A good renovation contractor in Kuching

So it's really no secret that I have been working on the renovation works fro my new house. The kitchen of my new house, which is open, had to be closed, and merely putting up glass doors isn't a long term solution as the kitchen was still vulnerable towards thieves.

[caption id="attachment_40" align="aligncenter" width="500"] The 5th kitchen plans. Any comments?[/caption]

With that said, I decided to build a proper wet kitchen, and an open space for family gatherings. I quickly drew up a plan as you can see in this previous post.

[caption id="attachment_181" align="aligncenter" width="500"] The left is the design I made using a computer. The right is photos of the completed kitchen extension.[/caption]

After searching for a few contractors willing to take up the job, I finally decided to go with a friend. He is a Bidayuh, and people from his village is known for their fine works in construction. After a brief discussion, we agreed to proceed on the ground works, and I accepted his initial quote of RM29,000 until everything is completed.

The figure seems steep for some, but he assured me that he built things to last, and that the extension of my house will be done with care. I am also quite a believer that most of the times quality does not come at cheap prices.

[caption id="attachment_183" align="aligncenter" width="500"] Earth works underway[/caption]

Anyway, work started immediately on 4 March 2013 with three local workers from Bau asked to do the ground works. The ground works took about two days as my backyard was filled with stone. Apparently the main contractor for the housing project dumped all the excess materials at my backyard. *Sigh*

As days went by, these three workers worked hard to complete the extension, and I paid them a daily visit to check on the progress. One thing interesting was the fact they took extra care when they were constructing the new kitchen extension. The care they took to ensure the works were done with great precision pleased me. At some point I also noticed they were very tactful when having to negotiate the original house, and ensured no damage came to the original structure. They also constantly kept the house area clean, tiding up after every days work.

[caption id="attachment_185" align="aligncenter" width="500"] Bricks starting to be laid in place[/caption]

After 13 days of work, the kitchen had already taken shape and even without paint, the extension looked good. At 20 days, the roof was already up, and the extension looked beyond perfect, despite being unfinished and unpainted.

Work progressed even further with tiling works starting. I took the advice of my friend to use acrylic for the kitchen cabinet doors, and took the advice of the 'uncle' to use a black kitchen table top.

[caption id="attachment_184" align="aligncenter" width="500"] The house extension without paint[/caption]

Turned out that their advice was good because after 43 days of construction, the extension was completed, and it was indeed pleasing to see how the whole project turn out at the end.

Apart from that, I also left it to them (the uncles and my friend) to advice on the drainage system, the  type of roof, the type of windows and the piping works.  Turned out that using the pre-mixed cement blocks you normally see being used in building works is not good.  Here they cemented the drain manually, and so far, no water stays in the drain after rain, keeping it dry.  The roof is not the thickest of material, but as my friend said, you can play tennis up there.  The windows were changed from my initial plan to use swing type windows to 'sliding windows' because they claim it saves space.  The cement floor also consist of at least of 4 inch of concrete mix, which to me is quite thick.

[caption id="attachment_182" align="aligncenter" width="500"] The completed kitchen on the 43rd day of construction[/caption]

The total damage however had increased to RM35,000 but then, I was indeed satisfied with the works.  They also accommodated my request to make the house extension look similar to the original portion of the house. There was little to complain about, and it was obvious that the material used is not cheap.

[caption id="attachment_186" align="aligncenter" width="500"] The external view of the new extension.[/caption]

Uhhhh.. isn't it a beauty? Can't wait to use it for my house warming!