I do not attempt to hide anything, we are all here to share our experiences be it good or bad. There is not such thing as everything good. If everything sounds too good to be true, then it's not!.
I learned a lot from a friend's father how to see many things in the contstruction/renovation industry.
we start with water leakage. things to note, as already mentioned by our dear friend 2 to 3 pages from here. after rainy day when rain stop, you will start to see certain areas more damp than others. there will be a reflection mark. as the ceilings of many units in this part of Johor are made from gymsum board, this water wetness will actually cause the board to be light brown after the water seeps there. due to dirt in the roofing ceiling area.
i've gone up into the ceiling inside and seen how it was all formed up. it's not only HH but all these new developments around. not all of them but majority of them. after a rain , water will trikle down the sides of walls and some of it will actually enter the house from the side or the top. you will not miss it. water dripping into the house.
so when viewing a house sub sale, look at the ceiling, look at the floor, look for visible marks. if owners are cleaning and mopping the house when u visit or just finish mopping , you can guess something there already.
look at the outside of the house, look for difference in colour for the walls. crack lines are scary. they mean a lot of stories behind the wall. I do water proofing in the past so i'm scare of crack lines.
crack lines also mean the process of putting the brick tiles up, not letting enuf time for it to set then putting up the rendering straight away a day later or even the very day itself. and even before first layer of rendering dries up, 2nd layer comes in. even before 1st and 2nd layer dries, they throw the plaster all on straight away.
i was having a minor discussion with a sub con yesterday who does tiling, he says if wall new , can do many things to it. i said no, and explain to him, then told him the practices overseas which is normally done by a professional. hence no professionals in SG and JB? he said no time, no choice everything rushing and it will be to costly to do the method i told him about.
basically only well trained skilled Chinaman in Singapore do it. hence all these special group of people are here in singapore only to do the landed private properties. and probably half of the condos done by them. in order to qualify to come here to work in the construction industry they have to pass a few tests before they can come.
there are 2 kinds of them, the skilled ones who are here to do all the walls leveling and so on. the not so skilled ones are unskilled here to do the manual work ......
don't want to go too much in. hence i refuse to let any malaysians enter my place to carry out renovations. i know too many of them, not that they are bad , they are good but......
as a johorian, who stays in johor, by the time enter singapore what time already? in order to avoid the jam, must rush back early. so if a certain wall cannot finish in time, rush rush rush, think of the end result. the style to cover up imperfections are many. i've seen it and i ask why they give me reasons since i'm part of them in the team. its' a no choice sitiuation.
hence i will not allow any shoddy work should i have a team of workers.
