House Construction Stages and Timeline: Building a G+1 House in Gurugram, Month by Month

A G+1 house in Gurugram, about 2,000 sq ft a floor, usually takes 10 to 12 months to build once the plan is approved, and one to three months more for drawings and approval beforehand. Houses that take two years rarely lose the time in one place. They lose it a few weeks at a time, waiting for material, drawings or decisions.

This post walks through each stage in order, how long it takes and what should be checked before the next one starts.

Before construction: one to three months

• Drawings. Architectural plans, structural drawings and a priced bill of quantities. A 3D model of the house is the cheapest place to change your mind.
• Approval. See building plan approval in Gurugram.
• Soil and site. A soil test for the foundation design, levels, and the position of any borewell, sewer and power line. Check the water table in Gurugram before planning a basement.

1. Excavation and foundation: about 4 to 6 weeks

The plot is marked out from the drawings, the pits are dug, and a lean concrete bed goes down. Then the footings, the column starters and the plinth beams. Anti-termite treatment goes in before the plinth is filled.

Check before moving on: the footing sizes and depths match the structural drawing, and the column positions are checked against the grid.

2. Ground floor frame: about 4 to 5 weeks

Columns, then the beams and the first floor slab, cast together. The props under the slab stay until the concrete has gained strength: under IS 456, at least 7 days for slabs spanning up to 4.5 m and 14 days for beams up to 6 m, and longer for bigger spans.

3. First floor frame and roof slab: about 6 to 8 weeks

The same cycle again, with the stair, the roof slab and parapets. If you might ever add a floor, it is decided here: the columns, footings and steel below must be designed for the final height.

4. Brickwork: about 8 to 10 weeks, overlapping

Walls start on the ground floor while the frame goes up above. Door and window frames are set as the walls rise. Openings, lintels and sill levels follow the drawings.

5. Electrical conduits and plumbing: about 10 to 12 weeks, overlapping

Conduits are chased into walls and laid in slabs before they are cast. Water supply and drain pipes go in, and are pressure-tested before they are covered up. This is the stage to fix every switch, socket and tap position, because moving them later means breaking plaster.

6. Plaster and waterproofing: about 8 weeks

Internal plaster, ceiling plaster and the external plaster. The roof and the toilets are waterproofed and pond-tested: water stands on them for 24 to 48 hours, and nothing should show below.

7. Flooring and tiling: about 8 weeks

Floors, skirting, toilet and kitchen walls, staircase and terrace. Floors go in from the top floor down, so finished rooms are not walked through.

8. Doors, windows and fittings: about 8 weeks

Shutters, windows and grills; sanitaryware and CP fittings; switches, lights and the electrical panel; the kitchen and wardrobes if they are in the scope.

9. Paint and handover: about 6 to 8 weeks

Putty, primer and paint; final cleaning; testing every point and tap; snag list; handover with as-built drawings. The rainwater harvesting pits should be finished by now, because the occupation certificate needs them. The recharge pit calculator sizes them for your roof.

A payment schedule linked to the stages

Pay against work done, not dates; our article on turnkey and labour contracts explains why. A typical turnkey schedule looks like this; the exact split is agreed in the contract.

What delays a house in Gurugram

• Monsoon. Excavation and basement work in July and August is slow; plan the foundation for after the rains or before them.
• Summer. Concrete cast in May and June needs shade, early pours and careful curing.
• Late decisions. Tiles, fittings and kitchen layouts chosen on the day they are needed.
• Pollution restrictions. In winter, the NCR's air quality rules can stop construction for days or weeks at a time.

If you are planning a house, read what it costs to build in Gurgaon, then tell us about your plot. Every site we run is logged daily with photos in our project app, so you can see it move.