Piping and Wiring -> Plaster -> Wall tiles -> Plaster ceiling -> Floor water proofing -> Floor tiles

should insist on FIXED pricing ie rm4.50 psf for tiling.

watch out for hacking prices as well.

painting - does it include plastering and/or skim coating?
otherwise reasonable

Plaster ceiling price is on the high side.

Normal casement windows. No brand lah.. Normal green glass.. no tinting. 
Just that I insisted on 1.2mm thick aluminum.
The branded ones usually give 1.3mm and above.
Grille. Yup... with Angle bars .

---

Added on October 27, 2011, 12:16 pm
Care to explain about this metal support thing??

That one is normal aluminum support (maybe a GI metal) very thin. For plaster ceiling.

Longer as in from slab to ceiling? Unless length go from 1' to 2' maybe cost some extra. How much more you need to pay? My contractor did not ask for extra.

I got similar leveling tool, but is not so spaceship.

The door installer will cut the hole using grinder.

Renovation Update...

Got My Concrete kitchen table top done - 2.5" thick so far. 



Car porch "Kaki Lima" base ready



Pergola skeleton ready


BUT ..... !!!!! 

There is things that needs major,,, MAJOR RE-DO 

Fung Shui Re Do. DDoor needs to be removed from here. If not all the "Choy" Flow allll out   
Security door some more ..   This is gonna cost me 


Gonna remove all the side wall / stairs rail....
If not can't move king size mattress upstairs. 
Buttt.... I think the end result should be kinda nice.... 


All this gonna totally tank my avalaible funds, Gotta talk to bank liao 

2" short of 2' should be about right. You cannot have the conc table exactly 2' deep and use 2' tiles. There is need to have allowance for the front side for the tiles.

I was around Pasar Road today and decided to drop by Wong Lighting (M) S/B. since weikee mentioned this place. 

Was attended by a nice saleslady, Susan
Told her that I was looking for downlight and my ceiling height was around 8.5' after plaster ceiling.
She recommended me to utilize 4" diameter downlight as my ceiling height is low. (higher ceiling can use 6" diameter and above)

Here is what I learned.
Clip on energy savings bulb has 10 , 13 , 18 , and 26 watt.
Screw on energy bulb has 8 , 11 , 14 , 20 , and 23 watt.

The higher the watt the brighter it is.
The higher the wattage of the bulb, the longer (size) the bulb is.
Thus some small downlight casing can not fit hugher wattage bulb due to size limitation.

The advantage of screw on bulb is that, you can change the bulb type (wattage), without changing the ballast (since screw on bulb, no external ballast)

A 18 watt vertical bulb can provide 100 level light.
A 10 watt horizontal bulb can provide only 50 level light
(not sure about this, just what I was told)

They sell distribute Hitachi bulbs, sell osram and philip bulb, they do not sell GE bulb.

The better external ballast they have is from Malaysia-Solex

Was quoted
4" Vertical Round Downlight  - Solex, 18 watt bulb (clip on) RM23.00

4" Horizontal Round Downlight - Solex, 13 watt bulb (Clip on) , (Cant fit bigger bulb, 1 piece only - max 2 pc per downlight) RM29.00

1" Downlight casing - RM 22, together with LED bulb + driver - RM 55.

Track type with movable spotlight , 3' track - RM18, 6' - RM36. 1 pc spotlight RM32.
The above is what I remember, it is a bit rojak    but I hope this helps 

Renovation Updates

My Cat 5e cable. "Brand recommended by 2 IT professionals" 


Finally bought my Downlights after a lot of research (ask ask ask), choosing (ask ask ask) and thought (ask ask ask). 

My 4" round PLC vertical downlight with JKR (loss 6w) + Sirim certified Ballast and Sandblast +Stripes combi reflectors.
All Made In Malaysia 
Toshiba Daylight Energy Savings Bulb 18Watt (not shown). -- 60 sets liao 

Got made in Malaysia lah 
http://forum.lowyat.net/index.php?showtopic=2021842&hl=
YLI in Ipoh liao 
Got to know about the brand when I was researching at Wong Lighting.
It is pricier than the regular YET and EVENZZO brand.
Most shops do not stock this brand.
I got it at Puchong.
Ten-Gro Lighting. (they do not stock-you hafta wait)
Wong Lighting have stock but pricier.
Price depends on configuration.

Yup. The guy that made the gate gave me the wrong weight as he was using another customer gate weight when he provided me the gate weight. 

Only Approx 150kg per wing. Can use light weight Autogate unit 

Installing the autogate soon. The PJ guy price was "KRAZY"  2k 
Getting installers from "cheaper neighbourhood like Cheras. 

Decided to install CCTV for my home recently. Did some very basic research through Google
and went to meet 4 suppliers in their shop in Bandar Puteri (Many suppliers there).
There were many brands offered such as AVTECH, SUPER GUARD, SAMSUNG, PANASONIC, (Taiwan, Korean, Japanese)
Surprisingly they all offered China's HIKVISION (Wikipedia state that they are the biggest CCTV manufacturer in the world) as an option. It seems that recent years this China CCTV products quality has improved wor.....

Below are the summary of my findings as I understand it....

[/U]Home Surveillance System (Home CCTV)
The stand alone not linked to alarm system or Security Guard providers type.

Types of Suppliers
There are basically a few types of CCTV system suppliers.

1. The Installers
These are people who install CCTV system to homes or offices. They do not carry stock and source them from CCTV distributors. Of course end users can also buy the CCTV System (Hardware)  themselves and then get these installers to install them. It goes without saying that level of skill and knowledge of the system varies greatly among different installers.

