Guide · Interiors
Carpenter, factory finish or interior designer: who should do your Bangalore home?
All three can build a wardrobe you would be happy to open every morning. Only one of them owns the plan that the wardrobe sits inside. The cheapest quote is usually the one leaving the most out. That is why comparing the three side by side goes wrong. This guide sets out what each one does. It also sets out what each number leaves out, and when a carpenter on his own is the right answer.
By Ar. Pooja Kothari, Principal Architect · Updated September 2026
Wardrobe and bookcase joinery
The three routes
The three ways a Bangalore home gets built inside
- AThe local carpenter. He works on site, usually on a day rate or a labour rate against running feet. You buy the plywood, the laminate and the hardware yourself, and there are rarely drawings. The result depends on one person's hand, and on how often you are standing there. His strengths are real. He can fit a unit to a wall that is out of square. He can change something on the spot, and repair what he made. His limits are just as real. Nobody lines him up with the electrician and the plumber. Edges are banded by hand. And accountability usually ends on the day he leaves.
- BFactory finish, usually sold as modular. Units are cut, drilled, edge-banded and sprayed by machine off site. They are then delivered and installed in a few days. You choose from a catalogue. The price is quoted per module or per unit, and every accessory adds to it. The finish is consistent, the timeline is short, and there is a warranty on paper. What you give up is authorship. The factory catalogue designs your home, not the other way round. Odd walls and older buildings turn into extra charges. And the person quoting is a salesperson working to a target, not a designer working to a plan.
- CAn interior designer or an architect-led studio. You get drawings, a written specification and a bill of quantities. You also get someone whose job is to choose between A and B for each part of the home. That person then supervises whoever builds it. The strength is that one idea runs through the whole house. The decisions are made before the money is spent. And there is a professional to hold responsible. The weakness is honest too. The fee is a visible line on the page. For a single wardrobe it is overkill.
The comparison nobody makes properly
What each quote leaves out
These three numbers cannot be compared, because they are not measuring the same thing. Put them side by side and your eye goes to the smallest. That is the wrong instinct.
The carpenter's number is usually labour. Sometimes it is labour with a board rate attached. It leaves out the material you will buy and the hardware you will choose. It leaves out the finishing and the wastage nobody warns you about. It leaves out the rework when the first try is wrong. It also leaves out your own time. That is the largest hidden cost in a carpenter-run home. Somebody has to be on site making decisions every day.
The factory number covers the units and their fitting. It leaves out almost everything around them. The false ceiling, the electrical changes and the painting are not in it. Nor is the civil work to level a wall or move a point. Some quotes leave out the countertop. Then there is the customisation line that appears once a surveyor visits your flat. The number also leaves out the plan itself. Nobody in that deal has asked whether the kitchen should be where the builder put it.
The designer's fee looks like the expensive one. It is the only complete number on the table. It carries the survey, the layout, the drawings and the specification. It carries the tendering and the site checks too. That is not a defence of designers. It is the reason a like-for-like comparison needs work from you. Next to each quote, write down everything that quote leaves you to buy, decide or chase.
How each one charges
The carpenter charges a day rate for his team. He may instead charge a labour rate measured in running feet of joinery. Sometimes he supplies the material at a marked-up board rate. It is a simple model, and it is clear as far as it goes. What it does not do is price the outcome. You are buying hours, not a finished wardrobe.
The factory charges per module, per unit or per running foot of a set product. There is a separate line for shutters and another for internal accessories. There is often a third for the countertop. Read the exclusions before the inclusions. That is where the number moves.
The designer charges a fee for design and drawings. It is usually a percentage of the project value. It can be a lump sum for a set list of drawings, or a fee against area. The build is then tendered to your own contractors, or taken up by the studio as a separate scope. Ask which of the two you are being offered. The two arrangements create very different incentives. A bill of quantities should come with either one.
The part that gets left out
A good designer uses all three
Framing this decision as a three-way fight is a marketing invention. A well-run home interior uses more than one of these routes. The skill is in deciding which goes where.
Wardrobe and kitchen carcasses are repeated boxes. Repeated boxes are what a factory line is good at. One-off pieces are a different job. They include shutters in a veneer you chose, a window seat and a puja unit. They include a bed wall that has to work around a beam. They include a niche around a badly placed column. These belong to a carpenter working to a drawing on site. A stone counter goes to a fabricator.
What the designer brings is not a workshop. It is the choosing and the sequencing. That means who does what, in what order, and against which drawing. So the electrician's points land where the joinery will need them. And the false ceiling is closed only after the wiring above it is final. That is the whole answer to the charge that designers are expensive middlemen. A middleman moves goods. A designer decides, then holds the sequence together while five trades try to work in the same flat.
