Living in JB

[ginfreely]

Don't be surprise. I kenna lock outside my house before I pay up my window grilles ok? Have to wait for the contractor to come to my house to open the door and he collect money from me immediately. I was very nice to him and never said I wanna drag the payment or wanna don't pay them before. I even paid them the deposits. I call this super agressively kiasu. Back home if you do like this, I can go to matah to straight away. Here in a foreign land bo bian lor, bite the bullets...:(

Also one normal laminated cabinets want to charge me rm5.5k? One mirror charges rm800+? Wah, this contracter sees a big big carrot!

I spoken to my JB friends, she said to me honestly, that they see Sinkies as rich people. They can kotok us and we'll still feel that its cheap.

Sound very aggressive and scary, hope it is an isolated incident. BTW what is the sequence of renovation like? Do you do the grilles last or first before painting, installing lights, false ceiling etc?

 

[wuqi256]

Thanks Prof, wise vote indeed.
Bro Toyohon, yes i am one of those who voted with my vote as well as my feet.

HangYong, you can do internal structure renovation but normally if in terrace, easiest would be to expand front or back and the most expensive is normally sideways. Even condos should last you for a long while, only main caveat after many years for houses are the roof and the manhole. The rest, like wiring etc are also critical but common issues facing both landed and apartments.

Ginfreely,i will recommend doing the messy work first like any kind of grilles for the whole house, then wiring such as additional power points, phone or network cabling. Then aircon, exhuast, ceiling or wall fans, then water pumps, water heaters, etc followed by the rest.

When you have grilles in your place, at least stuff you leave behind when you are not in are more secured plus as you can restrict the keys you pass to the contractors, IF SOMETHING gets lost, the contractor has to bear the cost.

I have asked around my neighbours, this is the first and only time (in my narrow circle of friends) that i heard of such aggressive behaviour. I only knew of people who would delay the work until fully paid.

 

[2bFree]

Do note that in SG and MY, our fuels are rated as RON (Research Octane Number) but US/Canada it is PON (Pump Octane Number).

Your Octane 87 is most likely PON 87 which is equal to RON 91.

The reason for running higher octane petrol for cars depends on the compression ratio of the engine and how resistant the engine is to knock. My car is tuned to run on RON 97/98 for more power. Anything lower will result in knocking and detonation which will shorten lifespan of my engine.

From what i checked out Ron 92 is a good fuel for most cars.

Octane 92 is fine even for BMWs. Thats what i realised and most cars work fine with Octane 92.

However cars can work on Octanes < 92 as well.

Octane 87 etc are reasonably popular though not available in spore.

 

[ginfreely]

Ginfreely,i will recommend doing the messy work first like any kind of grilles for the whole house, then wiring such as additional power points, phone or network cabling. Then aircon, exhuast, ceiling or wall fans, then water pumps, water heaters, etc followed by the rest.

When you have grilles in your place, at least stuff you leave behind when you are not in are more secured plus as you can restrict the keys you pass to the contractors, IF SOMETHING gets lost, the contractor has to bear the cost.

I have asked around my neighbours, this is the first and only time (in my narrow circle of friends) that i heard of such aggressive behaviour. I only knew of people who would delay the work until fully paid.

Thanks, Wuqi. I've not done much renovation before, can I know you pass the original keys to the contractors or you need to do another set of keys or something else? You pass the keys to one contractor at a time or okay to pass to several contractors at one time?

How about payment? Is the norm something like that: pay 30% first for deposit and then settle the rest upon completion?

About wiring - can I ask you since you also bought Nusa Duta - from your experience, do you think the power point and phone point given at Nusa Duta is sufficient or still need to add additional points? Err what is the wiring for network cabling about?

Thanks alot!

 

[cathylmg]

I think at that point in time the market was down both in Spore and Malaysia (to some extent atleast)

The MYR was at 245.

Apart from all the other items they gave me they also offered any one of the following:

1) Levy OR
2) Starhills Golf and Country Club membership

My wife and i thought over it several times and eventually took up the Levy offer.

Thank you Wuqi.

