Not allowed
Contravening the Renovation Control Rules carries a fine of up to this amount
S$5,000
On conviction, plus other penalties, and the liability attaches to the flat owner as well as to the contractor.
hdb.gov.sg · read 2026-08-31
Rules and money, Singapore
HDB renovation in Singapore: what the rules allow and what it costs
Reported bands run S$25,000 to S$50,000 for a 3-room flat. Every rule below is cited to HDB with the date it was read, and every figure names its publisher.
The short answer
HDB renovation is reported at S$25,000 to S$50,000 for a 3-room flat and S$51,000 to S$61,800 for a 4-room. Only a firm in the Directory of Renovation Contractors may do the work, hacking needs written approval first, and approved works must finish within 3 months in a new block.
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01 PERMIT
Hacking always
needs oneAll demolition and hacking of walls, partial or complete, needs HDB’s prior written approval before anything starts.
hdb.gov.sg · read 2026-08-31
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02 HOURS
Mon to Fri
9am to 5pmRestricted works only. General works such as painting and screed run Monday to Saturday until 6pm.
hdb.gov.sg · read 2026-08-31
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03 DEADLINE
3 months for
a new blockFrom the date the permit is granted. Existing blocks get 1 month.
hdb.gov.sg · read 2026-08-31
Scope
What HDB renovation covers, and what it is bounded by
Eight work packages: hacking where it is permitted, floor and wall finishes, kitchen, bathroom, carpentry, electrical, plumbing and painting. Naming them is the only way two quotes ever become comparable.
Three things bound the job from outside. A register that decides who may do it, a permit that decides when it must finish, and a working-hours rule that decides which days the noisy parts can happen at all.
Money
How much does it cost to renovate an HDB in Singapore
Published bands from named third parties, each carrying its publication date. They are ranges, not quotes, and where two publishers disagree both appear rather than an average neither stands behind.
| Item | Reported range |
|---|---|
| 3-room BTO | S$25k to 50k |
| 4-room BTO | S$51k to 62k |
| 5-room BTO | S$40k to 115k |
Ranges as published by each source, not averaged together. Qanvast and MoneySmart figures carry their own publication dates.
Sources interiordiary.com.sg 2026-08-31qanvast.com 2026-08-31moneysmart.sg 2026-08-31
A resale flat costs more than the same flat as a BTO flat because it has to be stripped before it can be built. Reinstating somebody else’s finishes is real, priced work.
The rules
What are the renovation rules for HDB flats
Only a firm listed in the Housing & Development Board’s Directory of Renovation Contractors may carry out the work, under the Housing and Development (Renovation Control) Rules 2006. The requirement covers works that need no separate approval.
- The requirement covers works that need no separate HDB approval, not just hacking.
- The penalty attaches to the flat owner as well as to the contractor.
- Structural walls, beams and columns are never removable, whatever the drawing shows.
- Demolition of anything else needs written approval obtained before work starts.
That owner-liability clause is the one people miss, and it is why the check in the next section is worth the minute it costs you.
Hours
What are the permitted renovation hours for HDB
Two classes of work with two different windows, which is the part almost every other page gets wrong. General renovation works run Monday to Saturday, 9am to 6pm, and never on Sundays or public holidays.
Permitted renovation hours, as HDB publishes them
Sources MyNiceHome by HDB 2026-08-31
Restricted renovation works, meaning demolition, removing wall or floor finishes and cutting tiles, run Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm only. They are additionally banned on the eves of New Year’s Day, Chinese New Year, Deepavali, Hari Raya Puasa and Christmas Day.
Verify
Who may renovate your flat, and how to check them
Search the firm’s legal name in the Directory of Renovation Contractors e-Service. It is public, free and settles the question before any deposit moves.
No permit needed
HDB registers renovation contractors. It does not endorse or rank them
No firm is HDB approved. The register answers one question: may this firm lawfully work in an HDB flat.
hdb.gov.sg · read 2026-08-31
Match the entity on the register to the entity on the contract and on the invoice. A brand name on a shopfront is not necessarily the company that will be taking your deposit, and the register indexes the company.
