2 years ago, when JMB started to implement the T&G barrier system, few residents angrily said we are all "money face"!!! now i must say, maybe they are right :)
why? because all these while we have been thinking abt MONEY, how to get more money to maintain & improve the facilities in vista condo, and at the same time to cut down unnecessary expenses so to make the finance look better....
in fact, after Najib gave a bombshell of GST announcement & TNB increase the tariff, day & night we are thinking, checking around with residents & vendor, of how to do the "more money in, less money out" stuff, so that our residents do not need to pay more in the Service Charge (SC), but remain as RM100 in this year & hopefully years to come too.
(yesterday read from news portal that, the MP of Komtar YB Ng Wei Aik even predicts that this year most of the apartments will increase their SC in order to cope with the hikes in their expenses, especially TNB bills).
so for the "more money in, less money out", we are planning few projects, and rest assured that we would not compromise the safety even if need to cut cost in certain area...
we have mentioned much on T5 which is in the progress, so not need to repeat again here, but also exploring LED bulb for the car park compound lighting (abt 50 in total), wattage drop from abt 29w to 9w but equal brightness (LUX) according to vendor, the best is the cost of LED bulb is not much different from the conventional one, most likely will go ahead after first phase of T5 project completed.
thanks to the resident who suggested the recycle project, if we do it well, then should have few hundred ringgit extra income per month, now we are talking to few recycling vendors for the price (metal, aluminium, paper, etc), once the term is right & get the suitable location for the recycle the we will announce it to our beloved residents, hope can get all our residents' support to work together to generate more income thru this project so no need to increase SC in the coming years.
we are also checking all the corridors/staircase light timing, even the pumps as well, so that by setting the optima timing for ON/OFF the lighting, pump, etc, will save another few hundred, but we must stress here, we would not compromise the safety of residents just for the sake of money.
in fact another good way of save money is equipments upgrade, for info, after one of blk k lift upgraded, we see the TNB bill for blk k drop few hundred ringgit, so we expect another few hundred ringgit drop after 2nd lift be upgraded, we hope can do the same thing for blk j lift, get gov't fund to upgrade the lifts & harvest the benefits on the TNB bill, but we also plan to talk to the supplier for the lift control system to have minima upgrade (less cost) but big drop in TNB bill in blk j, if the cost is not high, then may want to give it a shot.
other equipment which also in consideration like monitor screen mentioned by KK in last post, pumps, T&G barrier, etc, we are checking with all these vendors to see worth keeping the existing system, or upgrade them to get long term benefits, especially in term of finance....
welcome you guys' suggestion...
thanks.
Friday, January 17, 2014
Friday, January 10, 2014
facilities upgrading projects started....
committee have a regular meeting last Wednesday, after much discussion & consideration, we decide to go ahead with 3 upgrading project which will be mentioned below, but anyway the other 2 projects which have been discussed much in the past got to put on hold at the moment as the cost involved are too high, the 2 projects to be put on hold are gym (need abt 20K to convert the toilet to be gym room, haven't include the equipment yet) & multipurpose half basketball court (also need more than 20k).
the 3 upgrading projects are given a go ahead mainly because of the safety concern, property value & also it's long lasting effect such as cost saving...
1) we will change 150 sets of T5 tube soon, in fact some of the faulty light already been replaced by T5 lights, we expect longer (abt twice) life span of T5 compare to the existing T8 tube, and save 25% to 30% of energy consumption, another reason we replacing the light now is we manage to get the good offer from supplier, Malaysia made T5 with SIRIM certification only cost RM20 per set plus installation, one year warranty, so at the moment we go ahead with 150 set, and expecting ROI (return of investment) in 14 months' time.
For residents' information, the total T8 fluorescent tube we have is abt 400 set, but we would like to repalce it phase by phase so that it won't create too huge burden on the finance.
2) swimming pool grates (drain cover) - this is for the safety of pool users (especially kids) & also for beautification, which may help to boost Vista Condo's property value. Again, we would not change all the grates, but to replemish the missing one, even so, it's abt 200 ft of grates needed, which as now the best price we get from vendor is RM29 with reasonable quality, but as one Vista resident willing to sponsor part of the cost, RM1000 as he promised, so from the management account may just need to contribute less than 4K.
We understand that the pool has became one of the selling point for vista, especially both our neighbors (villa & desa relau 2) are without this pool facility at the moment, so perhaps to beautify it may add a few thousand in Vista's property value :)
3) high resolution camera, our vendor is kind enough to upgrade for Vista for free for 8 of our existing 18 cameras, as an token of appreciation for our long term support for their business for past few years on both CCTV & entrance TnG barrier. These 8 high reso cameras will be placed at main entrance (2x), all the lifts (4x), and lobby of both block (2x), we expect they will complete it this coming week, we also negotiating with them now for the remaining 10 cameras, if they willing to give very good discount (we aim at 40%) then we may want to upgrade it as well, budget should be less than 3k in total.
the main reason for this is safety, as now the crime rate still high, and with the price hike due to increase of petrol, TNB, etc, we don't see in anytime soon the crime cases will drop, and we also ask the guard to be more alert when carrying out their duties, recently we heard some complaints from residents & asked their company to change one of the guard as the person too easily to let outsiders to enter our place, hope that our residents will continue to help us to monitor the performance of vendors.
thanks.
the 3 upgrading projects are given a go ahead mainly because of the safety concern, property value & also it's long lasting effect such as cost saving...
1) we will change 150 sets of T5 tube soon, in fact some of the faulty light already been replaced by T5 lights, we expect longer (abt twice) life span of T5 compare to the existing T8 tube, and save 25% to 30% of energy consumption, another reason we replacing the light now is we manage to get the good offer from supplier, Malaysia made T5 with SIRIM certification only cost RM20 per set plus installation, one year warranty, so at the moment we go ahead with 150 set, and expecting ROI (return of investment) in 14 months' time.
For residents' information, the total T8 fluorescent tube we have is abt 400 set, but we would like to repalce it phase by phase so that it won't create too huge burden on the finance.
2) swimming pool grates (drain cover) - this is for the safety of pool users (especially kids) & also for beautification, which may help to boost Vista Condo's property value. Again, we would not change all the grates, but to replemish the missing one, even so, it's abt 200 ft of grates needed, which as now the best price we get from vendor is RM29 with reasonable quality, but as one Vista resident willing to sponsor part of the cost, RM1000 as he promised, so from the management account may just need to contribute less than 4K.
We understand that the pool has became one of the selling point for vista, especially both our neighbors (villa & desa relau 2) are without this pool facility at the moment, so perhaps to beautify it may add a few thousand in Vista's property value :)
3) high resolution camera, our vendor is kind enough to upgrade for Vista for free for 8 of our existing 18 cameras, as an token of appreciation for our long term support for their business for past few years on both CCTV & entrance TnG barrier. These 8 high reso cameras will be placed at main entrance (2x), all the lifts (4x), and lobby of both block (2x), we expect they will complete it this coming week, we also negotiating with them now for the remaining 10 cameras, if they willing to give very good discount (we aim at 40%) then we may want to upgrade it as well, budget should be less than 3k in total.
the main reason for this is safety, as now the crime rate still high, and with the price hike due to increase of petrol, TNB, etc, we don't see in anytime soon the crime cases will drop, and we also ask the guard to be more alert when carrying out their duties, recently we heard some complaints from residents & asked their company to change one of the guard as the person too easily to let outsiders to enter our place, hope that our residents will continue to help us to monitor the performance of vendors.
thanks.
Friday, January 3, 2014
service charge no increase at the moment
last weeks some committee members attended a residents' gathering at one of the neighboring project, their committee chairman was grateful for our help in the past, there was abt 2 years ago when their developer just sent them a short notice asking them to take over the management, as those days they were inexperience & they approached us to give them some advice, so we went to meet them, gave them some encouragements & recommended few trusted contractors to them, time gone by so fast, and they do so much better than us now, so perhaps we got to learn a few tricks from them :)
in the gathering we also meet friends & contractors from some other nearby apartment projects, so exchanged ideas, experiences & info with them, and to our surprise, some apartments have already increased their service charge (SC), as we know, one from 110 to 130, another one from 100 to 120 (but residents reacted because swimming pool & other facilities have been shut down by developer).
check with them the reasons why increased the SC, the former one said operation cost had gone up so have no choice but to increase it, and as most of their residents are from high income group, so they OK with 130. But for the latter case which increased from 100 to 120, the reason is due to both higher operation cost & poor collection as well, at the moment they still need to deal with their residents over this matter....
so now the question throw to us is, are we going to keep it at 100, or increase it? well, if we can maintain the good collection rate with the cooperative attitude by our beloved residents like what's happening now, and also if our vendors don't increase their service fee, then we should be able to maintain at 100 in year 2014, for this we would like say "thank you" to the Vista Condo residents for have been very cooperative in many areas.
we also feel very fortunate for the rental parking lots built by first batch of JMB, for that facility have been consistently bringing in abt RM1500 to RM2000 income every month, and at the moment we have few plans in mind to cut cost further which can amounting to another abt RM500 per month, hopefully we can think abt some idea to generate extra regular income so that Vista Condo can still keep the SC at 100 even beyond yr2014 :P
hopefully our vendors will be kind enough to maintain the same rate in ry2014 :):):)
in the gathering we also meet friends & contractors from some other nearby apartment projects, so exchanged ideas, experiences & info with them, and to our surprise, some apartments have already increased their service charge (SC), as we know, one from 110 to 130, another one from 100 to 120 (but residents reacted because swimming pool & other facilities have been shut down by developer).
