Estimate your office refurbishment
Area and scope first. Whether the team stays in the building changes everything.
How this calculator works
- Rate = scope × occupancy factor × city factor × MEP factor. The scope rate is the mid-point of the band — ₹630, ₹1,390 or ₹1,775 per sq ft — and every factor is published above so the build-up can be checked.
- Cost = area × rate, plus reinstatement at ₹280 per sq ft where it is in scope.
- Range = −10% to +12%, the spread we see between an early estimate and a signed contract on completed commercial projects.
- Programme = 14 days cosmetic, 35 partial, 70 full, multiplied by 1.5 for phased occupied working and 1.8 for nights and weekends.
- Cost per workstation assumes 95 sq ft per seat, the standard-office benchmark from our space per employee calculator.
- The split — strip-out 8%, civil 18%, MEP 27%, ceilings and flooring 14%, joinery and furniture 19%, finishes 7%, PM and contingency 7% — comes from completed Greenbox commercial projects.
| Scope | Rate | What it includes | Typical trigger |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cosmetic refresh | ₹490–₹770 / sq ft | Paint, carpet, loose furniture, minor joinery | Lease renewal, a brand refresh |
| Partial refit | ₹1,200–₹1,580 / sq ft | Layout change, new partitions, some MEP, new ceilings | Headcount change, hybrid re-planning |
| Full strip-out and refit | ₹1,580–₹1,970 / sq ft | Back to shell, all new services and finishes | New lease, major consolidation |
| Reinstatement | ₹280 / sq ft | Strip to landlord's shell specification | Lease exit obligation |
Rates are ex-GST and assume a Grade-A or Grade-B floor plate with reasonable access. A building with a single service lift, restricted working hours or a 6 am to 10 pm material movement window will sit at the upper end of every band. The three renovation bands come from workplace projects Greenbox has completed and billed, audited line by line and held at October 2026 prices; they match the depths published on our office renovation page. Reinstatement is a separate market figure and is not drawn from that audit.
Design and build under one accountable roof
Worked example — a 6,000 sq ft phased refit
| Step | Arithmetic | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Base scope | partial refit, mid-point of ₹1,200–₹1,580 | ₹1,390 / sq ft |
| Phased, team in the building | × 1.18 | ₹1,640 |
| Mumbai | × 1.09 | ₹1,788 |
| Partial MEP replacement | × 1.12 | ₹2,002 / sq ft |
| Total before GST | 6,000 × ₹2,002 | ₹1.20 Cr |
| Displayed range | −10% to +12% | ₹1.08 Cr – ₹1.35 Cr |
| Programme | 35 days × 1.5 | 53 working days |
| Cost per workstation | at 95 sq ft per seat, 63 seats | ₹1.91 L |
Renovating around people
The decision that moves the number most is not the specification, it is whether the floor is empty. A vacant floor lets a contractor run every trade in parallel, store materials on site and work a normal day. An occupied floor means a phased sequence, hoarding that has to be dust-tight and fire-rated, materials brought up outside business hours, and a site that is handed back clean every evening. That is the 18%.
Night and weekend working sounds like a way to avoid disruption and it is the most expensive option of the three. Every shift carries a setup and a shutdown, labour is on a premium rate, noisy work still cannot happen adjacent to a tenant on the floor below at 8 pm, and the programme nearly doubles. It is the right answer for a trading floor or a call centre that genuinely cannot decant, and the wrong answer for almost everyone else. If a swing space or a six-week lease overlap is available, it is usually cheaper than the premium.
One more Mumbai reality: most Grade-A buildings restrict material movement to specified hours, require a fit-out deposit, and insist on the landlord's nominated vendors for anything touching fire, HVAC or the building management system. Those nominated rates are typically 15–25% above open-market and they are not negotiable. Get the landlord's fit-out manual before you budget, not after.
Every constant on this page comes from Greenbox site records — measured drawings, signed BOQs and completion certificates from projects delivered between 2023 and 2026 — rounded to the figures an estimator would actually write down. We publish them so the arithmetic can be audited rather than trusted. Treat the output as a planning figure: accurate enough to brief a landlord, a bank or a family, and not accurate enough to sign a contract against.
What this tool does not cover
- Landlord deposits, fit-out charges, supervision fees and nominated-vendor premiums.
- IT infrastructure beyond structured cabling — servers, network hardware, access control and CCTV.
- Loose and specialist furniture beyond the standard allowance in the joinery line.
- Statutory approvals, fire NOC and occupancy certification.
- Decant or swing-space rent while the floor is unavailable.
- For a new fit-out rather than a renovation, use the office interior cost calculator.
Selected work by Greenbox Design Studio. Tap any image to enlarge.
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost to renovate an office per square foot?+
₹490–₹770 per sq ft for a cosmetic refresh, ₹1,200–₹1,580 for a partial refit with layout changes, and ₹1,580–₹1,970 for a full strip-out and refit. Mumbai adds about 9%, and renovating while the team stays in the building adds another 18%.
Is it cheaper to renovate an office or move?+
Renovating is usually cheaper on capital but not always on total cost. A move carries a new fit-out at ₹2,030–₹3,050 per sq ft plus reinstatement of the old floor at ₹280 per sq ft, while a renovation carries the occupancy premium and business disruption. Model both over the lease term, not over the build.
How long does an office renovation take?+
Two to three weeks for a cosmetic refresh, five to seven weeks for a partial refit, and ten to fourteen weeks for a full strip-out — on a vacant floor. Working around an occupied team adds 50% to those figures, and night-and-weekend working adds 80%.
What is reinstatement and do I have to pay for it?+
Returning the premises to the landlord's shell specification at lease end. Almost every Indian commercial lease requires it, and it costs around ₹280 per sq ft. Budget for it from day one — it is a liability that accrues from the moment you fit out, not a surprise at the end.
Why is MEP the biggest line in an office renovation?+
Because HVAC distribution, electrical distribution, fire detection, sprinkler modification and structured cabling all have to follow the new layout, and almost all of it sits above the ceiling where nobody can see it. At 27% of the spend it is also the line most often under-quoted, which is why an unusually cheap bid is usually a thin MEP scope.