HO BEE RENOVATION WORKS

[my_rock_baby]

gee actually hor, I haven seen any of Patrick's designer. I think I should "see" them when I am going to start the kitchen cabinet. Patrick will "automatic" come and look for me haaaa.

Actually for me, starting I also don't know what kind of theme I want for my house. It is only until one day I went to this OM Funiture sale and I bought a dining set and a L-shape sofa (haaa my DREAM sofa), then I know that I wanted a modern comtempory look for my house. I don't like zen (because too woody + color too dark), or country (aiyo too difficult to maintain, imagine all the dust stuck there for me to wipe)... I want my house to look cosy enough for me to relax, and not messy. I also don't want an ID to plan or design for me, like no shoick leh.

I get most of my ideas from magazines (Home & Decor) and also surfing a lot of ID's websites, looking through their portfolio and gallery. Then those that I like, I will save the picture on my pc. So next time I go buy furniture, I will "target" those "design" that I like heee. I alsoshow Patrick some of the pictures so that he knows what type of concept that I like.

And of course I tell him first hand that "I have tight budget..." so he knows what to do lah, won't recommend me marble or granite flooring, but instead recommend nice homogenous tiles that after tiling look like "marble" wowhahaa

 

[rachelcheng]

My rock baby,

Thks for sharing! Mine is a resale flat. Yup doing lbox and false ceiling. Aircon etc bot long ago.. not sure price lower now. hot season now so dount price is lower anyway..

 

[my_rock_baby]

aiya today I just went to the Gain City sale, actually just want to find out more about their air-con pricing... but then I think not cheap leh. The sales told me they only do 1 time installation (while others do 2 times) and they charge for extra piping... Guess I will just continue to use CoolServ* to install.
A lot of TV for sale in Gain City now. I saw a JVC 20 inch selling for $188. Washing machine and fridge also sale.
Their anniversary sale will ends on this coming Monday and they will open till 11pm. But my mum said "Gain City everytime got sale lah, no need to cheong now.. haa"

Actually initially I also wanna install falce/ceiling and L-box, but then after calculating found out it will eats into my tight budget so got to say bye bye to it... so sad

But then, I buy nicer lights for me dining and living area, so hopefully it will compensate the look haaa.

 

[rachelcheng]

Hope beary bugs still reading.. May I know where you buy the vase for your bamboo poles? Or does any know where can we buy such vases rectangular in shape? Thks!!!

 

[rachelcheng]

Yipee! signed up with Patrick today!Start reno next wed. Very excited..Always tot Patrick dun joke and very serious. But today he joke with us a little.

 

[bearyhugs]

Hi Rachel Cheng,
Of course, I have been following the thread all this while. Me still supporting Patrick mah. : >
I bought my vase from Seiyu surprisingly. There's this cartwheel stall at Bugis last time who sells it and another one outside Meridien hotel/foodcourt. Can try these two places.

 

[rachelcheng]

Thanks alot Beary! I kept telling patrick that I love your bamboos concept.

 

[bearyhugs]

Hi Rachel,
Thanks! Took us some time to search for the bamboo too. All thanks to Malcom and Ah Keong who took pains to help us arrrange/install the bamboo and not forgetting Patrick who drove his huge lorry to transport for us. : >

 

[my_rock_baby]

I guess your flat is one of the most "unforgettable" one for Patrick

 

[bearyhugs]

Yeah, you all bet. Ours was also the longest that he had ever renovated. Took us 4 whole months with minor delays here and there. My HB also a perfectionist, can't accept little flaws at all, hence explaining the delay.

 

[my_rock_baby]

I guess everyone is more a less a perfectionist when it comes to renovating house, because we pour in so much money of course must make sure everything "sui sui" right?

... nowadays I sleep I also can dream of my house, how it will look like...haaa ... mum said I too stress liao. Recently stress with choose the paint color ... haiz... so many days liao I still cannot make up my mind!

 

[rachelcheng]

beary, if you dun mind can give me the address and name of the shop selling the bamboos? I went barang barang etc really hard to find...I stayed in CCK so easy for me to go and look look..Is it expensive? How much each cost? thks!

