HDB reno

Even though the most recent renovation inspired me to build this site, I think I should also write about all the renovations I have been through. This is the first one.

I got the keys to my HDB in the North-East — Sengkang — in 2015. During that time, both me and my wife had not been in the workforce long, so we did not have a lot of cash. Fortunately we had saved enough to avoid a loan. I personally do not like taking loans because of the high interest rate.

How we find people to renovate our house

Like everyone else, we relied on Google to search and browse — and also friends' recommendations. We compared a few quotes and chose one. I guess that is how most people do it when they lack experience. Being broke adults at that point, we hired a contractor, looked to Pinterest for design inspiration, and just communicated what we wanted.

I recall the contractor team were a few young folks — eager and full of promises. We were young and inexperienced too, so pricing is what ended up making the decision.

Majority of our cost went into tiling. We used tiles for the entire house, including one of the master bedroom bathrooms. Usually people do not touch the bathroom because it already comes with tiles, but we did not like the colour so we overlaid it. I vaguely recall it cost around $3k to $4k for the bathroom alone.

Small hiccup and realization

My dad is actually in this trade — he was a tiler. He was old already and I did not want to trouble him, but he knows people. Initially we wanted to stick to one contractor to liaise with. However, when we wanted to build a shower support (basically a ledge to put your shower products), we were quoted $600 for that alone.

I could not accept the price. After some back and forth, I was told to liaise with the tiler directly. We ended up paying $250. After this incident, I started to put my guard up — though I kinda forgot about it in the next renovation.

I started asking my dad if he had friends doing glass. He introduced me to his friend. I took some scope off the quotation and went direct. I recall I saved at least $4k to $5k by just talking to another person. Convenience is really expensive.

Painting works

Painting was done by the contractor we engaged. Nothing much here — just choose the colour from the book, and they arrange. The mistake was not using anti-mould paint. Once I moved in, we had an episode of damp walls that resulted in mould. So do consider anti-mould paint if you can, especially for Singapore's climate.

Carpentry works

For carpentry, it is usually charged by size — how many feet. We built a huge walk-in wardrobe in one of the rooms and the usual kitchen cabinets, top and bottom. The most memorable part: the carpenter was outsourced to a Malaysia carpenter. They fabricated the carpentry in Malaysia and brought it in. On site, they used glue to stick the laminate and cut it. I recall visiting when they were doing it — the smell was unbearable. It seems some renovation companies even today still have carpentry done in Malaysia.

The bad part about carpentry done in Malaysia is the glue and high formaldehyde levels. It gives out a very strong smell and you feel a sting in your eyes. The smell lingered for several days even after I moved in. I had to keep the cabinets open. I think it only went away after a couple of weeks. These days, more people are concerned about formaldehyde levels — see this CNA article on homeowners seeking help for high formaldehyde. At that point, China carpentry was not a thing yet. You will read more in the latest renovation I did — where the carpentry is made of high-quality ENF material, basically free of formaldehyde.

Electrical works

I also used an electrician found on a Facebook group — TK Electricians — because the one they recommended charged too high and did not seem to offer any advice — whatever electrical point we needed, he just did it and charged. We got a quote of $4k+ for electrical, but ended up with $3k+ with TK.

Lighting

Majority of the lighting was bought locally at a shop along Balestier. In hindsight, these should have been bought off Taobao.

Aircon installation

I recall we purposely went to a renovation fair at Expo to look for deals, and ended up with one of the installers. They did a bad job with the aircon installation — they came back to fix it several times and still could not. This is one of the regrets, because we did not check the reviews. We ended up engaging another team to re-run all the piping and spent an additional $1k.

To begin with, we were paying market price for the aircon installation — around $3.2k for a system 3. So always check for reviews. Yes, they could be “fake,” but it should at least not be that bad overall. I think the one we engaged was like 3 stars or something. It was bad. That was my mistake.

Electronics

We tried to plan how to spend. For most electronics, we bought locally at huge stores like Gain City / Best Denki, charged to a credit card on an installment plan (yup, no rewards — but I could pay in stages). Fridge, hood, hob, oven, TV, iron, washing machine — the usual stuff.

Taobao purchases

I recall the following items were bought from Taobao:

1. Dining table and chairs
2. Dining lights
3. Computer desks
4. Bar stools
5. Bed frame
6. Bidet
7. Bathroom sink tap
8. Bathroom rainshower
9. Bathroom towel rod
10. Bathroom toilet paper holder
11. Coffee table

The plumbing stuff was mostly installed by the contractor. The rest I did myself with a few friends. Was not that complicated — just tedious.

The total

That is pretty much it for my first renovation. All in all, I spent close to $74k, which includes everything — all the works done, all the appliances, shipping fees, etc.

More stories

The renovations that came after this one: