Joanne Peh says she was conned by contractor while renovating her house

Handling renovation contractors can sometimes be a pain, especially if you are the kind who pays attention to every little detail. If you’ve renovated your home or have had to deal with contractors on a regular basis, you would know why having a reliable person matters so much. 

Actress Joanne Peh recently alleged that her contractor conned her during their home renovation. 

In September last year, Joanne Peh and her actor husband Qi Yuwu shared that they bought a new home located on the eastern side of the island and have started work on it. 

At the time, Yuwu told 8days that they were facing problems with their renovation but were hoping to move to their new place by the end of the year. Unfortunately, it has been more than a year now and the renovation work is still incomplete. 

For those curious, here’s the story of their struggle as also told through Joanne’s regular Instagram updates. 

Previous reports suggested Joanne bought a landed property but she was quick to confirm last year it wasn’t true. However, she did not reveal more about her new place. 

She was largely positive about her renovation woes. She ended each post with a reminder of their gratitude towards life.

In a post from June, she shared that the renovation had been “quite the project with many structural challenges and details to look over. The lockdown and the labour crunch made it even more tedious.”

But her recent post was different.

On Nov 12, Joanne shared that she had run into a contractor who wasn’t being totally honest. She questioned in her post: “Contractors, maybe there’s a reason why it starts with 'con', though I cannot understand why it has to be this way. Do I look like a carrot?”

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Joanne’s post sparked a strong debate among netizens. Some users shared their experiences with less-than-professional contractors, while others rushed to declare that #notallcontractors are bad. 

A netizen, who runs a renovation company, wrote: “Not all contractors are con men or actors! Please don’t generalise all contractors.”

Joanne replied: “Yes, I believe in the goodness of people and that there’ll be bad eggs who bring down the good ones, as with any industry.”

Replying to another user, Joanne said that she hoped there is a way to provide some form of regulation. She was asking for more transparency to protect homeowners. She iterated that this will be beneficial to contractors who want to deliver good work at fair and open prices. 

She wrote: “It is our home, a place that gives us peace and protection but it is just another project for them.”

Heated responses

While most of the discussions were civil, there was one particular exchange that got a little heated. “It was unprofessional and unfair to generalise and stereotype all contractors just because of her own experience and viewpoint,” pointed one user.

The netizen added: “I can empathise with her situation, but to vent her feelings publicly is not appropriate.”

Joanne replied the netizens were trying to gaslight her circumstances by calling her unprofessional and even unfair since they were not aware of her story. 

ALSO READ: Is Joanne Peh pregnant? Netizens speculate after cryptic Instagram post

In her final reply to the said netizen, she said: “Who are you to tell me what I should be sharing and what not? Or even saying that I need to specifically say what had happened. If I do, it will attract the wrong attention and people will end up taking sides, that’s not the intent – which I will reiterate.”

This article was first published in theAsianparent.