An Apartment Buyer's Guide to Getting a Good Deal

The process of searching for and buying a house, then moving in, is often long and involves much heartburn. The usual problems faced include the developer insisting on providing specifications and finishes you don’t like, need or want, and your helplessness at something you feel you cannot control. In this buyer’s market, we are here to arm you with the weapons you didn’t know you had.

Civil-work changes
The first thing you want to do is to explore the possibility of making civil-work changes. These are usually refused by the developer because most of the requests they get are based on ignorance and are either not possible, viable or both. Here’s what you can ask for, and get, as long as you ask politely and firmly.

Take down some walls
Interior civil changes in a building under construction are possible. Take a look at the floor plan, and ask the developers to not build some of the walls. Remember that columns cannot be removed, and will stay exactly where they are. The walls in most modern structures are not structural and are known as partition walls. That makes an open-plan house possible, while giving you valuable square footage that can be put to myriad uses.

With the judicious removal of partition walls within your 1000-square-foot house, you can add up to 50 square feet in floor area, not to mention making spaces larger and more efficient by reducing circulation round obstacles to get from point A to point B. The result can be as much as an increase of 15 per cent of usable area of the whole house. Who doesn’t want that?

• The flowing living area

You can remove all or some of the wall between the living room, the dining space and the kitchen giving you a luxurious, large space to entertain.

• The display cabinet

A 6-inch wall, when removed, increases the depth of any display cabinet with which you might want to replace it, giving that much more usable space.

• The wardrobe

You can consider removing the brick wall between two bedrooms and converting them into one big bedroom if you don’t need the extra room. You could even replace the wall between two bedrooms with a wardrobe. In such a situation, the wardrobe works as a wall. Insulating the back of the wardrobe with an inch of thermocol provides the sound insulation you need to maintain privacy in the bedrooms.

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Ask the developer about the list of ‘extras’
Once you are convinced of your decision to buy the house and have sparred with the developer regarding the area-squeezing methods above, ask for a detailed list of what is provided as ‘extras’ to you.

These usually include some or all of the following: flooring, complete bathrooms with fittings, wardrobes, a modular kitchen with a couple of appliances thrown in, and a fully painted house. There are developers who offer cars and gym memberships as well, but that has very little to do with your actual house. These extras can be changed or modified to some extent if you discuss your specific needs with the developer.

• Flooring:

Most developers have options for flooring that are all in the same price bracket, and it is a good idea to ask them to give the floor finish you want and adjust the price accordingly.

Alternatively, you can ask them to credit the amount for the flooring to you and buy your own, have it delivered to them and use their team to install it. This ensures you get the floor you want, without having to spend on it all twice.

• Bathrooms

Making changes to bathrooms is usually difficult because waterproofing and plumbing has already been completed by the time you take possession. However, there is one thing you can still do. Without changing the location of the pot, ask the developer to make the bathroom larger if you want, as long as there is no plumbing in the added area and does not require what is known as a ‘sunk slab’, used to run pipes under the bathroom floor. Such an added area to a bathroom can be used to place a console, and generally make it larger and more luxurious. This does take away from some other room next to your bathroom, but that is a decision you will take based on your personal requirements.

Tip: This is best done if the tiling for the bathroom has not been done yet.

• Built-in wardrobes and kitchen cabinetry

Most developers provide ready-made wardrobes bought in bulk either locally or from abroad. These are often made of MDF (Medium Density Fibreboard) and have a very thin laminate covering them, known as paper laminate. The problem with these materials is the lack of grip for hinge screws (causing shutters to sag very soon) and the tendency of the laminate to tear at the corners, with no way to fix it. I suggest getting your own made, or requesting HDF (High Density Fibreboard) or plywood wardrobes, even if it costs a little more. The same problem exists in kitchens, where this stuff lasts for an even lesser time, thanks to the generally rougher use and MDF’s tendency to absorb moisture.

Air conditioning
Many developers will provide you with air conditioners, or with exact locations for your hi-wall split units. This is because they have planned for the electrical supply (usually through concrete beams) and placement of the outdoor units in the most efficient manner possible. I strongly suggest you leave that be. However, there is no harm in asking to get a slightly more efficient unit (four star instead of three) and maybe even checking the tonnage provided in your living room. If it is 1.5 tonnes, ask for a 2 or 2.5 tonne split unit as a living room requires a higher amount of cooling, because of its being larger and also its higher occupancy when you have guests over. Nowadays, thanks to homes being relatively pricey, this is something that is almost universal for houses with two or more bedrooms. If the units themselves are not supplied, provision is made for air conditioners in all apartments.

To summarise, buying an apartment is so much more than moving in and hanging up your clothes. To truly make it a home that says ‘you’, you have to be productively involved before you move in, and there’s a lot more to interior design than interior decoration. This gives you the outcomes, while minimising the pitfalls.

Read more:
Houzz Tour: The Villa Life in a Mumbai Apartment
10 Ways to Bring Luxury Into Your Home

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