Finally, Uncle sent someone (in fact 2 persons) to my place to do the final touch up and to replace the stainless steel backing. It was the same guy who had installed our stainless steel rubbish chute...
I requested them to do the following rectifications/ cleanups:
1) Replace the warped stainless steel backing
2) Touch up the silicone that were not applied or applied wrongly
3) Cleanup the mess of white cement at the piping area in my master toilet
4) General cleaning up of the tiles
They only did the following:
1) Replaced the warped stainless steel backing (satisfied)
After they removed the piece of stainless steel backing, I believed Uncle told them to replace it so that he can have a piece of mind ... if not , i'll probably be bugging him every single day about the piece of inferior work that is an eyesore ...
Anyway, they arrived at around 11am and they need to take measurements of the area again. By the time they replaced the stainless steel backing, it was already around 4pm.
2) Touch up the silicone (not satisfied)
I wonder if Bo Geh actually told them what to do. There were so many areas where the silicone was either not applied or applied in a haphazard manner.
E.g. (i) below the box-up at the pipes - no silicone was applied even after I told them to do so; (ii) they forgot to apply the silicone between the joints of the cabinets because they were not joined perfectly; (iii) they really didn't feel like doing the job because the silicone they applied between the stainless steel plates were like s*** and out of place. They also never bother to clean up the excess.
3) Clean up the white cement mess at the pipes (Half-past-six standard)
Bo Geh told me that he will get the men to scrap off the excess and to apply colour grouting to match the tiles. They only did 50% ... which was to scrap off the excess white cement. They didn't bother to do the colour groutings ...
4) General cleanup (Not done)
The man only gave me a solution (which was acid by the way ...) and didn't give my wifey any instructions on use ... we tried to use it in the bathroom toilet and it ate away a part of the grouting ! I had to buy the grouting and reapply it myself ....
Conclusion:
The rectification works are really sub-standard and I'm really tired of chasing Uncle. Anyway the renovation works for me is small compared to a couple of others. So I guess I was not given the best of his subcontractors except for the tilers (luckily).
If anyone wants to take a look at the sub-standard works that Uncle had delivered for me (although he said that he would do up everything perfectly), by all means you can drop me a note / email and arrange for a viewing ...
My wifey and I discussed about the likelihood of getting Uncle to do up our place again (if we ever shift or renovate the whole house), our verdict is that we would try to save up more cash and get my 2nd lowest quote ID/Contractor to do the works instead. It really saves us the monitoring and there was hardly any post-rectification works required for my friend who had recommended him to us.
Unless Uncle improves his project management and the quality of his subcontractors, I doubt i'll ever introduce anyone to him again.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Pending clean-ups, touch-ups and rectifications ...
Joseph was supposed to get his guys to do general cleaning at my place, touch up the silicone, rectify some unsightly white cement around the piping and to either redo or replace the stainless steel backing (it has already shown signs of popping out !) but none of his guys appeared as Joseph is currently in Malaysia ... Will be chasing him tomorrow to follow-up ...
I heard that news that Jason is splitting from Uncle and setting up his own ID company ... Personally, I feel that Jason's too soft with workers and sometimes he would end up accepting inferior quality works (like in the case of my carpentry)... I believe Jason's better at co-ordinating carpentry rather than QC ... I wish Jason all the best (but of course I do hope that he would bury the hatches with Uncle and rejoin him in Fu Hua)
I heard that news that Jason is splitting from Uncle and setting up his own ID company ... Personally, I feel that Jason's too soft with workers and sometimes he would end up accepting inferior quality works (like in the case of my carpentry)... I believe Jason's better at co-ordinating carpentry rather than QC ... I wish Jason all the best (but of course I do hope that he would bury the hatches with Uncle and rejoin him in Fu Hua)
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Remember to insist for a receipt after payment and keep your renovation receipts properly !
Uncle called me up today to clarify some payment matters which I replied that I've already paid in full, with the last 20% and the VO paid to Bo Geh (Joseph)...
After I mentioned the chronology of the progressive payments, Uncle suddenly remembered his mistake and apologised. Not a big issue since I made sure that I insist on receipts (with the Company chop or at least the nature of payment) everytime I pay Uncle or his proxy.
Uncle may be chin chai but when it comes to money, nobody is chin chai .... so ... insist on your receipts when you pay Uncle or his proxy and keep it properly :) You never know when you'll need it :)
After I mentioned the chronology of the progressive payments, Uncle suddenly remembered his mistake and apologised. Not a big issue since I made sure that I insist on receipts (with the Company chop or at least the nature of payment) everytime I pay Uncle or his proxy.
Uncle may be chin chai but when it comes to money, nobody is chin chai .... so ... insist on your receipts when you pay Uncle or his proxy and keep it properly :) You never know when you'll need it :)
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Day 29 - (2nd June) Wrought iron gate installed and final payments made !
I called up Ah Hock in the morning but the line was engaged ... Ah Hock returned the call and informed me that the gate would be installed between 2-4pm. The gate was completed and it looked great :) I just need to fix the bracket for the lock to fix it in place ...
