Handyman hourly rate: S$45, and the S$55 call-out

Last updated 30 October 2026.

Permit-exempt handyman time is S$45 an hour. That hour does not replace a fitting that already has a sentence. A generic hinge is from S$38 a door. Door alignment is S$60 to S$120. A tap on the existing outlet is S$55 labour. A socket on an existing circuit is S$55. Those rows are the price. The hour is for permit-exempt time that has no row. It is not a wage you multiply across a plumber’s job.

Some pages mention duration because the work has a shape. Hollow-tile injection for four to ten intact tiles is described as about three hours at S$350 to S$750. That sentence is the product. Dividing 350 by 3 and calling the result the hourly rate is a misreading. The three hours include the ports, the grout and the floor protection, not a timer you can point at a different task. A one-hour hinge adjustment does not become S$117 because a tile job took three hours.

The S$55 call-out is one task on one visit. It is not a fee stacked on every job band, and it is not a fuel surcharge. The mall overnight page is a different product: S$380 to S$650 includes permit-to-work admin and one hardware fix in a mall at night. Do not import that figure into a home and call it the S$55 call-out.

Transfers during a house move are also easy to misuse. The move calculator prices a shelf or bracket set taken down and refitted at the next address at S$30 to S$55, and a TV bracket at S$40 to S$70, on top of two-address coordination. That is labour for fittings you already own, moving once. A new floating shelf in a concrete HDB wall, a first TV mount, or a Saturday of drilling is not that line. The coordination band itself is S$120 to S$180 inside the calculator, for the two-address admin, not for a single-flat handyman hour.

When a job has no sentence, the rate is quote on inspection. That includes most first-time drilling, picture hanging, whiteboard mounting, pull-up bars, cable trunking, door closers, knobs, peepholes, letterbox locks and key cutting. Quoting them at a made-up hour would be the thing this page exists to avoid. Send the photos. If a published sentence fits, you will get that band. If it does not, you will get the words quote on inspection, which you can compare with anyone else’s written hour.

Homey Furnishing Pte. Ltd. (ACRA UEN 202018148K), 27 Mandai Estate, #06-10 Innovation Place, Singapore 729931, invoices the permit-exempt visit. V On Construction Pte. Ltd. (ACRA UEN 201611708H), on the HDB Directory of Renovation Contractors, invoices hacking, a new layout, windows that are not exempt, and the household shelter. Homey Furnishing is not a MOM-licensed employment agency and does not place helpers, nannies or caregivers.

Treat “per hour” as a question about the scope, not as a number you are owed.

1. Ask which published sentence the hour is supposed to cover.
2. If the sentence exists, use the band and stop multiplying.
3. If the seller adds a call-out, ask where that fee is printed. It is not printed here.
4. Keep licensed lines off the hour: new pipes, new circuits, gas, hacking.
5. For anything unmatched, compare quote on inspection with their written hour, line by line.

Housing type does not create an hourly rate either. An HDB service yard and a condo bathroom can take different minutes for the same valve, and the valve band is still S$110 to S$180 when it is that valve. The extra minutes of a shutdown window are a scheduling fact. They are not a new dollar unless a page prints one.

Landed high ceilings are the exception that is already printed. A lamp at 3.6m to 4.8m is S$220 to S$380 because the ladder is the work. Above that, the scaffold band on the same lighting page is S$380 to S$680. Use those rows for lights. Do not generalise them into a handyman hourly rate for doors.

If another firm publishes an hourly rate, ask them to map your list onto it in writing: minimum hours, whether the trip is extra, whether parts are extra, and what happens when the job becomes a plumber’s job. Then lay that note beside the HomeySG sentence for the same photo. You may still prefer their hour. You will at least know which tasks they have not described.

Do not ask Homey to ignore a published band and “match” someone else’s hour. The reply uses S$45 an hour, the S$55 call-out, or the job band that matches the photo. Unmatched work stays quote on inspection.

How you're charged

These four lines are the published handyman charges. A job that already has its own band uses that band. The hour is not added on top of a band unless the written scope says so. There is no fuel surcharge.

Small, medium, and large visits

Times are planning estimates for the work itself. They are not a promise of when someone arrives.

What a handyman can't do

Permit-exempt fittings stay on the Homey Furnishing invoice. These do not:

• A new cable, a new circuit, or a consumer unit. That is an EMA licensed electrician. A socket on an existing circuit is the S$55 row. A dedicated appliance circuit stays S$220 to S$450.
• A new or relocated water point, or a hacked chase. That is a PUB licensed plumber. Tap labour on the existing outlet is S$55.
• Piped gas. That is a Licensed Gas Service Worker.
• Hacking, a new layout, or the household shelter. That is an HDB renovation permit through V On Construction Pte. Ltd. UEN 201611708H.
• A hole in a fire-rated door that the fire detail does not allow.
• Common-corridor lights, stacks, and letterbox banks. Those follow the town council on the S&CC bill, or the MCST in a condo.

Handyman vs licensed contractor

Questions to ask before you book

• Which published sentence is this, and which page is it on?
• Is the S$55 call-out the whole visit, or is further time at S$45 an hour?
• Are parts included, or am I buying them?
• Who holds the licence if the job is a new cable, a new pipe, or gas?
• Will anyone drill a fire door or the household shelter?
• What will be written down before someone comes?

How to hire

1. Send one photo per task and the block number.
2. Match the reply to a row on the price list. Unmatched work should say quote on inspection.
3. Confirm the scope before the visit. Do not pay a corridor offer that starts with a drill.
4. Keep the town council or MCST for common property.

Company vs freelance

A company visit from this site is an invoice from Homey Furnishing Pte. Ltd. UEN 202018148K for permit-exempt work. The electrician or plumber is named when the law requires that licence. A freelance handyman is a person you hire yourself. Ask the same questions: who invoices, who holds the licence, and whether a fire door will be drilled. This page does not rank freelancers.

Ways to keep the bill smaller

• Put several tasks on one visit. The S$55 call-out is one task. Extra permit-exempt time is S$45 an hour, not a second trip.
• Buy the part when the row is labour only. Tap labour is S$55. Toilet-bowl labour is S$168. Instant-heater labour is S$108 to S$260. Exposed storage-heater labour is S$188 to S$380.
• Send the photos first, so the reply can use a published band instead of a vague hour.

WhatsApp the photos to +65 8561 0630.

The hour and the call-out sit beside the job bands. Use the band when the photo matches.

Anything not in that table is quote on inspection. A second trade, when the law requires one, is named. It is not folded into a handyman hour.

WhatsApp the photos to +65 8561 0630. The reply uses a band already printed on HomeySG, or it says quote on inspection. It does not invent a third number in the chat.

• Price list
• How the charge is built
• Two-address transfer calculator
• Handyman service