Design & Build — Integrated Interior Design and Renovation in Hong Kong
Integrated Design & Professional Decoration Works
One contract, one schedule, one accountable party — from concept design and drawings through statutory submissions, construction and defect rectification to handover. D-8 Limited is a Registered Minor Works Contractor Class II. Call 9135 3998, read the eight-stage programme, or request a quotation.
Integrated Design & Professional Decoration Works
D-8 Limited is an integrated design firm on interior design. It emphasizes on details in its design philosophy, which could be reflected on both the user experience and form of its works. As an evolving design studio, it offers animation visualization as an advanced presentation tool for their client to easily understand the design and outcome in a more comprehensive way.
D-8 Limited also is an experienced design cum construction practice in Hong Kong. It practice is based on detailed documentation and clear communication with clients. As minor work class II contractor in Hong Kong. It involves in a lot of project in different scales. D-8 Limited concerns the craftsmanship of our works. To achieve stable quality of our works, it maintains a group of experienced and stable workers for our construction projects.
In practice that means the designer who planned your layout is the person who answers the carpenter's question at nine in the morning, checks the wall lines before tiling begins, and confirms every socket position against the joinery shop drawings. Because design and construction sit inside the same company, drawings are never handed to a stranger — which removes the most common Hong Kong renovation dispute, the gap between what was drawn and what was actually built.
Whether the property is a new development handover, a second-hand flat, a subsidised housing unit, a village house, a duplex or commercial premises, the engagement is the same: measure honestly, draw fully, quote item by item, build with our own team, then rectify and hand over. If you only need drawings, our Design Project service covers design without construction; if you need joinery alone, see Custom Made Furniture; and statutory structural repair sits under Spalling Repairing Works.
Free Consultation to understand your design needs
Detailed drawings and documentation for clear construction
Quality craftsmanship from an experienced construction team
Professional project management with close progress tracking
What those four commitments mean in practice
Free consultation means a designer attends your property, measures it and discusses the brief before any money changes hands — no charge, no obligation. Detailed documentation means demolition and layout plans, elevations, ceiling and lighting plans, electrical and plumbing point plans, joinery shop drawings for every cabinet, and a finishes schedule, so the site never has to improvise. Quality craftsmanship means our own group of experienced and stable workers, because consistency of people is what produces consistency of finish. Project management means one point of contact, a written programme, progress reporting, and variations priced and approved before they are executed.
What Design & Build Includes, Trade by Trade
A quotation that reads "renovation works — lump sum" cannot be compared with anything. Here is the full trade list we price, each with quantities and unit rates.
Design and documentation
- Site measurement, condition survey and photographic record before demolition
- Layout options, concept design and material direction
- 3D renderings or animation walkthroughs
- Construction drawings and joinery shop drawings
- Finishes schedule recording every board, tile, paint and hardware reference
Submissions and approvals
- Building management works application with schedule, insurance and deposit
- Service lift booking, delivery routes and protection standards
- Minor works submissions where the works fall under the Minor Works Control System
- Coordination of structural assessment where any structural element is involved
Demolition and protection
- Removal of existing partitions, finishes, cabinetry, sanitary ware and pipework within scope
- Sorted disposal and same-day clearance
- Floor, wall, lift and corridor protection; dust screens and sealed doorways
Wet trades and waterproofing
- New partition walls, plastering and making good
- Floor levelling and screed
- Waterproofing to bathrooms, kitchens and balconies, with flood testing before tiling
- Tiling by area, with tile size and laying pattern stated
Electrical, data and plumbing
- Sockets, switches, data points and lighting circuits counted individually
- Distribution board, residual current device and dedicated air conditioning circuits
- Water supply and drainage alterations with pipe routes noted
- Coordination of every point against joinery internals before boards are cut
Ceiling, flooring and painting
- Bulkheads, cove details, access panels and curtain pockets
- Flooring by area, with product type, direction and skirting detail
- Painting by area, with preparation and number of coats stated
Joinery, doors and fixtures
- Custom made furniture listed cabinet by cabinet, with board grade, finish and hardware brand — see Custom Made Furniture
- Doors, frames and ironmongery
- Kitchen and bathroom fixtures and appliances, or a clear exclusion note
- Lighting fittings, switches, sockets and air conditioning installation
Completion
- Rubbish removal and handover cleaning
- Snag list walkthrough and defect rectification
- Handover of keys, finishes schedule and care notes
- Defects warranty period as stated in the contract
What Sits Outside the Contract Sum
An honest quotation is as clear about exclusions as inclusions. These items are commonly excluded or carried as provisional sums, and we mark them as such rather than absorbing them and revising later.
