In short: Start looking about six months before key collection, but do not place orders until after your defects check and after renovation dates are confirmed. Furniture is the last thing to arrive and the first thing people order too early. The one hard deadline nobody mentions: you must take possession of the flat within one month of HDB’s notice.
Most BTO advice tells you what to buy. Almost none tells you when, which is the part that actually goes wrong.
Order too early and your sofa arrives while the floor is still being laid. Order too late and you sleep on a mattress on the floor for six weeks. Between those two mistakes sits a sequence with a few fixed points — some set by HDB, some by physics — and once you can see them, the timing becomes obvious.
Here is the whole run, from the letter about key collection to the day the last delivery arrives.
The sequence at a glance
| When | What happens |
| ~6 months before keys | Start looking. Meet interior designers. Visit showrooms. Buy nothing |
| ~1 month before keys | Engage your renovation contractor |
| Key collection | Within 1 month of HDB’s notice — this is a hard deadline |
| Week 1 after keys | Defects check, before any renovation starts |
| Weeks 1–2 | Contractor submits the renovation permit |
| Weeks 2–12 | Renovation |
| ~4–6 weeks before completion | Place furniture orders |
| Completion week | Delivery and installation |
Before key collection: look, don’t buy
Six months out is the right time to start visiting showrooms, and the wrong time to order anything.
What you are doing in this period is narrowing choices, not committing. You cannot measure a flat you have not collected keys to, your renovation may change wall positions, and a deposit paid now ties you to a delivery window you cannot yet predict.
What is worth doing early: work out your layout intentions, learn what sizes exist, and find out which pieces have long lead times. A standard mattress is usually in stock. A custom-size mattress is not — Sealy publishes a four-to-eight-week lead time on custom sizes, and that is typical for anything made to order.
If you want a checklist of what a whole flat actually needs, our full home furnishing checklist covers it room by room.
Key collection: the deadline people miss
HDB notifies you of your key collection appointment by email and SMS, generally within two weeks of the appointment date. All applicants must attend in person at HDB Hub in Toa Payoh.
The part worth knowing: under the Agreement for Lease, you must take possession of the flat within one month of HDB’s notice. Deferring beyond that incurs daily interest on the balance purchase price.
HDB also states plainly that non-occupation of the flat is an infringement of the Housing & Development Act, and that it can compulsorily acquire a flat left unoccupied. Collecting keys is not something to postpone while you get organised.
Week one: the defects check comes first
This is the single most important sequencing decision in the whole process.
Do the defects inspection before renovation starts. Once a contractor has worked on the flat, it becomes much harder to establish whether a problem was HDB’s or your renovator’s — and the liability can shift to you.
You have a one-year Defects Liability Period from the start of your lease. Within it, HDB rectifies qualifying defects at no cost. Submit a request online or at the Building Service Centre in your precinct, and HDB arranges a joint inspection to verify what you have reported.
HDB aims to complete rectification within 14 working days, and in a 2023 parliamentary answer the Ministry of National Development stated that more than 90% of reported defects were rectified within that window.
Two useful things about the DLP that are widely misunderstood:
There is no published deadline for reporting. You will see “report within 7 days” and “within 30 days” on various blogs. HDB’s own rectification page states no hard cut-off within the one-year period. Do it early because it should precede renovation — not because a clock runs out.
Some cover extends well beyond one year. HDB has stated warranties of five years for ceiling leakages and external seepage, and ten years for spalling concrete.
Renovation: permits, hours and how long it takes
Your contractor applies for the renovation permit, not you — and the contractor must be listed in HDB’s Directory of Renovation Contractors. Engaging an unlisted contractor is an offence under the Housing and Development (Renovation Control) Rules.
The working hours are stricter than most people expect, and they are the main reason renovation takes as long as it does:
| Works | Allowed |
| General works — plastering, screeding, painting | Monday to Saturday, 9am–6pm. Not Sundays or public holidays |
| Noisy works — demolition, removing wall or floor finishes, tile cutting, heavy drilling | Monday to Friday, 9am–5pm only. Not Saturdays, Sundays, public holidays, or the eves of New Year’s Day, Lunar New Year, Hari Raya Puasa, Deepavali and Christmas |
Source: MyNiceHome, HDB’s portal for new flat owners.
