Who is allowed to replace an HDB window

Last updated 31 October 2026.

“HDB approved window contractor” is one of the clearest window searches in Singapore, and it is a registration question before it is a price question. HDB’s window-works page says you must engage a BCA approved window contractor listed in HDB’s directory for all window installation and replacement, and that a renovation permit is required before the work. The contractor obtains the permit. BCA defines an approved window contractor as a firm registered under regulatory workhead RW01. BCA also says installation can be carried out by a builder registered under GB1 or GB2. The duties BCA publishes include complying with the window performance requirements and submitting the completion certificate no later than 14 days after the work. Retrofitting replaces aluminium rivets at variable-geometry stays with type 304 stainless steel. After retrofitting an HDB flat, the contractor’s report is the homeowner’s record. BCA’s own table points HDB retrofitting at Form B1. Keep whatever report the contractor is required to hand you. Homey Furnishing does not issue that form and does not drill those rivets.

V On Construction Pte. Ltd. UEN 201611708H is on the HDB Directory of Renovation Contractors and invoices the permit scope. The window contractor and the permit invoice are not the same sentence. Homey Furnishing Pte. Ltd. UEN 202018148K invoices permit-exempt work from inside the flat. If a page on this site has called a job BCA-exempt, it means the sash hardware is not being replaced. Interior silicone or PU reseal at S$180 to S$380 a window is that exempt job. Handle replacement at S$60 to S$120 is the handle job when the stay is sound. Film on intact glass, within the 20% reflectance cap, is not a window replacement and does not need the window permit. A clean from inside is not a contractor appointment. Mixing those into the RW01 invoice is how a bead of silicone gets described as a new window.

This guide does not publish a list of contractor names, a star rating or a “cheapest approved” claim. BCA and HDB keep the directories. Copying a partial list onto a marketing page would go stale and would look like an endorsement. When you compare quotes, ask the firm to show the RW01 registration, confirm they are on HDB’s list if the home is an HDB flat, and confirm the permit is approved before the frame comes out. Ask whether the price is a hardware set or a full leaf. Our published hardware set is S$180 to S$600 for exterior rivets, stays or rollers. The repair page’s comparison table groups exterior works, with glass and full replacement among the examples, at S$180 to S$900 a window. A full new window beyond that match is quote on inspection on the replacement page. We will not invent a 4-room package to win the autocomplete for “price list”.

Design rules travel with the permit. Like-for-like type, dimension and colour. Casement stays casement. Sliding stays sliding. Full-height replacement is strictly not allowed unless HDB permits it for a damaged frame. Casement leaves on a new installation stay within 700mm wide, with a grade 304 stay at least 2.50mm thick and at least half the leaf long, and at least four screws each side. Sliding panels need stoppers. Grilles on parapets follow the 1 July 2007 split described on the grille page. None of these rules become optional because a contractor is friendly. Condo owners do not use the HDB permit, and they do not skip the MCST or BCA. Landed houses do not use the HDB directory rule, and they do not skip an approved installer where BCA requires one.

Homey Furnishing Pte. Ltd. (ACRA UEN 202018148K), 27 Mandai Estate, #06-10 Innovation Place, Singapore 729931, invoices permit-exempt window work done from inside the flat. V On Construction Pte. Ltd. (ACRA UEN 201611708H), on the HDB Directory of Renovation Contractors, invoices an HDB renovation permit when the window scope needs one. The exterior rivets, friction stays, rollers and glass are done by a BCA approved window contractor registered under workhead RW01. Homey Furnishing is not that RW01 contractor.

Curtains, blinds and roller shades are not part of this booking. Fabric is a different product, and these pages do not quote it.

Separate “the window must be replaced” from “a part on the window has failed”.

1. Photograph the frame, the stay and the crack if there is one.
2. If only the rivets are bad, read the safety guide before you order a new frame.
3. For a true replacement, confirm RW01 and the HDB listing, then the permit.
4. Do not remove the old window first.
5. Keep the completion report the contractor is supposed to hand over.

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

Internal 2K PU recolour of the aluminium, S$650 to S$1,800, changes the colour you see inside the room. It is not a new window and it is not a facade repaint. A toilet exhaust fan on an acrylic panel is S$220 to S$420. The exterior frame stays. An insect screen inside the reveal does not replace the window. Frosted film does not replace the pane. If someone has quoted “replacement” for one of these, ask them to point at the sentence.

Cracked glass is the closest neighbour. HDB tells you to use the approved contractor for the pane and the gasket. That can be smaller than a new frame and it is still not a handyman silicone visit. The glass page keeps it quote on inspection so the grouped S$180 to S$900 band is not rewritten as a per-pane tariff.

Keep the permit acknowledgement, the contractor’s completion paperwork, and a photo of the new rivet heads. The safety guide explains why aluminium rivets are the fallen-window problem and states the penalty range already published there. This guide does not add a new fine. A resale later will ask what was done to the windows. A verbal “my uncle changed it” is the file that fails.

Keep child-safety locks and insect screens off the permit drawing unless they change the window. A restrictor added after a sound replacement is the child-safety page, quote on inspection. It is not evidence that the RW01 work included a lock. Curtains and blinds are not evidence of anything on a window permit.

How you're charged

A window job that already has a sentence on HomeySG uses that sentence. Nothing in this table is a fuel surcharge, and the hour is not added on top of a band unless the written scope says so.

Who is allowed to touch the window

HDB’s window-works guidelines require a BCA approved window contractor listed in HDB’s directory for installation and replacement, and an HDB renovation permit before that work starts. BCA registers that contractor under workhead RW01. Retrofitting replaces aluminium rivets in variable-geometry stays with type 304 stainless steel. Homey Furnishing does not issue that rivet.

• Interior silicone or PU reseal, at S$180 to S$380 a window, is the exempt interior job on the window repair page.
• A handle at S$60 to S$120 is that published row. A failed stay or rivet is not a handle.
• Film on intact glass is not a sash replacement. On an HDB flat, film over existing window or balcony-door glass does not need a permit when it is non-reflective or not above 20% reflectance.
• Service-yard and balcony parapet grilles need a permit. Flats handed over from 1 July 2007 use HDB’s approved grille designs. Older blocks may take an internal grille that does not protrude, without that permit.
• A condo facade is the MCST’s elevation. Reflective film, a grille and an external screen are uniformity questions before anyone sticks or drills.
• Curtains, blinds and roller shades are not quoted here.
• Nobody leans out of the casement. High glass is cleaned from inside.

Ways to keep the bill smaller

• Photograph every opening before a film roll, a mesh panel or a grille is cut. A wrong reflectance or a wrong grille design is a wasted visit.
• Put the windows in one room on the same visit. A second trip is a second booking.
• If the track is only dirty, the published clean is S$60 to S$100. That is not a new roller.
• If the stay is rusty, stop. Film and a child lock on a failing sash do not make it safe. The approved contractor comes first.
• Do not ask a corridor recommendation to start drilling rivets. Ask which workhead they hold, and whether the permit is in before the old frame comes out.

WhatsApp the photos to +65 8561 0630.

Published bands are listed so a permit job is not quietly given an interior price, and an interior job is not quietly given a replacement price.

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.

• HDB window replacement
• Glass only
• Stays and rivets
• Safety rules and penalties
• Exempt interior repairs
• Grille permits, a different drawing
• Window child-safety locks