House Construction Cost Calculator
Home & ConstructionWhat a house costs to build, by quality and city, broken down across the trades.
Runs entirely in your browser — nothing is uploaded
A per-square-foot figure is the only estimate available before there are drawings, and it is genuinely useful for that — as a way to budget and to sanity-check a quote. It is not a price. What separates an economy build from a luxury one is almost entirely finishes: the structure costs much the same either way.
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Features
- Four quality tiers, from economy to luxury, each with what it actually means.
- City cost index for eleven Indian markets.
- Breakdown across eleven trades, adding to the whole.
- Extras outside the built-up area — compound wall, borewell, landscaping.
- Contingency, which a build without simply overruns instead.
- Runs entirely in your browser — nothing is uploaded.
How to use the House Construction Cost Calculator
- 1Enter the built-up area per floor and the number of floors.
- 2Choose a quality tier and your city.
- 3Add anything outside the built-up area.
- 4Read the total and the trade-by-trade split.
Frequently asked questions
What does it cost to build a house in India?
Broadly ₹1,400 per square foot for an economy build, ₹1,900 for a standard one, ₹2,600 premium and ₹3,800 or more for luxury — before the city multiplier, which runs from about 0.75 in a tier-3 town to 1.35 in Mumbai. A 2,400 sq ft standard house in Bengaluru comes to roughly ₹52 lakh of construction before extras and contingency.
What actually changes between quality tiers?
Finishes, almost entirely. The structure — foundation, columns, beams, slab — costs much the same whichever tier you build to, because it is sized by load rather than by taste. What multiplies is flooring, joinery, sanitaryware, kitchen and fittings. That is why the structure is around 30% of an economy build and closer to 20% of a luxury one.
Is this built-up area or carpet area?
Built-up, which includes walls, staircases and balconies. Carpet area is typically 25–30% smaller, so a rate quoted per square foot of carpet area looks far higher for the same house. Getting this wrong is the single most common reason two quotes turn out not to be comparable.
Why include a contingency?
Because something always changes: a material rate rises mid-build, a detail is revised, ground conditions turn out different from what was assumed. Five to ten percent is normal. A budget with no contingency does not avoid those costs — it just discovers them later, usually when there is no money left.
What is not in this figure?
Land, plan sanction and approvals, architect and structural engineering fees, furniture, and the connection charges for water and electricity. Those are real money and frequently a surprise, so budget them separately.