ID and Renovator Hunting

hubby cheng and i went to the showrooms of two Interior Designers we short-listed on Sunday..

the outcome was good..we were happy with the second one :)

it ain't an easy task though..before that we were looking through websites and flipping through magazines here and there..

our aim is simple: we wanted someone we could trust to do a proper job and someone who would not hack plenty of money out of our 'already depleted and building bank account'..

i have gotten 2 quotations so far...one from a famous ISO certified company and one from a normal company..

i am waiting for 2 more quotations to come in before we close our list and have further discussions.

here's a few tips i have learnt so far:

1. have on hand 2 sets of floorplan (one in it's original plan and one with your intended design)- this will come in handy when you visit your renovator, few copies would be good.

2. have a list of renovators- best to start off with friends' and families' recomendation (especially those whom they have hired for their own homes. haha, go check out their houses to view the final products)

3. short-list the renovators and pay them a visit at their showrooms (for the renovators i have short-listed, i make it a point to visit their showroom cause' i want to see for myself what kind of company i am dealing with. no point getting a renovator who don't even make it a point to deco their showroom well)

4. bring along your valuation report (this comes in handy cause the renovator often only works with the floorplan first. so bringing a valuation report would let them have an idea of the place. this is especially important for me as mine is a resale and with the report, i am able to show them my living room's cornice)

5. pictures of your intended design (if you have an intended design which you saw in a mag, you might wish to bring it along so that the designer can work towards your design. but for me, i prefer to describe the idea to my designer and have him work it and draw it out. haha, that's part of the reason why we are paying him, right?)

6. view the showrooms! (haha, do visit a few high end designers' showrooms. not to be high-class or anal. but just to see their designs and listen to their opinions. for me, visiting the showrooms allow me to explore a few designs i have never thought of and after the visit, i could jolly-well copy their design and ask around for quotations.)

listening to the designer's opinions are also very beneficial. this is from my own experience. as my unit's wastage pipe is still in cast iron, i asked for it to be changed to PVC pipes. two of the 'not so good' companies i went to jolly-well included in it in the quotation.

but two big companies i went to actually told me that i could get HDB (thru their sun-contractor) to change it and it would be better cause they have changed for thousands of households and most importantly, they are working for HDB (quality and pricing can be trusted to a certain extent)

this was something hubby cheng and i had never thought of. :)

that's why it's important to get different opinions.

and also, sometimes it's good to get 'no's from your designer instead of all the 'can do, can be done, sure can la'.

on sunday, hubby and i went to visit 2 designers. one of them is a famous one online while the other is an ordinary one.

the ordinary one said yes to my everything, including the hacking of a wall into half from the top and shifting of the water taps from one end to the other.

but..(yes, there's always a but)

the famous online designer actually told me no. he told me about how the hacking of a wall into half from the top would affect stability (possibility of not being approved by HDB) and how i shouldn't shift my water taps to the other end cause' the pipes would be very long and there is a possibility of pipes blockage.

he even told me the difference of gas heater and electrical heater as for gas heater, he might have to install extra pipes, each $100.

he brought a few matters for our consideration which i found it good. he said that things can be done but it might have a big effect years later.

haha, i superlike this guy la. he's getting back to me on his quotation. so i'll see how it all goes! :)

till then, this is my little knowledge for sharing :)

iwll be getting my keys on 29 Oct 2008...haha, 2 more days to go!!!

my house :)