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Few people, if given a choice, would choose to live in their home when renovations are ongoing. The house is in a mess and dusty conditions are a health hazard.
But all that didn’t bother YES 933 DJ Chen Qijia, 31, and her engineer husband, Cavin Tan, 32. Though renovations were only 70 per cent complete, they moved into their five-room BTO flat in Tengah on Feb 10, the first day of Chinese New Year. They are among the first batch of homeowners to move into the non-mature estate.
“It’s our first home and we were just very excited for the house,” Qijia tells 8days.sg as she gives us a tour of her 1,216 sq ft abode.
“New year, new beginnings. We were not in a hurry to move in, but we had been really looking forward to it as our interior designer assured us that we could do so by CNY, so we moved in anyway,” she says.
As most of the living room was not done, and kitchen appliances and bathroom sinks not installed, renovation works dragged on for another one-and-a-half months. It didn’t help that the reno came to a standstill for two weeks as workers, all foreigners, went home for the holidays.