What an office in Mohali actually costs

Super area — also called super built-up area or SBA — is the carpet area of the office plus its share of the building’s common spaces: lobbies, lifts, staircases, corridors and service areas. In the Chandigarh Tricity commercial market, asking prices and rents are quoted on super area almost without exception, so a rate of ₹13,000 per sq ft means ₹13,000 for every sq ft of super area. Carpet area is always smaller. The ratio between them is the loading factor, and it varies by building — at Bestech Business Towers it is about 1.538, so a 4,135 sq ft super area office has roughly 2,689 sq ft of covered area.

CAM stands for Common Area Maintenance — the monthly charge for running the building’s shared services: security, housekeeping, lifts, common-area power, water and landscaping. It is billed per square foot of super area per month and is payable over and above rent. Rates in Mohali commercial buildings typically run from ₹8 to ₹16 per sq ft per month, and often vary by how many hours the building operates: a building charging ₹14 for day operations may charge ₹15 for night and ₹20 for round-the-clock use. Electricity, DG backup and GST are usually extra on actuals.

IFMS stands for Interest-Free Maintenance Security. It is a one-time, refundable deposit collected at registration and held by the building’s maintenance body against future upkeep. It is charged per square foot of super area and is over and above the sale price — commonly ₹100 per sq ft in Sector 66 Mohali, ₹50 to ₹66 per sq ft in newer Mohali developments. It is not rent, not maintenance, and not a fee: it is returnable when the property changes hands or the arrangement ends.

It depends entirely on whether the building is complete. An office in an under-construction project attracts GST at an effective 12 per cent of the sale consideration — 18 per cent applied to two-thirds of the value, after the statutory one-third abatement for land. In practice, Tricity developers customarily bear half of it, so a buyer typically pays around 6 per cent, though this is a commercial arrangement rather than a statutory rate and should be confirmed in writing in the cost sheet. A completed building that holds its completion certificate attracts no GST on sale at all — which is why a ready office and an under-construction one at the same headline rate per sq ft are not the same price.

PLC stands for Preferential Location Charge — a premium a developer adds for a unit in a better position, typically one facing the front of the building, on a corner, or with an unobstructed outlook. It is charged either as a rate per square foot or as a percentage of the basic sale price, is over and above that price, and applies only to the units that qualify. When comparing two quotes, check whether PLC is already inside the rate quoted or is being added on top, because the same building is often presented both ways.

Bare shell is an empty concrete floor: no flooring, ceiling, air-conditioning, electrical distribution or fire fighting beyond the base building provision — the occupier builds everything. Warm shell adds the base services, typically flooring, false ceiling, air-conditioning, lighting, power distribution and fire-safety compliance, leaving the occupier to add partitions, furniture and IT. Fully furnished means ready to occupy, with workstations, cabins, meeting rooms and pantry already in place. The rate per square foot rises accordingly, and a fully furnished office at a higher rate is often cheaper than a bare shell once the fit-out cost is counted.

Browsing listings, submitting an enquiry and requesting a site visit are free. Commission is payable only on a closed transaction, and the terms are agreed before anything is signed. Charges quoted on a listing — GST, IFMS, CAM, PLC, parking, stamp duty and registration — are the developer’s or the building’s, not ours, and are stated on the listing so the landed cost is clear before you enquire.