One week later, we met Bing once again this time round at his studio along Guillemard road at geylang there.. not bad you know beside got sell the Tanjong Rhu Bao is very nice but the uncle face always like you own him money.. ANYWAY let's not OT. After seating us down with a drink, he started his presentation with the colored version of his drawing, the itemize quotation and some material. Basically at this stage most ID will just show you a really simple space planning drawing, the material they will be using eg. Laminate sample etc and go through the quotation with you.
Sample of Space Planning
Seriously this stupid space planning drawing is really kuku one loh.. I also don't know for what sia.. If your ID just show you this ah I think you can write him off! This stupid drawing we also can draw la.. Anyway in the first place we are the one that share with the ID where we want our bed, our TV, our carpentry work to be right?!.. Unless you really stupid gong gong till erm "where should my TV be ah? My bed I also don't know put where? Put bed at balcony ok anot ah? Until they need to plan for you la.. And pls loh our house these days not that big la.. How much deviation can it get?! Understand that some ID really will show you just this drawing and try to sell their way through.
*Useful Tips 5*
"Ask for sketches! Don't give in to just space planning drawing. Some ID will throw in even simple 2D or 3D drawing!"
As mentioned earlier Bing already took it a step further by sketching out the design he have in mind for us. After going through the quotation, we really like this guy and his work but I need to be 101% sure that he is the one for us. I felt that there's still quite a bit of research and homework to be done before I commit. Remember I told you before he is quite nice right? You know what he tell me anot... he say he going do volunteer work for one week overseas so can only respond to me once he's back if I decide to engage him.. I'm like zzzzzz why u tell me this?! And hor he is so super nice that suddenly he just stand up and walk away leh.. then you know what happen?! My wife Samsung note ki siao.. malfunction and anyhow take picture leh.. After we got home this is what I found in her phone. I was so shocked that I called Samsung then they say my wife phone ok liao. Aiya stupid phone.
*Useful tips 6*
"Remember to attach your floor plan in the email when sending to ID!"
Mong Design Studio
Shortly after, we received an email from Mong and fixed our second appointment at their new studio along Upper Paya Lebar. When we arrived, we were greeted by this new guy called Jonathan together with Maena we seated down with the usual item laid right in front of us. Feeling abit puzzled we ask Maena whether she will be the one handling our projects from start till the end like other firm. If so, why are we talking to this guy? We were told the method they engage is different. They handle the project as a team. The head conduct the initial meeting with new prospect, disseminate the information to the rest of the team to brainstorm ID ideas, head or next level lower will try to close the deal, then another project manager will manage the whole project. Reason being if anyone away for whatsoever reason such as medical or resigned, at least the whole project wouldn't die with that person. Ok la also make sense. This Jonathan is the Principle Designer. He did most of the presentation and as promised, they show us some sketches... it's not as detail as what we saw at Linewerkz previously but was good enough to illustrate to us what they will be doing. Throughout the presentation we were truly impressed by them as they continue to GAN me *again* for some of my stupid idea, provide alternative to bring out the FEEL we wanted, another plus point for them is their advice on LIGHTING issues!
Don't play play with lighting ok my friends.. ever wonder why furniture at IKEA showroom always so nice but when u buy home it look like shit.. something to do with lighting one ok! They really differentiate themselves very well in this aspect as they explain to us where are the lighting point and what type of effect they hope to achieve.. We almost want to ONZ them already until we saw the final price on the quotation... *wah snap back to reality*
Mong Design Studio is one of our TOP choice and is highly recommended for many reason. One of them is "They are very professional and never look down on customer". We highlight our budget concern with them and instead of giving us the WTF face.. Immediately they come out with a lot of options that we can explore which will help us to save money! And mind you the overall DESIGN and QUALITY is not compromise in the process of cutting cost. This is Professionalism. This is what they and us the customer value the most! We had a few amendment made so we conclude that meeting and await our revised quotation from them.
Summit Design Studio
We carry on our research online and chance upon this RENOTALK forum, inside you could find tons of renovation information. I will touch in details on this forum in my next blog. Anyway one of the many ID being review inside is this Summit Design Studio (SDS). This thread gather so much positive review that I decided to personally visit their studio one day. Their studio is along Joo Chiat conveniently located just opposite all the happening Vietnam PUB there! Wow I'm thinking if your ID or contractor every night chong there ah.. ur project GG lo... We step into their studio and I asked for this ID by the name Ken Lee.. His name hor make me think of the song "I ken-lee~~ ken-lee without you by Mariah Carey" hahahah.. Anywayyyy by right for weekend he only serve appointment customer but since he got some time on hand till the next appointment he serve us too. Maybe he know he is quite popular in the forum, I must say he is very confident. He never really talk much. Just listen. Take notes. Say things that useful. Not say he quiet and not friendly la.. What I can say is can tell he is quite experience lo. What really stun me next is when he say.. "Your EC TOP around May right?! Ok your quotation 2 weeks." I'm like wah.. other IDs firm all make it a point to fixed the next appointment asap.. This really yaya papaya ah.. Being confident and arrogant is a thin line. For him is more towards confident ba. Anyway it's true la still got a lot of times mah... hahaha we can actually chill a little la.. hehe
Ok. Time to end this long post. Till the next post people! Thanks for reading!
Ps: If you miss out on Part One can click on the hyperlink below
**************** Sneak Peak into the next blog post (Part 3) ***************
Interior Design Firm Quotation
The moment we've been waiting for; the itemize ID quotation. After contacting more then 10 IDs, meeting about 7 IDs, collecting about 7 quotations... This is by far the most detail quotation we have seen, by Mong Design Studio.
Item 1.3 Design & Professional Fee. For this item, most firm does not charge one.. But I also realize for those that charge, their service really TIP TOP.. you really pay extra for their expertise and services ba.. Mong $1.2k consideration quite reasonable like loh.. there's one firm which I will share later that charge $5k for this segment and oh ya after we forgotten about $15k Misura.. tsk tsk.. After speaking with some firm that don't charge this.. must really assess the ID carefully lo.. Some stupid dumb dumb ID really hor you tell them you wanna plant coconut tree in the living room they also will say CAN ah..
Item 2 is pretty standard. Item 3 also standard la. Ah Item 4 Painting Work.. This one you can bargain! Most will give you a limit.. like you can select up to 3 or 6 different colors.. Don't be a idiot and bargain for more color hor! Bargain for price la... Really it's either there're such stupid people around or one of the pariah ID firm that I came across really treat me as a idiot.. You know what he tell me?! He said "Unlike other ID, we can let you choose and select up to unlimited colors!" I'm like OEI you Si Xiao or what?! You think my house rainbow ah need so many color for fk..
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Dear, dear Ben,
ReplyDeleteI was in stitches! I ken lee, I ken lee, without you...
OMG!!! I was lol, almost fall out of my chair, literally!
Thanks Ben, you made my day!
Peace,
Mas
This comment has been removed by the author.
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