1 · Area basis
Carpet, built-up or super built-up? The same ₹1,400/sq ft is ₹15.4 lakh against a 1,100 sq ft carpet area and ₹19.6 lakh against the 1,400 sq ft built-up figure for the identical flat. Ask: which area is this rate measured on?
Buying interiors · Before you sign anything
Two quotes, ₹3 lakh apart. Neither number tells you which is cheaper.
An interior quote is a price attached to a set of assumptions that are almost never written down — what the rate is measured against, whether tax is inside it, which grade of board goes where, whose hinges, and which six items of scope have quietly been left out. Change those assumptions and the same flat prices anywhere between ₹11 lakh and ₹16 lakh honestly. This page is the method we use to make two quotes comparable, including the arithmetic, so you can run it on ours as readily as on anyone else's.
Nine variables. Fix all nine, or you are comparing nothing.
These move independently between two quotes for the same flat. A ₹3 lakh gap is usually four or five of them stacked, not a difference in anybody's margin. Each one has a single question that settles it.
2 · GST
Fit-out work attracts 18%. On a ₹12 lakh contract that is ₹2.16 lakh — usually a bigger line than anything being negotiated. Ask: is this figure inclusive of GST, and does your GSTIN appear on the quote?
3 · Core material grade
BWP IS:710 belongs in wet zones — kitchen, utility, bathroom vanity. Specifying it through a dry bedroom wardrobe run is padding, and MDF in a wet zone is a two-year failure. Ask: which grade, in which room?
4 · Hardware brand and series
"Hardware included" spans a ₹200 hinge and a ₹1,200 hinge. Hettich, Häfele and Ebco each run several series at different prices. Ask: which brand, which series, on which units?
5 · Electrical scope
New points, shifting existing ones, rewiring for a hob and chimney. Excluded from most low quotes and unavoidable in practice. Ask: are electrical modifications in scope, and how many points?
6 · Civil and plumbing
Wall breaking, core-cutting for the chimney duct, shifting a sink or washing-machine point. Ask: is civil work in scope, or billed as a variation later?
7 · False ceiling
Frequently priced per room and frequently excluded entirely, then added mid-project once the electrical layout depends on it. Ask: included, and in which rooms?
8 · Countertop and shutter finish
Laminate, acrylic, veneer or PU on shutters; laminate, granite or quartz on the counter. Two finishes on one drawing, two different projects. Ask: what is specified, surface by surface?
9 · Appliances and the last mile
Chimney, hob, sink, plus transport, site protection, waste removal and final deep cleaning. Small lines that reliably total ₹50,000 or more. Ask: what is excluded that I will still have to buy?
The ₹11 lakh quote and the ₹14 lakh quote, normalised.
A 1,100 sq ft 2BHK in Hyderabad. Contractor A quotes ₹11,00,000 excluding GST, with six scope lines carved out. Contractor B quotes ₹14,00,000 including GST with all of them in. Below, A is brought up to B's scope using the cost ranges published in our own 2BHK cost guide for Hyderabad — mid-range of each band, nothing invented at the top end.
| Line | Contractor A | Contractor B |
|---|---|---|
| Headline quote as issued | ₹11,00,000 | ₹14,00,000 |
| GST treatment | Excluded | Included |
| Electrical modifications and new points | + ₹45,000 | In scope |
| Civil work and plumbing shifts | + ₹30,000 | In scope |
| False ceiling, living and dining | + ₹70,000 | In scope |
| Quartz counter in place of laminate | + ₹55,000 | In scope |
| Hardware upgraded to B's named series | + ₹45,000 | In scope |
| Transport, site protection, final cleaning | + ₹22,000 | In scope |
| Like-for-like scope, before GST | ₹13,67,000 | ₹11,86,441 |
| GST at 18% | + ₹2,46,060 | included above |
| Comparable total, GST inclusive | ₹16,13,060 | ₹14,00,000 |
The ₹14 lakh quote is ₹2,13,060 cheaper than the ₹11 lakh quote. Nothing dishonest has to happen for this to be true — A simply priced a smaller job, and the six excluded lines return as variations once the flat is stripped and the owner has no leverage left. Note also that A crosses ₹14 lakh before GST is even applied, which is the point at which the two quotes stop looking different at all.
The method, in six steps.
Roughly ninety minutes with two BOQs and the floor plan. Steps one and two cost nothing and settle most of the gap; step five is the one that usually reverses the ranking.
1 · Fix one area basis for both
Restate every per-sq-ft rate against carpet area. Until then the rates are not units of the same thing, and the cheaper rate may be the dearer job.
2 · Put both on the same side of GST
Restate both as GST-inclusive at 18%. This is arithmetic, it takes a minute, and it moves a ₹12 lakh contract by ₹2.16 lakh.
3 · Demand a line-item BOQ, not a lump sum
Item, quantity, unit, rate. A lump sum cannot be compared with anything because it hides which of the nine variables it assumed. A refusal to issue one before signing is itself the comparison result.
4 · Match material and hardware specification
Grade per zone, brand and series by name. If one quote says "branded hardware" and the other says "Hettich Sensys", they are not yet comparable — get the first one to name its series.