check with them the reasons why increased the SC, the former one said operation cost had gone up so have no choice but to increase it, and as most of their residents are from high income group, so they OK with 130. But for the latter case which increased from 100 to 120, the reason is due to both higher operation cost & poor collection as well, at the moment they still need to deal with their residents over this matter....
so now the question throw to us is, are we going to keep it at 100, or increase it? well, if we can maintain the good collection rate with the cooperative attitude by our beloved residents like what's happening now, and also if our vendors don't increase their service fee, then we should be able to maintain at 100 in year 2014, for this we would like say "thank you" to the Vista Condo residents for have been very cooperative in many areas.
we also feel very fortunate for the rental parking lots built by first batch of JMB, for that facility have been consistently bringing in abt RM1500 to RM2000 income every month, and at the moment we have few plans in mind to cut cost further which can amounting to another abt RM500 per month, hopefully we can think abt some idea to generate extra regular income so that Vista Condo can still keep the SC at 100 even beyond yr2014 :P
hopefully our vendors will be kind enough to maintain the same rate in ry2014 :):):)
Friday, December 27, 2013
updates as at 28/12/13
some updates as follows,
1) lift update, we suppose to get the vendor to do it right after Deepavali, but then he was engaged himself with a big project in Relau and after he has solved it, he found himself need to settle another breakdown lift case, by the time he get himself available for upgrading our lift last week, he told him to put on hold until after Chinese New Year, as the upgrade will take abt 1 month according to his estimation, but to play safe, we better do it after CNY because we worry that if he can't get it done within a month, then residents will need to climb staircase during the festival season shall another lift also down.
2) IWK pipeline issue, we still in the tug of war with our neighbor Villa Condo concerning this matter, understand that their side again called in the reporters to tell of their version of story, but we did explain to the concerned authorities that we want to make sure that the contractor (recommended by IWK & SPAN) can convince us with the right solution or else we don't not want just waste our money into the their guessing job. For residents' info, few contractors came & gave different views on the matters, one said pipeline collapsed at our side then repair cost will be abt 19K (shared by both side), another one said unlikely pipeline collapsed but major clog at the joint area (with villa pipe), need to use very powerful jet to clear it, cost abt 14K, but our stand is Villa Condo should take care of their own waste, they must find way to channel their waste into their existing IWK outlet without flowing through our pipe, or else in the future the problem will be keep repeating, ie once clogged both sides will be pointing finger to each other, so now we are still waiting for the right solution on the matter.
3) facility upgrade, glad to inform our beloved residents that God has blessed vista condo in the financial area, so now we are in the good position of either to upgrade an existing facility or add one new facility in first quarter of 2014, budget in between 10k to 15k, at the moment we have those projects in mind, such as gym room, basketball/badminton multipurpose court, kids playground, so we are now gathering more info, proposal & quotations from vendors & will present it to residents in AGM or EGM for our residents to decide which project they want, we will send out the notice once info ready, meanwhile if you have any suggestion (besides the above mentioned items) pls feel free to write to us.
thanks.
1) lift update, we suppose to get the vendor to do it right after Deepavali, but then he was engaged himself with a big project in Relau and after he has solved it, he found himself need to settle another breakdown lift case, by the time he get himself available for upgrading our lift last week, he told him to put on hold until after Chinese New Year, as the upgrade will take abt 1 month according to his estimation, but to play safe, we better do it after CNY because we worry that if he can't get it done within a month, then residents will need to climb staircase during the festival season shall another lift also down.
2) IWK pipeline issue, we still in the tug of war with our neighbor Villa Condo concerning this matter, understand that their side again called in the reporters to tell of their version of story, but we did explain to the concerned authorities that we want to make sure that the contractor (recommended by IWK & SPAN) can convince us with the right solution or else we don't not want just waste our money into the their guessing job. For residents' info, few contractors came & gave different views on the matters, one said pipeline collapsed at our side then repair cost will be abt 19K (shared by both side), another one said unlikely pipeline collapsed but major clog at the joint area (with villa pipe), need to use very powerful jet to clear it, cost abt 14K, but our stand is Villa Condo should take care of their own waste, they must find way to channel their waste into their existing IWK outlet without flowing through our pipe, or else in the future the problem will be keep repeating, ie once clogged both sides will be pointing finger to each other, so now we are still waiting for the right solution on the matter.
3) facility upgrade, glad to inform our beloved residents that God has blessed vista condo in the financial area, so now we are in the good position of either to upgrade an existing facility or add one new facility in first quarter of 2014, budget in between 10k to 15k, at the moment we have those projects in mind, such as gym room, basketball/badminton multipurpose court, kids playground, so we are now gathering more info, proposal & quotations from vendors & will present it to residents in AGM or EGM for our residents to decide which project they want, we will send out the notice once info ready, meanwhile if you have any suggestion (besides the above mentioned items) pls feel free to write to us.
thanks.
Saturday, December 21, 2013
some good news for future MC :)
there's some little good news for the future MC....
last week we received news from YB yeoh that our request for RM20,000 for water tank lining replacement has been endorsed by him, and he needs us to present the copy of the quotation with the letter to state EXCO office personally, for which we made a trip there on the following day....
well, to heard abt this approval is actually a great news for us, but then the greater one awaits us in EXCO office...
we heard from EXCO's assistant that this deal will be on the 80-20% arrangement, which means MC will pay 20% and 80% will be absorbed by state gov't, and he further explained that it's for low medium cost apartments.
see the significant here? this time they themselves classified us as LMC (low medium cost) apartments without us insist on it (still remember earlier on when we applied fund for blk k lift upgrade, we got to show them many document to convince them that we are LMC), have been recognized LMC really makes future jobs of applying fund for big project a lot easier :):):)
we further heard from him that we are qualified to apply fund as LMC for the lift upgrade (or new one), water tank replacement, new loof, etc, except building repainting which is only for the gov't built apartments & flats.
wow! we feel so happy when leaving the EXCO office, the path for future fund application has been made wider & straighter, especially for those important equipment like lifts & water tanks, which also posting problem for other apartments as well, now we feel assured that shall vista condo need big money for these equipment in the future, there's one channel we always can approach to get help with the status of LMC.
thank God for His help on this :)
last week we received news from YB yeoh that our request for RM20,000 for water tank lining replacement has been endorsed by him, and he needs us to present the copy of the quotation with the letter to state EXCO office personally, for which we made a trip there on the following day....
well, to heard abt this approval is actually a great news for us, but then the greater one awaits us in EXCO office...
we heard from EXCO's assistant that this deal will be on the 80-20% arrangement, which means MC will pay 20% and 80% will be absorbed by state gov't, and he further explained that it's for low medium cost apartments.
see the significant here? this time they themselves classified us as LMC (low medium cost) apartments without us insist on it (still remember earlier on when we applied fund for blk k lift upgrade, we got to show them many document to convince them that we are LMC), have been recognized LMC really makes future jobs of applying fund for big project a lot easier :):):)
we further heard from him that we are qualified to apply fund as LMC for the lift upgrade (or new one), water tank replacement, new loof, etc, except building repainting which is only for the gov't built apartments & flats.
wow! we feel so happy when leaving the EXCO office, the path for future fund application has been made wider & straighter, especially for those important equipment like lifts & water tanks, which also posting problem for other apartments as well, now we feel assured that shall vista condo need big money for these equipment in the future, there's one channel we always can approach to get help with the status of LMC.
thank God for His help on this :)
Friday, December 13, 2013
another shot on sinking fund...?
so, monday we are going to meet the COB, again, for our sinking fund....
RM400k, we always believe that, through God's help, will eventually return to it's rightful owner, the residents of Vista Condo, the question is, when....?
it's truly like a Marathon race, without patience we can't continue race, but then in Marathon race, the runners do know where is the finish line & they know roughly when can hit the finish as long they continue to run, but in our sinking fund Marathon, we really have no idea when can hit the finish line even though we continue the race :(
but then compare to another few projects, our neighbors who also under the same developer, we are much ahead of them, as we have formed MC & won the court case, but for these 2 projects, their sinking fund are much more than ours, we believe both also amounting to abt million.
(to make the matters worst, now both of these 2 mentioned projects, they also can't continue to use the swimming pools, as the developer refused them for the access, really too much lah!)
so, monday, we can't tell what will be the outcome of the meeting, but we pray & hope that there will be a breakthrough in our pursue of the sinking fund, even though in the past few meeting the developer have failed us....
we will continue to run the race, finish it as soon as we can, for indeed we have tried many ways, we have negotiated with them, took legal action against them, plead to them, getting authority & dept in charge to talk to them....., even though don't see the money yet, but as long as we are still serving in the MC, we will not give up!
God, please help us to win this battle.
RM400k, we always believe that, through God's help, will eventually return to it's rightful owner, the residents of Vista Condo, the question is, when....?
it's truly like a Marathon race, without patience we can't continue race, but then in Marathon race, the runners do know where is the finish line & they know roughly when can hit the finish as long they continue to run, but in our sinking fund Marathon, we really have no idea when can hit the finish line even though we continue the race :(
but then compare to another few projects, our neighbors who also under the same developer, we are much ahead of them, as we have formed MC & won the court case, but for these 2 projects, their sinking fund are much more than ours, we believe both also amounting to abt million.
