Meeting Zen and Raymond from Beaux Monde

We went to Beaux Monde yesterday. Zen and his senior designer, Raymond, explained their design and quotation to us patiently.

The design looks simple. That is what we are looking for actually - something simple and easy to maintain. The quotation for the reno works is approximately $25k. Not too expensive, I suppose, but we were a bit worried when Raymond told us that it usually takes about another $10k for furniture plus another $15k for electrical appliances, and he emphasized that is "on the average". Gosh! $50k is beyond our budget.

We were told to pay $500 so that Zen can proceed with the 3D drawings. We did not agree to pay on the spot because there is still quite some time before we can get our keys. Their "secure the deal now before the price goes up" tactic did not work on us. We want to shop around, listened to more IDs and study more quotations before making commitment.

Nevertheless, Raymond went on to explained that, should we agree to engage Zen as our ID, we will have to pay 10% of the cost upon confirmation, 50% upon work commencement, 35% upon completion of wetwork and finally, 5% upon handover of keys. He also explained that it usually takes about 2-3 weeks for pre-renovation discussion, followed by 2-3 weeks to complete renovation and 1-2 weeks for defects rectification.

We were complete newbies in home renovation but Raymond and Zen were very patient in listening to us and explaining the very basic things. Then they proceeded to show us their showroom. Nice, I was impressed with their innovative ideas and workmanship but the design of the showroom did not appeal to me. If my house is done up like that, I will have a hard time cleaning the odd corners and false ceiling next time.

After the meeting, we tried to research on the company's background. When we first met at Dream Home 2012 at Singapore Expo, Raymond assured us that they are HDB-registered renovation contractors. However, the name of the company could not be found under the listing of registered renovation contractors on the HDB website.

After querying with Zen over smses, we were told that they are registered under the name of Min Lee Construction. True enough, the address of Min Lee Construction listed on HDB website is the same as that of Beaux Monde. Upon further research, we came across the Facebook page and Blogger blog of Beaux Monde. It is stated that "Beaux Monde is the Interior Design Division of Min Lee Construction". What does this means? We are not sure.

Someone suggested that maybe Beaux Monde is the modern store front of Min Lee Construction. That sounds like a reasonable explanation. We definitely have to find out more if we are going to engage Zen from Beaux Monde as our ID.