Inizio Atelier Pte. Ltd. - 65 Ubi Rd 1

From the start there were quite a number of red flags. But, Alex was great in speaking convincingly and so we trusted that we were in great hands. Red flags as follows: they do not have a signboard (when asked why he mentioned that it is for an element of mystery/surprise?), Alex lied to us that he’s just an ID (when in actuality he’s the director/partner, not too sure which). And the worst of all, his quotation had so many discrepancies, with costs that are unaccounted for!! There were even costs that did not have an accompanying sentence as to so why the cost was there. It was just ambiguous costs, without any explanation, which we had to highlight to him and ask him to remove. After he provided us with the quotation, he did not go through the pointers even once with us. We read through every point on our own accord and highlighted points that seemed redundant/unfamiliar. When we clarified with him on our 2nd meeting, he mentioned that many are redundant points / errors / for resale flat (ours is BTO). For instance, “supply material HDB approved 3 in 1 waterproofing chemical screed” and “supply labour and material to lay waterproofing membrane”. Both are charged $300 individually for both bathrooms. He removed the latter as we highlighted this discrepancy to him. It could have been an additional $600 if we didn’t ask. Also, “supply and install wc for common bathroom”, “supply and install wc for master bathroom”, $150 each and “supply labour to install toilet bowl for master and common bathroom” $150 in total. He removed the cheaper redundant point. Each line in his quotation is extremely vague. For overlaying of tiles, he wrote measurements such as “1 lot” instead of sqft. Many details were not mentioned in his quotation which we had to ask him to add. Instead of splitting the costs, he also likes to group costs together. E.g. whole unit tiling $12 000. Without any breakdown for each area, without any indication of sqft etc. He does not even have a cancellation policy in his T&C. After he provided us with our quotation and after us saying that we are interested to place deposit (as we liked the designs on Instagram), he took 3 weeks with at least 5 revisions in between and still did not correct important things like measurements, and price! He also did not correct things that we highlighted for the FIRST revision until the end! For e.g. our common bathroom is much bigger than master bathroom. But the sqft he indicated was more for the master bathroom than the common bathroom. And the worst part was, he indicated a higher price for common bathroom (with lower sq ft) & lower price for master bathroom (with higher sq ft). We started getting suspicious and we added up the costs for each point, and to our utter dismay, the final cost did not even tally with each individual cost listed. It was more. The worst part was, there were many prices indicated with no tallying pointers (there were just random prices in between lines, which we were very shocked by). What if we didn’t check thoroughly? The deal breaker was in fact a phone call made by Alex. It was appalling, that after a month of back and forth quotations, with multiple errors each time, he had the audacity to be impatient, rude and arrogant with us. He mentioned things like it's "just a bto" implying that it's not an expensive place and a basic one. And that he will not make any further amendments to the contract, when these amendments were mentioned to him from day 1. After leaving the chat, he did not even bother to do any damage control, which does not come as a surprise either. Almost three weeks was wasted on us correcting his flawed contract alone. Bearing in mind we went ahead to choose an ID with no signboard, not case trust accredited and relatively young in the industry with little history purely based on our poor judgement & instinct. We read about IDs messing up contracts with intentional/unintentional errors but were disappointed we ended up in the very same situation. Engage at your own risk.

