Gorilla and Mushroom Renovation

Well, to get what you want at the budget you have, will require a lot of leg-work to seek out that elusive renovation contractor/ID that will do good work and charge a reasonable price

that is why breaking-down all your renovation requirements into something more detailed, would be able to help you better. Get your first quotation first, using that as a guide, do a little reseach on the web, post questions on the forums and see if there is anyone who did something similar, and compare the pricing.

Visiting renovation blogs also helps, as it lets you visualize what you want to do for a particular space, which some one has already done.

Managing your expectations is very important! We also started off with a dream vision of what our house is gonna look like, but after extensive leg work and research, many of our original renovation plans were scrapped and revised, due to feasibility of the features originally planned.

Difference in material used is also a major cost factor, extreme example would be using marble flooring vs Homogeneous. Things like veneer laminates vs glossy laminates, open concept cupboards vs closed ones also affect the amount of material you use.
PS: Veneers cost a heck of a lot more than normal laminates.

Therefore, Strategy 1, always put down in your list, renovation items for the WHOLE house.

Like we mentioned in an earlier post, there is a certain guide that the renovation contractors and IDs use when if comes to giving you a quotation, especially when it comes to furnishing the whole house. Depending on the home size, they will usually quote withing a certain range. So when you furnish the whole home, you will most likely know what you are gonna be getting, especially when you start scaling down your expectations as the search goes on.

Then come the next most important thing... itemisation
ALWAYS ask for your quotation to be itemised, as much as possible, get him to give you a break-down in the renovation items he is quoting you. Most IDs are likely to quote you based on the renovation package they are offering, and then do a add-on to the package for items you require but is not listed in the original renovation package deal they are offering.

Get a general quote with renovation package and the additionals first. If you are not satisfied that they lump their items in the package, go back to them to get a requote of everything... including the additionals... if the fella is not interested to do it, then you know he/she is not interested in doing your business, go else where where the ID is willing to.
That was what we did when shopping for our renovation ID. This way, you will be able to do a better comparison with all the renovation IDs/contractor you sent your floor plan to.

Once you have more or less shortlisted a few renovation companies, then do a requote for each item, including the foot run and square area calculations before deciding to engage them or not. This will allow you to do a further breakdown of how much they charge for each item, on your own, to do a more comprehensive comparison, and to see if the price is really reasonable. You will be surprise at the difference when you do that.

In our search, we have people quoting us prices for kitchen cabinets that range from $150 to $300 per foot run, and that is only for the bottom cabinet.

Don’t be afraid that the IDs will find you petty. Rather they jin jin ji jiao and we know how much exactly each renovation item cost, then to later have them saying..."hey, your quote did not say this is included... gotta pay $XXX to get it done"

get a general quote with renovation package and additional items first, then do a requote for each item, including the foot run and square area calculations before deciding to engage them or not

so, Strategy 2, ALWAYS ask for your quotation to be itemised, as far as possible.

More in the next post…

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