Renovation Cost Per Square Foot in Singapore

“How much per square foot?” is the first question many homeowners ask, and the honest answer is that a Singapore renovation is not really priced per square foot. The biggest line item — carpentry — is quoted by the running foot of cabinetry, not by floor area, so two flats of identical size can cost thousands apart. As a rough sanity-check, a whole-flat HDB BTO renovation works out to about S$50–S$75 per square foot, and condos run higher and more variably. Every psf figure here is illustrative, derived from 2026 industry total estimates divided by floor area — no official body publishes a renovation psf rate.

What per-square-foot really means here

A per-square-foot figure is a derived average: someone took a total renovation cost and divided it by the floor area. It is useful as a back-of-envelope check — “does this quote look sane for a flat this size?” — but it is not how a contractor builds the number. Quotes are assembled line by line: carpentry by the foot run, flooring and tiling by the square foot, painting by the area, plus fixed items like electrical points, plumbing and hacking.

That means a psf figure is only as good as what it includes. A S$55-psf number that covers carpentry, flooring, painting and basic built-ins is a different animal from one that is “finishes only”. Always ask what is inside a psf claim before you compare it to a quote. For the line-by-line view, see how to read a renovation quotation.

HDB: a rough per-sqft band

To turn totals into a psf figure you need the floor area. HDB’s own sales brochures give the official sizes: a 3-room flat is about 69 sqm (66 sqm internal), a 4-room 93–95 sqm (90–92 sqm internal), and a 5-room 113–115 sqm (110–112 sqm internal). Converting internal area to square feet (1 sqm ≈ 10.76 sqft) gives roughly 710 sqft, 969 sqft and 1,184 sqft respectively.

Card of HDB flat internal floor areas and derived renovation psf: 3-room about 710 sqft, 4-room 969 sqft, 5-room 1184 sqft, whole-flat BTO reno about S$50 to S$75 psf

HDB internal floor areas and the derived whole-flat renovation psf band.

Qanvast’s 2026 estimates put a BTO renovation at S$40,800–S$52,500 for a 3-room, S$50,000–S$60,000 for a 4-room and S$60,600–S$76,500 for a 5-room, drawn from 2025 medians across 341 projects. Divide those by the floor areas above and the psf lands in a surprisingly tight band:

Flat type	Internal area	Illustrative BTO total	Derived psf
3-room	~710 sqft	S$40,800 – S$52,500	~S$57 – S$74
4-room	~969 sqft	S$50,000 – S$60,000	~S$52 – S$62
5-room	~1,184 sqft	S$60,600 – S$76,500	~S$51 – S$65

Derived by dividing Qanvast’s 2026 BTO estimates by HDB internal floor areas. Illustrative only — Qanvast does not publish a psf figure.

The band is roughly S$50–S$75 psf for a BTO. A resale flat lands higher per square foot: industry guides put resale renovation at 20–40% more than a comparable BTO, because old finishes have to be hacked out and services often rewired before new work starts. The HDB renovation cost guide and the resale flat renovation cost page break those totals down.

Why renovation is not really a per-sqft job

The reason the psf figure misleads is that the largest cost does not scale with floor area at all. Carpentry is usually the biggest component — a 4-room HDB flat averages S$12,000–S$28,000 of it — and it is priced by the running foot of cabinetry (commonly S$150–S$350 per foot run), by material and by hardware. A flat with a long U-shaped kitchen, a walk-in wardrobe and full-height cabinets has far more foot-run than an identically sized flat furnished with loose pieces, even though their floor areas match.

Finish level does the rest. The same cabinet carcass costs very differently in budget laminate versus a sintered-stone top (see the countertop cost comparison), and premium tiles, feature walls and smart-home wiring all add cost without adding a single square foot.

What is genuinely priced per square foot

Some trades really are sold by the square foot, and these are where a psf rate is meaningful:

Flooring: vinyl about S$3–S$8 psf, tiles S$5–S$20 psf, parquet or solid wood S$12–S$30 psf. The flooring cost guide covers the overlay-versus-hacking decision that moves this most.
Tiling labour: roughly S$6–S$10 psf in an HDB flat, S$7–S$11 in a condo and S$6.50–S$10.50 in a landed home, with tile material adding S$2–S$15 psf. The property type itself changes the rate.
Wall and backsplash tiling, painting and waterproofing are also area-based.

Carpentry, appliances, electrical points and plumbing fixtures are not — which is exactly why a whole-renovation psf figure blends area-based and non-area-based work into one average that nobody actually quotes from.

Condo and landed: higher and more variable

Private homes cost more per square foot and vary far more. Published 2026 guides put a medium condo (700–1,000 sqft) mid-range renovation at about S$65,000–S$95,000, which works out to roughly S$65–S$135 psf; full condo jobs commonly sit around S$50–S$120 psf for mid-range finishes. The spread is wider than HDB because unit sizes, ceiling treatments and material grades vary so much.

Condos also carry costs that never appear in a psf rate: MCST approval before hacking, a refundable renovation deposit, lift-booking fees and weekday-only noisy-work windows that lengthen the job. The condo renovation rules page covers these. At the top end, landed reconstruction is genuinely priced per square foot — roughly S$400–S$600 psf for a standard rebuild, climbing past S$1,200–S$2,000 psf for the luxury tier — and commercial fit-outs run about S$80–S$250 psf, which is why psf pricing feels normal for those jobs but not for a flat refresh.

A worked example (illustrative)

Take a 4-room BTO of about 969 sqft internal, labelled illustrative:

A mid-range job at Qanvast’s S$55,000-ish total works out to about S$57 psf.
Load it with full custom carpentry, a sintered-stone kitchen and feature walls, and the total can reach S$68,000–S$90,000 — about S$70–S$93 psf — on the same floor area.
Strip it back to vinyl flooring, a short kitchen run and loose furniture, and S$38,000–S$45,000 is possible — around S$39–S$46 psf.

Same flat, same square footage, a psf range from the high-30s to the low-90s. The number that matters is your scope, not your floor area. These are planning figures, not quotes — get an itemised proposal before you commit.

Frequently asked questions

Is a per-square-foot figure useful at all? Yes, as a sanity-check once your scope is set, and for comparing like-for-like jobs. It is not a reliable way to price a renovation from scratch, because carpentry and finishes dominate the cost and do not scale with area.

Should I use gross or internal area? Use your floor plan’s internal area — the surfaces actually worked on. Gross/approximate area includes the air-con ledge and will understate your true psf.

Why does a resale flat cost more per square foot? Old finishes must be hacked out and services often rewired before new work begins, which adds 20–40% over a comparable BTO for the same area.

Why is my condo quote higher per sqft than an HDB flat? Private homes use higher-grade finishes and more custom work, and condos add MCST deposits, lift-booking fees and restricted working hours that push up cost and time.

What is the cheapest way to lower my psf? Keep carpentry short, reuse the existing layout so plumbing and electrical points do not move, and choose mid-range finishes. The save-on-renovation guide has the full list.

Per-square-foot figures are illustrative, derived from published 2026 industry total estimates (Qanvast, Everyday Renovations, Artisan Signature, Shiok Living) divided by HDB official floor areas — not quotes, and not an official renovation rate. Confirm current figures with your contractor.