A new flat can be finished without a breaker

Last updated 31 October 2026.

A no-hacking renovation is the sequence this site already prefers, written for a new flat. Report defects. Live with finishes HDB restricts. Assemble what arrives in a carton. Repair what has a row. Only then talk about a layout. The timing guide refuses a week-after-keys rule. The defect guide says do not skin a wall before the report. This page is the list of jobs that are not a hack.

Hinges from S$38, door alignment S$60 to S$120, a sink base S$280 to S$700, hollow-tile injection S$350 to S$750 for four to ten intact tiles, a socket at S$55, and a grab bar on its own page. None of those sentences removes a wall. A full kitchen at S$5,000 to S$6,500 removes and replaces a layout and is a permit. If you do not need that, do not buy it because a board showed an open kitchen. Smell and a baby are the formaldehyde guide. We do not clear a room medically. Paint quantity for a 3-room is that paint guide, not a licence to sand a new floor.

What is a hack, in the hours guide’s words, includes demolishing walls, removing finishes, cutting tiles, and heavy drilling. Weekdays 9:00am to 5:00pm only. HDB’s renovation page is the written approval and the fine of up to $5,000. A feature wall that needs the old wall gone is that list. A fluted panel glued on is not automatically that list, and we will not promise it is exempt. BCA’s windows note is a different trade. A false ceiling built to hide a hack is still the hack.

Style is the style note. Minimalist, Japandi and industrial are finishes and furniture. Industrial pipe that needs a slab chased is a hack. Wabi-sabi is not a reason to strip a new bathroom. The bathroom note is the three-year limit in one place. Pets are mesh on the pet-proofing page, S$120 to S$220 a no-drill window and S$450 to S$1,200 for a 3-room to 5-room package, not a new grille contract unless you are on the grille page.

The move-in packages, S$688 to S$1,288, are the no-hack visit when the scope matches. They are not a promise that the flat is designed. After that, carpentry you still want is quote on inspection. We do not publish a saving for “skipping the ID”. The quote note says we do not publish a markup. Skipping a hack is a saving only if you were going to pay for a hack you do not need. If you need the wall moved, pay for it properly on a weekday, with the permit company, and do not call it minimal.

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. Write a keep list for the bathroom and the doors.
2. Price repairs from rows before you price a new layout.
3. Assemble cartons before you commission built-ins.
4. If a wall must move, use the permit path and the weekday window.
5. Do not rename a hack as a style.

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

Keep the bathroom finishes. Keep the fire door. Keep the shelter clear. Keep the kitchen if the boxes are sound. Change the loose furniture, the lights that are actually a socket row, and the defects you reported. That list is a renovation for a great many first flats. It is not a lesser flat. It is a flat that can be lived in while you learn the doors.

If the keep list is unacceptable because a wall blocks a bed, then the hack is real. Price it as a hack. Do not spend a year calling it a later phase while you drill on Saturdays. The hours do not have a later-phase exception.

Loose rugs, a shoe tray and a carton shelf do more for the first month than a feature wall. The move-in package can be that month. Carpentry you still want after you have slept in the flat is a better quote, because you will have opened the doors. People who design from the showflat design the showflat. The timing guide says the showflat is not your unit. This page agrees and adds the keep list.

Pets change the keep list only by adding mesh. A no-drill window mesh is S$120 to S$220 and a 3-room to 5-room package is S$450 to S$1,200 on the pet-proofing page. That is not a new window. A cat does not require an open kitchen. An open kitchen is still a hack if the wall comes out. Do not mix the two because both feel like making the flat yours. A gate mesh at S$140 to S$260 is the same idea at the front door. It is not a new gate leaf. A litter tray is not carpentry. Put it where a door does not hit it, and do not build a cupboard around it until you have lived with the smell for a week. The same pause applies to a bin cupboard in the kitchen.

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.
• List what you can live with for three years. The bathroom is usually on that list whether you like the tile or not.

WhatsApp the photos to +65 8561 0630.

No-hack jobs are the rows below. A new layout is not discounted into them.

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.

• Bathroom, first three years
• Style without a package
• Carpentry timing
• Hours
• Tile injection
• Reading a quote