The common corridor and the balcony face are not your feature wall

Last updated 31 October 2026.

“Can I paint outside my HDB flat?” usually means the wall you see when you step out of the door, or the balcony face the opposite block can see. The Belvia renovation guide published through HDB, dated October 2014 on that PDF, puts “painting external part of building (e.g. common corridor walls and ceilings)” on the list of renovation that is not allowed, and separately lists painting the external wall or railing of the balcony in a colour different from the original. The file is an example of a project handbook, not a promise that every town uses the same PDF. Read it as that example, then open the renovation factsheet for your own flat on My HDBPage. City View at Boon Keng’s handbook, also hosted by HDB, says works stay inside the flat and that the contractor shall not mark, paint, or drive nails into structure that forms part of the common property. The town council is named as the party that common-property damage is made good for. That is the practical split: inside your door can be a patch; the corridor is the council’s wall.

People also ask whether they may paint the front door, and how often HDB flats are repainted. A flat entrance door is often a fire-rated leaf. Painting it a new colour can be a by-law or a fire-door finish question, not a feature-wall question. We do not publish a “yes” for a main door. Send a photo of the door and any fire label, and expect quote on inspection unless the job is a fitting we already price, such as a hinge at S$60 to S$120. How often common areas are repainted is a town-council programme. This site does not print a cycle such as a number of years. Inventing one would be a false fact. If your corridor already looks tired, write to the town council named on the service and conservancy bill. Do not hire us to get ahead of them with a sample pot.

Interior paint is a different sentence. HDB’s renovation important-information page still expects renovation to follow the guidelines even when a particular item does not need a permit, and it says renovation contractors come from the Directory of Renovation Contractors. A small hole patch at S$150 to S$280, or a dried stain at S$150 to S$400, is the maintenance row when the photo matches. A whole-flat colour change is quote on inspection. It is not a corridor job that we have quietly moved indoors. If the wall is wet, stop. Paint on a live leak fails, and the ceiling-leak guide is the page that talks about who pays when the slab is shared.

Shops under HDB blocks are another document. The renovation guide for HDB shop tenants, updated in a December 2025 file on HDB’s site, says painting of external shop walls is subject to the town council, that facade walls follow the building colour, and that a limited recess at the entrance can be considered. That is a shop rule. It is not permission for a residential corridor. Do not show a shop clause to a town council officer as if it covered your flat. Condo lobbies and landed facades are not this HDB sentence either. A condo owner follows the MCST. A landed owner follows URA where planning permission applies, and still should not treat a party wall as a private mural.

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.

Stand in the doorway. If the paint would be on the corridor side of the frame, do not book it.

1. Decide whether the wall is inside the flat or common property.
2. If it is common, write to the town council. Do not buy paint.
3. If it is a balcony face, check the factsheet before you change the colour.
4. If it is an interior scuff, match the hole or stain band.
5. If it is the fire door, send the label and wait for quote on inspection.

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

A sale next month is not an exception. Buyers walk the corridor, and a freshly painted patch on a common wall is the thing the town council notices. The viewing touch-up page prices interior scuffs and the photography half-day. It does not include the approach outside the door. If an agent asks for the corridor to be “neutral”, the answer is no.

Fasteners into walls, when HDB’s technical conditions apply, are limited on that same important-information page: fasteners not exceeding 6mm in diameter and 40mm in penetration, for all types of flats. A paint job that becomes a row of new anchors in a common wall breaks both the paint rule and the fixing rule. Keep the drill inside the flat, and keep it off the household shelter.

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.
• A town council repaints common areas on its own programme. We do not publish how often, because we have not been given a cycle to copy.

WhatsApp the photos to +65 8561 0630.

The priced rows are interior. The outside of the block is a refusal, not a dearer band.

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.

• Interior viewing touch-up
• 3-room paint quantity
• Renovation guidelines
• Interior painting
• Hole repair
• Permit matrix