Pigeon nets, invisible grills, mesh and glass for a Bengaluru balcony

An iron grill or an invisible one? Both stop a fall. An invisible grill keeps the view: steel cables a couple of inches apart, ₹110 to ₹250 a sq ft. For a fixed iron grill, ask a local fabricator for the price. The only rate we found was for window grills. Whichever you pick, keep a part that opens (question 3).

Do both jobs in one visit. A net and a mesh door, or a grill and a mesh door, both need drilling round the same opening. One visit means one set of holes and one day with the workers in.

Nobody on mytribe fits nets, cat nets, child safety nets or mosquito mesh as a job of its own. The prices for those on this page are other firms' own. For an invisible grill or a roof sheet, the firms at the end of this page do the work.

One balcony, five ways

As it isNetGrillMeshGlass

About ₹1,050 to ₹1,750

A thin black net across the whole opening, its edges held on a steel wire. It keeps pigeons out and lets the air through. It won't hold a child or stop mosquitoes.

₹15 to ₹25 a sq ft fitted, at Bengaluru net firms

Get options like this: Net (One balcony, five ways)

Send us your balcony's width, its height from the railing to the ceiling and what you want kept out, and we'll tell you what each comes to.

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What each one costs a square foot, and whose price it is:

A local net worker or your building's handyman is the other way people get a net fitted. Doing it yourself saves about two thirds on a net, and what you give up is the fixing: a net fixed loosely sags, and that's where birds get caught.

Window rates on a balcony. The sliding glass and mesh prices above are for windows and doors. Our glass sums apply them to a 10 by 7 ft opening, so ask whether the rate holds for a frame that wide.

Measure from the railing all the way to the ceiling. The square feet on the quote move the bill more than the rate does. Ask the firm to write the width and the height it measured.

What a quote should say is in or out:

• Fitting and transport
• The steel wire round a net's edge
• Taking down the old net, and clearing a nest
• The AC ledge and the duct (question 5)
• GST: most firms add it as a separate line. The roof quote we hold added 18%, and at that rate ₹66,500 of glass becomes about ₹78,500, by our sum

The cheaper grill prices say nothing about the gap. KGR Enterprises' ₹120 to ₹150 and EverSafe's from ₹110 come with no gap on the page. Koolkraft's usual grill, about ₹200 a sq ft, has wires 2 to 3 inches apart, wider than the 2 inches to ask for, and closer wires cost up to ₹250 there. Love Invisible Grills prints 2-inch spacing as standard, from ₹180 a sq ft. EverSafe says neither 2 nor 3 inches guarantees a child or a pet is safe. Ask, too, when they'll come back to tighten the wires, because a wire that goes loose leaves a wider gap.

Ask for wires that run up and down. Wires that run across can be climbed like a ladder.

A child safety net is a back-up. Sunset sells its child nets in HDPE or braided nylon of "high tensile strength". EverSafe says a flexible net must not be used for climbing or leaning, and a weak railing has to be fixed first.

Keep furniture away from the railing too. In August 2026, a two-year-old in Chikka Adugodi reportedly climbed onto the balcony grill before falling from the third floor. Of 1,000 children under 16 treated for head injuries at AIIMS in Delhi over four years, over 60% had fallen from a height or a balcony. The doctor running its campaign told parents to keep furniture away from the railing and to bolt the balcony door when no adult is home.

Yes, a closed balcony can trap you in a fire. In 2021, two women were seen trapped on a grilled balcony in a Bengaluru apartment fire, and two people died. A resident said that balcony had no emergency exit. On a fixed iron grill, ask for a section that opens with a lock, and keep the key where every adult in the house can find it. For an invisible grill, ask the fitter what cuts a wire in an emergency, and keep one at home.

The bye-laws. Karnataka's model apartment bye-laws, from 1974, say an owner makes no structural change without telling the association in writing. The association has 30 days to answer, and after that its silence counts as no objection. They don't say whether a net or a grill is a structural change. Another bye-law bars wiring, antennae, machines and air-conditioning units "etc." on the outside unless the association allows them. Each building registers its own version, so ask yours for a copy.

The new law is clearer. The Karnataka Apartment (Ownership and Management) Act, 2026, became law in October and starts on a date the government has yet to announce. It covers buildings of more than eight flats. In the Bill as it was introduced, an owner needs the association's approval to change the outside of the building, its windows or how it looks, and can't add an enclosure the approved plan doesn't show. The final wording may differ.

