Comments, opinions and an occasional ramble
HDB flat: Utter Crap
It’s been a torrid time since I got the keys to my brand new HDB flat almost a month ago. First, me and my wife turned on the water supply only to find water coming out of the kitchen walls and common toilet walls due to a problem with the concealed water pipes. I submitted a defects form and the HDB contractor came to rectify it. And that took a week.
When we turn the water supply back on, we realised the water cistern in the common toilet kept topping itself up. Then we realised that water in the cistern is constantly flowing into the toilet bowl. We had to get the HDB contractors to come to that up as well.
That’s not all. We got a painter to paint the unit and after he was done, he took a stick and poke at parts of the ceiling in each room and to our horror, the plaster started to come off. The painter said he noticed them while he was painting and showed us the problem. The HDB contractor came today and got that one done up.
Guess what happened next? I went into the master bedroom toilet and I heard sounds of water draining into the floortrap. I squatted down and looked around and found two small jets of water coming out of the wall near the ground. I called up the HDB contractor and he came up, inspected and promised to start work tomorrow.
Seriously, I hope this is the last of my troubles. This is certainly not something I am expecting from our million-dollar ministers.
| Print article | This entry was posted by Aaron Ng on 07/12/2007 at 5:37 pm, and is filed under Ramblings. Follow any responses to this post through RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site. |
about 4 years ago
That’s worse than the number of defects we had when me and my family moved into our apartment (which was, I think, quite a rushed project).
Man, I can feel your irritation. |:
Hope your marriage has been wonderful so far (:
about 4 years ago
pray tell – where is this place?
about 4 years ago
dude,
looks like you’re going to have quite an adventure with this apartment.
at the rate u are fighting fires, it looks like mediocre worksmanship has been structurally built into the entire apartment.
about 4 years ago
Oh goodness aaron, you were suppose to spend $30-50K to renovate the entire place and make it live-able.
What is with young people these days? So high expectations, they actually expect to be able to live in their HDB flats and pay money only for painting. Where did that idea come from.
My peers 10 years ago when they get a HDB flat is to find a contractor and rework everything. Relocate the sink because it is in the wrong place, knock down the useless storeroom, change the pipes, re-plaster the walls, false ceilings etc etc.
Remember this is subsidised housing – you are suppose to top up to make it live-able. Also, the govt has to leave some room for upgrading otherwise how to win your vote.
BTW, today’s front page…the govt is releasing plenty of land to PRIVATE developers to build condos. Don’t like your HDB, buy condos…the PAP is tired of subsidising you guys….it can make more money selling land to private developers.
about 4 years ago
heh, *yawn..5am+
I thought whenever you bought an item that is faulty, you just have to report to the seller and after verification, the seller will exchange a new item or repair the item for you. simple logic.
about 4 years ago
I think the sloppy work was due to low project bid prices by the contractors and they can’t do a good job with the limited amount of budget they are given.
about 4 years ago
Most HDB projects are done in the ‘lowest bid price secure’ so we can’t expect quality workmanship. By the way, where is the flat located?
about 4 years ago
that’s horrible.
hdb usually use cheap paint for the ceilings any way. even if you use the heavy duty (for outdoors) paint for your toilet ceiling, you may still get patches and stuff, cos the sealer and floors above you are not done up properly.
it’s a new flat in a new estate and you’re the first resident, right? hdb is as secret as the ISD. you could always drop them an email feedback and they’ll scamper around for 3 days to give you a reply.
humble homes should be decent homes. nobody deserves to have such defects. it’s a technical responsibility on the part of hdb, not the resident. and subsidised homes definitely shouldn’t have water coming out of the wall.
maybe this might be a problem with the newer flats in the newer estates.
well, i hope everything will turn out better and there’ll be some happy resolution to this.
about 4 years ago
As one minister said, you can find cheaper alternatives. But, we all know that the minister was uttering crap too.
