The 2026 laid rates
Per sq ft, material plus laying, GST-inclusive:
Laying over an existing floor adds height at doors; removing the old floor adds ₹25 to ₹40 per sq ft of demolition and debris.
The selective flooring strategy
Builder vitrified tile is usually fine to keep. The high-value move is selective: laminate or engineered wood in the master bedroom (₹20,000 to ₹60,000 for a typical room) transforms the one room where bare feet notice, without a whole-home flooring bill.
Humidity note: laminate cores hate standing water. Keep it out of bathroom-adjacent thresholds, and in ground-floor coastal flats prefer tile or engineered boards with a proper underlay.
Aishwarya has delivered more than 300 homes across Chennai and leads costing and material standards at Interiors by Verified.RealEstate. She writes our cost guides from real, recent quotes, not industry hearsay.
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