HO BEE RENOVATION WORKS

[aeina]

Hi Bearyhug,
Congratulation. So happy for u oh. U invited Patrick and company to your wedding?? Wow.. that's very sweet of u. I wonder if he can still remember us. hee hee...

I m also surprise that loud voice uncle was suspended. He is quite nice to us.

My rock baby,
Yr house colour is very similar to mine oh. Yr blue bedroom colour combination is same as mine. The chocolate and champagne colour also similar to mine. hee hee..

 

[my_rock_baby]

Hi hearyhugs,
congrats...

so when are u going for your honeymoon?

Hi aeina,
eh thought u long time missing from this thread liao

...
I thought only my living room color looks like yours (after seeing one of your dining room pic love it so much), didn't know the bedroom also the same huh? Actually I have limited colors to choose from, because the Feng Shui master say 2 rooms use blue, 1 room use green and living/dining room use brown/beidge colors.
So I choose the following colors :
Blue room : Tracy, Boat Race
Green room: er my mother don't like green, she wanted something "lo-man-tic" leh, so I choose Soft Lilac for her.
Brown/beige living/dining room : Havana, Natural Wicker
Doors : Honeycomb

The MBR is for my 4 yrs old son (too bad this room is more suitable for him), so putting more effort in making this room nicer for him to stay in.

Luckily the colors turned out nice nice. But I have yet to see the colors effect at night with all the lights on, so hopefully it will be NICERRRR

 

[shuhann]

hi rockbaby,
thanks for the info..i've bought my sofa from OM, but just a 3 seater sofa plus extra cover..luckily no delivery charge..but yesterday i went to barang-barng and me and hubby saw a sofa that we like it very much, so thinking of getting that one too but not sure where to put..at first we are complaining our house too empty, now if we bought another sofa, our house will be too cramp..haha

btw, you are right, the OM in IMM do not sell furnitures..

we bought our bathroom & kitchen accessories and eleectrical appliances from Ray too.. went down last weekend to confirm our order and made payment..

our quotation for our house reno keep increasing because we are so fickle that we keep changing our mind every other day, i think patrick also headache with us already..now we can't even decide which thing to take out from the sales order coz we are over our budget..officially patrick is starting our reno today..

i like the havana colour you've chosen

btw, may i know what kind of top you've chosen for your kitchen top?

 

[shuhann]

hi bearyhugs,
thanks for the photos

congrats to you

we met patrick last friday and he told us he is heading for a customer's wedding..guess that wedding was yours

he told us your wedding was at merchant court? may i know how everything turns out? service? food? coz i am having mine at merchant court too this december..need some feedback

thanks..

 

[ssb]

hi shunhann!

i'd my wedding at merchant court too!

service is ok, banquet manager is professional & teach u wat to do step by step on tat day. food is however so so only, the ballroom is elegant & big!! btw, hw much u paying per table?

 

[my_rock_baby]

taking about Merchant court, do they still have a dish call "coffee beef"? I tried that dish at one of my colleague's wedding few years back and that is the only dish that no one really eat haaa. I guess beef and coffee just don't mixed huh

Hi shuhann, my budget also exceed by 3K. hai bno choice lah, got to save like mad these few months.
My kitchen top is postform. because thinking that I already had the concrete sink top for the wet area, and according to Patrick the postform is high heat resistant and scratch reisitant, so I take it loh (if not have to pay extra for solid top)... eh maybe your barang-barang sofa u can put in your bedroom haaa

 

[shuhann]

sunsetbay,
i am paying 698nett per table i think..around that price..but my coordinator just left..so now i don't know who took over, abit worried coz heard so much bad service on most of the coordinators..who was your coordinator? when was your wedding? hopefully everything is still the same, good..hmm..food only so so? standard must have drop over the years then..

hmm..i saw something with coffee in one of the dish in the menu given to me..i think it is prok rib coffee, something like that..i find it weird too, not going to have that in my menu..