This IS one of the cheapest alternatives.
about 4 years ago
My place is at Jurong West St 93. I was talking to the current contractor and he said that the main contractor did a crap job because that’s the lowest bid. He’s having a hard time as well because he was contracted to do the finishing up after the main contractor was done and now he has to clear the shit.
about 4 years ago
Lucky Tan,
If I bought that unit 3 months earlier, I would have saved 30k. The reason is because prices of new HDB units are pegged to the price of a similar unit on the resale market. Those who got their keys in the same block a few months earlier paid 30k less than what I paid because the housing fever wasn’t that hot yet. And the block was already completed. My subsidy suddenly became very much less, and now I have to top up some more? I think I going to apply for National Parks Board permit to sleep at East Coast Park every week liao.
about 4 years ago
James,
There are alot of other units with problems too. One of my new neighbours had water coming out of the master bedroom all the way out of the front door. And when I look at the walls on the outside, the paint is already peeling. Sigh.
about 4 years ago
Spyer,
What alternative do we have to the HDB? If it was a private company doing a shoddy construction job, I can complain to case or something. I don’t think complaining about the government to the government is going to be of much use. After all, they are all part of the fami-lee, no?
about 4 years ago
Actually Aaron, maybe the HDB contractor is just that: an independant contractor hired by HDB. So you could bring an action against them if u want to. If the money permits of course:P
about 4 years ago
Sorry to hear about this. After the wedding, this should be the 2nd happiest event – getting your keys and renovating the house. Any chance to complain to Case, or get a refund? And Lucky Tan was right, the HDB subsidy is based not on cost of construction, but market value less X percent. And the HDB is laughing all the way to the bank. Mah Bow Tan must be getting 7 months performance bonus on this scheme. By the way – anyone know how much performance bonus they are getting ON TOP of the growth bonus??
When the means testing comes in, it will be Khaw Boon wan’s turn to laugh all the way to the bank- knowing how the ministers are rewarded based on GDP growth – revenue growth.
Top prize this year must go to PM Lee. While nobody can guess or control the oil price hike (Like minister Hen said), everyone knows that with a GST hike there will be inflation, GDP will grow and wala …. more performance bonus. (how much? Govt is not telling you! State secret!)
Gini coefficient can go to hell – help the poor ? haha))
about 4 years ago
ouch man, I feel your pain on the flat crap. Hope things get better after this : )
about 4 years ago
lucky tan, what kind of nonsense and logic is this? HDB flat owners are supposed to ‘top-up’ to renovate their flat to make it livable? if this is the case, the flats can be even cheaper as HDB just need to provide 4walls and leaking pipes and unsafe electronical wiring to the citizens. better still, paint the floor so that it looks nice to the buyers…anyways, they are going to ‘top-up’ right? who knows, maybe they will ‘upsize’ it.
if the whole idea is about limited budget and yet building ‘unlivable’ flats (worst, unsafe flats for that matter), then what is the point of building subsized flat and still claim its subsized.
about 4 years ago
not_here,
you have definitely misunderstood Lucky Tan.
For what you do not know, Lucky Tan is a master of sarcasticism and whatever he said, you should reverse it. What Tan said is in the eyes and mouth of our millions dollars utter useless gahmen.
about 4 years ago
hey nd i tot u were up the grapevine with your post in the the grassroots organisation, the Boon Lay Youth Executive Committee as General Secretary (Dec
2005 to present)
sad if they do this to you then wat abt people like us ….
about 4 years ago
Thats not all….constantly look out for more problems during your stay such as…water sipping through your walls during heavy downpour, ceiling cracking, walls cracking, etc….. look out for them ad dont delay, call HDB up immediately otherwise you won’tknow how long you will have to wait for them to rectify those problems.
about 4 years ago
overpriced crap
about 4 years ago
hehehe – when you spend money to do up the house, of course you add to the GDP and finally to the minister’s bonus….now you get it??
about 4 years ago
The price of having fat cat ministers and bureaucrats who do not live in apartments like yours is shoddy workmanship. They probably don’t even know that these things can and do happen – I cannot imagine their minions reporting any bad news. And in typical manner they take the stance that the work “can do, lah”. More trouble to inspect and bawl out the contractors and then re-inspect. It’s the system.
about 4 years ago
wah piang eh…see, that’s what happens when cutting costs comes into the foreground. Singaporeans don’t need welfare! They can pay for themselves! Anyway, this problem is something you should not have to worry about – i mean, the fact that you have to deal with it means that HDB is a farce – you should only have to pay for how you want to zhng your apartment, NOT worry your hair grey over them.
