This page showcases recent incidents we have come across online. We present them here to explain why things happened the way they did from a practitioner's perspective. In the process, we may make some assumptions about details that are unknown to us and provide recommendations in case you encounter similar situations now or in the future. Please note that these cases haven't been verified in any way, and we take the provided information as-is. We reserve the right to post and remove any of these entries at our sole discretion.
CASE STUDY 13 AUGUST 2023
[Full text of redacted post, less repetitive sentences]
[Text in blue denotes our input]
Reno Red Alert - Part 1
If your ID engaged xxxxxxxxxxx, insist that they change carpentry contractor. If they refuse, change the ID. Otherwise you'll go through hell like this family does. Don't engage any ID that use them.
We shall assume this complaint is posted by a customer and not from a frustrated ID. If indeed the case, having a customer directly addressing the carpenters also suggests that the ID has pushed the responsibility to the carpenter by involving the customer. The correct and ethical resolution in complaints like this, ID always takes the responsibility to resolve matters with the carpenters on behalf of the customer, rather than linking up the 2 parties when the design was produced by the ID firm.
1. They behave like gangsters. When you tell them something is not right, they Fxxxx you upside down for hindering their works. But in the end, they've to tear down what they've done.
2. They hack the walls without protecting your floor tiles. Caused many dents and damaged tiles.
3. They illegally stuff plastic sheets into those walls that they hacked. Yes, those very thin sheets you use for covering your stuffs during painting. After that they simply use patty glue to anyhow patch.
polyurethane foam. Without filling out the space, plastering would not be permanent and risks collapsing and exposing the hole in the future.
4. They'll smoke anywhere they like and throw cigarette butt's indiscriminately until you get complaints.
5. They suka suka come only once or twice per week, causing your reno to be delayed for almost two months, leaving your family homeless.
6. When they turn up, it'll be very late afternoon. After that they'll work only couple of hours before queuing up to bathe at your premise without asking for permission. This goes on each time they bother to appear.
7. They do not give schedule despite countless request and plead that your family needs to move in.
8. They'll store another customer's furniture in your home, making your home very congested and almost no space for movement.
9. They throw tantrums at the slightest information that things are not done correctly.
10. They threatened to stop coming even though there're almost 100 defects due to their VERY POOR workmanship.
The ID holds greater responsibility for the customer's experience as they have control over the work process and better communication abilities compared to the customer. However, there are two sides to every situation. It's possible that the customer, who directly hired carpenters for the project, provided their own instructions, leading to the series of unpleasant encounters.
Until today. After almost two months of delay, there're still dozens of defects not resolved. Stay tuned for hundreds of photos coming up on their unprofessional and shoddy workmanship.
Reno Red Alert - Part 5
1. They started with the door of bedroom. Instead of continuing from here and move towards the end of wall, they stop and start another point from wall end. Resulted in the fluted panels unable to have proper alignment.
2. Alignment of top ceil is very narrow and near floor is very wide.
3. Bedrooms door gaps inconsistent. Very obvious as they're side by side.
Fluted panel application requires careful calculation to factor in wastages and whether the length of the panels fit in excess of ceiling clearance. Jointing is infavourable. While original finished floor and ceiling slab will never be perfectly levelled, false ceiling can minimise the discrepancy. Walls similarly are not perfectly levelled and a buffer would help to level on both sides. Proper application would avoid all imperfections
4. Miscalculated no. of panels required. Hence used short panels to make unsightly joints, even at eye-level.
5. Their supplier supply them with different colour panels. When we highlight to them, they keep insisting that this is lighting effect and @$$%@* us for hindering their work.
6. There's missing panel due to their poor cutting but refused to acknowledge.
7. Doors were not installed properly. Cannot close flushed and then very loud Bang sound.
8. Many poor joints and irregular cuttings were not touched up. For areas they bother to touch up, they're very poorly done.
Reno Red Alert - Part 6
1. The sifu who boasted that they have more than 40 years experience, have proven to be a scam. From all the previous posts of very poor workmanship, shoddy work and undercutting materials cost.
If the promised services are being delivered one way or another, even below expectation, it cannot be a scam. Short-changing is mostly common when quotation is signed on the basis of low pricing or perceived to be cheap.
2. The company comes without proper tools. We need to provide them with 2 ladders and protection sheets. They even need to borrow spanners from our painter.
3. They don't bother to protect your floor tiles and simply throw their tools like hammer, etc. When you tell them to be careful. They @$^&#₩ you up.
4. 烂师出烂徒。They don't bother to do proper job like patching the walls after hacking. Only use small piece of wood to hold the door frame.
5. They also don't know how to do fluted panel wall. Sequencing and process wrong causing very bad misalignment. This is on top of wrong calculation on number of panels required. Then do all the joints using different cut panels.
6. Due to wrong dimensions on the slot for LED frame, they simply forced wack the frame using hammer. Caused the metal frame to be deeply dented, and refused to replace or redo.
7. Miscalculated no. of LED strips, even though the most prominent one at TV console not purchased.
8. After 2 months delay, many works still not completed and defects not rectified. Now they refuse to turn up leaving home owner hanging in the air.
9. Worst thing, beware of your belongings if you still Iinsist on engaging them. The electrician engaged by them stole all our universal plugs and switches they dismantled from the hall. Then they dissappeared. Initial agreement is for them to be returned to us for use in the rooms and kitchen.
In our observation of this incident, we felt that the complainant could be the homeowner who hired a team of carpenters from Malaysia directly and that the carpenter company pitched to also project manage and likely claim to provide interior design service to secure the work. Pricing captures attention in this industry and there are homeowners engaging direct contractors which often bring about problems. As Interior Designers, we have to carefully plan out processes and communicate between contractors to synchronise schedules and methodologies of different work stages. Homeowners can equally coordinate their projects if time is in abundance.