Leave the new bathroom finishes alone

Last updated 31 October 2026.

The tile pages and the hours guide already carry HDB’s three-year bathroom restriction. This note puts the practical choices in one place for a new flat. If the tiles are hollow but intact, injection through the grout is S$350 to S$750 for four to ten tiles. The screed stays, which is why that page says the restriction is not triggered. If a tile has tented, lifting and re-bedding is S$550 to S$1,200 on that page. That is a repair of a failure, not a new colour. A style change that removes the field is hacking: weekday 9:00am to 5:00pm, a permit, and HDB’s renovation page, including a fine of up to $5,000 when the rules are breached.

Water is a different problem from taste. A leak into the flat below is the leak guides. Do not “solve” it by hacking the only membrane in year one. A silicone joint that has opened is a silicone job on the wet-area pages, not a strip-out. A shower screen that is stained is the screen page. We do not publish a screen-glass price here. A bidet spray is S$110 to S$180 on the bidet page when that kit matches, and a snapped angle valve extracted without hacking the tile is S$180 to S$320. Those rows exist so you do not chisel a new bathroom to change a hose.

Parents and a 3Gen household ask for a curbless floor. That is a layout and a waterproofing job. It is quote on inspection and it is the wrong first year if the restriction applies. A grab bar on a sound wall is the bar page. We will not publish a bar price in this paragraph if the page’s own rows should be read there. Do not fix the bar to a shelter if the bathroom is also the shelter, and do not drill a shelter wall for a niche shelf. Clause 7.2 still applies.

OCS sanitary fittings you dislike are the OCS note. We do not know the price you were charged. Replacing a basin in the same position can be the sink and bath pages. A chip in a basin is S$180 to S$350 on the resurfacing page when the body still holds water. A full enamel resurface of a tub is S$550 to S$1,100 there, and that page says it does not hack tiles. Use it when the tub is tired and the tiles must stay. Do not resurface and also hack.

The completion date is yours to confirm. We will not calculate “three years from keys” because the hours guide and the tile page speak about the restriction as HDB wrote it for bathroom finishes, and the hours guide’s completion deadlines for permits are a different clock: 1 month, 3 months, or 2 weeks for windows. Do not mix those deadlines with the tile restriction. If you are past the restriction, hacking is still noisy work on the weekday window, still often a permit, and still quote on inspection. It is not suddenly a Sunday job.

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. Find the block completion date from your papers or from HDB.
2. Do not strip tiles for colour inside the restriction.
3. Inject intact hollow tiles instead of hacking them.
4. Use a hose, a valve or a resurface when those rows match.
5. Save a curbless rebuild for when the restriction allows, and still permit it.

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

A newborn does not suspend the restriction. A parent does not either. A grab bar and a clear floor are the adaptations that do not need the tile to come up. A hack “because the baby is coming” is still a hack. Smell from other rooms is the formaldehyde guide, not a reason to open the bathroom slab.

Report a leaking pipe and a hollow tile at key collection before you pay anyone to cover them. The defect checklist is that list. A contractor who says the developer will not mind a new floor is not HDB.

A glass screen that leaks at the silicone is not a tile problem. Resealing may be the screen or silicone pages. Replacing the whole bathroom because the screen weeps is the expensive misread. Photograph the weep before anyone proposes a hack. If the water is from the flat above, the leak guides come before any finish conversation. You cannot tile your way out of a neighbour’s pipe.

Ventilation of a windowless bathroom, if that is what you have, is a fan, not a new window. A new window is the window contractor described under BCA workhead RW01, and Homey Furnishing is not that contractor. A fan on an existing circuit may be the S$55 socket story or a larger electrical job. Look at the DB page. Do not cut a new opening in a bathroom wall in year one and call it ventilation.

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.
• The three years run from block completion on HDB’s terms, not from your key date. If you do not know the completion date, ask HDB. We do not keep it.

WhatsApp the photos to +65 8561 0630.

These are repairs that leave finishes in place, or a quote when the layout changes.

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.

• Tile injection
• Hours
• Without hacking
• Grab bars
• Chip and enamel repair
• Defects checklist