Grey Structure vs Turnkey in Pune — Which Is Cheaper, and What's the Catch?

In Pune and PCMC, RCC and brick work costs about Rs. 870 per sq.ft and turnkey construction starts at Rs. 1,499 per sq.ft. So the finishing half of a house costs roughly as much as the structure — about Rs. 630 per sq.ft at Basic specification, more as the specification rises.

The real question is not which number is smaller. It is whether you want to spend that Rs. 630 through one contractor, or spend it yourself across six trades.

What each one actually covers

Grey structure (Rs. 870 per sq.ft) — footings, columns, beams, slabs, brickwork, internal and external plaster. You receive a completed shell with walls plastered and nothing else.

Turnkey (Rs. 1,499 to Rs. 2,099 per sq.ft) — all of the above, plus flooring, granite for windows and doors, kitchen platform, bathroom dado and sanitary ware, concealed plumbing and electrical, doors, windows, grills, railings, waterproofing and painting. Handed over ready to live in.

Both are quoted on built-up area, with GST extra.

Worked example — a 2,500 sq.ft house

So on this house, the finishing work is worth roughly Rs. 15.7 lakh at Basic specification. That is your budget to beat if you take the grey-structure route and finish it yourself.

What that Rs. 15.7 lakh has to cover

If you finish it yourself, you are buying and coordinating:

• Flooring tiles and laying labour
• Granite for windows, doors, staircase and kitchen platform
• Bathroom dado, anti-skid flooring, waterproofing
• Sanitary ware and CP fittings, plus a plumber
• Concealed wiring, switches, sockets, plus an electrician
• Doors, frames, locks and fittings
• Sliding windows, grills, railings
• Primer, putty, paint and a painting contractor

Eight trades, eight sets of negotiations, eight opportunities for someone to not turn up on Monday.

Where grey structure genuinely saves

It saves reliably when three things are true:

1. You have time. Not "I can visit on Sunday" — closer to two or three visits a week during finishing. 2. You have contacts. A tiler, plumber, electrician, carpenter and painter you already trust, or someone in the family who does. 3. You enjoy it. Some owners find material selection and site visits genuinely satisfying. Others find it the worst year of their life.

If all three are true, you can save a meaningful part of that Rs. 15.7 lakh, mostly by buying materials directly and cutting the coordination margin.

Where it costs more than people expect

Retail versus trade pricing. A contractor buying tiles for four sites gets a rate you will not get for one.

Wastage. Ordering 5% short means a second trip and a different dye lot. Ordering 20% over means money left in the garage.

Sequencing. Tiling before plumbing testing, or painting before the electrician finishes, means work done twice.

Nobody answerable. When a bathroom leaks, the plumber blames the waterproofing and the tiler blames the plumber. On a turnkey contract, that argument is not yours to have.

Your time. Twelve months of site visits, phone calls and material runs is real. Price it honestly, at whatever a day off work costs you.

The middle path

Many owners take a turnkey package and keep two or three items in their own scope — typically the kitchen, wardrobes and light fittings, where taste is personal and shopping is enjoyable.

That works well, on one condition: the boundary must be written into the quotation. Which items, at what stage, and who is responsible if a delay in your scope holds up the contractor's work.

Our honest recommendation

If you have the time and the contacts, grey structure is a legitimate way to build and you will learn a great deal. Take the Rs. 870 rate, get the structure right, and manage the finishing at your own pace.

If you have a full-time job, turnkey is not a luxury. It is what stops a twelve-month project becoming a twenty-month one.

Either way, insist on the same things: an itemised specification, named brands, a written built-up area calculation, and a stage-wise payment schedule. We provide all four on both our RCC-only and turnkey quotations — ask and we will prepare one for your plot.