Uncle Contractor

Remember I was looking for an alternative?

I figured that looking for a contractor is the best way to go. After all, uncle contractor will already earn one fold from you. Then the designer firms come in to earn 2-3 times more (depending on the reputation of the firm and the materials that you select). This is my analysis:

Uncle contractor is my mum’s contact. He used to renovate her HDB and his pricing is reasonable. So we decided to use him.

The quote was close to $50k for the renovation works which I wanted (see previous post - first step - market research).

That is about 50% savings from the quote given by designer firms!!!

From the list, I cancelled out some items which we can DIY, some which was not necessary and some which we can buy off the shelf.

We got him to:

• Hack and change floor tiles of hall & dining area
• Extend front porch & lay tiles
• Sand & polish parquet
• Attach cornice in Master bedroom
• Adding/ changing power points
• Repairs to window grill locks & hinges, sliding door wheels

In the end, the bill came up to about $25k (I’ve added buffer as some electrical items and other small works are not reflected in the bill). 

Wow!!

From $100k quote to actual $25k paid, that is a load of savings. Cool man! Now I have more buffer for better furniture! 

Give me a tinker if you'd like to use this contractor. I'm pretty happy with his work done too. :)