Hong Kong Renovation Cost Guide: Compare Quotes and Control the Budget
A renovation cost in Hong Kong becomes useful when it names the work, quantity, material, exclusions, and payment trigger behind the amount. Give each contractor the same scope sheet, then transfer each response into one comparison table. A price-per-square-foot figure cannot show whether a contractor included demolition, protection, electrical testing, registered work, or handover records.
Use this guide to control the quotation process. It does not estimate a market price for your flat. The Hong Kong renovation directory can help you form a shortlist after you define the job.
Build one scope sheet
Start with rooms and work packages. Give each contractor the same document and drawing revision. Use a separate row for each removal, preparation, supply, installation, finish, test, and handover item.
| Field | Entry to request |
|---|---|
| Location | Room, wall, opening, fitting, or circuit |
| Work | Existing item to remove and new item to supply or install |
| Quantity | Count, length, area, or another stated unit |
| Specification | Material, product, finish, dimensions, and drawing reference |
| Responsibility | Contractor-supplied, owner-supplied, or nominated supplier |
| Exclusions | Access, protection, making good, testing, disposal, or other omitted work |
| Completion evidence | Photo, test result, form, drawing mark-up, or handover record |
Keep unresolved design choices outside the fixed-price total or label them as assumptions. Ask the contractor to state the pricing basis for each open item. This keeps a placeholder from looking like a settled price.
The Consumer Council renovation quotation survey assessed quotations against detailed work and unit breakdowns, unit prices and totals, labour-and-material calculations, payment, contract terms, contract period, and insurance-premium breakdowns. Use those fields as the minimum structure for your comparison sheet.
Compare line items and assumptions
Move each quotation into one table without changing the contractor’s wording. Keep the quantity, unit, rate, and amount in separate columns. Add an assumption column and an evidence column.
| Comparison point | Check before comparing amounts |
|---|---|
| Demolition | Exact item removed, protection, haulage, and making good |
| Builder’s work | Substrate preparation, material, finish, edge, and junction details |
| Joinery | Dimensions, board and finish specification, hardware, and installation |
| Kitchen and bathroom | Fixtures, connections, waterproofing scope, testing, and exclusions |
| Electrical | Circuit and point schedule, equipment, testing, and completion record |
| Windows | Opening, frame scope, design basis, minor-works item, and submission responsibility |
| Professional or registered work | Named role, exact work item, forms, and deliverables |
| Handover | Test records, warranties supplied by the contractor, keys, manuals, and defect list |
Mark a missing field as unanswered. Ask for a revised quotation or written clarification. Avoid inserting your own allowance into a contractor’s column because that produces a total the contractor never offered.
Use the quotation comparison guide for a shorter worksheet. For projects with several design and registered-work roles, the designer, contractor, and registered specialist guide separates those appointments.
Set payment and variation controls
Tie each payment request to a named deliverable. Record the amount stated in the quotation, the work stage, the evidence used for sign-off, and the person who can approve a change.
The Consumer Council guidance tells customers to include commencement and completion definitions, events that may affect progress, additional-work charges, payment, warranty, and dispute terms in the quotation or contract. It also advises four instalments with the first payment capped at 40% of the total amount. That advice supports a payment check; it does not establish one fixed schedule for all projects.
Use a written variation record with these fields:
- original scope row and drawing revision;
- requested change and reason;
- added or removed work;
- price and time effect stated by the contractor;
- approval name and date;
- revised total and payment milestone.
Ask the contractor to issue the variation before carrying out the changed work. Keep the instruction, response, and revised amount together.
Route drainage work through the correct item
Describe the drainage change before assigning a class. The Buildings Department domestic alteration guidance lists plastering, tile laying, and repair or replacement of sanitary fitments as examples of exempt household work that must still comply with building regulations. The same page says alterations to a toilet, bathroom, or kitchen with associated drainage work require notification before commencement and/or after completion under the applicable Minor Works Control System route and appointment of a prescribed registered contractor.
The pipe arrangement determines the route. Minor Works Item 2.30 covers specified Class II Type D aboveground-drain work. It requires a prescribed registered contractor for Class II Type D, an MW03 notice with documents and photos seven days before work starts, and an MW04 completion submission within 14 days after completion.
Minor Works Item 3.23 covers specified Class III Type D work where the job does not involve main pipes apart from replacement of components at existing junctions and does not involve embedded pipes apart from a pipe passing through a wall or slab. The contractor submits MW05 with documents and photos within 14 days after completion.
