Seen on:
"For 5 straight yearsâŚ
Renovation is among the top 5 most complained industries in Singapore. In 2024, prepayment losses jumped 4x! About a 3rd came from renovation cases.
We also took a hard look at existing âprotectionsâ and they simply arenât good enough (Learn More). For example:
^This is a poor reflection of reality as most renovation nightmares arenât about firms closing. Theyâre about firms that are still operating, but donât finish the job or keep dragging the project on.
That reality gap is why we decided to start the HomeMatch Protection Fund.
Those who contributed to the fund:
We donât just match you with trusted renovators, we match you with the most suitable ones for your exact needs, so you donât waste time on the wrong ones. We can even match you to the exact person, not just the firm. Full Details
After signing, we'll guide you along on how to submit your contract for our review. Once verified, you'll be protected from the 3 things that hurt homeowners most: unfinished work, firm closures, and major delays.
If a firm is ordered to shutdown by a court, the full amount of the fund will be shared among all affected homeowners. Your claim amount is based on the "Net Unperformed Amount"š
If the total claims exceed the amount in the fund, your claim amount will be pro-rated accordingly. This ensures: 1) all affected homeowners gets a share of the compensation, 2) the fund doesn't get depleted by just a few claims (a flaw of the standard $50k guarantee offered by most platforms, which we aim to avoid)
šNet Unperformed Amount: The "total amount of progressive payments" you've made to the firm minus the "Fair Market Value of work already completed." The "Fair Market Value" must be determined in good faith via mediation, or final arbitral outcome, or final court outcome.
HomeMatch Protection is the only platform that covers you even if a firm is not ordered to shutdown by a court. This is a major flaw in most renovation protections today. They donât reflect how renovation nightmares actually happen in real life. Most homeowners arenât left stranded because of court-ordered shutdown. Theyâre usually left stranded because of:
1. Quiet shutdowns (voluntary closure) where the firm isnât sued or declared insolvent, but closes down without notice, leaving projects unfinished
2. Non-Performance where the firm fails to complete the renovation or keeps delaying it, leaving homeowners stranded
In the above situations, you'll still be protected by a $100,000 coverage (only platform that does this). Your claim amount will be based on the "Net Unperformed Amount"š
If the total claims exceeds $100,000, your claim amount will be pro-rated accordingly. This ensures: 1) all affected homeowners gets a share of the compensation, 2) the fund doesn't get depleted by just a few claims (a flaw of the standard $50k guarantee offered by most platforms, which we aim to avoid)
šNet Unperformed Amount: The "total amount of progressive payments" you've made to the firm minus the "Fair Market Value of work already completed." The "Fair Market Value" must be determined in good faith via mediation, or final arbitral outcome, or final court outcome.
HomeMatch Protection does not apply if:
⢠S$1,000,000 total fund, capped at S$150,000 per homeowner based on the net unperformed amount
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⢠If the fund is ever activated while your renovation is still ongoing, we will also activate a fallback guarantee comparable to the standard S$50k guarantee. This means you'll always be better off with HomeMatch.
⢠Covers only 50% of your contract value up to $50k based on the net unperformed amount
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⢠Annual payout limit of only $100k-$200k. Only 2-4 homeowners are can claim yearlyâ
⢠The fund will be shared among all affected homeowners capped at S$150,000 per homeowner. This ensures the fund doesn't get depleted just by a few claims
⢠If the total claim exceeds the amount in the fund, everyone will still be compensated on a pro-rated basis. This ensures everyone gets a share of the compensation
⢠Works on a first-come-first-serve basis and only 2-4 homeowners can claim yearly. This means you might not get any compensation
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⢠Max. payout of only $100k-$200k per year. This means you might not get any compensation
HomeMatch Protection is the only platform that covers you even if a firm is not ordered to shutdown by a court.
It covers likely real-world scenarios like:
⢠Quiet or Voluntary Closure
⢠Firm doesn't shutdown but fails to complete the renovation or keeps delaying it
⢠Court-Ordered Closures
You will only be compensated if the firm is ordered to shutdown by a court. This means you'll be left stranded in many other real-world renovation nightmares like: quiet shutdowns, intentional non-performance, majors delays etc.
