How do you use the interior budget calculator?
- Enter what you plan to spend on the kitchen, wardrobes, furniture and electrical work. Other items, the contingency and your carpet area are under “Adjust other items and contingency”.
- As the work goes on, enter what you have spent so far to see what is left.
- Enter the cash you have set aside for interiors, if you like, to see whether the plan fits it.
How should you build an interior budget?
Build it item by item. A single rate per sq ft is handy for a first guess, and the interior cost calculator does that, but adding a rate per sq ft to a list of items counts the same work twice. Here every rupee sits against one item, plus a contingency for the extras that turn up once work starts: a plug point moved, a wall repaired, an extra shelf. Then track spending against the plan, so you can see early if one item is running over and trim another.
How the budget is worked out
Kitchen + wardrobes + furniture + electrical + other itemsStep 1 × (1 + contingency)Step 2 − spent so farCash set aside − step 2Worked example: the default plan
Kitchen ₹ 2,00,000, wardrobes ₹ 1,50,000, furniture ₹ 1,50,000, electrical ₹ 75,000, false ceiling ₹ 75,000, flooring ₹ 50,000 and appliances ₹ 1,00,000 add up to ₹ 8,00,000. With 10% contingency the budget is ₹ 8,80,000. The kitchen is the largest item at 25% of the list. These amounts are placeholders.
Worked example: halfway through
On the same plan, with ₹ 3,50,000 spent and ₹ 8,00,000 set aside, ₹ 5,30,000 is left to spend, and the budget is ₹ 80,000 more than the cash available. For a 1,100 sq ft carpet area the plan works out to ₹ 800 per sq ft.
How can you keep interiors on budget?
- Get itemised quotes, so each line can be matched to an item here.
- Agree in writing what happens to the price if the design changes after work starts.
- Pay against milestones, and update “spent so far” after each payment.
Frequently asked questions
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Sources
- Addition and percentage arithmetic as shown above.
- Item amounts, contingency, spending and cash set aside: your inputs; the defaults are placeholders. No market prices are assumed.
Indicative budget for planning. Final cost depends on the design, materials and vendor quotes. For GST, indicative only.
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