Hougang Parkview: Third Shipping From Taobao (淘宝)!

After settling into our new home for about half a year, we decided that we needed some extra items to make our life at home more comfortable, so we made another purchase in January and managed to get it before Chinese New Year!

The entire shipment was only 1.05 cbm, we actually had a hard time trying to get to the minimum of 1 cbm as the set of chairs we wanted to purchase was out of stock, so we made a last minute purchase of a stainless steel table.

Through this experience I understood the workings of Amcon a little bit better. I was actually contemplating trying out other companies because they are cheaper; without the $35 documentation fee and they charge lesser per cbm, some even offered checking services for fragile items. However I still went ahead with Amcon because of the problems I see that the rest of the shoppers were facing with other companies.

[Updated on 17th April 2015] I have to retract my praises for Amcon because of the terrible way they are handling the custom inspections. Amcon has one of the higher charges amongst many frieght companies and more and more have been popping up left and right. I used to believe that they are one of the better ones, but my most recent experience has changed my impression of them.

If you read further, you will realize that I have had one item that was not shipped due to my missing nickname, I also had a replacement item sent by one of the sellers. I was supposed to receive all my items before Chinese New Year, it is now 3 months later and only now was I able to get my two items. In between, I had to constantly call May and Amcon to question them where my items were. I can tell you that they really didn’t care if I was ever going to receive my items.

I posted twice on my Tao bao Shopping facebook group, once to praise them then another to retract my statement so that I didn’t mislead anyone. They are not DHL or Fedex but you expect a certain level of service due to their prices. My first encounter with them was superb (responsive, proactive, meticulous), my second time with them was not that great (still responsive but not proactive anymore) and the third time will probably be my last.

So I shall share some advantages of Amcon over other companies:

• Local customer service (May is based in Singapore so any questions or queries can be directed to her pretty easily, Amcon express hotline also available for even more direct queries)
• Items are shipped out from China as soon as all items have arrived (No need to wait for specific shipping dates)
• Shipping takes an average of 8-10 days
• Dedicated delivery truck (No worries over lousy shipping couriers in Singapore)

This time round I had one item being left behind in the China warehouse, seems like the seller didn’t write down my nickname on the outside packaging and they just didn’t bother double checking with the order form I gave; although I am partly to blame because I didn’t double check my items correctly as two of the orders have very similar tracking numbers so I thought they were all accounted for.

This time round, all items were very well packaged by the individual sellers, I believe it was due to me constantly communicating with them. As always, this is the list of items we purchased:

Bay window cushion good quality cushion, affordable pricing, very good customer service! I like that they have a wide variety of materials and colour for the cushion cover. Most of the other sellers only have overtly colourful choices and I didn’t take to that.
Stainless steel table one of our last minute purchases, extremely useful in the kitchen. Packaging is superb with wooden crates but the table was not without physical flaws although it did not affect us much.
Electric scooter working well so far! The battery is not made of lithium so it is bulkier, lots of useful free gift. We are looking to sell the electric scooter at $300 with the seat, leave a comment if you are interested! scooter has been sold!
Bamboo shelves good quality, good for all our potted plants.
Ladder much more stable than the usual aluminium kind, a little dusty when it arrived.
Flip clock much much better than the one I bought from the previous seller! Better packaging and the number plates were not damaged.
Lego plate not the real one from lego, but identical in colour and quality but at half the price!
Ottomans customized to the measurements we wanted, although they sent the wrong legs for one of the ottoman but they were very quick to apologize and send us the correct set of legs. They have storage space too!

Hougang Parkview: Knock, Knock, Knock on Wood!

This post will showcase the various carpentry work that was done.
First up is the bay window, the sliding windows and door for our study room

Next is the kitchen, together with the granite tops that were installed shortly after. Notice that our oven is on wheels (we wanted the other side of the kitchen to be completely mobile).

And last but not least, the master bedroom with wardrobe and the bedside drawer.