HomeMatch Protection isnât built with the hope that youâll ever need it. Our real wish is for your renovation goes smoothly.
We take a "Prevention-First" Approach:
⢠Most Stringent Screening: Only a handful of firms can pass our criteria of: 1) Peer Validation, 2) CaseTrust, 3) HDB-Approved, 4) Min. 24 Months Warranty, 5) Min. 4.5 Stars Reviews year-after-year on HomeMatch, 6) No user complaints for major renovation delays.
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⢠Contract Checks: We'll help vet your contract to ensure it follows fair consumer policies
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⢠Mutual Obligation Document: To ensure proper expectation setting between you and your renovator
Our goal is to minimise the chances of renovation issues even happening in the first place.
While HomeMatch takes an evidence-based approach to vetting our renovators, other platforms might make vague claims like "top 1%", "verified", highly-rated", "cream of the crop", "vetted by our team", "Top 50" etc. without clear evidence or transparency.
That's why it's important to do your due diligence! If you're not working with a credible firm in the first place, you'll be at higher risk of a renovation nightmare â no matter how good the guarantees sound.
⢠S$1,000,000 total fund, capped at S$150,000 per homeowner based on the unperformed amount
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⢠If the fund is ever activated while your renovation is still ongoing, we will also activate a fallback guarantee comparable to the standard S$50k guarantee. This means you'll always be better off with HomeMatch.
⢠Most escrow services only holds 50% of your payment. This means 50% of your money is still at risk
HomeMatch Protection comes at zero costs to you.
This is possible because we hold funds in our own bank account, meaning no incremental costs for both HomeMatch and participating firms. It's ready to be disbursed when activated.
Thereâs no free lunch, someone has to pay for escrow. When itâs marketed as âfree for homeowners,â what it really means is the ID pays a percentage of your renovation cost.
With 50 to 100 line items in a typical 4-room HDB renovation, itâs easy to quietly spread those costs around and sneakily add them back into your quote. You might be paying for the escrow without knowing.ââ
HomeMatch Protection isnât built with the hope that youâll ever need it. Our real wish is for your renovation goes smoothly.
We take a "Prevention-First" Approach:
⢠Most Stringent Screening: Only a handful of firms can pass our criteria of: 1) Peer Validation, 2) CaseTrust, 3) HDB-Approved, 4) Min. 24 Months Warranty, 5) Min. 4.5 Stars Reviews year-after-year on HomeMatch, 6) No user complaints for major renovation delays.
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⢠Contract Checks: We'll help vet your contract to ensure it follows fair consumer policies
â
⢠Mutual Obligation Document: To ensure proper expectation setting between you and your renovator
Our goal is to minimise the chances of renovation issues even happening in the first place.
If a firm is risky to begin with, youâre putting up to 50% of your hard-earned money at risk from day one. Why take that chance?
HomeMatchâs goal is to raise the standards of the industry in a practical way. Thatâs why we help renovators adopt fair practices and attain the CaseTrust accreditation.
We focus on preventing problems before they start, not just reacting after things go wrong. We believe homeowners should be matched to renovators who already have a track record of doing things properly â and that those renovators should naturally get more business because of it.
By no means are we perfect and this doesnât make renovation risk disappear. Nothing can. But the more homeowners choose trustworthy firms through HomeMatch, the lower the chances of the same horror stories repeating. The aim is simple and realistic: preventing problems before they start.
Even when escrow is marketed as âfree for homeowners,â the firm still has to pay for it, usually as a percentage of your renovation costs.
Basically, trustworthy firms are forced to absorb extra fees just to serve you, and in an industry with 50â100 line items in a typical quote, itâs easy for those hidden costs to be sneakily passed back to homeowners.
That's why HomeMatch avoids approaches that add incremental costs into the system. In the end, those costs donât punish bad actors, they just make renovations more expensive for Singaporeans without actually fixing the root problem.