Hey! I think we buy at around the same time cos I got the same package as you. Back then was financial tsunami. Nobody dare to buy. We closed both eyes and hope for the best. I also chose to offsef the Levy. Plus free kitchen cabinets, refrigerator, cooker and cookerhob.

 

[cathylmg]

But how to get a good price?

This is the biggest issue!

Maybe get a Malaysian neighbour to get down and do the talking for you? Just a suggestion.

 

[cathylmg]

Fellow countrymen, i am fed up with the system and uprooting my family to JB. My friends are doing the same

This is my plan:

This is bro Wuqi's first line of this thread way back then. He did not wait for the apology.

Its the very sentence that attract me to this thread. They say great minds thinks alike. Or how about birds of the same feathers flock together. Whatever! We see the chance, we took the plunge!

 

[cathylmg]

`
I have asked around my neighbours, this is the first and only time (in my narrow circle of friends) that i heard of such aggressive behaviour. I only knew of people who would delay the work until fully paid.

Another neighbour in the same precinct, Singaporean, didn't pay up, they dig away all the switches of the whole house!

They seems to be very aggressive towards Singaporeans. Proberly we are not as fierce as the locals lah. As I have noticed.

These contractors are like gangsters. They think we jack up their housing prices.We deserve it. That what my hubby's malaysian friend told him. Anyway we also very timid one, as long as ping an wu shi, for me, waste some money, threat its as protection money lah.

 

[euphony]

The sales rep was Samantha. It seems that the iD is the same & frm Kuala Lumpur. I did not request to go round the place. Maybe the next time when I go dwn, i will request for it. I told Samantha to call me once the new shwflats are ready. Most prob, we will be neighbors by end of the year. Looking forward to it.

oh, i really liked the 1 piece glass from the showroom, gives the living room volume. you're the first interior designer i know who'd not make your own pad an ID masterpiece haha guess you must have given your best to your clients! i had the rare opportunity to visit a BTS fully furnished with ID bungalow valued at $6.3million in the 1 acre land precinct. i had to be dragged out of the house it was that good. a koi pond in the central courtyard under a linked walkway into the bedroom annex, swimming pool right next to a full length glass window by the bedroom... this in a background of modern contemporary design with a wood based bias set against an idyllic mild valley of greens as far as the eye can see... anyway, hope to see u around then, and the 2 other bros too!

 

[cathylmg]

Sound very aggressive and scary, hope it is an isolated incident. BTW what is the sequence of renovation like? Do you do the grilles last or first before painting, installing lights, false ceiling etc?

Gin, you cannot follow me lah!

We started off with carpouch tiling. My hubby started on the living room electricity himself and found that his don't have time for kitchen electricity so prune some work to the contracter. Then window grilles comes in. Next the cabinets comes but after that found the contractors electricity work to be so ugly. Unlike those quality you get from Singapore. So no choice got to do the ceiling to cover it up. Now we are painting the housing ourself as well as do the electricities, lightings and the pipings. The aircon is not up yet. My hubby will be fixing aircon himself for the master bedroom first and the rest after we move in. The painting is still a work in progress. Will continue to do it after we move in. And the curtains are also not up yet. Also another work in progress.:o

 

[euphony]

Another neighbour in the same precinct, Singaporean, didn't pay up, they dig away all the switches of the whole house!

They seems to be very aggressive towards Singaporeans. Proberly we are not as fierce as the locals lah. As I have noticed.

These contractors are like gangsters. They think we jack up their housing prices.We deserve it. That what my hubby's malaysian friend told him. Anyway we also very timid one, as long as ping an wu shi, for me, waste some money, threat its as protection money lah.

aiyoh that is scary! sounds like the case in nusa idaman i read about where there is a contractor who chased away other contractors and pressure the residents to take up their services. perhaps its not as isolated as I thought. You really cannot let these mercenaries know you're sgprean.