 

[bearyhugs]

Hi Rachel,
We got our bamboo from this place at CCK. Think it's landscape art centre or something (can't rem the exact name) but it's at fernmart CCK. They sell lots of pets and there's a small animal farm there too. U can ask either Malcom or Patrick. They know best.

 

[rachelcheng]

You mean you din keep the receipt? Cos it shd have the name and add in the receipt. Is it Farmmart?

 

[marathon]

Hi bearyhugs,
Heard so much about your bamboo home. Wonder if it is possible to share some beautiful pictures of your home with me if there are any? I'm currently in the process of renovating my home too, so sourcing for ideas.
Thanks lots! My email:
[email protected]

 

[bearyhugs]

Hi Rachel,
I kept the receipt at our new place n we've not stayed in yet cos our customary is in end May.
Yeah, it is Farnmart.

Marathon, welcome. Will send u the link.

 

[cecill]

Hi Gals,
Haven't been in and saw a new thread of messages.
Tks rockbaby for sharing with us your reno picts.

I am getting more and more excited as my hse is close to completion! Patrick says this Saturday should be able to handover. We were too busy to view the completed unit.

Slight delays due to the laminated flooring and pebblewash. Me and hubby are quite particular cos the bdrm floorings not level with the living hall so requested Patrick to do screeding to level first.

Our whole reno period is exactly 2 mths : )

 

[rachelcheng]

Hi beary, mind telling me do you know what time does the shop close? If you doesnt know it is ok. I am planning to go nite time cos busy in day time..

 

[bearyhugs]

Hi Rachel,
Think that place opens from 10am to 6pm. Look for this person called Ya Ling. She was the one who had been serving us. So she would know the type of bamboo.

 

[rachelcheng]

Beary!!! We bot the bamboos today at 815pm! They have already close shop but there are still staffs around. They opened the door for us and sold us the bamboos. We bot the one at $25 each and cut into half. One piece is 4m rite? Are you doing the same? You bot the same bamboos as ours or you bot the $28 one?

 

[bearyhugs]

Hi rachel,
Oh good for u that they are still open at that time. Couldn't rem the price that we bought. Think it was the $25 one too, yeah and would be cut into half. Rem to get them to lacquer for u before they send it. So u getting them to deliver or u transporting yourself? Rem to show me the design of yor hse once ready! Oh no.. another bamboo hse for patrick, haha...

 

[shuhann]

hi all,

can i check with you girls; izzit true that the uncle with loud voice do a better wetwork than others of Patrick's staff? Patrick will be doing my place so thot of checking if it true or any of his other staff can do a good job too on tiling?

thanks..

 

[cecill]

Hi shuhann

I can't comment on the uncle but mine is well done by another group of workers - homogenous tiles.

What tiles have you selected?

 

[shuhann]

Hi Cecill,

thanks..then i shall not ask for the uncle..will make do with whoever workers..

I selected homogenous too..white for the rest of the house and black for foyer and study room..intend to have a modern study room..wanted to have a black classic kitchen too but it means have to overlay with black tiles, cost more money..got to check with patrick how much to overlay the whole kitchen..

btw,mine is a standard flat..before they lay tiles, do they have to do screeding first? if yes, is patrick charging for tat? coz i heard hdb can do screeding for free..

may i know did you hack any walls? i intend to hack my master room to widen the room by taking bit of the second room space, so will still seal off the master room..the thing is, we might need to hire a QP for inspection which will costs $500..do you have any idea of tat?

sorry for asking so many qns..

thanks

 

[cecill]

looks like you'll have a classy hse in white and black colour combination?

is yours a new flat? if yes, HDB will do the screeding for you.

I didn't hack any walls but you might want to do a search in the forum to see if anyone has done this before. Some did hacking to the 2nd bedrm to do a walk-in-wardrobe and link to the master.

