Residential Interiors — Questions Answered

₹1,760–₹3,890 per sq ft of carpet area, ex-GST, covering joinery, kitchen, false ceiling, electrical, painting and flooring where required. A 720 sq ft 2BHK therefore lands between ₹10.5 and ₹23 lakh. Below about ₹1,200 per sq ft, something is being left out of the scope rather than delivered more cheaply — usually carcass grade or hardware. See the Mumbai interior cost page for the full breakdown by home size.

Joinery is 45–55% of a residential budget and is priced per square foot of shutter or per running foot of unit. Kitchen is 15–20%, false ceiling and lighting 8–12%, electrical and plumbing 6–10%, painting 6–9%. A BOQ that does not separate these is not comparable to another quotation. Contingency of 10% and GST of 18% sit on top, not inside.

Almost always specification rather than margin. MR board instead of BWP, 0.8 mm laminate instead of 1 mm, unbranded hinges instead of Hettich or Hafele, two coats of paint instead of four, and no allowance for electrical relocation. Put the two BOQs side by side line for line and the gap usually explains itself within twenty minutes.

Ten per cent of project value, held separately. It gets consumed by site discoveries in older flats — old wiring, uneven walls, concealed damp — and by the small upgrades almost every client makes once the space starts taking shape. A project that finishes without touching it is unusual.

Yes, and it costs 15–20% more overall because mobilisation, site protection and supervision are repeated. If you do phase, complete all the wet and dusty work in the first phase regardless of which rooms it affects.

For a single-room project, yes. For a full home interior, it adds two to three weeks and makes the experience considerably worse — dust reaches everywhere despite sheeting, the kitchen and one bathroom will be out of use for extended periods, and the site works around your routine rather than its own sequence. Most clients who try it move out by week three.

In order: society permission and paperwork, late client decisions on finishes and appliances, long-lead imported items, and monsoon disruption between June and September. Actual trade productivity is rarely the problem. A decision calendar agreed at the start — who decides what, by when — removes the largest of these.

Before joinery fabrication begins, and the actual models, not the category. Hob, oven, chimney, dishwasher, washing machine and refrigerator all have specific cut-out and clearance dimensions, and a carcass built to a generic size has to be cut or rebuilt when the real appliance arrives. This is the single commonest source of avoidable rework.

BWP (IS:710) in kitchens, utility areas, bathroom vanities and anywhere at skirting level where mopping water reaches. BWR or good commercial ply (IS:303) is defensible in dry bedroom wardrobes above skirting. The BWP premium is ₹38–₹52 per sq ft, roughly ₹18,000 on a 2BHK, and it is the line least worth saving on. Our plywood quality guide covers how to verify what arrives.

Hettich, Hafele and Blum for hinges and channels, with Blum at the top of the range. The difference from unbranded hardware is cycle life and the availability of replacement parts in five years. Budget ₹340–₹900 per soft-close hinge and ₹1,200–₹4,500 per drawer set. Hardware is touched every day and fails first; it is the wrong place to economise.

Matte laminate at ₹1,450–₹1,900 per sq ft of shutter is the best value and hides wear well. Acrylic at ₹2,200–₹3,100 gives a high-gloss finish that shows every fingerprint and every scratch. Veneer at ₹2,400–₹3,600 is the only one that reads as real wood and needs polishing. See choosing a furniture finish.

Usually not. Replacing sound flooring is the most common budget waste in Mumbai interiors — it costs ₹1.5–₹4 lakh on a 2BHK, adds three weeks, and requires all joinery to be installed afterwards. Replace it when it is genuinely damaged, when levels need correcting, or when you are changing the flat's character fundamentally.

SS 304 hardware as a minimum within two kilometres of the coast and SS 316 for balcony-adjacent or open positions. Mild steel with zinc plating blooms rust through the coating within eighteen months in Bandra, Worli or Juhu, and the stains run down shutter faces. The same applies to window hardware and curtain tracks.

Almost every Mumbai cooperative society requires a written application, an undertaking that no structural element will be altered, a refundable deposit of ₹10,000–₹1,00,000, and a workman list with ID copies. Work is normally restricted to 10 am–6 pm on weekdays, with no work on Sundays and during specified festivals. See society rules for renovation.

For any structural change — removing or adding a wall that carries load, altering the facade, changing the position of a toilet or a shaft, or enclosing a balcony. Pure interior work with no structural alteration does not require BMC permission. The distinction matters because unauthorised structural work surfaces at resale and during redevelopment surveys.

The contractor, and you should confirm they carry workmen's compensation insurance before work starts. Many societies now ask for a copy as a condition of permission. 'The society covers it' is not correct — the society's policy covers common areas and its own employees, not a contractor's workforce inside your flat.

Ten to fifteen per cent on signing, 30–35% as a material advance, 25–30% on delivery to site, 15–20% on installation, and 5–10% retained until 30–45 days after handover. Anything above 40% before material lands on site shifts the risk onto you.

Six things: a line-item BOQ with brands and grades, a dated timeline with milestones, the payment schedule tied to those milestones, a written exclusions list, a variation procedure with rates, and the warranty terms. The exclusions list is the one most often missing and the one that causes most disputes.

Typically one year comprehensive on workmanship and installation, with manufacturer-backed cover of five to ten years on hardware and boards where applicable. It does not cover misuse, water ingress from a source outside your flat, or normal seasonal adjustment. Read our warranty page for what we cover specifically.

We work design-and-build: one contract, one BOQ, one site team and one warranty holder. The alternative — appointing a designer and separately engaging a contractor — can be cheaper on paper and puts coordination and risk on you. Our comparison tool prices both routes.