Free tools for people who build
Working calculators for the arithmetic that comes up on a Tamil Nadu site. No sign-up, no email, nothing held back — every one of them shows its assumptions and lets you replace them with your own numbers, because a rate you did not choose is not worth calculating with.
More are being written. If there is a calculation you redo on every job and would rather not, tell us which one — the list is shaped by what people actually ask for.
The rates these tools start from
We are not quantity surveyors and we have not surveyed Tamil Nadu construction rates, so what follows is a band rather than a figure. It is where the calculator starts and not where it expects you to finish: the rate box is editable, and the number worth using is the one your own last two or three jobs came in at. Rates move with steel and cement, with the district, and with how far the site is from a ready-mix plant.
Basic
per sq.ftA sound, plain house. Nothing decorative, nothing imported.
- — Vitrified tile flooring
- — Local brand CP and sanitary ware
- — Flush doors, standard windows
- — Single-coat emulsion
Standard
per sq.ftWhat most self-build homes in Tamil Nadu are actually finished to.
- — Branded vitrified tiles
- — Mid-range CP and sanitary fittings
- — Teak or engineered main door
- — Modular switches, false ceiling in hall
Premium
per sq.ftArchitect-specified finishes, where the spec drives the cost more than the area does.
- — Imported or large-format tiles, stone
- — Premium CP and sanitary ware
- — Solid teak joinery
- — Designed lighting, full false ceiling
Where the money goes on a house
A single per-square-foot number tells you the total and nothing else, which is why a client and a builder can agree on a rate and still disagree about everything. The split below is the conventional one for a residential RCC-framed build: the structure is always the largest head, and finishes are what actually move between a basic house and a premium one. Read it as a ranking of where to look first, not as a budget.
Excavation, PCC, footings, plinth beam and backfilling.
Cement, steel, aggregate, shuttering and labour for columns, beams and slabs. The single largest head on almost every job.
Block or brick walls, internal and external plaster, and the scaffolding for it.
Floor tiles, skirting, bathroom and kitchen dado, laying labour.
Main door, internal doors, window frames and shutters, grills and hardware.
Conduiting, wiring, switches, DB, fixtures and the earthing.
Water supply and drainage lines, CP fittings, sanitary ware, overhead and sump tanks.
Putty, primer, interior and exterior paint, and the finishing trades.
Water, power, supervision, temporary works, wastage and the things nobody budgets for.
What a per-square-foot rate normally excludes is just as worth knowing: the land, the compound wall and gate, the borewell or water connection, the EB service connection and deposits, approval and liaison fees, interiors and loose furniture, landscaping, and GST. Most jobs quote these separately, and the client who assumed they were inside the rate is the client who is unhappy at handover.
Cents, grounds and square feet
Plots in Tamil Nadu get measured in cents and grounds, approvals and plans in square feet, and the conversion is where a quick mental estimate usually goes wrong. The calculator accepts all of these directly; the table is here for when you only need the number.
| Unit | Square feet | Also |
|---|---|---|
| 1 cent | 436 sq.ft | 1 cent = 435.6 sq.ft |
| 1 ground | 2,400 sq.ft | 1 ground = 2,400 sq.ft |
| 1 acre | 43,560 sq.ft | 1 acre = 100 cents |
One thing the table cannot do for you: a cost calculation wants built-up area, not plot area. A 2,400 sq.ft plot carrying a 1,200 sq.ft ground floor and a 1,000 sq.ft first floor is 2,200 sq.ft of construction, not 2,400. Mixing the two is the commonest reason a per-square-foot estimate comes out badly wrong.
Questions
Do I have to sign up, and do you keep what I type?
No sign-up, no email, no account. The calculators run entirely in your browser — the area and the rate you enter are never sent anywhere, so there is nothing for us to store and nothing to delete. You can close the tab and that is the end of it.
Are these only useful in Tamil Nadu?
The arithmetic is general; the default numbers are not. The rate bands are indicative for Tamil Nadu, and the area units include cents and grounds because that is how plots are measured and spoken about here. Elsewhere in India the method holds and the rates will not — which is why every number on the calculator is editable.
Why would a software company give away calculators?
Because they make our actual argument for us. Every one of them ends in the same place: a per-square-foot figure is fine for deciding whether a budget and a drawing belong in the same conversation, and useless as a quotation. The moment you need the real thing you need your own rates, a specification and a payment schedule, and that is the product. A tool that tells you honestly where it stops is a better introduction than a page claiming it never does.