my budget going to exceed about 5k

that's why trying to remove some stuff from the quotation but instead of removing, we are adding more to it ah..i am having granite top but my hubby wanted white color, and granite doesn't have white so maybe changing to solid top..hmm..patrick asks us not to take postform, he said solid surface better..also don't know which is which..yeah, i can only think of putting my OM sofa in the bedroom and the barang barang in the living room coz that one is too big..anyway, most probably not buying, am so tight, just like you saving mad all these months..

rockbaby, when is patrick handing over your house? how long it took? id you gave him a date or he do it on his normal pace?

 

[my_rock_baby]

i only told Patrick that my furniture coming in early July (tentative date set at 02/07/2005). And since I start work at mid April, I should be on schedule

... somemore still got time to clean the house first. Anyway, I didn't do much also, my renov I think only $18000 nia, not much carpentry except for kitchen cabinet, shelvings for rooms, L-shape study table and partition shelving for main door.... should be chicken feet to him (haaa but the cost is BIG BOMB to me) really beriiii poor woman now

.. I always "sai nai" to Patrick that I beri poor

eh the fact that after so many years, the coffee dish is still in the menu, maybe it really taste better now

 

[ssb]

msg cancelled.

 

[ssb]

i think mine was $635 nett. we signed up merchant early 2004 or late 2003, cant rembr. our wedding was on 21 oct. we hv 45 tables & they gave us chair cover in the package. our coordinator is jean kor. she always put on smile on her service but pity her cos her working hrs suppose to 9to5 but everytime we met her was late in the evening.

 

[my_rock_baby]

huh the joint on postform really UGLY huh?? how ugly? hmmm I think too late liao... Ah Keong already start work for more than 1 week

hmm Patrick solidtop is $600 for 8 ft leh ... not cheap hor.

Hi shuhann,
can I check with u how much u buy in OM furniture? How come no delivery charge? hmmm they ask me to pay for a $80 delivery charge leh, my total cost is > $1500 leh! I hope the $80 delivery charge is not for the warehouse charge for my dining table display set

 

[my_rock_baby]

eh sunsetbay, this cake is real one or dummy one? very nice hor

 

[ssb]

postform also can made until the joint invisible but solid top give u the solid "stone" feel while postform is more of wood feeling. dun worry, i believe their carpenter will do a gd job.

i cant rembr my solid top cost but the whole kitchen cabinate we spent was like $4.8k!

btw, my kitchen pic can be found here:
http://www.singaporebrides.com/cgi-bin/forumboard/discus.cgi?pg=prev&topic=409&page=166544

 

[ssb]

the cake is dummy one. even if it's real also no chance to eat. haha...

 

[my_rock_baby]

last time I marry that time, the cake as usual also nice and dummy kind. but don't know why they so stupid huh, don't have a part where your knife can "slit" through so that it looks as if u are really cutting the cake. Then when we suppose to "cut" the cake for phototaking, we couldn't do so, and the photographer don't know we can't cut throguh and keep on asking us to "cut it cut it" wowhaaa look so stu-pid!!

 

[my_rock_baby]

wow whole kitchen cabinet need $4.8k ... faint~~~

but not bad lah, your kitchen cabinet looks neat with the color combination. Your kitchen looks pretty long, because a lot of cabinet for storage

 

[rachelcheng]

Actually $75 per ft for solid top is considered very very cheap le. Other ids charging as high as $100 per ft. Cheapest heard so far is $80 per ft from another id whose quote is super competitive too. Think Patrick's solid top is very reasonably cheap loh, maybe still can change to solid top if not too late. It looks nicer also.

 

[mummy69]

Hi, can I have the contact of your contractor?? Thanks.