Ask the quotation to name the proposed item, pipe scope, contractor registration class and type, forms, submission owner, and making-good work. A room label such as “move toilet” cannot establish the minor-works item on its own.
The Buildings Department role guidance says a prescribed registered contractor must hold the class, type, and item required for the work. It identifies Authorized Person, Registered Structural Engineer, Registered Geotechnical Engineer, and Registered Inspector as prescribed building professional roles. Ask the project adviser or contractor to state which role applies to the proposed work and why.
Classify window work from the actual design
Record whether the contractor will repair, replace, alter, construct, or remove a window or window wall. Add the original design reference, distance from the ground, opening dimensions, structural span, and the part of the frame affected.
The Buildings Department’s window minor-works page lists repair or replacement routes under Class I Item 1.60, Class II Item 2.8, and Class III Item 3.6. The page uses the original design, distance from the ground, span, and main-frame or sub-frame scope to distinguish the items. A floor number alone does not establish the class.
Ask the quotation to identify the exact item and registered contractor. Record any professional appointment, submission form, drawing, test, protection, access system, and making-good work in separate rows. This lets you compare the full proposed scope instead of a window-unit amount with unstated compliance work.
Collect the electrical completion record
List each circuit, point, distribution-board change, and fixed appliance connection in the electrical schedule. Ask the contractor to identify exclusions such as builder’s work, access panels, power-company work, or equipment supplied by another party.
EMSD tells owners to engage a registered electrical contractor before an addition or alteration. Its household electrical safety guidance says a registered electrical worker must inspect and test completed electrical work before energisation. The registered electrical contractor and worker then issue the owner a Work Completion Certificate, Form WR1. The owner retains WR1 and does not submit it to EMSD.
Use the official name, Form WR1, in the quotation. Ask whether testing and issue of the certificate fall within the quoted electrical scope. Record the contractor and worker details supplied for the job, the installation covered by the certificate, and the handover date.
Use the directory after fixing the scope
Open the Hong Kong renovation directory after you have a scope sheet. Choose candidates whose public category and location fit the job, then send each candidate the same request.
Ask each provider to return:
- the completed scope and pricing schedule;
- named exclusions and assumptions;
- proposed registered roles for regulated work;
- payment triggers and variation terms;
- expected handover records.
Check registrations through the official source named for the work. A directory profile helps you identify candidates. It does not verify a provider’s registration, quotation scope, workmanship, availability, or outcome.
Common questions
Is price per square foot enough to compare quotations?
Use it as a rough figure supplied by a contractor, then compare the underlying scope. The figure cannot show differences in demolition, specifications, registered work, testing, or exclusions. A line-item sheet makes those differences visible.
Does moving a toilet fall under one fixed minor-works class?
The proposed pipe work determines the route. Buildings Department Item 2.30 and Item 3.23 apply different conditions and submission procedures. Ask the contractor or project adviser to name the exact item from the actual drainage design.
Which class applies to window replacement?
The Buildings Department lists Class I, II, and III routes for window repair or replacement. Its window minor-works page uses design and work-scope facts to distinguish them. Give the contractor the original design information and ask for the exact item in writing.
Is 30/30/30/10 the standard payment schedule?
The Consumer Council advises four instalments and says the first payment should not exceed 40% of the total. Record the deliverable and sign-off evidence for each stage in your own contract instead of treating one split as a universal standard.
Which certificate should I receive after fixed electrical work?
EMSD calls it the Work Completion Certificate, Form WR1. The registered electrical contractor and worker issue it after inspection and testing, and the owner keeps it for reference.
Sources
All information is compiled from sources available on the open internet.
- Survey Found Home Renovation Quotations Generally Vague — Hong Kong Consumer Council. Accessed 2026-07-22.
- Alteration and Addition Works in Domestic Premises — Hong Kong Buildings Department. Accessed 2026-07-22.
- Prescribed Professionals and Contractors — Hong Kong Buildings Department. Accessed 2026-07-22.
- Minor Works Item 2.30 — Hong Kong Buildings Department. Accessed 2026-07-22.
- Minor Works Item 3.23 — Hong Kong Buildings Department. Accessed 2026-07-22.
- Windows, Window Walls or Curtain Walls — Hong Kong Buildings Department. Accessed 2026-07-22.
- New Installations, Additions or Alterations — Hong Kong Electrical and Mechanical Services Department. Accessed 2026-07-22.