Guide for homeowners
From the first photo to sign-off.
Everything you will do in the app, in the order you will do it. It takes about ten minutes to set up, and after that it is a photo and a line per defect.
It is free, and it stays free. Nothing here asks you to pay.
Set up
Start a project.
Create your account
Download the app or open defects.sg, and sign in. Use the email you actually read: it is where we tell you when something changes on your list.
Tap Start project
Pick “I’ve just collected the keys” for a new home going through handover, or “I’m renovating” for work by your designer. Then the address.
Fill in the basics
Your key collection date, or when the work starts. Roughly how big the job is, what kind of home it is, and what work is being done. Each kind of work becomes a folder for your photos.
Check the dates against your handover pack
We count down the builder’s window from the date you give us, so your handover pack is the one to trust. Correct it here if it differs.
Who is on it
Add your designer, or a checker.
Search for your designer
Type their name or their firm. If they come up, pick them and we ask them to join your project.
Not on defects.sg yet?
Most firms aren’t yet. Copy the invite and send it to them on WhatsApp. We tell you the moment they join.
Want a checker to walk the flat?
Appoint one and they can log defects for you. They can’t send your list, accept a fix or delete anything you wrote. Their access ends on the date you set.
Keys only? You need nobody else
A handover list doesn’t wait on anyone. It is yours from the moment you start it.
A renovation list needs its designer within 14 days
Defects are fixed by your designer, and it isn’t fair to hand them weeks of defects they never had the chance to see. So a renovation project with no designer gets 14 days of full use, then goes read-only: everything stays there to read and share, and it opens up again exactly as you left it the moment your designer joins. If nobody joins, the list is removed 30 days later, and we email you before that happens.
Log
Snap it, then send it.
A photo, a room, one line
That is the whole form. The first time you open the camera, your phone asks for permission. That is the only reason we ask for it.
Take your time
Nothing leaves your phone until you send it. Photos are saved on the phone as you take them, so closing the app doesn’t lose anything. Add to the list all week.
Tap Send
The whole list goes over in one go, sorted by trade, so it arrives as a checklist rather than a complaint.
Turn on notifications when asked
We ask as you send, because that is when you’ll want to know. It is how you find out a fix is waiting for you.
Fixes
You decide what counts as fixed.
They acknowledge the list
Your designer confirms they have seen each defect, and can give a date they mean to fix it by. You can see when they did.
A photo comes back for each fix
Nothing is marked fixed without one. Open the defect to compare their photo with yours.
Yes, it’s fixed. Or: Not fixed.
If it isn’t, tap Not fixed and write what is still wrong. It goes back to them with your note.
Or settle it privately
If you agree to live with something, or they knock something off, mark it settled. It is an ending too, and it costs them nothing on their record.
Only you can accept a fix, and only you can delete a defect you logged. Your designer can take back a defect they raised themselves, and when they do, we email you and send you a notification.
Finish
Close it, and keep the record.
Sign off
When you’re done, sign off. The record states the date and exactly which defects were still open at that moment.
Still working through it?
A project that goes quiet for 60 days closes itself. If yours is still going, tap Still ongoing for 30 more days. You can do that three times.
Your record
Every defect, every photo and every date, in one document you can print or share. It stays in your account, even if you change designer.
Your photos stay private
They are shown to you and to whoever is working on your project, and to nobody else. They are never published.
Stuck?
Ask us.
If something in the app doesn’t match this guide, or you can’t find a button, write to us. A person reads every message.