My New Flat: Starting the Renovation

After months of planning with our ID(all the to and fro emails), getting the contractor for our bto project to rectify the problems, the renovation has finally started!

My advise to everyone out there is to start planning at least 1/2 year in advance before getting your keys, especially if you are those who can't make up your mind easily. For Derp and I, we made up our mind qyute fast hence the whole process isn't so painful for everyone. We are quite 随便 haha! 

We started planning last year Oct/Nov, so it's 2 months prior to keys collection and 4 months prior to renovation.   

The rectifying process by hdb appointed contractor took up quite a lot of time. We had them to re-do one of the defects because it wasn't properly done on the first time. 

After my renovation date was set (my dad went to get a auspicious time and date for me), I had to chase after the contractor every day to check on the rectifying progress. I basically called them up everyday. Derp and I even went down during lunch time to sort of 'chase' them and tell them how they have made 1 problem become even worse.  

We asked them to remove some white stains on the flooring in the masterbedroom, and it's so suay that all the stains are near the door. If it was somewhere inside we won't really be bothered because it will be covered up by bed or the wardrobe. 

One of the tiles got worse after the rectifying process..

Top photo is the before rectifying process and bottom is the after rectifying process. Notice that few dark stains on my parquet! It got worse after rectifying. -_-". We went down to settle this a week before our renovation and the contractor said that they will repaint that particular tile. 

In the end, they decided to replaced the tile instead. The tile and the rest of the tiles around it is slightly uneven now, the HDB contractor say they will come up after our renovation is done to settle it then. We shall see. I mean at least they finally resort to changing the tile, it's better than nothing! But still, we are quite pek cek with them.Why can't they just do 1 shot nicely for us? -_-" 

I'm glad that my new place is around 20 minutes bus ride from my work place, so during lunch/after work I can go down to feedback to the incharge. They closed at 7pm.

After all the hoo-ha with the HDB contractor, the renovation successfully started! Phew! 

On March 15th, we started our renovation around 10am. The auspicious time is before 11am. I reached there around 9:30am because I've to open the door for them, Mei Yee, my ID, passed us another master key for the padlock on that day which will be used to lock the house up during the whole renovation period.

When I reached, I spotted this outisde. The protective sheets! I did quite a bit of hacking of of walls for the house so protective sheets is a MUST! 

I didn't spot the worker around and Mei Yee have not reached yet. After I pack the house a little (keep everything into bomb shelter), I went to the McDonald opposite to get my breakfast. It's my first time going there on a Saturday morning, the queue for the McDonald was really long! I think by the time I'm done, my ID and the worker will probably be waiting for me outside the house for 1/2 hour. 

In the end, I just got myself a muffin and ice latte from McCafe before heading back to the house again.

If you are wondering where's Derp, he went for his basketball training and reached around 11am. 

When I reached back the house, I saw the worker outside already. So I opened the door for him and he started his work swiftly even before my ID came. Thumbs up! I really feel quite lost because Mei Yee was late, but I remained calm haha! As long everything goes on smoothly, I'm good. :)

He started laying the protective sheets in the Masterbed room.

My muffin from McCafe! 

There were 4 stools in the new house hence I grab one and have my breakfast while waiting for the rest of the people to come. My electrician also came down to discuss lighting point with my ID, so that the carpentry works/ceiling works are to accommodate to the wires/trunking and vice versa. 

The hardworking one laying the protective sheet on a Saturday.

Mei Yee telling him which are the things to hack. And that's a axe sign lol!

As no hacking is allowed on the weekends, he used his hammer to hack a small area of the wall to signify the start of renovation.

The discussion with my ID and the electrician ended around 11 plus. Derp and I went off to have our lunch. 

Finally the renovation has started! Another thing off our mind. The feeling is great! But we definitely have more things to worry about now, more things to source for and the deadline is before the renovation ends. Alot of stuffs will require the contractor to help us fix it up.

That night, we headed to Ikea.After several trips to Ikea, this time we finally got the stuffs needed for our new house and paid for it! :) We shopped at there till 10++pm! Thank god they close at 11pm. We only started our shopping around 8pm. But we were very clear what we have to get, so it's just hunting them down and putting it into our trolley. 

Our loots! But not the complete loots because we were waiting for more mirrors! 

A selfie with my new mirror! 

After payment, we went to settle the delivery and we are done! The items arrive last Friday and my ID collected it for us :) I've always think that my ID is our nanny/manager, she's definitely doing more than what a ID should.

She helped us handle quite a lot of things, especially when my electrician screw up some stuff last week! Derp and I were both busy at work, we have no time to go down in the middle of the day to see what exactly happen. Will blog more about it, it's all resolve now thanks to my ID! It's not her fault but she did all she can to help us settle the problem, afterall we are the ones who engage the electrician. The electrician is not under her company sub contractor.

Looking forward to see how my house look like when everything is done! :)