Getting an Interior Designer... or Your Own Contractor

We went to about 4 Renovation Expos in 2011-2012. Met with 5 Interior Designers as well as 3 Renovation Contractors.

We were contemplating of whether we ought to get a contractor or an interior designer firm (ID) to renovate the new place.

Let us share with you our thoughts and wisdom (the lack of it), for the considerations:

1. We have never own a home, never done our own renovation. We don't know the ropes nor the process of going through a renovation work.
2. We need an 'seasoned' professional experience to advise and tell us what are the considerations we need to make in renovation.
3. We have no theme in mind, no clues on what we want...
4. We need a 'person-to-blame' if all goes south!
5. We want to find out what is the market like, what is in, what is not, what is everlasting...

As such, we decided, since we have time, we shall do some window shopping to see what our options are at that point in time.

We eventually narrowed down to 3 reasonable quotes:
a) a contractor whom our friend recommended
b) an ID which we can work with, someone relate-able and not too expensive
c) another ID that is quite new in the market, but more affordable than option B

We decided to go with "B". Simply being relate-able and similar taste and 'design-personality', we thought it will turn out better amongst the options we've got.

Total budget for renovation reached about SGD 31,000 including air-conditioning with Inverter, false-ceiling in every room, a walk-in wardrobe, nice Quartz counter top and all electrical/carpentry work in.

I wouldn't say it's the most affordable, but it's decent quality at a decent price.

Satisfaction of my ID - 7/10
Outcome of Renovation work as compared to plan - 7.5/10
Timeliness - 8.5/10
Follow-up - 8.5/10
Number of mistakes or issues that cropped-up - 5-8 items

Will I engage them again to do my second home... That's a good question, probably not, considering that I have now a better picture of how a renovation process would be like. IF I do have the time, I would try to get my own contractors to do the necessary work and manage the project by myself.

The Beginning..

We got our flat in Punggol during a balloting exercise in 2010. I went to seek plenty of advice on this, and I thought these are some of the good ones to consider when getting new flats.

Location

"Location is everything." a friend says. You can change everything in the house, you can even make an apartment on the 2nd floor looks like it's at the top floor of the building. Having said that, you'll never be able to change the distance to the bus stop, the distance to the MRT station, the distance to the bus-interchange around you.

As such, it'll be wise to plan getting a place around the location in which your family will need to commute to and fro daily.

There are a few locations consideration:
1) Location to public transport services
2) Location to amenities such as clinic (wouldn't want to walk too far when sick), food-centres (quick fix for dinners after work), super-market (drinks for friends during a hangout at your home)
3) Location to work-place. You'll travel to and fro work daily. That'll take up quite a bit of time. It'll be good to consider the travelling time taken daily.
4) Location to common travel places - places of worship etc. These are places which we'll travel to-and-fro very often as well.
5) Location to parents home, for taking care of kids in future, for visiting, for helping each other's family.

Storey Height

Every floor height makes a difference to the price of the apartment. For us, we took the 16th storey and as such, we paid an additional 16k (1k per floor) to the overall price.

The higher the floor, the more windy it gets, as such, to save electricity in reducing the use of air-conditioning, we decided to get the top-most available floor.

Some of our friends commented that highest floor may incur more heat from the building's roof. I am not sure if it's the same throughout Singapore and all varieties of apartments. For us and some of my friends at Punggol, it seems to make no difference at all.

What will definitely help is to stay right below the water tank as the structure will help to prevent a direct sun in the afternoon.


Direction To The Sun

This is important to know as the wall or the surface of the house that gets the evening sun will DEFINITELY retain the heat of the day throughout the night. As such, you'll need to be prepared to spend a little more money in time to come for the cooling of the house. If it's your master-bed room, then air-conditioning fee will definitely be higher than usual.


I can't remember of any other important considerations, but I'll edit and update this post every time I remember something.