HomBee Pte Ltd

Posting here as a renovation PSA since HomBee Pte Ltd and B-Cube Interior has chosen the cowardly route to block me to hide my reviews. Really makes me question how they even managed to obtain CaseTrust accreditation with such shady business practices. **TL;DR: Don't repeat my mistakes by hiring them. I paid $28k+ for a partial 3rm reno and all I got was frustration.** ????? I thought I was paying for an ID, but what I got was a subpar coordinator. I don't think Man is entirely incompetent, but he simply didn't care enough to get things right from the start, leading to enormous stress, distrust, and miscommunication. Every time he sent me something, I had to hunt for his mistakes. When confronted about them, Man would wave them off with excuses or claim that he had already done this or that for free. I'm certain those "freebies" were already baked into the pricing elsewhere, but he kept using that as leverage. They were cheaper than other IDs, and I had the misfortune of discovering why. Here are the many red flags and outcomes of my terrible experience with Rosanna/Man: --- ? **16 Jul: I contacted HomBee but BCube reached out to me** I contacted HomBee, but Phoebe got Rosanna from BCube Interior to contact me instead. Not sure if they were trying to skirt GST or had some other arrangement going on. ? **16 Aug: The serving ID quit without warning** Rosanna basically ghosted me at the start, but Sally contacted me and was very responsive. Sally came on-site with Rosanna and asked the right questions. But just as I was about to award the job to her (thinking the more experienced Rosanna would guide her), she quit without explanation. Ironically, she was the only ID in the whole company who bothered to provide a 3D draft plan. ? **25 Aug: Their initial replacement, Soony, was rude and lazy** I rushed to the unit right after work to show them around, but Soony didn't even bother to read the very detailed brief I had provided. Instead, we went room by room while I reiterated everything already written and spoken to Rosanna about in previous visits. At one point, Soony even showed me a 3D render I had created myself and asked if I wanted a table there — that render was for an entirely different room. I immediately asked Rosanna to either handle the project herself or assign a suitable replacement. ? **9 Sep: Last-minute bait-and-switch on the day of signing** Rosanna and I had continued adjusting quotation items under her name, so I naturally assumed she would be managing the project. On the signing day, she introduced me to Man instead. Based on the positive reviews on their Facebook page for both of them, I decided to overlook this and proceeded. BIG mistake. ? **???: Man never produced a proper 3D plan** Most IDs won't provide a 3D plan until after signing, and being under budget constraints, I went ahead and created a draft myself so all parties could align from the start. I fully expected the ID to recreate an accurate version once payment was made. After paying the initial amounts, there were still no proper plans (3D or even 2D) of the works to be done. There was simply no way to visualize where lighting and other elements would go. Any decent ID would have provided that. ? **21 Sep: Electrical quote recipient doesn't match the business named** When Man quoted for electrical work, he used JDX Electrical Pte Ltd but asked me to pay his personal other venture "Sell Everyting," which isn't even a registered company. I'm fairly certain this isn't standard industry practice, and may even be borderline illegal, but I chose to trust him despite my instincts. ? **21 Sep: Electrical quote was confusing and poorly presented** I asked Man and the electrician to plot out the electrical works based on the quote. What I received were pencil scribblings on an OLD HDB floor plan that didn't even represent my already modified unit. The quote didn't use consistent naming with either the HDB floor plan or my own layout, adding to the confusion. Despite the heavy effort on my end, I pushed through and pointed out the necessary changes, creating a side-by-side diagram with markups on a PDF. ? **22 Sep: Man asked me to confirm quote details for a different address, with one important item missing (window grille) from the original signed quote.** ? **23 Sep: Terrible carpenter sketch that wasn't even accurate** On the day I met the electrician, Man claimed his carpenter was excellent and that the sketch would surpass 3D renderings. When he sent it over, I nearly fell out of my chair. It looked like a secondary school student's drawing. I was so taken aback by how rudimentary it was that I didn't even catch the error until the following day. ? **24 Sep: Asked me to choose a gas stovetop design when it was already established I was going with induction.** ? **24 Sep: The only 3D render Man provided was for the kitchen cabinet, and it was WRONG** After a great deal of prompting, he finally provided one 3D render of the kitchen cabinet. And it was wrong. It didn't even account for my washing machine, despite it being clearly stated from the beginning and visible in my own renders. This is just one of many times I had to flag his mistakes, only for him to brush them aside. Imagine if I hadn't caught it — the item would have been fabricated, and he would have made it my fault. ? **27 Sep: Main quote lists 20ft, but it's actually 10ft top and 10ft bottom** I had mistakenly assumed 20ft meant 20ft of cabinet, but they split it between top and bottom, making it effectively only 10ft per run. Only then did I realise this is why their per-square-foot rate appeared cheaper than other vendors who quoted top and bottom separately. Add to that $600 for low formaldehyde, which many other vendors included at no charge. Man even let slip that he had thrown in the low formaldehyde upgrade for free, not realising I had already paid for it in the quote. ? **16 Oct: Man didn't read the electrical changes properly, resulting in extra charges** Despite me mapping out room by room on an itemised diagram what electrical changes were needed on 21 Sep, Man failed to note them and was now saying double power points would be an extra charge. He also missed a line item where I explicitly asked to move power points in the master room, complete with a diagram showing the relocation. ? **20 Oct: Man attempted handover despite many items being incomplete** When I visited the supposedly finished reno, I was met with large holes in the ceiling and trunking, exposed wires, and many still-incorrect electrical works. Electrical trunking was cobbled together. Switches had visible gaps from the wall. A gaping hole of over 1m left behind from cupboard hacking was somehow not covered, despite me having paid for "make good after hacking" per