The Hunt for the 'Right' ID

It’s a brand new DBSS.  Almost everything will already be done up for us by the developer.  Floorings, build-in wardrobes, kitchen facilities, toilet facilities, etc.  So, there should be very little for us to add on and should save us on renovation costs.  So, we thought.

So we start on our adventure to seek for a reasonably good and reliable ID company.  That was about three months ago.  We posted a request on one of the renovation portal sites in Singapore and within the next couple of weeks, we received short messages and phone calls from something like 12 different ID companies.  We exchanged messages, phone calls and I provided floor plans and our requirements over emails.  We get quotes ranging from as low as S$9K to S$35K, although I suspect the S$9K quote is from a contractor rather than an ID.

We eventually shortlisted 5 of them and for the next couple of weekends and some weekday nights, we travelled round the island to talk to these chosen 5.  Little did we know, this can be such a tedious task.  By the time we talk to the fourth ID, we were loathing to even go to the last one.  Anyway, we managed to finish talking to all 5 of them, telling them what we want, giving them our budget and our expectation.  It all went great.  Well, not really!  They all came back with a quote that far exceeded our budget that we gave.  Some left out items that we want and some added items that we don’t want.  There was even one that tried to double-charge us for haulage.  Of course, this one got struck off from our list immediately.

After comparing all the quotes, we decided on the one that fit closes to our request.  We went down to meet up with the ID and spent 4 hours discussing in detail, telling him the concept we have in mind.  A week later, he sent us a new quote.  We had to visit him again to make further adjustments to his quote.  Finally, we agreed on a number!  We went on to select our wall papers and laminates.  He promised to send us an official quote and we paid a deposit for the 3D drawings to be done.

And we went home feeling satisfied with what we have accomplished so far.  Sadly, this was really the beginning of our problems….