First off, congratulations on getting your new home!
We get the excitement that comes with this new milestone — you’re constantly thinking about your dream home, flipping through IKEA catalogues, seeking inspiration on Pinterest, Instagram, etc…but when it comes to realising your vision of a beautiful abode, it takes more than just buying different pieces of furniture. Understanding the renovation process is equally important! So, if you’re reading this, you’re on the right track.
Here are six key parts of the renovation that you need to understand to ensure that your home doesn’t turn out a disaster, you don’t incur extra costs, and you can move in on time.
Step 1: Hacking and dismantling
Duration: 3-5 days
Before embarking on your renovation journey, you have to lock in your desired interior design theme and colours. After that, hacking and dismantling is the first step in the renovation process. For resale flats that tend to come with older fixtures and fittings, hacking and dismantling work can be significant. Out with the old, in with the new!
For new BTO flats, you may or may not need to embark on this first step, given that your apartment is brand new. Plus, there may be renovation restrictions unique to your BTO flat that you should take note of. Find out what they are here: HDB Renovation Restrictions
We would also highly recommend that you give your neighbours an early heads up to avoid any bad blood.
Step 2: Wet works
Duration: 5-9 days
As the name suggests, wet works involve the use of water. This includes laying of cement screed for the floor, application of waterproofing membrane, installation of floor tiles, as well as the construction of walls.
This is the longest stage of the entire renovation process, as it takes 1-2 days for cement to dry, and the laying of tiles needs to be precise.
Step 3: Electrical, plumbing and aircon works
Duration: 3 days
Well, you know what this is.
Pro-tip 1: Aligning with your interior designer and contractor on your power points is important. While it is possible to remove or add a couple more later, it will be cumbersome and require you to repaint your walls if the rearrangement results in some minor hacking to get to the wiring. Therefore, always plan for enough power points.
Pro-tip 2: When looking through the project timeline with your contractor, notice if they’ve scheduled for Step 2 and Step 3 to be done sequentially. To save time, contractors can start running the plumbing pipes, electrical wirings and aircon trunkings simultaneously with wet works as they tend to be mutually exclusive. However, project manager or interior designer must be experienced enough to know what he/she is doing to avoid any cock-ups..
This is why it’s convenient to work with an ID firm that has in-house resources and offers end-to-end services to help save time and cut down on unnecessary costs.
Step 4: Painting works
Duration: 3-4 days
By now, we are about 70% done with the entire renovation process.
A standard package for HDB flats (and even condominiums) from ID/renovation firms usually offers a few different colours.
Step 5: Installation of custom-made furniture
Duration: 3 days
The final touch to complete your home! Furniture. Aside from shopping at furniture stores such as IKEA or Courts, one way to really make your home stand out and uniquely yours is to opt for custom-made furniture based on your preferred material, laminate design, size and dimension. This is especially useful for corners with uncommon lengths and breadths; and if you’re looking to create extra storage, for example. Customising kitchen furniture is highly recommended if you have plans to have built-in appliances with unique design made with better materials.
A perk of working with Design iOi is that we also offer custom carpentry services at factory prices for our clients. You can always contact us for a free consultation.
Step 6: Touch up and cleaning
Duration: 1 day
Alas, the last stage is to do a final walk-through of your almost completed home, to identify areas that require minor touch ups before the handover. It is also standard practice for contractors to provide general cleaning and chemical washing services to wrap-up the project.
Voila! Throw in a few more furniture, personal memorabilia’s, line your sheets, and you can finally say home sweet home.
We hope this was helpful in a way or two, and please feel free to contact us here if you’d like to find out more about how we can help with your home renovation. Beyond HDBs, our team is experienced with condominiums and landed houses.
Website: www.designioi.com
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