 

[shuhann]

sunsetbay,
jean already left, many of them left..turnover very high..hope will get a good one. how does your kitchen solid top now after using it? i heard it can't take hot things..izzit true? if it is alright, maybe i will change to that, thinking what to cut down to reduce our renovation cost..haiz

rockbaby,
i paid in total $1318 (sofa plus one extra cover)..i think the person who served us waived it off for us, not sure why but maybe coz my hubby's friend recommended us to her..she gave us discount too..

 

[shuhann]

btw, what is the brand of aircon you gals using? i am contemplating on mitsubishi and panasonic..any comments?

 

[shuhann]

rockbaby,
is your concrete sink done? if yes, could you post the pic of it? coz i am wondering how it looks like, me getting patrick to do that for me too..did patrick lay the side of it with the same tiles as the kitchen's tiles? how about the front? what does he use to cover it up?

 

[ssb]

hi shuhann,

i think jean work there as least for a yr. i felt their working hrs is too long & there no OT for them. my solid top quite ok. i didn't put any hot object directly on top but i think it shld able to take certain amount of heat. in anycase, if u deciding to use solid top, perhaps avoid black color. pls read this thread as well:

http://renotalk.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=772

 

[my_rock_baby]

Hi shuhann, this is the picture of my concrete sink top. For the door, you can either use laminate swing door (which is same as your kitchen cabinet) or aluminium sliding door (which is the metal color) or acrylic sliding door (I choose this, Patrick has sample colors for me to choose... in the end I get Ah keong to choose one color, base on his "professional taste"

). Yes, all the side will be laid with tiles. I choose a set of tiles that is both matt and glossy. The glossy one which is more expensive is use to tile the exterior. The matt one which is cheaper is use to tile the interior.

 

[my_rock_baby]

Patrick said my kitchen cabinet ready, they will be installing tomorrow ... heee can't wait to see

I am using Toshiba aircon.

 

[my_rock_baby]

sunsetbay, check with you something.
After the reno is completed, will Patrick give u a final piece of the quotation, to show u exactly what have been done? Because we normally add this and that during the reno and sure it will exceed the initial quotation we sign ..

 

[rachelcheng]

How much is the concrete top? Mine is not concrete top, if not too ex maybe can consider..

 

[pink_ice]

Hi,

Can i know where is Ho Bee Renovations? Any website? Thks....

 

[my_rock_baby]

Patrick quote me $700, "construct sink support c/w polish homogeneous tiles". I measure my sink top, it is more than 1m in length (er my sink is big, already 64 cm in length)
I think this is good lah, at least it put my mind at ease that my cabinet wood will not rot. Next time I don't have to always wipe my sink area dry dry every time I use the sink (heee lazy hor)

 

[my_rock_baby]

I know of some people who do concrete for both sink and stove area. Also good lah, easy to clean up the oil/mess.

 

[my_rock_baby]

Hi pink,
no website, no showroom yet... but heard some people say in the progress.

Here's his contact if u want him to supply u with a quotation :

[email protected]
HP: 96792934

U can mail him a list of items that u want to do and ask for his quotation.

 

[my_rock_baby]

Hi Rachel,
eh Saturday when u come over, I think u can see my kitchen cabinet also ...

.. Patrick say he is installing tomorrow ... very excited now

 

[shuhann]

thanks sunsetbay..actually i am taking granite (black) but granite does not have white and few days ago we decided to have a white top because we have a counter top (hack part of the kitchen wall)and we think that black will not look so nice for a counter top coz our house would be in pastel colour..so now still deciding whether to use granite or solid top..did you do concrete sink too?

rockbaby,
does that mean the colour of the top of the sink would be different from the rest of the kitchen top (whether we use granite or solid top)? if yes, would it look weird? i really can't visualize..could you post some picture of your kicthen after its completed? thanks a lot..

rachel going over to your place for viewing? may i drop by too if i have the time?

