Home Renovation / Improvement - Ask Us@KUC

[Kuchibrat]

This forum is a reference point on home improvement and renovation advice in general. With so much (often conflicting) information available on the internet, as part of the Residents'4'Residents initiative, some of the KU residents could very well be your renovation advisers(SME). Most of our residents whom are our Subject Matter Expert in this Forums were new, just like you... But having learnt all the trades required to cost-effectively manage their renovation plans, learnt from mistakes made, lesson learnt and some even made huge savings in their Reno. With their distinct experiences gained within Kemuning Utama itself. Our enthusiastic experts are well-researched and will be resourceful and informative to inspire to help you make your home a better place to be. You can post up every aspect of the renovation process, from getting started, to internal and external contractors.

Renovating is a great way to get the home you want while increasing your net worth. Whatever the economic times a home renovation by a qualified / KUC recommended contractor will always increase the value. This is especially true with bathroom remodeling and upgrading the kitchen where the value of the home goes up to almost double the cost of your unit. It's no secret that renovating a new house can be a complex and expensive undertaking, and finding reliable contractor or information on how to do it can be very difficult. So post it up to us and let us try to be of an assistance...

Subject Matter Experts Panel

Zaha&Emily - An experienced home owner with self-initiated extensive research in pricing & materials the contractors for renovation work, carpentry, iron grille, electrical wiring & etc. Can answer most of the typical first-timers residential renovation start-ups questions. Will make every effort to respond to your questions during work hours if possible.

Shamini Nilehmegam - An experienced electrical consultant with more then 10 years of experience in the construction industry. Was involved personally on 3 renovations for her parents apartment, house and now her very own house... Can answer most of the typical renovation queries. Will make every effort to respond to your questions as soon as possible at the end of the work day.

Note : If there are any other "Home Renovation / Improvement - Subject Matter Experts" who wishes to share their experience and knowledge and contribute to response to question in this discussion board, please register with the Web-admin (kuchibrat) before answering any questions from our residents. Response may be removed otherwise.

[Jason Chan]

Anyone here did survey about Hong Sine Renovation? Generally I found out that Hong SIne quoted price is very competitive, not sure anyone here know about her workmanship and quality?

[Teng]

jason,

yes, got his quotation too last time. Overall price is lower, if you are comfortable with them then can go ahead, their price for electricity is higher if not mistaken ... overall is ok. They not provide tiles for concrete table top, and no painting for plaster ceiling and wall after patch back those hacked wall ....

[Zaha&Emily]

Hi,

Did get his quote too. Agreed with Teng their price for reno works cheaper even though you buy your own tiles. Their plaster ceiling more expensive compared to UB and furthermore without painting. They did the reno work for a unit in Jalan 137, can't remember the house no. Try to find out their workmanship & quality from house owner who gave them the job. Also depend on what your requirement whether you prefer single contractor to handle all the work which is less hassle. If you on budget better go for individual contractor for different work, that maybe cheaper. Try to get a few quotations before making the final decision.

[Kuchibrat]

Jason,

My neighbor across hired Hong Sine (Sithambaram Pillay).. Do check it up with him...

TIPS: Pay a visit to some of our members homes who have hired their contractors and check out their workmanship & quality... Take the effort & inquire on materials used, electrical cabling quality, & etc... Dun rely & decide based on PRICING only... Make sure you emphasize on the quality of materials and workmanship.... Bad workmanship and materials will cause danger in your home (Fire, Breakage, collapses) and later cost you a BOMB for rectification - may even need to redo the entire renovation.

Anyhow I hired UB Constructors, anyone may also drop by my place to check out his workmanship and materials used... He has acquired many trust from residents who had moved in the IE, Bayu & other KU vicinity due to his reputation of good workmanship and materials used, he finished my unit as promised prior to the dateline. I can only assume that his pricing is due to better quality workers and materials used, compared to other contractors. The main consideration on why we hired him, he is within the vicinity, seems honest in his work, & consults well..