- Loose furniture and soft furnishing unless specifically listed
- Appliances where the owner prefers to purchase directly
- Curtains and blinds, unless the curtain pocket and treatment are both in scope
- Building management deposits and fees, which are payable by the owner and refundable per estate rules
- Structural assessment fees where an authorized person or structural engineer must be appointed
- Concealed conditions — failed drainage, rotten timber, extensive damp or concrete spalling discovered after demolition, carried as provisional sums and evidenced photographically
- Statutory repair of structural elements, which is quoted separately under Spalling Repairing Works
- Works to common parts, which require owners' corporation or management approval
Use our 18-point quotation checklist against every quotation you receive, including ours, and read the warning signs when comparing quotations.
The Eight Stages, With Realistic Durations
Indicative timings for Hong Kong residential work. Owner decision speed is the single biggest variable in the front half, and material lead times in the back half.
- Enquiry and consultation. Floor plan, area, scope, budget range and target date, followed by a free site visit and measurement.
- Concept design — one to two weeks. Layout options with trade-offs, an indicative cost band, and early flagging of anything structural.
- Scheme finalization and visualization. 3D renderings or animation walkthroughs so circulation, door swings, sightlines and storage access are tested on screen.
- Material selection and itemized quotation — design and quotation together commonly two to four weeks. Physical samples, finishes schedule, and pricing by trade with quantities and unit rates.
- Contract, drawings and submissions. Construction and joinery shop drawings issued; building management application lodged; minor works submissions made where applicable.
- Construction — commonly six to ten weeks for a handover unit, eight to fourteen weeks for a second-hand flat, and twelve to twenty weeks for a full strip-out of a village house or old walk-up.
- Defect rectification and cleaning — three to seven days. Snag list walkthrough, rectification, hardware adjustment, handover cleaning.
- Handover and warranty. Keys, finishes schedule, care notes and the defects warranty period.
Counting the front end, most owners should allow three to five months from taking keys to moving in. Contact an interior design firm two to three months before you want construction to start — the summary is on our home page process section.
The Trade Sequence That Cannot Be Reordered
Every one of these depends on the one before it. Reordering them to "save time" is the most reliable way to create rework, and it is why a single accountable party matters.
1. Demolition — three to seven days
Existing partitions, floors, kitchen and bathroom finishes and old pipework removed and sorted for disposal. A pure refresh may take two to three days; a full strip-out with wall removal five to seven. Noise management is the real constraint in a managed building, not labour.
2. Wet trades and waterproofing — five to ten days
Plastering, new partitions, floor levelling, waterproofing and tiling. Bathrooms are flood tested for roughly 24 to 48 hours and the result recorded before tiling proceeds — insist on seeing this, because a failed membrane found later means demolishing finished work.
3. Electrical and plumbing — seven to fourteen days
Chasing, wiring, water and drainage routes, distribution board and residual current device, dedicated air conditioning circuits. Point positions are confirmed against joinery internals now, because a socket 40 millimetres out can render a shelf unusable or force visible trunking forever.
4. Joinery and flooring — fourteen to twenty-one days
Partitions, ceilings, flooring, then cabinet carcasses and fronts. Final joinery measurement happens only after plastering, tiling and levelling are complete, because cabinets are cut to the built dimension rather than the drawn one. Flooring must be dry before painting.
5. Painting — five to ten days
Preparation, filling, primer and finish coats, then touch-up after other trades have finished handling surfaces.
6. Installation and cleaning — five to seven days
Lighting, ironmongery, sanitary ware, kitchen appliances and air conditioning, then deep cleaning. Stone worktops carry their own fabrication lead time, which is scheduled backwards from this point.
Where the construction budget goes
In a typical Hong Kong residential project, electrical, plumbing and wet trades take roughly 20 to 25 per cent of the construction budget, and custom joinery another 20 to 25 per cent — which is why counting cabinets is the fastest way to understand why two quotations differ. Demolition, painting and cleaning are individually small but cumulative.