Hougang Parkview: Where are the Wallies?

I got the inspiration from Run Amuk in Perth. We were there for hot dogs during our stay in Fremantle and their tables were wrapped with Wally posters!
And gave me the idea of doing the same for my own dining table. I used the postcards from the guest book during our wedding and my extremely neglected wally ultimate travel collection book. It took very long for me to come up with a manner to stick the postcards. But finally my masterpiece is complete!

We waterproofed the table with a plastic wrap so the colours look a little faded due to the reflection. But it still looks as vibrant in real life. If I had money to laminate the entire thing I will, but this will keep me happy for now 🙂

Hougang Parkview: Daiso is a Gold Mine!

Daiso never ceases to amaze me with the simplicity and creativeness of their products. My current craze is magnets: no drilling, no pasting, and if the magnet is strong enough the items will never drop off.

Just a note to never ever buy this! The magnet is not strong, so you won’t be able to keep it on any magnetic object.Instead, buy these steel plates! They allow you to make any non-magnetic surface magnetic, so your items are not limited to your fridge or household shelter doors!
The following pictures showcase the items I bought from Daiso. Do take note, taobao also sells them and very cleverly describe them as 日本进口, but frankly all or most of these items are made in China. The pricing in taobao is only slightly cheaper, so I prefer buying in Daiso rather than taobao since I can physically touch and see the items before buying them.

 

Hougang Parkview: Old School Gate

Hello all, it has been so long since I’ve posted. We have been so busy with the moving in process, it is NEVER ENDING! The house is not even fully furnished and decorated yet. Sigh. BUT, I have to showcase this customized vintage-style divider. I knew I had to have it when I saw this design elsewhere.

Hougang Parkview: I Want My Internet!

This post is on behalf of the man. He shall show you how you can get a LAN point in every room even though initially, HDB only installed telephone points for all rooms.

If you look at your electrical plan you will see a multimedia box:From there, you will see many lines leading to different rooms and the location of the telephone outlets which are represented by a triangle:So all the cables from each outlet have already been laid underneath the concrete flooring and they all terminate at the multimedia box. You can’t see them because they are all covered up by this square plate. Pop it open and voila!

There are a total of seven cables terminating in the multimedia box, they come from the bedrooms (3), household shelter (1) and living room (1); plus 2 extras cables which we have no idea where it leads to. The additional data point below the cables lead to a data outlet next to TV point in the living room.

Removing the telephone outlet
The telephone points can be modified to LAN points with the steps shown only if it is an RJ45 outlet. Purely telephone outlets are known as RJ11.
Use a screwdriver to pop the side panels of the wall plate.
Remove the rectangular panel by loosening the screws.
You will see that only the blue and white wires are connected to the wall socket. Snip the two wire to remove the entire rectangular panel.
(Keep the RJ11 sockets in case you ever want to reverse the process)

Connecting the LAN outlet
Since we were not buying our items locally we bought this, which essentially replaces the entire face plate and socket with the correct one, eliminating any incompatibility in measurements that we may encounter.

(The item we bought did not require us to have any additional tools that are normally needed)

Trim the cables to the same length and insert them into the matching color slots.
There are 2 color conventions, A and B. Choose 1 and stick to it for all the sockets, including the ones at the multimedia box.
Using convention B, from left to right the wires to be placed in are orange, orange-white, blue, blue-white, green, green-white, maroon, maroon-white

After inserting the cables into the slots, push the clear tab to press the wires in. This is a permanent process, so make sure the correct wires are in place!

After which you just need to screw in the rectangular panel and pop the side panel back on. Repeat this process on all the RJ11 outlets you would like to change.

Wiring Up the MMB
As mentioned previously, there are 7 cables terminating here but only 5 outlets in the house. In order to find out where these cables lead to, we had to connect them to RJ45 sockets, this is what we bought.