(to make the matters worst, now both of these 2 mentioned projects, they also can't continue to use the swimming pools, as the developer refused them for the access, really too much lah!)
so, monday, we can't tell what will be the outcome of the meeting, but we pray & hope that there will be a breakthrough in our pursue of the sinking fund, even though in the past few meeting the developer have failed us....
we will continue to run the race, finish it as soon as we can, for indeed we have tried many ways, we have negotiated with them, took legal action against them, plead to them, getting authority & dept in charge to talk to them....., even though don't see the money yet, but as long as we are still serving in the MC, we will not give up!
God, please help us to win this battle.
Saturday, December 7, 2013
IWK / Sinking Fund / Cost Saving
few more matters for our beloved residents information,
sinking fund - we have just received a letter from COB to ask us to attend a meeting on 16/12/13 together with developer & their management agent in Komtar for the sinking fund matter, we hope to see a breakthrough in the meeting, but also dare not to carry too much hope, worry that as expect much, then may get disappointed much too....:(
at the moment we still in the tug of war with developer concerning the sinking fund, as we have obtained the court order that the developer should transfer the fund to us, but then as on of their creditor have appointed a receiver to handle their case, a complication developer, so now we still consulting few more lawyer for the case, but we are not giving up yet, everyday still praying, hoping & trying every available to recover back the money for our residents.
IWK piping problem - we were told by some Chinese speaking residents that the local Chinese newspaper reported today concerning the IWK pipe clogging in our place has caused some units in Villa condo can't flush well their toilet & they need to bear with the stinky smell all the time. well, it seems the blaming game continue, ie they blame our side clog & we blame their ppl have caused the clog since the joint section is mainly serving them.
few days ago they did get some IWK technicians & MPPP ppl to inspect our manhole & concluded that the clogging is due to pipeline collapsed at our car park area, for this has caused the clog at the joint section & one of our manhole at blk j, they even proposed to bear half of the repair cost. our stand in this matter is if the cost is not too high, then we can agree to go ahead, but if it's too high then should get YB to help, because in the past we have cleared the joint section few times without charging them, as we understand that their finance are always not in good shape, so we have exercised good neighborhood spirit by clearing the clogging without asking them to share the cost, but if the figure is too high then we should not continue to help them to carry the burden. so now we have asked our management boss to approach YB for help, let's see how it goes.
T5 - we have received more good reports concerning the T5 to replace the existing T8 fluorescent tube, most of the electricians said can save in between 20% to 50%, well, the only thing now is to negotiate the price of T5 tube with it's casing, best offer now is RM30 including labor charge for replacing the old tube but we hope can get cheaper than that, but we do ask our electrician to only replace the reported faulty T8 tube with T5 tube, at the moment we would not change all the T8 in one shot unless we manage to get lower than RM25, which can see the ROI (return of investment) in much shorter period of time.
thanks.
sinking fund - we have just received a letter from COB to ask us to attend a meeting on 16/12/13 together with developer & their management agent in Komtar for the sinking fund matter, we hope to see a breakthrough in the meeting, but also dare not to carry too much hope, worry that as expect much, then may get disappointed much too....:(
at the moment we still in the tug of war with developer concerning the sinking fund, as we have obtained the court order that the developer should transfer the fund to us, but then as on of their creditor have appointed a receiver to handle their case, a complication developer, so now we still consulting few more lawyer for the case, but we are not giving up yet, everyday still praying, hoping & trying every available to recover back the money for our residents.
IWK piping problem - we were told by some Chinese speaking residents that the local Chinese newspaper reported today concerning the IWK pipe clogging in our place has caused some units in Villa condo can't flush well their toilet & they need to bear with the stinky smell all the time. well, it seems the blaming game continue, ie they blame our side clog & we blame their ppl have caused the clog since the joint section is mainly serving them.
few days ago they did get some IWK technicians & MPPP ppl to inspect our manhole & concluded that the clogging is due to pipeline collapsed at our car park area, for this has caused the clog at the joint section & one of our manhole at blk j, they even proposed to bear half of the repair cost. our stand in this matter is if the cost is not too high, then we can agree to go ahead, but if it's too high then should get YB to help, because in the past we have cleared the joint section few times without charging them, as we understand that their finance are always not in good shape, so we have exercised good neighborhood spirit by clearing the clogging without asking them to share the cost, but if the figure is too high then we should not continue to help them to carry the burden. so now we have asked our management boss to approach YB for help, let's see how it goes.
T5 - we have received more good reports concerning the T5 to replace the existing T8 fluorescent tube, most of the electricians said can save in between 20% to 50%, well, the only thing now is to negotiate the price of T5 tube with it's casing, best offer now is RM30 including labor charge for replacing the old tube but we hope can get cheaper than that, but we do ask our electrician to only replace the reported faulty T8 tube with T5 tube, at the moment we would not change all the T8 in one shot unless we manage to get lower than RM25, which can see the ROI (return of investment) in much shorter period of time.
thanks.
Friday, November 29, 2013
updates as at 30/11/13
few matters would like to update our beloved residents,
lift upgrade,
the works for the blk k 2nd lift upgrade suppose to be started last week, but the same vendor who did the job for the first lift was stuck with another project with one of apartment nearby, he did inform us that next week he should be able to do for the blk k lift, once we get his confirmation then we will put up the notice to inform our blk k residents concerning this.
we are quite concern abt the length of time needed for the 2nd lift upgrade, for which he has told us should take less than a month since he has covered many area (especially wiring & panel for the lift calling button) during the first lift upgrade, we pray hard & hope that it will take much shorter time for the 2nd lift upgrade.
saving cost,
concerning the saving cost, especially on the common lighting, namely corridor lights, staircase lights, car park area lights, swimming pool lights...., etc, we always waiting for the right time to change & right kind of lights to be used in order to save money for our place, well at the moment the electricity cost for supporting all these mentioned light is in between 2k to 3k per month, we are aiming to cut down half of the electric cost per month....
earlier on we heard abt the LED light, but to switch to LED light will involve too much cost, basically not just change the light but the casing too, another problem of the LED light is it can be stolen because it's consider expensive at the moment. We are now considering the 4ft T5 light, which can save up to 40% of current, cheaper than LED (abt RM35 per tube compare to RM8 on the fluorescent tube), another nice thing abt this option is we don't need to replace the existing casing but just to bypass the wire at it's ballast.
now still waiting for further confirmation on how much the T5 can save cost & it's durability, if it's true can save cost & also can last long, then we should go ahead with it, but we can't afford to change all the common lights at one shot, perhaps phase by phase, or wait until the existing one has spoiled then replace with T5 tube.
welcome feedback on this. Thanks.
lift upgrade,
the works for the blk k 2nd lift upgrade suppose to be started last week, but the same vendor who did the job for the first lift was stuck with another project with one of apartment nearby, he did inform us that next week he should be able to do for the blk k lift, once we get his confirmation then we will put up the notice to inform our blk k residents concerning this.
we are quite concern abt the length of time needed for the 2nd lift upgrade, for which he has told us should take less than a month since he has covered many area (especially wiring & panel for the lift calling button) during the first lift upgrade, we pray hard & hope that it will take much shorter time for the 2nd lift upgrade.
saving cost,
concerning the saving cost, especially on the common lighting, namely corridor lights, staircase lights, car park area lights, swimming pool lights...., etc, we always waiting for the right time to change & right kind of lights to be used in order to save money for our place, well at the moment the electricity cost for supporting all these mentioned light is in between 2k to 3k per month, we are aiming to cut down half of the electric cost per month....
earlier on we heard abt the LED light, but to switch to LED light will involve too much cost, basically not just change the light but the casing too, another problem of the LED light is it can be stolen because it's consider expensive at the moment. We are now considering the 4ft T5 light, which can save up to 40% of current, cheaper than LED (abt RM35 per tube compare to RM8 on the fluorescent tube), another nice thing abt this option is we don't need to replace the existing casing but just to bypass the wire at it's ballast.
now still waiting for further confirmation on how much the T5 can save cost & it's durability, if it's true can save cost & also can last long, then we should go ahead with it, but we can't afford to change all the common lights at one shot, perhaps phase by phase, or wait until the existing one has spoiled then replace with T5 tube.
welcome feedback on this. Thanks.
Sunday, November 24, 2013
no posting this week, resume next week :)
hi,
take a break this week, school holiday, bring kids go jalan jalan :)
like to wish all vista folks happy school holidays, if you are traveling outstation with family for the holidays program, berhati-hati di jalanraya.
regards.
take a break this week, school holiday, bring kids go jalan jalan :)
like to wish all vista folks happy school holidays, if you are traveling outstation with family for the holidays program, berhati-hati di jalanraya.
regards.
