Client accounts
What owners say
after the work is done.
Accounts from shophouse owners across George Town who have worked with Pendora on assessment, documentation, and specialist trade coordination.
Back to Home14
Years in George Town
60+
Shophouses assessed
4.8
Average client rating
12
Specialist trade partners
What clients say
Accounts from George Town shophouse owners
Teh Chun Keat
Lebuh Armenia, George Town
I came to Pendora not knowing what to do with a mid-row shophouse I had inherited. The assessment took about two hours on-site, and the report was clear enough that my contractor could read it without me needing to explain everything. The note about which tiles were original versus replacements was particularly useful — I would not have been able to tell from looking.
April 2025 · Heritage Assessment
Norzalina Ramli
Jalan Masjid Kapitan Keling
The documentation package was comprehensive — probably more thorough than I expected at that price point. The 3D views helped me understand what the space would feel like with the air well opening kept open rather than roofed over. That was a decision I had been unsure about for months, and the drawings resolved it quickly.
March 2025 · Interior Documentation
Lim Hui Shan
Lebuh Chulia, George Town
The coordination service was worth taking on. I live in Kuala Lumpur and was not able to visit George Town regularly during the restoration, so having a written log after every site walk gave me a clear picture without needing to rely on phone calls from the contractors. There were a few weeks where the plasterer's schedule slipped, and Pendora's note on that was direct rather than diplomatic.
April 2025 · On-Site Coordination
Khoo Wei Ming
Love Lane, George Town
What I valued most was that Pendora was clear about what the assessment did and did not cover. When I asked about the structural condition of the rear wall, the response was straightforward — that falls outside interior design scope and I should commission a structural engineer. That kind of clarity made me more confident about the work that was within scope, not less.
May 2025 · Heritage Assessment
Siti Basyirah
Penang Hill Road, Penang
I engaged Pendora for the coordination service on a property I had purchased with the intention of converting to a boutique guesthouse. The tile restorer they worked with was exceptional — we sourced matching replacements for eleven broken floor tiles in the front hall that I had assumed were irreplaceable. The process took six weeks and felt careful throughout.
March 2025 · On-Site Coordination
Yeap Li Wen
Jalan Pintail Tali, George Town
We commissioned both the documentation and coordination services for a full shophouse interior. The documentation phase ran to about eight weeks, with two review rounds — the second round mainly to adjust the lighting plan for the back room. The coordination phase that followed was well managed. I would have liked slightly more advance notice on a few scheduling changes, but overall the quality of the output was high.
April 2025 · Documentation + Coordination
Project accounts
Three shophouses, three different stories
Lebuh Armenian — Pre-war five-foot-way shophouse
The situation
An owner had purchased a pre-war shophouse with extensive original tilework but no documentation of what was original and what had been replaced during earlier renovations in the 1980s.
What Pendora did
A Heritage Assessment identified three distinct periods of tilework, distinguishing original Peranakan floor tiles, partial replacements from the 1980s, and a later section of ceramic tiles in the rear kitchen. A written report mapped each zone.
The outcome
The owner used the report to brief a tile restorer directly, focusing restoration effort on the original sections and leaving the 1980s replacements in place. The project ran four weeks and the owner described the report as the most useful document in the whole process.
"The assessment gave me a starting point I could actually use. Before Pendora, I had opinions from three different people and no way to evaluate them."
Jalan Masjid Kapitan Keling — Late colonial shophouse, guesthouse conversion
The situation
A family converting a late colonial shophouse to a boutique guesthouse needed a full interior documentation package to brief their contractor on finishes and spatial changes while keeping the original stair and air well intact.
What Pendora did
The Detailed Heritage Interior Documentation package produced layout drawings for all four floors, finishes specifications for bedrooms and common areas, and 3D views showing the air well treatment and stair integration. Two review rounds refined the lighting plan.
The outcome
The contractor used the documentation package as the primary briefing document throughout the six-month build. The owner noted that having a written specification reduced the number of verbal ambiguities on-site considerably.
"The 3D views resolved an argument we had been having about the air well for three months. We saw it drawn out and the answer was obvious."
Lebuh Chulia — Peranakan shophouse, private residence
The situation
An overseas owner needed a professional presence on-site for the restoration phase of a Peranakan shophouse, coordinating three specialist trades — lime plasterers, an encaustic tile restorer, and a timber joinery repair specialist — across a nine-week programme.
What Pendora did
Weekly site walks through the full coordination period, with a written progress log issued after each visit. Pendora managed the sequencing of trades to avoid overlap and flagged a joinery repair issue in week four that would have been difficult to address later.
The outcome
Works completed in eleven weeks, slightly over the original estimate due to weather delays on the roof access. The owner, based in Singapore, visited only twice during the programme and described the written logs as sufficient to stay informed between visits.
"Managing a restoration from Singapore without Pendora on-site would have been very difficult. The weekly logs meant I always knew the state of things."
Reach Pendora
Get in touch
Lebuh Pantai, George Town
10300 Pulau Pinang, Malaysia
Monday – Friday, 9:00 am – 5:30 pm
Saturday by appointment
Whether you have a specific question about your property or are beginning to think about an interior scope, Pendora is willing to have that first conversation.
Send an EnquiryProfessional standing
Credentials and affiliations
Penang Heritage Trust — associate member
Active association with the Penang Heritage Trust since 2014, maintaining current awareness of conservation policy and practice in George Town.
Malaysian interior design professional membership
Studio principal holds current professional membership in Malaysia's interior design community, with standards of practice and continuing development maintained annually.
UNESCO World Heritage buffer zone — practice area
All studio work is conducted within the George Town UNESCO World Heritage Site core and buffer zones, with ongoing familiarity with the relevant design conditions.
Specialist trade network — 12 partners
Established working relationships with twelve specialist heritage trades across George Town and Penang island, developed through sustained practice from 2011.
Begin
Your shophouse has its own story. Pendora can help you understand it.
An enquiry is a good starting point — even if you are not yet sure which service fits your situation.
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