Connect all the cables to the sockets (the steps are similar to that illustrated above).

Now comes the tedious part; you would either need an existing ONT and router or a cable tester to figure out where each of the cables come from. The general idea is to transmit a signal from the MMB and manually go to each room to determine which outlet will receive the signal.
With an existing ONT and router, I would connect a lan cable from the router to any of the outlets in the MMB, then connect a laptop to each of the outlets to see if you can access the internet. Once you know where the cables lead to, remember to indicate with a marker or equivalent.

Making Things Neater *Optional*
You have the option of placing 4-hole face plate like this to neaten things up. You just need to pop the sockets into the back of the face plate.

We are currently putting this part of the project on hold because we intend to use all 5 cables (with one remaining as a telephone line).

Update! We found this and will be purchasing it to try. The best part about the panel is that is customisable, so you just need to tell the seller that you want 5 RJ45 sockets and 1 RJ11 socket. We finally fixed it up! And it looks so much neater compared to the previous mash of wires. The man also drilled a hole at the bottom of the media box so that the wires can be gathered together. We have very good news too! The telephone cable can be plugged in a RJ45 socket and it works; so there is no need to customize the plate. So convenient!

 

Hougang Parkview: Filling in the Empty Spaces

This post will provide a quick run through of some of the items we have bought for our home. Generally, items made in Japan or Germany will be super expensive. We didn’t want to splurge so we went for mid-range models that were made in Korea, Thailand, etc. Energy efficiency was also a key point in our purchases.

We bought the following items from Lite Fusion, look for Marcus! He works there and he will also be a resident of Hougang Parkview.
Kitchen Sink, Sink basket and Tap (Monic K840, Critzo 91803C)
We wanted our sink to be a top-mounted single bowl sink. We were actually contemplating ordering from Amazon. However, that was before I saw the Monic K series. It was love at first sight with the K series. Lite Fusion doesn’t have these sinks on display, so we went to Universal Union to view them, it was much more expensive at Universal Union.The sink is humongous and I LOVE the HUUUGGE strainer basket and the accessories! I really hated it when the sponges get all wet and funky smelling because they didn’t dry properly after being used. So I love that the sink comes with a small basket so you can place the sponges there to dry! We also bought an additional basket that can be placed at the right side of the sink for plates to drip dry. I will get a picture of all the accessories together when I get the chance to.

Storage Heater (Joven JH25HE)
After looking at many many reviews, we decided to go with Joven. Seems like Ariston, although a pretty old brand, has lots of leakage problems.

The only downside of the heater is it’s shape and size. I think a round shape allows for better heating but it takes up a lot more space.

Our kitchen hob (Rinnai RB 3Si) was bought from Jerome in Renotalk.
Initially I wanted a glass plate since it looks so pretty and easy to clean! But I decided against it and went with the stainless steel plate since me and the man are far from gentle. I was obsessed with the inner flame technology and so it was either Rinnai or Fujioh. I went with Rinnai since my parents use that brand and the general review for Rinnai hobs are better. We would have preferred a two cooker hob but the only two cooker hob with inner flame technology has a glass plate, is made in Japan and is obscenely expensive. So went with the more pocket friendly 3 cooker hob.

Two thumbs up for Jerome! He carries almost any item you can think of and gives non-obligatory quotes, plus his prices are really the lowest amongst other popular places like Goh Ah Bee. Delivery of the item was very quick and the delivery man called before arriving.

We went to Gain City (AMK branch) to get the rest of the items.
Refrigerator (Mitsubishi MR F62C/E)
The man wanted a Mitsubishi fridge because he believes in its durability (from experience). Other than the F55C/E, the 62C/E is the only other 4 ticks fridge that Mitsubishi has, aside from the crazily expensive Folio series from Japan. The 62 is just a little taller than the 55 and price wise, the 62 is more worth it. We love the fact that it has THREE ice cube trays and an adjustable shelf, plus a longer warranty than other brands. Plus you get to choose a color!

