My BTO Journey – PART 1

Every few months I would write up a major post almost complete with as much details as possible. This month, I’ll tell the story of my 5-year wait to start my new life from hell hole.

Background: I got married in 2009 and unsuccessfully balloted over ten fruitless times for a BTO flat. Many Singaporeans would have known that it was during that period where resale flat prices were on an all-time high no thanks to Mr Horse Face minister.

But just 4 months prior to the Singapore 2011 General Elections, I was notified that I finally got a flat. And a VERY, VERY good queue number as well.

Fast forward: 3 years on in 2014, we got our keys. In fact, I was supposed to get my keys in late April but I called and wrote to my HDB officer, bugging her every other day to hasten the key process and 2nd time HLE application. So yep, on 3 April we finally went down to collect our keys.

The smell of Happiness.

And like almost all couples who had just gotten their keys, we rushed straight to our flat AFTER queuing up for over an hour at SP Services to activate our utilities.

With a public Swimming Complex just 80m away from our block and free ActiveSg credits, its almost akin to living a condo life minus the security guards.

The every-pantung-couple-must-do Pineapple ritual complete with multi-colored fruits, green beans and other stuff.

No, that’s not a sneaky porcupine behind my hubby.

The perks of having a very GOOD queue number. 😀

And after 3 days……

Full grown bean sprouts….. and a furry dog.

There was over a month of lull period after this that involved checking the unit for defects, rectifying them, actively sourcing out various contractors and IDs (Interior Designers) for reasonable quotes, getting and stealing ideas from various IDs on designs and finally settling down on a sloppy, blur-looking contractor called Nicholas, to handle our project, bank loans and all.

Our Oddball Contractor

Nicholas was previously an ID with D’Trenzo Interior which he left later and set up Renoguyz, believing that his years of expertise, good sub-contractor contacts coupled with his value-added service of an ID at contractor rates, he could give his customers non-cut throat prices that normal ID firms usually charge.

And he was right. For the massive amount of renovation we are getting, the entire quotation amounted to only $24k (sans air-con). But what’s even better is that Nicholas’ Nazi-perfectionist attitude to his work and good visualisation skills gives him an edge over other contractors. His flair was so good that we ended up consulting him on the slightest of details such as furniture materials and colors to match the decor that he had in mind for our quasi Modern Resort-Scandinavian look.

Some of my friends who have gotten other contractors ended up managing the contractor and their sub-contractor over every small works. We are lucky because Nick covered all these for us. Nick became the contractor cum ID and updated us very often in a wacky open conversation in a Whatsapp chat group he created.

However, Nick has his fair share of flaws too that puts him at a disadvantage. Let me count the ways:

1) Mr. Picky.
He only handles projects near where he lives in Hougang. That means north-eastern regions flats in Singapore. Nick also does not do condominiums and private landed property. Very leh chey he says.
Nick also picks his customers. He can smell a difficult customer and would reject the project regardless of how lucrative it is. Or if he doesn’t, he’ll take up the project but let a colleague service the account.

2) Blunt Nazi-st 
We introduced Nick to our immediate neighbor who also engaged him for their house. However, my neighbor believes in the motto “As long as I like it that’s all that matters even if it looks butt-F ugly to the world”. So happy neighbor went to paint their living room and bedroom walls yellow and pink respectively.
Their move shocked Nazi-st Nick who commented loudly how ugly the entire color scheme was and compared our (yes, he used us to compare! without our knowledge) design against their. Needless to say, Mrs. Neighbor was enraged.
Thankfully I got good neighbors. Mrs. Neighbor calmed down shortly after.

3) Sloppy and Gong-Gong Blur
First impression matters to most people and Nick would fail terribly in this department. During our first few meetings, Nick would come in sloppy, loose t-shirt and shorts with scruffy hair like he has just woken up from bed. And I hope he doesn’t sees my blog post if he Googles his name!

Nick’s saving grace came after our first meeting when we invited him to our house for a quotation. Nicholas brought no pen or paper with him. Throughout our entire discussion, Nick just went “Orhh… Hurr…. Orhh…” in his typical sleepy, dazed and lost look. So much so that we wondered if he was even serious about business. Until 24 hours later, Nick actually emailed us his quotation of our expectations in EXACT detail. Another ID gave us his quotation a week later even when we constantly chased him for it.

4) No-Man
On top of garnering the title of being Mr. Picky, Nick is also a No-Man. Well, not to everything but only to bullshit. Nick dares to tell his customers No without even being condescending, rude or disrespectful.

So why did we still engaged Nicholas after all? Well, his rates and quotations were attractive for one thing. Secondly, we actually appreciate his bluntness especially when he is a perfectionist. He’d tell me the stuff which I plan to get and yearn on Taobao is ugly and not match my desired decor than be a Yes Man and it end up an embarassment later. Initially I didn’t trust his judgement until I went back home and did a Photoshop on my 3D design with the fittings that I planned to get from Taobao. You know how some things are hard to visualise until you actually see them with your own eyes.
My jaw dropped when I realise how right Nick was; in fact his visualisation skills way surpasses mine which I felt was pretty good enough.

In a nutshell, if you want good service with the workmanship of an ID at the cost of a contractor, Nicholas is the person to go for.

My hubby learnt to read Nick’s body language whenever the latter disapprove of a harebrained idea. If you ever see this look on Nick’s face, you know its a big no-no.

Oh Gawd….

‘Nuff of the words; let’s look at some pics:

Our floor plan of a typical 4-room BTO flat

Living Room:
*Some Photoshop edits to the original 3D artwork so it looks more realistic to the actual end result; such as the ugly standard HDB main door.

