A terrace interior is not an HDB renovation

Last updated 31 October 2026.

URA’s landed-house page says terrace, semi-detached and detached houses may need planning permission depending on the work. It says planning permission is not required for gates, walls, fences or other enclosures if they are not higher than 1.8 m. It says a new pavilion needs planning permission, and that a pavilion should be single-storey, freestanding and unenclosed on all sides with lightweight roofing. It says planning permission is not required to convert an existing car porch roof to an open balcony or garden only if the parapet is not higher than 1 m, the parapet is visually porous, and a lightweight screen on the common boundary is not higher than 1.8 m. It says replacing doors and windows does not need planning permission if gross floor area does not increase, setback does not reduce, and the window position does not change. Those are URA’s sentences. We will not measure your fence and issue a certificate, and we will not tell you a pergola is exempt.

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. BCA also says that even when a plan is not required, the owner still observes safety and other authorities, including URA, and should consult the Qualified Person when unsure. An addition and alteration that moves structure is that person. Our landed carpentry service is the wood after the permission is clear, or a repair that does not change it. A loose stair rail is S$250 to S$480. A new flight is quote on inspection.

Inter-terrace and corner terrace share a party wall. We will not chase a pipe into a neighbour’s half. A corner terrace has more windows. Those windows are not an HDB grille job. If the frame is being replaced and the position changes, URA’s own test says planning permission may be required. Read the sentence above. Cluster houses and townhouses can be strata even though they look landed. If there is an MCST, the MCST guide applies as well as URA. Strata landed is not “no by-laws”. A good-class bungalow is still a detached house on URA’s page. We do not publish an envelope or a plot size.

Interiors that already have prices stay there. A kitchen layout change is S$5,000 to S$6,500 only when the kitchen page matches. A sink base that stays is S$280 to S$700. A high stair void light at 4.8 m to 6.0 m is S$380 to S$680. A carport or linkway we build is quote on inspection on the carport page, and URA’s porch sentence is a conversion test, not that price. A boundary fence is the fence page. An HDB terrace flat that is still HDB uses HDB’s renovation page, not this one. That page and the fine of up to $5,000 are for flats. Do not mix them because both buildings are called terrace.

Basements, attic rooms and roof terraces are where people skip the Qualified Person. We will not dig, raise a roof, or enclose a roof terrace as a furniture extra. An attic ladder in an existing hatch is S$850 to S$1,950 on the attic page. A new attic floor is not that ladder. A household shelter, if the house has one, is still clause 7.2. Many landed houses do not have one. Do not invent a shelter. Curtains are not how we “soften” a void.

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. Read URA’s landed page against the work you want.
2. Appoint a Qualified Person before a structural change.
3. Keep party walls unopened unless that person says so.
4. Match stair, kitchen and light rows only when they match.
5. Quote new joinery. Do not ask us to grant planning permission.

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

A corner terrace and a semi-detached house have a side that an inter-terrace does not. More glass is more heat and more noise, not more permission. Film is quote on inspection. Secondary glazing inside the room is S$750 to S$2,800 on the sound page when that is the product. Replacing the window in a new position is the URA test above, and it may be a Qualified Person as well.

A bungalow kitchen that pushes out is an extension. Price the joinery only after the extension exists or is approved. We will not build cabinets for a room that is not there and call the cabinets the approval.

An inter-terrace party wall carries impact noise. A built-in on that wall is fine. A chase for a new pipe is not, unless a Qualified Person and the neighbour’s side have been dealt with. We will not “just nick” the wall. Rockwool in a new partition on your side is S$850 to S$1,950 on the sound page when that is the product. It does not silence a drill.

A semi-detached house has one party wall and more garden. The garden is not an interior. A pergola there is the pergola page and URA’s pavilion sentence. Do not fold the garden structure into the kitchen quote. A bungalow with no party wall still has a boundary. The fence page is the 1.8 m sentence, which we do not certify.

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 start a kitchen extension because a terrace next door did. Their approval is not yours.

WhatsApp the photos to +65 8561 0630.

Landed work is quote on inspection except repairs that already have a row.

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.

• Landed carpentry
• HDB maisonettes
• Fences
• Carports
• Metal and permits
• Stairs