SAVE THIS if you are planning your BTO reno!

I’ll be getting my BTO keys in the first quarter of next year and I’ve been speaking to multiple IDs over the past 2 months. I’ve also started using lemon8 recently and I’ve learnt so much from the posts here that I feel that it would be nice to give back to the community with my own reflections.

Disclaimer: I have not actually started renovating my place yet so my views may change when I actually start the Reno process.

Here are 6 lessons I’ve learnt from planning for my BTO renovation so far:

✅ Lesson 1: Your plans and ideas will keep changing. Do not commit to an ID too early just to take advantage of time limited “deals”.

Take time (at least 1-2 months if you can afford the time) to consider what you truly want and need instead of mindlessly taking the cookie cutter ideas thrown at you by the ID. As you go about your daily life, you should consciously reflect on your lifestyle and imagine how this will look like in your new home. Also think about your existing inconveniences, and take this opportunity to improve the design of your new space to better suit your needs and improve your workflow at home. Your house should be customised to YOUR specific needs.

I may be a micro-manager but I feel that I need time to properly EVALUATE every decision I make. Do I really need so much storage? Do I really need to overlay my toilet tiles? Will the BTO tiles suffice? Will the improvement in aesthetics be worth the price? How important is it to me? Do I really want to fully hack the service yard walls, windows and doors? Or can I just dismantle the doors and windows only? You should take time to carefully deliberate over each decision as the outcome can significantly impact your quotation.

✅ Lesson 2: Every home layout has its unique challenges but they are not unsolvable. Take this as an opportunity to use your creativity and look for inspo online. Chances are that other people would also have had similar challenges as you and found their ways to work around the problem. There is usually a solution to every “problem” and each solution comes with its own pros and cons, and it depends on whether these specific pros and cons can be accepted by you since you will be the one living in the home.

✅ Lesson 3: Know what you want out of an ID. Are you looking for someone with strong design expertise? Technical expertise? Or project management? You will unlikely get someone who is strong in everything, so you have to prioritise what you want in an ID. You should be careful of IDs who are just good at sales but not as competent at any of the areas listed above. While you may not be able to really tell their competency from the initial appointments, look out for clues such as whether they appear unprepared or disorganised before / during meetings or not being able to answer technical questions satisfactorily. This is also why you should do your own technical homework at home so you can tell if they are smoking you. This is just my opinion but I like IDs who are very attuned to actual measurements and talk about the floor plan using a physical measuring tape to give you a sense of the actual space.

Personally, I enjoy the process of designing my own home, so I am looking out for someone with more technical expertise, someone who is able to tell me more about the pros and cons of my design choices and someone who is able to comment on my ideas without being sarcastic or judgemental.

✅ Lesson 4: DO NOT be fooled by renders that you see online! These picture perfect houses look so beautiful because they often do not have real life functional limitations. Notice how a lot of the pictures do not have ugly pipings, beams, have exceptionally high ceilings, artificially enlarged living room space, no ceiling fans (cos they look ugly but in reality a necessity) etc. Looking at real photos will help you to manage your expectations and be realistic about what can be achieved within the constraints of your ordinary HDB BTO. Also, if an ID’s Instagram page is just purely renders rather than actual homes, then you should be more careful about engaging them. I sometimes feel that watching YouTube house tour videos more useful as it gives you a more down to earth perspective about the challenges faced and thought process of the owners when they designed their home.

✅ Lesson 5: When screenshotting pictures for your moodboard, ask yourself what exactly you like about the picture? It is more than just the VIBES. Is it the colour of the flooring or the carpentry? Is it that specific sofa or lighting? Is it the placement of furniture? Or is it the texture of the lime wash wall?

Creating the look and feel of a home lies in the little details. The more specific you are in observing the details, the easier it will be for you to achieve the look of the house, and communicate what you want to your ID or contractor.

✅ Lesson 6: Aesthetics? Functionality? It doesn’t always have to be a compromise between aesthetics and functionality, nice looking things can be functional too. Sometimes, if you really want both, the solution can be expensive. If you want affordable alternatives, you often have to go the extra mile to DIY or do more research online. You and your partner should have a conversation and try to establish which priorities are important to both of you, then make your decisions from there so that y’all can strive to achieve a balance between aesthetics and functionality, while not busting your budget! 😊

That’s all for now and happy reno planning!

#summerdiary #RealTalk #btotips #HomeReno