Your block votes HIP in, and HDB replaces the ageing structure and plumbing inside your flat automatically. You then pick from a short list of optional upgrades, the toilet package among them. Everything else in the flat is still yours to buy.
That is the whole split. Both halves below were checked against HDB’s own HIP page on 22 September 2026.
What does HDB HIP include?
Four Essential works happen once your block is in, whether you want them or not.
- Spalling concrete and structural cracks, hacked out and repaired.
- The waste and soil discharge stacks, the vertical pipes behind your bathroom wall. HDB replaces them where they are cast iron, a cast iron and UPVC mix, or UPVC with leaks or cracks.
- Your pipe sockets, removed and replaced with a clothes drying rack. A flat with no pipe sockets does not get a rack.
- An electrical load upgrade if your flat needs one, carried out after the rest of the HIP works.
Then you pick from four Optional items:
- The toilet and bathroom upgrade package.
- A new main entrance door. HDB determines whether yours has to be fire-rated under SCDF’s Fire Code, and a fire-rated door comes with a home fire alarm device.
- A new metal grille gate.
- A new refuse chute hopper, where your block has one.
HDB runs three lists in total: Essential, Optional, and EASE, its Enhancement for Active Seniors programme. It publishes all three (HDB’s HIP page, as at 22 September 2026).
What is not included in HIP?
The three lists are closed, which makes this easy to answer. If an item is not on one of them, it is not in HIP and it is on you.
That covers kitchen cabinets and appliances, wardrobes, air-conditioning, lighting, windows and grilles other than the gate, and any change to your layout. It also covers the vanity cabinet, the mirror, shelves and towel rails.
A bidet spray is not part of the HIP toilet package. HDB does list “Bidet spray (next to pedestal pan)” on its EASE list, which is a separate HDB programme, so check that before you assume you are buying one (HDB’s HIP page, as at 22 September 2026).
On what you pay, the cost-sharing table sits on that same HDB page. Check it there for your flat type.
Can I stay at home during HIP?
Plan around two working weeks. HDB’s own figure is that works in each flat will take “10 working days or less, depending on the improvements chosen” (HDB’s HIP page, as at 22 September 2026). HDB’s published HIP scope says nothing about moving out. It sets out what gets replaced and how long it takes.
The bathroom is the real constraint, not the calendar. If your flat has one toilet, the toilet upgrade is the part of the schedule that lands on your daily routine, so read the package and the schedule offered for your own block before you plan around it.
Should I renovate before or after HIP?
After, for anything in the areas HIP touches. HDB’s contractor is opening walls and floors to reach the soil stacks and repair spalling concrete, and re-tiling the bathroom if you take the toilet package. New tiling, a new vanity or a new shower set installed in there beforehand is work you pay for twice.
Outside the HIP footprint, in the kitchen and the bedrooms, it is a scheduling question rather than a risk. Hold the bathroom and the pipe runs. The rest is yours to sequence.
What happens in the toilet during HIP?
HDB publishes two things about the package: larger wall and floor tiles, and “better-quality sanitary fittings”, which is HDB’s own wording. The exact fittings vary by block, so read the package offered for yours rather than a list you found online, and note that opting out is gated as well. Your toilets have to pass a water test for leaks first (HDB’s HIP page, as at 22 September 2026).
We go fixture by fixture in our HIP toilet upgrading guide.
What should I buy before HIP works start?
Ask for your own block’s package first. HDB does not publish an item list for the toilet package and it varies by block, so that document is the only thing that tells you what you are being handed and what you are buying yourself.
What normally sits on your side of the line:
- Vanity cabinet, mirror, shelves, towel rails.
- Lighting.
- Kitchen cabinets and appliances, wardrobes, air-conditioning.
- Any upgrade on the fittings your block’s package does offer.
Most of that choosing happens across toilet bowls in Singapore, wash basins and basin and wall taps, so start comparing early.
Buy before the contractors arrive. Ten working days is not long to be choosing a basin, and a fitting bought after the tiler has left is a second job.
Bring your block’s HIP package in and we will work through it with you. Direct owner prices, no middleman commission, 40+ brands carried, 1,000+ 5-star reviews across both showrooms. Compare us before you decide.
Visit our showroom. Lavender: 116 Lavender Street, #01-03, Pek Chuan Building, Singapore 338730. Tampines: 1 Tampines North Drive 1, T-Space, #01-18, Singapore 528559. Both open every day, 11am to 8pm.
More HIP questions we get in the showroom:
What does HIP cost?
The cost-sharing table sits on HDB’s own HIP page and it is set by your flat type. Check it there.
Can I opt out of the toilet upgrade?
Only if your toilets pass a water test for leaks first. HDB states that as the condition, so the decision is not entirely yours.
Does HDB list the exact fittings in the HIP toilet package?
No. HDB publishes larger wall and floor tiles and “better-quality sanitary fittings”, which is its own wording, and nothing more specific. The package also varies by block, so any itemised list you read online is someone’s guess at your block’s contract. Read the package offered for your block.
Does HIP include a bidet spray?
Not in the HIP toilet package. HDB does list “Bidet spray (next to pedestal pan)” on its EASE list, which is a separate HDB programme.
Can I choose my own toilet bowl if my flat is getting the HIP toilet upgrade?
Your block’s package is set by its contract and HDB does not publish the model list, so read your block’s package first. Anything beyond what it offers, you buy yourself. Compare toilet bowls before you commit to the package.