Be honest with yourself
When a carpenter is enough
Hire a carpenter directly when:
- It is one wardrobe, a replacement shutter or a single unit in a finished home.
- It is a rental you will hand back in a year or two. You want it working, not resolved.
- It is a like-for-like repair or a rebuild of something that already worked.
- You already have drawings, and the time to stand on site while they are followed.
Do not, when:
- It is a full home, or anything more than about two rooms.
- Any electrical point, plumbing line or wall is moving.
- You are starting from a bare builder shell with nothing but plaster and a few points.
- It is an old house with non-square walls, an uneven floor or unknown services behind the plaster.
- You live abroad or work full time, and cannot be the one making daily decisions on site.
- You want the finished home to read as one idea, not as a run of good units.
The other honest answer
When factory finish is enough
Go modular when:
- It is a standard kitchen in a standard builder flat. The plumbing and the window are where the catalogue expects them.
- The timeline is tight, and fitting speed matters more than authorship.
- You want a written warranty on the units. You do not mind that the neighbour's kitchen is the same kitchen.
Do not, when:
- The building is old, or the walls, floor and ceiling are not true.
- The plan itself is the problem. No amount of good joinery will fix where the rooms are.
- There is a curved, sloped, stepped or otherwise non-modular surface anywhere in the scope.
- The customisation list in the quote has grown longer than the base list.
How we work
How an architect-led studio runs it
Brief and measured survey
We start with how the family really lives. Then we measure the flat or house properly. Every later decision is made against those dimensions.
Drawings, 3D and specification
You get layouts, joinery details, and an electrical and lighting layout. You also get a written specification of boards, finishes and hardware. You approve it all before anything is ordered.
Founder review
Ar. Pooja Kothari reviews the set before it leaves the studio. She checks the plan, the storage and the light. She checks whether the detail can be built by the people who will build it.
Tender and supervised fit-out
The set goes to a factory line, a site carpenter or both. All of them price against the same drawings. We then run the sequence so the trades do not undo each other's work.
That is the version we run on interior projects in Bangalore. The point of the sequence is not ceremony. It is that every expensive decision is taken on paper. On paper, changing it costs an afternoon, not a demolition.
Questions
Carpenter, modular and designer: common questions
Is a carpenter cheaper than an interior designer? +
On the quote, almost always. On the finished home, rarely. A carpenter quotes labour and sometimes a board rate. A designer's number carries four more things: the drawings, the specification, lining up the trades, and the site checks. A carpenter's number assumes you will provide all of that yourself. Before you compare the two, write down everything the cheaper one leaves you to buy, decide and chase.
What does factory finish mean? +
It means the unit is cut, drilled, edge-banded and finished by machine in a factory. It is then delivered flat and assembled on site. The appeal is repeatability. Every shutter is identical and every edge is sealed the same way. The limit is that the factory works to a module grid. Anything outside that grid becomes a customisation line, not a design decision.
Can I hire an interior designer and use my own carpenter? +
Yes, and it is often the right call. That is especially true if you already trust someone. The designer draws the home, writes the specification, tenders it and checks the work. Your carpenter then builds against a drawing instead of a conversation. That usually improves the result, even where the same hands do the same job.
Is modular better than carpenter-made? +
Neither is better in the abstract. The rule of thumb is simple. Repeated boxes suit the factory, and one-off pieces suit the hand. Kitchen base units, drawer banks and wardrobe carcasses are repeated boxes. A window seat, a puja unit and a niche around an odd column are one-off pieces. So is a bed wall that has to meet a sloping ceiling.
How do interior designers in Bangalore charge? +
Three models are common. The first is a percentage of the project value, tied to the whole scope. The second is a lump sum for a set list of drawings, which is predictable and separates design from the build. The third is a fee against built-up or carpet area. It is easy to compare, but it assumes an average job. We discuss our own model openly on the first call, once we know the scope.
Do I need an architect for interiors, or is a designer enough? +
If no wall, pipe or approval is moving, a good interior designer is enough. You want an architect when walls come down or go up, or when plumbing or wet areas move. You also want one for a stair or a mezzanine. The same goes for an old building where nobody is sure which walls carry the load. And you need one if your association asks for stamped drawings before work starts.
Related
Not sure which of the three you need?
One call with the Principal Architect and you will know. If the honest answer is that a carpenter is enough, we will say so, and you keep your money.