Looking for Interior Designer

After signing off and submitting our Option To Purchase, OTP to HDB, the earliest available weekend appointment slot for our First Appointment was on the 14th of September 2013, 6 weeks after our submission date on the 5th of August.There will be another Completion Appointment A.K.A Second Appointment usually scheduled 6-8 weeks after the First Appointment.
Which meant we have about 3 months for Phase II of plan Cozy Home, the Renovation.

Of course, we had researched a little about renovation as renovation cost is a big factor in our affordability to purchase a Resale unit. We flipped through some renovation magazine and scrolled through Renotalk.com, but did not had any definite ideas as we did not even know what kind of flat we will be buying. So we had a herculean task awaiting us as we endeavor to find our ideal renovation for our home.

Before we talk about any design or renovation, we first have to search for a professional in this industry whose reputation, design and price we can accept. Before purchasing our flat, we had collected many renovation price packages flyers from interior design firms, from these and our research from the internet, we realize that renovating a resale flat will cost more than renovating a new flat. This is mostly due to the extra demolishing of the current renovation and the replacement of items some as water pipes, re-waterproofing the kitchens and toilets and re-tiling the whole unit.

We started looking for a interior designer with an initial budget of about 30,000. We sent out about 5 requests for quotation to 5 interior design firms which we shortlisted from recommendations from Renotalk.com. That was a bad mistake, as we thought these firms will all just reply with a standard quotation for a 3 room resale flat with which we can do comparisons and use as a baseline for further customization of our renovation.

What happened was that 2 of those requests sunk into the deep web ocean and were never heard from again, and my phone and email started to be bombarded by interior designers from the other 3 firms. They all wanted to meet and understand more before they are willing to give any quotations. The problem we had with this was that we only have the weekends available to meet with these designers, and it was a nightmare trying to arrange a appointment on the weekend with them. Another mistake we made was that, on Renotalk, most recommendation was actually for a particular ID from that company and thinking that we are only just requesting for a quotation and that we can choose our ID later we did not direct our request to that ID. So, when we met with the 2 IDs we managed to arrange appointments for, they are not the IDs we wanted.

The first ID did try to make an effort to keep close to our budget and the quotation, although we were quite unhappy with it at that point of time, was actually quite reasonable. We did not contact him again after the first meeting as we felt that he is actually not that interested, perhaps due to our tight budget and size of our flat. The second ID showed much more enthusiasm and had much better designs and ideas, but was too pricey for us.

It was at this point of time, the 3rd ID replied. This ID had the most recommendations from Renotalk and we liked his work the most, but he is a one man show and although he have a squeaking clean reputation, we were still a little hesitant about even requesting a quotation from him. Yet, from very first meeting, he convinced us of his professionalism and passion.

 And so, we found our Interior Designer.

Home's Beginning

After almost a year's effort of searching and researching, it is almost unbelievable that we are almost at the end of our journey - our quest of attaining our own cozy abode. We had been actively looking for a HDB since after our ROM on 12-12-12, and we have learned so much since then.

One of the first decision we had to make was of course, BTO or Resale. BTO, acronym for Built-To-Order flats, are new flats directly brought from HDB. So new, that in fact the flat's building components might still be in their ore, sand and clay form when the flat's being offered for sale. Although BTO flats are new, cheaper and a Singaporean's privilege, we had decided that we would go for a Resale flat.

Next, we decided that we are going for a 3-Room Flat, and thus began our education in the HDB housing system of Singapura. We narrowed down our desired location to the western side of Singapore, and realized that even in the same estate, 3-Room HDB flats' price range can be pretty wide. The lowest Valuation price we found was $272,000 and the terrible terrible thing ( to a pair of newly married like us) known as COV range from $25,000 to $50,000. That was when we learned about the different classes of 3-room flats, from 3I, 3S, 3NG, 3A to the so-called 3 Jumbo or 3 and a half.

We started our search from 3I units under $300,000 and was hoping for a COV of about $25,000 for a un-furnished unit, which proved to be an impossible task. We gave up somewhere in July 2013 and hopped onto the Sale of Balance bandwagon and balloted for Casa Clementi, a SERS project. We didn't even get a chance to choose a unit. But the month long break while waiting for our SBF result allows us to re-look at our expectations and market situation, and 3 days after receiving notice of our failed SBF bid, we found our home.

The valuation was a little higher then what we had planned for, but the COV is reasonable and the location's good. The unit itself is well-kept and clean even though it had never been renovated since sold by HDB 29 years ago. We discussed for a night after viewing the unit that evening and called the agent to arrange for the OTP the next day. We paid the deposit immediately and we were then on our way to owning our own home.

Floor Plan

Living Room

Common Room

Master Room

Kitchen

Master Room Toilet

Common Toilet