Home renovation in Chennai, designed and built by one team

• Kitchens: new layout, counters, storage, tiling, plumbing, electrical points and a chimney.
• Bathrooms: full redo with waterproofing under the floor and up the walls, new pipes and fittings.
• Flooring: vitrified tile, granite or stone; restoring or relaying red oxide and Athangudi tiles.
• Electrical and plumbing: rewiring old aluminium or undersized circuits; replacing rusted GI pipes.
• Waterproofing: terraces, sunshades, bathrooms and external walls.
• Layout changes: removing or moving walls safely, with a new beam where a wall carries load.
• Structural repair: treating spalling concrete and rusted steel, strengthening columns.

Renovating in Chennai is not just about new finishes. The city's climate wears houses out in particular ways, and a good renovation fixes the causes, not just the symptoms.

Salt air and humidity

Near the coast — Besant Nagar, Thiruvanmiyur, Santhome, ECR — and to a lesser degree across the city, humid salty air reaches the steel inside concrete. In houses from the 1970s to the 1990s this often shows as cracked, bulging or falling plaster on sunshades, balcony edges and columns. Plastering over it fails within a monsoon or two. The repair is to expose the rusted steel, clean and treat it, and rebuild the concrete cover with a polymer-modified repair mortar.

The north-east monsoon

Most of Chennai's rain falls between October and December, often in a few very heavy days. Leaks through old terraces, sunshades and window frames are the most common problem we see. Terrace waterproofing, properly sloped and with clear outlets, should be done before the rains — schedule it for the dry months.

Hard water and old pipes

Borewell water in much of the city is hard and slowly chokes galvanised iron pipes and stains fittings. When bathrooms and kitchens are redone, replacing concealed GI lines with CPVC or uPVC is cheaper now than breaking tiles later.

Typical ranges for independent houses. Prices last reviewed October 2026.

Worked example: a standard renovation of a 1,400 sq ft house in Adyar — new floors throughout, rewiring, a new kitchen and two bathrooms — comes to roughly ₹14–25.2 lakh. More detail is on our cost guide.

1. Visit and survey. We measure the house, check the structure, wiring and plumbing, and note leaks and damp.
2. Design and estimate. Layout, materials and finishes, with a detailed estimate before any work starts.
3. Phasing. If you are staying in, we plan the order so the house stays usable.
4. Work on site. Demolition, structural repair, services, waterproofing, then finishes — in that order.
5. Handover. Snag list, cleaning, and a record of where pipes and cables run.

Whoever you hire, ask these before you sign:

• Will an engineer look at the structure before walls are removed or heavy fixtures added?
• Is the estimate itemised, with brands and specifications, or a single lump sum?
• How is waterproofing done, and is it guaranteed?
• Who is on site every day, and how often will you get updates?
• How are changes during the job priced and agreed?

We work on independent houses across Chennai, especially the older, larger homes of Velachery, Adyar, Thiruvanmiyur, Besant Nagar, Mylapore, Alwarpet, R.A. Puram, T. Nagar, Nungambakkam, Kilpauk, Anna Nagar, Kotturpuram, Nanganallur, Tambaram and OMR. Area guides: Kilpauk, Anna Nagar, Adyar and OMR. If you also want more space, see adding a floor or a terrace room. In Bengaluru? See home renovation in Bengaluru.