Remodeling? / Construction in your SH Home?

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dr3x320

Rocker

Joined: Nov 21, 2006
Posts: 638
Location: Boston + Pudong
Status: Offline

Posted: Apr 05, 2008 - 09:49 PM
Post subject: Remodeling? / Construction in your SH Home?

Just a heads up for the newbies in remodeling apartments here in SH.

Some tips that I'd thought would be helpful.

It takes generally a few weeks to 2 months to negotiate, with a GC (General Contractor) with the amount of time to complete the work, and the salary.

1. Go on site as much as possible at least daily-every other day, bring a pad with plenty of paper, at least a 5m measuring tool.
2. Familiarize yourself with the local appliance stores, Suning, Yolo, Gome, B&Q, etc. I bought appliances from all 4. The best stores I've been to so far for appliances is Suning, their a big store in China and expanding in the future. B&Q is the equivalent to the U.S. Home Depot, don't know it?, www.homedepot.com, you'll get the idea.
3. There is fake paint, wood floors, basically theres real materials and fake materials, make sure you do some research.
4. Furniture, this is tricky, there are 2 types of furniture made from wood, actual wood, and compressed wood that won't last if you disassemble it the 2nd time. Compressed wood is fine for tenants, for personal use and want to style up the home for long term, use real wood, it looks, feels, and is a good investment.
5. Construction workers can get lazy, you should have your GC's cell number on speed dial, when you order appliances from stores, generally they will deliver free of charge, but make sure BEFORE you purchase each appliance (Fridge, A/C, Washer, etc) to ask if they will deliver "free of charge" to the work site, some are known to charge after or won't tell you unless you ask.
6. GC's are scam artists, you have to be careful at which GC you hire, generally they will have "partners" at the local vendors on sidestreets, paint, wood, sheetrock, door handles, etc, they will write bogus inflated prices, IF you go and purchase the items with the GC, he will have already gone there and tell them to quote you ie "5,000" RMB, so u pay the slip of 5k RMB, but once the transaction is done, the GC and the vendor will split the profit of say 500-1000RMB under the table. Best advice?, research, know what your buying and what the GC wants, and buy it for him on your own. You'll save at least 50-30k RMB on remodeling, a fact.
7. When laying down wood floors, theres 2 different types of wood that they have to prep between the concrete floor+panels, aka "2x4's", get the good kind, you can visually notice the quality and they are less warped, they are usually wrapped in plastic and tied in bundles of 6-8, yellow, fresh wood vs. dark brown warped cut wood.
8. Outside doors, either stainless steel doors, or "wooden door-like" doors but are actually made of metal painted to look like wood. From what I've seen/heard its better quality to buy the doors that look like Wood, they give you at least 5-6 original keys and 1-3 "temp keys" the temp keys are given and used FIRST by your GC so he can use them temporarily, once the remodeling is done, get the keys back, and don't use them again. Begin using the new keys, this will change the tumbler so the "temp keys" are of no use.
9. Bedroom/Bath Doors, make sure the middle is not hollow, if they are they should be cheap, generally they will use 2 panels, glued together, and the sides, Top, Bottom, Side-L, Side-R, are glued to 2x4 like pieces. Which means the inside is hollow, so don't get pissed and punch the door, most likely your fist will go right through.
10. Demand your GC to measure the length of molding, length, sizes of everything, when they order molding they round up and also overcharge, as well as do math incorrectly, my GC here doesn't know how to add 12 and 21, which can mean a few thousand RMB in his pocket, and out of yours.
11. Keep a folder with all receipts, keep track of the cashflow, GET BUSINESS CARDS and write on them, when appliances need to be installed (not by the GC, ie Water Heater, Kitchen Cabinets) the vendor will install them, sometimes with a fee, sometimes w/o, ask, and keep numbers.
12. Generally construction for a 2 bedroom in Pudong, with a timeframe of 30-45days is going to cost about 8-12,000RMB, ofc this depends on the GC and various variables.

Average decent Brand Names:
Sharp - a/c
Midea - a/c and Water filtration systems.
Whirlpool - w/d+a/c
Opel - paint
Fujistu - a/c, I hear alot use these.
Hoba - furni store
Shimao - furni store
Electrolux - Range/Hood
Haier
Siemens

*Not an Advert or pushing products but from the quality inspected and experience of what I've used.

This is from experience, currently remodeling 2 apts, and am a previous GC myself from Boston. Hope this helps anyone else who is going to do remodeling in the future.

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CIA
LoopKicker

Joined: Mar 23, 2008
Posts: 890
Location: Least Expect

Posted: Apr 06, 2008 - 10:45 AM

Here's another tip: don't remove any 'structural' walls.

Seems like tons of locals do this without any regard to their building needing to stand upright.

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