A couple paid S$95,000 for renovation work at their four-room Build-to-Order (BTO) flat in Edgedale Plains.

The result, a "Muji-themed" look, was showcased in a Mediacorp Channel 5 TV show, a clip of which was uploaded to their Facebook page on February 8, but people couldn't believe how much it cost.

The plot thickened when accusations surfaced of Max Lee, the homeowner, turning out to be an employee of the interior design firm:

And Mediacorp later followed up to confirm this, as well as the fact that they did know that he was employed by them by the time they got round to shooting and producing the episode:

Still with us?

Finally, after five days of drama, D5 Studio Image, the company at the centre of the S$95,000 renovation saga has spoken up in a lengthy status on its Facebook page to share their side of the story.

Here it is in full, posted on Sunday, Feb. 25:

The good thing is, even though this was a long time coming, it did address two key questions on people's minds:

Were the homeowners aware of and did they agree to how much it would cost & how long it would take?

The answer to this is yes.

D5 said in its statement that "the homeowners were actually consulted and well informed of all the prices and extended timeline throughout the renovation process".

It explained that the couple requested "last-minute" for "additional mechanisms" from Germany, which required a lead time of three weeks for delivery.

It also pointed out that there was extensive carpentry and tiling work, with the entire house being built and customised from scratch.

"The only thing that was unchanged was the HDB windows."

On top of all this, it said it had to redo kitchen fittings to accommodate a bigger fridge that was not initially planned for.

"We would like to further add that we would not have proceeded with the works had we not have some form of assurance that we would be paid for it."

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If Lee is an employee of D5, why did they choose to display his house on the show & make him look like a regular customer?

The firm shared that they had submitted other projects to Mediacorp, but Lee's house was picked for the show due to its "up-and-coming interior design trend".

"We had also submitted other projects for Mediacorp to choose for the show. As explained by Mediacorp in its public statement released recently, Max’s house was chosen by Mediacorp for its home design."

Also, the statement confirmed that the company did inform Mediacorp that Lee had joined them before filming commenced on the project, noting additionally that the episode was filmed "more than six months ago".

"Indeed, the owner of the house, Max Lee, is also an employee at our company. This working relationship was disclosed before filming had begun. Moreover, Max and Michelle are our clients in that they did sign a contract with D5 and paid us for our services."

So there was an opportunity for Mediacorp to declare on the show that Lee was an employee of D5 by the time it aired, but it did not, and acknowledged it probably should have:

All this does still leave a few more questions on our minds, though:

1. When did Lee and his wife first sign their renovation contract with D5?
2. When did Lee first express interest in joining D5?
3. And when did Lee eventually join D5 as an employee?
4. When did D5 submit its projects to Mediacorp for consideration for its show?
5. And when exactly did Mediacorp inform D5 of its decision to pick Lee's home to be featured?
6. Correspondingly, when did D5 inform Mediacorp that it had hired Lee?

We have posed these to D5 as well as Mediacorp, and will bring you more clarity on this story when we receive it.

Here are all our stories on this: