Condo key collection: report the developer’s list, then the small fittings

“How to check for defects in a new condo?” is asked beside HDB key collection because the walk-through feels similar and the law is not. HDB publishes a 1-year period from key collection and a one-month reporting window for newly completed HDB flats. A condominium is sold by a developer under a contract. Some People Also Ask boxes use the phrase “12 month defects liability period”. That phrase is common in construction writing. It is not a number we are allowed to stamp on your project. Open the sale contract, or ask the developer’s customer-care desk what they will still rectify, and report before a renovator covers the evidence. Homey Furnishing does not submit that report and does not rank inspection firms. If you pay a private scanner, that fee is quote on inspection.

When the developer has closed the list, or the contract period is over, the remaining chips are ordinary maintenance if they match a row. Silicone that has been cut and resealed as one mouldy zone is S$80 to S$150. A hinge is S$60 to S$120. A small hole is S$150 to S$280. A half-day of up to 15 items from a PDF is S$480 to S$780. A full day is S$880 to S$1,580. Those packages are on the defect-rectification page. They are not a warranty and they are not the developer coming back. Hollow bathroom tiles that are intact can be injected at S$350 to S$750. Hacking a condo bathroom is not the HDB three-year rule. It is an MCST and, where the work is building work, a BCA question. The condo by-laws guide on this site is the longer note on deposits and consent. This page only stops the defects list and the by-laws from being treated as one invoice.

URA’s landed renovation guidance is a different booklet again. It says, for example, that replacing windows and doors on a landed house does not need planning permission when there is no increase in gross floor area, no reduction in setback, and no change in the window’s position. That is planning permission, not a defects period, and it is not a condo by-law. A condo stack that must keep one elevation colour will refuse a film or a grille that a landed house could have changed. Send the by-law excerpt with the photos if the job touches the facade. Interior silicone does not change the elevation.

We will not tell you who is the best developer, what happens to a leasehold condo after 50 years, or whether CPF can pay for renovation. Those are not repair questions. Latent-defect arguments are legal. If you think a crack is structural, stop and ask a qualified person. A hairline repaint at S$150 to S$400 is only for a dry, stable crack after the cause has stopped. Painting over a live leak in a new condo is how the developer later says the owner caused it.

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.

Keep the developer’s form and our visit in separate weeks if the mark might still be theirs.

1. Read the defects clause in the sale contract. Do not borrow HDB’s one year.
2. Report to the developer before any silicone, paint or hack.
3. If you already paid for a private scan, send the PDF. We price repairs, not the scan.
4. After the item is closed, match a band.
5. Ask the MCST before facade film, a grille, or a bathroom hack.

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

A condo key collection is the developer’s appointment. Bring what their letter names. We do not publish a universal tool list, because the letter is the list. A torch and a phone help you record marks for the developer. They are not a Homey product. If a joint inspection with the developer is scheduled, do not fill the chip the night before.

Common property, the corridor ceiling, the car-park leak, the facade crack, is the MCST’s. Do not pay a handyman to coat it and then discover the estate will not reimburse the paint. In-flat fittings are the rows above.

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.
• A half-day punch-list, once you hold a PDF and the developer has finished, is S$480 to S$780 on the rectification page. Do not invent a scan fee.

WhatsApp the photos to +65 8561 0630.

Bands apply after the developer’s item is closed. During their period the honest price is often to wait.

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.

• Defects versus MCST rules
• MCST deposits and by-laws
• PDF rectification
• MCST minor works
• Silicone replacement