Hi all
I have just moved into my renovated home and since this forum has helped me a lot, I thought I would share some of my experience in case it may help others. We bought a corner house sometime in Jan 2020, plans were drawn up by pelukis pelan, but because of the lockdown, could not submit to local council. Long delay there. Renovations only started in July 2020. These are some of the things I jot of my experience :
The work
It’s a double storey corner unit with large land area. We extended sideways minimum about 8 feet and back to the boundary another 8 feet – double storey extensions. Created laundry room at the 1st floor extension with balcony in the back to hang clothes.
Contractor choice : Reliable One Stop Design and Renovation ( Marcus) - can find on FB
- was surveying a few contractors. One was recommended here, one I found by chance on the internet, 2 was recommended by friends. Ended up with the one I found by chance on internet. Pricing is midrange.He replied my whatsapp messages within one day and was on time when supposed to meet. The others either made me wait over an hour, never showed up for appointments, and never gave detailed quotation – only gave verbal round figure or simple quotation. Am glad I hired the contractor I did. He is young, but has done a lot of projects involving double storey extensions and have good reviews that seem authentic on social media. Found out during tiling that he uses experienced Chinese tilers for the work scope, hence the tiling price is on the high side. The timing he gave was also appropriate, in that it took 6 months from start of renovation to move in. Of course there were hiccups here and there, but we solved each problem as it arises. He was also patient in dealing with my neighbours.
We let the main contractor decide on plumbing/electrical/grille/aluminium and glass works as I would not have time to source it separately on my own. All okay except the wiring ppl that I wasn’t too happy with. Tiles we bought on our own at a few places (sales at Niro granite is really good).
Kitchen Cabinets/Sinks
- Decided for aluminium cabinets as would like something that won’t get water damage. Surveyed a whole lot of places. Decided on modular ones (instead of custom made size as my kitchen area is flexible) that. As tall units would be too expensive for aluminium, we decided for solid aluminium (not ACP) for base cabinets only, both in wet and dry kitchen. Tall and wall units are melamine (no tall units in wet kitchen, so less chance of water damage). Went with a company in Puchong (MKA Cabinet and Design) that provides options for solid modular aluminium units as well as melamine ones. Sales consultant were not too impressive as he kept getting the quotation confused (they are new in the aluminium field) but other than that, he entertained me everytime I asked for some change (and I asked a lot). The installers are good with nice workmanship. We did kitchen cabinets and built in wardrobes with them. Hood/hob/oven – got Fotile for all three.
As the base cabinets are solid aluminium that should last long, we decided on Silestone Quartz countertop. Surveyed many places for that too, price usually quite standard (except one company that quoted based on number of slabs needed instead of per foot run), I chose based on quick response and experience.
Kitchen sink we went with Blanco silgranit Pleon 9 topmount for wet kitchen and small Franke undermount for dry kitchen. Weird thing about Pleon 9 sink is that the drains from the two sink are not at the same level compared to say Metra 9, so the piping under the sink is a bit awkward to adjust. My plumber had to diy himself. Mixer taps for wet kitchen and bathroom fixtures we sourced Grohe and Hansgrohe from amazon.de. Love the granite sink and the grohe/hansgrohe fittings

Water heater
- We decided for gas water heater as we wanted instant heater for 4 bathroom shower areas and wet kitchen. We went with Rinnai and contacted them directly. The guy was kind enough to meet up and explained to us about it and helped us whenever we have queries. It uses normal LPG gas tank. We placed it in a room off to the side of the kitchen, with lots of ventilation (mainly for clearance of the CO2 flume produced by the unit). Recommended to be an outdoor unit but Rinnai ppl knows my setup and said its acceptable.
Awning
- only did for balcony for hanging clothes so far. Used Lexan clear polycarbonate with 10 yrs warranty.

Post renovation cleaning
- Hired professional cleaners that can also do hardwood timber floor polishing. Very satisfied with the outcome...no dusty feeling on tiles/wall at all after that.
Grass
- Not yet done because of MCO 2.0
Curtains
- bought ready made ones. No money oredi.



















This post has been edited by Dfuzzy: Jan 19 2021, 11:07 AM

Thanks for sharing

wow very nice kitchen u got there mate..

very beautiful... esp the kitchen part...


hope to see the final work (incl grass)

This post has been edited by nexona88: Mar 1 2021, 06:23 PM

Looks good!

Nice. Look forward to your next update.

Do you mind sharing how much did the kitchen cabinets cost? Also, where's the fridge? Is it built-in?

Hi
Don't think there would be another update cos we have moved in and with 4 kids, there isn't much time left for anything much, plus with all out stuff in, the house not so picturesque anymore..hahaha. We love our roborock aka Roxy for cleaning our large floor area. Still no grass as the person i hired is from another district, so still waiting on interdistrict travel. I have a fridge in the dry kitchen, same row as the oven, to the side. Old fridge from old house. No cabinets above it as it don't see a purpose for that, we haven't even used the top cabinets in dry kitchen. We also have a standing freezer in the wet kitchen.
My house isn't much in terms of ID wise, so there really isn't that much to show, but i truly appreciate this forum and its members for valuable sharing, which is why i am sharing my renovation journey. As i said, i highly recommend the blanco sink and the silestone countertop. No regrets at all there. As for kitchen cost, its about 26k not including countertop. That would be for the the :(12ft aluminium base cabinet in wet kitchen + 12ft melamine wall unit), (4.5 feet aluminium sink cabinet and L shape (14 feet base, 11 feet wall unit)) + and 8' ceiling height tall unit in dry kitchen.

This post has been edited by Dfuzzy: Mar 2 2021, 11:40 AM

Hi, mind sharing the lump sum reno cost, or at least - the wetwork portion?

Hi. Sure. I shared it earlier when I was asking if it was reasonable or not. Lemme see if I can post the link below.

https://forum.lowyat.net/index.php?showtopic=4926269&hl=

Wow thanks! That's a huge extension - I reckon you added easily 1000+ sqft (probably more) to the overall built up.