A conserved shophouse needs Conservation Permission

Last updated 31 October 2026.

URA’s conservation page says all works or new uses in a conserved building require Conservation Permission and must comply with the relevant guidelines. The guidelines page says Conservation Permission is required before all additions and alteration works and operations of a new use can begin, and that if you are unsure you should consult URA. The same page says the guidelines consist of planning parameters, restoration guidelines, envelope control guidelines, signage guidelines and use guidelines. It says they are applied differently across historic districts, residential historic districts and secondary settlements, and it names those areas. It says owners, architects and engineers intending to carry out restoration or development in a conservation area must comply. We are none of those three. We will not tell you that an interior “does not count”.

The five-foot way, party wall and aircon placements are in the detailed guidelines, which we are not copying from memory. If a drawing shows a walkway, we will not block it with a counter. If you do not know whether the walkway is public, ask URA before we build. A sign on a conserved front is the signage pages only if the sign rules allow it. URA’s signage guidelines are part of the set named above. We do not issue them. A shopfront shutter repair, if the shutter already exists, is S$250 to S$480 for track realignment when that repair matches. A new shutter is quote on inspection.

Residential use and a cafe are not the same visit. A new use needs Conservation Permission before it begins, in URA’s words. A commercial kitchen hood we fabricate is quote on inspection on the exhaust page, and we do not submit a fire-safety plan. SCDF says those plans are submitted by a Qualified Person. Grease traps and floor traps for a food shop are the shop pages, not a living-room carpentry job. A salon mirror and a clinic basin are shop plumbing and electrical rows if they match, and a change of use if URA says so. We do not apply for change of use.

Timber windows, floor tiles and stairs that you want to keep should be photographed before anyone “upgrades” them. Repair of a casement stay is the window-repair pages when the frame stays. Replacing conserved windows is a conservation question, not a same-day aluminium swap. Old floor tiles that are sound can stay. Covering them is quote on inspection and may still be a conservation item. We will not promise that a vinyl plank is acceptable. The BTO vinyl note is for flats, not for a shophouse.

Stairs in a shophouse can be steep. We do not publish a going. A loose rail is S$250 to S$480 if that repair matches and the conservation permission, if required, allows the repair. A new stair is quote on inspection and is not our structural stamp. Homey Furnishing Pte. Ltd. is not an architect, not a professional engineer, and not a Qualified Person. BCA says owners should engage a Qualified Person, an architect with the Board of Architects or a professional engineer with the Professional Engineers Board, holding a valid practising certificate. We do not sign that plan. The shophouse carpentry service starts after you have told us the permission status. We will not begin A&A and call the permission someone else’s problem after the fact.

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. Confirm the building is conserved before you strip anything.
2. Ask URA if you are unsure about permission.
3. Do not block a walkway.
4. Keep a new cafe use and a fire-safety plan with the people who submit them.
5. Quote joinery only with the permission status in the email.

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

A mixed-use shophouse is two questions: the home and the trade. The home can be a bedroom and a bath. The trade can be a counter. They do not share one quote unless the email lists both and the permission covers both. A household shelter rule from an HDB flat does not appear because the upper floor has a bed. Do not import clause 7.2 unless the building actually has a household shelter.

Aircon on a conserved front is a common request we will not approve by installing it. If URA’s guidelines restrict the location, follow them. We do not publish a sleeve price that pretends the sleeve is allowed.

If you live above your own shop, the floor between them is not a place to cut a new stair without permission and a Qualified Person. A loose squeak on a private stair you own is S$380 to S$850 when that tread repair matches. A new opening is not a squeak. Customers downstairs should not see the flat’s laundry. That is a door, not a curtain. We do not sell the curtain.

Original floor tiles that slope were often built that way. A “level” overlay that blocks the door is worse than the slope. Measure the door clearance before a plank is discussed. We do not publish a plank price for a shophouse. The BTO vinyl bands are the wrong building.

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.
• Do not strip timber windows because a cafe board showed aluminium. Ask URA before the windows come out.

WhatsApp the photos to +65 8561 0630.

Permission is not a line we sell. Joinery is quote on inspection.

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.

• Shophouse carpentry
• Shop fit-out
• Exhaust hoods
• Shop signs
• Shutters
• Walk-ups and colonial houses