Renovation gone wrong: Family forked out over S$130,000, then their contractor ‘went missing’

Unexpected extra charges, unusual payment requests and stalled work that dragged for months ended in a costly loss for this Singaporean family. CNA’s Money Mind finds out the renovation red flags worth heeding.

Screenshot of a video showing the renovation work in the family’s Housing and Development Board flat. (Source: Errol Lee)

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SINGAPORE: It was going to be his parents’ retirement home, and the renovation was supposed to cost at most S$80,000.

Errol Lee’s family ended up paying S$216,000 in what became a renovation nightmare as their contractor bailed on them. And the bulk of the money was from his parents’ retirement savings.

It was a high price to pay to get the flat they had planned for. There were warning signs, though, and Lee shared his story with CNA’s Money Mind to unpack some of these renovation red flags.

At first, he thought, nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

CNA Games Guess Word Crack the word, one row at a time Buzzword Create words using the given letters Mini Sudoku Tiny puzzle, mighty brain teaser Mini Crossword Small grid, big challenge Word Search Spot as many words as you can Show More Show Less His family had received a few other quotations in the range of S$130,000 to S$150,000 — “way above” their budget — before they went with their contractor. Price was a reason, and they also “thought his entire setup was quite credible”.

His family had received a few other quotations in the range of S$130,000 to S$150,000 — “way above” their budget — before they went with their contractor. Price was a reason, and they also “thought his entire setup was quite credible”.

Errol Lee, who is in his early 30s, speaking to Money Mind.

The online reviews looked reassuring. The company had a few showrooms. And its director assured them that he would take care of the project personally.

“He was very responsive,” Lee said about the man who seemed to have “quite a lot of experience” as he had mentioned renovating more than 300 homes. “We thought, (with) him being the director … we’d be in good hands”.

Then the contractor asked for more money: Extra hacking (S$23,210), more carpentry (S$16,557), windows (S$9,000) and electrical work (S$8,700) were just some of the add-ons.

The work slowed. And then came a different request: To transfer S$35,000 to the director’s personal account, not the company’s account. The family hesitated. Some of them wanted to wait; others feared that the renovation would stop altogether.

The executive flat that Errol Lee’s family bought.

The company had “some issues” with transitioning to another bank, Lee recalled being told as to why the transfer could not be made to company accounts.

“At that point,” he said, “we were a bit anxious to get the house ready so that we could move in before CNY (Chinese New Year).”

But the payments did not stop there. In total, they transferred S$47,000 to the director’s personal accounts.

When the family finally inspected the home, they realised the problem was not just unfinished work.

For one thing, the kitchen counter and drawers were about half of the required depth. “We realised that we couldn’t even fit our utensils,” Lee said.

Lee showing Money Mind how small their kitchen drawers’ depth was originally.

And although they had been told the painting was done and were shown a video, they found that the house was only half painted, he added. “We were only shown … the parts that were painted.”

They also discovered that the interior designer had used none of the products and fittings from the vendor they had chosen. When queried, he told them he was at another vendor, ordering their kitchen appliances.

“He just brushed us off and said that because this vendor was significantly cheaper, he was trying to help us save money,” said Lee.

Five months after the work began, the interior designer ghosted them. “His showrooms were all vacated. Then we realised that the money wasn’t … coming back,” Lee said.

By then, the family had forked out more than S$130,000. Yet, their home had to be rebuilt. And the interior design firm has since gone into liquidation.

Linus Ng, the chairperson of the Consumers Association of Singapore’s consumer education committee, said a low quotation is a “very common bait” to lure home owners.

It will come with “a lot of add-ons”, which can “balloon into huge sums”. He said: “That’s what we see nowadays in the problems that renovation contractors … heap upon the consumers.”

When an interior designer asks for more payments despite making slow progress with the renovation, that is another red flag, highlighted Mervin Foo, co-founder of renovation platform HomeMatch. “This could be a sign of the firm facing financial difficulties.”

It is a “common scenario” among firms facing severe cash flow problems. Even if they do not close down, “they can’t continue paying their subcontractors or don’t have working capital for materials”, he said.

