Funeral services · Singapore · Since 1989
Funeral services in Singapore, for every faith and for none.
If your loved one has just passed away, I am really sorry for your loss. Tell me where your loved one is and what your family keeps, and I will be with you as soon as possible.
Jeremy NgI answer this phone myself, at any hour. This is what I do, and I have done it since 1989.
If it has just happened
What to do when someone passes away in Singapore
Find the one that matches where you are. There are only three things to do, and the last one is to call me.
If you are at home
- If a doctor had been treating your loved one for a known illness, call that doctor to certify the death. A home doctor can come anytime.
- If there was no doctor, or it happened suddenly, call 999. That is normal. It does not mean anyone suspects anything.
- Call me. I will come to you, and take care of things from there.
If you are at the hospital
- The ward will ask you to appoint a funeral director. Give them my name and number, or put me on the phone with them.
- Give the ward your loved one's NRIC so the doctor can certify the death. There is nothing else you need to sign yet.
- Call me. I will speak to the mortuary for you and arrange collection.
If you are at a nursing home
- The home's doctor can certify the death there. Ask the staff to arrange it.
- Have your loved one's NRIC ready for the doctor, and keep the Certificate of Cause of Death once it is issued.
- Call me. You do not have to sign or choose anything until you have spoken to me.
If you are not sure which of these fits, that is alright. Give me a call and we can work out what comes next together. I will stay with you on the line while you do it.
Call 8133 0959Every faith, and none
Funeral services we arrange in Singapore
Tell me what your family keeps and I will set it up properly. If your family follows nothing in particular, that is just as welcome.
Buddhist
Buddhist funeral services in Singapore
Monks or nuns chanting, a full altar, and the rites continuing for 49 days.
- Chanting in Mandarin, Hokkien, Teochew, Cantonese or English
- Altar with the Buddha backdrop, vegetarian offerings and praying items
- Chanting at the encoffining, the final night and the funeral morning
- If your family already has monks, I will fit our timings around theirs
From $4,000
Taoist
Taoist funeral services in Singapore
A Taoist priest leading the rites, with the paper offerings and the customs your family keeps.
- The priest, the altar and the ritual items for each night
- Paper offerings burned: the house, the car and the attendants
- The crossing-the-bridge rite on the final night
- The gong-and-drum band leading the procession, if your family keeps one
From $4,000
Christian
Christian funeral services in Singapore
Wake services each evening, hymns, and the order of service printed for your guests.
- I will coordinate with your pastor and your church on the timings
- If your family has no church, I will find a minister for you
- Cross, backdrop, lectern and sound for the wake service
- Floral tributes, the condolence book and the memorial video
From $4,000
Roman Catholic
Roman Catholic funeral services in Singapore
The rosary each evening, the funeral Mass, and the committal afterwards.
- I will liaise with your parish on the church booking and the timings
- Crucifix, altar and the setting for the rosary at the wake
- Transport from the wake to the church, and from the church onward
- Pallbearers and full coordination on the day of the Mass
From $4,000
Soka
Soka funeral services in Singapore
A quiet hall set the way Soka families keep it, without clergy.
- I work alongside your organisation on the order of the service
- Hall, seating, lectern and sound arranged for the members attending
- White floral arrangements and a simple, unadorned setting
- Full coordination on the funeral day, through to the crematorium
From $4,000
Freethinker
Freethinker funeral services in Singapore
No religious rites at all. A hall, flowers, a photograph, and time for people to speak.
- The setting is yours to shape, and nothing is assumed
- Space for eulogies, music and a memorial video if you want them
- Floral tributes and a photograph, without any religious symbol
- Dignified without belonging to anything
From $4,000
No wake
Direct cremation in Singapore
No wake at all. Collection, the paperwork, a simple casket, the cremation and the ashes.
- Collection and transfer, any hour, anywhere in Singapore
- Guidance through the death certification and the permits
- Bathing, dressing and a simple casket
- Ash collection, with me driving you there
$1,788 all in
Some families do not hold a wake. Perhaps your loved one asked for it that way, or the family is small, or everyone lives overseas. You will not need to explain your reasons to me.
Infant and child
Infant and child funerals
Handled gently, quietly, and at whatever pace your family needs.
- A small casket and a setting kept soft and simple
- As few people present as you want, and nothing rushed
- Whatever rites your family keeps, or none at all
- You are welcome to bring a toy, a blanket or anything that was theirs
Please call
Please call and I will explain everything without you having to ask.