Friday, November 15, 2013
tough financial challenge ahead
Najib announced the infamous GST last week, it will definitely hit us very hard once it implement in yr2015, imagine by then almost all the vendors will impose us 6% of service tax, even the replacement parts also will be facing increase of price due to tax on the goods, such as lift parts, electrical components, even pipes & gutter, etc, how are we going to cope with this?
few days ago the latest bad news, electricity bill seems can't avoid the increase too, even though haven't finalize the new rate, but it have been saying the increase is in between 8% and 20%, alamak....!!!!
some may say, hi, not to worry, after all it will only happen in yr2015, and now not even yr2014. bear in mind that another one month then we will be knocking at yr2014's door, by then all can see the GST is not too far already :(:(:(
at the moment our income still can manage to cover all the necessary expenses, even got surplus to replace some of the old parts before it give way & cause danger to our residents, but then once the above mentioned increase of cost hit us, the income will definitely can't cope with expenses, let's do the quick estimation, total income is 25000 (85% prompt payment by good master & car park rental), but expenses will be (TNB 8000, management 3400, guard 4200, lift service 1500, electrical service 550, pool 870, pest control 320, water 800, barrier/cctv service 300, firefighting 200, parts replacement 4000), which means only got abt 1000 for contingency use but no saving, it's not good....
we would not like to suggest increase of maintenance service charge because residents will face the tougher financial difficulties as they too need to cope with their own cost increment due to GST, but, how ah?
we must think of ways now to create long term regular income for our management fund without increase the service charge, anyone have innovative idea to share with us?
thanks.
few days ago the latest bad news, electricity bill seems can't avoid the increase too, even though haven't finalize the new rate, but it have been saying the increase is in between 8% and 20%, alamak....!!!!
some may say, hi, not to worry, after all it will only happen in yr2015, and now not even yr2014. bear in mind that another one month then we will be knocking at yr2014's door, by then all can see the GST is not too far already :(:(:(
at the moment our income still can manage to cover all the necessary expenses, even got surplus to replace some of the old parts before it give way & cause danger to our residents, but then once the above mentioned increase of cost hit us, the income will definitely can't cope with expenses, let's do the quick estimation, total income is 25000 (85% prompt payment by good master & car park rental), but expenses will be (TNB 8000, management 3400, guard 4200, lift service 1500, electrical service 550, pool 870, pest control 320, water 800, barrier/cctv service 300, firefighting 200, parts replacement 4000), which means only got abt 1000 for contingency use but no saving, it's not good....
we would not like to suggest increase of maintenance service charge because residents will face the tougher financial difficulties as they too need to cope with their own cost increment due to GST, but, how ah?
we must think of ways now to create long term regular income for our management fund without increase the service charge, anyone have innovative idea to share with us?
thanks.
Saturday, November 9, 2013
guard got bad harassment last week
past few days we have been busy talking to the guard boss abt one of his guard who was harassed badly on last Sunday, not by our resident but a lorry driver.
it was on Sunday morning, a lorry was sent in to move some of the stuff from one of the blk j unit, it was called by a resident who was moving out from Vista Condo, and the guard actually trying his best to make sure all will take place smoothly.
but later on he found out the lorry was parked at the middle of the blk j car park area, and blocking all the traffic, so he did his job by approaching the driver to move his lorry to the appropriate place so that other cars can pass.
somehow the conversation turned sour, some strong words have been used & exchanged during the argument, and in the height of the heat, some form of "physical contact" occurred & threatening as well....
the guard boss viewed this matter seriously, on the same day his ppl (manager, supervisor, etc) came in to investigate, have found the unit owner's particular and started searching the lorry driver's identity, well, trust that police report was made too.
after few days' searching effort, lastly they manage to contact the unit owner & set up the appointment to meet in the guard house to sort out the matter, we do not know how's the detail of the solution in between these 2 parties, but what we want is the guard management must give enough back up & support to their guards in Vista to carry out their duties, and for this case we do see some good initiative taken by their boss to protect his guard.
but, for the night guard, we have made request for him to be replaced, as he is too easily letting ppl without card (and outsiders too) to come in, this request should be granted a go-ahead in few days' time.
security is an important matter, we can't afford to take it lightly.....
thanks.
it was on Sunday morning, a lorry was sent in to move some of the stuff from one of the blk j unit, it was called by a resident who was moving out from Vista Condo, and the guard actually trying his best to make sure all will take place smoothly.
but later on he found out the lorry was parked at the middle of the blk j car park area, and blocking all the traffic, so he did his job by approaching the driver to move his lorry to the appropriate place so that other cars can pass.
somehow the conversation turned sour, some strong words have been used & exchanged during the argument, and in the height of the heat, some form of "physical contact" occurred & threatening as well....
the guard boss viewed this matter seriously, on the same day his ppl (manager, supervisor, etc) came in to investigate, have found the unit owner's particular and started searching the lorry driver's identity, well, trust that police report was made too.
after few days' searching effort, lastly they manage to contact the unit owner & set up the appointment to meet in the guard house to sort out the matter, we do not know how's the detail of the solution in between these 2 parties, but what we want is the guard management must give enough back up & support to their guards in Vista to carry out their duties, and for this case we do see some good initiative taken by their boss to protect his guard.
but, for the night guard, we have made request for him to be replaced, as he is too easily letting ppl without card (and outsiders too) to come in, this request should be granted a go-ahead in few days' time.
security is an important matter, we can't afford to take it lightly.....
thanks.
Saturday, November 2, 2013
General updates as at 3/11/13
few matters would like to update our beloved residents,
1) abt the T&G for the lift, yes it still need to be decided by residents at AGM or EGM (which will be called after both lift get upgraded), so far what we did just gather opinion through various channel, this blog is one of them, we also check with residents personally for this matter, the feedback we got are mixture, almost 50-50, even among the committee members also the same :)
2) underground main pipe leakage at blk j, sad to inform our residents that since few again we found there's water sipping out from one of the main pipe (concealed underground) at blk j, outside the pipe room, facing swimming pool, and the situation got worse each day, then few days ago it become so serious so we decided to give few vendor a calls & check with them proposal/quotation & even payment term if go ahead with replacement, lastly get the best proposal from one of them (blk j contractor's contact), and now replacing the pipe, abt 5.5K, payment 1k per month, few painful because need to spend money again.. :(
3) another bad news is 2 weeks ago a blk j rain spout fell on the ground at end of blk j, facing the hindu temple, this is something we didn't expect, because this spout is one we consider least risky compare to other spouts, especially those spouts we didn't manage tighten the clips due to some residents had refused to let the vendor to use their balcony to tighten the clip which near their unit, but for this spout, as it just next to the common stair case, the vendor has in the past tighten the loosen clip, but still fell :( anyway we didn't suffer much financial loss as this under insurance coverage, so now we have asked the vendor to check all the rain spout & to carry out the necessary repair action.
4) Indah Water (IWK) dispute with our neighbor Villa Condo committee, as some of the residents may know, the Villa Condo has been using our IWK main pipe to channel their last 2 blocks' waste into the IWK main pipe, through the join pipe in between Vista Villa condo. And recently this join pipe has clogged but they insist the fault is ours, which we thought it's not because the join only serve the Villa Condo. For we have contacted & talked relevant authority (IWK & water...) & decided to ask the lawyer to send them a notice to ask them to find their own way to channel out their waste, and should not use our pipe as Vista and Vista are different project, and we also asked them to set up their own TV broadcast system due to same reason, for info they have been tapping into our TV system all these years but due to good neighbor spirit we just support them, but since their committee blaming us for the problem of IWK (for which we also have supporting them for years!) then we thought since they are not grateful, no point we continue to extend our support.... :(
thanks.
1) abt the T&G for the lift, yes it still need to be decided by residents at AGM or EGM (which will be called after both lift get upgraded), so far what we did just gather opinion through various channel, this blog is one of them, we also check with residents personally for this matter, the feedback we got are mixture, almost 50-50, even among the committee members also the same :)
2) underground main pipe leakage at blk j, sad to inform our residents that since few again we found there's water sipping out from one of the main pipe (concealed underground) at blk j, outside the pipe room, facing swimming pool, and the situation got worse each day, then few days ago it become so serious so we decided to give few vendor a calls & check with them proposal/quotation & even payment term if go ahead with replacement, lastly get the best proposal from one of them (blk j contractor's contact), and now replacing the pipe, abt 5.5K, payment 1k per month, few painful because need to spend money again.. :(
3) another bad news is 2 weeks ago a blk j rain spout fell on the ground at end of blk j, facing the hindu temple, this is something we didn't expect, because this spout is one we consider least risky compare to other spouts, especially those spouts we didn't manage tighten the clips due to some residents had refused to let the vendor to use their balcony to tighten the clip which near their unit, but for this spout, as it just next to the common stair case, the vendor has in the past tighten the loosen clip, but still fell :( anyway we didn't suffer much financial loss as this under insurance coverage, so now we have asked the vendor to check all the rain spout & to carry out the necessary repair action.
4) Indah Water (IWK) dispute with our neighbor Villa Condo committee, as some of the residents may know, the Villa Condo has been using our IWK main pipe to channel their last 2 blocks' waste into the IWK main pipe, through the join pipe in between Vista Villa condo. And recently this join pipe has clogged but they insist the fault is ours, which we thought it's not because the join only serve the Villa Condo. For we have contacted & talked relevant authority (IWK & water...) & decided to ask the lawyer to send them a notice to ask them to find their own way to channel out their waste, and should not use our pipe as Vista and Vista are different project, and we also asked them to set up their own TV broadcast system due to same reason, for info they have been tapping into our TV system all these years but due to good neighbor spirit we just support them, but since their committee blaming us for the problem of IWK (for which we also have supporting them for years!) then we thought since they are not grateful, no point we continue to extend our support.... :(
thanks.
