How much deposit should I pay a reinstatement contractor in Singapore?

No law fixes the amount. A confirmation deposit of about 10% to 20% is common practice, with further payments released as each stage is finished and a final balance of about 10% kept until the landlord, MCST or mall accepts the handover.

What can I do if a reinstatement contractor takes my deposit and stops work?

Document the site, send a written notice with a deadline, seek help from CASE, and if that fails file a claim at the Small Claims Tribunals, which hear claims up to S$20,000, or S$30,000 if both parties sign a Memorandum of Consent.

Why choose a CaseTrust-accredited reinstatement contractor?

The Ministry of Trade and Industry encourages consumers to use CaseTrust-accredited renovation contractors, which commit to fair practices such as offering prepayment protection and using the CaseTrust Standard Renovation Contract.

What should a reinstatement contract include?

An itemised scope, a fixed price, start and completion dates, a payment schedule tied to named stages, written approval for variations, who handles permits and disposal, and a defects period for touch-ups.

Contractor Guide

How to Pay a Reinstatement Contractor Safely in Singapore

By Mr Kobayashi, Operations Lead, REINSTATE.by MCSG · Published 9 November 2026 · 7 min read

Pay in stages tied to finished work, never most of the price up front. Put the schedule in a written, itemised contract, keep the final payment until the landlord or building has accepted the handover, and prefer a CaseTrust-accredited firm, which offers prepayment protection. If things go wrong, the Small Claims Tribunals hear claims up to S$20,000.

Reinstatement jobs are short, fixed-deadline projects, and that makes the payment terms matter more than people expect. A tenant who pays a large deposit and then sees the contractor go quiet has very little time to find someone else before the handover date. The same risk shows up in the official numbers on renovation disputes. This guide covers how to structure payments, what the contract should say and where to go if a contractor fails to finish.

How big is the risk of losing a deposit to a contractor?

Real, though most jobs finish without trouble. In a written reply to Parliament on 8 May 2024, the Minister for Trade and Industry said CASE received about 120 complaints a year from 2017 to 2023 about prepayment losses on incomplete renovation works. The average contract in those complaints was around S$7,400, close to the size of a typical apartment reinstatement.

The same reply said CASE helped consumers recover their money in about half of the negotiated cases. Losses also jump when a firm folds. Vulcan Post, reporting CASE's 2024 figures, said total prepayment losses reached S$1.93 million that year, more than four times the S$476,000 of 2023, and that about a third of the losses came from renovation contractors who became uncontactable mid-job. A reinstatement contractor is a renovation contractor for these purposes, so the same habits protect you.

What payment schedule is reasonable for a reinstatement job?

A small booking deposit, payments as each stage is finished, and a retained balance until handover. No law fixes the percentages, so treat the table below as a sensible starting point rather than a rule. The key principle is that money paid should never run far ahead of work completed and visible on site.

Stage	Suggested share	Release when
Confirmation deposit	10% to 20%	Contract signed, start date fixed
Hacking and removal done	30% to 40%	Carpentry, partitions or fittings removed and debris cleared
Making good done	30% to 40%	Patching, painting and fixtures finished
Final balance	About 10%	Landlord, MCST or mall has accepted the handover

For a small job, such as a repaint plus a few patched holes, two payments are enough: a deposit and the balance on completion. For a commercial unit with a mall or building inspection, keep the last payment until the management office signs off, because that inspection is where defects usually surface. Our guide to mall reinstatement permits and night works explains why that sign-off can take time.

What should the reinstatement contract say?

An itemised scope, a fixed price, a timeline with a completion date, the payment schedule and how variations are approved. The Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore published a Guide on Fair Trading Practices for the Renovation Industry in May 2022 that sets out these same points as good practice for contractors.

CCCS's guide asks contractors to quote prices that are transparent and itemised, to state mandatory charges up front, to agree a work schedule with start and completion dates, to describe goods and services in reasonable detail and to make changes to the contract only with the customer's express agreement. Use it as a checklist when you read a quotation:

Scope by line item. Each removal, repair and repaint listed separately, with quantities. Our guide to comparing reinstatement quotations shows how to line quotes up side by side.
Start and completion dates that leave a few days before your handover date.
The payment schedule, with each payment tied to a named stage.
Variations in writing. Any extra item priced and agreed before it is done.
Who handles permits and disposal, such as MCST approvals and debris removal.
A defects period for touch-ups found at the handover inspection.

Does choosing a CaseTrust-accredited contractor help?

Yes, for payment protection in particular. The Minister's 2024 reply encouraged consumers to engage CaseTrust-accredited renovation contractors, which commit to fair business practices such as offering prepayment protection and using the CaseTrust Standard Renovation Contract. CCCS also describes CaseTrust as a white-list of businesses CASE has assessed as reliable.

Accreditation is not a guarantee of good workmanship, and many reliable small firms are not accredited. It does give you a standard contract and a route through CASE if the firm fails to deliver. Whichever firm you choose, check that the company on the quotation is the company you pay, and pay by bank transfer to a corporate account rather than in cash, so there is a record. Our guide to choosing a reinstatement contractor covers the other checks.

Is GST charged on reinstatement payments?

Only if the contractor is GST-registered, and the quote should say so. A registered firm adds 9% GST and must show it clearly. Each stage payment then carries its share of GST. Ask whether the quoted figure includes GST before you agree the schedule, so the final balance is not a surprise.

Our guide on GST on reinstatement quotes explains how to read the totals and how to check a firm's registration.

What can you do if the contractor takes the deposit and stops work?

Write to the contractor first, then go to CASE or the Small Claims Tribunals. The Small Claims Tribunals hear disputes about goods and services up to S$20,000, or S$30,000 if both parties sign a Memorandum of Consent. That covers almost every residential reinstatement job and many small commercial ones.

Document the site. Date-stamped photos of what was and was not done.
Send a written notice setting a short deadline to resume work or refund unearned payments.
Seek help from CASE, which can advise and may help you negotiate or mediate with the firm.
File a small claim if that fails, using your contract, receipts and photos as evidence.
Get the work finished by another contractor so the handover date is not lost, and keep those invoices for your claim.

If the delay pushes you past the lease end date, talk to the landlord early. Overstaying can cost more than the dispute itself, as our guide to holding over and double rent explains.

Who should pay the contractor, the tenant or the landlord?

Whoever the tenancy agreement makes responsible for reinstatement, usually the tenant. If the landlord instead deducts the cost from the security deposit and appoints a contractor, ask for the itemised quotation and invoice so you can see what was charged. Either way, the payment safeguards above apply to the person signing the contract.

For the rules on who bears the cost, see our guide on who pays for reinstatement, and if the landlord insists on a specific firm, our note on landlord-nominated contractors.

Want a staged quote you can check line by line?

Send us your property type, what needs reinstating and your handover date. We'll reply with an itemised quotation and a payment schedule tied to finished stages.

WhatsApp us for a quote →

Complaint numbers, the average contract value, recovery rates and the CaseTrust recommendation are from the Ministry of Trade and Industry's written reply to Parliament of 8 May 2024. Contract good practices are from CCCS's May 2022 media release on its Guide on Fair Trading Practices for the Renovation Industry. The 2024 prepayment loss figures are CASE data as reported by Vulcan Post. Claim limits are from the Singapore Courts small claims pages. The suggested payment shares are our own practice, not regulated figures.

References & further reading

Authoritative Singapore sources for further reading. This guide is general information, not legal advice. Check the terms of your contract and tenancy agreement.