We asked AI who to hire for a Singapore renovation. Here’s who it named.

What we did

On 9 November 2026 we asked the questions Singapore homeowners ask when they look for an interior designer or renovation contractor. We asked them the way a homeowner would: logged out, from Singapore, in plain English. Each question was asked once.

We wrote down every firm each answer named and every website it cited. Separately, on 8 November 2026, we checked the homepages of 20 firms picked at random from Singapore’s company register: 10 interior design firms and 10 renovation contractors, all with a working Singapore website.

Finding 1: the same firms come up again and again

Across the answers, the firms named most often were:

• Interior design: Urban Home Design, The Interior Lab, Ciseern, Design 4 Space, MET Interior and Starry Homestead.
• Renovation: Empire Works, Hoong Fatt Heng Renovation, Jaystone Renovation, JS Carpentry & Contracts, Everyday Renovation and One Carpentry.

We don’t know these firms’ marketing, and we’re not ranking them. The point is the pattern: AI answers draw from a short list, so being on it matters a lot.

Finding 2: AI trusts a few sources

The websites cited most often were Qanvast, The Honeycombers, Hometrust, MoneySmart and HDB. Think of them as the references AI checks before it recommends anyone. A firm that appears well in several of them is easier for AI to recommend with confidence.

Finding 3: most firms are invisible, even good ones

We looked closely at five established firms, three in interior design and two in renovation. Some had excellent Google ratings, up to 5.0 stars. Across all the answers, only one of the five was named, and only once.

When we asked Gemini about each firm by name, it usually knew something about them: an address, a licence number, the kind of work they do. So AI knew these firms existed. It just didn’t recommend them. Often it had learned their details from other websites rather than from the firm’s own site.

Finding 4: the website basics are often missing

Interior design sites were mostly on Wix or Squarespace; renovation sites were mostly on WordPress. None of these gaps is hard to fix on any of those platforms.

What this means for your firm

• Be easy to read. State your flat types, estates, budgets, styles and licences in words, not only in photos. See the 6 website basics.
• Be the same firm everywhere. Match your name, address and phone across your site, Google and listings. See why your details must match.
• Be present where AI looks. Keep your Qanvast and Hometrust listings complete, and look after your Google Business Profile. See our profile checklist.
• Answer real questions. Publish what homeowners ask about: costs, timelines and what’s included. See why AI may not recommend you.

Limits: read this before quoting us

• It’s a small sample. Each question was asked once, on one day. AI answers change between runs and between people, so treat this as a snapshot, not a ranking.
• ChatGPT is under-counted. It limited logged-out use that day, so we got fewer ChatGPT answers than planned.
• The homepage check reads the page code only. A WhatsApp button added later by a script, common on Wix, may be missed. A “no” means we couldn’t find it in the code.
• We sell services that fix these gaps. We’ve tried to report what we saw, not what suits us. The method above is there so you can repeat it.

We plan to ask the same questions again in December 2026 and will update this page with what changed.

How to cite this

FoundLah, “We asked AI who to hire for a Singapore renovation”, 9 November 2026, https://foundlah.sg/research/ai-recommendations-nov-2026/