The visit in September changed a bit of my perspective, though. The tiles are okay, but felt like it needed quite a bit of deep cleaning, especially in the living where there are some stains (probably from the plants the ex-owner had). Timber flooring in both bedrooms have scratches, and I thought they probably needed polishing. Heck, even the bathroom tiles at the shower area of the master bedroom are not pristine, but changing that will be hell lot of work so I might not have time to do it before I move in. 

Had always envisioned vinyl flooring whenever I get a new place so I couldn’t quite shake off that idea. Researched a bit, hey, they weren’t that expensive actually and my place isn’t that big, so it’s pretty affordable. And at this point I already decided to up my budget by 50% after some calculations on my finances (helped by the MAC payout lolol) so decided to just go for it. 

Did very minimal research to be honest. It’s just like, oh this company has good reviews, price looks reasonable, ok let’s just go for it don’t need to compare so much (and I hated the hassle of comparing, and the decision making process, so any time there’s opportunity to simplify things I just take it). So one fine Saturday I just travelled all the way to the East to their showroom, walked in - they apparently only take appointments but I didn’t know, but one of their sales guy was free while waiting for his next appointment so he entertained me. 

Went for the entry level range, I honestly didn’t think that the higher range ones would make a significant difference in day to day life, salesperson didn’t try very hard to sell it either. Narrowed down to 3 color choices to reserve stock, and the installers would have to make separate trips to first assess your place (detailed measurements so that they know how much stock to take and bill exactly), deliver stock, and finally install (which, going by the size of my place, they should be able to finish within the day). Paid a deposit and basically that’s it! 

It was in fact the first thing that I paid for the new home which is kind of ironic considering that it wasn’t even on my initial agenda haha. Nothing to follow up except to confirm the color, which turns out to be a bit of a struggle. 

First, not the best person when it comes to things like colors. And as if that’s not bad enough, they mess with your perception because things look very different in small quantities (i.e. the samples they give you/show in the showroom) vs large quantities (i.e your entire living room) so the color I initially had in mind, when I saw sample photos of the end product, turned out to be too dark for my liking, so I had to change my prebooked color choices. 

Days leading up to the works were a bit stressful because I didn’t get much updates (I don’t know if I was being paranoid or it’s a norm) but eventually the sales guy got the installer to contact me and set a date for measurements. The next heart attack moment was when the sales guy asked if it’s possible to push back my installation for a bit coz apparently some of their guys caught Covid and had to isolate. To which I kinda pleaded them not to coz I already scheduled painting works right after the flooring works and I didn’t want to push back that too. Which the guy eventually said he will push for mine to stay on schedule, which was what happened in the end so minor victory to me. 

Measurement day was a bit uneventful, except the fact that I found out that I had to trim the common bathroom door coz otherwise cannot not enough clearance - alternative is to leave one strip undone which is ugly AF and my OCD self disapproves lol so trimming it is. Never knew doors can be trimmed like that though. 

Stock delivery day delivered another heart attack moment - first up, installer wasn’t really installer but is basically sales guy’s runner. Installer (FW) delivered stock, I didn’t really take a close look at it until a few hours later when I was leaving, and found that they delivered the wrong color wtf. They delivered my original two choices. Texted both the sales guy and runner to tell them, and they made arrangements to deliver the correct color the next day (i.e. installation day), so they just have to start with the bedrooms first which the correct color was delivered. Sales guy sent me a photo of his submission in his defense, that he put up request for the correct colors so we are not sure which part went wrong zzz. Shuddered to think what would have happened if I hadn’t checked - my living room will be installed with the dark color and either I would find that it’s not too bad or I’d force them to rip it up and redo (which will probably be stressful to manage). 

But anyway installation went without a hitch. They called one time to tell me there were issues installing inside the wardrobe because of blah blah (brain switched off at this point) and I just told them I didn’t need it inside the wardrobe (which I had told them during measurements day). Installation took just one day, skived off work at about 4pm to check and lock up my place (and continued working from there) and I think I was rather pleased with it!  

Color wise, pretty glad I changed it coz that turned out to be the shade I was looking for. Workmanship wasn’t too bad except a couple of locations in the common bedroom which wasn’t sealed properly so I texted the sales guy asking for touch up, which he personally came down to do in the end. Door trimming ended up being pushed to the next day because the door guy couldn’t make it, so I had to make another trip down to the place. What a mess it was too. 

All in all, think this was a good decision to re-do the flooring. Might engage another company for my next house though lol. I thought service wasn’t the best though I vibed with the sales guy pretty well in the end. And actually, we don’t know how the durable the product will turn out to be too so that remains to be seen.