Handover is the moment a renovation is most likely to turn into an argument. In the Consumer Council's survey, a firm refusing to fix defects accounted for 30% of disputes, and the Council points to one root cause: owners and firms understand "workmanship" differently. Most people renovate once or twice in their lives, so when they see a crack, tap a tile that sounds hollow, or find paint blistering, it is hard to tell a normal effect from a defect that should be fixed. This guide uses the Buildings Department's published guidance as the benchmark and works through the problems most often found at handover: hollow tiles, cracks, blistering and flaking paint, bathroom waterproofing and the threshold, and why glass shower screens can shatter on their own. It ends with how to write and follow up a defects list. It is general information; for any question about structural safety, go straight to a professional.
The short answers first
- What is a hollow tile, and does it have to be fixed? A hollow tile (空鼓) has come away from the wall or floor behind it, so it sounds hollow when tapped. The Buildings Department lists this as a sign of failing finishes that can lead to cracking, bulging and falling off, so note it on the defects list for the contractor to assess and fix, starting with walls and anything overhead.
- Are cracks after a renovation normal? Fine hairline cracks, multi-directional shrinkage cracks, and cracks where a new wall meets an existing beam or column are classed by the Buildings Department as non-structural and cosmetic. Cracks that run through the finish into concrete or brick, long cracks across a wall, diagonal cracks at door or window corners, or cracks with rust staining should be looked at by a professional.
- Why is the paint blistering or flaking? Usually water. Water carries salts from inside the wall to the surface, where they crystallise and push the paint off, so the same patch blisters again. Find the source first, then rebuild the surface; repainting alone will not hold.
- Why do glass shower screens shatter for no reason? Tempered glass can break spontaneously because of nickel sulphide inclusions inside it. The Buildings Department's glass code says tempered glass should go through a heat soak process during production to reduce this risk; laminated glass, whose fragments stay stuck to the interlayer, is the other option.
- How should a defects list be written? For every item, record the location, the problem, a photo and a completion date, sign it off together, recheck each fix, and pay the final instalment only when the list is cleared.
Before you inspect: agree what "acceptable" means
Hong Kong has no law setting finishing standards for renovating a private flat, such as how flat tiles must be or how much cracking a wall may show. Whether something is acceptable comes down to what the contract says and what was agreed beforehand. That is why our guide to renovation contracts and payments recommends writing the completion standard and the inspection procedure into the contract.
Do the inspection itself in good daylight, together with the contractor. Take a torch and shine it across walls and floors at a low angle; unevenness and joints show up far more clearly. Take a key or a coin to tap tiles. Go room by room, wall by wall, and open and close every cabinet door. Photograph and mark each problem on the spot, and put it on the list.
The Council also found that 80% of people would not pay for a third-party inspection after completion because of the cost. If you are not hiring an inspector, the sections below are what you most need to know to inspect it yourself.
Hollow tiles: tap and listen
A hollow tile, called 空鼓 or 空心磚 in Hong Kong, is a tile, stone or plaster finish with a gap behind it where it has not bonded to the wall or floor. The check is simple: tap it lightly with something hard. A solid sound means it is bonded; a hollow sound means it is not. The Buildings Department's building maintenance guidance lists exactly this, a "hollow sound" when tapped with a hammer, as a sign that finishes have debonded from the wall.
Why does it matter? The same guidance lists debonding alongside cracking, bulging and falling off. A tile that only sounds wrong today can crack, lift, or come away later. Hollow tiles on walls and overhead carry the most serious consequences if they fall, so deal with those first.
At handover, mark every hollow tile and put it on the defects list for the contractor to assess and re-lay. Common causes include too little or uneven adhesive behind the tile and a substrate that was not properly cleaned, so the fix is to lift and re-bed the tile, not to inject sealant at the surface.
Cracks: most are shrinkage, some need a professional
A freshly renovated flat often shows cracks as it dries out. The Buildings Department's maintenance guidance divides cracks into two kinds, and it is the most useful benchmark an owner has.
- Non-structural cracks, a matter of appearance: fine hairline cracks; multi-directional, web-like shrinkage cracks; and cracks between partition walls and structural elements, such as a brick wall and a beam or column. The guidance says these stay within the plaster or finish, do not reach the reinforced concrete structure, and pose no safety concern.
