I am currently engaging Yap for my condo renovation but my experience with him so so only.

The electrical work especially because it is done by other person.

However I have to say he is a responsible contractor and he will attend to all your requests

What type of repair work are you looking for?

To me Yap is knowledgeable and he can really give you good advice. He is responsible too. The tiling and painting work done by his worker is good. But the electrical/wiring part I wouldn't recommend at all.

I engaged him to do hacking and tiling work (combine wet/dry kitchen), painting, wardrobe, & electrical work (light, fan installation and additional socket).

The wireman first day already keep telling that driller very hard to use can't drill this and that (typical complain type worker), then simply install my light without following the guidance. I also bought simon switches for my whole house and he can't even install them properly.

Look at the picture below. the 3 gang one was installed by the wireman and they told me the switch is like this one. I don't believe so I open it and fix the 2 gang switch myself and its as per what I thought it would be. Apparently they didn't even know that they need to clip the frame and the switch before installation until I tell them so. Then I ask them to recheck all the switches and the wireman only fix the 3 gang one in the picture below.

https://pictr.com/images/2019/06/12/50slrq.md.png

Frankly speaking his price is not the cheapest in town but I still accept the quote because of all the good review in this forum (for reference purpose i was quoted >4k for labour only to paint a 1,100 sqft new condo including ceiling).

I am totally fine with the hacking/tiling/painting work but the electrical work I am really not happy. And he started to get defensive when I complain to him about the electrical work e.g. the switches are like that one, the fan and light you bought why so fancy one (rubine is everywhere nowadays and the light is sort of pendant light with three modes and after wireman installed can only can activate one mode).

Personally that explanation is not acceptable because I paid for the work to be done and when I am willing to pay more i expect things to be done better.

For roof repair if its the same person that did my tiling then I would recommend. A malay bodybuilder, quiet and very honest guy in my opinion, my kitchen tiling is all nicely done.

Do share your experience here once you engaged him. Perhaps I was the only unlucky one

The Malay worker works for Yap and I do not have his contact. Everything is through Yap.

Nope I didn't do plaster ceiling

Credit when credit's due - I complained to Yap yesterday that I am really not happy about the electrical work and he did acknowledge and admit the problem.

Despite me non-stop complaining to him about the wireman Yap told me that it was his fault also because his job is to ensure that I am satisfied with all the work. And though we talk about the wireman but in the end he is willing to take his responsibility (rather than tell me its wireman problem and ask me to deal with them) and promise to rectify the problem for me.

(I have been really harsh and I even told Yap that I am paying the professional (referring to wireman) to do the work and not for them to come for training )

Though I am not really happy with the electrical work but still the hacking/tiling/painting part I have no complain at all and think he did a great job. Most importantly Yap really take pride to his work and want to ensure all his customer are happy and satisfy hence is still a worthy contractor.

Just a couple of days ago I switched on my fan and after 10 minutes or so then suddenly loud noise was coming from the fan and scared my family and I. Apparently the fan casing was not being installed properly hence it just came off after the fan spin for a while.

I got so frustrated and angry and I send the video to Yap. And the first response I got is that it is not fair to blame them for poor installation thereafter only he ask me what is the problem with the fan. He ownself also admitted that his wireman got problem but first action is to defend themselves first then only ask me what is the problem with the fan.

Therefore I literally told him to stop whatever job that is still pending and I will get some other guys to do for me.

Previously we also agreed that I do not need to pay the electrical work in full due to the many errors (plus I have to fix some of the switches that wasn't installed properly myself) and he agreed for me to deduct.

So since he ask me to deduct I said to him I will only pay 1k out of the 4.7k given all the errors plus I now need to look for other wireman to recheck all the installation (he proudly tells me that he will pay for all the fees). As usual la he then send me so many messages basically saying it is not fair to deduct so much and say they did turn up to work although got error bla bla bla. Funny thing is I don't remember I agreed paying them to come for training.

This Yap will always say to me that friendship comes first and business comes second. And the moment I told him I do not want any of his guy to continue with the work he said to me that we can't be friend anymore

When complain to him about the wiring work he will just say his other work like tiling and painting is good la & etc. I to that but what is proud about this? I paid for the quote that is not the cheapest so delivering good workmanship is WITHIN EXPECTATION and not something EXCEEDING EXPECTATION.

