How to get your home renovated in Bengaluru

Hiring each trade yourself saves what a contractor adds, and you pay for it with your time: buying tiles, being there when the plumber comes, and knowing which trade goes first. It suits one room or one job. For a whole flat, someone has to plan the order, so the plumber is done before the tiler starts.

What labour costs at a firm: one design-and-build firm lists labour in Bengaluru at ₹350 to ₹600 per sq ft, depending on how complex the work is. It doesn't say which area that is on.

When the mestri is family, put the scope and the price on paper anyway. It keeps the relationship safe as much as the money.

From abroad, someone local has to hold the keys and be on site on day one and at handover. One interiors firm puts a site supervisor in every package, and another firm sends daily progress photos on WhatsApp.

Ask what each "per sq ft" is measured on. Carpet area is the floor you walk on inside the walls. Built-up area adds the walls and the balcony, so it's bigger, and the same job looks cheaper per sq ft. The firm above counts only the area it reworks. If every room is redone, that comes close to your whole carpet area. Ask each contractor to write which area his rate is on.

Why the firm's 2BHK total is lower than the rate times your flat: it says a typical job reworks only the kitchen, bathrooms, wardrobes and a few other rooms, so its typical 2BHK comes to ₹3 lakh to ₹7 lakh. Every room of a 900 sq ft carpet 2BHK, end to end, works out to about ₹9.9 lakh at ₹1,100, ₹16.2 lakh at ₹1,800 and ₹22.5 lakh at ₹2,500, all before 18% GST. Those are our sums, a rate times a size. So ₹8 to ₹10 lakh is more than that firm's typical 2BHK job, and about the least for every room at its basic rate.

Keep 10 to 20% aside. Breaking things open shows what nobody could see: old pipes, a wet wall, rusted rods. One firm says 10 to 15%, and another says 15 to 20% for older buildings.

Four of the lines inside that firm's 2BHK total:

The kitchen alone runs ₹1.5 lakh to ₹6 lakh and more at the second firm, 4 to 8 weeks. Modular kitchens have a separate guide.

Basic level

₹1,100 to ₹1,400 a sq ft

Premium level

₹1,800 to ₹2,500 a sq ft

MDF or commercial plywood, laminate finish

Marine plywood or HDHMR, PU or glass finish

Basic Hettich or Ebco hardware

Blum or Hafele hardware

Ceramic tiles in the bathrooms

Imported tiles, branded sanitaryware

Emulsion paint

Texture paint or wallpaper

What the extra money buys at that firm: marine plywood or HDHMR in place of MDF, Blum or Hafele hinges and runners in place of basic ones, imported tiles, branded taps and toilets, and finishes you can see. Its page lists only the materials for each level, so ask whether the work itself differs too.

How a ₹5 lakh quote and a ₹10 lakh one can be for the same flat: at ₹350 to ₹600 a sq ft of labour, every room of a 900 sq ft 2BHK works out to about ₹3.2 lakh to ₹5.4 lakh, our sum. With materials at the same firm's basic rate, about ₹9.9 lakh. The gap is mostly the tiles, wood, fittings and paint you'd buy yourself on the labour-only quote.

An interiors firm prices by package, so read what's in it. Its complete-home package for a compact 3BHK is ₹10 lakh to ₹20 lakh plus 18% GST: a modular kitchen, wardrobes in every bedroom, a TV unit, a basic false ceiling and lighting design, with a supervisor on site and a 10-year warranty. Its FAQ says a complete 3BHK includes flooring, paint, bathroom fittings and waterproofing, and its budget table puts civil, electrical and the false ceiling at about 15%. It doesn't split this by package, so ask what yours holds. It says a design studio's fee is usually 10 to 15% of the project.

Another firm prices a bathroom higher: ₹1 lakh to ₹3.5 lakh for waterproofing, tiling and fittings, which it puts at ₹300 to ₹600 a sq ft of the bathroom floor. Its page doesn't say what makes it cost more than the first firm's full redo, so ask each for a line-by-line quote.

Will the leak come back? Yes, if the waterproofing isn't redone, whatever tiles go on top. It's the first thing a cheap job skips, and you can't see it once the tiles are on. So go and look before they go down: a grey coat over the whole floor and up the lower walls, thicker in the corners. One firm lists 10 years as the industry-standard warranty for waterproofing. Get yours in writing.

Tiles over tiles are fine for a looks-only change where nothing leaks. The floor rises, so the door may need trimming.

Old GI pipes behind the tiles? Change them while the bathroom is open anyway.

A wet wall in the bedroom can be your pipe, your tiles or the flat above. Find which before anyone breaks anything. Who pays when it comes from upstairs is between you, your neighbour and the society. We found no rule on it.

Two bathrooms? Do them one after the other so you always have one. The second firm says each takes 3 to 5 weeks.

What to ask your society for, in writing: the deposit and when you get it back, the hours and days, how the lift must be covered, where the debris goes, and whether they want a list of the workers.

A wall that holds the building up can come out only with a concrete beam put in its place, and a structural engineer has to approve it, the first firm says. Moving a bathroom or a kitchen usually needs no city approval unless the floor slab is cut. New wiring needs a safety certificate from a licensed electrical contractor.

If the society is difficult, a written OK on file is your best protection. Get it before the work starts.

• See a finished job. Go to a flat he did a year or more ago, and ask the owner what went wrong and whether he came back to fix it.
• Ask for a line-by-line quote before you pay anything (question 7). One that's a single number per room tells you little.
• Ask who is on site every day. One firm here promises a project manager on site, and another sends daily photos on WhatsApp.
• Ask how long his workers have been with him. A team that has worked together knows which trade goes first.
• Ask for a written warranty and a GST bill. Without a bill, the warranty is only his word.
• Agree on who checks the work at each stage. If an engineer or a friend who knows is going to look at the work, tell him before you hire him. Nobody minds at the start, but a contractor can take it badly halfway through.

Workers in the house all day: ask who will be on site and who is in charge of them. Agree on a toilet and drinking water for them on the first day.

Warranty by trade, as one firm lists the industry standard: 10 years on the kitchen and wardrobe boxes and on waterproofing, 5 years on hardware and the false ceiling, 2 years on painting, 1 year on wiring and plumbing. Ask for yours the same way.

Check the brands that go in. Keep the boxes until the end and compare them with the quote.

Cash without a bill saves the 18% GST, and leaves you with no paper if the work fails.

Tie money to work. A first payment, then one after the old tiles and pipes are out, one after tiling, one at handover, and the last after the small faults are fixed. If an advance is for materials, ask for the bills.

Afraid he'll take the advance and vanish? You don't have to say it. A schedule tied to stages is normal, and a contractor who has done this before will have one.

Add a buffer. The interiors firm adds 10 to 12 working days if you have a fixed move-in date, and 1 to 2 weeks in a big gated community.

Most delays come from waiting for something: your choice of tiles, a tile that's out of stock, or a crew away at a festival. Choose your tiles and fittings before the work starts.

Dust gets everywhere, into rooms nobody touched, the wardrobes and the AC. If someone at home has asthma, plan to be away while walls and tiles are broken. A deep clean after is another bill.

A flat almost always gets renovated, because one flat can't come down on its own.

Old wiring may not take a geyser, an induction stove and ACs. New wiring needs a safety certificate from a licensed electrical contractor, one firm says.

Adding a floor or breaking a wall in a house whose walls carry the roof needs a structural engineer's certificate and city approval first (question 5). Roof repairs have a separate guide, and so does building a new house.