Getting a home built is a life-defining aspiration for numerous people. However, property owners in India are often faced with the question of how much it will cost to build a house, as every builder offers a completely different construction cost per square foot. This blog provides a comprehensive guide on how to calculate construction cost per sq ft at the current market rates in India, to enable prospective home-builders to estimate the costing for building a house. Keep reading to learn more.
Steps for Calculating Construction Cost Per Square Foot
For calculating the construction square foot costs for a house, it is first essential to estimate the total built up area in square feet. This can be calculated with the following steps:
- Preparation of Floor Plans: The built-up area may be difficult to predict accurately without first finalising the house floor plans and design. In case an estimate is required before the floor plans are ready, plans prepared for a similar size and with similar requirements can be sourced online as a reference for calculation of the construction rate per sq ft.
- Floor-Wise Calculation: Check the square foot area of each individual floor, these numbers are generally mentioned in the architectural drawings. If not, measure the length and breadth of the house on each floor and multiply these to get the area. Sizes of individual rooms can be calculated and added in case of irregular plan shapes.
- Summing up: Add the built-up area of each floor to obtain the total built-up area.
Note: Carpet area and built-up area differ significantly. Built-up area (considered for calculation of building construction cost per square foot) includes area taken up by the thickness of all walls, columns and other unusable spaces, while carpet area denotes the actual usable area. For ground floors or basements, even uncovered/ unwalled spaces such as parking lots are generally added since these also require foundations. Typically, areas of other open spaces like terraces and balconies have a different construction rate per square feet, because these cost less than normal rooms to build.
Construction Cost per Square Foot For Every Construction Stage
Having an estimate of the cost at each stage of construction can help in financial planning and ensure continuity in the process. Different stages of construction affect the construction rate per square foot, as explained in the following section.
Pre-Construction Cost Per Square Foot
A portion that is generally neglected while calculating house construction cost per square foot is the cost of pre-construction processes, including architectural and structural design, site surveys and soil testing. Architectural design details out all the creative aspects of a home, such as floor plans and elevations. Structural design provides details on the load-supporting elements of a house, such as beam and column sizes, foundation design and amount of steel required. This is usually done on the basis of soil testing and site survey reports, which provide details on soil capacity and site conditions, respectively.
The approximate costs for these are as below:
| Aspect | Approximate cost in ₹ |
| Architectural Design | 25 – 500 per square foot |
| Structural Design | 5 – 200 per square foot |
| Site Survey | 2000 to 25000 (lump sum amount) |
| Soil Testing | 5000 to 25000 (lump sum amount) |
A site survey to determine the correct site boundaries and contours can cost a lump sum amount of ₹2000 to ₹25000, while soil testing costs can range between ₹5000 to ₹25000, depending on the agency and methods of conducting these.
Construction Stage
During construction, various factors affect the total construction cost, such as:
Contractor’s Cost
Different contractors charge different percentages of total cost as their profit and have different rates for each aspect of construction. Generally, a contractor’s profit is considered to be around 10% of the total construction cost, while another 5 to 10% is set aside by them for overhead costs, adding up to a total charge of 10 to 20%.
Labour Cost for House Construction Per Sq Ft
The cost for different types of labour, such as masonry, carpentry, concreting, shuttering and steel bar bending, vary widely depending on the demand, market conditions, time consumed and skills required. However, in general, labour cost is around 30-40% of total cost of building a house in India.
Material Cost for House Construction
Material costs can vary widely depending on the type, quality and choice of building materials. However, material cost generally is around 50-60% of the total construction cost of a house in India. The type of materials used for constructing a house can be broadly classified into three categories.
| Type of Material | Percentage of total cost required |
| Structural Materials | 45 – 50% |
| Doors, windows and other openings | 5 – 10% |
| Finishing Materials | 35 – 45% |
| Miscellaneous | 5 – 10% |
- Structural Materials
Structural materials are those that are used for constructing the main frame of the building, including the foundation, floor and roof slabs, walls and columns. The use of different materials for the main structure can widely affect the residential construction cost per square foot. For example, bricks or concrete blocks can be used for building walls. While brick walls cost around ₹150/sq ft (in elevation) to build for a 4” thick wall, concrete block walls may cost between ₹100-120/sq ft.
- Doors, Windows and Other Openings
To estimate cost of construction per sq ft, the total surface area of windows in a house can be considered to be around 5 to 10% of the floor area. Materials selected for doors, windows and other openings can have a huge effect on construction cost. For example, uPVC window rates may start from ₹300/sq ft, while wood window prices start from ₹1200/ sq ft. If we consider 100 sq ft area of windows in a 1000 sq ft house, this results in a cost difference of ₹70,000 between the two material choices.
