Garden Waterfront I & II @ Tengah key collection: a defect check plan for your flat

Garden Waterfront I and II are two side-by-side BTO projects along Tengah Garden Avenue, in Tengah's Garden District next to the Promenade Park and Tengah Pond. They were launched in the November 2022 BTO exercise with 2,077 flats in 18 blocks of 9 to 16 storeys. The estimate at launch was the first quarter of 2027, and the BTOHQ tracker shows the projects at 93%, with March 2027 as the expected date. Your own HDB letter is the date that counts. Here's how to plan a check so you get it right on the first visit.

The deadline that matters

Report defects to your Building Service Centre (BSC) within one month of collecting your keys, and before your renovation starts. The 12-month defects liability period covers problems that show up later, but the first month is when it's easiest to show a defect was there from the start.

A big project: many neighbours collecting at the same time

With more than 2,000 flats, a lot of owners will get their keys within weeks of each other. Two things follow from that.

• Do your check early in the month. Renovation contractors fill their calendars fast, and you'll want your defect list in before any hacking or tiling starts.
• Make your list easy to act on. The BSC and the repair team will be handling many flats at once. A list where each defect has a number, a photo and a spot on the floor plan is much easier to fix in one visit than "some tiles in the bedroom sound hollow".

Every flat type, so plan your time

The two projects have all four flat types: 578 2-room Flexi, 89 3-room, 740 4-room and 670 5-room flats.

• 2-room Flexi: about an hour. Spend most of it on the kitchen, bathroom and service area, where the water points are.
• 3-room: about an hour and a half.
• 4-room and 5-room: two to three hours. Two people help: one taps tiles and tests sockets, the other takes photos and writes the list. Start with the bathrooms and kitchen while you're fresh.

Windows facing the pond and the park

Many stacks look out over Tengah Pond and the Promenade Park. If you've picked a flat for the view, you'll spend a lot of time at those windows, so check them properly now.

• Shut and lock every panel, and slide each one the whole way. It should move smoothly without catching.
• Look for gaps when closed, loose or torn rubber seals, and scratched or cracked glass.
• Check the sill and the wall under the window for stains, which can point to water getting in when it rains.

More in how to check windows at key collection.

Building work is still going on around you

Tengah is still being built. Launch reviews noted that the Jurong Region Line's Hong Kah station is planned right beside the site, so expect dust and noise nearby for a while.

• Dust in window tracks and floor traps is common at handover. Wipe a track and pour water into each floor trap to make sure it drains; don't assume a slow drain is just dirt.
• Take wide photos of each room on day one. If marks or scratches appear later, you'll have proof of how the flat looked when you got it.

Centralised cooling: ask who handles what

Tengah flats use a subscription-based centralised cooling system instead of the usual outdoor aircon compressors. It's run as a separate service, so when you're at the BSC, ask which issues they handle and which ones go to the cooling provider. Note any cooling-related item on your list anyway, with a photo, so nothing gets lost.

What to tap and test in every room

• Tap every tile, including the ones at doorways and along the walls. A dull, hollow sound means a hollow tile. See how to check for hollow tiles.
• Walls and ceilings: hold your phone torch flat against the wall and look along it for cracks and uneven paint. Top-floor owners: check the ceilings closely for stains. See wall and ceiling cracks.
• Sockets and switches: test every one with a phone charger. See the electrical check.
• Bathroom and kitchen: run every tap, flush, look under the basin and do the floor trap test. See the bathroom check and the floor trap test.
• Main door and gate: every key you were given should lock and open them. See doors, gate and locks.
• Optional items: if you skipped flooring or internal doors at booking, they won't be there, and that isn't a defect. If you paid for them, check them as carefully as everything else.

A simple plan for the first visit

1. Pack the night before: painter's tape, a marker, a coin, a bottle of water and a charger. Full list: what to bring on key collection day.
2. Go room by room. In each room: floor, walls, ceiling, doors, windows, sockets, then anything with water.
3. Number each defect on tape (#01, #02…), then take one close-up and one wide photo with the number showing.
4. Mark them on a floor plan and write one clean list, grouped by room. Submit it within the month, then check the repairs when they're done.

Every room and what to check is in the room-by-room BTO defect checklist. Prefer paper? There's a free printable version with tick boxes and number labels. Or use the free KeyDay app on your phone: it numbers each defect, keeps the photos with it and marks it on your floor plan. How to hand the list in: how to report BTO defects to the BSC.

After the first month

Tiles can turn hollow and hairline cracks can appear over the first year. Do a second round before the 12 months are up: the one-year DLP check. Renovating? Check the contractor's work before the final payment with the renovation handover checklist.

Also in Tengah: the Plantation Creek check. All projects: the full BTO key collection list.