“That’s when renovations stall. Then home owners are left stranded.”

Mervin Foo is a co-founder of HomeMatch, a platform that connects home owners to CaseTrust-accredited renovators.

As for payments to a personal account for services rendered by a company, Ng said consumers would be on dangerous ground.

“You should only pay the company because the company and the directors are all separate legal entities,” he said. “The contract is with the company. It’s not with this director. So why should this director be paid?”

On why the family did not terminate the contract, Lee said it “wasn’t an option” because they had already put down “a good amount of money”. He added: “We were also just worn down by the whole process.”

After the first renovation dragged on for months, they had a second interior designer come in to “salvage the house”, including hacking the carpentry in the kitchen and redoing the entire kitchen for them to have usable space.

The electrical work and plumbing also had to be redone. The light fittings had not been fixed at all, said Lee, recounting how they saw wires “hanging out” after the first interior designer “went missing”.

Screenshot of a video showing wires dangling in the bathroom. (Source: Errol Lee)

They decided to have the entire house repainted as well. The only work done by the first interior design firm that remains intact in their house is the tiling — which cost “maybe S$20,000” at most, Lee reckoned — and the windows.

Everything else was rebuilt, which the second interior designer managed to finish in six weeks for S$70,000. But the family also had to pay for temporary accommodation (S$9,000), plus storage and transport (S$7,000).

They never imagined that their eventual renovation bill would top S$200,000.

“It was our first renovation after so many years,” said Lee, who shared that the family had been living his parents’ previous home for more than three decades. “It was a very new experience.”

On reflection, he added: “The first step should always (be to) find out about all these horror stories — what could potentially go wrong — before looking for an interior design firm and not get sold (on) the marketing.”

Watch this Money Mind segment here . The programme airs every Wednesday at 9pm.

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意料之外的额外费用、不寻常的付款要求以及拖延数月的工程，最终给这个新加坡家庭造成了巨大的损失。CNA的《理财之道》栏目将为您揭示装修中值得警惕的危险信号。

一段视频截图，显示了这家人位于建屋发展局组屋内的装修工程。（来源：Errol Lee）

这段音频是由人工智能工具生成的。

新加坡：这栋房子原本是他父母的养老院，装修费用最多应该在 8 万新元以内。

埃罗尔·李一家最终支付了21.6万新元，却遭遇了一场噩梦般的装修工程，因为他们的承包商中途退出了。而这笔钱的大部分都来自他父母的退休积蓄。

为了得到他们心仪的房子，他们付出了高昂的代价。不过，早有预兆。李先生在接受亚洲新闻台（CNA）“理财之道”节目采访时，分享了他的经历，揭示了装修中一些需要警惕的危险信号。

起初，他觉得一切似乎都很正常。

CNA游戏 猜词游戏 逐行破解单词 流行词游戏 用给定的字母组成单词 迷你数独 小谜题，大挑战 迷你填字游戏 小方格，大挑战 单词搜索 尽可能多地找出单词 显示更多 显示更少 在选择承包商之前，他的家人还收到过其他几份报价，价格在13万至15万新元之间——“远远超出”他们的预算。价格是一个原因，而且他们也“认为他的整个方案相当可靠”。

在最终选择这家承包商之前，他的家人还收到过其他几份报价，价格在13万至15万新元之间——远远超出他们的预算。价格是他们选择这家承包商的原因之一，而且他们也“认为这家承包商的整个资质相当可靠”。

三十出头的埃罗尔·李接受了《金钱思维》杂志的采访。

网上评价看起来令人放心。这家公司有几家展厅。而且，公司负责人向他们保证，他会亲自负责这个项目。

李说，这位男士“反应非常迅速”，他似乎“经验丰富”，因为他提到自己翻新过300多套房屋。“我们当时想，有他担任总监……我们肯定能放心。”

然后承包商又要求加钱：额外的拆除工作（23,210 新元）、更多的木工活（16,557 新元）、窗户（9,000 新元）和电气工程（8,700 新元）只是其中的一些附加项目。