 

[shuhann]

not really the whole house classy, only the study room and kitchen..the rest of the house is kinda zen and contemporary..a mixture..hmmh..wonder if it will looks weird..hehe

yeap, mine a new standard flat..

i've done a research in the forum but couldn't find much..patrick was saying got to check with HDB on the kind of wall in our flat..

how's the workmanship for the carpentry work he's done for your house?

 

[aeina]

wow... HO Bee really got a lot of supporters oh. I was one of the pioneer who asked ho bee to renovate our house. in fact, think we were the first couples who signed up with him. No regret till today.

 

[my_rock_baby]

My cement screening done by Patrick's workers (FOC), though it is a new house but because i only renovate it almost 3 years after I got the keys

My tilings done by the loud voice uncle and another "ah bui" (don't know his name though last Saturday saw him alone there) heee... so far so good all looks straight and nice

Will be meeting Patrick this Sunday to discuss on the kitchen cabinet design

 

[rachelcheng]

Gals, My reno will start next wed. Will update you the progress. Also Beary, must lacquer one ah? Can ask them transport meh? I directly cash and carry leh... My hubby squeeze them all into the car.

 

[my_rock_baby]

eh Rachel, saw in one of your posting that u have bought your franke sink from Ray (Asia Excel). What else did u buy from him? I bought a rinnai hob, fujioh hood, toilet bowl, wash basin, s/s pedal dustbin and some taps from him, and he give me good discount

However, when my colleague when to ask the price for the new fugioh hood, he said the price from Ray not attractive enough because he can find another one cheaper from one of those HDB shop.

 

[my_rock_baby]

Hi Bearyhugs, may I know where u get your TV console, how many ft is that and how much u pay for it?

 

[rachelcheng]

rock baby,

I only bought that from him. nothing else cos dun need anything yet.. I think if you let Ray know that you did your homework, he should give a very good price.

 

[paulinelau]

Hi,

Can I check with you all whether Patrick did the whole house design? Cos I actually met up with him in my flat on Friday nite. But he only mentioned he'll ask his designer to draw the design for my kitchen and WIW. The rest won't be drawn out. Y? I thought I'll get a chance to have a look at the whole house design before the renovation starts.

Do any of you know who is the other designer of Ho Bee? I asked Patrick whether Malcom will be designing my flat. Patrick it depends on what kind of design I want and he has 2 designers.

 

[my_rock_baby]

Hi folks,
Today met with Ah Keong (the carpenter) and Patrick to discuss on all the carpentry work for my house. Talk for 3 hours!!! wow lau headache

... finally have all the drawings done (Ah Keong draw it on the spot for me, based on my requirements). Will be getting them to do the kitchen cabinet, conceal shelvings for 3 bedrooms, a L-shape study table and a partition shelve in front of my main door. The only thing left to decide is the color for ALL the laminated/veneer wood color ... haiz I already having headache choosing the color of my wall painting, now more colors to decide

...headache....

All my floor tilings done. Here are some pictures :

living room tilings (homogenous tiles)

main door & gate (gate is amended, to cater for main door kerb)

unfinished concrete sink top

kitchen tiles (still in an "unclean" state)

bathroom shower kerb

 

[my_rock_baby]

Hi Pey Lin,
hmmm I thought Patrick is a contractor, not so much of an ID (unless I understand wrongly). Maybe can check with Bearyhugs whether Patrick do any drawings (other than the carpentry work) for his house, because his house looks very furnish

For me, I design my own house (after consulting the feng shui master) and tell Patrick exactly what to do. The drawings that I seen today are all for my carpentry work. Actually today quite funny, I gave Ah Keong a kitchen cabinet drawing (I use 2 nights to draw myself haaa) and he looks surprise heee.

Hi Bearyhugs and Rachel,
Today while chatting with Ah Keong and Patrick, just briefly mention that another couple when to buy the same bamboo as Bearyhugs ... haaa can see that Ah Keong's start sweating liao ...I think he got phobia with bamboo after helping Bearyhugs install so many bamboo in her house haaa.

 

[rachelcheng]

Aiyo dun need to worry. We only have 6 bamboos in total to install. haha!!