Sending someone home
Repatriation to and from Singapore
If your loved one passed away far from home, I will bring them back. If they passed away here and home is elsewhere, I will send them.
- Embalming to international standard, and a sealed, lined casket for air freight
- Export permit, the death documents and the consular paperwork
- The flight and the airline cargo, with the casket labelled and tracked
- I coordinate with the receiving funeral director at the other end
Quoted per destination
Every country asks for something slightly different. Tell me the destination and I will find out exactly what is needed.
Not sure which one your family keeps? Tell me a little about what your loved one used to do, and we can work it out together on the phone.
Talk it through with meAfter you call
What I will do in the first four hours
Most of what happens next is paperwork and logistics, and that part is mine. I will only come to you for the things your family has to decide.
I am with you within the hour
Anywhere in Singapore, any hour. I bring the paperwork to you.
I will see the certification through
The doctor certifies online. I will show you how to download the certificate.
I bring your loved one into our care
My team collects your loved one and sees to the bathing and dressing.
I will settle the venue and the permit
Void deck permit or parlour hall, I apply for it myself.
I will arrange your clergy
Monk, priest, pastor or none at all, in the dialect your family prays in.
The hall will be ready before your relatives arrive
Altar, tentage, tables, chairs and fans, standing within a few hours.
Where we hold it
HDB void deck or funeral parlour wake
Wherever suits your family. Both are proper, and neither is the better choice.
Downstairs from the flat, where your loved one lived
- Costs almost nothing to use. The town council fee is nominal
- The neighbours can come down to pay their respects
- Open air, so hot afternoons and heavy rain are worth thinking about
- I apply for the permit myself, so you never have to speak to the town council
Air-conditioned, indoors, private
- Hall rental is charged on top, roughly $500 to $1,800 a day
- Kinder on elderly relatives who cannot sit in the heat
- Rain stops being a problem
- I work with every parlour in Singapore, so I will place you wherever you would like, subject to availability
Three days is what most families in Singapore do now, and it makes a full and proper wake. Five or seven if relatives are still travelling in. Each extra day costs about $300.
If you like, I can look into both for you. Let me know your block and roughly when, and I will find out what is free at your void deck and which parlours have space.
Call and I will check for youFrom the first night to the last day
The funeral process, stage by stage
These photographs are from funerals I ran myself, taken as they happened.
The wake setup
The backdrop goes up first, then the altar, then everything your family will need.
- The photograph enlarged and framed, with the flowers and the offerings
- Tentage, tables, 100 chairs, lighting, fans and a mobile toilet
It is all in place before your first relatives arrive, so nobody walks into an empty space.
The encoffining
This is when your loved one is washed, dressed and laid in the casket.
- My team does the washing, the dressing, the hair and the makeup, gently and unhurried
- Your family is welcome to be present, or to wait outside. Either is right
- If you want to help with the dressing yourselves, tell me and I will arrange it
All I will need from you is a set of clothes, something your loved one liked wearing. It does not have to be formal.
Each night of the wake
Prayers in the evening, when most people can get there after work.
- Guests pay their respects, sign the book, and sit a while
- Someone from the family stays near the altar to receive them, in shifts
- My team runs the hall, the tea and the offerings, so your family can sit down
If your family keeps the nights differently, tell me how and we will do it your way.
The funeral procession
There is a final service, then the casket is closed, and we set off together.
- I will ask the family to step back when the casket is closed, as is customary
- Hearse, the band if you want one, and an air-conditioned bus for everyone else
You will not have to figure out where to stand. I will go round quietly and let each person know.
Cremation and collecting the ashes
A last service at the crematorium, then the committal. The ashes are ready a day or two after.
- A towel and a coin for each guest, and the cleansing before anyone goes home
- I will drive you back for the ashes, so you are not making that trip on your own
Afterwards
Where the ashes go
Whichever your family picks is the right one. I will go through what each costs before you decide.
Out past Pulau Semakau
- A private boat for your family, with flowers
- Nothing to maintain afterwards
- Charter from about $1,000
The Garden of Peace
- Ashes scattered into a garden lane at Choa Chu Kang
- A quiet place your family can return to
- No niche fee and nothing to renew
Or a niche. A government niche is $500 standard, or $900 for a family niche, with a $250 selection fee. A private columbarium starts around $3,000.
For the people coming
What your guests will need to know
Pass this on if it helps. It saves your family explaining it over and over.
