Renovation Works and Contractors
House renovation is a very lucrative business. Don’t believe us? Just drive around a newly completed housing estate and observe a few things:
- The number of houses doing renovations;
- The size of the renovations (especially relative to the original house);
- And the number contractors present in the area, with their huge banners advertising themselves, hung at the houses they are working on.
There are a few reasons why we say renovation work is lucrative.
One, there isn’t a fixed rate for a lot of these things. Let’s say you’ve been staying in your house for 5 years. One day, you decide to widen the gate (to accommodate parking 2 cars in your driveway). This involves moving a lot of stuff, like your refuse chamber, water meter, widening the slab over the drain, and tiling up the small patch of grass so that you can park your new Smart ForTwo next to your existing Honda City. You can get quotes ranging from RM5,000 to RM20,000. Or even higher. Some promise you ‘better quality’ with a premium price, but you can’t really tell that, can you? It’s not like there’s a scale model or show house for you to refer to. And by the time it finished, and the quality bombs big time, well…
Secondly, a lot of these works are not documented. No contract documents, no receipts, no invoices, etc.
Thirdly, renovation contractors are really good in upselling. For this price, you get this, but hey, for RM1000 more, you get this nice stainless steel gate, it’s all the rage now you know. That cheaper gate, any thief can jack it in 3 minutes. And oh, by the way, I know a guy that can do kitchen cabinets for you at a good price, want to do or not?
In some new housing estates, a few contractors band up to share business, while making sure no outsiders come in and ‘steal’ their business. It happened to my neighbour, who got his brother-in-law to do the renovations to his just-completed house. Simple stuff, just add in grill, change the gate, kitchen cabinets, tiling. The ‘resident’ contractors came and threatened my neighbours brother-in-law to leave everyday until they completed the works.
Let’s put it in perspective. On the average, every landed house in a newly completed project needs a few basic renovations – grill, kitchen cabinets and wardrobes, electrical wiring (including lights and fan). Then there are other options like marble floor polishing, air-conditioning, kitchen extension (very popular, I tell you), tiling, paint job, the list goes on. With the high volume of work in a centralized location all in a short period of time, the contractors can offer very competitive prices while still making astronomical profits.
Obviously, there are plenty of good and responsible renovation contractors out there, but sometimes it’s really difficult for people to find the right one at the right price. If anyone has any horror stories about renovation works, feel free to let us all hear…
Agreed with what you said about find a good contractor with the right price is not a easy task. Btw, i m going to renovate my house, wondering anybody can recommend a good designer & contractor.
Comment by icecubes — December 7, 2006 @ 2:59 pm
Get at least 3 contractors to quote for the same scope of renovation works, then you will have a fair estimate of costs involved.
icecubes, you can send me an email for a good designer.
Comment by Uncle Ed — December 8, 2006 @ 10:47 am
Wow, I thought the gangster tactic only happened in Apartments (i.e. not so up-class area) but even happened in housing estates, i.e. landed is really too much.
Comment by preacher — December 8, 2006 @ 10:57 am
The garden of my semi-D in Lagenda Mas, Cheras is around 1 foot lower than the building foot print. The site engineer informed that this is per local regulations to allow for water retention to regulate the flow rate into the drains as the site is a hill slope. Any idea if this is true?
Comment by Peter — December 13, 2006 @ 11:39 am
Uncle Ed, I need to renovate my medium cost apartment. Please recommend me a trustworthy designer. My email address is wawason2000@yahoo.com
Comment by Mr Wong — December 18, 2006 @ 5:48 pm
ACTUALLY,INTERIER DESIGN must suit to your needs and your prefer….All Kontractor can do all your need just ask…and money…
Comment by MaX — January 8, 2007 @ 2:14 pm
I just bought a new house in Johor Bahru and are looking for a good contractor for the electrical wiring (including lighting and fan). But sourcing around still can’t get it. Can u recoment a good contractor in this for me? Thanks a lot!!!!
Comment by Ms Lim — December 10, 2007 @ 2:30 pm