What does a construction package include — and what does it not?

Most people comparing builders in Assam are handed a single number and a page of glossy photographs. The number is easy to compare. What sits behind it is not — and that is where two quotations for "the same house" end up lakhs apart.

Here is what a construction package actually covers, what changes between packages, and what is never inside one.

What is inside every package

A package is the building, from the ground to handover. In ours that means:

• Architectural and structural drawings, and the municipal permissions filed and followed up.
• Soil investigation, foundation, and the reinforced concrete frame.
• Brick or block work, plaster, waterproofing, flooring and painting.
• Plumbing, sanitary fittings, electrical wiring, switches and fixtures.
• Doors, windows, and the kitchen counter.
• Labour, supervision, and the written stage checks that close each stage.

The structure does not change between packages. Soil testing, foundation design, steel, and earthquake-resistant detailing are the same whether you choose the cheapest package or the most expensive. That is deliberate: those are the parts of a house nobody can inspect or upgrade later.

What changes between packages

What you are choosing between is the part of the house you can see and touch: the quality of tiles, the sanitaryware and CP fittings, the paint system, the electrical fittings, the kitchen, the doors and windows, and how much of the design is customised for you.

That is why our three packages are compared line by line rather than by adjective. If a builder cannot show you which brand and which specification sits behind each line, the price is not comparable to anything.

What is not included, in any package

This is the list that decides whether your budget survives contact with the site:

• Land cost, registration and legal charges
• Government approval fees, municipal charges, electricity and water connection deposits
• Piling or special foundation work, if the soil report calls for it
• Compound wall, gate, borewell and external development beyond the building footprint
• Furniture, curtains and appliances, unless specified
• Demolition of existing structures, site levelling and soil filling
• Any work in excess of the approved drawings
• Applicable taxes

None of these are tricks. They are simply items that depend on your plot, your local authority or your choices, and which no honest builder can price before seeing the site. What matters is that they are named in writing before you start, not discovered at month eight.

Why we publish no rate per square foot

A per-square-foot rate looks like transparency and usually is not. The same rate covers a house on firm ground and a house that needs piling; a plot with road access and a plot a mixer cannot reach; a design with one bathroom and one with four.

Every site is different. Soil conditions, plot orientation, plot size and local approval requirements all change what a home costs to build. We give a detailed, itemised quotation after a site visit and a soil assessment — not a rate pulled off a webpage.

How to compare two quotations properly

Ask both builders for the same four things:

1. The exclusions list. If it is missing or vague, the quotation is not finished.
2. Brands and specifications, by line. "Branded fittings" is not a specification. The brand, the series and the finish, written on every line, is.
3. The stage schedule and payment stages. Payments should follow completed, checked work.
4. What happens when something fails a check. The answer tells you more about a builder than the price does.

Then compare. Two quotations that both answer these four questions can be compared honestly. Two that do not are just numbers.

> If you have a plot and a rough idea of what you want to build, a site visit turns both into a real budget. It costs nothing, and you keep the numbers whether you build with us or not.