Why a single contract earns its premium here
Bandra West projects fail on coordination rather than craft. A flat with no goods lift, a committee that meets monthly, a rewire, a stone counter that has to be jointed on site and six trades sharing a 1.05 m staircase is a scheduling problem first and a design problem second.
| Arrangement | What you manage | Typical premium | Where it fails in Bandra West |
|---|---|---|---|
| Labour-only contract | Design, drawings, every material purchase, every trade, the society | Baseline | Nobody owns the staircase schedule; trades arrive on the same morning |
| Labour and material, per trade | Design, drawings, trade sequencing, the society | +14 – 20% | Each trade blames the previous one for what it found |
| Turnkey design and build | One contract, one programme, one point of contact | +20 – 28% | Fails only if the contract scope is vague — so it is written in line items |
Premiums are against an identical specification. The turnkey figure is not 25% more expensive work; it is the same work with coordination, wastage and making-good priced in rather than billed later.
The society interface, which is the real deliverable
- One named person files the NOC, with the marked demolition drawing, the crew list with photo ID, the working-hours undertaking and the deposit cheque, three weeks before mobilisation.
- One person answers the secretary's phone. Our site supervisor's number goes on the noticeboard on day one. In five years that has resolved more issues than any clause we have ever written.
- Lift and common-area protection is installed before the first delivery and photographed, so the deposit comes back.
- Debris leaves bagged, daily, within the permitted window. The single most common cause of a stop-work notice in this suburb is debris on a landing at 7pm.
- Work stops at six and does not restart on Sunday. The programme assumes roughly 38 productive hours a week, which is why our Bandra West durations look longer than a quote that assumes sixty.
Worked example: 1,450 sq ft turnkey flat, Bandra West
| Package | ₹ lakh | Included |
|---|---|---|
| Design, drawings and shop details | 2.6 | Layouts, 3D views, elevation-by-elevation joinery drawings, BOQ |
| Civil, plumbing and full electrical | 7.8 | Rewire, CPVC branch lines, framed openings where needed |
| Joinery — all rooms | 21.7 | Stair-sized modules; 2 mm edge banding on every exposed edge |
| False ceiling and lighting | 5.1 | Peripheral where the slab is low, designed where it is not |
| Flooring | 3.8 | Two rooms replaced, the rest polished and retained |
| Painting and wall finishes | 2.7 | Anti-fungal base coat on external walls |
| Bathrooms — two, full replacement | 4.1 | Waterproofing membrane re-laid |
| Project management, society liaison and contingency | 2.5 | Named supervisor, NOC file, protection, snag closure |
| Total, ex-GST | 50.3 | ₹3,470 per sq ft on 1,450 sq ft carpet |
Add 18% GST. Every line is a package with its own scope note in the contract; anything not in those notes is a variation and is priced in writing before it is built. The rates and packages here derive from Bandra West contracts Greenbox has completed and invoiced, held at October 2026.
One contract, one programme, one accountable name
How we sequence a stair-carry project
- Weeks 0–3 · Society file and design freezeNOC, deposit, crew list and protection agreed while drawings and the BOQ are finalised. Nothing is ordered until you sign the BOQ.
- Weeks 4–5 · Demolition, first fix, rewireThe dirtiest scope first and in one block, so the building endures it once. Debris bagged and removed daily.
- Weeks 6–7 · Ceiling frame, plaster repair, waterproofingWet trades complete and curing before anything made of board enters the flat.
- Weeks 8–12 · Joinery in stair-sized modulesDelivered in sequence by room, not all at once — a Bandra staircase cannot absorb a full flat of carcass in one week.
- Week 13 · Counter templating and stoneTemplated on the installed carcass, cut to jointable lengths, seamed on site.
- Weeks 14–16 · Finishes, snag and handoverPaint, hardware, lighting, deep clean, our snag list closed before yours is opened. 5% retained for 60 days.
What the contract says about change
Variations are the mechanism by which a fixed price stops being fixed, so the contract treats them formally. Anything outside the signed BOQ is quoted in writing with a cost and a programme impact before it is built, and it is your decision to accept it. On our Bandra West projects the two variations that recur are what is found behind the plaster on a 1970s wall, and a client-side change to a stone or laminate selection after fabrication has started. We hold a contingency against the first and price the second honestly, including the fabrication already committed.
For the suburb generally see interior designers in Bandra West; for the design side see residential interior designers in Bandra West. Our contract structure, payment terms and warranty are set out on turnkey interior contractors in Mumbai.
Turnkey delivery by Greenbox Design Studio.
Frequently asked questions
Is turnkey worth 25% more than hiring trades myself?+
In a Bandra West building, usually yes. The premium buys sequencing, wastage absorbed rather than billed, making-good after chasing, and one party answering the society. If you can be on site daily, can identify board grade and hardware series yourself, and can hold six trades to a shared staircase schedule, a labour-and-material arrangement is genuinely cheaper. Very few clients can.
What is actually excluded from a turnkey contract?+
Ours exclude loose furniture, art, appliances, curtains unless specified, statutory fees and deposits, and anything discovered behind a wall that could not reasonably have been surveyed. Everything else — material, labour, wastage, debris, protection, making good, snagging — is in. The exclusions are listed on the front page of the BOQ, not buried in a schedule.
How should payments be structured?+
Roughly 10% at design freeze, 25% at mobilisation and procurement, 30% at joinery carcass and first fix, 25% at finishes and installation, 5% at snag closure and 5% retained for 60 days after handover. Each release is against photographed, verified progress rather than a calendar date. The retention matters more than the warranty document in the first two months.
Who is responsible if the society stops the work?+
We are, if it is a compliance failure on our side — debris, hours, unverified labour, damaged common area. That is what the single contract means. If the stop arises from something on your side, such as a disputed change of use or an unpaid maintenance bill, the contract provides for a standstill and the programme extends without penalty to either party.
How long is the warranty?+
Ten years on the joinery carcass and workmanship, subject to the usual exclusions for water ingress from a building defect and client-side modification. Hardware carries the manufacturer's own warranty, honoured directly by Hettich, Hafele or Blum. There is also a twelve-month defects liability period during which we return for anything that emerges, which in practice is the clause clients use.