After over a year, my the construction of my house is almost complete. It hasn't been a smooth journey and there were many delays and problems throughout.

As of now, the headaches have not ended. My contractor has just slapped me with a "rough" estimate of additional cost of around RM30-40k. I'm not sure if it could be more.

Over the course of the renovation, he would often do or suggest things to me in a way that made me feel he really wanted to build me my perfect dream house. Often, he would suggest, very subtly, that I should add this, or do that a different way. Always reminding me that he wants the best for me and that he's actually putting in extra effort and going the extra mile for me. He even told me he will absorb the cost.

My mistake was believing him that he's really doing all this out of the kindness of his heart. I have not seen the additional bill yet, but all of this will be counted in and
"more". Worst still, he has started to count in additional things that he "forgot" to quote previously.

Example, new autogate - forgot to quote armor cable. Washrooms, forgot to quote the countertops. Things like that are too obvious to be left out for an experienced contractor and only now am I realizing that this is his way to squeeze more out of us.

Also, the "more" part is the fact that I would not have agreed to do certain things had I known he will charge me. For example, I would not have changed my old wooden doors who are still in excellent condition only to have him tell me now that the same quality doors now will cost me a bomb. The worst thing is, he took all my old stuff away - wooden doors, my auto gate, the motor, old roof tiles ... everything that had value even when I told him not to.

A lot of these things, had I known the price upfront, I may have opted not to do or change them at all.

Right now, I've paid him 90% and he's already in the safe zone even if he were to stop and leave right now. He has always told me how tight he was and his workers were often unpaid or delayed. Recently, I went through the quote again and calculated all the things that he still has not delivered. Only then I realized that what he has delivered so far is much less than what I have paid him. In other words, I am very much ahead in terms of payments.

And I'm stuck - since now 100% payment is no longer the originally agreed sum, but including the additional things which I haven't seen yet. And what's stopping him from asking more if I continue to pay him? As long as the house is not complete, I will be at his mercy.

Hope all of you undergoing renovations will gain something from my sharing and not repeat my mistakes.

- any "suggestions" that your contractor makes - ask upfront what it will cost you. There is no such thing as "free" or "kind" - no matter how he tries to portray it.

- make note of everything you want to keep (if renovating an old house) and make sure your contractor knows you will calculate it with him if he insist on taking them

- your itemized, detailed quote is your best friend. Track your progress payments against what the contractor has done so far based on the quote. Over 1 year of dealing with this guy has made lax and drop my guard.
At this stage, I am really no longer excited about my "Old house to dream house" project. I bit off more than I can chew and embarked on such a huge project and ended up with delays, police reports, syabas, majlis (really, there's more and I couldn't share all of them here) and now being held hostage by this nice guy contractor.

I had my reservations about sharing the contact of this guy to all of you who asked and I'm glad I didn't.

Thanks Adrian- it has really been quite the experience.

I went in with a very sure and solid plan (or so I thought) after a lot of research. But sometimes, no amount of research or reading will trump actual work experience. A lot of problems emerged on site and I had to make the do or don't decision relying on the contractor's advice. Those advice don't always come in my best interests and there's where my lack of experience shows. This is my first project and it may very well be my last as I don't want to go through this ever again.

I did my due diligence and interviewed a large number of contractors, including several from this forum and other websites who in hindsight, may have done a better job in a shorter duration. But you know what they say about hindsight.

I fully echo your sentiment to be dead sure on what you want before starting a renovation. I went in with this mindset, but still ended up with changes throughout.

Friends and family who have not embarked on such a project before wonder why I don't just cut him loose. But you seem to understand that it's not that straightforward unless the case is really an extreme case.

I have not asked him for any receipt and at this stage, I don't think he will. Even if he does provide them, I can no longer have the assurance that they are not fake or altered receipts showing inflated numbers.

After almost 2 years, my house is done (well, almost).... the contractor ended up running away, and left me with a big mess:
- unfinished wiring and networking cables, and for those done... a huge spider web of mess in my ceilings
- terrible painting and plastering job - had to hire another painter and practically repainted the entire house
- leaky plumbing and sink traps, leaky awning, leaky walls (when raining)
- lots of dirt / stains / paint / rust everywhere
- all upstairs air conditioning practically unusable - 3x rooms ALL leaking, 1x in the living hall with outlet blocked by cement - my guess is unintentional, since i noticed he moved my toilet drainage hole - and didn't inform me / his workers so they must have patched up the air con outlet accidentally. The air con outlets are connected to the toilet drainage. I will have to redo all 4 air cons upstairs...
- the air cons on the ground floor seems OK... but maybe their problems are masked by virtue of them not being on an upper floor... who knows
- couldn't even get my house keys from him - had to cut and change all my locks
- slanting pillars, slanting walls, etc - very apparent when cabinets are in
- tripping fuse boxes
- two very disgruntled, angry neighbors.... seems like I can't have my happy neighborhood as I envisaged.... I don't blame them... seeing as they had to endure this unreasonably long process with no proper site covering, damage to their property etc and hungry workers asking them for food + host of other problems.

There are so many other problems that I can't even finish listing them... basically this whole project was a big Murphy's Law.

I don't know if posting personal details / pictures is allowed, here's his company name... ELEGANCE DESIGN CONCEPT (EDC) Website... last I checked, the website is already down. Anyway, he owns a few others Sdn Bhd's ...

The logo looks like this:

[attachmentid=9174544]

Anyway, after a lot of rectification works I am one step closer towards my new home...

Had a contractor climb up my water tank slab recently as I noticed water marks on the toilet ceiling beneath when raining... water outlets not done properly, slab was not slanted right and there were cracks and mess all over. He couldn't do much except to just silicone over wherever he could.

[attachmentid=9174581][attachmentid=9174582]
[attachmentid=9174584][attachmentid=9174585]
[attachmentid=9174586][attachmentid=9174587]
[attachmentid=9174588]

And this is his trademark slanting pillars (and walls too).

[attachmentid=9174597]
Thanks adrian, but I have already moved in... nothing much could be done until the next major rectification... for now the leaking seems to have stopped. Maybe in a few years I will have to majorly repair this Palace of Shitstorms...