The information provided herein is intended for informative purposes in creating awareness only. It may include articles or comments and discussions in the form of text, image, audio, and video formats involving industry practices also known in part as trade secrets, that are considered detrimental or unethical in nature to consumers. The sole purpose of sharing this information is to create awareness and encourage exercising prudence in the selection of a renovation partner. We take this sharing as a stepping stone in reshaping the renovation perception and strongly encouraging ethical business practices. Our contributors are practicing interior designers, suppliers, and contractors, including, but not limited to present and past employees of various firms. It is important to note that any decision made out of the disclosed information is done at your own discretion. We, being the author and publisher of this material cannot be held liable for any consequences, damages, or losses that may arise from the use or misuse of the information provided. You are fully and directly responsible for your renovation success derived from your judgment. We can only do so much by sharing.
Wouldn't it be better to remain naïve? Maybe? that's what all renovation providers (IDs, contractors, suppliers, and platforms) want you to be. The smarter you are, the harder to influence and persuade you, the less profitable for them.
At least if you remain naïve, you wouldn't feel any degree of stress now until the real stress comes about. Why kill your renovation joy prematurely, right? To leave it to lady luck or have more control in your hands, we leave it to you to decide. Don't you agree there are people who prefer to listen to nice things only? This industry has got an abundance of sweet talkers. This Insider Secret is a collective testament of like-minded folks who feel that...
customers deserve better treatment.
Do you have common sense?
As you read these articles, there's no need to overanalyse them; common sense should suffice for understanding. If you approach them with an open mind, you'll grasp the concepts easily. You don't even have to think that we are protecting you in any way, because you are the only protector of your interest. While some may be skeptical or prefer to hear only positive things, we don't sugarcoat the truth to soothe anyone. We humbly take great pride in being upfront and pragmatic, and our clients appreciate this about us. That's all we care about.
EVERYONE LOVES BADGES, WHO DOESN'T?
Sure. Platforms love to cater to your little gullible visual appetite for badges.
Take a badge study done in the UK for charity causes. The representative survey found that three-quarters of respondents would be more confident in supporting a charity that displayed a badge of confidence.
Of the 2,200 respondents surveyed, 61% would be more likely to think positively about seeing a badge, 73% would be more confident in supporting, 51% were more likely to support a charity they had never heard of seeing a badge, 28% would do a background check before making a donation.
How would a similar survey in the ID and renovation industry turn out if conducted in Singapore?
Nvm about that first, let's look at one of the very popular platforms that employs badges to establish trust in their listed ID firms. We have selected one of these renowned firms and show you the 1-star cries in Google Reviews.
There are companies that create shell company/companies to participate in self create internal ID and renovation fairs. We have a recent example to show you what we mean.
Renovation platforms are flooding the industry with the BEST actors
If you even think that you are meeting the real Interior Designers through these platforms, you are being fooled.
You will never run short of ideas or ID contacts in Singapore because there are so many reno-portals and even influencers are joining in the fun.
Have you come across ads like this yet?
Let's do a quick debunk of cheap baits
FREE Quote (dumb)
Everybody like to use this dumb cheap bait. Which moron charges or pays for a quotation?
FREE Home Insurance (legit)
This is legit and saves you approximately $150 depending on the coverage, don't expect premium or comprehensive coverage for free.
FREE Home Defect Check (likely dumb)
Hmm.. without further checks, this is more than likely to refer to defect checks provided by the Sales IDs rather than the real defect-checking pros who use the proper tools and instruments. Some Sales IDs use this to add value, by providing very basic checks that are worse than you doing it, more meticulously for sure.
You sure know that you are going to pay some kind of commissions, but paying for a bunch of common items you are capable of buying yourself... hmm...