At around 8pm, Uncle called me to request for final payment and said that his partner (Bo Geh aka Joseph) will meet me at my place. Reasonable as he had finished up all the required items.
Bo Geh was only able to meet me at around 10.30pm as he was around Jurong after rushing from Jalan Besar. We spoke and I requested that he remove the improvised jack from the stainless steel backing. He did and we saw that there were excess glue from the backing. Bo Geh told me that he will get the workers to scrape off the excess glue and reapply the silicone all round. I also showed him some of the plumbing works that was done where the white cement / silicone was applied "over generously" around the entry/exit points of the pipes. He said that he will get the worker to remove the "generous helping of white cement" and apply some grouting to make it look nicer. He also agreed to do chemical wash for me in the kitchen.
Hope that everything will be completed by this thursday / friday :)
Total Renovation Bill = SGD 11,600 (from $10,800, we added 2 more items)
Pics from Day 29 -
At around 8pm, Uncle called me to request for final payment and said that his partner (Bo Geh aka Joseph) will meet me at my place. Reasonable as he had finished up all the required items.
Bo Geh was only able to meet me at around 10.30pm as he was around Jurong after rushing from Jalan Besar. We spoke and I requested that he remove the improvised jack from the stainless steel backing. He did and we saw that there were excess glue from the backing. Bo Geh told me that he will get the workers to scrape off the excess glue and reapply the silicone all round. I also showed him some of the plumbing works that was done where the white cement / silicone was applied "over generously" around the entry/exit points of the pipes. He said that he will get the worker to remove the "generous helping of white cement" and apply some grouting to make it look nicer. He also agreed to do chemical wash for me in the kitchen.
Hope that everything will be completed by this thursday / friday :)
Total Renovation Bill = SGD 11,600 (from $10,800, we added 2 more items)
Pics from Day 29 -
Gate installed by Ah Hock's worker
Applying Silicone around to stablise the door
Finished product (view from home)
Applying Silicone around to stablise the door
Finished product (view from home)
Monday, June 1, 2009
Day 28 - (1st June) No activity but some afterthoughts about carpentry ...
I was hoping Ah Hock would call me in the morning to tell me that the wrought iron gates are going to be installed but the call never came ... oh well, it appears that my gut feel is wrong.
Uncle also never turn up to chase for payment ... must be busy fighting fire elsewhere ... I also didn't remove the improvised jack because I want Uncle to remove it himself ... so now, there's an ugly contraption in my kitchen ....
After the fiasco with Amax (Ah Mei), I did a thorough check on the carpentry and my advice on how to check carpentry works (in my own experience) is generally as follows:
A Pic of block board - the most common material used in carpentry, especially for the doors (they call it 3 piece solid plywood because 2 pieces of plywood will sandwich a piece of solid wood).
A Pic of 3/5/7/9-ply solid plywood - may not be the best material but generally used for surfaces where you need a more solid feel. This is because the quality of the plywood depends on how well the veneer is compressed together.
Uncle also never turn up to chase for payment ... must be busy fighting fire elsewhere ... I also didn't remove the improvised jack because I want Uncle to remove it himself ... so now, there's an ugly contraption in my kitchen ....
After the fiasco with Amax (Ah Mei), I did a thorough check on the carpentry and my advice on how to check carpentry works (in my own experience) is generally as follows:
- Do a visual inspection of the exterior when the cabinets are mounted. Check that the doors are mounted correctly (i.e not slanted, too much clearance on all sides), and the gap between each door is not too much (around 2mm is fine). If not sure, always get the 水平尺to help you check whether the cabinets and doors are mounted properly.
- If you have specified certain measurements for the cabinets, use a measuring tape to check the measurements.
- Check the exterior laminates for scratches, including the ABS door trimmings - whether it is chipped / damaged.
- Check the interior laminates for scratches, including whether the area surrounding the butterfly hinges are mounted correctly i.e. cannot see ugly dents created by inaccurate/incorrect mounting.
- Check the closing / opening of drawers - whether the soft closing is ok and the rails are mounted correctly.
- Check the closing / opening of cabinet doors - whether the soft closing is ok and there are no visibly huge gaps between door and cabinet after closing.
- Knock on the interior of the cabinets. If you have specified that you want a solid backing, the carpenters should not give you a thin piece of laminate/plywood for backing. The standard norm for carpentry is that the 4 sides will be made of solid plywood (now block board more common) and a thin piece of plywood will be used for the backing. This may not be the best quality because it is flexible and tend to warp if you press against it.
- Check the joints between each section of the cabinet. Ensure that the joints are seamless and smooth when you move your hand across.
- When the product is more or less completed, check that they applied silicone on all the edges, especially the bottom part if you're mounting cabinets on top of the 50mm cabinet base. If the bottom part did not have silicone, you may end up having "visitors" of all sorts residing in the gaps.
A Pic of block board - the most common material used in carpentry, especially for the doors (they call it 3 piece solid plywood because 2 pieces of plywood will sandwich a piece of solid wood).
A Pic of 3/5/7/9-ply solid plywood - may not be the best material but generally used for surfaces where you need a more solid feel. This is because the quality of the plywood depends on how well the veneer is compressed together.
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