{"id":456,"date":"2025-06-11T01:21:25","date_gmt":"2025-06-11T01:21:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/55k-dream-renovation-turns-into-nightmare-contractor-borrows-money-from-homeowner\/"},"modified":"2025-06-11T01:21:25","modified_gmt":"2025-06-11T01:21:25","slug":"55k-dream-renovation-turns-into-nightmare-contractor-borrows-money-from-homeowner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/55k-dream-renovation-turns-into-nightmare-contractor-borrows-money-from-homeowner\/","title":{"rendered":"$55k dream renovation turns into nightmare; contractor borrows money from homeowner"},"content":{"rendered":"
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What was meant to be a dream “French cream style” makeover for a Sentosa flat has turned into a costly nightmare for a homeowner.<\/p>\n

Mr Luo now finds himself dealing with uneven cabinetry, long delays, the lingering smell of formaldehyde and his daughter’s bedroom looking like what he describes as “tombstone style”.<\/p>\n

He told Shin Min Daily News he paid $55,000 to a Malaysian contractor he found on Facebook to renovate the unit at Ocean Way. He also spent an additional $18,000 on electrical wiring and $22,000 on Ziptrak blinds.<\/p>\n

His decision to go with a Malaysian company stemmed from previous experiences with Singapore-based firms that outsourced work across the Causeway.<\/p>\n

“I thought it would be more straightforward to deal with them directly,” he said.<\/p>\n

Instead, the project dragged on for nearly a year and remains incomplete. Construction officially began only after Chinese New Year this year, despite an original move-in date set for November.<\/p>\n

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“There was delay after delay,” he said. “Once, we agreed to meet at 10am and I waited until 5pm. He didn’t show up.”<\/p>\n

Things didn’t get better once work started. Mr Luo said there were repeated issues: damaged flooring, cabinets that couldn’t fit in the lift, misaligned fittings, and an overpowering chemical odour despite promises of “zero formaldehyde”.<\/p>\n

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<\/picture>
<span>Mr Luo was disappointed that his daughter’s envisioned ‘French style’ room ended up looking more like a ‘tombstone style’ design. PHOTO: LIANHE ZAOBAO<\/span> <\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

The most jarring result was the treatment of his daughter’s room, designed around a romantic arched entrance, which he says now resembles a grave marker.<\/p>\n

To make matters worse, Mr Luo said the contractor, a husband-and-wife team, borrowed $2,000 before starting work. The husband claimed it was to pay workers’ wages. A second request for $3,000 was rejected.<\/p>\n

Later, when Mr Luo asked to be repaid, the wife claimed they had divorced and were merely ‘business partners’.<\/p>\n

In a text message, the woman wrote: “I never borrowed money from you. I hate borrowing money from people.<\/p>\n

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“Sky is no longer my husband. We divorced at the end of last year and have to continue the business, but I’m no longer tied to him by marriage.<\/p>\n

“That sum of money you lent out is not my responsibility. My responsibility is to help you do up your house nicely so that you can move in smoothly.”<\/p>\n

Ms Du, the contractor, confirmed that the money was borrowed, but insisted it was agreed to be deducted from the renovation costs.<\/p>\n

She also said most major items had been installed, and blamed the homeowner’s lack of cooperation for the delays.<\/p>\n

“We received 75 per cent of the payment, but the progress exceeded what we were paid for,” she said, adding that she decided to halt work until the $13,000 balance was paid.<\/p>\n

In a surprising turn, she hired a debt collection agency to chase Mr Luo for the outstanding payment even though the work remains unfinished.<\/p>\n

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\"Mr<\/picture>
<span>Mr Luo said the cabinets were misaligned due to a measurement error. PHOTO: LIANHE ZAOBAO<\/span> <\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Ms Du insisted that there was never a guarantee of “zero formaldehyde” and that the arched wall design, which Mr Luo’s family now calls a “tombstone”, had been approved by him.<\/p>\n

She also explained that a 15cm gap left in the cabinetry was intentional to accommodate later installations, not an error.<\/p>\n

“Yes, there was a delay from February to April, but it was a big unit and there were many details,” she said.<\/p>\n

Mr Luo has since engaged two other contractors to fix the problems. He said the whole experience has been draining financially and emotionally.<\/p>\n

“I haven’t even moved in and it’s already a mess. What’s going to happen after?”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

$55k dream renovation turns into nightmare; contractor borrows money from homeowner<\/sub><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What was meant to be a dream “French cream style” makeover for a Sentosa flat has turned into a costly nightmare for a homeowner. Mr Luo now finds himself dealing with uneven cabinetry, long delays, the lingering smell of formaldehyde and his daughter’s bedroom looking like what he describes as “tombstone style”. He told Shin…<\/p>\n

Read More “$55k dream renovation turns into nightmare; contractor borrows money from homeowner”<\/span> »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":457,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-456","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/456","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=456"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/456\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/457"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=456"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=456"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=456"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}