How to calculate the Net Carpet Aarea of an apartment / residential dwelling at actual building site?

In context to one of our earlier blog posts: "Super built-up area is how many times the total floor area in percentage?", it is natural for a commoner to come up with the following question:

How do I calculate the net carpet area on the site of the flat so as to know how much actual space I will get when I eventually move in?
Do the sellers generally allow such measurement during or after booking?

Take measurements and write them down on floor layout

Bricksnmortar Edesk replies to this follow-up question of yours:

Foremost, we believe you are already aware of the difference between the super built up area, floor area and the carpet area. In case you are not yet, do go through the related article clicking on the link of our previous posts mentioned above in the opening paragraph of this post.

Frankly speaking, the builders, realtors, property developers, etc. keep camouflaging the actual carpet area figures for obvious reasons as if the potential buyers calculate the ratio of purchase price to carpet area, it would be substantially more than what the sellers are usually marketing and advertising.

The usual practice of telling the selling rate in terms of selling price in money per square feet super area is unfortunately not governed by a single thumb rule and/or government law. It is after all a potential buyer's own judgment and analysis that might help in the end.

Follow these basic key steps to know the total actual carpet area of the shortlisted flat/ apartment/ villa/ duplex, whichever you are about to decide on purchasing for yourself:

• Always carry along a measuring tape, a handy notebook, pen, calculator, etc. whenever you plan to visit a shortlisted property.
  
  
• Insist the seller to grant you permission for taking the measurements, which in fact, is your right in all sense.
  
  
• Make a rough floor plan of the dwelling so that you can fill-in the dimensions according to the orientation and layout of rooms, corridors, lobbies, verandahs (balconies), toilets, kitchen and other miscellaneous areas. A good idea, otherwise, would be to take the floor layout handout/ brochure from the seller of the property in which entire layout of the property is usually already marked (but which is without actual internal dimensions for obvious reasons from builders' perspective, you may understand well!)
  
  
• Start taking internal wall face to wall face measurements in meters or feet & inches, and write them down in respective rooms and areas on the floor plan. A small tip here... Take help of an accomplice in holding the measurement tape at the other end as taking measurements alone would be a daunting task.
  
  
• Remember one thing.. since the dimensions are required of all internal rooms, areas and spaces besides the well chalked out rooms too, it would be wiser to divide the open spaces into trigonometric shapes and write in the respective measurements.
  
  
• ONE MORE IMPORTANT TIP.. the measurements are to be taken of internal units only, that is, within the outer periphery of the housing unit. Other common areas are thereafter factored and added to the basic Carpet area/ Floor area, which is then termed as the 'Super built-up area'.
  
  
• After jotting down all the inside to inside (room wall face to wall face) measurements, its now time to do some simple calculations so as to know the actual Carpet Area. Use your arithmetic skills to calculate unit areas of the rooms and spaces, and finally add all of them.
  
  
• The final addition of smaller areas would sum up to the TOTAL ACTUALLY USABLE AREA OF THE HOUSE, also termed as the ACTUALLY USABLE CARPET AREA OF THE HOUSE.

The total selling price of the dwelling divided by the total carpet area would give you an indication of the factor equaling 'money per square feet actual carpet area'.

On the other hand, the figure/ factor that the builders, realtors, property developers, etc. tell you usually is 'money per square feet of the super built-up area'. And, obviously, the later factor is always a lesser value than the former value since the money in the numerator remains a constant factor, while the figure against the super built-up area is higher in the denominator than the actual usable carpet area.

Thats why, you will henceforth understand why the builders, realtors, property developers, etc. always talk in terms of the super built-up area, and not in terms of the actually usable carpet area.

Share, send, forward, talk/ blog about the information presented in this post to your friends, relatives, colleagues and associates. The more the people are informed, the lesser the chances that they can be duped by the builders, realtors & property developers.

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