Bathroom Renovation in Serangoon

Not the one being renovated — water is disconnected and the floor is out of service for most of the project. If it is your only bathroom, ask the contractor to sequence works so the toilet is usable overnight where possible, and plan for gym showers or neighbours for the tiling and waterproofing week.

Only in limited ways. Swapping a vanity, toilet, or taps in place works as standalone jobs, but anything touching the shower area, waterproofing, or tiling should be done in one hit — redoing tiles twice or breaking a waterproof membrane to add something later costs more than doing it together.

Around 10-20% is normal, sometimes more where custom vanities or imported fittings must be ordered up front — in that case pay the supplier invoice share, not a round 50%. Hold 5-10% back until the room has been used for a week or two and the snag list (grout gaps, silicone, door alignment) is closed.

If the renovation strips the shower area back to the substrate, waterproofing must be redone — a failed membrane is the most expensive bathroom defect there is, because the fix means demolishing finished tiling. Several countries regulate wet-area waterproofing explicitly. Never let a contractor tile directly over an old or damaged membrane.

A single HDB bathroom typically runs S$4,000-S$12,000 depending on whether floors are hacked and waterproofing redone; renovating both bathrooms together commonly lands around S$8,000-S$18,000. Condo master bathrooms run higher, S$8,000-S$25,000.

HDB prohibits hacking floor and wall finishes in new BTO bathrooms for 3 years to preserve the original waterproofing warranty. You can still change fixtures, vanities, and accessories in that window — full retiling has to wait or use approved overlay methods.