Hi,

I would like to do this design. The best price quoted is RM7000 excluding mirror.
Is it reasonable?

*the drawings were all done by me. Not the kitchen cabinet/carpenters. I draw using ruler to scale them exactly.



My friend who is in a similar industry but not carpentry said the carpenters usually ask for RM160-200 for laminate which works out to RM3000+ for my work.
I understand shops/carpenters wanna earn more sometimes but I feel that the prices that I was quoted is quite a lot.
But my friend said he could be wrong as prices may have increased recently.
Hope I can get some insight here.

This is the story how I got to do this design;

This is my living room wall where I am going to place my tv (duh), cabinet and shoe cabinet.



Initially wanted to do a normal tv wall with acrylic, glass or melamine or laminate.
Then decided on a design to use porcelain slab for tv wall and the rest laminate.
Best prices quoted for melamine was RM7000 and RM10000 for laminate.
Paid 1000 deposit for the one with melamine. Decided not go through with melamine as the color options are very limited.
After getting their 3d design, I wasnt satisfied at all as it looked really cheap so decided to ask them for laminate which they quoted close to a ridiculous RM15k
Not sure if I can get my deposit back.


But the socket placement proved to be a challenge as it is starting from 2700mm and ends at 3500mm.
Laminate/porcelain slab is 2400mm. From there I will have balance of 180mm for a floating cabinet 530mm off the ground.
Tv is 680-710mm off the ground. Meaning there is only a balance of 180mm between the edge of the tv and edge of the laminate.

Another problem would be that the console cabinet would either be going over the socket or be on top of the socket which would be too high.
Spent weeks/months looking for a suitable design to get around this.

Another problem I have with this is that the tv wall will be bigger than the seating area meaning the tv will be off center (to the left) and that means that the sofa will have to be a bit to the left in order for it to be center with the tv.

After searching high and low online for inspiration I found this design that I love very much.



It is flushed. Everything is neat and tidy and tucked away. Everything is floating.
Plus there is space below the tv to tuck away extra chairs as my sofa is just a 2 seater.
My living room is quite small so it would be nice to have extra chairs available that can be tucked neatly nearby.

I thought I could follow the design above and put my decoder in the mirror cabinet.
I thought the issue would be opening a socket for the console.
Only later on I realized that I wouldn't be able to get signal from the remote to the decoder.

So back to having a decoder console hanging under the tv.
However like many designs that I see online, they are not practical (in our country) as we have astro decoder, tv box, etc.
They don't leave a space for decoders. I am guessing they leave it on top of the cabinet (floating or on the floor).

The other issue is that the prices for laminate wall is pretty expensive. Prices quoted ranges from RM7000-11000 for this job.
So I thought I could follow another of my favorite floating design that uses drywall I think.


Advantage of this design is that it should be much cheaper than laminate and also I am not limited by the size of the laminate which 2400mm.
With drywall I could have the hanging wall much longer and closer to the ground to perhaps 350-450mm.
Enough space for tv console compartment under the tv in 1 floating design.
However after 1 day I decided against it as I have a baby.
Drywall is very weak. If my baby decides to throw something against it or touch it, I will need to fix it and then repaint.
It will have some spots unless I paint the whole wall.
Too much work. Too much risk. So I decided against it.

So back to the drawing board with laminate.
One guy told me that he has a longer laminate of 3000mm which would be perfect as I can have it at my desired length anywhere between 2500-2600mm.
After meeting him, he said better to squeeze in the tv console/decoder in between the tv and end of the laminate. He said 150mm for decoder.

This post has been edited by barca96: Dec 25 2020, 10:52 AM

7k is reasonable to me or maybe cheap.. mirror door might cost you another bomb..

Regarding the plug socket, you may need to plan it out for your wiring conceal.. nowadays people don't want to have socket visible and mostly hide inside cabinets. You may have another switch to control and turn off the power supply.. hmm not sure how to advise but if all these within 7k sounds ok to me. As you need to remember they might need 2 days to fit the installation.. labor cost is something you need to include in cost..

This post has been edited by ChuanHong: Dec 24 2020, 01:55 AM

Mirror door quoted previously for a slightly smaller size (925mm) was between RM600-1000.

Considering the relative size, customised design and the labour cost, RM7k is pretty cheap. Including interior design and all, for strong durable materials with the kind of finishing and style you posted as in your favourite inspiration image, can cost RM10k to RM15k total.

Your friend in industry probably only quoted based on what a carpentry subcontractor would quote to main con, but given that you hired ID to design and manage for you, you will also have to consider design costs, on top of project management fees for them to monitor, inspect, and QC the project before they handover the completed renovation to you.

This post has been edited by DragonReine: Dec 25 2020, 01:14 AM

Hi. No. I didn't engage any ID company. All the drawings were done by me. I used scale by using rulers and all to make sure the scale is correct. I contact kitchen cabinet makers and carpenters myself.

When I did my kitchen cabinet I let them handle everything. Paid 100% upfront. RM15.5k (+2+k for glass backsplash) for a tiny kitchen, Only received the drawing a couple of days before installation (that too wrong color) and end result was different to what was discussed and different picture.

First company that I engaged with (paid 1k deposit) for this project gave me a very ugly cheap looking drawing so I decided to take matters into my own hand and one of the reasons I bought a surface pro laptop was for me to draw.



This post has been edited by barca96: Dec 25 2020, 10:36 AM

Ah ok, that makes a little more sense. In that case 7k is mostly OK, but for peace of mind you can demand an itemised quotation from your contractor that details the breakdown of that RM7k. See how they explain the RM7k, like material cost, labour cost, cleaning cost etc.

I actually asked for a breakdown cost from 1 company. His reply was then if I see itemized it will be more expensive.
Not sure how to make of that.

The thing is previously when I asked for full wall shoe cabinet only from one of the guys, it was RM1800.
So If you think about it, add a cabinet only without mirror (will be done outsource) and laminate panel (was quoted this RM1000 for this), it should be RM6k tops.
So maybe RM2000 for the cabinet without mirror. And then the RM1000 for the laminate wall panel. That's RM5000 but let's make it RM6000.

But somehow when put all of them together it becomes RM7k the lowest price.
This is what infuriates me. How do these guys come up with a price?

😂 if contractor refuse to give itemised then drop, because that's shady AF, drop them haha

Even if somewhat expensive I'd trust a contractor who'd actually detail the pricing professionally then one who will not.

Better that you look at itemised and see how they justify costs. There might be things you might be unaware of that goes into the cost of the project.

Piece-by-piece might be technically cheaper but if they want to build a single cohesive unit it might be because supporting structure may be costlier.

Yes that's overall price for a mirror door..

Overall 7k is pretty cheap for me with that size. But u have to aware the material of cabinets too..

My tv cabinet cost me 7k too with simple design that having total length 13ft which include 3ft width tall cabinets 9ft + 10ft width tv cabinet.. without tv panel at the back.. shoes cabinets easily 3.5k.. its really depending on your design and budget..

the company that quoted me RM1800 for laminate is the cheapest one so far and he charges RM1000 for the laminate tv panel. I really like him but found it strange how he charges RM11+k for the whole thing meaning the middle part which previously was just a panel without mirror or cabinet is RM8k.

Not the first time where it just doesn't add up when looking at itemized.

ya .. it just doesnt make sense why itemized will be more expensive.
even if it is, i would like to see how he came with the figure.