If you have decided that you’ll get an ID for your house renovation, you’d soon realise that the ID shortlisting stage can be the most tiring part of your renovation journey 🥴
We realised finding a suitable ID would be a huge hurdle and we wanted to finalise the decision asap. Unfortunately, the process took us much longer than we expected!
We reached out to a few ID firms via Qanvast, but eventually only spoke seriously to 5 of them. Out of those 5, we eventually went with Urban Home Design. However, we actually spent more time in total speaking to the other 4 due to the insane amount of back and forth… if they were even responsive!
It was a painful journey, and we thought it would be interesting (and hopefully helpful) to share how our hunt for the perfect ID for their container went!
ID Firm K
This was a popular ID firm in Singapore, but we found out afterwards that only a few of their IDs are well-known and sought after for their work.
As with some other homeowners’ experience using Qanvast, we were assigned to a relatively new ID who have much experience. We went to look at his portfolio on Instagram and saw that it was nearly empty lol.
His lack of experience didn’t just show up in his portfolio. Throughout all our discussions, he did not give much input & mostly just agreed with what we suggested and requested for.
We didn’t want our ID to just quietly agree with all our plans. We felt that they should seriously evaluate feasibility and also give better design suggestions – otherwise we were better off just getting a contractor and cutting out the ID fees.
This ID also gave us the cheapest quote out of all the firms, but we’re unsure if it was really inclusive of all charges. They also charge extra for 3D rendering and edits, which prompted us to think if we’re really talking to a designer or just a salesperson…
ID Firm F
This was another popular firm that we seriously considered! We really liked some of his ideas, which clearly reflected our lifestyle needs & wants.
Unfortunately, this ID assigned was WAY too busy for us. He rushed all our appointments, and even preempted that he had many other projects on hand.
We really loved his creative input and trusted that he could bring our ideas to life. However, we felt that he might not pay much attention to our project if he’s so busy.
What really cemented our decision was when the ID told us that if they didn’t want him, then we should tell him asap so as not to waste each other’s time. Not wrong per se, but it was quite clear that he thought we were eating into his precious time.
Quote given from ID Firm F was also on the higher end. The ID’s justification was that they use premium materials – but no further explanation on what ‘premium’ really means.
ID Firm M
If we had to use one word to describe our interaction with this firm, it would be this: odd!
It was obvious from the first meeting that there was a clear communication breakdown between us and the two IDs assigned.
We spent a long time trying to explain what we were looking for and our lifestyle needs to the IDs. They nodded their heads but clearly didn’t seem to understand at all. Their proposed ideas were totally not what we were looking for. Even after we clarified, they still didn’t understand and proposed other things that we didn’t want.
This ID firm’s quote was also quite high, but all they could explain for this was ‘better materials used’.
ID Firm T
We were the most disappointed by this ID firm T. It is a very famous and popular Singapore ID firm, but also well-known for being expensive. They’ve done a lot of projects for influencers & celebrities in Singapore.
Until now, we’re not sure if the one we met from this firm is an ID, sniper, or Houdini lol.
On our first meeting, the ID appeared to be quite knowledgeable and experienced. Unfortunately, he was also quite unreceptive of our ideas and kept shooting them down. He was also late for the first meeting, which already left quite a bad impression on us.
It only got worse from here: he completely ghosted us after the first meeting! He never got back with any design or quote, despite promising to do so. Until now, our renovation is already complete and we’ve moved in for half a year, but still no sound from him!!
When we first shared this on our socials, many other homeowners shared with us the EXACT SAME EXPERIENCE with this firm! It seems that the IDs from this firm like to ghost potential customers and only work seriously with famous people…
We were honestly very disappointed because their portfolio was one of our favourites. But we take it that we managed to dodge a bullet there!
P.S. we won’t publicly name the firms above but we know a lot of you are very curious haha so if you’d like to know, drop us a DM on social media!
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