Yes you do have to.

You have to put aside budgets for
- Furniture (e.g sofas, chairs, tables etc.)
- Appliances (stove, hood, hob, oven, refrigerator, fans, washing machine, dryer, TV)

- Air-conditioning (installation and the aircon itself)

- Soft furnishing (throw pillows, rugs, lamps)
- Lighting
- Fixtures (tiles, built-in cabinets, built-in wardrobes, false ceiling etc.)

- Painting
- Interior design and construction fees (if you are hiring someone).

In my experience, the fixtures, appliances and furniture adds up to the bulk of the cost. I have a 5-room BTO too, without tiles, and it cost about 30,000++, but only because we did not do false ceilings, and lighting, and spent most of our money on the appliances. We also relied heavily on soft furnishings (rugs) and designerish furniture to liven up our space.

Hi Christal,

Here's a useful guide to estimate your reno budget:

link

My experience (of a total revamp of a 4rm resale unit) was done around $32k, $4k of which was spent on demolition work so a budget of $30k for your 5rm BTO is very doable, if you go easy on things like carpentry and fancy tiles.

If you're starting from scratch like we did, definitely budget for furniture, appliances, and home decor (very easy to get carried away here!) Here's what we spent on some main categories:

Kitchen appliances + entertainment unit: $8,000
Aircon: $3,000
Bathroom fixtures: $1,500
Furniture (and everything else from clocks to forks): approx $10,000

In all, $25,000 (estimated total from items above and more) + $30,000 reno can set you up for a very cosy first home. Have fun!

Thanks guys! I had a discussion with my hubby and we decided to up our budget :)