Kothrud is one of the oldest planned parts of Pune and it behaves differently from the new-build west. Most of the work here is renovation rather than first fit-out, often in a home that has been lived in for twenty years, sometimes with the family still in it. This page covers what that involves, what it costs, how we work around a family in residence, and a 3 BHK we completed in Dahanukar Colony.
What Kothrud homes are like
The building stock runs from 1990s low-rise societies through the Dahanukar Colony and Karve Road belt to newer redevelopment towers along Paud Road. Flats tend to be generous in carpet area but conventional in plan — separate kitchen, a passage, bedrooms off it. The layouts are sound; what dates them is the finish and the storage.
Owners here are mostly long-settled Pune families, often second generation in the same flat, and increasingly their adult children taking over the home. The brief is rarely "make it look new". It is closer to: keep what works, fix what has aged badly, and make the kitchen and storage behave like a modern home.
Renovation, not fit-out
A Kothrud project usually starts with removal rather than installation, and that is where the surprises live. Twenty-year-old plumbing behind a kitchen wall is rarely where the drawing says it is. Electrical loads sized for a fridge and two fans do not carry a modern kitchen. Ceilings have often been dropped once already, leaving less height than the measurement suggested.
We survey before quoting rather than after. That means opening a small section of the kitchen wall, checking the distribution board, and measuring floor-to-slab in three places rather than one. It makes the first quote slightly slower and the final bill considerably more predictable.
The other renovation-specific question is what stays. Good teak windows, sound flooring and solid doors are often worth keeping and refinishing, and doing so frees budget for the kitchen. We say so when it is true, even though a full strip-out would be a larger project for us.
Working around a family still living there
Roughly half our Kothrud clients stay in the flat through the work, usually because a rented alternative for three months costs more than the saving. It is workable, but it changes the sequence.
We phase it room by room, with a sealed dust barrier and one bedroom kept habitable at all times. The kitchen goes last, after a temporary arrangement is set up, because a family can live without a spare bedroom for a fortnight but not without somewhere to cook. Wet work — plumbing changes and tiling — is grouped into a single block so the water is off once rather than six times.
It adds roughly two weeks to a ten-to-twelve week programme. We say that at quoting stage instead of discovering it in week eight.
Redevelopment flats on Paud Road
The newer redevelopment towers are a different job entirely: bare handover, square walls, and no history to work around. What they bring instead is a compressed timeline, because possession dates slip and then everyone in the building wants their fit-out finished before Diwali at the same moment.
Two practical consequences. Book the service lift the week you get possession, not the week you start. And expect the society's rules to be written by a committee that has just been formed and is enforcing them with some enthusiasm.
Inside a Kothrud 3 BHK
In a 3 BHK in Dahanukar Colony the family wanted the home to carry art rather than pattern. We built the living room around a soft blush wall treatment with a stone television panel set against it, kept the palette warm and low-contrast, and put the storage where it would not be seen.
A pooja unit was set at the entry behind a black-framed glass partition so it reads as part of the plan rather than an afterthought in a corner. The second bedroom gained a window seat with drawers beneath it, which is the single most useful thing you can do to a Kothrud bedroom with a deep sill. The kitchen was rebuilt as a long galley with a black counter and cream shutters.
What a Kothrud interior costs
A full 2 BHK runs ₹12–16 lakh and a full 3 BHK ₹16–21 lakh, the same bands as the rest of Pune. Renovation work carries one additional line that new-build fit-outs do not: demolition, debris removal and making good. On a full 3 BHK strip-out in an older Kothrud society that is typically ₹80,000 to ₹1.4 lakh, and it is stated separately rather than buried.
Against that, renovations often need less. If the flooring is sound and the doors are good teak, two significant lines disappear. We have delivered Kothrud homes below the band because the bones were worth keeping, and we would rather tell you that than sell a strip-out.
What Kothrud briefs usually include
The kitchen is almost always first. A twenty-year-old Kothrud kitchen typically has a granite platform in reasonable condition and everything around it failing — shutters that no longer close flush, no drawers where drawers should be, a chimney that was never adequate, and a dark corner that nobody can reach. Rebuilding it with proper internals changes daily life more than any other line.
Second is a pooja space with a considered position. In older Kothrud plans it has usually been squeezed into a passage corner or on top of a kitchen counter. Given a wall of its own, with the right light and a door that closes, it stops being a compromise.
Third is storage that matches how long the family has lived there. Twenty years in one flat produces possessions that a builder-standard wardrobe was never sized for. We plan for what is actually there — including the things that live in the loft — rather than for a showroom.
Fourth, and increasingly, a room that works for a parent. Multi-generational living is common here, and it changes specifications in practical ways: a bed at a height that is easy to get out of, lever handles instead of knobs, a grab point in the bathroom that does not look clinical, and lighting that can be bright without being harsh.
Where the budget goes on a renovation
Renovation budgets split differently from new-build fit-outs. Joinery is still the largest line at roughly half, but demolition, debris and making good take a share that a new flat never pays. Electrical rewiring is frequently a real line rather than a nominal one, because a 1990s distribution board will not carry a modern kitchen with a hob, oven, chimney and dishwasher.
Against that, several new-build costs shrink or disappear. Flooring often stays. Doors and frames in good teak are refinished rather than replaced. False ceilings are frequently partial rather than throughout, because the original height is worth protecting.
The practical consequence is that a Kothrud renovation quote looks different from a Baner one at the same total. More of it sits in work you will never see, and less of it in surfaces. That is the right distribution for a home that has to last another twenty years.
Getting materials up an older building
Many Kothrud societies are four to six floors with a single passenger lift and no service lift. Sheet material does not fit in a passenger lift, which means either carrying it up the stairwell or cutting it smaller and assembling in the flat. Both are normal; both need to be in the quote.
Societies here also tend to be strict about the common staircase — it is the neighbours' route to their own front doors — so we protect it, clear it daily, and agree a debris removal schedule before the first day rather than after the first complaint.
Working with us in Kothrud
We are based in Mahalunge, about twenty-five minutes from Kothrud, and both founders visit site through execution. On renovation work that matters more than usual, because the decisions that cost money are made in the first fortnight when walls are open and something unexpected has appeared.
We also work in Erandwane, Bavdhan, Pashan and across Pune and PCMC. Our service pages cover modular kitchens, wardrobes and storage and turnkey execution in more detail.
To talk through a home in Kothrud, call Pooja Dhoot on +91 82080 93011 or Dimple Marathe on +91 88881 77217.
