The lift, the staircase and the landing
A 2,400 mm tall wardrobe side panel does not go into a 1972 Dadar building. We measure the route before the room, and the route decides the construction.
| Building generation | Typical lift car | Longest panel that fits | Construction that follows |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pre-1980 society, collapsible gate | 900 × 1,100 mm, 700 mm door | Roughly 1,700 mm diagonal | Full knock-down; every panel carried, assembled in the flat |
| 1980s–90s mid-rise | 1,000 × 1,250 mm | Roughly 1,900 mm | Knock-down carcass, pre-assembled drawers and shutters |
| 2000s tower with a goods lift | 1,400 × 2,000 mm | Roughly 2,400 mm | Pre-assembled carcasses, site-joined runs |
| Post-2015 tower, service lift | 1,600 × 2,400 mm | Roughly 2,850 mm | Full-height carcasses delivered assembled |
| No lift, walk-up to 4th floor | — | What two people can carry round the turn | Knock-down, and the handling labour is priced explicitly |
Measure the car diagonally as well as flat, and measure the landing turn. A panel that fits the lift and not the landing is the commonest surprise on delivery day.
Knock-down construction, done properly
- Design the break lines at the start. A carcass split at a shelf line and joined with cam-lock and dowel is invisible; one split at an arbitrary point to solve a delivery problem on the morning is not.
- Use proper knock-down hardware. Cam-lock with a dowel for alignment, or a rafix-type connector for anything carrying load. Screwing two panels together through the face is not knock-down construction, it is improvisation.
- Pre-drill and pre-band everything in the workshop. Site drilling produces a dusty, inaccurate job and a carpenter cutting board in a finished flat is how a good project turns bad.
- Number every panel against the shop drawing, and pack in installation sequence. A 12-panel wardrobe delivered unlabelled takes a day longer to build.
- Assemble the back and the sides first, square it, then fix to the wall. A knock-down carcass that is fixed before it is squared will never close properly.
- Accept that it costs more. Knock-down adds roughly 6–10% to a carcass. It is cheaper than the alternative, which is a piece that does not reach the flat.
If it does not fit the lift, it is built in pieces
Material for this climate
- BWP 710 as the default, not the upgrade. At 75–85% relative humidity from June to September, MR-grade ply in a kitchen, a bathroom or against an external wall delaminates within two monsoons. The difference is 5–9% of the piece.
- WPC for vanities and utility carcasses. Immune to water, weaker on screw retention, so not for tall loaded units.
- Edge-seal the base of every floor-standing carcass. The plinth is where water from mopping and monsoon damp enters, and an unsealed bottom edge is the first failure on a Mumbai unit.
- Solid timber needs conditioning here. We hold solid components in the workshop for at least a week before machining, and we design floating panels with breather gaps because a 600 mm solid panel moves 4–7 mm between January and August in this city.
- SS 316 within 2 km of open water. Juhu, Bandstand, Versova, Madh, Worli seafront and the creek edges. It adds 8–14% to the hardware line and it is the difference between hinges that work in year five and hinges that seize.
- Matte over gloss on anything facing a road. Mumbai dust settles visibly on high-gloss acrylic within a day on the highway side, and the same finish is unremarkable in matte.
Mumbai rates
| Piece | ₹ range, ex-GST | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Built-in wardrobe, laminate on BWP | ₹1,700 – 2,100 per sq ft face | 9 ft standard height here, so a run costs more than the national figure per running foot |
| Built-in wardrobe, acrylic or membrane | ₹2,200 – 2,900 per sq ft face | The commonest Mumbai specification |
| Built-in wardrobe, veneer with PU | ₹2,900 – 3,600 per sq ft face | Grain-matched; polishing scheduled outside the monsoon |
| Sliding — WPC carcass, lacquered glass shutters | ₹3,200 – 4,100 per sq ft face | Where a hinged shutter has no swing clearance; loses 12–15% of depth |
| TV and media unit | ₹68,000 – 2,90,000 | By width and whether equipment and cabling are concealed |
| Bed with hydraulic storage | ₹58,000 – 1,90,000 | King size; breather gaps in the base are essential in this climate |
| Foldable or wall-mounted dining | ₹32,000 – 95,000 | A genuinely Mumbai piece; common in 1BHK and compact 2BHK flats |
| Study desk with storage | ₹45,000 – 1,40,000 | Includes cable management and a ventilated equipment bay |
| Entrance unit with shoe storage and seat | ₹42,000 – 1,30,000 | Ventilated shoe bays; the first thing a Mumbai flat needs and the last thing it gets |
Ex-GST. Carcass rates are per square foot of face area at the Mumbai standard 9 ft height. Excludes society deposit and lift charges.
