Interior Work - Hidden Trap

Interior Work:

In bangalore, buying apartment is the easy job - no one tells you doing interior is the most complicated. After getting dissatisfied with lot of so called interior designers in bangalore, I decided to do it directly hiring a carpenter. Here is my experience.

As of Dec 2018, carpenter rates are approx. 200 per sqft. For 2 bhk apartment around 1000 sqft, it will cost approx. 4 lakhs to do the interior. General rule of thumb is 20% labour cost - so 80k will be labour cost. I bought all materials myself - so I know all are of good quality.

I wasted lot of time trying to find a good interior designer - in the end, only livspace.com came close to my satisfaction. But what turned me off was their 1 year warranty. Their base model is 5.5 lakh estimate (called indian kitchen) - but it is very basic - so I did not like it. Their next model cost 6.6 lakh. But even for this they dont extend their warranty beyond 1 year which made me wonder what kind of material they will be using. So I took the plunge to buy material myself and hire a carpenter - so that I know only good quality material goes in wood work.

Here a word of caution - if you go this route, obviously you will be making the mistakes of the first timer - no matter how much material you study online. So when you go with interior like livspace, you pay for avoiding those mistakes (which is their margin 2-2.5 lakhs).

I was able to locate a good out of town carpenter who quoted 200 per sqft. I tried all in town people first - they are either quoting more (250-275 per sqft) or they want contract including materials (1500 to 1750 per sqft) which I am not comfortable as I want to be in control of materials. Also, I thought if they are out of town, then there is less chance of things getting stolen, etc. Also I got a good referrals finally from my circle, some in town and one out of town who is willing to do the job. As I thought, they finished my apartment in just 1 week time.

Of course they did few minor mistakes, which I have to adjust. For e.g., dresser unit - no need to go beyond 6 feet - but they put 8 feet as they earn per sqft basis. Also, in kitchen, they increased the depth(technically height) of cutlery, whereas if they increased they plain cabinet depth, it would have been more useful. So that's where you pay for interior person, who has done those mistakes already. Here by saying interior designer, I consider only livspace upto the standard. I have met lot of people claiming to be interior designer, who are no better than just drawing lines.

Edit:
Strictly speaking doing interior is a company job - needs resources only a company can match. Ideally apartment builder should be able to do it - but in India, as usual they don't want to do it for whatever reasons only they know. So trying to do it yourself will have some pitfalls for sure. Going to a company like livspace, you have to pay a premium as there are literally no competitors in that space. I was willing to pay up to 1 lakh extra - but their margin is around 2.5 lakh from my calculation. But the work involves huge coordination between wood work, electrical rewiring, selection of right materials, right shops, right geysers, right size exhaust fans, design conflict between carpentry and other work, etc.

Here is a good info I found on internet regarding the cost - as usual reduce 25% from the cost if you do it yourself with carpenters. As you can see if you want good quality, laminate with plywood is the cheapest option which starts from 1250/- per sqft. All other options going to cost you more. Particle board is cheaper but you should never consider it unless you want to waste money (first line).




Regarding out of town workers, it has its own pitfalls. Once they leave, you can't call them if you found something is unfinished or to your satisfaction. So you have to check with a hawks eye before packing them off. In my case, they left some drawers bottom side un-laminated. I hate when people do half job like this. Also I found a good info on how to measure the wood work area. If you don't know all this, obviously they will do some tricks to get some extra money from you.


Also be prepared for some damages or marks on the walls when they work. And sometimes, what looks good on paper may not turn out to be good in real life eg., some design boxes I did look good in picture, but in real when they done it, not so appealing.

All this things has led to cottage industry of interior designers in bangalore. As it is unorganized sector, it is hard to find good ones from the bad ones. Government should organize the sector by giving interior design license to only those who know design, wood work knowledge, etc.Until then, it will be big headache for unsuspecting people who buy apartments.

Regarding materials, I bought most items from Hindustan Plywood near HSR/Agara junction - they are good - fast delivery - my carpenters told prices are good. I tried to buy some item which is not available there from Mathaji Glass & Plywood shop - they took 2 days to give a mirror cut as per our size 4x5 feet. This is actually a 10 minutes job.

All your plan will go haywire, once you reach the shop - as the shop people will recommend plywoods brands other than century ply or green ply - saying others also same quality for cheaper price. So selection of right shop plays a crucial role here as in the end ground realities will be different when you go to buy plywood.

Here is the cost of plywood I got from the shop (as of Dec 2018):
 19mm Ply BWP sincere brand                  -  95/- per sqft
 19mm Ply commercial (neem wood)        - 76/-
 19mm Ply Blockboard BWP (pine wood) - 85/-
 19mm Ply Blockboard commercial (pine) -70/-
 12mm Ply BWP sincere                             - 65/-
 12mm Ply Neem wood (hindustan brand) - 59/-

So don't worry too much about plywood - all you need to know is BWP is used in kitchen as it is water proof and commercial ply is used in other areas. Anyway carpenter will choose different brands in the shop after inspecting the boards which you cant do. So to make it simple, choose right carpenters first and spend some time to find good shop near your site.

Other thing is talk to your friends who gone thru the process. The hinges used to hold the door of cabinets - soft close models will cost 400/- each and you will need around 50. Normal close hinge will cost you only 60/-. There alone you can save 17k. You can always use a soft bumper buttons which is only 5/- each and stick them at the door close point to avoid the sound. But good luck in finding them in bangalore - most shops don't have them - many don't even know what it is - welcome to the world of wasting money :-)

Thinking back where I lost money - I think I paid the carpenters may be 5k to 10k more as they wanted 200 per sqft even for TV unit, study table, dressing table, etc.

So if you want to hire an interior designer, his work should be to save you money by bargaining carpenter rates, guiding you with your design, how to check carpenter's work, etc. If anyone is willing to do just phone consulting I am willing to pay 10k easily for this. It is like phone counselling and good money for them.