Friday, October 25, 2013
T&G system for lift...again checking
so the upgraded lift is abt to complete the 2nd week operation, thank God, so far so good.
few nights ago, while MC having their regular meeting at the foyer, few residents stopped by, give some suggestion on various matters, we are thankful for their initiative & keenness to see improvement here in this place, and during the conversation, they strongly recommended T&G system for the lift....
well, for this matter, we did check with residents at this blog some time ago, and surprisingly most of the residents who commented, actually not really in favour of installing the T&G system inside the lift, reasons cited included inconvenient, got to pay extra for the card, then if card missing got to pay again, also other reasons like if going out from the house & forget to bring the card the got to climb stair, etc...
and another reason we didn't pursue the idea is those days both blk k lift were in bad shape, we ourselves also have no confident to install the T&G system, worry that it will bring more difficulty to blk k residents.
but lately we heard some residents asking us if T&G will be installed in upgraded lift, in fact some of them do urge us to install as they saw few nearby apartment also got this system in the lifts, of course the selling points are security in Vista Condo will be improved, it will also helps in the service charge collection, perhaps it will help to increase Vista Condo property value as well :)
so, what do u guys think?
thanks.
few nights ago, while MC having their regular meeting at the foyer, few residents stopped by, give some suggestion on various matters, we are thankful for their initiative & keenness to see improvement here in this place, and during the conversation, they strongly recommended T&G system for the lift....
well, for this matter, we did check with residents at this blog some time ago, and surprisingly most of the residents who commented, actually not really in favour of installing the T&G system inside the lift, reasons cited included inconvenient, got to pay extra for the card, then if card missing got to pay again, also other reasons like if going out from the house & forget to bring the card the got to climb stair, etc...
and another reason we didn't pursue the idea is those days both blk k lift were in bad shape, we ourselves also have no confident to install the T&G system, worry that it will bring more difficulty to blk k residents.
but lately we heard some residents asking us if T&G will be installed in upgraded lift, in fact some of them do urge us to install as they saw few nearby apartment also got this system in the lifts, of course the selling points are security in Vista Condo will be improved, it will also helps in the service charge collection, perhaps it will help to increase Vista Condo property value as well :)
so, what do u guys think?
thanks.
Friday, October 18, 2013
upgraded lift running, and under monitoring
the upgraded lift of blk k started the full operation last Saturday afternoon, except on the same night due to some technical issue which halted the operation but resumed on next day, so far it's ok, so which it has been running for one week already.
we are still monitoring the performance of this lift, of course as we always carefully telling our residents that it's upgraded lift but not completely new one, we should not expect it run as smooth as new lift, but then compare to other 3 lifts of Vista Condo, we should feel the different, quieter & smoother.
we are not in the hurry to start the 2nd lift upgrade, mainly because we want to make sure this upgraded unit is stable & reliable enough to carry out it's duty when we shut down another lift later, another reason is at the beginning of November there's a holiday week, Deepavali & Awal Muharram, we have received request that have both lift running because some blk k residents their relatives & friends will be visiting them during these holidays.
so tentatively we set time for 2nd lift upgrade at the week after these holidays, and we do expect the 2nd upgrade will take much shorter than the 1st upgrade, reasonable time frame should be 3 to 4 weeks.
so now our prayer to God is this upgraded lift will continue to perform well, and later on when we do the 2nd lift upgrade, it won't take more than 1 month..... :)
thanks.
we are still monitoring the performance of this lift, of course as we always carefully telling our residents that it's upgraded lift but not completely new one, we should not expect it run as smooth as new lift, but then compare to other 3 lifts of Vista Condo, we should feel the different, quieter & smoother.
we are not in the hurry to start the 2nd lift upgrade, mainly because we want to make sure this upgraded unit is stable & reliable enough to carry out it's duty when we shut down another lift later, another reason is at the beginning of November there's a holiday week, Deepavali & Awal Muharram, we have received request that have both lift running because some blk k residents their relatives & friends will be visiting them during these holidays.
so tentatively we set time for 2nd lift upgrade at the week after these holidays, and we do expect the 2nd upgrade will take much shorter than the 1st upgrade, reasonable time frame should be 3 to 4 weeks.
so now our prayer to God is this upgraded lift will continue to perform well, and later on when we do the 2nd lift upgrade, it won't take more than 1 month..... :)
thanks.
Friday, October 11, 2013
so close, yet so far away.....
another week :(
our patience is running very thin now, how long should we wait some more?
now new doors are up, formica also done, door safety sensor also fixed, but why the lift is not running? we also ask the same question.
yesterday chased them again, they left our place at abt 7.30pm, explained to us it took very long time to install full height sensor, reason for lengthy time taken because need to hack door/wall & others, so now full sensor installed, one thing left is to put new floor, then lift can run on Monday as they plan for new floor to be done on same day.
we told the vendor no point to wait until Monday, if they plan to do new floor on Monday, and they must up the lift on Saturday & Sunday for residents to use first, then on Monday when our residents go to work or school, only they should shut it down (1 lift) to do new floor, because we feel that if we don't run the lift but just wait for the new floor, then it's waste of time.
now Malaysia time 12.45pm Saturday noon, 2 senior lift guys are there doing the lift job, our message to them is clear, pls up the lift today.
well, just feel important to mention here too, we do check with them concerning the safety, yes it's safe to run the lift now.
calling them almost every 2 hours to monitor....
our patience is running very thin now, how long should we wait some more?
now new doors are up, formica also done, door safety sensor also fixed, but why the lift is not running? we also ask the same question.
yesterday chased them again, they left our place at abt 7.30pm, explained to us it took very long time to install full height sensor, reason for lengthy time taken because need to hack door/wall & others, so now full sensor installed, one thing left is to put new floor, then lift can run on Monday as they plan for new floor to be done on same day.
we told the vendor no point to wait until Monday, if they plan to do new floor on Monday, and they must up the lift on Saturday & Sunday for residents to use first, then on Monday when our residents go to work or school, only they should shut it down (1 lift) to do new floor, because we feel that if we don't run the lift but just wait for the new floor, then it's waste of time.
now Malaysia time 12.45pm Saturday noon, 2 senior lift guys are there doing the lift job, our message to them is clear, pls up the lift today.
well, just feel important to mention here too, we do check with them concerning the safety, yes it's safe to run the lift now.
calling them almost every 2 hours to monitor....
Friday, October 4, 2013
on the repainting of buildings....
after 1 week of urging, confronting, chasing, making a lot of of noise to the lift vendor to quickly settle the new door, wall formica & flooring for the blk k lift, we still didn't see it completed even until today, besides impatient, also a lot of frustration, we know that it's at the end of tunnel but it doesn't seem arrived already, now we fix the target date at next Monday or Tuesday, hope to see the lift running then.
but while we are angry & upset abt the slow process, we are also thankful for at least it's making progress although it's so slow, it's so torturing, reason being, last week we received a phone call from a supervisor of one apartment project in Penang Island, asking us how to take back the 20% of the deposit money (which they deposited in the government treasury dept) for the lift upgrade project because they want to scrap this project, after giving the contact person in the EXCO for them to pursue the money, we also found out there's some issue in their project with some vendor & until now didn't even start work & their project was approved abt the same like ours, so now as we are not too happy with the pace with our vendor, we also feel fortunate for at least it's still on the right track.
in last posting we saw a comment of a potential buyer of vista unit abt when to repaint our building, honestly we have no answer on this question but trying now to work out a solution or formula to repaint our building. For info, sinking fund still stagnant as we are now seeking EXCO & senior lawyer's help on how to make use of the court order (that the developer should release the fund of amounting to nearly 400K to our residents) to recover the money, and we also have visited the state gov't office for the gov't fund (same as lift, 80% by gov't, 20% by residents) but first attempt was rejected, we were told by them that the fund is only for low cost & gov't owned apartments... :(
but anyway, we have asked contractor to view our building & give us quotation to repaint the external wall, ie not including the wall facing the corridor of every floor, in another word, only paint those walls which can be seen from outside, now still waiting for their quotations. Our another restriction is we can only pay them in installment, perhaps first payment can be 20K, but then the subsequent ones will be maybe 4k per month, so this will take up to 2 or 3 years to pay up, hopefully we will be able to find contractor who is kind enough to agree on this, do u guys got anyone can recommend?
thanks......
but while we are angry & upset abt the slow process, we are also thankful for at least it's making progress although it's so slow, it's so torturing, reason being, last week we received a phone call from a supervisor of one apartment project in Penang Island, asking us how to take back the 20% of the deposit money (which they deposited in the government treasury dept) for the lift upgrade project because they want to scrap this project, after giving the contact person in the EXCO for them to pursue the money, we also found out there's some issue in their project with some vendor & until now didn't even start work & their project was approved abt the same like ours, so now as we are not too happy with the pace with our vendor, we also feel fortunate for at least it's still on the right track.
in last posting we saw a comment of a potential buyer of vista unit abt when to repaint our building, honestly we have no answer on this question but trying now to work out a solution or formula to repaint our building. For info, sinking fund still stagnant as we are now seeking EXCO & senior lawyer's help on how to make use of the court order (that the developer should release the fund of amounting to nearly 400K to our residents) to recover the money, and we also have visited the state gov't office for the gov't fund (same as lift, 80% by gov't, 20% by residents) but first attempt was rejected, we were told by them that the fund is only for low cost & gov't owned apartments... :(
but anyway, we have asked contractor to view our building & give us quotation to repaint the external wall, ie not including the wall facing the corridor of every floor, in another word, only paint those walls which can be seen from outside, now still waiting for their quotations. Our another restriction is we can only pay them in installment, perhaps first payment can be 20K, but then the subsequent ones will be maybe 4k per month, so this will take up to 2 or 3 years to pay up, hopefully we will be able to find contractor who is kind enough to agree on this, do u guys got anyone can recommend?
thanks......