If you are dissatisfied, it’s better to say so. If enough say so, maybe, just maybe someone will sit up and listen. Although we can expect that they don’t, as long as they keep their million dollar salaries. There isn’t someone who is responsible for it anyway – everything is SAF-like, as in Serve and Fuck off…haha excuse my English, but it’s like that. Either you become jaded and tired, or you leave, or (in the most extreme cases) you fight on.
I hope you are doing well, even though i am so far away!
about 4 years ago
Gee… we didn’t even bother to renovate our first HDB flat. We got it from the resale market and it was 30 years old. Just no point lah. Everything was in disrepair – all the ceilings were spalling off, all the pipes were leaky, all the neighbours were noisy and crazy. We moved out after 3 years. No regrets – since we spent less than S$5000 on “renovations” (painting the walls, changing the light bulbs only) and furnishings on that flat.
about 4 years ago
Jurong West St 93? Besides the stadium is it? Wa lucky we never choose there.. I was from Boonlay, flat was under SERS (en-bloc)..
about 3 years ago
hey, u guys are far lucklier, i have been in the balloting rat race for the past 1 year and got nothing….is always amazing to see “so many” singaporeans in need of a hdb unit, n i wondered who is really in need of them?? and yet our dear hdb is not doing anything to help the over quota ppl….
about 3 years ago
Totally agree with you about HDB and their crappy flats.
My bathroom ceiling has been leaking copious amounts of water raining on our heads since early this year. When this problem was reported to HDB, they were unable, yes powerless to get our upstairs neighbours to move their butts to repair the worn waterproofing on their floors.
The problem has worsened with both bathroom ceilings now leaking, spalling concrete, moulds spreading onto the bedroom ceiling and dining room wall.
Despite letters from our MP and us and millions of visits to HDB’s office, the problem remains unresolved.
It appears that HDB is not concerned that our flat is falling down on us nor is it in their interest to resolve this problem.
What shall we do? We are at our wits end as the cowards at HDB and MND refuses to meet nor respond to our communication.
Could someone help without us resorting to terrorist acts?
about 3 years ago
This is very much the problem for my flat too. I have my master bedroom pipes leaking and the ceiling paint peeling. When I looked to the Town Council for help, their solution was as such: My neighbor (the one living above me) and myself are to foot the bill for my neighbor to get a whole new toilet. I was shocked at such an arrangement. Then came the bomb, the neighbor living below also faced the same problem! So that would mean that I need to pay a full price for a whole new toilet in my master bedroom!
It’s absurd to see how much the authorities are spending on renovating roads and ensuring their smoothness while forgetting that their funds are actually from us, the taxpayers who live in the flats they built for us. All it takes would be perhaps some signature and movement of funds for us to enjoy better, safer bathrooms.
about 2 years ago
Hi ,
Can anyone answer
Is it difficult to sell when HDB unit next to chinse temple ??
about 2 years ago
I totally agree that HDB is crap..and very expensive crap at that.
I have pipes that give out loud.. and I mean REAL LOUD.. humming noises and pumps that go off several times a day, sounding like people upstairs flushing their toilets non stop..It disturbs sleep and really makes one lose his respect for the government..
I feel so cheated..
about 1 year ago
@guest
I read on the papers two units (Jurong West and Bukit Panjang) toilet tiles detached and fell off. HDB claims no responsibility since the flat has past its 5 years, even though these incidents are pure shoddy construction work. It’s sad as HDB celebrates its 50th anniversary, it has degraded in quality.
I shudder as I recall seeing 2 bulging tiles in my own bathroom, and my bedroom floor always has a mysterious puddle of water after heavy downpour.
Flats are getting taller, crowdier, smaller and shoddier, there’s no excuse for this, it’s not like we are paying peanuts for these flats.
about 2 months ago
Some really wonderful information, Gladiolus I found this.
about 2 weeks ago
Most I can express is, I am not sure what to comment! Except of course, for the great tips which are shared within this blog. I’ll think of a thousand fun tips on how to read the articles or blog posts on this site. I do believe I will eventually take action with your tips on those issues I could not have been able to take care of alone. You had been so clever to let me be one of those to benefit from your valuable information. Please recognize how significantly I enjoy the whole thing.
about 1 day ago
Perfect piece of work you have done, this website is really cool with superb info .