2. The Distributors
These are people who bring in the CCTV System (Hardware). They sell or distribute these system to installers and some times other distributors (I guess). Sometimes they will choose an installers for you or sometimes they will specifically state that they do not sell to you direct but will introduce their customers to you...which amount to the same thing.

3. The CCTV Solution Providers "Ta Pau Liao"
These are people who brings in the CCTV System (CCTV) themselves, keep stock, have their own in house staff as installers. They usually concentrate on specific brands.

CCTV System
This is big topic and I gave up partway  after going through the materials available online, its a freaking huge topic for a laymen like me 
Below are my "cha pa lang" summary - No guarantee on accuracy

IP Camera System (Internet Protocol)
These are the newer system that is coming in to the market.
Generally speaking its the newer generation system.
It has better resolution,
Each camera is smarter.
Some model can transmit sound (2 way), pan, tilt,  zoom
use internet rather than wires for communication.
The camera can operate individually, record in to its inbuilt SD Card, direct feed to remote view (Mobile Phone outside)
The camera can operate in a group through a Network Video Recorder (NVR)
Potentially less wiring requirement (power lines to camera only)
Damm expensive but prices are coming down
Potential setting issue as Network / Internet setting are more complicated for laymen with sometimes automatic resetting causing potential headache.

Analog Camera System
These are the established most commonly used system
Generally speaking its the old generation system.
It has limited resolution although in the  last 2 years it has developed up to HD (720p) and Full HD (1080p) resolution
The camera system is relatively simpler
Some model can transmit sound (2 way), pan, tilt,  zoom although rare
Use wires for communication.
The camera operate in a system together with a Digital Video Recorder (DVR)
Damm lot of wiring required (wires from camera to DVR) leading to a need for potentially ugly wire lines.
Damm cheap especially the China Models.
Easier and simpler setup. Potential headache is from the internet setting for remote viewing but still easier compared to IP Camera system.

Note: I went with Analogue Camera System (HD 720p )
Because - Me stoopid, IP camera too complicated
            - Me limited $$$$, Cheaper system is Good
            - Me not James Bond 720p resolution is good enough, I am not a spy agency that demand satellite zooming.
            - Me live in Malaysia, avalaible Internet speed is slowwwww, IP System depend on good internet speed.
            - Me found good installer, (good at hiding ugly wires)
            - I think if camera rosak can just change easier (camera not that expensive) as long as existing wiring is solid

The CCTV System Hardware
The description here will be mostly for Analog Camera System although I will provide my best guess for the equivalent IP Camera System.

Camera
There are generally 2 main type (other than IP vs Analog).
The Dome Type - usually for indoor
The Bullet type - usually for outdoor
Dome nowadays come without the glass casing as it sometimes interfere with the camera IR system as it cause internal reflection if not fitted right (this is what the guys I see told me).
Bullet type is more intrusive looking thus used outdoor and is easier to position.
Camera work nonstop and only record when motion is detected. That means when you view live, you can see what it sees but it would not start to record until motion is detected. This is to safe space on your memory hard disk (its stupid to record static image anyway)

Video Recorder
This is the command center.
Analog system uses DVR, IP Camera system uses NVR.
It usually comes in a multiple of 4 channels...e.g. 4 Channel System, 8 Channel, 16 Channel, 32 Channel. (1 channel = 1 camera)
It handles remote viewing (linked to a router-it can provide live view and remote playback), Live viewing (connect to a TV or monitor, you can view live or playback what was recorded.) CCTV setting (especially for analogue system) is all set here.
It work like this (I think) ,  it records all video from multiple cameras (when motion is detected) from beginning (let say from 1 st Jan 2015) until the Harddisk Memory storage is full (let say 15th Jan 2015) then the system will loop back and record over the earliest recording. Thus if you view recorded footage on before 15th Jan 2015, you can still see 1 st Jan 2015 recordings but if you view recorded footage on after 15 Jan 2015, the earliest recorder footage available will not be 1st Jan 2015 as it has been recorder over. .... 

HardDisk Memory Storage
Video Recorder works with a Harddisk where all recordings are kept (Western Digital Purple are recommended). The bigger the harddisk the more recordings can be kept.  If you want to see further in to the past you will need a bigger Harddisk.

Multiple Port power Supply
This is used in Analog Camera System to distribute power to the cameras.

Things to look out for (My personal list) - for analog camera system

1. Good Installers - You will need a good installers to ensure that they can install the camera system in a solid way and for them not to make the camera look ugly (too many exposed wires -hiding wires takes up a lot of work and skills)

2. The right system for you with room for potential future addition, if you plan to install only 4 cameras, get a bigger channel Video Recorder .. e,g.8 channel system. It do not cost too much extra and it allows you flexibility to add new cameras in the future.

3. FPS (Frame per second). - Usually 30-25 FPS is considered smooth video movement. 15-12 FPS is still good but anything lower than that is like those stop motion picture. Different camera see at different FPS. Different Video Recorder record at diffrent FPS. Make sure your system is getting the FPS you want from individual camera FPS speed for live view and the Video recorder recording FPS.... from what I understand 720p your camera sees at 25 FPS and 1080p at 12 FPS. Ir seems that higher the resolution, the slower the FPS avalaible. ... you have to check out this fact.

4. Camera Resolution. - better resolution just like TV the higher resolution the sharper the picture. but the higher the resolution the more data is generated and faster your memory hard disk space is taken up.
Old system they are using "TV Lines" 400-700 lines per frame.
New HD system they are talking about 720p  (1 Megapixels) - 1080p (2 Megapixels)
I understand IP Camera can go higher (James Bond Standard)... 16 Megapixels