工程进度放缓。随后又出现了另一个要求：将3.5万新元转入董事的个人账户，而不是公司账户。这家人犹豫了。有些人想再等等；另一些人则担心装修工程会彻底停工。

埃罗尔·李一家购买的行政公寓。

李回忆说，公司在过渡到另一家银行时遇到了“一些问题”，并被告知为什么无法将资金转入公司账户。

他说：“当时，我们有点急于把房子收拾好，以便在春节前搬进去。”

但付款并未就此停止。他们总共向该董事的个人账户转入了4.7万新元。

当这家人最终检查房屋时，他们意识到问题不仅仅是未完成的工程。

首先，厨房台面和抽屉的深度只有所需深度的一半左右。“我们发现连餐具都放不下，”李说。

Lee 向 Money Mind 展示了他们家厨房抽屉原本有多浅。

他还补充说，虽然他们被告知油漆已经完成，而且还看了视频，但他们发现房子只粉刷了一半。“我们看到的只是……已经粉刷过的部分。”

他们还发现，室内设计师根本没有使用他们选定的供应商提供的任何产品和配件。当被问及时，他告诉他们，他正在另一家供应商那里订购厨房电器。

李说：“他只是敷衍了事，说因为这家供应商的价格便宜很多，所以他想帮我们省钱。”

工程开工五个月后，室内设计师就杳无音信了。“他的展厅都空了。我们这才意识到，钱根本……拿不回来了，”李说。

到那时，这家人已经为此花费了超过13万新元。然而，他们的房子还是需要重建。而那家室内设计公司也已经破产清算。

新加坡消费者协会消费者教育委员会主席林纳斯·吴表示，低价报价是吸引房主的一种“非常常见的诱饵”。

它会附带“很多附加费用”，这些费用“最终可能会累积成巨额开支”。他说：“这就是我们现在在装修承包商给消费者带来的问题上看到的……他们把这些问题强加给消费者。”

装修平台HomeMatch的联合创始人默文·福指出，如果室内设计师在装修进度缓慢的情况下还要求支付更多费用，这又是一个危险信号。“这可能表明该公司面临财务困境。”

这是面临严重现金流问题的公司的“常见情况”。他表示，即使他们不倒闭，“他们也无法继续支付分包商的款项，或者没有足够的流动资金购买材料”。

“这时装修工程就会停滞不前，房主们就会束手无策。”

Mervin Foo 是 HomeMatch 的联合创始人，HomeMatch 是一个将房主与 CaseTrust 认证的装修商联系起来的平台。

至于将公司提供的服务款项支付到个人账户的做法，吴先生表示，消费者将处于危险境地。

“你应该只向公司付款，因为公司和董事是独立的法律实体，”他说。“合同是和公司签订的，而不是和这位董事签订的。所以，为什么要向这位董事支付报酬呢？”

关于为何家人没有终止合同，李先生表示“别无选择”，因为他们已经支付了“一大笔钱”。他还补充道：“我们也被整个过程搞得筋疲力尽。”

第一次装修拖延了几个月后，他们请来了第二位室内设计师来“拯救这栋房子”，包括拆除厨房的木工，重新装修整个厨房，以便他们拥有可用的空间。

电气和管道工程也必须重做。李回忆说，灯具根本没有修好，第一位室内设计师“失踪”后，他们看到电线“悬在外面”。

一段视频的截图显示，浴室里垂挂着电线。（来源：埃罗尔·李）

他们决定把整栋房子重新粉刷一遍。李先生估计，之前那家室内设计公司做的工程，现在唯一保留下来的只有瓷砖铺贴（最多花了“大概2万新元”）和窗户。

其他一切都进行了重建，第二位室内设计师在六周内以 7 万新元的价格完成了这项工作。但这家人还不得不支付临时住宿费用（9000 新元）以及仓储和运输费用（7000 新元）。

他们做梦也没想到，最终的装修费用会超过 20 万新元。

“这是我们多年来的第一次翻修，”李先生说，他透露他们一家已经在父母之前的房子里住了三十多年。“这真是一次全新的体验。”

他反思后补充道：“第一步应该始终是先了解所有这些可怕的故事——可能会出现哪些问题——然后再去寻找室内设计公司，不要被营销手段所蒙蔽。”

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