Renovation Cost

Related Posts
1 How to Choose ID
2 Protect Yourself Against Unscrupulous Contractors
3 Engaging an ID
4 Our Renovation Cost & ID
5 ID Contact
6 ID Update
7 Renovation headaches
8 ID Topic Revisited

[ TIP: This post was held back as I struggled to find why the html table added blank lines automatically, resulting in a

post that had a blank page before the table for the quotation items was displayed. Finally solved it -- do the table tags in a continuous line with no hard returns. The hard returns after each table tag created invisible break tags that inserted blank lines in the post ! ]

Some readers liked the workmanship depicted on the blog and thought the renovation probably cost a bomb. Some didn't think it rude to ask for prices, especially the quotation.

We didn't think it rude either! We want our readers to know it need not cost the earth to get good workmanship, provided they have the services of a good ID.

We sourced quotations from 5 interior design houses:

- Baroque
- Revo
- Summit
- HomeGuide
- WEA

Selection was based on following criteria:

- Responsiveness
- Past experience
- Quality of work done
- Reasonable pricing
- Feedback from customers

A word about "reasonable pricing" - We didn't use or compare quotes given by readers on forums, although obviously we looked at them.

Our approach was to review only promotional offers from several design houses and use that as a benchmark.

We believe a firm's promotional offer would be the most reasonable pricing - may not be the lowest, but certainly low

enough since it was promotional pricing - for specific renovation items. Thus looking at promotional offers from several design houses gave us a feel of what was "reasonable" pricing. There was no "exact" science or methodology involved. Hence when we negotiated with an ID we had in mind the prices we were prepared to pay for a job.

As regard "Feedback from customers" we always took that with a grain of salt. Good to know, sure, but sampling size was always not big enough to give a measure of an ID's competence. Some "recommendations" were obviously so tilted or "directed" we dismissed them outright!

To sum up our selection outcome:

Revo was the early favorite as they met all 5 criteria, with Summit our last choice as their quotation was the highest.

Summit ID James Teng however kept in contact even though we told him his quote was the highest and had to drop him from consideration. The others did not contact us after they were dropped.

We liked Revo's Nelson Chan -- earnest, sincere, straight forward. However, he ran into time problems subsequently. We told James he would get the contract if he was able to match Revo's quotation. James was unable to -- we didn't show Revo's quotation but one of the others -- but he did revise his pricing down from his earlier quotation. We decided finally to go with James when visits to his job sites (we had time for only two) gave us a good impression of the work quality and performance, though we didn't like the feeling of the laminated floor when we walked on them.

The accepted quotation contained items that were priced much higher than our benchmark prices, a few were near

benchmark prices, although to be fair we have to point out that a few items -- such as the s/s rubbish chute -- were not charged by James as we found out later. He also insisted on paying the locksmith the $70 fee to "free" me when the Gainsborough lockset jammed in my bedroom - locking me in for 6 hours - though in my opinion the lockset failure was not his fault. More on that in a separate post later.

Note that the job scope and quotation excluded electrical rewiring, air-conditioning, plastering and painting, false ceiling, light fixtures, and carpentry for the living-cum-dining area and bedrooms.

Date quotation was accepted & signed : 9-Jan-08

BEDROOMS
Supply & install wooden door frames to bedroom 1 & 2	$450.00
Supply & install laminated floor tiles to bedroom 1 & 2 (est 298sf)	$1,100.00
Wardrobe with Sliding Glass Panel	KIV
LIVING ROOM / DINING ROOM
Hack existing floor tiles in LR and 3rd bedroom	$800.00
Hack 3rd bedroom wall adjoining kitchen / living room	$600.00
Supply & lay China granite tiles (max $4.50psf) to enlarged LR (est 403sf)	$3,800.00
Low height suspended TV Console with speaker stands	KIV
KITCHEN
Construct new store room in kitchen	$700.00
Hack floor of kitchen, bathroom & toilet	$800.00
Hack wall tiles of kitchen, bathroom & toilet	$1,100.00
Construct cement slab for base cabinet, fridge, washer	$350.00
Supply & lay homogeneous tiles (max $2.50psf) to kitchen floor	$1,000.00
Supply & lay ceramic wall tiles (max $2.50psf) to kitchen, bathroom & toilet	$4,000.00
Supply & install frameless glass panel door b/w kitchen and LR	KIV
Supply & lay homogenous floor tiles (max $2.80psf) to toilet / bathroom	$800.00
Galley kitchen c/w glass splashback	KIV
PLUMBING
Remove old squat WC and install new sitting pedestal WC	$300.00
Remove old sewage & related pipes and install new UPVC pipes	$1,100.00
Supply & run s/s pipes to provide hot water to 1 sink, 1 basin & 1 shower	canceled
Re-run whole unit cold water s/s piping	$560.00
WINDOWS
Supply & install casement windows w/o grills (total 142 sf)	$1,300.00
KITCHEN DOOR
Glass partition & door	KIV
DINING/STUDY AREA
Integrated Cabinet & Shelves, Dining-cum-Study Table	KIV
FINISHING
Touchup spalling concrete, broken concrete at ledge, etc	$150.00
Haulage & cleanup	$400.00
TOTAL	$19,310.00

ID provided items below F.O.C. or included in quotation:

- Design consultation & space planning
- Design proposal & perspective drawings
- Selection of color, materials & accessories
- Site coordination & supervision
- Decoration advice
- Hack existing kitchen cabinet from whole unit
- Dismantle existing toilet & bathroom accessories
- Hack door frames
- Remove old windows
- Remove old wiring & light fixtures
- Remove old TV-antenna pipe
- Remove old gas and water pipes
- New s/s rubbish chute with rubber lining
- Tile walls of new store room
- Re-do toilet bowl installation
- Re-do rain shower piping
- Re-do tiles affected by rain shower pipe adjustment
- Re-do skirting affected by uneven wall
- Re-do aluminum window for shower
- Re-do laminated floor tiles in bedroom 1 & 2
- Re-do toilet door frame to same height as shower door frame
- Re-do architrave for toilet

NOTE: Suppliers increased prices of glass and aluminum by 20% from May 1, 2008.

The original quotation amount of $18,240 has been adjusted for :

- $240.00 deducted for the hot water piping run that was canceled
- $1,300.00 added in late Feb 08 for window replacement excluded in original contract
- new costs to be incurred for kitchen cabinetry, kitchen door, wardrobes.

Later we will list down items bought.

To be continued..

Related Posts
1 How to Choose ID
2 Protect Yourself Against Unscrupulous Contractors
3 Engaging an ID
4 Our Renovation Cost & ID
5 ID Contact
6 ID Update
7 Renovation headaches
8 ID Topic Revisited