Drilling in a Singapore flat, only where the wall allows it
Drilling is a method, not a product with its own price. Shelves, bars and pictures are quote on inspection unless another page already prices that fitting. HDB shelter walls are refused. Noisy drilling waits for a weekday.
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Photo: Fructibus, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons. File: Cordless electric (screw) drill.
How it works
- 1
Send one photo per task on WhatsApp, with the block and whether the home is HDB, condo, or landed.
- 2
We match each task to a published band, or we say quote on inspection.
- 3
You confirm the scope before anyone comes. Licensed work and permit work are named, not folded into the hour.
- 4
The fitting is repaired and tested. Parts that a row does not include stay off the invoice.
What this job actually is
People book “a drilling service” when they have a bag of brackets and a Saturday. The bag is several jobs. Each bracket needs a wall that can hold it. Concrete, brick, hollow block, tile over concrete, and tile over a waterproofed bathroom are not one setting on the drill. This page is the decision. The shelf, picture, whiteboard, towel bar and pull-up pages are the objects. None of them has a first-install price in the catalogue. Quote on inspection is the shared answer. Inventing S$10 a hole would be a new price.
HDB flats add two hard stops. The household shelter is not a drilling wall. A fire-rated main door is not a drilling board. Anchors in the shelter and extra holes in a fire door are how a small visit becomes a compliance problem. The door repair page owns hinges, PD pivots, pocket rollers and balcony bogies. If the thing you want drilled is the door, start there and on the digital-lock guide, not here. Noisy drilling into concrete is a weekday daytime slot, the window the permit guide describes as about 9am to 5pm.
Condo drilling is the same bits and a different calendar. The MCST may ban Saturday noise and may want the work registered. A deposit, if the by-law asks, is paid to them. It is not a drilling surcharge. Landed houses can be brick. Brick wants a different plug from concrete. A party wall needs a moment of thought about whose side the cable or pipe is on. We do not publish a brick premium.
The hole you do not want is the one that hits a pipe or a conduit. Bathrooms and kitchens hide supplies. A photo of the wall is not an X-ray. If the spot is above a valve or beside a DB, say so. We will move the mark. A punctured pipe is a plumber. A nicked cable is an electrician. Neither is included in a drilling quote, because the drilling quote does not exist until the photos are seen, and it never includes a licence we do not hold for that trade.
After the fitting is up, old holes may remain. A small hole patch and repaint is S$150 to S$280 on the ceiling page when the scar matches that sentence. A handful of pin holes from pictures is often inside a handover conversation, not automatically that band. The move-in packages price hole patching as part of a package from S$298. Do not add the ceiling band and the package and call both mandatory. Say which mess you actually have.
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.
What to do first
Count the holes only after you know the wall.
- List each item, not “drill ten holes.”
- Photograph each wall and say concrete, tile or unknown.
- Strike the shelter and the fire door off the list.
- Book a weekday for concrete.
- Expect quote on inspection. There is no per-hole tariff on this site.
| What you see | Safe check | Stop |
|---|---|---|
| A quote says S$8 a hole | Ask what wall and what load | This site does not publish a per-hole rate |
| The mark is on the shelter door or wall | Stop | We will not drill it |
| The mark is on glazed tile | Use the tile guide | Do not use hammer mode on the glaze |
| You also want the main door bored | Digital-lock guide and door repair | A fire door is not this drilling list |
HDB, condo and landed
HDB is where the shelter rule and the weekday rule bite together. Condo is where the by-law bites. Landed is where brick and height show up. A drill at 4m is not the high-ceiling lamp band. That band is for a lamp. A high drill is quote on inspection.
If the only goal is to move existing brackets to a new flat, the move calculator’s shelf line is S$30 to S$55 per set, as a transfer. Say “move,” not “drill,” if that is the truth.
| Question | HDB | Condo | Landed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wall | Concrete on a weekday. No shelter. No fire door. | By-law day. No facade holes unless the MCST has agreed. | Brick or concrete. No assumed scaffold. |
| When it is noisy | HDB drilling: weekday daytime. | MCST calendar. | No HDB rule. Still no party-wall guess. |
| Money | Quote on inspection unless a named row matches. | Same. | Same. |
How you're charged
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.
| Charge | What it covers | 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Per hour | Permit-exempt handyman time | S$45/hr |
| Minimum charge | One task on one visit | S$55 |
| Call-out | The same single-task visit. No separate trip fee | S$55 |
| Materials | Parts, unless a job row says they are included | quote on inspection |
Small, medium, and large visits
Times are planning estimates for the work itself. They are not a promise of when someone arrives.
| Size | Example tasks | Planning time |
|---|---|---|
| Small | One generic hinge, tap labour on the existing outlet, or a socket on an existing circuit | Often under an hour |
| Medium | An exposed cistern siphon, one silicone zone, or two or three small tasks on the same visit | About 1 to 3 hours |
| Large | A typical HDB bathroom regrout, a dishwasher bay, or an exposed storage-heater labour visit | Half a day or longer |
Ways to keep the bill smaller
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.
Price, or quote on inspection
These rows are the nearby published jobs. They are not a drilling hourly rate.
| Scope already published | 2026 band in the repo | Where it lives |
|---|---|---|
| Small hole patch and repaint | S$150 to S$280 | Ceiling repair |
| Shelf or bracket set, take down and refit at a second address | S$30 to S$55 | Transfer only |
| Door alignment or hinge tightening | S$60 to S$120 | A hinge, not a new hole in a fire door |
| Drilling by the hole | quote on inspection | Not published |
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.
Related pages
Frequently Asked Questions
How much per hole?
We do not publish a per-hole or hourly drilling rate. The visit is quote on inspection unless the object is already priced on another page.
Can you drill the bomb shelter?
No.
Can you drill on Sunday?
Not noisy concrete work in an HDB flat. Weekday daytime is the slot.
Do you drill fire doors for digital locks?
Only within the digital-lock guide, and only when the fire detail allows the holes. The prices there are S$188 to S$320 to fit a lock you bought, or S$280 to S$450 supply and fit. This drilling page does not replace that.