We measure the lift on the first visit, before the rooms. Twice in fifteen years we have had a piece that would not go up, and both times it was a job we inherited halfway through.
Greenbox principal designer
Lead time and installation day
Four to seven weeks from approved shop drawings to delivery, most of it in the workshop. Installation is where Mumbai bites: a booked service-lift slot, 10am to 6pm society hours, protection of the lobby and the lift car, and debris bagged and removed the same day. A well-planned wardrobe run installs in a single day; the same run delivered without a lift booking takes three, because material sits in the lobby and the secretary intervenes.
What the society will want
- An NOC even for furniture-only work, in most buildings, with a deposit of ₹10,000–₹50,000 for a single-room scope.
- Worker ID copies and a fixed crew list. Rotating unverified labour mid-project is the fastest way to lose site access.
- A lift charge, commonly ₹500–₹2,000 a day, plus protection of the car floor and walls.
- Same-day debris removal, bagged, with no pile on the landing at any point.
- No drilling before 10am or after 6pm, and none on Sundays or society festival days.
The craft fundamentals
Where bespoke beats modular, board and timber selection, joinery details and upholstery specification are set out on custom furniture design. For the two most commonly commissioned pieces in this city see wardrobe designers in Mumbai and modular kitchen designers in Mumbai.
Selected work by Greenbox Design Studio. Tap any image to enlarge.
Frequently asked questions
What does custom furniture cost in Mumbai?+
₹1,700–₹2,100 per sq ft of face area for a laminate wardrobe on BWP, ₹2,200–₹2,900 for acrylic or membrane, ₹2,900–₹3,600 for veneer with PU and ₹3,200–₹4,100 for sliding WPC with lacquered glass, all at the Mumbai standard nine-foot height and ex-GST. Loose bespoke pieces run from ₹32,000 for a foldable dining unit to ₹2.9 lakh for a large media wall.
Why does the lift matter for custom furniture?+
Because a panel that will not reach the flat is a panel you cannot use. A pre-1980 society lift with a collapsible gate takes roughly a 1,700 mm diagonal, which means a full-height wardrobe has to be built knock-down and assembled in the room. Measure the car diagonally and the landing turn, not just the door width.
Does knock-down construction cost more?+
About 6–10% more on the carcass, because of the connector hardware, the extra pre-drilling and the site assembly time. It is still far cheaper than the alternative. Done properly the break lines fall on shelf positions and are invisible; done as a last-minute fix on delivery morning, they are visible forever.
Is BWP plywood really necessary in Mumbai?+
In kitchens, bathrooms, utility areas and against any external wall, yes. Relative humidity runs 75–85% from June to September, and MR-grade carcass in those positions typically delaminates within two monsoons. It adds 5–9% to the piece and removes a rebuild.
How long does bespoke furniture take in Mumbai?+
Four to seven weeks from approved shop drawings, most of it in the workshop, plus installation. A wardrobe run installs in a single day with a booked service-lift slot; without one it takes three, because the material waits in the lobby. Polishing and PU work is scheduled outside the monsoon or done in a dehumidified space.
Do I need a society NOC for furniture-only work?+
In most Mumbai buildings, yes, with a deposit of ₹10,000–₹50,000 for a single-room scope, worker ID copies and a fixed crew list, a lift charge of ₹500–₹2,000 a day, and same-day bagged debris removal. Drilling is restricted to 10am–6pm with no Sundays or society festival days.