SINGAPORE – When my husband and I received the keys to our five-room Build-To-Order (BTO) flat after some delays due to the Covid-19 pandemic, we were determined to keep our home renovation costs within budget.

We had, after all, spent months saving up for it and expected every dollar to be spent wisely. 

After consultations with an interior designer, we spent nights poring over several revised quotations to identify potential items we might not need to scale down the scope of work and cost. One of the quotes was for electrical work, which amounted to about $8,500.

I figured that the combined amount set aside for electrical work and lights could be above $10,000. Not wanting to dip further into our savings, we decided to look for ways to reduce the cost. The first was to develop our own lighting plan without an interior designer.

The high cost was no surprise. As I learnt from Mr Aaron Lee, co-founder of local retailer Shiok Lighting, the most common culprit contributing to lighting costs is the large number of lighting points.

“While new BTO home owners can be expected to spend upwards of $2,000 for simple wiring and installation works, this figure can be expected to be significantly more if it is an older resale flat where full rewiring works are needed,” he says. In such cases, upwards of $8,000 is common.

He adds that while the cost of lights can range widely, most of his customers can usually keep the cost of their purchases below $1,500 for a five-room BTO. For a four-roomer, the amount could typically be under $1,200.

“This is of course barring an unusually high number of lighting points,” Mr Lee says, citing the first step to lowering the overall cost of electrical and installation work.

Depending on the type of fixtures in the living room, Mr Lee recommends at least three lighting points for four-room BTO units, and four or more for a five-roomer. Most owners have at least 20 points for a four-room unit and 22 or more in a five-roomer, he adds.

The challenges

Without an interior designer to help us piece the lighting and electrical plan together, we first had to find a suitable lighting contractor.

One of our challenges was to communicate our electrical requirements, which could be daunting without research and experience. The last thing I wanted was miscommunicating these to the contractor, especially since we are not lighting experts. 

Proceeding without an interior designer meant there was no one to take responsibility f...