- Dress in white, black or dark plain colours. No red, and no bright patterns
- At the altar, pay your respects in whatever way the family keeps, then sign the condolence book
- The white packet is never expected. Colleagues and neighbours who do give commonly give $30 to $50
- Children are welcome. Some families keep the custom that expectant mothers stay away, and that is the family's own choice
If a guest arrives in the wrong colour, nobody minds at all.
Who you will be dealing with
You will deal with me, from your first call to the last day
- I take the call, I come to you, and I run the funeral morning myself
- You will not be handed to a coordinator you have never met halfway through
- You will have my handphone number from the start, and you keep it afterwards
Nothing is due before the wake. You will have a written itemised quotation before anything is confirmed, with third-party costs shown separately at cost. We settle the bill after the funeral.
Through every day of the wake
You are never left to run the wake yourselves
- My team keeps the altar and the offerings going each day
- They receive the wreaths, manage the tea and look after the hall
- They will guide guests who do not know the customs, so your family does not have to
- If a priest or monk is unavailable, there are others I can call and arrange
- The vehicles and the pallbearers are my own team, not outsourced
Your only job during those days is to receive the people who come.
Who I am
I am a funeral director in Singapore since 1989
I am Jeremy, the funeral director at Endearing Funeral Services. Our name in Chinese means one heart, and I chose it for a reason.
I have run wakes at void decks and at parlours all over the island since 1989, for families of every faith and of none. Some had three hundred guests. Plenty had a dozen.
Most families I meet have never arranged a funeral before. My job is to walk you through it in order, and to keep walking with you until it is done.
The number on this page is my handphone. It does not go to an office or a call centre. I answer it at three in the morning.
Cost
Funeral cost in Singapore
There is no standard funeral, so there is no standard price. It comes down to what your family needs. Whatever you are quoted is nett, so it is what you pay.
Most families spend between $4,000 and $6,500, all in.
Where yours sits depends entirely on what your family needs, and you decide every one of these.
What moves the figure
- How many days you would like the wake to run
- Void deck or parlour, since a parlour hall is charged per day on top
- The casket, if you want something other than the standard one
- Catering, which comes down to how many guests you expect
- Where the ashes go afterwards
Included as standard, whatever you choose
- Collection and transfer, any hour, anywhere in Singapore
- Guidance through the death certification and permits
- Embalming, bathing, dressing and makeup
- Casket suited to your family's faith
- Town council permit and void deck application
- Full altar, backdrop and decoration
- Tentage, 100 chairs, tables, lighting and fans
- Mobile toilet at void deck wakes
- Clergy arrangement, whichever faith you keep
- Offerings and praying items
- Enlarged framed photograph and 6 passport photos
- Wreath, altar flowers and table arrangements
- Condolence book and mourning attire
- Glass hearse and 45-seater air-conditioned bus
- Cremation slot booking and the crematorium fee
- Pallbearers and full day-of coordination
- Towels and coins for guests, and the cleansing
- Ash collection, with me driving you there
- My handphone number, answered 24 hours
Direct cremation in Singapore
$1,788 all inNo wake. Cremation only. One price, nothing added.Some families do not hold a wake. Perhaps your loved one asked for it that way, or the family is small, or everyone lives overseas. Families choose this for all sorts of reasons, and you will not need to explain yours to me.
A range is the most honest thing I can put on a page, because every family is different. Tell me roughly what you have in mind and we can work out your own figure on the phone.
Ask me for your figureNo surprises
Costs not included in the package
Most families add two or three things from this list, and the rest never come up. It is better that you can see what the costs are before you decide.
These go to the government or the doctor
I pass them on at cost. You would pay the same through any funeral director in Singapore.
What most families do add
Usually just food for the guests. The rest depends on how long you run the wake.
Only if your family wants them
None of this is expected of you. I will not raise any of it unless you ask me to.
Taken together, most families end up between $4,000 and $6,500 all in, catering and the niche included.
Nobody in my company works on commission. If the plain casket and three days is right for your family, I will say so, and I will not raise it again.
If you want to know what it will come to, just ask. We can go through this list together and I will tell you which parts apply to your family.
Call for an itemised quote24 hours a day
Call me at any hour
Tell me where your loved one is, and I will be with you as soon as possible. From that moment the paperwork, the permit, the clergy and the hall are mine to carry, and you deal with me alone, from your first call to the last day.
You do not need to have decided anything before you ring.
8133 0959I answer it myself, 24 hours a day.