Paperwork
The renovation permit and the window it opens
The HDB renovation permit is filed by your contractor before anything starts. Approved works must finish within three months in a newly completed block and one month in an existing one.
Does this work need an HDB permit?
Sources HDB 2026-08-31HDB building works 2026-08-31
The window is counted from the date the permit is granted rather than the date anyone turns up. A programme that plans to use every available day has no room left for the conditions found once a wall is open.
New or resale
BTO or resale: what actually changes
A new flat starts from a finished shell. A resale flat carries stripping out and reinstatement before any of the work you actually want can begin, and it carries a shorter permit window too.
The gap narrows the moment you opt out of the Optional Component Scheme, because then the new flat also has a floor to remove and make good. That is the next section, and it is the line most comparisons leave out.
The scheme
The Optional Component Scheme decision
The scheme supplies flooring and sanitary fittings pre-installed, at a price folded into the flat price. The component list and the price are set per BTO launch rather than fixed across the scheme.
No permit needed
OCS pricing is set per project, not fixed across the scheme
Any figure you read for OCS belongs to that project and that year. Opt in for a known price, opt out and you pay to remove before you pay to replace.
hdb.gov.sg · read 2026-08-31
The decision is made at flat selection, long before you appoint anyone. It is worth taking seriously at that point rather than treating it as paperwork, because undoing it later is the expensive direction.
The hidden line
What opting out really costs once making good is counted
- One documented project paid S$1,350 for two wall hackings.
- Making good the cut surfaces added about S$650.
Two documented projects report that same shape, and neither figure is a quote for your flat. They are there so you can recognise the line when it is missing from a quote.
If a quote prices your new floor but says nothing about removing the old one, it is not cheaper than the quote that does. It is less complete.
By flat type
Scope by flat type: 2, 3, 4 and 5-room
What changes between flat types is run length, not the work packages. The 4-room carries the longest carpentry run of the common types and the widest published spread.
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Scope and measure
We walk the flat after key collection, measure every run, and write down what you want changed and what HDB will let you change.
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Permit and drawings
Your contractor files the electronic application. Wall demolition needs the flat’s floor plan submitted with it.
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Hacking and wet works
Demolition, tiling and anything touching the bathroom happen first, inside the restricted-hours window.
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Carpentry and finish
Kitchen and wardrobe carpentry is fabricated to a fixed specification, then installed, then painted.
Ask for the quote to follow these headings package by package. Once two firms present the same structure the conversation stops being about totals and starts being about scope, which is the only comparison that means anything.
Get a free quote
Tell us the flat type and when you collect keys. You get a scope discussion and an indicative cost band within one working day.
Get a free quote
or email hello@btorenovation.sg
Order
The renovation sequence, trade by trade
Each stage blocks the next. Two are routinely run out of order, and both cost money to undo.
How the work runs
- Permit filed The contractor files it before anything starts, and the clock begins the day it is granted.
- Hacking Restricted works. The fewest lawful hours in the week, and everything downstream waits on it.
- Wet works Screed, tiling and waterproofing, in that order and none of it cheap to revisit.
- First fix Points and relocations go in while the walls are still open.
- Carpentry Measured on site, built off site, installed last but ordered first if nobody is paying attention.
- Painting and handover Then the defects walk, with the list written down rather than described.
Read a programme against this order. Carpentry scheduled before the site measure, or painting before the defects walk, means the programme was written to look short rather than to be delivered.
Duration
How long the work actually takes
The permit window is the outside date, not the estimate. Three months in a new block is what the law allows, and a schedule built to use all of it is a schedule with no contingency.
Ask for lead time and install time as two separate numbers. Carpentry is fabricated off site, so the weeks before anything appears in the flat are real weeks.
Structure
Hacking: what may go, and what never may
Structural walls, beams and columns are never removable, whatever a mood board shows. Non-structural walls can go, with written approval obtained first.
Permit required
Demolition and hacking need written approval before work starts
A firm that cannot tell you which category a wall falls into before quoting has answered a different question about itself.
hdb.gov.sg · read 2026-08-31
The classification is knowable from the floor plan before anyone quotes. Get it settled in writing at that stage, because a wall that turns out to be structural after the deposit is paid becomes a design change you did not budget for.
