How I'd choose a renovation contractor

I'd choose a renovation contractor in a slightly dull order: the register, then the paperwork, then how the money moves, and only then the pictures. The pictures are the easiest part to fall for and the least useful thing I could look at.

The order I'd check things in

Why the pictures go last

At a press conference reported in 2023, four people alleged that the same contractor had let them down, one they'd come across on Instagram.¹ One said she'd paid almost RM108,400, then another RM150,000 to someone else to finish the house.¹

Those are their claims, and I can't test them. What stays with me is the order it reportedly went in: alluring pictures, a quote, money, and no formal agreement.

A photo shows a room on its best day. It can't tell me who turns up when the ceiling starts to leak, so I'd ask to see a job that's been lived in for a couple of years.

The register, and what it won't tell you

Contractors have to register with the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB), and an unregistered one can be fined RM10,000 to RM100,000.² CIDB's chief executive also warned that people who hire one could face legal action, so it isn't only the contractor's problem. Anyone can search the register on CIDB's CIMS site.

I'd check that the name matches the one on the quote, and then the grade. CIDB's own table caps a G1 firm at RM200,000 a job and a G2 at RM500,000.³ So a low grade wouldn't bother me on a kitchen, only on a job bigger than the cap.

Being listed doesn't make anyone good, though. EdgeProp carried an interview in 2024 with that chief executive.² He counted 103 complaints about registered contractors breaching agreements from January to June, against 16 about unregistered ones.²

I don't read that as registered firms being worse. CIDB can take registered firms to disciplinary proceedings, so that may be where complaints naturally go, though that's my guess and nothing firmer.

What people actually complain about

CIDB told an event in 2025 that it averages 600 complaints a year on house building and renovation.⁴ The same report gives 3,201 over seven years, which by my division is nearer 460, so I'd hold that average loosely.⁴

The breakdown is more use than the total.

What people complain to CIDB about, in cases

Poor workmanship comes second. First is a broken agreement, and an agreement is something I can work on before anybody lifts a tile.

The quote comes before the contract

The Master Builders Association's president says, in that same report, that a contractor should come up with drawings or sketches at least, and then say what they'll charge. He also cautioned against rushing when a quote seems unreasonably low.

So I'd get a second quote, mostly to find out what's odd about the first. As for a fair price, I couldn't find an independent number. The per-square-foot figures I found come from renovation and property sites, and they range so widely that I wouldn't lean on them.

The contract I'd start from

CIDB publishes a plain-language contract for renovation and small projects, free to use. I like it for what happens when nobody fills in a blank:

• There's no advance payment.⁵
• The defects period is 12 weeks from practical completion.⁵
• The money held back or guaranteed is capped at 5% of the price.⁵
• Materials on site count at 75% of their value in a payment.⁵

That last one's my favourite. When someone says they need cash upfront for materials, the form's answer is that materials get paid for once they've arrived.

There's one catch. It wants a named contract administrator to certify payments, so on a big job I'd pay an architect or quantity surveyor for that, and on a small one I'd ask a lawyer how to fill the box.

The paper matters for a duller reason too. The MP hosting that press conference said the police couldn't treat the matter as a commercial crime without a formal agreement, and that a civil suit was hard as well.

I'd also want it written down who applies for the council permit. Changing walls, plumbing or a plaster ceiling needs one, according to EdgeProp's summary of the guidelines, so it isn't only for extensions.

Paying as the work gets done

CIDB's chief executive advises paying by the percentage of work completed and keeping back 5 to 10% until the job's done and you're satisfied.² Say the job is RM80,000. At 5%, RM4,000 waits, which is enough to bring someone back for a leak and nowhere near enough to rescue an abandoned house.²

He also mentions a performance bond and third-party insurance, and says such measures can add up to 10% to the cost.² For a whole house, I'd pay it. For one bathroom, I probably wouldn't.

When I'd walk away

• They won't put the job in writing.
• The name on the quote isn't the name on the register.
• They want most of the money before there's any work to pay for.
• There's a lump sum, with no sketch and no priced list behind it.
• The job's bigger than their grade allows.

None of this needs a lawyer's nerve, only some patience before the exciting part. It's your house and, as that chief executive put it, your money and your responsibility.