The Drawing Set You Receive
Detailed documentation is the practice, not an upsell. A thin drawing set is how decisions end up being made on site by whoever is standing there.
- Demolition plan and new layout plan
- Dimensioned floor plan and furniture layout
- Elevations and sections for key walls
- Ceiling, lighting and switching plans
- Electrical, data and plumbing point plans
- Joinery shop drawings for every custom cabinet, with internal divisions and hardware
- Material and finishes schedule
- 3D renderings or animation walkthroughs
If you already have a contractor and only need this package, that is exactly what our Design Project service delivers.
Minor Works, Structure and Statutory Submissions
This is where an unlicensed operator exposes the owner rather than themselves, so it belongs in the quotation conversation, not after demolition.
How the Minor Works Control System is structured
Hong Kong regulates 187 items of building works as minor works, divided into three classes according to nature, scale, complexity and the risk to safety they pose, and each class is further divided into eight types of works. Class II comprises works of comparatively lower complexity and risk, totalling 68 items. A registered minor works contractor may only carry out the classes, types and items for which it is registered — which is why the registration class is a question worth asking every company you approach.
What that means for your job
126 minor works items may proceed without prior approval and consent from the Buildings Department, provided the correct prescribed registered contractor is appointed and the submissions are made. D-8 Limited is a Registered Minor Works Contractor Class II. For Class II works, Form MW03 serves as the notice of commencement and Form MW04 as the certificate of completion.
Structural elements are never negotiable
Non-structural partitions can often be altered. Load bearing walls, structural slabs, beams and columns cannot be touched without proper assessment and the correct statutory route, and we check the proposal against approved building records before it is designed rather than after it is quoted. Repair of structural elements — including concrete spalling — is handled under Spalling Repairing Works.
How to verify any contractor, including us
The Buildings Department publishes a searchable register of registered professionals and contractors. Select the register of Minor Works Contractors (Company), then the class, type and district, and confirm registration before signing anything. Background on our own credentials is on the about page.
Estate Management, Noise and Access
These constraints shape the programme as much as the design does, and they are agreed before the first tool arrives.
- Works application — schedule, contractor details, insurance and a refundable deposit through the management office
- Service lift booking — timed slots, competitive in large developments where many units renovate simultaneously
- Protection — lift car, lobby, corridor and unit entrance protected before any material enters
- Noise restrictions — powered percussive works are generally confined to weekday daytime hours and prohibited on Sundays and public holidays, which is why demolition is sequenced first and tightly
- Delivery routes — specified routes, often avoiding retail and lobby areas, with oversized panels sized to the lift car
- Waste — sorted and removed the same day rather than accumulated in common areas
- Third-party and contractor insurance — protecting owner and neighbours during works
Access is harder in some properties than others: buildings without a service lift, island addresses, hillside streets and low-rise villas each need their own plan. Our case studies set out how — see Lung Fung House for staircase-only delivery, Poggibonsi for island logistics, and Wilton Place for a steep urban site.
How Design & Build Is Priced
One contract covering design, labour and materials, quoted trade by trade. The headline figure means nothing without the breakdown — which is why every line carries a quantity and a unit rate.
Market reference ranges for orientation
The figures below are published 2026 market references, provided so you can sanity-check any quotation you receive. They are not D-8 Limited prices; our quotations are issued only after a site visit and measurement, because the age and condition of a property moves the number more than its size does.
- Integrated design and build packages are commonly cited at roughly HK$1,500 to HK$3,500 per square foot of scope
- Platform averages for design plus renovation sit near HK$1,000 per square foot, within a band of about HK$800 to HK$1,200
- Design-only work typically costs on the order of 30 per cent less than an integrated package, because labour and materials are excluded
- By unit type, references indicate roughly HK$450,000 to HK$900,000 for a one bedroom of 350 to 500 square feet, and HK$750,000 to HK$1,500,000 for a two bedroom of 500 to 700 square feet
What moves your number most
- Usable area and the number of rooms
- Extent of demolition and partition change
- Age and condition — rewiring, drainage replacement, waterproofing renewal and levelling are common in older stock
- Quantity of custom joinery, usually the largest single cost group
- Material grade for flooring, stone, tiles and fixtures
- Programme pressure, after-hours works and restricted building access
Payment and variations
Payment should be tied to completed and inspected stages rather than calendar dates, variations priced and approved in writing before execution, and provisional sums marked as provisional. The full explanation of fee models across all four of our services is on the quotation page.