- Possibly structural cracks, for a professional: cracks that penetrate through the finish into the concrete or brick; long, continuous cracks across the width of a wall; diagonal cracks at the corners of windows or doors; and cracks with rust staining. The guidance stresses that the cause must be found and dealt with before the surface is repaired.
Blistering and flaking paint: ask where the water comes from
When walls blister, flake or grow a white powdery crust weeks or months after handover, the cause is usually water. Where water reaches cement or concrete it combines with calcium and carries soluble salts to the surface, where evaporation leaves white crystalline deposits, an effect surveyors call efflorescence. Those crystals physically lift the paint film, which is why the blistering recurs in the same patch.
The correct order is unglamorous: confirm the leak is stopped, scrape back to sound substrate, apply a damp-proof primer or sealer, skim until smooth, then repaint. Repainting alone brings the problem back in the same place. The water can come from a bathroom, an external wall, a window, or the flat above; our water seepage guide explains how to trace it.
Bathrooms: the waterproofing test, the threshold and the falls
The bathroom is where problems most often appear after a renovation, and where they are hardest to fix later, because once the tiles cover the waterproofing nobody can see it again. So the most important inspection happens before tiling: once the waterproof coating is done, it should be ponding-tested. In Hong Kong the ponding test runs anywhere from 8 to 48 hours depending on the firm, while the professional baseline surveyors use in investigations is 24 hours. Concealed supply pipes are tested at 1.5 times the maximum supply pressure for at least an hour before they are buried. Ask to witness it, or to receive time-stamped photos, and keep the record.
At handover, check three things. First, the falls: water in the shower area should run to the drain on its own, not sit on the floor. Second, the threshold stone: its job is to keep water in the bathroom, so the bathroom floor should sit lower than the floor outside, and the finished tiles should not rise above the threshold, or water will run out of the door. Third, the door frame and the base of nearby walls: if damp or flaking appears there later, water has got past the waterproofing or the threshold, and the source needs finding rather than a bead of sealant on top.
For waterproofing methods and design, see our bathroom design guide.
Glass shower screens that shatter: not always an impact
A glass shower screen that suddenly breaks with nothing touching it is one of the most unsettling stories in owners' groups. It is not necessarily anyone's carelessness. The Buildings Department's Code of Practice for the Structural Use of Glass explains that tempered glass is susceptible to "spontaneous breakage" caused by nickel sulphide inclusions: particles trapped in the glass during production that slowly expand until the pane shatters. The code's answer is that tempered glass should go through a heat soak process during production, so that glass containing these inclusions breaks in the process and is never installed.
Inclusions are not the only cause. Edges chipped in transport or installation, or a frame that loads the glass unevenly, can also make it break without an impact. So when choosing a screen, ask three things: whether the glass has been heat soaked and can be shown to have been; whether the edges are protected during installation; and whether laminated glass is an option. The code describes laminated glass as safety glass whose fragments stay attached to the interlayer after breakage. Some owners also apply a safety film to tempered glass, which does the same job of holding the fragments together.
Tempered glass breaks into small granules rather than sharp shards, by design; but in a room where people stand barefoot, asking beforehand is still better than cleaning up afterwards.
The defects list: how to write it and follow it up
A useful defects list records four things for every item: the location (for example, "master bathroom, left wall of the shower, third row of tiles from the floor"), the problem ("two tiles sound hollow"), a photo, and the promised completion date. Vague descriptions such as "bathroom tiles have issues" are almost impossible to follow up.
Both sides sign the list. Each fix is rechecked and ticked off. The final instalment should be paid only when the list is cleared, a point best written into the contract from the start; see renovation contracts and payments. Keep one distinction clear: the defects list covers problems present at completion; anything that appears after you move in falls under the warranty, so it depends on the warranty length and scope in the contract.
At handover, collect the paperwork too: the Work Completion Certificate (Form WR1) for fixed electrical work, copies of completion certificates for any minor works items, and the warranty cards for appliances and materials.
How we handle it
We take on projects as design and build, so design, construction and defects are handled by one team under one contract, and problems found at completion cannot be passed back and forth between designer and contractor. After completion, Artwill provides a 12-month workmanship warranty covering the work we carry out ourselves; products bought by the client or third parties are covered by their own manufacturers' warranties.
If you are planning a renovation and want to understand the approach and scope first, the first consultation is free, at our Wan Chai studio. Read about our design and build service, or book on WhatsApp.
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