Friday, September 27, 2013
upgraded lift is confirmed in working condition now!
few days ago some blk k residents got chance to use the upgraded lift as the other lift was down, the vendor anticipated it may take awhile to fix the problem so they open the upgraded lift for residents to use, or else our residents will need to use to stair case to go home.
actually the lift is 95% completed as far as upgrading is concerned, because the vendor were planning to change the car door & putting the formica at the 4 walls before it release to blk k residents for the full operation.
so for those who used the upgraded lift that day & saw the wall & door still old one, pls don't get disappointed because there should be new doors & much nicer wall in another few more days' time.
so on the same afternoon, as the vendor managed to fix the problem of the other lift, the shut down the upgraded one, dismantle the door, sent it to their own vendor for the new door fabrication, at the same time arrange for the new formica to be placed at the 4 walls of the lift, hopefully it won't take long to complete this last phase of process.
after the upgraded lift in full operation, we will not shut down another lift for upgrading immediately, but we will monitor the performance of the upgraded one, only when residents are confident with it, then we will go for upgrading of another lift, this time should take much shorter time, as some of the wiring which the vendor has done earlier, are actually for both lift, so if the process is smooth then can be 3 weeks, but as we have learned from the the past, it's better not to give false hope, anywhere we told him, this time we can only tolerate maximum one month...
so, we will still be praying for the smooth upgrading process throughout the 2nd lift upgrade, thanks.
actually the lift is 95% completed as far as upgrading is concerned, because the vendor were planning to change the car door & putting the formica at the 4 walls before it release to blk k residents for the full operation.
so for those who used the upgraded lift that day & saw the wall & door still old one, pls don't get disappointed because there should be new doors & much nicer wall in another few more days' time.
so on the same afternoon, as the vendor managed to fix the problem of the other lift, the shut down the upgraded one, dismantle the door, sent it to their own vendor for the new door fabrication, at the same time arrange for the new formica to be placed at the 4 walls of the lift, hopefully it won't take long to complete this last phase of process.
after the upgraded lift in full operation, we will not shut down another lift for upgrading immediately, but we will monitor the performance of the upgraded one, only when residents are confident with it, then we will go for upgrading of another lift, this time should take much shorter time, as some of the wiring which the vendor has done earlier, are actually for both lift, so if the process is smooth then can be 3 weeks, but as we have learned from the the past, it's better not to give false hope, anywhere we told him, this time we can only tolerate maximum one month...
so, we will still be praying for the smooth upgrading process throughout the 2nd lift upgrade, thanks.
Friday, September 20, 2013
General updates on various matters
few matters like to upda our beloved residents,
1) for those who read Chinese newspaper, maybe you guys have noticed few months ago our neighboring apartment had accused us causing their sewage piping clogged, they even brought YB & reporter to view their sewage manholes, and came out with the conclusion that some part of pipe in our side has collapse but without sufficient proof. But instead of arguing with them, we have asked our own contractor to check all our manhole, and found out it's all in good condition but we still ask our contractor to clear it again, just for in case. We even changing the pipe near the main entrance to solve the floor sinking problem even though it seems not related to their clogging problem, so by doing so it should have solved their clogging problem if their theory is right.
But unfortunately even after we have make sure our side is ok, their clogging problem got worse! so bad that some of their manholes even overflow & causing bad stinky smell at their 2 blocks which nearest to Vista Condo, so we were called by the MPPP, COB dept to attend the meeting on Friday, during the meeting we managed to convince them since all our manholes are clear then we should not be blamed for their clogging problem, but we will still arrange for the joint inspection to show them our manholes are clear, and we even willing to provide the access to IWK to go through our manholes to clear their manholes or repair their piping crack (in case) since no way anyone can go into their manholes since they are full of shit...., the purpose we update our residents concerning this issue is so that no one is misled by those false accusation...
2) abt the lift upgrade, lift vendor has finished all the jobs in motor room, all the wiring for the hall calling button, has perform fast speed test & calibrated the lift for every floor, every things seem ok now, but a little bug on the lift digital display wiring, so now they are rectifying the problem, according to them not a serious problem, and we still praying hard that they quickly settle this problem so our residents can start using it....
3) like to urge residents don't feed the pigeons, we will put up the notice for this matter, as now the pigeon have caused some problems here, their shit had dirtied the foyer & swimming pool, even for long run can damage residents owning at the balcony, the swimmers also feel not comfortable as these pigeons also shitting & drinking the water of our swimming pool, worry that they may have left some germs there too, but it's true that pigeons' shit is bad for health especially for kids playing at the foyer regularly, so if you know of anyone have been feeding the pigeon pls ask them to be more considerate & stop feeding any kind of birds.
thanks.
1) for those who read Chinese newspaper, maybe you guys have noticed few months ago our neighboring apartment had accused us causing their sewage piping clogged, they even brought YB & reporter to view their sewage manholes, and came out with the conclusion that some part of pipe in our side has collapse but without sufficient proof. But instead of arguing with them, we have asked our own contractor to check all our manhole, and found out it's all in good condition but we still ask our contractor to clear it again, just for in case. We even changing the pipe near the main entrance to solve the floor sinking problem even though it seems not related to their clogging problem, so by doing so it should have solved their clogging problem if their theory is right.
But unfortunately even after we have make sure our side is ok, their clogging problem got worse! so bad that some of their manholes even overflow & causing bad stinky smell at their 2 blocks which nearest to Vista Condo, so we were called by the MPPP, COB dept to attend the meeting on Friday, during the meeting we managed to convince them since all our manholes are clear then we should not be blamed for their clogging problem, but we will still arrange for the joint inspection to show them our manholes are clear, and we even willing to provide the access to IWK to go through our manholes to clear their manholes or repair their piping crack (in case) since no way anyone can go into their manholes since they are full of shit...., the purpose we update our residents concerning this issue is so that no one is misled by those false accusation...
2) abt the lift upgrade, lift vendor has finished all the jobs in motor room, all the wiring for the hall calling button, has perform fast speed test & calibrated the lift for every floor, every things seem ok now, but a little bug on the lift digital display wiring, so now they are rectifying the problem, according to them not a serious problem, and we still praying hard that they quickly settle this problem so our residents can start using it....
3) like to urge residents don't feed the pigeons, we will put up the notice for this matter, as now the pigeon have caused some problems here, their shit had dirtied the foyer & swimming pool, even for long run can damage residents owning at the balcony, the swimmers also feel not comfortable as these pigeons also shitting & drinking the water of our swimming pool, worry that they may have left some germs there too, but it's true that pigeons' shit is bad for health especially for kids playing at the foyer regularly, so if you know of anyone have been feeding the pigeon pls ask them to be more considerate & stop feeding any kind of birds.
thanks.
Friday, September 13, 2013
further update on lift....
as at 14/9/13
the vendor didn't manage to install the lift button on Thursday as they still lacking few parts & tools for that, but manage to get them ready on Friday & started the works of fixing the button at abt 4pm.
they drill hole, fix the device, configure the wire and use the same digital display, do it floor by floor, carefully but slowly too, to make sure not connecting the wrong wire, and until 1am in the Saturday early morning, still trying their best to complete it, but too bad, didn't manage to....
well, they will continue today (Saturday) and have informed us if all go smoothly then on next Monday, we can buy off this lift, but then we will rather see it as a possible but not target date, for we also worry that we may again disappoint blk k residents for giving false hope.
to be honest, we are not sure when the lift can be up for blk k residents, sometimes we also feel discouraged & overcame by negative thought like "why are we so keh poh (busy body) to upgrade the lifts, why not just leave it & let the next MC committee to find way to fix the lift problem", forgive us for this kind of thought because we are human too...
but one thing we are sure, we are at the end of the tunnel, the completion is at sight, and with God's help, we believe everything will be all right at the end :)
thanks....., will update further once info ready.
the vendor didn't manage to install the lift button on Thursday as they still lacking few parts & tools for that, but manage to get them ready on Friday & started the works of fixing the button at abt 4pm.
they drill hole, fix the device, configure the wire and use the same digital display, do it floor by floor, carefully but slowly too, to make sure not connecting the wrong wire, and until 1am in the Saturday early morning, still trying their best to complete it, but too bad, didn't manage to....
well, they will continue today (Saturday) and have informed us if all go smoothly then on next Monday, we can buy off this lift, but then we will rather see it as a possible but not target date, for we also worry that we may again disappoint blk k residents for giving false hope.
to be honest, we are not sure when the lift can be up for blk k residents, sometimes we also feel discouraged & overcame by negative thought like "why are we so keh poh (busy body) to upgrade the lifts, why not just leave it & let the next MC committee to find way to fix the lift problem", forgive us for this kind of thought because we are human too...
but one thing we are sure, we are at the end of the tunnel, the completion is at sight, and with God's help, we believe everything will be all right at the end :)
thanks....., will update further once info ready.
