Reno - Contractor confirmed

We din really get a lot of quotations for the reno. We sourced about 5, 2 from IMM which is very casual and we wanted quite a numbers of items back then... like customized shoe cabinet and dinning table... All quotations come back about 10 over Ks... We also ask at classic kitchen which we find the price quite ok... but din sign up.

Our neighbor is using a contractor who has several project in the estate we stayed. We saw a few showrooms as well, got ID firm like Baroque, orange cube... we find the package from the contractor our neighbor used quite competitive... package deal of about 12k. Can exchange items such as they provide wardrobes for 3 bedrooms so if we only want for MBR then we can exchange the rest of the 2 for other stuffs. We neg and compare the package deal and "ala cart menu"... work out about the same price... I find that we might end up signing more than we need due to the package price... and moreover a lot of stuff not in the package... like piping work and stuffs... might end up a cost of 16k... which is way beyond our budget...

We drag on and din really go and look for contractor... I saw a few quotation on forum which forum-er share and realize that it is really hard to compare and these reno contractor tend to quote u higher for some stuff and give u discount for others... what you see so call the cheapest item might not be the best due to quality or the cost has been transfer to another items.

In order to cut cost and to manage within our means, we decided that we shall just reno on the basic, to have the kitchen up and a wardrobe plus a conceal beam (the position where we wanted our bedhead to be has a exposed beam). Keeping this as a guide, we decided to first meet up with my another neighbor's contractor. I-Pro Design.

The first meet up turn out to be good and we are quite comfortable with her. Her quotation is also quite competitive. Her set up is very small, she is a ID and her HB is a carpenter. We feel that since we are doing very little reno, it shouldn't be an issue. After our 2nd meet up to neg on quotation and see some catalog. I saw some disputes she had online with one of the forum-er... I ask another forum-er in private on her experience with the lady (she also use the same person) and her feedback was quite good. We decided to proceed with I-PRO since our few engagement with her was quite good.

The main bulk of our cost goes to the kitchen... she din give us any freebies like cooker and stuff which usually package deal will give. Her quotation for the kitchen cabinets is not on the cheap side also... but she promise on the quality... Hmmm... but on the other hand, I find her other items is quite reasonable... so give and take... Some of her items like electrical work is quite x. So I think of ways how not to shift the switch... hahah and she has been quite accommodating... We decided to sign up with her.

Our reno items with I-PRO includes the kitchen cabinets, wardrobe, half height conceal wall and grills and window for service yard, which is around 8k.

Bedroom
We wanted a full box-up of the wardrobe and the beam. But we would be charged for shifting the existing lighting points. In the end we decided to change the design so that the points will not be shifted.
We decided to have a hole cut out on the wardrobe and do a half height conceal for the beam. We have choosen a synetic black leather for the box-up. White laminate for the wardrobe frame and a floral black laminate for the slides.

Kitchen
I wanted to reno just 1 side for full top and bottom cabinet... but after some calculations, we do not have enough table space. Our contractor suggest we do both sides.

Initially I wanted the color theme like alternate brown and white... But drop the idea as our kitchen is really small. We decided to go for white with small leaves design on top row and bottom row with bronze-like laminate.