House Renovation - designers or ala-carte?

[Yong HL]

Thanks for all the advise i really appreciate them.

After reading the posts you guys made, i think to save costs (though i do have a strong urge to go contractor to save the stress part), i'd better go for alarte carte.. in fact, a fren of mine recommended me a fantastic website and it gave me an immediate \"inspiration\" on how to deco my girl's room.. (in case you are interested, the website is http://www.houzz.com).. And thanks to verykaisu2010, you just reminded me that paint works should come last (which i thot it should come 1st)... Thanks everyone!

[angel04]

For painting, when you choose the color, please note that the outcome will be like 2 tones darker… Many years ago, we painted our old hse on our own. While it surely looked pastel peach on the catalogue, the color came out hot orange color!! We had to bear it till we sold the flat 2.5 yrs later…


Paint companies shd be able to provide more info concerning color tone, do consult them before you get the paint.

Good luck!

[Yong HL]

Thanks angel04 for the tip

[flametree]

Hi mmm,


can i have the contact of the engineer that doubles up as architect for your a&a work?

we are planning for a&a work to be done next yr … now sourcing for contacts.

thanks!!

flametree

[auntieM]

smurf:

erm, I dun have personal experience, but you can PM me for this contact. recommended by a friend. heard that his design is good.

Hi smurf,
Would you kindly PM me your contact too please!
TIA

[anaclet]

The only way to get a superlative house “fit” is to style or design it specifically for you. A lot of people deal with the process of custom home Renovation. For some it’s both challenging and enjoyable while for others, it becomes a nightmare leaving them short on cash and long on anxiety. You need someone to understand the process and who move through, with little stress as possible.

[cotton candy]

We renovated our house last year and have engaged a designer after spending days reading the whole renotalk forum. The designer cannot come out with the designs to our likings. In the end, we spent lots of time searching the net and lots of $ buying magazines to decide on the designs that we really like. :idea:


Though the designer did not help much in design, we still need his expertise to draw the layouts and carry out the whole reno plan. Liaising with the contractors is really a big headache. I cannot imagine arranging schedule with the carpenters, painters, flooring, electricity guy... etc. :stupid:

The whole reno process not perfect but I think its better than my first reno experience..

[autumnbronze]

buds:

It can be cheaper ala-carte when you go direct to source/supplier.

Ditto!!!! :hi5:

We did that for bathroom fittings, floor, wall tiles ... right down to our marble hall flooring tiles. We saved money on deciding not to plaster our walls but rather go for the a la natural and rustic look. We also left the room doors intake as they are the original dark wood teak ones. In the end, we were so familiar with the suppliers that we invited one or two of them for our house-warming

In fact, we bought our bathroom fittings many months before reno started as Grohe was having a sale and 'tompang' them in my in-laws store-room.

My DH managed to track down this particular contractor that did his parents' kitchen like more than 20 yrs ago to do up ours, as their workmanship was really good.

We also relied on reno magazines for ideas to do up our kitchen and bathrooms.

Our place may not be stylishly done up. But it certainly exudes a sense of warmth and home-liness.

A word of advise though - if you intend to outsource, you need to clarify this with your main contractor as they tend to 'earn' from their own sourced suppliers. Some of them may not be too receptive to the idea.

[tech_wizard]

We just recently completed our renovation we decided on getting a main con. The reason why we selected the main con was because we knew exactly what we wanted to be done for the house.


Thanking our lucky stars we were fortunate enough to have a partner that contributed ideas.

Dont rush into the renovation, try not to have tight schedule to conmplete the renovation also plan for enough time for fault retification no matter how small it maybe, discuss with your better half and do some brain storming plus going to friends or relatives house to get ideas also help alot.

Let me know if you need any advice.

[Oppsgal]

Last time we hired a contractor whom go around doing outsourcing for cheapest ala-carte supplier and even get the contact of the gate which we have found our own ala-carte supplier for this.


After this, we decided the next reno, if needed, will be done from ala-carte supplier of our own. Why pay so much? Can just look around for quotation… Not like the suppliers from the contractor has done a good job anyway.