Home Sweet Home - The Preparation

For our home renovation, MH and I decided not to hire interior decorators and principal contractor to do the work. We hired a group of carpenters and manage the project ourselves (read: MH is the lead contractor, I'm just sibuk-sibuk je)! Making such decision means that we:
 
(1) have to know EVERYTHING about house construction / renovation,
(2) need to BUY all the necessary stuff ourselves - from the biggest to the smallest parts like the nails,
(3) need to visit the site frequently (i.e. EVERYDAY!)
(4) need to make every decisions for every single thing that involves the house and
(5) will be fully accountable for the choices that we have made - whether it was good or bad.

Basically it requires our 100% involvement through out the process. But the good part is, by doing this ourselves we will know what to expect when the renovation ends - so we can avoid disappointment or unnecessary 'surprise' and of course, we can hope to save some $$$.

MH in action! 

Yes, this is quite a bold move, since neither of us has the experience in house renovation. But we are very determined to carry on with the project berbekalkan proper planning and mostly our instinct hehehe. Moga-moga menjadilah apa yang dirancang…

To minimize the headache, here’s what we did:

1. Decide on the overall concept – to decide on the concept is one thing, but to have mutual agreement from both husband and wife on the concept is very important too. Mungkin ada pasangan yang serahkan kepada si isteri/suami sahaja untuk decide dalam hal-hal berkaitan renovation ni, but in our case, both of us pun nak involve in making the decision for the house. So kenalah bincang baik-baik. Nasib baik taste kami hampir sama. We decided to go for resort style (ntah betul ntah tidak term ni, maklumlah, kita bukan ID or architect!). Basically we want our house to be cozy, airy with a lot of earth tones.

2. Know what you want – this is the most crucial part in house renovation as it will determine how much work to be done and most importantly how much will it cost. For instance, the floor plan of the house is very basic – one living room, 3 bedrooms, one dining hall, two bathrooms and one kitchen. We wanted to have a separate TV room, a patio, additional 3 rooms – one for the guests, one for the maid and the other one serves as utility room, additional 2 more bathrooms, one powder room, a wet kitchen and a dry kitchen.

Panjangkan list dia..so that means the renovation work pun banyak. Major renovation = more time needed = more budget. So what we did was we tried to accommodate the needs with the existing floor plan to reduce the amount of kerja-kerja pecah dan naikkan dinding. Itu sangat makan masa dan kos. But of course tak boleh elak kerja-kerja pecah dinding tu terus. We also had to sacrifice the land besides the house to extend the house. Perkara-perkara yang perlu sacrifice ni pun penting untuk determine dari awal in order to be mentally prepared of what we are going to have and what not to have later because we have to live with it after that. As for us, rumah kami nanti takde garden besar sebab nak ruang lega sikit dalam rumah. Tanah yang sekangkang kera tu memang di utilize sepenuhnya!

Land area kat sebelah rumah tu akan tinggal 1 kaki je after renovation

3. Do your research – One of the most important thing when managing the renovation ourselves, is to know the 'right' person for each and particular job. The carpenters can only do the general construction work. When it comes to wiring, makind the window panels, autogate etc., we still need to hire the specific contractor for that particular job. What I meant by 'right' person is someone who is an expert in the job, get good recommendation from the clients and of course, the price for the service is not 'cekik leher'. So finding the 'right' person can be quite a tedious task. So bila decide nak buat sendiri kerja renovation ni, sangat penting untuk buat banyak survey and research. Tapi kalau budget banyak tak payah lah bersusah payah compare quotation, kan? Ni dengan budget yang sedia ada kena pandai-pandailah cari yang value for money. Kami banyak rujuk pada ID magazines, online search, visiting show rooms dan kalau sempat pergi juga ke exhibition.I will share with you guys our catch in the next entry, insya Allah. Mana tau will be useful for those yang sedang mencari tu.

Our imported carpenters

I guess that’s all for now – my long overdue entry. Hope you guys will find this info useful.