End It Soon

My third renovation project has officially started on Monday, but it felt like it only truly began today when all the cement and tiles were brought up to the barren flat.




The problem with the tiles and cement being brought up today is the fact that it was supposed to be brought up yesterday, they were sitting on the first level, exposed to the elements but wrapped tightly in plastic wraps, so it wasn't exactly unprotected, but I can't help feeling a bit unease knowing that at least a thousand dollar worth of tiles and cement material was just sitting right in the open, ready for anyone to just come by and grab.



I only realized that the items were still on the first level when my tiler actually called me up and was rather impatiently questioning me where the tiles and cement were, telling me all his workers were already on site just waiting idly. Naturally, I got extremely flustered and proceed to call the person who was suppose to bring the material up for me, he was extremely apologetic for forgetting and quickly send his men to my site within 30 minutes, so I call up my tiler and inform him that the workers were arriving and the goods will be uplifted soon, to which he replied...

"Some of the items have been stolen."

... and that wasn't the end of it

"Some of the bags of cement have been soaked by the rain, don't think can be used anymore."

So someone actually decided that since he or she had ran out of or was lacking material, he or she would help himself to my pile by ripping the plastic protection sheet open, grabbing the materials he or she needed and leave my bags of cement exposed in the the rain.

Okay, stealing my shit is bad enough, but leaving the other items out in the rain, fully aware that they will get damage when they get wet? Just goes to show what a fucking huge cunt the thief is.

Thankfully, the bags of cement were used immediately once they were brought up to the flat, so nothing was wasted, but items were stolen, so they had to be replaced and thankfully, the contractor who was in-charge of bringing my goods up offered to bear the cost of the stolen items for me since he felt that this whole thing could have been avoided had he actually brought the items up when I told him to. I don't really blame him though, since it was an honest mistake and he was really apologetic.





Things so far are going alright with the site, I'm afraid I may be short of tiles though, so that is worrying, my client also paid a visit in the evening and pointed out a few errors he spotted to me, which was horrible because those mistakes are legit mistakes that had to be rectified and this is only the first week.




Speaking of rectification, I will soon be completing my very first renovation project, finally, after so many months, the final works will commence tomorrow, of course, with how extremely particular this couple are, I am foreseeing a very difficult period of rectification works for them before I can finally handover the project to them that is to their satisfaction.




Every single small imperfections is heavily scrutinized by the wife it's really quite an ordeal for me as their designer, the slightest chipping of paint gets labelled as a defect, the slighest scratches, defective, it's almost as if they are expecting my contractors to be robots, it is ridiculous, zero room for human error.

When I get a message of them with a picture of the so called defect, it doesn't look good, I will admit that much, but when I actually make my way down to take a look at the problem on site, it will be this small little patch at the corner that hardly anyone will notice, it is bloody insane.I sometimes feel almost jealous of the other interior designers that they have turn down, just the fact that they don't have to deal with the level of scrutiny  I have and will be going through soon.

Just a month back, I was having a back and forth with them about some issues with their switches. The switches works perfectly fine, but they do not like the colour because it isn't exactly the same colour as the one provided by HDB, which they find is an eyesore.

Once again, very small aesthetic issue, the color difference is slight, but because they are who they are, that just screamed defect to them, and so I explain to them that this isn't something my side can control, it just so happens that the manufacturers for the switches decided for some reason that they were no longer going to produce the original white color switches anymore, now that they are only selling the off white variants. The off white model and original white models are literally sold as the same model, so this is really a manufacturer issue that is completely out of my control...

"This isn't right, why are the color of the switches different? You have to change it for us."

... and they were so persistent it was bordering on straight up annoyance. I explain to them if they wanted the colors of the switches to match, they can change all the switches by HDB, since I could no longer get the original white ones anymore, they were okay with changing but they did not want to fork out any money for it because according to them, this is something that should have been provided from the start.

Ummmm, hold the fuck up, are you kidding me? Provided from the start? I provided you the switches and the labor to connect and install the switches, that's what I'm suppose to provide, how the fuck was I suppose to predict that the manufacturer would want to change the base colour of the switches, why the fuck should it be my responsibility to change the switches for you for free?  

You don't see me going to a Koi Bubble Tea shop and demanding them to give me free pearls because I wanted the original black color ones but they are now selling the golden ones without my consent.






Makes no fucking sense. White was the original base color, but now the new base color is off white, so get on with the program! I keep telling them this is not within my control, this is not my problem, but it just doesn't register in their heads and they keep insisting for me to change because...

"It is to be expected."

You want the switches to be of a different colour, then you fork out the bloody money to change the switches. I stupidly agreed to change 2 switches for them when they first brought this issue up because I got annoyed with their constant nitpicking, and since it was only 2 switches, I didn't think too much of it, but my electrician is charging me an exuberant price for it because he is another fucking issue to deal with, so obviously, I am not going to agree to change all the switches for them for free.

Now that the renovations are close to completion, they brought the issue up again, and this time, asking me to change all the switches for them for free, again,  the husband is telling me he will source for his own switches, that if he found the white ones supplied by HDB, I will install those for him for free and refund him for all the switches provided by my electrician, even ends the text with

"Sounds Good?"

No! It doesn't sound good? It sounds like a bloody pain in the fucking ass. My electrician won't be agreeable to the refund, so I will be the one who has to refund him from my own wallet, and I have no fucking clue when he will actually be able to source for the switches, a week from now? A month from now? A year from now? Then what? I'm suppose to just get my electrician down and fix the switches for him? This electrician charges me $100 per trip at least, add that to the ridiculous $200 refund... that's going to cost me a good $300 because the switches are of a different shade?

Now I'm worried that once I actually handover the flat to them, they will be coming back to me with all kinds of minor issues, using the warranty provided by my company as an excuse.

"Oh, the paint has chipped off, it's covered under the warranty so come and fix it."

"Oh, my shirt got ripped when I was cleaning it in the washing machine, I'm sure it has something to do with the plumbing, come and get me a new shirt."

"Oh, I burnt my tongue when I was drinking my cup of tea, the electricity must have been to blame for the kettle boiling my water above 100 degrees, come and pay my medical bills for me."

I was looking forward to ending the project and no longer viewing them as clients but friends, but with the recent events that has transpired and will transpire in the not too distant future, my disdain towards them is slowing just growing bigger and bigger.