House Mover Review

Finding a good mover is never an easy task, worried to get someone who is not responsible or missing in action on the day of moving house is total nightmare. Searched online for reviews and saw many recommended Helping Hands, read that they used ex-convicts. Decided to contact them and used them since they are doing a good case, but the in-charge never get back to us after initial conversation on price and location, they are slightly cheaper than the one I used. If I didn't remember wrongly, he quoted us $300 for full load. After awhile, I decided to find someone else because I feel that he is not keen on the job.

Searching through forums and google, I found Gethsemane Care Ministry mover. It was posted by a lady who used them personally in renotalk few years ago. She gave them praises and seems very happy with them so I contacted them. Like Helping Hands, they used ex-convicts as well. We talked on the phone and the in-charge, Gary, is friendly. He made an appointment with us to come down to access our stuffs and informed us about their prices. They charge by half load ($180) or full load ($360). As we are taking full load, there was 20 free boxes and after that, it will be $2 per box. Their boxes are not big but they are thick and strong, easily packed our heavy books in with ease. I have lots of books as mentioned in previous post, in fact, about 1/3 of the boxes we had are packed with books. 

He brought us 50 boxes few days later and we started packing everything in. Used about 48 boxes, Gary only charged us 15 boxes in total. They do wrap up big items before moving them out like fridge, washing machine and drawer cabinet. They came with 2 lorries (1 on standby) and they moved fast. We gave each them 1 hongbao each after that, there are 5 or 6 of them. I can't remember because it was hubby who passed them.

Overall we are happy with their service and will not hesitate to recommend them to friends and family.

YaYa

Renovation

Renovation has its up and down, some mistakes here and there but as long as they are rectified, we are okay with it. Anyway the whole process is very rushing since we have to move out the rented flat soon and we can't complain much. Most importantly, we are quite easy going! Hahahaha.. Actually if time permit, hubby would get them to do it as agreed. Oh well..

Can't blame or pin point their mistakes since we are not able to give them time to rectify some miscommunication. We will just live with it but next time (if there is next time but I don't think I will want to move again, I don't really like to move as there are too much stuffs to do).

As we want to spend within budget (already borrowed 20k renovation loan but end up we got 40k loan, reason stated in next paragraph), we decided to purchase the rest of our furnitures from Ikea. We didn't buy everything cheap in Ikea, overall we spent over 10k there. And also we made sure we really like the design before purchasing, we don't buy for the sake of buying. Only thing I don't like is the shoes cabinet, quality not really good. I paid over $100 for it and yet it started to peel off (the laminate). The kids chose their own wardrobe door colour, only the youngest will be using drawer cabinet brought over the old house since he's still too young for a wardrobe and we planned to let him take over his older brother wardrobe which is slightly shorter than the rest while the older brother upgrade his. We bought pax wardrobe for master bedroom, look good but the bad thing is there is no lock drawer. Never realised we have so many books, took 2 big shelves, 1 thin tall shelf and 3 waist height shelves to put all our books in. I love books, I just can't resist buying them, hehe.

From the beginning, we discussed and decided to borrowed 20k renovation loan. Initially he made up his mind to borrow from CIMB as he compared it with OCBC and their interest rate is lower. But right after he submitted his application, the interest was adjusted and it was higher than OCBC. He wanted to try OCBC but because of time restrict, he couldn't wait for OCBC to process the application and had to go ahead with CIMB. The interior design company was chasing after us for first payment, we didn't want to pay upfront with cash first and get refund later stage. (To be frank, I heard too many horror stories about renovation so I am really worried they will run away with my money). As this is the first time we borrowed from the bank, we thought the way the banks work are the same throughout but before we know it, OCBC had sent us a bank cheque to our new home without informing or signing acceptance letter (OCBC actually doesn't require to sign any acceptance letter. Once you go OCBC to apply for loan, they will mail you the cheque if approved). Going to make full repayment for CIMB this month, can't afford to pay both for the next 3 years. Only a few hundreds penalty, better than to pay few thousands interest.

YaYa

Purchase List

Chose baron toilet bowl because I like the feeling of sitting on it. The sales lady asked us to sit on all their display to see which is more comfortable. And this design is easier to clean. 

Master bathroom is big enough to put this type of cabinet, didn't want to build in as they are made of wood so not easy to maintain in a moist environment.

Bought 707 water heaters for both bathrooms. After some researching, wanted to change to those with auto cutoff if there is electricity leakage type heater but the shop does not sell those. Well, my only choice will be change it after few years later.

Bought Fujioh hood, hob and oven. They have a bundle package for 3 so we didn't think too much and get them. Seriously, I can't bear to spend few thousand on an oven and I haven't really start to bake. Anyway I feel every oven will do its job, just how accurate they are. Tested the oven with oven thermometer, seems to be quite accurate, only slightly hotter. Hob works as described, no complains about it.Not sure if the hood works, I hardly deep fry any stuffs. 

Not much choice for hood as I wanted one with strong suction since I have an open concept kitchen. Also this is the only one that is not too huge or too wide. Hubby and me are tall so hoods that are around the same depth as the bottom cabinet will get our heads hit on the hood frequently or we can't see the food properly. Anyway SLM 900 looks quite pretty and slim, not bulky to look at. 

Hubby chose FG 3793 SVSS hob. He said having the other 2 burners further away from wok burner will be more practical, I have to agree on that. We have to consider the space the wok needed as it's big. The small burner we usually use it on small pots or for soup.

I love FBO-38 Fujioh oven design, initally chose FBO-9 but decided to change to the one I love and also the glass is bigger, easier to monitor my food being cooked.

Wanted to get it in stainless steel but it was out of stock so I have to choose between copper and beige. In the end took beige because the sample colour on the website looks deep red for copper and I couldn't find any stock photo or real life photos for either. I can only choose the safer colour to match my kitchen.

 

Bought our TV and sound bar a month earlier before we collect keys because it was on sales and there are few hundreds discount. Who want to pay more right?

Bought quite a number of stuffs from taobao because they are cheaper there even after adding in shipment cost and GST. So we never thought of buying lights here, the price is really expensive. I know there is a risk buying there but we could save quite a significant amount. Took many days to find a suitable design for the new flat, it was not easy! He wanted track lights for the house, the type with no wire seen from the outside (easy cleaning purpose) and it has to be COB type. Finding the right watts for home use was not a easy task, most of them are for commercial use (the type that he wants) so they are too glaring and bright. After days of searching in Taobao, finally found what we want. Chosen 10W in natural light bulb, actually should be get 7W instead.

Found a suitable dining light as well, look pretty and simple enough. Don't want any fancy design, I will be the one cleaning it so no.

We bought 2 simple ceiling lamps for the common rooms, they are from ikea. Couldn't find the stock photo in the website, we saw it at their store and find them suitable so bought them home.

As for toilets, yard and store room lights, I bought them from Taobao. Very cheap, only cost less than $4 each. Yes, you read it right! Can't complain much with that price, can't find it anywhere. Doesn't look as pretty as photo but still able to accept it due to the super low price.

Since I was shopping at Taobao, I bought numerous other stuffs from there for the new home. To name a few like laundry basket and key holder, I can't list down everything because there are too many of them. Haha! I admit I am a shopaholic, I love to buy at the comfort of my home.

YaYa