wah, one day din check the board n there r so many messages!
hi aprilgal,
glad to hear that there r some similar tiles. do take a look at the replacement tiles b4 tiling starts. at the end of the day, u hv to be able to live with the tiles, so it's never good to assume the contractor's word is law.
if the replacement tiles r still dissatisfactory, u can consider going for vastly different tiles with strong patterns n turn that patch of wall into a pattern. when side by side tiles r of different patterns n different colour, it doesn't matter as much if the tiles don't align.
if u suspect alignment is still going to be an issue, ask the tilers to align the tiles at eye level, cos that's the part of every wall that pple's eyes r drawn to first. tilers usually align wall tiles fr the ceiling.
also if the unevenness of ur new wall is at the edges, that's most likely a plastering problem. tell patrick u suspect it's plastering n he can just call the workers to come over to rectify. if he has to personally check what's the problem b4 he calls in the right pple to rectify, that can ... er.... take quite some time.
plastering must be done b4 painting starts.
is the newly built wall a hollow block wall or a false wall? if it's a hollow block wall, do check if the "paint" u see is actually sealant. it's for ur long term sanity sake. sealants r somewhat sticky n they smell terrible. new cement walls (n some false walls, depending on material) must hv sealant to make paint stick to the wall. once paint goes on, u won't know that the process is wrong until 1-2 yrs later when paint flakes fall on u. that's what happened at my place after my previous contractor's painters skimped on the sealant.
hi hunny,
i also got my current home soon after graduation.
we did very little renovations then as well since the house was in a good condition. nope rectifications not done yet. working until 5am every day for the past week, so couldn't arrange a time for rectifications yet.
sorry to hear abt ur broken lights. patrick will always pay if his workers break something. his workers broke my mirror, my porcelain soap dispenser etc, n he has offered to pay me back for all of it.
the electrician that did my place was ok. followed the floorplan i gave him. i also had some things i wanted to change but i'm not sure if it's doable since i'm not overhauling my home like u guys. the electrician was v. patient n went around checking if my wishlist can be achieved. took him a good hr of tearing out electrical casing n climbing all over the place. but one guy from the same subcontractor came to help him n that guy is quite dishonest. overheard him telling my electrician in hokkien to cut some corners so they can knock off earlier. i told both of them in hokkien n in front of their boss that they should stop dreaming abt doing that.
my sense is that patrick only drops by occasionally, not everyday, to supervise. i dun think the quality of work done during my renovations was that different fr the flat i visited - avg to abv avg, not the best i've seen, but then again, the prices reflect that. the rectification team recently has been bad though.
hi bluzcorner,
like hunny said, there's no point in attributing blame. i'm also married for 5+ yrs. the thing i learn over these yrs is to refrain from pointing fingers within the marriage. the home is impt to both of us. if we agree to go along with a decision, regardless of who brought up the original idea, then it means that we agree the decision is the best that we could do in the circumstances. nobody feels good when things don't go well, n the natural inclination might be to point fingers when one has the wisdom of hindsight, but the fact is that the decision was made jointly n we r in it together n we want to stay together. if there's a problem to be solved, then solve the problem.
also, hdb-provided walls hv rough texture. if u want the silky smooth look, u need to do either whole-wall plastering (by a good plaster guy) or build a false wall. there's tradeoff. whole wall plastering is cheaper, but plaster might crack after some yrs (though it's easy to fix). false walls r more expensive, but they don't suffer fr cracking problems.
if u r going with whole-wall plastering, do remember that whole-wall plastering is a lot more work for the workers, so never assume it's going to be done voluntarily. if there r particular walls whose texture u worry abt, let patrick know b4hand, then he can schedule plastering (make sure he remembers!) n ur renovations won't be delayed.
also, glossy paints show up uneven surfaces more, so if u r choosing glossy paints, u will need to evaluate if the walls r even enough.
hi ssmilezz,
yup, i hv extra tiles. made patrick give me half a pack per tile chosen at least. i even hv spare 600x600 homogenous tiles.
hi stressed,
u hv limited leave days right? no point not giving a deadline when u actually hv a deadline. i think u should let patrick know the constraints u face. if u give him plenty of advance notice n the deadline is reasonable, then u r not rushing him. but if u keep quiet now n ur leave runs out, then he will really be scrambling to complete ur renovations. that will truly be a rush job.
Luckily you discovered it, i hope you did feedback to Patrick so at least he is aware of what his workers are up to. I heard that he has employed a new girl (marketing?) and she's helping to meet potential clients. Hopefully, it can lessen his workload a little so he can do more supervision. Things are really going out of control. 