 

[ssb]

hi rockbaby,

patrick did not incur the additional works & cost to us at the end of the project. if u had requested for a major change, i believe patrick will inform u abt the cost before he proceed the changes. if he did not mention, mostly likely it's FOC. hahaa...

i did make few changes in mid of reno, of cse no additional charges. hee...

shuhann,
we did not use concrete sink, it's purely carpertry with solid top. i feel if the structure of the cabinate don't come to contact wif water, it shld last for 10yrs or more. hee..

btw, granite top requires few big pcs tiles to join together right?? will they be any joints?? hee...

 

[shuhann]

sunsetbay,
yeap, there will be a joint, mostly at the angle of the L shap of the top..but if you use black granite, the joint is not so clearly seen, if lighter colour yes..sa a showflat in bishan using granite, the joint is not so obvious coz the owner use black granite..

solip top doesn't have any joints right?

one thing about patrick is whenever we change our design and ask him about price, he will say, oh, price is the same or plus minus abit only..he doesn't seem to like to do quotation..hehe..

 

[my_rock_baby]

yaya ... he "every item" also same price haaa ... I find it very funny also. So far the only extra pieces of item I want is the L-shape study table, that he said will cost $800 (haaa this one cannot FOC liao). The rest, he reply "price unchange" haaa. But I think the kitchen cabinet he may need to recalculate based on actual feet done later.

Hi shuhann,
I will be there this Saturday from 9.30am to 2.00pm. So u can drop in anytime u want. Maybe u can email me at [email protected] and I will pass u my hp number. Then u can sms me before u come (in case I go out lunch or sian sian walk around my estate hee)

For the color of my kitchen cabinet worktop, I choose one that is 95% similar to the concrete sink top (haaa so happen that there is one very similar). My cabinet will be dark brown for the bottom row and beige for top row. I think no matter how u do, one look u will sure see the sink top is different.

 

[shuhann]

patrick quote my 11.5f L shape study table $1000..is yours the same length too? the total for the table and bookshelves cost about 2.6K ah..haiz so ex but no choice coz hubby got plenty of books and stuff, more than me..

hmm..guess we must choose a right colour for the concrete sink coz both of us so fickle minded..but how come patrick didn't ask us to chose the tiles for the concrete part when he brought us to choose tiles? must him already..

will email you rockbaby

 

[rachelcheng]

Rockbaby,
I will be there btw the hours and will confirm exact time on the day itself. Then after that I will go over to my new place. If Shuhann you interested you can come view my place after that if you happen to make it around same time to rockbaby's house. But mine is still the begining phrase tho tiling almost done and electrical rewiring should be done by then..So nothing much interesting to see compared to rockbaby's place lah.. Hehe.

 

[rachelcheng]

sunsetbay,
Just wondering how much and how likely will our kitchen sink cabinet be in contact with water to cause the damage? If very seldom then i will not want to incur tis add cost..

 

[shuhann]

rachel,
your tiling done by patrick too right? how's the tiling so far? did you check a few of them? don't mind popping by to look at the tiling works..

will let you girls know if i can make it..forgotten that i've to go to the aquarama show with hubby at 10am..

yeah, you have a point rachel coz the concrete sink quite expensive..me thot of not doing that but i think i am going to stay long in that house, so got to think of the future..

me incurred so much addtional cost with the reno, hope i won't get heart attack when i see the final bill from patrick

 

[ssb]

hi shunhann,

hv u consider whtr the joints of the light color granite top will easily dirty? maybe u may wanna ask patrick for opinion.

solid top has no jointing, shld i say they able to polish it until it's looks like one whole piece, irregardless of shape.

hi rachel,
my sink is resting below the solid top rather than sink sitting on top of the solid top. in a way, if there's water on the solid top, i can juz sweep the water to the sink easily.

so i think the chances of water leaking to below cabinate is v v small.

 

[casy]

Hi all,

I new to this thread and had finally finished reading most of the posting here. Phew!
I have confirm to have Patrick to do the reno for my new flat. Just a few question to ask you all.