the quote. ? **21 Oct: The actual cabinet work is extremely shoddy** The insides of the cabinet near the drain pipe were not designed to be accessible by human hands. When I asked why there was wood blocking access to the pipe, Man claimed it was to maximise surface area. But it's raw, unlaminated wood sitting right below a tap and beside a drainage pipe. In the compartment where the tap sits, they measured the hole incorrectly and left behind an ugly square patch. Furthermore, if there were ever any issues with the drain pipe, you'd either have to move the washing machine or cut a hole into the cabinet itself, something that should have been considered in the design but wasn't. Man claimed this was meant to contain odour, but how long can you realistically do that without a complete seal? Imagine pests dying in that cavity with no way to remove them. I haven't even started using my washing machine there, and there's already a stench building up. When I first signed the quote, I had every intention of engaging them again for the remaining works once my finances improved. After seeing the process and final outcome, I consider myself fortunate to have reduced the scope. ? **21 Oct: Data point installed in the wrong position, among other electrical and lighting alignment issues** Rather than fixing it immediately, Man said the electrician was "busy with bigger jobs" and expected me to wait until the following week, even though I had already paid in full. ? **22 Oct: Man essentially made me do his job** He sent a painter to my unit before the agreed time (3 p.m.), then left it entirely to me to identify the many flaws. Whatever I missed, I would have to live with. He didn't bother to show up himself to brief the painter or flag what needed attention. I ended up tidying up after his workers once they left. He only arrived for the handover and discovered the many electrical problems himself during that visit. Yet somehow, not a single apology was offered. ? **22 Oct evening: Power points no longer worked after reno** The kitchen island's power points had been functioning before the renovation but stopped working after floor hacking and laminate application by his team. When I raised it, Man said he couldn't take my word for it and implied there might be a charge to fix it. So on top of failing to deliver on his promises, he was now casting doubt on my account. ? **23 Oct: Arranged to fix their errors, but the electrician didn't even show** He asked me to come to the unit early to meet the electrician at 9:30 a.m. (I haven't moved in yet), but there was radio silence until 10 a.m. I had to follow up just to find out if anyone was coming. I had been extremely accommodating and adjusted my schedule repeatedly to suit their availability, and they couldn't even be bothered to arrive on time or notify me of any delays. Man even offered the lame excuse that the electrician needed to travel to Woodlands to buy a data point cover. ? **23 Oct: He expected me to wait until the following week, until I withheld the last 5%** I had always paid promptly and in full whenever he requested (a big mistake). But this was the final straw. When I said I would withhold the last 5%, Man insisted the electrical and renovation works were separate contracts. Yet when I offered to refund the unpaid electrical works and immediately release the 5% for the reno, he refused, and suddenly I no longer had to wait until next week. That speaks volumes about his character. ? **23 Oct evening: Rescheduled for the same evening, and the electrician still didn't show** He made me return to the site, wasted my entire day, and the electrician was a no-show again. Man had the audacity to say he was also frustrated and had come down. Somehow his thirty minutes there was being equated to my entire day wasted. He also mentioned the electrician was tied up at a bigger corporate job. In their eyes, smaller jobs can simply be deprioritised, especially once payment has been collected. All of this could have been avoided had he read the requirements properly and only proceeded with handover after verifying everything himself, which he clearly had not done. He came very close to being the first person I have ever asked to leave a property, but I genuinely didn't want my new home to begin on that note. ? **25 Oct: Zero apologies for the electrical delays and failures** The new, far more capable electrician who arrived that day immediately identified all the issues left behind by Man's electrician, including a basic bad wiring job that had caused all three ceiling lights to fail (something that could have been resolved had the original electrician even checked his own work). On a side note: I had been trying to help by reaching out to my Taobao merchant, who offered to send replacements. Man told me to just accept them and keep the originals as backups. I refused, because the products themselves were not faulty, and because integrity matters. ? **25 Oct: Man's team is responsible for cutting the wiring to the kitchen island** The new electrician also noted that the concealed wiring to the kitchen island was likely severed during the hacking phase or while the cabinets were being installed. This was the very issue Man wanted to charge me for, saying that if it was a "broken line," I would face an additional cost. It was almost as if he already knew what he would find before looking. The new electrician attempted workarounds, but none succeeded. By the end of the session, it was clear that rewiring the kitchen island would require digging up the flooring again. I doubted Man would do it promptly or at no cost. Frankly at the end of my patience, I told him to drop it. He caused the damage and got paid. I'm the one who has to live with the outcome. --- I'm so absolutely sick of dealing with Man that I paid the last 5% on 23 Oct, fully aware he would settle for whatever minimal standard I allowed him to get away with. The quote includes 60 months of workmanship warranty, but with such poor workmanship from the outset, what is that even worth? I have since hired a different vendor to attempt to fix the many problems they created. In hindsight, I realised that most of the work-in-progress videos sent to me came from his subcontractors. He wasn't even present to supervise the works himself. What good are "freebies" and "discounts" when the fundamental requirements aren't even met? He always speaks as though I'm taking money out of his pocket, without acknowledging that I put up a far larger sum of my own hard-earned savings in the first place. Seriously, who wants to be upset in their own new home? I truly didn't want this new chapter of my life to begin with so much negativity, but I made the mistake of hiring HomBee/BCube/Rosanna/Man. Don't make the same one.