The plot house, which is a building contract with interiors attached
On the Mulund East slope toward the national park boundary, a turnkey house contract starts outside. The recurring problems are consistent: surface water finding the plinth because the site was never graded away from the building, retaining walls built without weep holes that are now holding water against the structure, and a terrace membrane that has been patched four times rather than replaced once. Fitting a beautiful interior under any of those is a warranty claim with a date on it. We survey the external condition before quoting interiors, quote it as its own package, and sequence it first — because waterproofing and drainage need a dry spell and interiors do not.
| External package | Typical range | When it is needed | Sequencing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Site grading and surface drainage | ₹1.2 – 3.5 lakh | Where water reaches the plinth in monsoon | First, before any internal work |
| Retaining wall repair and weep holes | ₹2 – 8 lakh | Where the wall is damp on the inner face | First; structural advice where movement is visible |
| Terrace waterproofing, full replacement | ₹280 – 420 per sq ft | Where the membrane has been patched more than twice | Before ceilings are built below |
| External wall treatment and painting | ₹95 – 160 per sq ft | Almost always on a hillside house | After the above, before internal finishing |
| Compound, gate and external lighting | ₹1.5 – 6 lakh | Client choice | Last, in parallel with internal snagging |
Ex-GST, quoted separately from interiors. These ranges are wide because the survey findings genuinely vary that much.
Worked example: 2,800 sq ft hillside plot house
A two-storey house on a sloping plot in Mulund East, occupied by a family of seven across three generations. Full internal renovation plus the external package the survey demanded.
| Scope | ₹ lakh | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Design, structural coordination and approvals | 3.89 | Full drawing set; structural advice on the retaining wall |
| External civil — drainage, retaining repair, terrace membrane | 9.50 | Site regraded, weep holes formed, terrace stripped and re-laid |
| Internal civil work and plumbing | 5.60 | Four bathrooms re-plumbed; two openings formed; stair re-finished |
| Joinery | 27.38 | Wardrobes in five bedrooms, living and dining joinery, study, pooja room, utility |
| Kitchen and utility | 7.06 | 18 running feet plus a separate utility room |
| False ceiling and lighting | 6.33 | Both floors; concealed lighting in the living and dining rooms |
| Electrical, data and backup | 4.75 | New distribution, inverter changeover, data to three rooms |
| Painting, internal and external | 3.77 | Full house inside; exterior-grade system outside |
| Four bathrooms | 5.84 | Two full rebuilds, two refreshes |
| Soft furnishing and loose furniture | 3.41 | Curtains, blinds, dining, seating across both floors |
| Project management and contingency | 0.84 | Held against the retaining wall findings |
| Total, ex-GST | 78.37 | ₹2,799 per sq ft carpet |
Add 18% GST. The external package is ₹9.5 lakh of this contract and was quoted after the survey, not estimated before it. Interior rates are taken from contracts we have delivered and billed, held at October 2026.
Drainage and the terrace first. Wardrobes later
When four people have to agree
Mulund households are frequently multi-generational and the decisions are genuinely shared — parents, adult children, sometimes a sibling who lives elsewhere and is paying part of it. A contract that assumes one decision-maker will produce a project that stalls politely and expensively. What we do instead: one named signatory in the contract who can approve variations, agreed at the start, whatever the family decides internally; decision sessions scheduled at times when everyone can attend, which in practice means Sunday mornings; drawings presented at a scale a non-technical family member can read, with 3D views for the rooms that matter rather than for all of them; and every approval recorded in writing and circulated to everyone, so that a decision made on Sunday is not revisited on Wednesday by someone who was not there.
Two constraints on a Mulund contract
- Transfer slabs in podium towers. Where a flat sits over a podium, any drilling into the transfer slab needs the developer's written consent in addition to the society's. It affects ceiling support and services routing, so we establish the position before the services drawing is issued rather than when the drilling crew is turned back.
- Access from behind, always. There is no unloading on the Eastern Express Highway service roads. Deliveries route through the internal lanes, and on a house contract with external material — stone, waterproofing, scaffolding — that route has to be checked for width and turning before the first load is booked.
For Mulund as a whole, see interior designers in Mulund. For the contract structure, payment stages and warranty we use everywhere, see turnkey interior contractors in Mumbai.
Turnkey delivery by Greenbox Design Studio.
Frequently asked questions
Why won't you give a per-square-foot rate for a hillside house?+
Because the external package genuinely ranges from ₹1.2 lakh to ₹15 lakh depending on what the survey finds, and folding that into a rate makes the number meaningless. We quote interiors per square foot and the external work as its own package after surveying it. Contractors who quote one rate for both are guessing.
What has to happen before interiors start on a plot house?+
Site grading and surface drainage, any retaining wall repair, and the terrace membrane. All three need a dry spell and all three affect what is below them. Building a ceiling under a terrace that will be stripped in six months is work paid for twice.
Our family makes decisions together. How do you handle that?+
One named signatory in the contract who can approve variations, decision sessions scheduled when everyone can attend — usually Sunday mornings — drawings presented so a non-technical family member can read them, and every approval recorded in writing and circulated. It prevents Sunday's decision being reopened on Wednesday.
Can you drill into a podium transfer slab?+
Usually only with the developer's written consent as well as the society's, and sometimes not at all. It determines how ducting and heavy ceiling elements are supported, so we establish the position before the services drawing is issued. It is a two-week question if asked early and a three-week delay if asked late.
How long does a full house take?+
Eighteen to twenty-four weeks including the external package, which is six to eight of those on its own and is weather-dependent. A flat of 1,200 to 1,500 square feet runs thirteen to sixteen weeks. We publish the programme with the weather-dependent items marked, because pretending monsoon does not exist helps nobody.