The city. In September 2021, after the fire in question 3, BBMP told residents and building owners not to install grilles on balconies, as unsafe and against the rules, The News Minute reported. Its circular, as quoted, said covering or changing a balcony after the occupancy certificate was against the rules, and any change needed BBMP's approval first. We didn't read the circular itself. Bengaluru is now run by the Greater Bengaluru Authority, and we couldn't find whether it kept the rule. Before you pay for glass or a grill, ask your association what it has allowed in the building already.

Selling later. Glass that closes a balcony is the kind of change the Bill's wording is about. Keep the association's letter with your flat papers.

Every spot they use goes on the one quote. The AC ledge, the duct, the sunshade over the window and any gap above the net. Pigeons that already live there move a few feet and carry on, and the extra spots are often quoted later, once the first net is up.

Keep the AC reachable. EverSafe says a net over an AC pocket should leave the unit its air and a technician a way in, and that a removable section may be possible.

Eggs in the nest? Wait until the chicks have flown, then have the nest cleared and the net put up. Ask whether clearing it is in the net price. No firm here prints a price for it.

Ask for it fixed tight. Sneha fits its nets on a 304 steel wire rope border, and Deena Safety Nets on a stainless steel wire frame. A net that sags is where birds get caught.

Closing it with glass? Over an AC unit, put in a window that opens, so someone can service it. Misty Garden Weldscape quoted ₹15,000 for one openable UPVC window, or ₹20,000 in a black frame.

A new frame costs a lot. Misty Garden Weldscape's polycarbonate on a new steel frame was ₹550 a sq ft, against Ingenium Designs' ₹200 on a frame you have, though the two may not be the same sheet. Glass on Misty's frame is ₹850 to ₹950.

A glass roof on a new frame is a big job. Misty Garden Weldscape take no job under ₹1,00,000, which at their rates is roughly 100 sq ft of glass roof and up, by our sum. Most flat balconies are smaller. Labour (₹7,000 to ₹13,000) and transport (₹3,000 to ₹6,000) are separate lines on their quotes, and they weld and cut on your site: noise, sparks and dust, which in a flat the society may need to allow. On one quote we hold they priced a uPVC sliding door with 6 mm toughened glass at ₹725 a sq ft.

Sheet or glass. Multiwall polycarbonate lets light through but blurs the view, and glass is clear. A sheet roof is loud in heavy rain, collects leaves and droppings on top and can send water onto the neighbour's side.

Facing west? Glass traps the afternoon heat, so ask for panels that slide open. Some dust still comes in at the tracks.

Ingenium's ₹200 assumes your frame is sound. Ask them to check it on the visit, which is free unless you're 40 to 50 km out (₹999 to ₹1,999), and ask when they can start.

Nothing on the two pages explains the gap between them. KGR's page names SS316, the better grade, and doesn't say how thick its wire is, how far apart the wires sit or how long the warranty runs. Koolkraft ties each price to a wire size and a gap. Ask both the same four things: the grade, the thickness, the gap and the warranty.

One firm prices its two grades side by side. Love Invisible Grills prints SS304 from ₹180 a sq ft with a 5 to 7 year warranty and SS316L from ₹250 with 10 years, 2 to 3 mm wire and a 2-inch gap as standard. Its own pages don't agree: its home page says ₹150 to ₹350, and one page says a 15 year warranty.

Two quotes that both say 316 may not be the same wire. You can't check the grade by eye, so get the warranty length in writing.

Nets differ the same way. Roxy Safety Nets charges ₹8 to ₹12 a sq ft for basic HDPE and ₹20 to ₹30 for transparent nylon, with the same fixing and a 3-year warranty, and doesn't say why. Sushant starts at ₹8 with a warranty of no stated length. Sneha charges ₹18 to ₹24 with a 5-year warranty and a steel wire rope round the edge.

Quoted more because it's a gated society? EverSafe says its net price follows the material, the surface it's fixed to, floor access and any removal work, and asks you to confirm unusual-access costs in the written quote. Ask two firms for the same wire, gap and warranty, and compare those.

How long each lasts, and the warranty:

Ask what the warranty covers. Love Invisible Grills says its 10-year warranty covers cable breakage, rust, damage to the track and installation defects. Most firms don't say, so ask about a tear, a sag and tightening the wires again, and get it on the bill with the firm's name. A worker's promise on WhatsApp is hard to use once his number changes.