Hi there,

Just want to get some opinions from forumer about house renovation. Recently i have bought a double storey house (20 x 70) in shah alam. Wanted to do a simple reno - at least to make the house look clean and can be rent out.

I noticed that there's quite a bad leakage at the downstair bathroom (mainly due to the leakage from the 1st floor bathroom). I wanted to get a reliable contractor to do some renovation inclusive of grilling for the whole house, to repaint the interior part of the house, to fix the leakage, to check all power outlet and water outlet and possibly, to change all parquet to tiles at 1st floor.

I am on budget but changing the tiles are quite expensive. I have few questions here, which i would like to get some idea from all of you.

1) One of the contractor quote me the price but didnt quote for fixing the leakages, i heard that he is reluctant to fix leakages.....do you think i should award the job to him since "fixing the leakages" is the main concern here.

2) The parquet upstair came out pieces by pieces, as such, he recommended me to change to all tiles. Is there a shop that sell parquet that i can actually stick it back myself? Or any recommended shop for cheap tiles with average quality?

3) For grille, he quoted me about RM3000 for normal type of steel. Is this reasonable?

4) For painting of whole house with cheap paint, he quoted me RM3350 (this is inclusive of painting exterior with dulux weathershield). But my exterior is still clean as the seller paint it exterior before handling over to me, so i decided not to paint the exterior.

5) Buying 4 doors with aluminium coating (for washroom so that it will last longer) - RM1040, reasonable?

6) if i engage a contractor, what are the payment like? do i need to pay deposit or i only pay when the work is done? How about warranty? If the leakage still persist after fixing, do i get warranty that they will fix it till right? Do i need to pay additional?

7) I need to get receipt to them everytime i pay or i need to get them to sign my payment voucher everytime they received the money?

Appreciate your input.

Thanks and have a nice day

yeah....the major concern is leakage...

however, what's the common practice? we paid the contractor only when work is done or we need to pay up front?