Lantau contractor?

I need to renovate my kitchen in south lantau, but am fed up with the high prices a local property company have been quoting me. We've been using them for 2 years, but their prices have been increasing and I think they're reluctant to do smaller jobs, ie, not whole house renovations. They've also become quite sloppy over the past couple of years, does anyone have anyone they've been happy with? Reliable?

-Thanks.

There seems to be a Lantau building contractors'cartel. They appear to band together in a conspiracy of silence and non-cooperation. I think you'll find it very difficult to find a contractor on Lantau capable of producing satisfactory workmanship at a realistic price. My experience has been that you are given a three months period to identify and report defects, and it takes just a little longer than that for all the defects from shoddy workmanship to show through. My recommendation would be to try to find a reputable Kowloon builder to undertake the work. Good luck with your search. I would be pleased to hear how you get on.

It's been a while since this post, but I'm now looking for a contractor to work on our village house. How did it go with your kitchen? Any recommendations? We would really appreciate any advice (contractor names) you can offer. Thanks!

Without knowing the extent of your renovations and having just renovated my apartment, my advice is to try to manage the renovation work yourself. Give yourself a day to browse the hundreds of renovation shops in Mong Kok and HK Island. They congregate in the same areas which makes it very time efficient. You can place the order yourself, and as a rule, most shops will insist on assembling the items themselves. For instance if you order a kitchen benchtop, the shop will insist on assembling it in your home (regardless of whether you have a contractor or not).


So what do the contractors do? They order from the same shops (except they will have a limited number of shops they regularly deal with, so your choices will be limited), charge you a premium (depending on your location, they will at least double or triple the price), and sit there and watch while the said 3rd party assembles it in your home. Not to mention, that your contractor may also give you an inferior product to the one you chose (and pocket even more money).


If you are doing electical or plumbing work, again, you can contract an independent tradesman to do the work.. no need to waste your money paying for both the tradesman and contractor. If their work is not meeting your expectations, then you fire them and call in the next person.


I also suggest you employ a designer if you are doing major renovations. You will get detailed drawings/measurements, and managing the job will be a lot easier.


If you are thinking that managing the renovation yourself may be more time consuming/frustrating, then take a look at the plethora of postings here by disgruntled home owners who have been taken for a ride by their contractor. Once they have your money, the ball is in their hand.