We were both on leave today and so we decided to check out two marble suppliers. One was close by at Changi North. For the other we have to brave a trip north to the Senoko industrial area. We have to make our selection soon so I wanted to make sure we view all we could to make an informed decision.
The first stop was at Futar. It was pretty quick trip, they could not bring us to view any inventory slabs so we could only view the samples in the showroom. We listed down a couple of marbles and requested for a quotation. I was slightly disappointed that we couldn't make a bigger headway to see actual slabs.
Our next stop was at Mondo. Senoko is truly a long way to drive and it seems Mondo is tuck right at the tail end of the whole area! But I'm glad we made the trip, and at the right time too.
We were actually here to view their selection of Volakas and other white, greyish marble. But as Edward brought us around to see the marble sample slabs we noticed a set of white-ish creamy coloured marble laid on the floor for another customer.
My first thought on seeing it was, "Hey, isn't this close to what we were looking for? Something beige and greyish but falling on the whiter spectrum?" So even as Edward was explaining the different selections of white marbles he carries, my eyes were examining the marbles on the floor to see what sort of grain and characteristic it has.
My attention was soon directed back to Edward as he invited us to go view the Volakas slab and another beige coloured marble. However as he walked us further into the factory he kept mumbling that Volakas marbles has many issues. He went on to share that a new client of his had recently came to him after experiencing discolouring of the water marks on his Volakas marble (which he bought from another supplier) after a year of installation. It seems the veins in Volakas marble are prone to absorb the dirt and moisture from the ground. And so the veins will turn yellowish after awhile.
Wow ... this is new to us. No other supplier had told us about issues on Volakas. If this marble is unstable we're surely not going to install it. Imagine having to tear it out after a couple of years ...
So after seeing the Volakas slab, which wasn't any good at all and the other beige marble which was a little dark, we were back at the dry lay area. I took this chance to start closer examination of the marble and asked Edward about it.
This is Vanilla Cream marble and it is pretty cheap. For the 60 x 60 pre-cuts, it is priced at $11/sqft. Add on dry lay at $1 and sealant at $1 it comes to $13/sqft. For our area of 56 sqm or 600 sqft that would work out to something like $8K. And if we go for a bigger 90x90 pre-cuts, Edward quoted $18/sqft for the marble. This would come up to $12K which was still within our budget. $18/sqft was a little tight for our budget so I went on a chance and asked if he could do $16/sqft. He gave it a quick thought and then smiled and said, "Come, let's go to my office and we can discuss." Ka-ching~! Looks like we have found a raw deal!
So long story short, we shared our floor plan and he promised to work out the laying plan in the next couple of days. We ended the trip with a quick tour of feature wall marbles. Meimei already had a liking for Silver Mink and they happen to carry it too. And we even had the chance to see an actual slab. It's a classy grey marble and I think it would look well as a TV feature wall. That said, I don't know if it will go well with Vanilla Cream if we eventually get it.
The first stop was at Futar. It was pretty quick trip, they could not bring us to view any inventory slabs so we could only view the samples in the showroom. We listed down a couple of marbles and requested for a quotation. I was slightly disappointed that we couldn't make a bigger headway to see actual slabs.
Our next stop was at Mondo. Senoko is truly a long way to drive and it seems Mondo is tuck right at the tail end of the whole area! But I'm glad we made the trip, and at the right time too.
We were actually here to view their selection of Volakas and other white, greyish marble. But as Edward brought us around to see the marble sample slabs we noticed a set of white-ish creamy coloured marble laid on the floor for another customer.
My first thought on seeing it was, "Hey, isn't this close to what we were looking for? Something beige and greyish but falling on the whiter spectrum?" So even as Edward was explaining the different selections of white marbles he carries, my eyes were examining the marbles on the floor to see what sort of grain and characteristic it has.
My attention was soon directed back to Edward as he invited us to go view the Volakas slab and another beige coloured marble. However as he walked us further into the factory he kept mumbling that Volakas marbles has many issues. He went on to share that a new client of his had recently came to him after experiencing discolouring of the water marks on his Volakas marble (which he bought from another supplier) after a year of installation. It seems the veins in Volakas marble are prone to absorb the dirt and moisture from the ground. And so the veins will turn yellowish after awhile.
Wow ... this is new to us. No other supplier had told us about issues on Volakas. If this marble is unstable we're surely not going to install it. Imagine having to tear it out after a couple of years ...
So after seeing the Volakas slab, which wasn't any good at all and the other beige marble which was a little dark, we were back at the dry lay area. I took this chance to start closer examination of the marble and asked Edward about it.
This is Vanilla Cream marble and it is pretty cheap. For the 60 x 60 pre-cuts, it is priced at $11/sqft. Add on dry lay at $1 and sealant at $1 it comes to $13/sqft. For our area of 56 sqm or 600 sqft that would work out to something like $8K. And if we go for a bigger 90x90 pre-cuts, Edward quoted $18/sqft for the marble. This would come up to $12K which was still within our budget. $18/sqft was a little tight for our budget so I went on a chance and asked if he could do $16/sqft. He gave it a quick thought and then smiled and said, "Come, let's go to my office and we can discuss." Ka-ching~! Looks like we have found a raw deal!
So long story short, we shared our floor plan and he promised to work out the laying plan in the next couple of days. We ended the trip with a quick tour of feature wall marbles. Meimei already had a liking for Silver Mink and they happen to carry it too. And we even had the chance to see an actual slab. It's a classy grey marble and I think it would look well as a TV feature wall. That said, I don't know if it will go well with Vanilla Cream if we eventually get it.
No comments:
Post a Comment