2nd stage - Comes the Tiling stage.
I got my tiles from Feruni. Initially was served by a staff who MIA-ed halfway through. Let's just call him J. When i say MIA halfway through meaning that during our 1st visit (main branch). We just went with whichever staff who approached and served us. I believe as most customers, 1st visit is to survey - i checked out Feruni, Niro Granite and ? (can't remember the name of the shop). We eventually decided on Feruni because they are able to help you with the 'design' and provide rendering of how the tile design will look like in real life. Because i have no ID and am DIY-ing, i decided i am willing to pay more for tiles and take it take part of the additional cost as payment for their ID fees (providing me with advise and drawings).
So we contacted J via whatsapp and started the 'design' consultation process. Initially, J was very on the ball, replied very promptly. I was quite systematic (some would say mafan and nit picky but... it's my house and i want to get it done to my specification) and wanted to finalise design(s) for ALL 4 toilets / my living & dining area / upstairs open terrace area before making payment. But after providing me with the 1st draft of the 1st toilet design, J 'gently' nudged me to make payment first, say design can always fine tune. I told him that i rather finalise all design before making payment, then he kinda MIAed. Probably think i wasnt worth his time.
Anyways, because i already planned my toilet design (in my head) base on the available tiles type/size/shape that Feruni offered, and i did really like the tiles they had, i went to visit another branch, this time the Kota Damansara branch. This time i was attended to by Hafiz. I was planning to spend the whole afternoon there consulting them on the tile design but as luck would have it, their design system is 'under maintenance'. Hafiz couldnt help much coz he needed his system to design the tiles but he did tell me that he will get back to me after i passed him my floor layout and told him what i wanted for my toilets. Living room was simple - plain white tiles all the way. Open terrace was the wooden plank look tiles. Also very straight forward. It was the toilets where i kinda had ideas/designs that i wanted to execute but wanted to see drawings/renderings before i commit. Afterall, am not ID, worried that what i picture in my brain will look horrible in real life.
Happy to report that Hafiz was fantastic. He was very patient and we did A LOT of to & fro because i kept wanting to try out different permutations. I myself am not sure if i would be that patient with me
. So my to & fro-ing took another 1 month plus (yes that long) and Hafiz never 'gave up' on me. Finally, we did finalise the designs for all 4 toilets and i visited them again to make payment. This time Hafiz wasn't around (his off day) and i met his manager Suresh instead who helped process my payment.
So, i have been waxing lyrical about Hafiz (btw, i am in no way affiliated with Feruni) and in the spirit of full disclosure, i must say that there have been some hiccups. None of them i feel is really Hafiz's or Suresh's fault but rather Feruni's system issues - the first time i went down, their 'drawing system was down' and took weeks to get online again. Then there we another 2 incidences where the system was again down on the days that i asked my sister to help me go down and make payment. Kinda annoying at that point in time when you think about the number of errands one has to run when ownself DIYing a house renovation. Also, their delivery people/schedule needs improvement. Hafiz had trouble advising me when some of the tiles i wanted would become available because 'the information is not reflected in their system'
. Anyways, i had no choice by this time because i have already made payment. Had to go along with Feruni.
Also, delivery guy can be gruff and rude (my sister feedback he was rather rude to her when trying to schedule a delivery, her name was listed as the person to contact because she went down to make payment for me) but that is expected and acceptable i guess.
So next surprise is, my contractor tells me not enough tiles (not sure whether Hafiz miscounted or contractor broke one too many tiles) and there was one type of tile delivered that was wrong. We needed a rough surface but a smooth surface tile was delivered. So i contacted Hafiz & Suresh, told them i needed to buy additional tiles and that they had to swap the smooth tiles with rough tiles. Hafiz was very apologetic and he said that he would come down and collect the wrong tiles on the same day from my house. I offered to pay for the additional tiles (these were custom cut to order i shape tiles) because i felt bad that he may have to top up out of his own pocket as he admitted it was his mistake. Hafiz rejected my offer and said he should bear the cost / consequence that it was his mistake. Both Suresh and Hafiz dropped by my house to pickup the wrong tiles that very evening. It was at this point that both of them gained my trust and confidence. My view is, everyone makes mistakes here and there. for them to admit it and make good, that is where they command respect and earn credibility.
This has been my tile journey so far.
So for those wanting to get Feruni tiles, please look for Hafiz & Suresh. I strongly recommend them and can say that they do the best they can given their constraints (system not working, company policy etc).
Lastly, some before and after photos.
This post has been edited by mrstohchu: Jun 9 2018, 06:48 PM