Bartley Residences: Defect Inspection (Part 1)

Since our key collection 3 weeks ago, I’ve been wanting to take a clear picture of our beautiful pool at Bartley. However, my pictures have always been messed up by the haze. Yesterday, the haze has finally subsided and I managed to get this picture. I love this sight a lot. The swimming pool has a rock waterfall feature with greeneries that looks beautiful, peaceful and tranquil!

The joy of collecting our keys doesn’t last very long. We’re now plunged into the dreaded defect inspection process. As I’ve expected (based on the feedback from other residents in our Facebook Group), our defects are quite overwhelming. Thus, we’ve decided to engage a professional defect finder to help in our defect inspection.

We engaged Ronny Seah from Ark Interior. He was highly raved by a few residents in our Facebook Group for his professionalism and expertise. They offered a bulk discount of $450 for our condo (their professional fees start from $500 for 3 rounds of inspections, fees vary depending on unit size).

Initially, I felt that the charges are quite high but after seeing the huge amount of defects in our unit, we’ve decided to part with $450 and “outsource” this dreaded job to them. Nonetheless, after seeing how Ronny did his first inspection in our unit, I was more than impressed.

Defect inspection form, coloured labels for various defects, tools & equipments for defect checking

He spent the entire day in our unit from 10am till 6pm without even going out for lunch (he brought his own lunch). The inspection was not done on naked eyes only, but he used various equipments and tools to perform the defect inspection. The inspection was completed around 6pm, but he came back the next morning to fill-up the defect inspection forms for us. There are a total of 169 defects (more than 10 pages) that he has recorded!

Just to share with you more info about the defect inspection package from Ark Interior, it covers 3 rounds of inspection: 1) first inspection after key collection, 2) first appointment / joint-inspection with developer, and 3) second appointment / handover from developer at the end of rectification. Additional visits thereafter will be charged at $100/trip (if requested).

Besides the detailed defect inspection, the other advantages of engaging Ronny are – he’s able to provide advice on how to deal with the defects, what are the critical defects that must be rectified by the developer, what are the less critical ones that our ID can touch-up after renovation, how the developer will usually rectify the defects, and what to do if the defects are not rectified to our satisfactory level.

To be able to tell whether an item is defective, you’ll also have to know what’s the acceptable level of workmanship is. Some common questions that we ask are – what’s the level of inconsistency in the flooring tonality before it’s deemed as a defect, what’s the acceptable level of unevenness on a plastered wall, etc. With Ronny’s expertise, this is not a problem for us anymore.

The scope of the defect inspection carried out by Ronny includes visual defects like stains and scratches, architectural defects like hollow tiles, cracks, gaps, poor fittings and poor joints, proper functionality of mechanical and electrical fittings, as well as conditions of pipes and drainage holes.

Besides being meticulous in his job, he’s also a lot more tactful in dealing with the defect team from our developer – especially since he has handled a few units in our condo. If you’re looking for a professional defect finder for your new home, I certainly recommend Ronny!

Here are the TEN main defects in our unit:

1. Parquet flooring in bedrooms

The parquet flooring in our three bedrooms is the MAJOR issue so far. The first moment I looked at it, I was like “What is this?!” It looks so dull and feels so rough that you wouldn’t want to step your foot on it. But the moment you do, you feel ultra discomfort with the roughness.

As compared to our current apartment (an executive condo of more than 10 years), our parquet flooring is still smooth and glossy. So, it’s really annoying to see our new home like this. Besides the roughness and dullness, there are various stains, cracks, scratches, dents and water marks on the parquet flooring.

Of course, these have been flagged as defects to our developer.

2. Balcony Tiles

The balcony tiles, fortunately, are in a better shape that the parquet flooring. There are minor chips and a few hollow tiles, with a drain hole filled with debris.

3. Homogeneous tiles in living and dining hall

There are minor scratches, a few hollow tiles, and some chips, and the defect team leader has promised to do polishing for us at the end of the defect rectification.

4. Main door

This is how our main door looks like. A bit “kua zhang”, I know. The colourful stickers were pasted by Ronny and they are actually colour-coded according to the defect types – stains, scratches, stains, etc. That’s what I call a professional.

5. Sliding door track is uneven

The sliding door track at the living hall is uneven, therefore the glass sliding door does not move smoothly along the track and the last panel cannot be pushed to the end.

6. Built-in wardrobes

There are minor scratches, chips and cracks found at the built-in wardrobes. One of the doors is warped.

7. Glass windows

There are many scratches on the window panes – particularly on the master bedroom.

8. Kitchen Cabinets

There are minor scratches, chips and stains on the kitchen cabinet. The most visible scratch is the one on our electric oven. The other main defect is the warped cabinet door – the cabinet that houses our washer and dryer.

9. Toilets

There are minor scratches and stains in our toilets. One of the drainage holes is also filed with debris.

10. Electrical appliances

The ice tray and fruit basket in our fridge are cracked.

Realistically, we don’t expect all the scratches and chips to be fixed. As time goes by especially after we move-in, these visual defects will become less noticeable. Since we’re repainting our unit after renovation, the stains will be fixed too. Most importantly, we want the critical defects like uneven sliding door track, parquet flooring, some hollow tiles and warped kitchen cabinet door to be fixed before the handover.

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ARK INTERIOR
62 Ubi Road 1, #10-17, Oxley BizHub 2, S408734
Website: http://www.arkinterior.com.sg/