A 5-room and a 3Gen are not the same brief

Last updated 31 October 2026.

Five-room and 3Gen searches get mixed because both are “the big flat”. They are not the same drawing. Some 5-room plans have a room that households use as a study or as a room for a parent. Some 3Gen plans are arranged for two generations. We will not say which wall is the parents’ room in your block. HDB’s flat-type pages did not return a readable copy here, so this guide does not copy a diagram from memory. Measure the doors.

A room that a brochure calls a helper’s room is a room. We do not place a domestic worker in it, and we do not hire one. Furniture for that room is the same rule as any bedroom: a carton wardrobe is S$100 to S$650 to assemble when the photo matches, and a built-in is quote on inspection. If the room is narrower than a bed you already own, the bed does not get a new price. It does not fit. The lift guide is how you find out before the day.

Parents and a new baby produce opposite bathroom requests. One household wants a grab bar and a clear floor. Another wants a hacked niche. In the first three years the finishes stay. The grab-bar page is the bar. The tile page is injection, S$350 to S$750 for four to ten intact tiles, not a strip-out. A 3Gen household that needs a second bathroom layout is a permit and quote on inspection, and it is a poor first-year job if the restriction applies. Read HDB’s renovation page rather than a forum comment about “everyone hacks”.

The 5-room move-in package is S$1,288. A 3Gen flat is not given a sixth price. If the visit is the published package, say the room count the package uses. If the visit is carpentry, it is quote on inspection. A full kitchen at S$5,000 to S$6,500 is the kitchen page’s comparison when the layout changes. A 5-room does not automatically need a new kitchen. The shelter, the gate and the shoes are the entry note, same as a smaller flat. Clause 7.2 does not grow with the flat.

More rooms mean more notices if you renovate, not a private timetable. The hours guide is still 9:00am to 6:00pm for general work, weekdays and Saturdays, and weekday-only hours for hacking. Neighbours within two units still get the written notice. We do not publish a week count because the flat is larger. Defects in five rooms are still reported before they are covered. The defect guide is that sequence.

Homey Furnishing Pte. Ltd. (ACRA UEN 202018148K), 27 Mandai Estate, #06-10 Innovation Place, Singapore 729931, invoices permit-exempt maintenance. V On Construction Pte. Ltd. (ACRA UEN 201611708H), on the HDB Directory of Renovation Contractors, invoices hacking, a new layout, and other work that needs an HDB renovation permit. Homey Furnishing is not a Council for Estate Agencies licensed estate agent and does not sell, rent or market flats. It is not a Ministry of Manpower licensed employment agency and does not place helpers.

Curtains, blinds and roller shades are not part of this booking. This page also does not sell or rent the home, and it does not place a domestic worker.

Photograph the fitting before you buy a product or book a hack.

1. Say 5-room or 3Gen, and send photos of each room you want changed.
2. Do not send a brochure as the dimension.
3. Keep year-one bathrooms on the no-hack side of HDB’s rule.
4. Use S$1,288 only as the 5-room move-in package.
5. Do not ask us to staff a bedroom.

The building changes the permission. It does not invent a second price.

A 3Gen kitchen is still one kitchen unless the drawing shows two. A second fridge is an electrician if it needs a circuit, S$220 to S$450 for a dedicated 20A, 32A or 40A circuit on the DB page when that row matches. It is not a carpentry line. A shared table is quote on inspection if we build it, and free of charge from us if you already own it and only need it carried. We do not publish a moving-truck rate.

Smell from new cabinets and a baby in the flat is the formaldehyde guide, not a medical clearance. We do not say a room is safe to sleep in. Report a stain that was there at key collection before a painter covers it.

Night paths matter more in a 3Gen flat than in a couple’s 4-room. A parent walking to the bathroom should not meet a new shelf corner at shin height. A loose rug is not our product. A grab bar is. If the path is dark, that is a socket or a light on the electrical note, S$55 when the circuit already exists. We will not chase a new switch line across a finished wall and call it part of a wardrobe.

Storage for two households is still quote on inspection when it is built-in. Doubling a carton wardrobe is two assembly rows, not a new rate. Say if the second wardrobe is the same product. A shoe pile at the entry is the entry note. More people do not create a wider corridor. The lift guide still has no cabin size. A second fridge is the circuit row, not a cabinet row. Say which kitchen wall can take it before the carpenter draws a tall unit there. Leave a turning circle for a walking frame if a parent uses one. We do not publish that circle. You know the frame. A night light on the path is the electrical note if it needs a point.

How you're charged

A job that already has a sentence on HomeySG uses that sentence. The hour is not added on top of a band unless the written scope says so. There is no fuel surcharge. A whole-flat repaint, a private defect-scan fee, and a litre of a named paint brand are not in the catalogue.

Who is allowed to do the work

HDB’s important information on renovation says renovation in a flat, including some work that does not need a permit, is carried out by a contractor from the Directory of Renovation Contractors. The same page says failing to use a listed contractor for renovations, or breaching the renovation rules, can lead to a fine of up to $5,000. That sentence is HDB’s. It is not a ruling on your flat. Read the page before you treat a handyman visit as a renovation.

• Permit-exempt maintenance that already has a band, such as a hinge, a silicone joint or a small hole patch, stays on the Homey Furnishing invoice.
• Hacking, a new layout, and replacement of toilet finishes inside HDB’s restriction period move to V On Construction Pte. Ltd. UEN 201611708H. The price of that permit scope is quote on inspection.
• A new cable or a consumer unit is an EMA licensed electrician. A new water point is a PUB licensed plumber. Piped gas is a licensed gas worker.
• Window installation and replacement on an HDB flat is a BCA approved window contractor on HDB’s directory, with a renovation permit first. BCA describes workhead RW01. Homey Furnishing is not that contractor.
• Selling, renting or marketing the flat is estate agency work. CEA registers property agents. We do not do that work.
• A weekly cleaner on this site is not a migrant domestic worker placement. We do not hire out helpers.
• Curtains, blinds and roller shades are not part of this booking.

Ways to keep the bill smaller

• Photograph every mark before you book a full repaint. A hole that matches the S$150 to S$280 sentence does not need a whole-flat price.
• Put several permit-exempt tasks on one visit. The S$55 call-out is one task. Further permit-exempt time is S$45 an hour, not a second trip.
• Report a new-flat defect to HDB, or the developer if the contract says so, before you pay anyone to cover it.
• Do not hack a bathroom floor to “save” a later leak. HDB’s three-year restriction exists so the flat below stays dry.
• Ask whether a parent needs the bathroom at night before you design an open shelf across the path.

WhatsApp the photos to +65 8561 0630.

Larger flats do not get a secret rate. The package is the package. The rest is a quote.

Anything not in that table is quote on inspection.

WhatsApp the photos to +65 8561 0630. The reply uses a band already printed on HomeySG, or it says quote on inspection.

• 4-room layouts
• Grab bars
• First three years in the bathroom
• Move-in packages
• Defects before covers
• DB and circuits