1) Did all of you did window grills for your new place? Does Patrick do that too? Roughly how is the rate like?

2) Does Patrick accompany you to buy curtains, lightings like what a ID does?

3)I be having a full height kitchen cabinet. Any suggestions how my shelving to be like? Is it suitable to use those song cho racks that was discussed earlier?

Thanks a lot for your advices!

 

[my_rock_baby]

Hi Casy,

1) Yes, I did aluminium window grill. Was charged $950 for my 5-room flat. My window grills are for my living room (living room 6 panels of windows), 3 bedroom (comes with 4 panels, 3 panels and 2 panels respectively)panels) and kitchen (2 panels).

2) I buy my own lights. I heard from shop owners that if ID accompany u to buy lights, the ID will probably bring u to some "recommended" shop by him. And these shops will split some profit with the ID. So ended u actually pay more for lights. I prefer to buy my lights myself (I got all my lights within a day), no problem at all. I can shop at my own pace. For curtains, I will also be getting myself.

3) Patrick has his own team of carpenter. The carpenter will ask u what kind of design u like (best is you look through magazine or surf other ID's websites for ideas first). If u no idea what u want, also no problem. The carpenter will draw out the design on paper and u can discuss with him the design until u are satisfied. Initially I wanted to use song Cho, but later decided to use the one provided by Patrick since Ah Keong (the carpenter) say that one also good. Will use the money saved to get Song Cho's cultery and knife rack instead.

 

[casy]

Hi my_rock_baby,

Thanks for your input. Wasn't intend to put up grills in the first place as my living hall have full length window panels. But for long term wise when kids come along, think it better to put. Is aluminium or iron cast grill better? Price different a lot leh

Forget to ask you all another question. Do you change the HDB door provided in your unit? Heard that it is not durable in the long run. True?

 

[shuhann]

sunsetbay,
if i am using granite, i will use black, so the joint not clearly seen..don't like the light colours ones coz they remind me of the mrt station flooring..but now i am contemplating of choosing white for my top, so if i am using white, i will go for solid surface instead coz it is one piece, no joints so it will look alright..sunsetbay, how much is your total renovation?

did any of you change your bedrooms' doors? any dooor for your kitchen too? if no door, will the smell linger into the living/dining room?

 

[my_rock_baby]

Hi casy,
my window also full length type, so I only do the upper part. The effect is still ok, not that bad

I use aluminium because so far my existing house aluminium grill is ok, no problem. Also, me thinking of removing the grills when my son is older. I choose one with simple horizontal design, so the house will not look too cramp with the grill on.

 

[my_rock_baby]

hi shuhann,
I did not change bedroom door, only change the lockset. I use glass swing door for my kitchen.

 

[ssb]

Hi shuhann,
my total reno cost abt $32k!

mine is a resale unit, basically we hacked off everything, incl changing of bedroom & toilet doors + an sumsamg system 3 aircon included. we have a walk-in walkrobe as well. homogenous tiles on living/ dinner area. laminating flooring on 3 bedrooms, creating a passway on two bedrooms. we dun hv a door on the kitchen, we seldom cook. we thought of putting a rollerblind in the future, at the moment whenever we do heavy cooking, we will turn on the fan.

 

[hello88]

Hi sunsetbay,

Yours a 5-room resale? your 32k inclusive of new window grilles and windows? Btw, am to share your house pics especially your WIW?

 

[ssb]

hi celia,

yes, mine is 5i resale. doesn't incl wdw grilles as the previous owner wdw grilles are stil gd in condition. my reno work also incl rewiring ($1k+), re-piping (cant rembr hw much), system 3 aircon ($1.6k), feature wall, L-box, hacking few walls & re-construct a store rm wall etc.

btw, cant quite understand ur last sentence.

 

[hello88]

Hi sunsetbay,

I believed your reno already completed right? Can I take a look at yr house pic...especially your walk-in-wardrobe as I think u did one right?