Consumer watchdog wants better governance on home renovation industry

Hong Kong’s consumer watchdog on Wednesday called on authorities to step up governance on the home renovation industry, in a bid to enhance consumer protection and awareness of home renovation and improve the quality of the entire industry.

According to the Consumer Council’s statistics, a total of 1,205 complaint cases relating to home renovation services were recorded in the past seven years, with the total amount involved exceeding HK$270 million. The majority of complaints were about the quality of services, followed by late/non-delivery and price disputes.

The Council conducted mystery visits with 59 home renovation companies and 14 online matching platforms for quotations for pre-defined home renovation projects, discovering that only one-third of the firms provided detailed quotations and discussed preliminary estimates before construction. The estimates they provide also have a maximum deviation of up to 28 percent from the actual expenses.

The mystery visits also found potentially unscrupulous sales tactics and illegal renovation practices from the firms.

The watchdog suggests that the authorities provide a standard form quotation that contains standard terms and suggests ways to present the breakdown of works, which would serve as a “safety net”.

Under a standard form quotation, a clause for a cooling-off period of no less than seven days should also be included for home renovation projects, while enabling firms to charge a reasonable administrative fee before issuing a refund.

The Council also recommended establishing a government-endorsed accreditation scheme for home renovation companies, adequately covering different industry segments and various aspects of a home renovation project to enable consumers to make well-informed choices.