- Finishing Materials
There are hundreds of finishing materials available in the market today, with widely varying costs. For instance, normal cement plastering can cost around ₹40-₹60/ sq ft, while lime plaster can cost ₹100-200/ sq ft. Similarly, the cost of flooring starts from ₹25/sq ft and can go up to ₹5000/ sq ft.
- Miscellaneous Costs
Various other factors, such as water tanks, borewells, cladding materials and underground sumps, can affect the cost per square foot for home construction and consequently the overall cost. These can add up to 5-10% to the total cost of construction.
To sum up, the costs incurred during the construction stage of a project can be denoted as follows:
| Component | Percentage of Total Cost Required |
| Contractor’s Charge | 10 – 20 % |
| Labour Cost | 30 – 40% |
| Material Cost | 50 – 60% |
Calculating the Construction Cost Per Square Foot for a 100 Sq Ft Room
Assuming that a room of 10’x10’ with a standard height of 10’ and no RCC columns needs to be added to an existing house, the approximate construction cost can be calculated as follows:
| Components | Low-range cost (₹) | Mid-range cost (₹) | High-range cost (₹) |
| Walls (volume ~ 260 cubic ft for 9” thick walls) | 52000 (alternate material at ₹200/cft) | 65000 (blocks at ₹250/cft) | 78000 (brick at ₹300/cft) |
| Windows (at 15% of floor area= 15 sq ft) | 4500 (uPVC at ₹300/sq ft) | 9000 (Aluminium at ₹600/sq ft) | 22500 (wood at ₹1500/sq ft) |
| One door (3’x7’ size) | 6000 (uPVC) | 25000 (Honne wood) | 45000 (Teak wood) |
| Roof slab (RCC 6” thick) | 11000 (at ₹220/cft) | 13000 (at ₹260/cft) | 16000 (at ₹320/cft) |
| Flooring material | 3000 (at ₹30/sq ft) | 7000 (at ₹70/sq ft) | 12000 (at ₹120/sq ft) |
| Plastering (surface area ~ 350 sq ft) | 14000 (at ₹40/ sq ft) | 21000 (at ₹60/sq ft) | 42000 (at ₹120/sq ft) |
| Painting (surface area ~ 350 sq ft) | 8750 (at ₹25/sq ft) | 14000 (at ₹40/ sq ft) | 24500 (at ₹70/ sq ft) |
| Electrical fittings and labour (at roughly 9% of total cost) | 10000 | 16000 | 26000 |
| Overheads and miscellaneous | 10000 | 16000 | 20000 |
| Total cost | 119250 | 186000 | 286000 |
Therefore, the cost of constructing a room on an existing building generally starts around ₹1193/sq ft. However, this is just an approximate estimate that can vary widely depending on various factors such as material choices, site location, selection of contractors and site conditions. For new constructions, additional costs of site preparation, excavation, foundation and floor slabs need to be added to this cost.
Calculating the Construction Cost Per Square Foot for a 1000 sq ft House
In India, construction cost for basic homes generally starts from ₹1,900/sq ft, while luxury home costs can go up to even ₹10,000/ sq ft. A few price ranges along with what these prices include, are denoted below to obtain the average construction cost per square foot for a 1000 sq ft home in India.
| Low range cost (at ₹1900/sq ft) | Mid range cost (at ₹2250/sq ft) | High range cost (at ₹3000/ sq ft) | |
| Architectural services | 50,000 | 1,00,000 | 1,50,000 |
| Structural design services | 15,000 | 20,000 | 30,000 |
| Material cost | 9,12,000 | 10,80,000 | 14,40,000 |
| Labour cost | 6,08,000 | 7,20,000 | 9,60,000 |
| Contractor’s profit | 1,90,000 | 2,25,000 | 3,00,000 |
| Overheads and miscellaneous | 1,90,000 | 2,25,000 | 3,00,000 |
| Total cost | 19,00,000 | 22,50,000 | 30,00,000 |
Similarly, the construction cost per sq ft can be estimated to obtain the total construction cost for different sizes of houses. However, construction cost in India can vary based on the size and scale of a project, as very small houses have a higher cost due to difficulty in availability of labour for small jobs. For example, the construction cost for a 1200 sq ft house per square foot may be lower than that of a 500 sq ft house.
Home Construction Cost Calculator
The above methods can be used to gain a rough idea of the construction cost per square foot for the given areas and type of construction. However, Brick & Bolt’s House Construction Cost Calculator can be used to procure more accurate estimates of construction costs for homes. This calculator will produce estimates based on customisable options for structural materials, finishing materials, types of services required, site location and various other aspects.
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Hemali Patel