Saturday, September 7, 2013
little updates on lift....
almost everyday we chase the vendor on the lift upgrade matter, so lastly this morning (sunday) he replied us with something more positive, in the sms sent by him, "Hari ni ada di vista condo..., i cuba test run hari ni..."
we have been crossing our finger praying almost everyday for this matter to be concluded soon, and everyday we got residents asking us "when ah?", of course they refer to when the lift can be ready for blk k resident to use, at first we just reply them like the vendor replied us, something like "going to be soon, maybe in few days' time will do the test run", but later on we found out it didn't happened, so now we also dare not to commit to residents abt any date, until today at least the vendor told us that there's a good chance he will test run the lift.
will the test run be happening today? we only can know by the evening, in another words if until night no one call us to witness the test run, then we got to again chase him for tomorrow, then after that will be day after tomorrow....we will continue doing that until we see it happen.
will update you guys as soon as we got news from him, pls be patient....
thanks.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
update as at 10/9/13
the vendor has completed what need to be done in motor room on Sunday, test run the lifts few rounds, everything seems ok.
now they are arranging to install the hall calling button at each floor for residents to use both lift, which means 2 set of button for 2 different lifts, but this will be just a temporary arrangement, in the future when everything completed, there will be 1 set of calling buttons for both lift like what are we having now.
to install hall calling button will involve wiring job which need to shut down another lift for 1 to 2 hours, so we ask them to do it at midnight, so that it won't affect residents to use the lift during day time.
will update again when get further news, thanks.
we have been crossing our finger praying almost everyday for this matter to be concluded soon, and everyday we got residents asking us "when ah?", of course they refer to when the lift can be ready for blk k resident to use, at first we just reply them like the vendor replied us, something like "going to be soon, maybe in few days' time will do the test run", but later on we found out it didn't happened, so now we also dare not to commit to residents abt any date, until today at least the vendor told us that there's a good chance he will test run the lift.
will the test run be happening today? we only can know by the evening, in another words if until night no one call us to witness the test run, then we got to again chase him for tomorrow, then after that will be day after tomorrow....we will continue doing that until we see it happen.
will update you guys as soon as we got news from him, pls be patient....
thanks.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
update as at 10/9/13
the vendor has completed what need to be done in motor room on Sunday, test run the lifts few rounds, everything seems ok.
now they are arranging to install the hall calling button at each floor for residents to use both lift, which means 2 set of button for 2 different lifts, but this will be just a temporary arrangement, in the future when everything completed, there will be 1 set of calling buttons for both lift like what are we having now.
to install hall calling button will involve wiring job which need to shut down another lift for 1 to 2 hours, so we ask them to do it at midnight, so that it won't affect residents to use the lift during day time.
will update again when get further news, thanks.
Saturday, August 31, 2013
updates on lift upgrade & playground/mini recreation center
some development on the matters,
the lift vendor managed to try run the lift on Saturday on the slower speed, and will do the fast speed test run after get few more things done, according to him another 2 days' time will see the completion.
well, as we said earlier, we are not expert & should not pretend to be expert, so as we heard this from him, we only can tell him pls get it done as soon as he can, but can't argue with him much abt the technical detail, unless we can have residents among us to check on the facts.
we hope that the try run on full speed will be smooth one & will soon have 2 lifts to serve blk k residents well until we are confident enough to shut down another lift for upgrade, but this time we wish they can plan better than another one, also according to him, this time should take much shorter time as he & his worker (and his own vendors) have understand the system better, but since we have "not so good" experience with him for the first lift, our expectation on the length of time to be taken is rather reserved.
concerning the playground, or the nicer term, mini recreation center, we have moved the fence toward the pool, and pleasantly found out the space is quite wide, we have received the quotation abt the exercise/gym set, and soon forward to ADUN or MP for their consideration to allocation fund, and perhaps if it take too long for them to approval our request then we can even to purchase 2 set first for residents to use.
of course if anyone like to sponsor, then best lah... :)
thanks.
the lift vendor managed to try run the lift on Saturday on the slower speed, and will do the fast speed test run after get few more things done, according to him another 2 days' time will see the completion.
well, as we said earlier, we are not expert & should not pretend to be expert, so as we heard this from him, we only can tell him pls get it done as soon as he can, but can't argue with him much abt the technical detail, unless we can have residents among us to check on the facts.
we hope that the try run on full speed will be smooth one & will soon have 2 lifts to serve blk k residents well until we are confident enough to shut down another lift for upgrade, but this time we wish they can plan better than another one, also according to him, this time should take much shorter time as he & his worker (and his own vendors) have understand the system better, but since we have "not so good" experience with him for the first lift, our expectation on the length of time to be taken is rather reserved.
concerning the playground, or the nicer term, mini recreation center, we have moved the fence toward the pool, and pleasantly found out the space is quite wide, we have received the quotation abt the exercise/gym set, and soon forward to ADUN or MP for their consideration to allocation fund, and perhaps if it take too long for them to approval our request then we can even to purchase 2 set first for residents to use.
of course if anyone like to sponsor, then best lah... :)
thanks.
Friday, August 23, 2013
2 facility upgrade/improvement projects
while we are still spending much time urging the lift vendor to complete his job, we do not neglect other area as well, at the moment we thought we are able to do these 2 project in order to fulfill our mission, to make Vista a better place for living.
the first one is to convert the kids' playground to be a mini recreation center, actually not many peoples will like to recognize the empty land (with few set of stuff for kids to play) near the Hindu temple as kids' playground, well, strictly speaking it's not up the standard to be called playground, as the play sets are rusted & the place also got a lot of mosquitoes, it's not suitable for residents (especially kids) to play there, so instead of just leave the land to be wasted, we are planning to remove the poor maintained play sets but to recondition the useable one, and shift the existing fence toward the swimming pool, so we will have bigger space there for kids to play & adult to exercise.
at the moment some residents are going to help to shift the fence with minima charges, we also will use (perhaps) woods to cover the drain along the fencing area (facing the forest) so that when kids play there they will not accidentally fall into the drain.
we may want to invest (or get fund from YB) in some exercise set to be installed there, so that our residents can do some simple exercise there, some other things (besides the kids play set & adult exercise equipment), like badminton/futsal/basketball court & meeting room have also been suggested, well, let's see how wide the space we can create after the fence has moved toward the pool then we will decide.
in short, we hope that after converting the place to be a mini recreation center for our residents, besides contributing to good health, it will also boost further the property value of Vista Condo :)
thanks.
(another project is to convert one of the public toilet to be a gym, but no final plan yet)
the first one is to convert the kids' playground to be a mini recreation center, actually not many peoples will like to recognize the empty land (with few set of stuff for kids to play) near the Hindu temple as kids' playground, well, strictly speaking it's not up the standard to be called playground, as the play sets are rusted & the place also got a lot of mosquitoes, it's not suitable for residents (especially kids) to play there, so instead of just leave the land to be wasted, we are planning to remove the poor maintained play sets but to recondition the useable one, and shift the existing fence toward the swimming pool, so we will have bigger space there for kids to play & adult to exercise.
at the moment some residents are going to help to shift the fence with minima charges, we also will use (perhaps) woods to cover the drain along the fencing area (facing the forest) so that when kids play there they will not accidentally fall into the drain.
we may want to invest (or get fund from YB) in some exercise set to be installed there, so that our residents can do some simple exercise there, some other things (besides the kids play set & adult exercise equipment), like badminton/futsal/basketball court & meeting room have also been suggested, well, let's see how wide the space we can create after the fence has moved toward the pool then we will decide.
in short, we hope that after converting the place to be a mini recreation center for our residents, besides contributing to good health, it will also boost further the property value of Vista Condo :)
thanks.
