Carpenter Direct

Lara from Carpenter Direct was the ID that I engaged to renovate my kitchen. She came back with a quote which may not be the cheapest but she was helpful with her advice in respect of what I should include or omit to ensure that i keep to my budget for the renovation. Lara was also very responsive and provided prompt answers whenever i had questions and often backed up with pictures and examples of what I could expect. From a personality perspective, Lara was easy-going, engaging and did not put on any airs. Further, I am impressed with the timeliness of her responses and her ability to keep to committed timelines. The completion of work and the hand over of the kitchen was per her initial projection (within 2 weeks). This was particularly helpful as some other IDs that I had spoken with needs 5 weeks. Lara also provided me with periodic updates on the status of the renovation which allowed me to have the peace of mind without extensive oversight on a regular basis or having to micro-manage the renovation. Any requests for rectification (e.g. paint touch-up) were promptly dealt with without fuss. She even managed to find me matching tiles within 1 day to fixed a small area of the kitchen wall. Had some minor issues towards the tail end of the renovation (e.g. the glass contractor broke one piece of the glass that was to be fixed on the wall and damaged the new cupboard plus the vinyl flooring), she fix the issues as soon as reasonably possible. We appreciated her ability to stay focused on finding a solution to delivered the best outcome without allowing the issue to devolve into a "your problem / my problem" situation. I also received good compliments on the quality and workmanship of the carpentry from family members and friends who saw the new kitchen. Lara also did her own QC on her end, and any pieces of carpentry which were determined by her to not be up to standard were also rejected and sent back for reworking prior to installation. I would highly recommend Lara if you are looking for an ID to help with your home renovation! 👍🏻

I first met with Joe and Albert (I think that was his name). I felt better knowing there will be 2 IDs working on my house should anything happen especially with the pandemic. Albert? seems to have more experience and was able to advise me on the designs and things to look out for, since the flat condition is quite bad. But after signing on, I was only liaising with Joe. There were a couple of issues that cropped up, and I had to come up with solutions instead of my ID trying to solve it for me. I had to go through the colour palette several times, and yet my room was not painted until at the last moment. I understand that home renovation may not be a smooth journey and I do appreciate that my ID was able to get my house ready by the required deadline. I am happy with the end results after all the hassle.

Our investment unit for rental for 2, or 3 pax max, turned out to be our family home of 5 with 3 kids, youngest being 3, We were very particular with the ID we were to be working closely. To cut our reno costs, we also considered to engage a contractor. After meeting with contractors, and 3 different IDs, who ALL told us what we wanted couldn't be done, we knew Lara was going to be our ID when she told us, yes it can be done, as well as the cons of it which we are fully aware. One ID company MIA totally on us when we were approached them again. From the first time we met Lara on zoom, she has a very friendly, cheerful personality, and has been very prompt in her replies, whenever we had questions, whenever something needs to be rectified, whenever we thought of something new, etc. Best of all, I felt she and my wife had a lot of synergy going on, their mindsets were very similar, tastes similar, and we were all people who kept our promises. ^^ I got to admire IDs more after meeting Lara and Carpenter Direct, they have so many things going on every single day! Not an easy job everyone can do. Whoever said, the smaller the house, the easier to reno, isn't exactly true hor, we found we had to compromise, in short, on being practical and having more space, or on aesthetics. We chose being practical. In short, we had to build almost 3m full height cabinets so we have extra storage to keep all, my wife's stuff. So we can plan all there is to plan, think of all there is to think, but along the way, a lot of things will crop up, we will think of new ideas along the way, change other ideas, and Lara has been super super patient, even replying our texts at midnight, finding solutions for us, and she delivered everything she said she will do. We felt very bad, but Lara was always very understanding and obliging. Our Whatsapp group probably has countless texts and pictures lol. She was also often late and had to take a Grab ride home because of us, even bearing some other costs on her own because of our mistake. Having said that, IDs are also humans and will overlook or forget out some details from time to time, even in the chaos of reno, work, and kids, we also forgot many things, remember later, its great that we were there to get to the solution, together, instead of pointing fingers whose responsibility it is. The only part our heart still aching was one electrical point done wrongly, but it wasn't her fault, resulting in a diagonal scar below our living room r light, that's very difficult to mend with paint, but its ok I guess, its only visible from certain angles and lighting. Even after handover, there were also other issues, we are glad she is just as responsive even after we had made the bulk of the payment, Carpenter Direct even went the extra mile for us, with their precise Saturday and manpower, which we really are so so grateful for, somehow post Covid, it was very very very difficult to get any one or contractor willing to do "small reno works". Our carpentry is very very customized, I really liked the workmanship, and the years of skillset that Peter put into our home. What others didn't want to do for us, or told us cannot be done, Carpenter Direct did it for us! So awesome you guys! Our meeting with Peter was also super hilarious, cracking funny jokes at times, the hours spent on the discussion went by so fast! Ansel also chipped in some ideas to help us with some ideas for customizing our uniquely high platform bed! Special shout out too for the guys behind the scene working so hard to get the carpentry done, and for coming back to do the rectifications, xin cam en Ah Zhong! Thank you Yuan Zhen! Carpenter Direct made me forget all the horror ID and contractor stories I heard through the years, Lara totally set our minds at ease, and working so closely with Lara and Peter, it feels like we are friends rather than client and ID! lol As of time of writing, our toilet window started leaking water at the corner again, but we know Lara will surely help us rectify the issue! So, can 5 of us fit into a small apartment? It can be done!