Lowyat.NET: Latest topics by limch

What property portfolio is desirable? Why?

limch — Mon, 09 Dec 2013 10:30:21 +0800

Solely for investment purpose. What property portfolio is desirable? Why? Locality? How much gearing?

I read that you should continue to buy and sell to accumulate wealth faster. Holding on to a property too long, more than 10 years is not a bright idea.

How old can a high rise exist?

limch — Sat, 23 Nov 2013 07:55:02 +0800

If any architect can chime in to enlighten me on this.

Or I rephrase the question, which is the oldest high rise apartment or condo in Malaysia? I don't think they last forever.

WTR : Pangsapuri Bayu Puteri, Tropicana

limch — Thu, 10 Oct 2013 09:46:47 +0800

I have a unit apartment, 850sf, 3 rooms, for rent starting from Nov. Asking for RM1200 per month.
Basic. cosy unit, no direct sun in the morning and the evening. Facing swimming pool.
sms 0123773955 direct owner.

Bangla contractor

limch — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 22:24:58 +0800

I thought construction has been long ago Chinese bread and butter. Indon came in and now I see Bangla contractor.

I wanna ask any guys engage them, how is their workmanship? I'm engaging a Bangla contractor to do a small job. If satisfactory, I will ask him to skim coat the shit my Indon contractor left me.

Reno will be the root of quarrel?

limch — Fri, 13 May 2011 22:17:18 +0800

I shared my progress with friends and we all agreed that reno is the root of home quarrel. All have more or less the same story. Amazingly, all come to a conclusion, delegate responsibility. Wife handles the kitchen, man takes care of everything except kitchen.

Give her the free hand to how she WANTS her kitchen to be. That way, you reduce the unnecessary friction and argument. And that also will not mean you will have the peace of mind.

I, myself have had a fare bit of grumble and unhappy the things go. The reno taken up so much of my time and I do have my own biz to run too. Trouble with Indon contractors, house design, old and worn off parts that could not find replacement and etc. My legs were sour for standing long hours to supervise contractors. My wife does not care much and I told her off that I will make all decisions pertaining to all building material, color, furniture and fittings. Boy! What is a waste of time. I got to take her to decide on building materials. Double work.

And my wife did not bother to research ID. Working women want maintenance free things. Best if all furniture and fittings do not require care. Plastic!

So, she wanted blind instead curtain. My anger shoot over the roof that she does not take the initiative getting the curtain. Talk about today working woman!

The price of the blind for whole house came up to RM3k, roller blind. I thought it does not present good value. Blind as good as it may be, it is plasticky. So, I went shop for curtain. O man! A man shopping for curtain. That is odd, isn't it? I chat with the curtain boss, she told me that nowadays more men shopping for curtain. Man! It fueled further. What today women want? Zero responsibility.

I do not like sitting on things. Ok! I went on to decide on type and fabric for the curtain and waiting for a fight! Anyway my fashion taste is better than hers because she only visit the house less than 3 times. The last time she visit was the house is 95% finished. She did not say a word but showed a satisfied facial expression.

So, I wonder if others have similar encounter.

My experience with Indon contractors

limch — Sat, 30 Apr 2011 21:20:28 +0800

I'm glad my nightmare is ended.

The Indon contractor recommended to me by a close friend, that he did some good jobs. I trusted my friend's referral and hire the contractor.

In the early phase, things went well. You see progress every week. Work slowed down in second phase with occasional excuses not coming to work. Things get worst in the final phase. He do not turn up for work as if he come in as will. As a result, my reno took 5.5 months (without touch ups) to complete. They asked for payment fast.

I thought that sub labor is a good approach as one has the choice of building materials. Well, I do not think so any more simply you do not have control over them. They lure you with a good quotation and compound with every changes. In the end, there would be any savings. You get headache and tremendous risk. My hardware supplier told me that it is one in a million chances that you get a good Indon contractor. This has got nothing to do with
nationality or what.

Sub labor + risks + your time = Completed Project

The risks with sub labor are :
They might abandon the project and vanish in thin air.
They might use your materials for other projects.
They tend do things the way they feel right.
To my amazement, they throw the problems to you (especially with materials selected by you).
They played the blaming game.

I'm a reasonable guy with reasonable expectations. I did PR, spent them meal and even give ang pows for CNY. I tell you, they will exploit your kindness. You would not like to have confrontation with them as you do not know what is in their head. They might duplicate keys for future break in. So, taking precaution measures like changing lock is inevitable.

So speaking from experience, I rather engage a reno company than sub labor. Things will get even worst if you do not have time to supervise. Do the rich man do, pay for professionalism and save cost.

I'm sorry if my post upset you. I just feel glad that my reno is done and pay the contractor off because I do not like their attitude. I could do the touch ups on my own.

Post construction cleaning services

limch — Sat, 30 Apr 2011 20:25:50 +0800

I am a happy Mahroja Resources customer. He is one of the few contractors that I'm happy with. Very professional.