Three more rules worth knowing:
- Noisy works cannot run more than three consecutive days using hand-held power tools
- Your contractor must give neighbours five days’ written notice — the two units either side, plus the units above and below
- Renovation must be completed within three months of the permit date for a new flat
One restriction specific to new flats: you cannot remove the bathroom and toilet wall and floor finishes for the first three years. HDB provides them as a waterproofed system, and taking them up early risks the membrane beneath.
As for duration, a BTO renovation typically runs six to ten weeks, depending on scope. That is an industry estimate rather than an HDB figure, and the range widens quickly if you are doing extensive carpentry.
When to actually order the furniture
Here is the answer the rest of this has been building to.
Place your orders roughly four to six weeks before renovation completes. By that point you have firm measurements, your layout is fixed, and your contractor can give you a realistic completion date.
Sequence the deliveries rather than booking them all for the same day:
First, the bedroom. Bed frame and mattress. You want somewhere to sleep from day one, and it is the room least affected if something else runs late.
Then window coverings. Blinds and curtains need measuring after the renovation, not before — a new skirting or a shifted curtain track changes the dimensions. They are also made to order, so they tend to be the longest wait in the whole project.
Then the living and dining rooms. Sofa, dining set, television console. These are bulky, they need floor space to be clear, and they are the easiest to live without for a fortnight.
Last, the extras. Digital lock, wallpaper, anything cosmetic.
If you are furnishing the bedroom first, start with the two items that matter most for storage: our BTO storage bed makeover shows what the space under a bed is worth in a flat this size, and the mattress collection is the piece to try in person rather than order from a photograph.
If your block is collecting keys together
One thing worth checking before you order anything: whether neighbours in your block are buying at the same time.
A whole BTO block collects keys within weeks of each other, which means dozens of households buy the same categories of furniture in the same two months. Ordering together as a block gets everyone better pricing, and it lets deliveries be scheduled across the block rather than negotiated flat by flat.
We have run over 30 of these. One contact handles the whole block, pricing is held for the duration, and deliveries get scheduled across the development rather than negotiated flat by flat.
If your block has a group chat, that is usually where it starts. Register your interest in a BTO or condo group buy and we will set one up for your development — there is no obligation, and it costs nothing to find out what the block pricing looks like.
A note on lead times
Ask for the lead time in writing before you pay a deposit, for every item. Not the showroom’s general estimate — the actual lead time for the model, finish and size you chose.
The pieces that catch people out are consistently the same: made-to-measure curtains and blinds, custom-size mattresses, anything in a non-stock fabric or finish, and imported items shipping from abroad.
If you are working to a fixed move-in date, say so at the point of ordering rather than after. We will tell you which choices will not make your date and which will.
The easiest way to get this right: bring your renovation completion date to our Ubi showroom and we will build the delivery schedule backwards from it — what to order in which week, and what to decide now because the lead time demands it. Open daily, 11am to 8pm, no appointment needed.
If you would rather do it from your desk, send us your key collection date and what you are furnishing through the contact form and we will come back the same day with a schedule.
Frequently Asked Questions
When should I start buying furniture for my BTO?
Start looking about six months before key collection, but place orders roughly four to six weeks before your renovation finishes. You need firm measurements and a confirmed completion date first, and both come after renovation is underway.
Can I do the defects check after renovation starts?
You can, but you should not. Once a contractor has worked in the flat it becomes difficult to establish whether a defect was HDB’s responsibility or your renovator’s, and the liability may fall to you. Inspect before any work begins.
How long is the HDB Defects Liability Period?
One year. Within it HDB rectifies qualifying defects at no cost, aiming to complete within 14 working days. Separately, HDB has stated five-year cover for ceiling leakages and external seepage, and ten years for spalling concrete.
Do I have to collect my keys straight away?
Yes. Under the Agreement for Lease you must take possession within one month of HDB’s notice, and deferring incurs daily interest on the balance purchase price. HDB also treats non-occupation as an infringement of the Housing & Development Act.
What are HDB’s renovation hours?
General works are allowed Monday to Saturday, 9am to 6pm, with no work on Sundays or public holidays. Noisy works are restricted to Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm, and are additionally barred on the eves of five major festivals.
How long does a BTO renovation take?
Typically six to ten weeks depending on scope. Extensive carpentry pushes it longer. Your contractor must complete the permitted works within three months of the permit date.
Which furniture should I order first?
Bedroom first, so you have somewhere to sleep. Then window coverings, which must be measured after renovation and are usually the longest lead time. Living and dining last.