Oven (Bosch HBN331E2J)
I always always wanted an oven. Not to bake cakes though, mostly to roast and try all the food I have seen in my food magazine. There are quite a few good reviews for this entry model for Bosch. It is also one of the few ovens that requires 13 AMP instead of the usual 16 AMP that I have seen. So it saves me the hassle of having to change the power point in the kitchen. Plus it is really affordable!

Washing Machine (LG WD1480)
LG and Electrolux are two brands with longer warranty on the rubber on the door of the washing machine. We went with LG because of its price, the . The steam washing machine was super tempting though, but it is way way way out of budget.

I will review the items when I start using them!

Hougang Parkview: Haulage and Debris Removal

I chanced upon this issue when I first started research on renovation. I remember reading some blog about how your contractor or ID will try to con you by manipulating the charges for this service. Even after reading the post multiple times I still didn’t understand what was going on, and nothing online provided a concrete answer. So I decided to get to the bottom of this myself.
I called HDB (spoke to our technical officer, Ms Chew) and AHPETC to clarify. This points I’m about to share are accurate as of the date of the post and for the flats under AHPETC. I say this because I have no idea how other town councils handle this. I shall look into it when I get a chance to 🙂

Only some town councils provide such service. I do not know the charges for the town council who do this as AHPETC does not provide the service. Instead, AHPETC has a private contractor, Mr Soh who handles this. HOWEVER, when I called him he told me he does not cover BTOs, told me to ask my own contractor to do it and hung up; I guess he isn’t interested and probably only helps out for resale flats? In cases like mine, the building company i.e. Chip Eng Seng usually would employ a private contractor (Jack/Eto) to take up this service. The contact will be pasted on your lift door.

You can get the service from other contractors other than the one pasted on your lift door. According to Ms Chew, HDB does not appoint or fix any contractors for this service. So you and your contractor or ID are free to look for your own. HOWEVER, chances are your ID or contractor will just get that private contractor (Jack/Eto) to do it. Unless they have their own contacts; convenience is the key here.

You have to pay for this service. It should either be reflected in your renovation quote or if it is not, your contractor or ID will get you to pay the private contractor (Jack/Eto) directly, either way you should pay for the service ONCE. I suspect (just an inkling) that more owners are beginning to question the cost of the service and implying that their contractor or ID is trying to over charge. So some contractors and IDs have decided to leave the cost out and ask owners to check it out themselves to avoid this situation.

The cost depends on your renovation works. Once again, I do not know the charges and what is included if your town council does provide the service. The haulage and debris removal service fee provided by the private contractor (Jack/Eto) is inclusive of:

1. labour to carry tiles, cement and sand to your flat
2. labour to clear debris accumulated during the renovation process
3. cost of sand
4. transport cost for getting sand to flat*
5. transport cost for getting debris to dump site*

*according to Ms Chew, HDB does not provide the lorry to transport the sand and debris.

For Hougang Parkview, the private contractor (Jack/Eto) charges:

• $250 if there are no tiling or hacking works. The cost covers the the labour and material to build mortar bases for your kitchen and washing machine and kerb.
• $900 if there is tiling of all bedrooms and living room. The extra cost covers more sand and additional labour to carry your tiles and cement.
• $60 additional per feet of hacked wall if there is hacking. This cost will cover the labour for hacking plus the clearing of debris from hacking.

If I am not wrong, if you are getting HDB to do cement screeding for you, all materials and services required for them to complete the cement screed will be covered by them. I shall confirm this with HDB a little later.

I hope my post will help clear some doubts on this confusing issue! 

Hougang Parkview: My Biggest Loot from Taobao (淘宝)!

So after lots and lots of reading, procrastinating and discussions, we finally made the decision to purchase all our lights from Taobao! From my previous posts, you would know that I am not a stranger to this amazing online china website. However, I have never purchased such big ticket items from them before.

