Towards Year-end

Hi everyone!

SELAMAT HARI RAYA !

I'm in a very happy mood especially around Hari Raya time ;) Not because I'm a Muslim... but I don't need to be a Muslim to celebrate, do I? I'm excited because of the festive atmosphere, with Raya songs all over the radio and TV channels. Most of all I like to visit and celebrate with our Malay friends, friends who really care enough to cook up a sumptious meal for their guests. That takes very special effort indeed! Food prepared from the HEART certainly beats all those fancy buffet at hotels or restaurants!

As we are drawing near towards year-end, I would like to leave some friendly tips for people who are doing renovations around this time :

1) Try to get your renovations done before Chinese New Year. Almost every year, prices of goods increase after the CNY. This inflationary pressure sometimes pushes up cost of raw materials used in renovation.
* The months of Feb-Mar are low season. If you do your renovations around this time, some contractors may give a special offer price.

2) Be careful in choosing contractors during year end. Good and reputable contractors are almost always fully booked during these peak months. If any contractor seems to be very free, take caution by asking to see their work. Almost all contractors stop taking orders 1 month before CNY.

3) The best time to do renovation is actually outside of the 2 months before CNY. The 2 months are actually very stressful times as everyone are rushing to get their house ready for the festive season. More mistakes will happen when the workers are stressed. Imagine..the workers will work up to 11pm every day for 7 days a week.