AWARD-WINNING ID FIRMS
[MUST-KNOW]
YAY!!! Look around, if you see award-winning everywhere (like every ID firms are award winner), maybe ask yourself if you smell a rat, if you don't, too bad. Everyone could easily be scholars if there were alternate ways to get "Cohort-Top-10" during school years. [Further reading]
5-STAR REVIEWS
[MUST-KNOW]
OH YEAH!!! Sure, reviews help a ton and more persuasive than sales-talking. No wonder my friend asked me if I could contribute a 5-star review for his newly opened fashion boutique. He even asked if my mommy can help... ooops. [Further reading]
10 things we have once heard from the horses' mouths that sent our eyes rolled back and gone missing in our eye sockets 🙄
RENOVATION BROKERS EXIST!
We have been receiving more radar signals since 2019, and we are still unsure about the origin of this trend. However, we have received a couple of calls in recent times to co-broke projects and split profit margins.
Similar to property agent co-broking, renovation brokers are salespersons with connections to sales designers and ID firms. They also possess some online marketing capabilities to advertise interior design services and, more commonly, carpentry packages, etc.
When an inquiry is received, these brokers promptly meet up with customers to gather project requirements, engage in persuasive communication, and assure the customers that they have all the necessary licenses and resources to deliver a successful job. After promising a quotation, they reach out to ID firms to obtain a quote and discuss their commission. If the ID firm agrees, the project details will be passed on to them.
Typically, brokers receive a cut starting from $3,000. In 2021, one of these brokers contacted us and requested a $10,000 cut from an HDB resale project. He further described the particular customer he was offering us to co-broke as someone who "can spend" and advised us not to be "soft" in our quotation.
We typically sing along with the broker initially, so that we could find out more about his/her requests, but we will NEVER work with one and pay a brokerage fee.
They usually spare very little to no sweat on any project other than pushing and arguing requests to make work easier. This form of sales is worse than working with a sales designer!
You are paying a lot in GST, more so in 2024
[MUST-KNOW]
Some may not be aware of how GST claiming works for businesses. Refer to the IRAS website or if TL;DR, you can cast your eyes here.
GST registered businesses when filing for their GST returns, also put up the input tax claims of those costs incurred for delivering the products and services to their customers.
To give an example, for instance, you hired TokGong ID Pte Ltd, a GST-registered company for your home renovation. TokGong hires electrician Ah Hock and his company is also GST-registered.
The electrician's bill amounted to $3,815 inclusive of GST. Working backward in calculation, $315 is the GST amount payable to IRAS, by TokGong.
In this relationship, TokGong is the customer of Ah Hock. In delivering his service to TokGong, he has to purchase cables and materials, which all bills amount to say $2,180 inclusive of GST collectively. $180 would be the collective GST payable.
TokGong told you his electrician Ah Hock has been working for him for 20 years and after all the sugary words, he presents you the quotation, showing electrical work subtotaling as $4888 inclusive of GST and you felt all luck with you and signed.
In this 4888 lucky quotation, $403.60 is the 9% GST. TokGong has to file this amount and also input tax claim of $315.00.
Ah Hock has to file $315.00 as GST return, and $180 as input tax claim for his cost of business for this transaction.
This example wouldn't be too much but in any average scale renovation project where amounts are in the tens of thousands, customers like you wouldn't be seeing $403.60.
Some ID firms recognise the fact that GST can be a bitter pill to swallow. In an attempt to make their quotations more competitive compared to those without GST, they may claim to absorb the GST cost and then calculate it backward.
Think carefully again, when your contract sum is $50,000 for example, the 9% GST amount for this bill would be $4,500. How likely is it to be fully absorbed?
Above is another simple illustration using constant figures for easy calculation and it's based on 8% GST starting 1 Jan 2023.
In fact, there is nothing wrong with paying GST or even the process of filing returns and input tax claims. No one in the right mind would dispute these since this consumption tax has been around since 1 April 1994.
The main reason for voluntarily registering for GST for TokGong ID is that most vendors are GST-registered today. If TokGong remained a non-GST business, he wouldn't be able to submit input tax claims for his operating costs.
