Before you sign

Eight things in a renovation contract that decide what happens when it goes wrong — and what each one costs you if you push for it.

We do not host a contract template, on purpose

Singapore has exactly one authoritative standard-form residential renovation contract: the CaseTrust Standard Renovation Contract, owned by CASE and mandatory for CaseTrust and CaseTrust-RCMA accredited firms. CASE does not publish it. Copies circulating on other sites are of unverifiable currency, and republishing someone else’s contract would hand you a document we cannot promise is the current one.

What follows is the part nobody gives you: which clauses actually decide the outcome, what each is worth, and where the real rule lives. Every rule below links to the government or CASE page it comes from. Check anything you intend to rely on.

The deposit, and what it is doing

CaseTrust caps the initial deposit at 20% of the total cost for accredited firms, and requires payments to be collected in progressive instalments. A large upfront deposit is the single clearest signal of risk: it moves your money before any of the risk has passed. The trade-off is real — a firm asked for less upfront may price higher, because it is now carrying the float. That is a price worth paying.

Source: CASE — CaseTrust accreditation for renovation businesses

Who files the HDB permit

In an HDB flat this is not negotiable and not optional. The Housing and Development (Renovation Control) Rules require an owner intending renovation to engage a contractor registered in HDB’s Directory, and the contractor to apply for the permit. Name the responsible party in the contract anyway — when a permit is missing, the argument is always about who was supposed to file it.

The permit windows are short and they are deadlines, not guidelines: works must be completed within 3 months of the permit for a newly completed block, 1 month for an existing block, and 2 weeks for window works.

Sources: Housing and Development (Renovation Control) Rules · HDB — Important information on renovations

Variation orders, in writing, priced before work

Almost every renovation dispute is a variation dispute. The clause that matters says: no variation is chargeable unless it was agreed in writing, with its price, before the work was done. Firms resist it because site decisions get made verbally and re-pricing every one is slow. Insist anyway — the alternative is a final invoice containing items you cannot now dispute because nobody wrote them down.

Defects liability: how long, and what it covers

A defects period is worth exactly what its exclusions leave in it. Read what is carved out before you read the number of months. A twelve-month period excluding “wear and tear”, “materials supplied by the owner” and “movement of the building” can be narrower than a six-month one that excludes nothing. Ask what happens if the firm has closed — CaseTrust accreditation includes a deposit performance bond against closure, winding up and liquidation, which is a different and stronger thing than a promise.

Source: CASE — CaseTrust accreditation

Delay, and what it is actually worth

A liquidated damages clause fixes a daily sum for late completion, so you never have to prove your loss. Without one you must prove it, which for a home usually means rent you actually paid. The trade-off: a firm accepting LD will want a matching extension-of-time clause, and those extensions are where the days go back. Read them together or read neither.

What “completion” means, in words

Define the event that releases the final payment. “On completion” is not a date and not a test. A workable version: final payment falls due a fixed number of days after a joint inspection at which a defects list is agreed, with a retention held until that list is cleared. Retention is the only leverage you keep after the keys are back.

Where a dispute goes

Name the forum. The Small Claims Tribunals hear consumer claims up to a limit that changes — check the current one before relying on it — and are designed to be used without a lawyer. CASE operates a mediation centre. A clause forcing arbitration on a home renovation is usually worse for the homeowner than the default, because it costs more than the sum in dispute.

HDB is explicit that it is not part of this: “HDB is not a party to the private agreement between you and your contractor” and any dispute “shall be settled without reference to HDB”. A DRC listing is a registration, not a guarantor.

Sources: Small Claims Tribunals · HDB

Read the industry guide before you negotiate

CCCS published a Guide on Fair Trading Practices for the Renovation Industry on 5 May 2022, developed with CASE, RCMA, the Singapore Interior Design Accreditation Council and MND. It expressly treats interior designers as contractors, so it applies to the person you are probably talking to. It is free, it is short, and it is written by the competition regulator rather than by either side of your negotiation.

Source: CCCS — Fair Trading Practices for the Renovation Industry (available in English and Chinese)