Hi,

The good thing about engaging ID company is that they will be able to make a very nice design of your house that most normal contractors would not be able to come up with. If you just want to have a normal design, you do not need to engage an ID company, a normal contractor will be able to fulfill your need. If you want a very nice design, you might need to consider engaging an ID company. I just engaged an ID company to design my condo ( since I want it to be design quite unique), and I am quite happy with the result. Not only that they could come up with very nice design, they also have knowledge on wide variety of material selection.

However, the bad thing is that when it comes to actual build work, those ID companies will typically cost you a bomb. They usually sub-con the work to other people or have partnership with other parties, that;s why the price is high. I engaged an ID company that is supposed to have in-house factory, I was quite dissapointed that the price was ridiculously high and when I asked them they said that even though it is an in-house factory they also have partnership. Now I have done the design with that ID company, and for the build work I engaged my previous contractor. If you know a good contractor, it would be good to do it that way: engage the ID company to do the design, and give the technical drawings to the contractor that you know well ans ask them to do the bujild work. I am not done yet with my renovation work ( my contractor is still in the progress of doing the work), so I need to see how it turns out, but so far for my case I think this is the best way forward.