To absorb GST or not depends on various factors like pricing strategy, competitive landscape, financial situation etc. Absorbing GST is often used as a marketing tactic to make their quotations more attractive to potential customers.
However, in practice, there are various ways to recover these costs. A very common one is adjusting their pricing by factoring in an additional 9%. Quotation items are split up into smaller parts (hence further fitting in the call for being "itemised"), to make pricing seem less expensive.
We prepare a more comprehensive and realistic example that uses a 9% GST rate happening next year. You shall see for yourself if saving additional few thousands in GST sounds good for you.
Using MEEK's approach, your savings from a typical $50,000 can be in the range of $5,000 and more. That is at least 10% of unnecessary spending.
You will NEVER experience opportunistic ripping off at MEEK. You even see our full earnings of your project. That is our level of transparency and creating some red-eyes along the way.
If you say you don't like transparency, it is safe to call you dumb! oops... sorry... 😜
Getting direct contractors means cheap
No, not necessary, it purely depends on your luck.
Direct contractors by definition, are people who own workers, to deliver specialised services, for instance, masonry works, that involve laying bricks/blocks/tiles, constructing walls, screeding, and leveling floors.
The best bet is when you have a family friend who is a direct contractor of something related to renovation. If this friend is close enough, he may charge low or recover just the cost. In our dealings with sub-cons, we have heard of those who charge higher to friends and referrals, cheaper, even free. So, there isn't really a standard benchmark.
In today's context in 2023, there are more direct contractors offering full renovation service, including ID work. What that means is they will offer their specialised service, and offer customers a full renovation service when they make their first visit to the premises, many homeowners won't say no if presented with such an offer to quote.
The same process applies when you appoint an RC in comparison to an ID, just a shorter route in many cases. The similarity is, they are all sales-driven. They prefer quick and short processes in every project. Link up their contacts in various trades, touch and go. Hiring an RC, please don't expect good recommendations (design is out of the question), they will take your order like a waiter, and ask you how high and how wide you like things to be.
He will be eager to bring you around to buy stuff because similar to ID, he earns commissions out of everything you purchase through him. RCs, from what we understand, earn around the same level as ID firms if they too, employ sales RC to split the profit. If it's a 1-man show RC, it will be broadly between $5,000 to $13,000 if the quoted value is $30,000. In fact, for a $30,000 quoted value, we have only heard of 1 RC sharing his profit to be $5,000, and we don't quite believe so. Several other quotes we received from our customers, based on the quotations we gathered, we figured that the median profit to be $9,000-ish on quotation, not considering possible shopping trip commissions.
How about direct contractors from web-based marketplaces like Carousell? We made over 30 attempts to obtain quotations in 2022 on various occasions. A common pattern we realised was either very expensive quotes for less straightforward job requests or very simplistic quotes aimed at securing the job. Either way, it raised our alarm.
Insurance Bond is a selling tool to make you commit.
ID firms who are part of the "band-of-brothers" accreditation love using this method to assure customers to give the last push. You will hear them telling you that your money is protected and in the worst event should they go bust, you will be able to recover your money from the insurer. First of all, this insurance is NOT a performance bond, it merely insures the deposit placed at the material time and that's it.
Having this deposit insured is like protecting at the doorstep. In the worst circumstance which rarely happens, you won't get a single cent other than the deposit. The probability of any of these firms in this popular accreditation scheme going bust is rare, therefore, this bond is literally redundant. If you ever fear any company going bust, don't even consider them, rather than using this cheap insurance to make some sense to yourself.
See a copy of such insurance bond issued to a homeowner and read the terms carefully, particularly the coverage. The cost of this piece of insurance bond is approximately $20.
Why you are 99% going to meet a pure salesperson for your project? It is perfectly fine if you don't mind living with design errors and paying stupidly excessively for these mistakes.
Because they are all over the place.
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