Given a choice I would rather ask the wireman from the shop to install for me at least they won't tell me that the fan/light I bought is too fancy and normally it only takes them a day or two to finish all installation without much problem.

My experience with Yap is totally frustrating and disappointing but there seem to be quite some positive reviews about him. Well I am just sharing my part of story.

My ceiling light if following the installation manual should look like this:


Their first installation - simply drill a hole on the casing and break the connector so it fits then the casing cannot close properly. Told them about this and even show them the right way to install but they just ignored (because Yap is so confident that his guys are doing the right things) so the rest of the ceiling lights also install like this. I should have claim the damages from him instead

Well my opinion even tiling and painting work is overrated given the price he is quoting. Labor only to paint a 1100 sqft condo cost 4k++ for ceiling + wall, and he will tell you to try use lesser color as possible (easier and faster to finish the work mah)

Another thing that I took issue with is also his planning for the work i.e. he will rush you to get everything ready then tell you oh my worker only coming later. If not then text you today tell you tomorrow my workers are coming.

Plus always rush for work to be completed and will keep telling you to come touch up later

See the wall plug that his guys installed. When complain to him he said because they were rushing to the next site dont worry small matter only we will come and touch up later. My point is why do someting that you already know gonna require touch up later? It seems as though you are doing a lot but in fact many of the work is not necessary (ya again because he wanna rush for work to be completed ASAP). I should mention also I didn't ask for these wall plugs to be installed.

Over confident I would say.

The moment you criticize his work you can then see how he is reacting. Before work say words all very nice one, the moment you complain then is another story.

Btw what is your side of story? Just curious, mind to share a bit?

I am not blaming anyone in this forum and just want to share my side of story.

But to be honest I have to admit at that time I didn't even bother to make comparison because of all the reviews (even though I feel his price is not cheap) thinking everything will be all good.

Of course he may have his side of story to say its my problem but I couldn't be bothered. Life is as such and I am gonna just go source for some other guys to do all the remaining work for me.

Btw just a note that Yap is actually looking at this forum pretty closely cause he responded to my feedback here via text. And of course chase me for the balance payment and saying words like in this incident we can't be friend anymore (is this a threat to me?). This is what happened when you complain but not like I care.

I made it clear to him that I will pay only when the other people finish off the job that I expected him to complete without much problem. Like it or not.

I assume its typo and should be 12k because 120k sounds ridiculously high.

But anyway I wouldn't know whether his price is expensive or not for your case because I am not experienced. I only realised his price is a bit on the high side after I ask someone else to complete the unfinished work for me.

My thoughts - if the price is acceptable for you then you can go ahead with it but I would avoid any sort of electrical work.

so you are the only rich fella that can afford to pay expensive contractors?

idiot

Pm me if you need contact for plumber to fix your leaking. I personally experienced a very bad leaking with one of my house (even affecting the neighbour) and this plumber that I know was responsible enough make numerous visit to identify the problem and eventually fixed it

well the word "usually" and "must" carries a different meaning to me.

so my interpretation to what he is saying - we are facing problem with contractors only because we are trying to be cheap. As long as we go expensive and pay whatever contractors ask for then we will be fine

seriously on what ground you say that we all here are choosing cheaper option and thinking that anybody can do it?

all of us care about our renovation and many of us are even choosing the most expensive quote YET in the end the contractor wasn't able to meet our expectation hence the complaints.

it is very obvious that you didn't read this thread completely and just coming in to say that we are facing problem because we are trying to go cheap.

if paying expensive quote means worry-free i believe we don't even need this thread because many of us can definitely afford to pay.

this is exactly my point and the way he phrased it is as though we are bearing the consequences because we are going cheap

in my case im using one of the contractor recommended by many in this forum and didn't even bother to negotiate or compare the price. the way of talking is also very similar i.e. we will deliver quality workmanship & bla bla bla but in the end some of the work didn't meet expectation

thats why im very pissed with the way he is talking because many of us definitely did our homework and not always going with the cheapest option unlike what he is claiming