5 · Add every excluded line back to the cheaper quote
Price the exclusions and add them. This is the step that changes the answer, and it is why the exercise is worth doing before signing rather than discovering it at variation three.
6 · Compare payment, timeline and defect liability
Equal totals are still not equal offers. Milestones tied to physical progress, a completion period in weeks, a stated consequence if it slips, and a defect liability period whose coverage you have read.
Six things that should stop the conversation.
Not signs of a bad contractor in every case, but each one means you cannot yet compare the quote with anything, and none of them is expensive to fix before signing.
No BOQ before signing
"We'll finalise the BOQ after the advance." The advance is the leverage. A specification produced after it is a specification you cannot negotiate.
A large advance against no milestone
Payment should track physical progress — measured, not asserted. An advance well ahead of work done transfers your risk to you and keeps it there.
A discount with an expiry date
Materials and labour do not get cheaper because you signed on Tuesday. Time pressure applied to a decision this size exists to prevent exactly the comparison on this page.
"Branded hardware" with no brand
Also "premium plywood", "imported fittings" and "best quality finish". An unnamed specification cannot be priced, cannot be compared and cannot be enforced later.
No completion period in writing
A timeline stated verbally is a timeline with no consequence attached. Ask for weeks, and for what happens in the week after they elapse.
A warranty whose coverage is unstated
Ten years on the carcass board is worth less than one year on hardware, alignment and finish, because hardware and alignment are what fail. Read the coverage before the duration.
Fifteen questions, answered in writing.
Send these to every contractor on your shortlist, including us. The answers make the quotes comparable; the willingness to answer tells you something on its own.
- Which area basis is your per-sq-ft rate measured against — carpet, built-up or super built-up?
- Is the quoted figure inclusive of 18% GST, and does your GSTIN appear on the document?
- Will you issue a line-item BOQ with quantities and rates before I pay anything?
- What core material grade is specified in wet zones, and what in dry zones?
- Which hardware brand and which series, on which units?
- Are electrical modifications in scope, and for how many points?
- Is civil work — wall breaking, core-cutting, plumbing shifts — in scope or a variation?
- Is false ceiling included, and in which rooms?
- What is the countertop material, and what is the shutter finish?
- Which appliances are in scope, and which will I be buying separately?
- Are transport, site protection, waste removal and final cleaning included?
- What is the payment schedule, and which physical milestone releases each stage?
- What is the completion period in weeks, and what happens if it slips?
- What is the defect liability period, which components does it cover, and what voids it?
- Who supervises the site, how often, and how will progress be reported to me?
Questions about comparing quotes.
Why are two interior quotes for the same flat so different?
Because they are not quoting the same work. Nine variables move independently — area basis, GST, material grade, hardware, electrical, civil, false ceiling, countertop and appliances. A ₹3 lakh gap on a 2BHK is usually four or five of those, not a difference in margin.
Is the cheaper quote usually the cheaper project?
Not reliably. A quote wins attention by being low, so anything describable as optional gets moved out of it — and returns as a variation once work has started and your leverage has gone. In the example above, the ₹11 lakh quote normalises to ₹16.13 lakh against the ₹14 lakh quote's ₹14 lakh.
What is the difference between a quotation and a BOQ?
A quotation states a price. A Bill of Quantities states what the price is for — item, quantity, unit, rate — so the total is arithmetic rather than assertion. Only a BOQ can be compared with another BOQ, because only a BOQ exposes the assumptions.
Carpet area or built-up area?
Carpet — it is the only one of the three that matches the space actually being worked on. Built-up adds wall thickness and balconies; super built-up adds a share of lobbies and amenities you are not fitting out. The basis matters more than the rate.
Is GST included in interior quotes?
Sometimes, which is the problem. Fit-out work attracts 18%, so a quote excluding it is 18% smaller for identical work — ₹2.16 lakh on ₹12 lakh. Frequently the single largest line between two quotes, and invisible unless asked.
What is commonly excluded from a low quote?
Electrical (₹25,000–₹60,000), civil and plumbing shifts (₹15,000–₹50,000), false ceiling (₹40,000–₹1,20,000), quartz or granite counters (₹30,000–₹80,000), appliances (₹40,000–₹1,50,000), hardware upgrade (₹20,000–₹70,000), 18% GST, transport (₹5,000–₹15,000) and site protection (₹5,000–₹10,000). Half of these take an ₹11 lakh base past ₹14 lakh.
Is a longer defect liability period worth more?
Only once you know what it covers. Ten years limited to the carcass board against manufacturing defect is worth less than one year covering hardware, alignment, finish and workmanship — because hardware and alignment are what actually fail in the first two years.
Can I ask a contractor to match a cheaper quote?
Ask a better question. Send them the cheaper BOQ and ask what is specified differently and what the gap buys. Asking only for a lower number invites the scope to be reduced to meet it, which recreates the problem you started with.
Run this on our quote too.
Share the property, the floor plan and the scope you have in mind. You will get a line-item BOQ with quantities, rates, named hardware and grade stated per zone — the document this page asks every contractor for, including us. Compare it against whatever else you are holding.