We finally got our hands on our very first home which was a resale flat. So we had a bigger floor area but lacked the design and technical aspect of creating our dream home. Hence the idea of getting an ID. We were actually quite skeptical about engaging an ID, hearing stories of rip off projects/excessive charging on certain works. However, embark on the search and got to know alex & sebastian from inizio atelier. The very first consultation was held by Alex. We had very little idea of how we want the design to be but had certain demands such as wanting an island in the kitchen & concerns of the floor area whereby the master bedroom had a rather small area and odd shape due to the inclusion of the toilet. After understanding our situation. Alex immediately did some sketches on the floor plan and idealise how we can play with the spaces. He proposed a few suggestions which we never thought was possible and showed us some past projects to get a feel of the ideal design were leaning towards. We were truly impress by the fact that these ideas popped almost immediately to his mind and could make the sketches so vividly that we could almost visualize the layout of the house. As he was the first ID we met, he was also very frank that there might be IDs that may offer better ideas with quotations that might suit our budget better and advice us to look around before making a decision too. He was cool with us doing so and he made us felt comfortable immediately and we could sense his sincerity in helping us & his clients. We met a few IDs and were debating between our shortlisted firms but finally came to a decision to engage inizio atelier where alex & sebastian were seeing through our project. For a few reason, the design was attractive and had met our budget. Also, alex and sebastian understood our demands & concerns and was always patient to address each and propose alternative solutions. We are very please with the overall service provided by Alex & Sebastian. They've truly transformed our first home into now our dream home. Also, we took away not only a beautiful home but a valuable friendship from this renovation. I would highly recommend Inizio Atelier if you're looking for Interior designers that are well versed in the industry and are easy to work with too!

Alex and Jeremy have been the most patient IDs I have ever met. I have heard how renovation can be tedious and traumatising for first-time home owners but both of them have made the whole process stress-free and painless with their prompt responses and timely updates. They are also meticulous in their work, giving me heads-up on all the things that I needed to take note of when renovating a resale flat. In addition, they are committed to giving their best by trying to accommodate all my requests so that my dream home can be realised. With all the things that needed to be done neatly itemised in the contract, I could check on the condition of the carpentry, the electrical and the paint work with ease. As such, I ended up with minor rectification such as tightening some hinges in my wardrobe. Even after I have moved into my new place, both of them still check with me if everything is working fine and promptly help me to iron out certain issues such as a cracked ceiling due to the hacking in the unit above mine. All in all, the renovation experience with Alex and Jeremy has been a walk in the park. I would strongly recommend them to anyone who is looking for IDs who are patient and professional in their conduct.

Like many others who are searching for IDs, we chanced upon Inizio Atelier. Among all the IDs we met, Alex Xie was the one who stood out from the rest of the IDs with his creative designs, ideas and vision to build a home for home owners by offering his unique ideas within reasonable budget. He would understand our preferences; life styles, from things we prefer to things we do not prefer, as part of his planning. He will take note of the little details through our conversation which we did not specifically mention to him. Most importantly, one does not worry about any pushy sales tactics or sales talks from him. He is responsible and patient in rendering his expertise during selection of materials like vinyl, tiles, and furniture etc. Also, he is very accommodating to our working schedules to meet us after work and even to discuss ideas till late in the night. He would be very excited to share his creative ideas to us and one is definitively able to feel his passion in his work. We all know that nothing is perfect during a renovation process, but with prompt follow up from Alex, he is able to be flexible in re-organising the sequence of work and work with what he had. During clearing of defects, he is very efficient to clear and update us on the progress promptly. We appreciate for his effort to share this renovation journey with us.

I got to know Alex as recommended from relative. During the first encounter meeting, I was very impressed with their portfolio and exclusive designs that I engaged Alex as my ID immediately. He totally understood my expectation and there was a connection and mutual understanding of exactly what I was looking for in my house design. I felt very assured and confident in Alex that I did not bother to compare or meet up with other ID firms. Post first meeting, Alex conceptualized our needs and we were very impressed when he show us the artwork. Wow Superb !!!, these were the first words when we saw the design Throughout the whole renovation process, it was a seamless and stress free hassle as Alex single- handed and oversee the whole renovation. We were totally impressed with the house design and professional workmanship. Many friends who visited our house were totally impressed and complimented Alex for his bold designs and ability to create a luxurious feel in my humble home. I am so glad to have Alex as my ID and will highly recommend to anyone looking to renovate their dream home. Once again, many thanks to Alex and his team for creating a dream home for us where we look forward to.