My story

If you read my write-ups about this project and developer, it is not difficult to know that I am one of the very few purchasers who are optimistic about Bukit Ikhlas. Did Bukit Ikhlas give me any benefit for being optimistic? No, they don't.

I purchased the 3+1 unit back in December 2006, a month after I registered marriage with my wife, Abbie, and the wedding took place in March 2007. We were told that the house would be ready by end of 2007, we were happy to sign the S&P as we planned to move out of my parents' house after several months staying with them. By then, we could start our small family by adding a new member and more to come. We went for furniture shopping in mid of 2007, we paid 30% deposit to Haus, Lorenzo, Red Apple and several furniture shops for our new house furniture, we thought the house would be ready on time.

As time went by, December 2007 seemed to arrive earlier than we expected because we did not see much progress in the site. The actual showhouse had yet to be ready if I am not mistaken. Haus, Lorenzo and Red Apple called me several times to confirm the delivery of my furniture. I told them off saying that the house would be ready in no less than 6 months time. They said they would call me again after 6 months, I could do nothing but to agree with them.

What about my family planning? Undoubtedly we have to continue to 'suffer', to stay at my parents' place. Abbie doesn't have her own kitchen and study room, I still do not have an entertainment room, we do not have our own baby room too.

December 2008 has gone, December 2009 is a few months ahead. Looking at the timeframe, it has been about 3 years since I signed the S&P. The furniture shops had called me many times and I kept telling them that my house had not ready, I kept postponing the delivery. Lorenzo told me that the dining table that I ordered may get out of stock, but what can I do? Then they offered to allow me to choose from the available models by the time I am ready to collect it. Haus jokingly said that they would charge me 20% more for storage as my sofa was occupying their warehouse.

After two years of waiting for the house, I got really pissed off and frustrated, and I felt helpless too. I realized that frustration would not help any. I decided to change my plan at the end of 2008. My initial plan was to start family planning after I move in to Bayan Villa, but it seems possible to postpone my family planning any further, age won't stop and wait for the house to complete. Therefore I chose to start my family planning without having to get the house, we opt to move in together with our new-born baby by early of next year. By the way, my wife is pregnant now and she is expected to give birth of our baby by December 09, it could be a Christmas boy.

Many have asked me how I can be so optimistic about Bukit Ikhlas. Perhaps you would say I am born optimist, but I think my understanding about the project convinced me that this project would not be abandoned and we would definitely get our house, hopefully by end of 2009. I am not in the position to tell you when exactly we can get it, but after several meetings with the developer and correspodent parties, we could see that the handover date is not far from now though there are several issues to be sorted out.

What I have to say as a pissed-off purchaser

I exhanged comments with a purchaser called "Frustrated man" in Property Malaysia blog. This purchaser got really frustrated like many of you because of the delay.

I had just replied him on his latest comment. While replying him, I had a feeling to share my thoughts with you since there is not much update here due to pending approvals.

Frustrated Man said...
"Sam, looks like you are the only one who talk good about this project and developer. Probably you are not as frustrated as we were. Do you know what additional cost, additional time, finally additional frustration means? Do you know how frustrated to see some other projects completed earlier that this one even when they started later. I have waited for 4 years, 4-long-year! Maybe you are right at one point when you say this project is not abandoned, but is that a license for them to be late so much? If you read the starbiz last week, a project is late if the promised delivery date is 10% late and considered “sick” if it is late for 10 to 30%. So, how do you classify this one?"

I said...
"Frustrated Man, I am not the only one and not the last one who will not talk bad about this project and developer. I bought the property later than you, but I have been waiting for almost 3 years and still waiting for my dream house to be ready. I am not like what you say not frustrated, but if frustration could help to speed up the handover or soothe me, I will surely get as frustrated as you. All I want is to get the house as soon as possible. Looking at the brighter side, actually we have met and talked to the developer, we have met the relevant parties, we know everybody is working all they could on handing over the house to us as soon as possible. We do not want any further delay, so does the developer.

What do you think the developer will get at the end of the day if they are taking so long to get the project completed? What do they gain? They gain nothing but they have to compensate more. What I can see is that the developer is working very hard to get this project done asap, I don’t see any reason why we should talk bad about them when the blame is not on them. By the way, I am not from the developer, I am a purchaser. Because of the delay, all my family plans got affected and I have all the reasons to get frustrated with but I don’t see it is helping any."