Ability to manage the right expectation with project stakeholder throughout project life cycle, contributes to a huge portion of project success factors. Even though it’s always better to promise less, but in reality, sometime we just got to promise more to look good, especially for commercial reasons. At times, the bare truth just doesn’t sound convincing.

When I’m checking mails this morning, spotted the following phrase from an email from project partner.

“Anyway Tien-Soon is very efficient. He only takes about half-day to up the system and never fail to do so until now!”

Leaving with little choice, I just got to get the system remotely deployed in shorter-than-expected time frame. For a second, this compliment is undeniably a cheering one. However, I hope this will not turn into a new benchmark in expectation

After a few weekends of choosing the tiles, doors and some other necessities, I have finally got the first quotation for my house renovation.

Wah lao eh… RM87,555!! So much cash needed, totally out of our budget. aaahi~~

FYI, this is the draft of floor plan of my house. Quite shiok to have 3265.98 square feet, but, at the same time proportionally adding as much pain as well for renovation.

Had this conversation with the contractor, Pang.

Pang: wah.. the tiles you have chosen, not cheap ha. It’s more expensive that laminated flooring.
Me: ha? is it a… then the one I chosen, above normal price a?
Pang: there’s nothing called normal price la.. but yours is more expensive than average tiles, more expensive than laminated flooring if calculated by square feet.
Me:

This is what Hokkien people say “eating rice but don’t know the price of rice” (吃米不知米賈).

This quote, even though already over-budget, but still lacking of about 10% of my initial requirements. Money not enough a~~

Actually, since this is a second-hand house, the efforts to remove existing components, such as all the tiles (before installing new tiles), is already costing quite a bit of manpower charge. From the quotation, obviously the extension of wet kitchen is costing the biggest sum. So, told the contractor to revise quote on that portion, with a much simpler wet kitchen

Money money money, I need more cash in fact.