A renovation runs on HDB’s clock.
HDB renovation timing is set down to the hour: when general work may run, when the noisy work has to stop, and how long the whole job can take.
HDB allows general renovation in a flat between 9am and 6pm on weekdays and Saturdays, and none at all on Sundays or public holidays. The noisy work, which HDB calls restricted renovation (demolishing walls, removing wall or floor finishes, cutting tiles, heavy drilling), has a tighter window: 9am to 5pm on weekdays only. It is not allowed on Saturdays, Sundays, public holidays, or the eves of New Year’s Day, Chinese New Year, Deepavali, Hari Raya Puasa and Christmas Day. These hours sit alongside the permit rules in our guide to HDB renovation permits.
Can the contractor drill right now?
Pick the day, the kind of work and the time to see whether HDB’s hours allow it.
Day
Work
Noisy works: demolishing walls, removing or cutting tiles, heavy drilling.
General works may run from 9am to 6pm on weekdays and Saturdays. Noisy works are limited to 9am to 5pm on weekdays, and nothing is allowed on Sundays or public holidays.
The other limits on the clock
Hours are not the only timing rule. HDB also sets these:
- Three days for the loudest work. Contractors cannot take more than 3 consecutive days to demolish walls or remove wall and floor finishes.
- Two power tools at a time. Only two of HDB’s approved handheld power tools, or their equivalent, can be used at any one time.
- A deadline from the permit. Approved renovations must be completed within 3 months of the permit date in a newly completed block, and within 1 month in an existing block. A job that is only window works gets 2 weeks.
- Five days’ notice. HDB says neighbours within a radius of 2 units should get written notice at least 5 days before work begins, and the Notice of Renovation must stay up outside the flat until the work is finished.
The noisy work gets the fewest hours, so it is the part of the schedule everything else waits for.
How the hours shape a real schedule
Restricted work gets 8 hours on a weekday and none at the weekend, so the hacking and tiling phases move at the pace of the calendar more than the crew. A week with a public holiday in it loses a day, and so does a weekday that falls on the eve of one of those five festivals. That is why demolition is planned as a short, concentrated block near the start, inside the 3-day limit, with debris removal lined up to follow straight after.
Quieter work fills the rest of the week. Painting, fitting lights and the parts of carpentry installation that need no heavy drilling can run on Saturdays within the 9am to 6pm window. A schedule that keeps the noisy jobs on weekdays and the quieter ones on Saturdays makes the most of the hours HDB allows, and it is easier on the neighbours you will be living beside for years.
The completion deadline matters most in a resale flat, where the 1-month window starts before the old renovation has even come out. Drawings, materials and the order of trades are best settled before the permit date, so the clock is spent on building rather than deciding.
Doing some of it yourself
If you plan small jobs of your own after moving in, HDB asks you to keep DIY work between 7am and 10.30pm and to keep the noise down, and to tell your neighbours beforehand if drilling or hammering cannot avoid those hours.
For where the noisy phase sits in the whole sequence, from permits to handover, see our renovation guide, and for what the permit itself covers, our guide to which works need an HDB permit.