also, instead we were going to concentrate our funds on the few basic works required and a few of our prefered finishings.
In short terms, our required job scope was (just giving you the final summary after changing here and there):
- Tiling all untiled areas including common area, living room and 3 bed rooms
- Carpentry work in Master Bed room for a 6 foot wardrobe
- Kitchen Top and Bottom cabinets with Quartz top
- Kitchen cabinets to have a 5cm base
- A tall unit in kitchen that is 2 feet in length
- Glass screen in Master Toilet to cover shower area
- Overlay of tiles in shower area (appx 15 feet actual area) and build a 5 cm kerb
- Basic Electrical Works including lights installation, ceiling fan, etc
- Basic plumbing work including kitchen tap and sink and water heater installation
- A 3+1 Air conditioning system for all 3 bedrooms running at 9000 BTU each unit
- A vanity cabinet in Master Toilet
- A mirror with behind storage in master toilet
- L-Box cove lights in Masterbed Room
- L-Box running on longer wall in living area for Cove light
- Extended utilities box into a shoe rack
The other thing I did was to apply for a cement screed with my HDB branch office, as mentioned by the contractor. He did say that you need to tell them to do a rough finish and in the form I submitted, I indicated tile finish on common areas and vinyl finish in bedrooms, which we later changed to 100% tiling for durability and long-lasting life of the tiles.
Sunday, July 23, 2017
The HDB selection game
So let me start of with a quick intro. I am starting this blog at the beginning of doing actual renovation work from my Housing Development Board (HDB) sale of balance flat (a variation of the BTO) for a 4-room flat in a city-fringe mature estate. So it was my wife and my aim to do ALL renovation works (excluding furniture) under $20k, and with our small budget, we are also not going to settle on some rubbish or minimal work. Definitely some areas we will completely not touch or do the bare minimum, namely 2 common rooms, service yard and bomb shelter, but for those that we are doing work, we are looking for something that looks nice.
So before going further, let me recap what has happened so far. We applied for a sale of balance flat in the 2016 exercise. It was a long drawn out exercise, which was more fun that a trip to the casino, and in which we needed the help of our MP. In the end we got an above average queue number, and as the days got closer to us picking, the number of choice units dwindled everyday. Our selection was a midday selection, so on the day itself, there was only one unit left that we were willing to buy, and a lot of other rubbish ones, that we were going to pass. We did wait anxiously for the first 2 applicants to pick that day and to our relieve, we got to pick our choice unit. We were lucky to have got it, and considering we were a few minutes late for the appointment, we were lucky they still let us pick.
So we secured our Sale of Balance Flat, and then there was a longer than average delay before we picked up our keys, which was ok, as it allowed us to pile up some cash to pay off the initial 20%. The other good thing is that we secured a good mortgage rate, before Trump took office and before the rise of the interest rate. My only advise on getting a loan is to go for the cheapest (it seems like common sense, but somehow the average consumer will end up paying the average rate (this is true in all economical transactions).
At the time of writing this, interest rate cheapest is around 1.3%, we got first year at 1% and after that at 1.3%. Thats $1700 saved in first year. Just a quick advise for the budget conscious buyer (I am assuming you are if you are keen to find out more on how to do the cheapest renovation possible), do NOT take the HDB loan, unless things have changed alot and bank rates are marginally cheaper, on par or more expensive. Their loan is 2.4%, my first year is 1%, assuming my averaged loan amount per month to be $425000, I am saving $5950 by not using HDB loan, thats a huge amount, enough for a reasonable holiday in New Zealand. And if you count how many years of savings, the savings really pile up to a huge amount, literally ten of thousands, in interest alone. Having said that do note you will have to pay additional legal fees for a lawyer (I paid $1800 for your reference when being quoted, and some other costs, which is still off-set by your long-term savings. Another tip is to use these aggregate mortgage websites to compare loan rates, but do actual leg work yourself, as we did so. If the banks are paying off these middlemen, than it is fine to use their services.
So before going further, let me recap what has happened so far. We applied for a sale of balance flat in the 2016 exercise. It was a long drawn out exercise, which was more fun that a trip to the casino, and in which we needed the help of our MP. In the end we got an above average queue number, and as the days got closer to us picking, the number of choice units dwindled everyday. Our selection was a midday selection, so on the day itself, there was only one unit left that we were willing to buy, and a lot of other rubbish ones, that we were going to pass. We did wait anxiously for the first 2 applicants to pick that day and to our relieve, we got to pick our choice unit. We were lucky to have got it, and considering we were a few minutes late for the appointment, we were lucky they still let us pick.
So we secured our Sale of Balance Flat, and then there was a longer than average delay before we picked up our keys, which was ok, as it allowed us to pile up some cash to pay off the initial 20%. The other good thing is that we secured a good mortgage rate, before Trump took office and before the rise of the interest rate. My only advise on getting a loan is to go for the cheapest (it seems like common sense, but somehow the average consumer will end up paying the average rate (this is true in all economical transactions).
At the time of writing this, interest rate cheapest is around 1.3%, we got first year at 1% and after that at 1.3%. Thats $1700 saved in first year. Just a quick advise for the budget conscious buyer (I am assuming you are if you are keen to find out more on how to do the cheapest renovation possible), do NOT take the HDB loan, unless things have changed alot and bank rates are marginally cheaper, on par or more expensive. Their loan is 2.4%, my first year is 1%, assuming my averaged loan amount per month to be $425000, I am saving $5950 by not using HDB loan, thats a huge amount, enough for a reasonable holiday in New Zealand. And if you count how many years of savings, the savings really pile up to a huge amount, literally ten of thousands, in interest alone. Having said that do note you will have to pay additional legal fees for a lawyer (I paid $1800 for your reference when being quoted, and some other costs, which is still off-set by your long-term savings. Another tip is to use these aggregate mortgage websites to compare loan rates, but do actual leg work yourself, as we did so. If the banks are paying off these middlemen, than it is fine to use their services.
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