Horror Reno Stories Ep 9
Recently, a lady on tiktok vented her frustration at an un-named renovation firm for the poor renovation experience that she had, and it went viral, and we thought we share our thoughts from our experience.
Watch our tiktok video on this if you lazy to read.
The lady had 3 main points. One, the works were done poorly. For example, the paint ended up dripping across her furniture etc. Two, the renovation took a long time of around 8 months. Third, due to the high turnover in the firm, she had to constantly speak to different people, resulting in poor communication.
The renovation industry isn’t that small, and there are many who are guessing if it’s that firm (ofc we can’t name them due to legal issues).
If it indeed is that firm, we are not surprised. Let us share some facts and hearsay that we know about them.
Fact #1: This lady is not alone. We have had a similar review from a homeowner about the delay in the works.
Source: Review submitted to Deconstruct
Fact #2: That firm charges very high in the market. We estimate it to be around 40%, compared to the 20-odd % in the industry.
Fact #3: That firm is actually very rich. Check out their company holdings :)
And now its time for the hearsay!
Hearsay #1: That firm habitually delays payment to the sub-cons. Cash flow is important for a business. One of our main contractor actually mentioned that it takes very very long to get money from them. They are required to submit this document, that document, but the end result is still delayed payments
Hearsay #2: That firm prioritises sales over customer experience. There is barely any quality control when it comes to both the main contractors, as well as the IDs that they hire. Often, the “success” of the renovation actually depends on the main contractors that they get, as many of the IDs are just doing sales, and do not know much about the renovation process itself.
How these big firms usually earn is through a psuedo-MLM way. The management team gets a cut of the profit earned by the sales IDs. As such, the more sales ID, the more sales, and the more sales, the more profit for the company/management team. This tactic is further supported by the strong branding (and cash) that the company has.
Hearsay #3: That firm indeed has high turnover. As mentioned earlier, there is minimal vetting when it comes to hiring of the IDs. Training is also rather short at 2 to 3 months. Renovation is a deeply-technical topic. WIthout sufficient supervision, we wonder if these IDs are able to learn so quickly within those few months. We even had one of their IDs apply to our company for a temporary ops role (un-related to being an ID). That alone shows the dedication of these IDs that they hire.
This is a good example of why there is such poor renovation experience in the first place, as the big firms in the market, with strong branding power, prioritise growth over customer satisfaction. With minimal recourse and a lack of transparency online, we do not expect this issue to go away anytime soon.
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