I think there are too many problematic renovation contractors out there who don't keep to their words & promise.
We thought that the contractor recommended by friends (those that work as engineers) and family are ok, but sad to say, it's not ok.

Problems that are commonly faced:
1) job delayed for 3 months to 1 year (I have a friend whose renovation job has been delayed for 2 years and still working. Mine was delayed for 4 months)
2) water leakages after total replacement of roof (4 -8 incidents in less than 1 year)
3) big cracks & small cracks on walls & tiles in almost everywhere in the house (living room, car porsch, bed rooms, kitchen)
4) floor tiles crack
5) don't follow architect's drawing or your specifications
6) contractors try to coax you to accept what he/she had done, which you don't want
7) when you approach them with the issues, they will try to avoid addressing the issue and tell you that "it's like that."
8) with all the problems, the contractors still think they are right and we are demanding (for asking them to do the renovation that we want in the first place) ?
9) contractors don't supervise their workers
10)you thought that appointing a main contractor to handle all jobs (demolish & construction of a house, electrical, water piping, plaster ceiling, floor tiling, kitchen, cabinets & furniture, windows, glasses, grills, etc) will be smooth and easy. However, if you get a problematic main contractor, all the jobs will come with many issues during and after construction.

I am just another disappointed customer who got another lousy contractor.
Is it really so tough to find a good contractor in Malaysia?

We hold some money back.
Normally it's 5%.

Of course we signed.
I believe most of us did.
In my case, we even provide architect's drawing which is approved by the local council (for eg. DBKL, MBPJ)
But the contractors will always twist the words.

I think most people who have dealt with contractors will understand the situation.

Of course, I don't mean all contractors are bad.
But mostly in Malaysia are below average.

The moral of my story is when you are doing renovation work, you need to be:
1) firm
2) stick to your plan
3) don't have sympathy (even it means tearing down a 1,000 sf area which was not constructed to your requirement/plan. contractor will always tell you, I have already completed this part, how? If you want me to tear it down and re-build, it will take another 2-3 months and need more cost)
4) don't be accommodating
5) need to oversee the project on every 2-3 days

Therefore, apart from having blacklisted contractor, we should also have a list of good contractors.
But to be fair to the contractor, we should at least describe what job/project did the contractor take.

This post has been edited by velocity555: Dec 18 2014, 11:05 PM