My Indon contractor did a real poor painting job. The paint stain were all over on my tile floor. Called up the paint company, they responded that scrapping is the best way to remove pain stain. They did not like the idea of chemical cleaning that will leave marks on my tile. I was so pissed off with the painting contractor for he told me that the stain can be removed with acid.

So, I called up cleaning services to see if they have a solution. MR's Roslan came to me and he confidently said he can solve my problems. True enough, Roslan came with vacuum cleaner and scrubbing machine. The scrubbing did not entirely remove the stubborn paint, the guys get down to scrub using metal pan scrubber. O man! This is a back breaking job.

They started from 1130am and get the job finished at 730pm. A real good job - move in condition. I could see the exhaustion on their face.

To be honest, he removes 90% of the pain stain, exceed my expectation in my book. I do know that some crazy home owners have UNREALISTIC expectations, nothing less than perfection. Let me tell you perfection does not exist especially in construction.

I am in no affiliation with Roslan. I used his services and happy with the results. As a token of my appreciation, I thought I share with you guys. Get his number from Mudah.com

BTW, he is almost fully booked for weekend.

Parquet restoration

limch — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 05:40:36 +0800

Anyone have good contractor to recommend? I need to grind and varnish the existing parquet florring. Thanks.

Aluminium door recommendation

limch — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 10:05:52 +0800

Can anyone recommend aluminium door frame/polycarbonate contractor? Not bi folding. I need to replace the bathroom flush door.

A company quoted me RM650 with installation. I think it is on a high side.

Renovating car porch

limch — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 18:15:06 +0800

I wanna reno my car porch of my 22'x70' DS.

The existing small car porch located at the center of the house and the pillars restrict the parking space to one. I would like to move both the pillars widest possible. and boils down to 3 options (i think):

1, bring down the old one and erract the polycarbonate awning with wooden frame or
2, bring down the old one and erract concrete based car porch
3, maintain the existing car porch structure and relocate the pillar

My Q is will option 3 viable? How is the cost structure like for all 3 options?

Thanks.

Ori Nokia 6720

limch — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 13:55:18 +0800

Wanna know if tis available in Msia?
Price?
Thanks.

Gmail problem

limch — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 08:44:00 +0800

I have been having this problem for some time now.

It is difficult to write/reply mail via Gmail because Gmail is not responsive/hang to typing. As a result, many typing errors. No such issue with Yahoo mail.

Can some one tell me the real problem? Thank you.

Buying Nokia 6220c from China

limch — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 10:06:56 +0800

Tot of buying tis ori from China, cheaper than Msia. Wondering if i can send tis phone 2 Nokia service centre? A fren told me tat u could load a cracked gps map, true?

WTB JPW mini monitor

limch — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 19:28:51 +0800

Looking for a good condition pair of JPW mini monitor.
Stiff dust cap.

PM me if interested to let go.

Processor vs RAM

limch — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 13:33:39 +0800

Which desktop will give better performance? slow processor + 2g RAM or fast processor + 512 RAM
I use the desktop for office work and net browsing. Need to upgrade.

What does expensive motherboard offers compare with the cheap one? Is quality compromised?

Which will give better value, are the branded PC use reliable parts?

Gmail interface

limch — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 10:48:59 +0800

I got problem typing with Gmail. My keypad shows inconsistence responsiveness. This drag time to type and frusfrating to edit. I dont have problem with Yahoo. What is possibly wrong with Gmail. I have had this for 2-3 months d.

Vista compatible Winfax?

limch — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 11:15:56 +0800

Need help.
Is there such a Winfax? How much? I fax quite a bit.
Is there also Microsoft fax that I can use? How to install?
Which is more user friendly of the two?

Thanks.

Philips S900

limch — Sun, 01 Oct 2006 16:50:45 +0800

I bought S900 for its features. However, after one week of using it, I regret my purchase.

The phonebook is a mess to work with until u download yr sim card phonebook. Yr nightmare begins. First of all, if u key in new contact via the phone, yr new contact does not arrange in alphabetical order. This is as good as nothing bcos u hv to search for it instead of scrolling thru the alphabet. In times, there will a duplication of contact. U will find the same contact from SIM and Phone appears on phonebook. It will be worst if yr fren insert his Sim and yr phonebook will be crowded with his contacts as well.

U could not save missed calls in yr phonebook by a click too.

Secondly, the phone turn off by itself. And not to mention short battery life, 710mAh.

I bought it from AD. Brought back to AD for service, they claimed they were not trained to service the phone and give me another number to call. I received the same reply from the another number as well. I wrote an email to Philips, received a call from them but "TALK NO ACTION". The guys agreed to call back but found missing in action.

I would rather trade in and buy a new phone. Philips is the worst phone that I have ever used. Bad in terms of product and customer service.