(another project is to convert one of the public toilet to be a gym, but no final plan yet)
Sunday, August 18, 2013
oh no, become target again :(
few times, due to some situation, which beyond what we can control (as we not good enough to do that), we can't be help but again become target of anger.
and now, due to the long process of lift upgrade in blk k, which has already passed the expected time frame given, besides blaming the vendor, the MC also become the target of anger, we can understand the frustration of blk k residents, and we don't blame residents for getting angry with us, because if we were in their shoe, we too will be angry with vendor and eventually MC for the length of time taken for this project.
but we don't want to pretend to be expert in this matter, in fact we are not very sure what should be the supposedly reasonable time frame for lift upgrade project, for we too have checked with friends who are in the lift industry, all of them agree that to install a completely new lift will be much faster than the upgrading it like what we do now, and concerning the question of reasonable time taken for upgrading, their answer is "it depends la..." as different model/brand/manufacturer will have different complexity in the system, so it be ranging from 2 weeks to abt month's time, and other factors will affect the pace like manpower & skill...
we don't want to defend vendor or MC in this matter, but rather to see what should the best thing to do now in order to help the vendor to get it done at soonest possibly, the poor vendor now almost everyday received phone & sms from residents to chase him to complete the job, some even used abusive words..., we also got some of these too, also even suggestion to replace the vendor.
the vendor after missed the first target date which set by himself, now dare not to give another target date as worry that will get another blame for it, yesterday his reply to us is "hampir siap", but we also taking a suggestion from residents to get the progression report & update our residents, for which he will talk to the management office to produce it.
concerning another suggestion to replace this vendor (as the company he attached to, have bad track record in one of the apartment as mentioned in the comment of last posting), we must say that that company do assign different project to different senior technician, for Vista is handled by Samsudin, we would say he is one of the senior technician who is considered good in Penang, skill & attitude are among the most reliable one here, no hanky panky, no over quote, no steal part for other project..., these are the not uncommon practice in lift industry but fortunately this guy is quite honest in these things, for he also helped to improve the condition of almost all the lift in Vista since he took over 2 years ago, so let's give him more grace although he may take too long this current project.
another thing want to clarify, some residents said he has taken the 20% of payment so he is not in the hurry to finish the job, the fact is he still hasn't got any payment until now, he will only collect the full payment from state gov't after the completion of the whole project, in the way he actually wants to finish the job fast so that he can have money (from gov't) to pay his own Korean supplier for our lift parts, amounting to more than 100K!
again, really really sorry for the lengthy process, we are doing our best to push him & shall continue doing it until the job is done.
thanks.
and now, due to the long process of lift upgrade in blk k, which has already passed the expected time frame given, besides blaming the vendor, the MC also become the target of anger, we can understand the frustration of blk k residents, and we don't blame residents for getting angry with us, because if we were in their shoe, we too will be angry with vendor and eventually MC for the length of time taken for this project.
but we don't want to pretend to be expert in this matter, in fact we are not very sure what should be the supposedly reasonable time frame for lift upgrade project, for we too have checked with friends who are in the lift industry, all of them agree that to install a completely new lift will be much faster than the upgrading it like what we do now, and concerning the question of reasonable time taken for upgrading, their answer is "it depends la..." as different model/brand/manufacturer will have different complexity in the system, so it be ranging from 2 weeks to abt month's time, and other factors will affect the pace like manpower & skill...
we don't want to defend vendor or MC in this matter, but rather to see what should the best thing to do now in order to help the vendor to get it done at soonest possibly, the poor vendor now almost everyday received phone & sms from residents to chase him to complete the job, some even used abusive words..., we also got some of these too, also even suggestion to replace the vendor.
the vendor after missed the first target date which set by himself, now dare not to give another target date as worry that will get another blame for it, yesterday his reply to us is "hampir siap", but we also taking a suggestion from residents to get the progression report & update our residents, for which he will talk to the management office to produce it.
concerning another suggestion to replace this vendor (as the company he attached to, have bad track record in one of the apartment as mentioned in the comment of last posting), we must say that that company do assign different project to different senior technician, for Vista is handled by Samsudin, we would say he is one of the senior technician who is considered good in Penang, skill & attitude are among the most reliable one here, no hanky panky, no over quote, no steal part for other project..., these are the not uncommon practice in lift industry but fortunately this guy is quite honest in these things, for he also helped to improve the condition of almost all the lift in Vista since he took over 2 years ago, so let's give him more grace although he may take too long this current project.
another thing want to clarify, some residents said he has taken the 20% of payment so he is not in the hurry to finish the job, the fact is he still hasn't got any payment until now, he will only collect the full payment from state gov't after the completion of the whole project, in the way he actually wants to finish the job fast so that he can have money (from gov't) to pay his own Korean supplier for our lift parts, amounting to more than 100K!
again, really really sorry for the lengthy process, we are doing our best to push him & shall continue doing it until the job is done.
thanks.
Friday, August 9, 2013
lift upgrading & house rules matters
our sincere apology for not be able to get the upgraded lift running during the Hari Raya holidays....
we did have a very tense moment with the vendor few days before Raya as he told us he can't fulfill his pledge for getting the lift ready for the Raya, we were quite upset over his explanation that "too many modification & wiring works" for the lift upgrade, we are stuck in the situation that we worry the most, ie they took too long for the upgrading!!!
from the arrival of the parts until this day, it's abt 1 month already, we expected them to complete 1 lift in abt 3 weeks' time, but...., actually now we feel quite bad as we also wrongfully gave residents false hope of having the lift running in Raya, again, sorry very much.
the day before Raya, after some unhappy conversation with the vendor due to the delay of job, we did urge him to give us the estimated time when the lift can be up, at that time he can't answer but said will let us know after Raya, we will definitely update our residents once he reply us, sigh...! really sorry for the mess.
besides the headache of the lift, we do troubled by the drinking party at the pool side, some residents have been calling us and the guard boss concerning a group of residents with their outsider friends consuming alcohol in the swimming pool compound and foyer area, according to them now it has become more regularly, some residents refrained themselves from using the pool & avoid passing our foyer area due to worry & uncomfortable feeling...
actually our house rules stated clearly "no food & drink" at pool compound & no alcohol consuming at the foyer (except special occasion like wedding), we are now asking the management & guard company to handle the matter and hopefully the related party will give their cooperation as we are all living in this community, it's very important for everyone to follow the house rules so that all the residents can enjoy their time & feel comfortable in Vista Condo.
thanks.
we did have a very tense moment with the vendor few days before Raya as he told us he can't fulfill his pledge for getting the lift ready for the Raya, we were quite upset over his explanation that "too many modification & wiring works" for the lift upgrade, we are stuck in the situation that we worry the most, ie they took too long for the upgrading!!!
from the arrival of the parts until this day, it's abt 1 month already, we expected them to complete 1 lift in abt 3 weeks' time, but...., actually now we feel quite bad as we also wrongfully gave residents false hope of having the lift running in Raya, again, sorry very much.
the day before Raya, after some unhappy conversation with the vendor due to the delay of job, we did urge him to give us the estimated time when the lift can be up, at that time he can't answer but said will let us know after Raya, we will definitely update our residents once he reply us, sigh...! really sorry for the mess.
besides the headache of the lift, we do troubled by the drinking party at the pool side, some residents have been calling us and the guard boss concerning a group of residents with their outsider friends consuming alcohol in the swimming pool compound and foyer area, according to them now it has become more regularly, some residents refrained themselves from using the pool & avoid passing our foyer area due to worry & uncomfortable feeling...
actually our house rules stated clearly "no food & drink" at pool compound & no alcohol consuming at the foyer (except special occasion like wedding), we are now asking the management & guard company to handle the matter and hopefully the related party will give their cooperation as we are all living in this community, it's very important for everyone to follow the house rules so that all the residents can enjoy their time & feel comfortable in Vista Condo.
thanks.
Friday, August 2, 2013
it's more enjoyable now as MC :)
we were told by the lift vendor that they will do the upgraded lift trial run on Saturday, and if it's running smoothly then during the Raya, the blk k will have 2 lifts to serve our residents, 1 old system & 1 upgraded system, running on the separate system, but let's wait for the outcome of trial run.
(bear in mind that when the upgrading process is done we should have both lifts running on the same new system, so pls don't make any assumption that the final product is 1 upgraded & 1 old system if you see it happen during Raya, as the job is not completed yet at the moment)
some times ago, we wrote in this blog that to help in the Vista Condo MC is a much more pleasant thing to do if our lifts are upgraded, well, we must say now this vision is almost come into real happening! even though the state gov't only released the fund for blk k lifts upgrade, but we still can use those (good condition) parts from the existing blk k lifts system, to fix it in the blk j lifts to make them better lifts to serve blk j residents, so basically the fund given by state gov't has blessed both blk j & blk k residents!
if compare to those days when JMB & MC subsequently were formed, now a day things are running more smoothly & most of the facilities are in the better condition, and some new facilities were added too. Those days are quite tough for running the management here, biggest headache always from the lifts, especially both lifts from blk k, and once awhile the blk j lift also join the chorus to go on strike, but thank God, through the help of vendor & gov't, the condition of the lifts have become better now, and when upgrading process is completed, it can even called as excellent!
really looking forward to the completion of the upgrading, and now we are shifting our focus to the repainting of building.....:):):)
thanks to all the nice & kind vista folks!
(bear in mind that when the upgrading process is done we should have both lifts running on the same new system, so pls don't make any assumption that the final product is 1 upgraded & 1 old system if you see it happen during Raya, as the job is not completed yet at the moment)
some times ago, we wrote in this blog that to help in the Vista Condo MC is a much more pleasant thing to do if our lifts are upgraded, well, we must say now this vision is almost come into real happening! even though the state gov't only released the fund for blk k lifts upgrade, but we still can use those (good condition) parts from the existing blk k lifts system, to fix it in the blk j lifts to make them better lifts to serve blk j residents, so basically the fund given by state gov't has blessed both blk j & blk k residents!
if compare to those days when JMB & MC subsequently were formed, now a day things are running more smoothly & most of the facilities are in the better condition, and some new facilities were added too. Those days are quite tough for running the management here, biggest headache always from the lifts, especially both lifts from blk k, and once awhile the blk j lift also join the chorus to go on strike, but thank God, through the help of vendor & gov't, the condition of the lifts have become better now, and when upgrading process is completed, it can even called as excellent!
really looking forward to the completion of the upgrading, and now we are shifting our focus to the repainting of building.....:):):)
thanks to all the nice & kind vista folks!
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