 

[bearyhugs]

Hi rockbaby,
Ah keong did tell us that our hse would be the first and the last hse he would do bamboo but now it seems that it's not the case anymore. Haha...But not bad mah.. give him business..

I've also consulted fengshui before getting Patrick to design our hse. Basically, our hse design were drawn by Malcom. He drew our carpentry works too. All the rest were furnished by us and design came up by us too.

 

[bearyhugs]

Hi rockbaby,
So u met up with Ah keong and Patrick yesterday? Hmmm.... strange cos Ah keong supposed to come to our place yesterday to do some last min touch-ups for us and get the balance payment too. But it was raining heavily it seems n he called my HB to cancel.

 

[my_rock_baby]

Hi Bearyhugs,
Where did you get your TV console? How much u pay for it?because it is exactly what I want to get. I saw it in one of pic in a website and saw one exactly the same, except that one is white in color.

 

[my_rock_baby]

ya it was raining pretty heavily in Punggol on Sunday, somemore I think Ah Keong travel in his motorbike

 

[paulinelau]

Hi my_rock_baby,

Thanks for the feedback. Actually I came out with most of the design. However, I've seen some of you writing Malcom draws the design, so I thought even after I've given them my ideas, they will at least draw out to scale to see whether feasible or not. And I'm also having problems with my living room design. Hence I would like the designer to help me think of ideas for my living room.

 

[cecill]

hi shuhann

hope you are still reading this thread. i am pleased with the carpentry works by Patrick's carpenter, Ah Keong. I wasn't certain abt doing shelvings at my bedrms and he was able to assure and convince me that the shelvings are durable and strong... the wood they are using are solid plywood for all carpentry works. You can request to visit completed projects to check it out.

Hi Pey Lin

Have you confirm with Patrick to renovate your hse? I have met with Malcom who drew the initial layout of the whole unit before I commit. After confirming, you can request for him to draw out to scale the designs. I guess this is the practice... if I am not wrong.

 

[shuhann]

Hi Cecill,

i've been to one of the showflat in Bishan. Although I've confirmed with Patrick to renovate my place, till today i've only seen the perspective drawing for part of the house. Does he provide coloured perspective drawing? He seems so busy coz when i emailed or smsed him, he never replied till i email or sms the second time again. Don't know what is the proper procedure. He just told us to confirm the date with him for selecting tiles. Is that the normal procedure?

 

[my_rock_baby]

Hi Cecill, you also do the shelving? Is it those conceal type (meaning only see the wood planks, without any brackets)? I did that for both my MBR and one of the bedroom, after seeing it in the magazine and love it a lot ... but only concern is dust haaa because it is "open" type

 

[cecill]

O.. the drawings we received are not coloured.
more or less yes, after selecting tiles and he gave us a final quotation then we signed. we also showed him from ID magazines the kind of tiles and design we want.

i think most of us come up with our own designs and he will advise us.

 

[cecill]

rockbaby, yes cos there's a hollow block at the 2 bedrooms so we did shelvings instead of cabinets. ya... i guess we must constantly clean the shelves if we want dust free.

 

[paulinelau]

Hi Cecill,

I didn get to see the inital drawing. Patrick just mentioned he'll ask his designer to draw out the WIW and kitchen for me. It's only that I request him to help me think of ideas for my living then he mentioned he'll ask his designer to draw out the plan view for me. Then I asked him whether I need to meet up his designer, he answered we dun need to meet his designer. He'll do the coordination.

That's y I'm a bit blur blur now.

 

[shuhann]

Hi all,

can i check with you girls about the defect which we noticed after we took possession of the flat, we informed HDB, how long will they take to fix the defect?

thanks..

 

[cecill]

Perhaps the rest can share their experience regarding the initial processes, requesting for design and drawings etc before Patrick start tiling work (to help Pey Lin abit).

For what I know is he'll get his designer to draw for those who request.

sorry shuhann, not sure on this cos mine is resale flat.

 

[rachelcheng]

I have started work today. I din request for drawings so nothing loh.. Can visualise one lah. With or without Drawing does not really make a diff. So I see no point in giving him extra work loh..