Property Types We Design and Build
New development handover units
No demolition, so budget shifts to joinery, lighting and curtains, and the discipline is protecting and matching developer finishes. Complete the defects inspection before any contractor enters — the sequence is on our Harbour Glory case study. Reference projects: Hemera at LOHAS Park, Ocean Pride, Novum East.
Second-hand flats and established estates
Expect rewiring, drainage replacement, waterproofing renewal and levelling before any finish is chosen. Existing conditions are photographed before demolition so variations are provable. Reference projects: Chevalier Garden, Broom Garden, Grandview Garden, Lido Garden, Beverly Garden, Dragon Court, Marine View, Poggibonsi.
Subsidised housing and compact units
Budget sequencing decides everything: fix electrical layout, waterproofing, kitchen and bathroom first, then phase joinery. Reference projects: Ho Tak Court, Lung Fung House, Oceanaire.
Village houses, duplexes and low-density homes
Staircases, roof and external wall waterproofing, water pressure, insulation and heavier structural care. A full strip-out here can run twelve to twenty weeks. Reference projects: three units at Lam Tsuen, Tai Po — plus unit two and unit three — and Ling Kai.
Island and restricted-access homes
Ferry schedules, controlled vehicle access and limited works hours change the programme more than the design does. Reference projects: Peng Chau, Graceful Mansion, Siena II — Flat B and Flat C.
Commercial premises
Offices, retail shops, food and beverage outlets, clinics, beauty and fitness studios, education centres and industrial building conversions. Landlord fit-out guidelines, after-hours works, fire services requirements and licensing coordination all shape the layout before the first sketch. Reference projects: Central Plaza, China Hong Kong City. Scope overview is on our home page commercial section.
Design & Build, or a Designer Plus a Separate Contractor?
Both are legitimate. The right answer depends on how much coordination you are willing to carry yourself.
Choose Design & Build when
- You want one contract, one schedule and one party answerable for both drawing and execution
- You do not have time to referee discrepancies between designer and builder
- The job involves works requiring a registered minor works contractor
- Joinery volume is high and needs coordinating with electrical and wet trades
- You value a single warranty covering the whole scope
Choose design-only when
- You already have a trusted contractor, or a family member in the trade
- You are a landlord preparing a unit and want documentation for others to execute
- You want a professional layout and drawing set before committing to construction budget
That route is our Design Project service. And if the scope is purely storage, Custom Made Furniture can be engaged on its own — see the twelve furniture case studies.
What the integrated model actually removes
Three specific failure points: measurement disputes, because we measure and we build; sequencing failures, because one party owns the programme; and responsibility gaps at handover, because there is no second company to blame for a defect. Our documentation and communication method is described on the about page.
Variations, Defects and Warranty
Variations
Priced and approved in writing before execution, never absorbed silently and never invoiced as a surprise. Because we photograph existing conditions before demolition, genuinely concealed items — failed drainage, an uneven slab, damp behind an old cabinet — are evidenced rather than argued about.
Defect rectification
A joint snag list walkthrough, then rectification, hardware adjustment and re-cleaning before handover. Three to seven days is typical, and we would rather delay handover by two days than hand over a list.
Warranty and records
Our works carry a defects warranty period, with duration and coverage stated in the quotation and contract. At handover you receive the finishes schedule, so a damaged tile or door can be matched years later, plus care notes for joinery, stone and any mechanism. Aftercare guidance for humid and coastal properties is set out on our Poggibonsi and Wetland Seasons Park case studies.
Design & Build Case Studies
Twenty-seven published project case studies and twelve custom furniture case studies. Match your property to the closest one before comparing quotations.
By property condition
- New handover fit-out — protecting and matching developer finishes
- Renovating while living in the flat — room-by-room sequencing
- Older buildings without a service lift — knock-down construction
- 1980s and 1990s estates — beams, level, damp and the storage audit method
- High value-per-square-foot districts — prioritising spend by purpose
By property type
Browse the full portfolio on the portfolio page, grouped by property type, with detailed notes on selected projects in the featured case studies.
Design & Build FAQ
One Contract, One Schedule, One Accountable Party
Free site visit, free measurement, written itemized quotation. Call 9135 3998 or email enquiry@designd8.com.
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