Kitchen: MY territory

Master Bedroom Toilet:
MY 2nd territory.
I’d anytime have a nice clean MBR toilet than a nice bedroom. Odd eh?

Due to our extensive reno works, we started off on works earlier yet became the last completed among our immediate neighbors who took minimal renovations and started off before us. Our reno got slowed because we kept having many last minute changes and by the time we are able to start on actual work, Nick’s sub-cons are already handling our neighbor’s renoworks.

Nicholas strictly only uses two particular carpenters for his contracted carpentry works because the two old guys are apparently, very top notch in their workmanship.
As for Nick’s other sub-contractors from the plumber to electricians, they are only Malaysians with no PRCs or Bangalas. Reason being that, according to Nick, Malaysians tend to have a better quality of workmanship based on his personal experience. He rather have work done slow than fast and shoddy.

Our very first fitting: the Hoe Kee fibreglass bath tub bought at $400+.

After the bath tub, everything else stalled for a few weeks with zero movement because the 2 wise old men were working on my immediate neighbor’s carpentry.
*Cricket sounds*

My Taobao loot. Stay tuned below for more info.

And when it was our turn to have our very first carpentry…..

Month: June 2014

Bayside window with more storage space for a pathetically small spaced 4-room BTO flat.

And this was how Narnia came about. BTO flat owners can empathise with me on that ugly, out-of-nowhere aircon ledge window.

And July came…

Month: July 2014

Closed

Opened

The bedside table with the 毛毛 bristle strip (like those you find in offices’ meeting room tables) for cables that can be pull out from the powerpoint below and not have dirt or dust trapped inside.

Our Blanco Granite sink bought at a Hoe Kee sale.
Granite sinks costs more but they don’t tarnish or corrode. Very hardy material. Tough on pockets too.

Scandinavish!

Imitation is the best flattery: Poor man’s Blum. I got Nick to make deep drawers for my bottled sauces, kitchen gadgets and cookware storage.

Because my hubby wanted to put a dead body as a display, we had to customise and specially design and create a glass panel for the console. *rolls eyes*

July came and went. We missed the completion deadline before 26 July 2014 due to the 7th Month Ghost Festival. Nicholas will be penalised. Maybe we might put his dead body in the glass panel console instead. 😛

Month: August 2014

Kitchen backsplash last to go up.

And so is our full wall mirror panel in dual tones for that classy yet enlarge space effect.

Full wall mirror, $30 long-neck Waterfall tap from Taobao and my Blk 122 Bedok North Rd angular sink.

Shower screen

Most of my Taobao loots are installed. Still awaiting shipment to come in for the second batch. As of now, this are what I have. Yes, get envious, baby!

Digital Peephole Viewer for S$30 only. Screen auto lights up when door bell is pressed. No lag in image and movements. Runs on 4 AA batteries. No drilling needed. Easy installation in 5 mins.

Unassembled form.

Viewer with FOC door bell.

I fell in love with Waterfall taps after experiencing them at the boutique hotel, The Klapsons .
Waterfall taps gives good flow of water without wasting too much water due to their horizontal streamline flow that covers the maximum surface area of whatever you are washing.

This shorter neck Waterfall tap bought for S$25 only. Shorter neck taps are suitable for undermount sink basins.

How it looks like when it is installed and turned on.

PVC bathroom cabinet for the common toilet.
Cost: S$150 including DOMESTIC shipping within China.
Entire set comes with side cabinets and doors, mirror, a towel hanging bar, sink basin and bigger capacity cabinet at the bottom.

Yes, it only cost me S$150 for this. 😀

My $20 chrome bidet that spells Class. Saw this at normal bathroom accessories shops going for S$80 each.

The very functional and nice kitchen tap that my gf recommended. Long hose allows pulling the nozzle off the holder to wash further off corners of sinks and table. Only $67 inclusive shipping. Saw at Hoe Kee this selling at $200+ for the same tap.

Tap looks like a mean, lean killer machine. I wonder if it can chop chickens up too.

We scoured almost the entire Jalan Besar area and found that most simple ceiling lights such as the ones below starts from $100 for the smallest sized one, and above.

These Taobao lights costs only a fraction of those sold in Jalan Besar lighting shops. Wattage is perfect; neither overly bright nor too dim. Best of all, all of them are LEDs.

But I got this large sized LED light for my kitchen for only S$60.

And this mid-sized one for $35.

I bought 6 of such ceiling lights in various light colors (Daylight, Warm White and Cool Light) and sizes (Rectangle and Square)
Be careful if you buy lights from Taobao. Ensure the wattage fits to local standards before purchasing.

Back to the lights, I got this cute stylish cube lamps for both my service yard and bomb shelter at S$15 each. They are made of very good and sturdy powder coated alu frame. A real steal for its looks.
Fits standard E27 LED bulbs which I got locally.

Stylo milo in the service yard.

Stylo milo even in the bomb shelter.

 Not all my fittings are from Taobao.
Stuff like my MBR toilet sink basin, dining lamp light and track lights. Look around carefully and you can find equally good steals from Ikea too.

Wall mounting storage canisters (removable) that dispenses dry grains, pasta or coffee beans at the turn of the dial. Comes with measuring cup below so you know how much to dispense. Space saving Scandinavian design matches the background rustic white brick wall decor.

Scandinavish!

Ikea dining lamp shade and light. *Yea, that fugly hole will be patched up as Nick assured*

Track lights and LED down lights (not pictured) from a shop in Jalan Besar.

** STAY TUNED: **
Its only 1 August and more fittings are to be installed over the next few days/weeks.
Will update in this post again as time goes.

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