Read the plan before you draw on it.
Your HDB floor plan already says what can move and what has to stay. A few minutes with it saves you from falling for a layout you are not allowed to build.
Your HDB floor plan comes from one of two places. For a new flat, it is the plan in the sales brochure you were given at flat selection. For any other flat, HDB sells a copy through its Purchase of Residential Floor Plan e-Service and at self-service kiosks in its branches. Read it before anyone designs anything. It shows which rooms are wet, where the household shelter sits and which walls will matter, and it is the same drawing your contractor submits to HDB when applying for works such as removing a wall. For how each room then comes together, see our room-by-room HDB interior design guide.
Where to get your HDB floor plan
If you bought a BTO, keep the sales brochure: HDB says the plan given to you at flat selection can be used with a renovation application. Resale buyers, and anyone who has lost the brochure, can buy the plan of an existing flat online through HDB’s e-Service or at a kiosk at any HDB branch. HDB also suggests checking your MyHDB page for any renovation guidelines specific to your flat.
Brochure plans carry a scale bar and a window legend, along with a note that the coloured plan is not meant to mark the boundary of the flat. Use the scale for a rough sense of size, then measure on site before carpentry is drawn.
What each zone means once renovation starts
Tap a label or a zone on the schematic to see what it allows and what it rules out.
A simplified schematic, not a real HDB layout. Thick lines stand for structural walls in this sketch only.
Structural wall
HDB does not allow reinforced concrete walls, columns, beams or slabs to be hacked or removed. Any other wall demolition still needs HDB’s written approval, so treat every wall as staying until it is approved.
Household shelter
Its walls, floor slab, ceiling and steel door must not be tampered with. You can paint it, tile the floor and fix shelves with removable screws, but no wall tiles inside and nothing that cannot be removed quickly.
Wet area
Bathrooms sit on a waterproofing membrane. HDB does not allow the original finishes to be replaced in the first 3 years after the block is completed, though you can overlay the floor with adhesive. After that, replacing the floor needs a permit and new waterproofing.
Service yard
The kitchen can extend into the yard without removing walls and without a permit. The services in it must stay untouched, and an exhaust fan is not allowed there.
Bedroom
A dry room and the most flexible one. A light partition needs no permit, but a room someone lives in still needs natural light, ventilation and a direct escape route to the main door. Some new flats use Ferrolite bedroom walls, which need HDB’s approval to remove.
Living / dining
Usually the longest room and where layout choices matter most. Vinyl over the existing floor needs no permit; replacing the tiles does, and new floor finishes and screed together cannot exceed 50mm.
Structural walls and the household shelter
HDB does not allow structural members, meaning reinforced concrete walls, columns, beams and slabs, to be hacked or removed, and every demolition or hacking of a wall, partial or complete, needs its written approval first. Do not decide from the drawing which wall can go. That is HDB’s call, made when a contractor on its Directory of Renovation Contractors applies with your floor plan marked up. Our guide to HDB renovation rules and permits explains how that application works.
The household shelter is labelled on the plan, and HDB has built one into every flat since 1996, so an older resale flat may not have one. Its walls, floor slab, ceiling and steel door must not be tampered with. You can paint it, tile the floor and fix shelves with removable screws, but HDB does not allow wall tiles on the inside faces or fixtures that cannot be removed quickly in an emergency. Plan it as a storeroom with loose or removable shelving, not as space to open up.
The floor plan is the cheapest place to find out that a wall has to stay.
Wet areas, the service yard and the ledges
- Bathrooms. Waterproofed under the tiles, which is why HDB protects the original finishes for three years from the block’s completion. After that, a new floor needs a permit and fresh waterproofing.
- Kitchen and service yard. The kitchen can extend into the yard without removing walls and without a permit, but the services there stay as they are and no exhaust fan is allowed in the yard.
- Aircon ledge. HDB reserves it for the condensing unit only, so it is not storage or planting space.
- Windows. Coded on the plan and explained in the legend. Only BCA-approved window contractors listed with HDB can replace them, so a window change is its own trade on the schedule.
- The DB. The distribution board is where your circuits start. Find it on site if the plan does not show it, because new power and lighting points are planned from there.
How a 4-room plan usually flows
There are many 4-room variants, so treat this as a pattern rather than a promise. A 4-room unit in a recent HDB BTO brochure shows a living/dining room and three bedrooms (one marked main) along the window side, with the kitchen, service yard, two bathrooms, household shelter and aircon ledge behind them. Most design decisions follow from that order: the long living/dining room wants zoning, and the bedroom walls are where most layout changes get proposed. Before you plan a false ceiling over any of it, check the margin in our piece on HDB ceiling height, and for ideas specific to this flat type, see 4-room HDB renovation ideas.
When you are ready to talk about a layout, send the floor plan with your first message; email is the easiest way to share it. Our renovation guide shows what happens after that, from concept drawings to handover.