Wet areas
Wet works, waterproofing and the three-year bathroom rule
Waterproofing sits under the screed. Breaking the membrane changes the basis of a bathroom job rather than adding a line to it, and the unit below is the one that finds out.
Not allowed
Bathroom floor finishes in a new flat carry a three-year restriction
The room you most want to change has the least freedom in the first years. Plan around it rather than discovering it after the tiles are chosen.
hdb.gov.sg · read 2026-08-31
Waterproofing is also where a cheap job hides longest. A membrane that was rushed will not show up on handover day, it will show up on somebody else’s ceiling a year later.
The biggest line
Carpentry: the largest single line item
Priced per foot run, so run length drives the number more than the rate does. Two quotes at the same rate can differ by thousands because one measured more.
The variable nobody shows you is the carcass behind the laminate. Ask what it is and get the answer in writing, because the cheaper rate on a worse carcass is the more expensive decision by year three.
Where it breaks
Kitchen and bathroom: where budgets break
These two rooms hold the irreversible decisions and most of the wet works. Moving a plumbing point costs more than the cabinet above it, because it means opening the floor and re-waterproofing.
Decide the layout before anything is ordered. A sink moved after first fix is not a change of mind, it is a variation order with a rate attached.
Who may do it
Electrical and plumbing: who is allowed to do the work
Electrical work must be done by a worker holding the relevant Energy Market Authority licence, which is separate from the firm’s own registration. Ask which named worker holds it.
Permit required
Electrical work requires a worker holding an Energy Market Authority licence
The licence sits with the worker, not with the firm's registration in the Directory of Renovation Contractors.
hdb.gov.sg · read 2026-08-31
Comparing
What a quote must itemise before it is comparable
Four things, and a quote missing any of them is describing a different job from the one next to it.
What has to be on the page
- Scope per room Room by room, not one line for the flat.
- Materials by name The product, not an adjective.
- Carpentry by foot run With the carcass material stated.
- Provisional sums labelled Marked as provisional, with the rate that applies on resolution.
An interior design firm and a direct contractor both have to produce this. The route changes who coordinates the trades, not what the document has to contain.
Money
Payment milestones, and the one worth holding
Tie payments to stages you can walk into and inspect, never to dates in a calendar.
What each payment should be tied to
- Deposit on signing Tied to the contract. No work has happened yet and the sum should say so.
- After hacking and wet works A stage you can stand in. Tie money to stages, never to dates.
- After carpentry installation Fitted and operating, not delivered and leaning against a wall.
- Final balance The only leverage you have once the work is substantially done and the defects list is being argued over.
Write the split into the contract rather than agreeing it on a call. A firm that wants most of the money before the wet works are finished is telling you something about its cash position, and you would be the one funding it.
Get a free quote
Tell us the flat type and when you collect keys. You get a scope discussion and an indicative cost band within one working day.
Get a free quote
or email hello@btorenovation.sg
Funding
Renovation loans, and why this page recommends none
A renovation loan funds the contract, and the shape of the spend is the thing to notice: it lands inside a short permit window rather than across a year.
This page names no bank and recommends no lender. Size the borrowing against an itemised quote and a named contingency instead of a headline package figure.
Neighbours
Noise, neighbours and the notice you must give
Neighbours within a radius of two units must get written notice at least five days before works begin, and the Notice of Renovation stays displayed outside the flat throughout.
If works next door fall outside the permitted hours, the notice is where you check what was approved. A complaint about lawful daytime work will go nowhere, and it should.
Avoidable
The mistakes that cost the most
Ordering carpentry before the site measure. Treating the permit window as somebody else’s problem. Paying the final balance before the defects list is closed.
All three are decisions taken early and discovered late, which is why this hub puts the rules and the sequence in front of the design ideas rather than behind them.
Method
How every figure here is sourced and dated
Regulatory claims cite HDB directly with the date the page was read. MyNiceHome, HDB’s own homeowner guide, carries the same rules in a friendlier form and is worth reading beside this page.
Cost figures name their publisher and publication date, Qanvast and the others alike. Where two disagree, both appear, because an average of two dated ranges is a number nobody published.