 

[euphony]

i have been following the GE news lately on facebook. I must say I am VERY impressed with Nicole Seah at a tender age of 24 compared to Kade Spades TPL 27. Its a pity she is up against incumbent PAP big names or name to be precise. But I am cheering her on together with the WP at Aljunied and Vincent of SDP. :p

Unfortunately I am not eligible to vote. I guess most in this section of the forum will be voting veered to the other side? Since we are all in fact at the 'other' side.

 

[wuqi256]

Hi Ginfreely,

If there is nothing of value inside (including aircon, etc) then its safe to give to more than 1 contractor. If you already have aircon, water heater, then just give to one at any given time. Also, don't give them the main door key. Just buy a cheap lock from Tesco or any place that is stout enough and use that for the grilles and gates. Pass the key to them and let them do the necessary stuff.

I would advise being there when they fix up the grilles so that once the grilles are up, you can immediately padlock the place and can start putting some barang barang inside the storeroom. Its advisable to have a room with a stout door, preferably with no windows and lock up valuables there if you are going to be away for along time.

Then again, if you are away for a long time, don't leave your valuables at home UNLESS you are able to secure it, put inside a safe deposit box or something.

Once the grilles are up, etc there will be more accountability when contractors come in and you don't have to pass them your main door key and have to change locks at the end of the day. You just throw away your cheap padlock at the end of the day or use it in another country if you are really paranoid and still want to save costs.

 

[wuqi256]

I have always been on the other side literally and figuratively ever since the last election.
Before that, i was a stout "lighting bolt and chakram" guy who paid taxes cheerfully and
WAS always ready to die for the country. One fine day, i woke up when i
saw what was happening to those around me, even though it did not happen to me,
i empathise with them and well, tomorrow is a good day as any other.

Some friends told me they are going to let off fireworks on election day but i am
not so extreme. I only have an old bottle of champagne that was awarded to me
a couple years ago, i will pop it in their honour.

 

[wuqi256]

aiyoh that is scary! sounds like the case in nusa idaman i read about where there is a contractor who chased away other contractors and pressure the residents to take up their services. perhaps its not as isolated as I thought. You really cannot let these mercenaries know you're sgprean.

There are good ones as well although i had my fair share of bad ones.

If this happened to me, i would complain straightaway to the township.

This happened as well as people started to boast to both locals and Singaporeans
that they were the APPOINTED PANEL contractors. One complaint was all it took
and as far as i know the contractor was never hassling people again. The township also put a notice that there are no panel contractors nor would HH ever appoint one.

One time a contractor came out of the blue with a namecard, i was already using someone else and this guy must have just fixed up another place and was going around distributing cards. I smiled and took the card but someone must have complained straightaway as 2 guards on motorcycles roared up suddenly.

The patrolling guards picked him up almost immediately and went to each of the empty houses he distributed cards and took all the flyers and cards out and threw into bins in front of him. They then saw him out.

 

[wuqi256]

Ginfreely, network cabling is in case you want to connect up your place using fiber or network and don't want to hack the walls again when the house is done. Of course you can always use wifi(remember to use wireless N plus where possible) but some folks want to have gigabit enabled networks in their house. I know of one guy who has 2-3 lines in his house and 6-7 APs around the house.

 

[wuqi256]

Its the very sentence that attract me to this thread. They say great minds thinks alike. Or how about birds of the same feathers flock together. Whatever! We see the chance, we took the plunge!

Thats good to know Cathy, not every one thinks like you. You are a lady who literally have (please pardon the crude use of language) balls

 

[Analytical Professor]

Me too la.... ponder ... ponder .... ponder... forever analyzing. if not for my wife i would not have had this unit.... ha ha.... i would still be pondering...

actually at the rm 250k threshold i could have bought couple of units easily.

now too late...

Bro, got to accept all this as part of life, timing/demand/supply. I've a close friend who'd due to budget constraints can't buy anything in JB when the threshold was raised to 500k. Took too long to ponder ...

 

[Coolsaint77]

Testing... has my nick rose from the grave?

 

[Analytical Professor]

Kudos Wuqi

Fellow countrymen, i am fed up with the system and uprooting my family to JB. My friends are doing the same

This is my plan:

This is bro Wuqi's first line of this thread way back then. He did not wait for the apology.