I am not an SME for this subject matter nor am I familiar with the details of my Reno details (check with my wife, Shamini who is the SME of this forum). For any personal queries, please send me a message, dun post it in here...

Kuchibrat signs off

[Teng]

hi shamini,

is it true that th wiring work done by hon sing have frequent electricity trip?! That's serious .... for me, i give everything to UB to do, including the wiring .... although the price is a bit higher than aother, but free of mind, coz william (ub) told me that the material used and workmanship is good one ... so I just give to ub to do everything .....
in fact, i am thinking that paramount should give us the details of how developer do the wiring routing, so that we are clear how to do the proper wiring during reno. For example, which place we can use looping power point and which we should use direct point from main source. One example I found out is, the paramount wireman told me our wet kitchen power point is actually looping to the room1 and room2, means 13amp power point in room 1 and 2 is looping from wet kitchen.

[Shamini]

for my house, i ask the wireman to check and rewire the kithchen and hall. it cost a bit more but i don't want any unnessesary triping. MAke sure ur electrical works a done properly with a qualified wireman as retification works after reno is a problem

[Shamini]

i recommend that you use a different electrician than Hong Sine as for my neighbour who is using this contractor, live cabling is exposed in his DB and electricity tripping happens and some of the sockets outlets can't be used after moving in to the house. For our house we used Raj as our electrician and he did a good job for us.

[Kuchibrat]

FYR: Raj / Kumar works posted at "KUC Classifieds'KU - Electrical Works For Your Home"

As Teng Seng clearly indicated, whats important is "FREE OF MIND !", not the cheapest....

Kuchibrat signs off

[Jason Chan]

Hello Kugen and fellow forumers here,

Thank you very much for your sincere advice, I do really appreciate.

I was quite impressed when Hong Sine gave me the quotation.

However, I am quite skeptical about the materials used for the renovation at the same time.

The quotation is too general, lack of details which put question mark on my mind.

Hence, that's why I would like to check with any forumers who has experience with Hong Sine or heard anything about them.

I agree UB seems quite honest in disclosing the material they use after personally met him more than 3 times and visit a couple houses under UB renovation.

However, just a minor question to anyone who has been this through, 3 phase system..

Check with Hong Sine and other electrician from the web, generally they quote me around RM3K++, less than 4K basically for 3 phase system installation cost.

However, UB initial quote me for 3 phase installation --> ; RM6.5K, and this is pretty much a huge gap compare to other contractor's quotation.

As far as I know, the application fee, bigger DB and cable work total up should be around RM2K ~ RM3K, so what will be the RM3K extra to cover? cost for plaster back the hacked walls and floors?

Due to this is my first time involve in house renovation, is this price gap reasonable eventhough I assume UB has better workmanship and using quality material or cable?

Appreciate if anyone can advise me on this issue.

Thanks a lot in advance.

Rgds,

Jason Chan

[Shamini]

Based on UBs quote of RM6500 for upgrading three phase is quite high. maybe you should ask him for a breakdown cost. Then u will able to see the reason for a higher cost.

For me i took Raj as my electrician and upgraded my supply to Three phase c/w liason with TNB to obtain a three phase meter for RM 3+++ almost RM 4000.

[Jason Chan]

Hello Shamini,

Hope you don't mind...you took Raj as your electrician for 3 phase upgrading.

After pulling the cable & installation, I believe you still need to plaster back the hacked floor (car porch) and wall especially the area covered with orange tiles.

Are you appointing UB to do this work? If yes, do you mind to share with me what is the cost plastering back the holes of wall?

At least I have some idea when approaching UB later.

Thank you.

Rgds,

Jason Chan

[Shamini]

yes i got UB to do the plastering back. But i got him to do it free of charge. i also retile my porch so it wasn't a problem for him. It was part of the package i got from UB. All my walls in and out the house was done by UB free of charge