We were torn between two different forwarders: Oops.sg and Amcon Express. We are looking at their service for sea shipping which is calculated by volume. Oops.sg is pretty popular with Hardwarezone member, do check out the thread here. Amcon will be more expensive than Oops.sg as they have an additional charge of $35. You would also be able to opt in for a 3% insurance to protect your items against damages during shipping for Oops. However, after speaking to May Ho (representative of Amcon) on the phone, I was reassured by her honesty and sincerity, plus many Renotalk members have shipped items through her too.
Updated post here and here on Amcon Express services, please read before deciding on them.

Name: May Ho
Contact number: 93862818
Shipping charges: 550RMB/cubic metre + $35 (documentation fee) + 7% GST
Shipping duration: 8 days
Note: get seller to write your name or nickname (麦头) on the outside of the packaging of your items

I have nothing but praises for May’s and Amcon’s services. Take note that you have to tell the seller to write your name or nickname on the outside of the packaging of your items, this is so that the staff in the China warehouse can identify your items and sort them out. After you have ordered your items, you will have to fill in a form with shipping information (运单号码，物流公司) plus declare the prices of the items.
IMPORTANT! After your items have been shipped out by the seller, check the number of boxes you will be receiving. Especially with bulky items, some sellers might send them in separate packaging and different tracking numbers. It doesn’t necessary mean that the seller will pack everything into one box. This will also need to be indicated in the form so that the warehouse will ship all your items to Singapore.
When the tracking system indicates that my first item has been received by the warehouse I will get May to double check. After which, she will then update me daily with the list of items the warehouse receives. The exchanges with her was usually done through Whatsapp and she is always prompt in replying.

And you can really pack A LOT of things in one cubic metre (1 m by 1 m by 1 m).

How did I choose my items? I bought my lights and the vacuum from Tmall. The rest I just went with the store with the highest sale (销量).

living room

living room

master bedroom

kitchen

service yard

study

corridor

Tv console workmanship isn’t superb but flaws are not noticeable, still a good buy compared to the price in Singapore
Dustbin quality is not bad, simple mechanism that works well
Flipclock looks super nice, timing is very accurate, however quality is not superb
Dustmite vacuum and Robot vacuum have yet to use it, take note that you need to change the plug or use a converter
Soap dispenser and toilet roll holder great quality
Handspray good quality, quite heavy
Living room, kitchen and service yard, master bedroom and household shelter (free gift – not LED), study and spare room, toilet, corridor lights all the lights arrived intact. Phew. They are all well-packed to avoid breakages. The lights are bright! The only problem I had was with the study and spare room lights. The seller sent me the wrong color but they are sending extra replacements for me and May is nice enough to help me ship it over at no cost.

Check out this post for reviews of the items.

Hougang Parkview: Ikea Is Always A Good Friend

Ikea is my go-to place for affordable and decently designed items. Although there are people who steer clear of this place, but the items that I have gotten from them have served me well so far! I guess you just have to know what to buy and what the item is suitable for.
From my experience, the expedit (judging from the thickness of the shelves) can withstand quite a bit. It acts as a TV console with storage in my own bedroom. The billy bookcases are not good for books, they start to sag after a while. Stainless steel items are also a nono; but one has to be careful with stainless steel items everywhere anyway.

Ikea has recently brought in some new items and really hope they bring in more! Oh and those who want a little bit more quirk in the items, checkout the PS collection!

Here are a list of items we are eyeing in the store.

The standard expedit bookcase will be in the study room (expedit bookcases will be replaced by a similar series called Kallax, but I’m not sure when Singapore will have stock for them).

The conference table fits in just nice as a study desk! It even has a built-in cable management. Plus the height of the tables can be adjusted thanks to the retractable legs.

The occasional table will be placed in the kitchen. It will serve as extra counter space.

The glass cabinet will serve as a display for stuff (not sure what yet).