Honesty
What we do not claim
No licence number, no accreditation, no review, no star rating and no photograph captioned as our own completed project. None of those exist for BTO Renovation SG, so none appears here.
Every interior image on this site is a generated illustration and says so. These are the checks we are telling you to run on any contractor, including us.
Next
What happens after you send the form
Tell us which project, which flat type and when you collect keys, ideally before key collection rather than after. You get a reply within one working day with a scope discussion and an indicative cost band.
Questions people ask before you start
How much does it cost to renovate an HDB flat in Singapore?
Reported bands run S$25,000 to S$50,000 for a 3-room flat and S$30,000 to S$65,000 for a 4-room (InteriorDiary, published 2025-11-07). A 4-room study reports S$51,000 to S$61,800 inside an observed S$27,000 to S$145,000 range (Qanvast, published 2025-10-10). These are reported ranges, not a quote.
What are the renovation rules for HDB flats?
Only a firm in HDB's Directory of Renovation Contractors may do the work, even for works that need no separate approval. Demolition and hacking need written approval first. Structural walls, beams and columns are never removable. Contravening the Renovation Control Rules carries a fine of up to S$5,000 on conviction, and it binds the flat owner as well as the contractor.
What are the permitted renovation hours for HDB?
General works such as plastering, painting and laying floor screed run Monday to Saturday, 9am to 6pm, and never on Sundays or public holidays. Restricted works such as demolition, removing wall or floor finishes and cutting tiles run Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm only.
Are there days when noisy work is banned outright?
Yes. Restricted works are banned on Saturdays, Sundays, all public holidays and the eves of New Year’s Day, Chinese New Year, Deepavali, Hari Raya Puasa and Christmas Day.
Do I need a permit to renovate my HDB flat?
For works that need approval, yes, and all demolition and hacking do. Your contractor files it before anything starts.
How long do I have once the permit is granted?
Three months for a newly completed block and one month for an existing one, counted from the date the permit is granted rather than the date work starts.
Is a BTO cheaper to renovate than a resale flat?
Generally yes, because a BTO carries no stripping out and no reinstatement of a previous owner's finishes. The gap narrows once the Optional Component Scheme is opted out of and the existing flooring has to be removed and made good.
Should I opt out of the Optional Component Scheme?
Opting in buys flooring and sanitary fittings at a price set per BTO launch and folded into the flat price. Opting out means paying to remove what is already there before paying to replace it, and making good the cut surfaces is a real cost that comparisons usually omit.
Can I hack a wall in an HDB flat?
Only non-structural walls, and only with written approval obtained before work starts. Structural walls, beams and columns are never removable.
What must a renovation quote itemise?
Scope per room, materials by name, carpentry by foot run with the carcass material stated, and any provisional sums called out as provisional. A quote produced without a site measure is a guess.
What notice do my neighbours get?
Neighbours within a radius of two units must be given written notice at least five days before renovations begin, and the Notice of Renovation is displayed outside the flat throughout.
Do you publish package prices?
No. This site publishes sourced, dated cost ranges as editorial content. A price for your flat only comes from a scope discussion after you send the form.
How much does it cost to renovate an HDB in Singapore?
Reported at S$25,000 to S$50,000 for a 3-room flat, S$30,000 to S$65,000 for a 4-room, and from S$40,000 for a 5-room. Each is a dated range from a named source, not a quote for your flat.
What does an HDB renovation cost?
Published ranges differ widely by source and flat type: roughly S$25,000 to S$50,000 for a 3-room, S$51,000 to S$61,800 average for a 4-room against an observed range of S$27,000 to S$145,000, and S$40,000 upward for a 5-room. Each figure is dated and attributed on the cost page.
Sources
- Important Information on Renovations
- Permitted timings for HDB renovation works
- Application for a Renovation Permit
- Renovation Guidelines for Building Works
- Renovation Guidelines for Electrical Works
- 4-Room BTO Flat Renovations in Singapore: From $27K to $145K
- HDB Renovation Cost & Loan Guide Singapore
- BTO Renovation Singapore: Complete Cost, Timeline
Related on this site
Checked against primary sources · updated 2026-09-01