Super Built-Up Area vs Built-Up Area vs Carpet Area: Know it all?

As a buyer or an investor, when you meet a builder or look at the project brochure, you will encounter different terminologies that describe the size of your apartment. Some of the most common terminologies are super built-up area, built-up area, carpet area and loading factor. These terms are extremely important and may often confuse a new buyer. Here, we will explain these important terminologies in detail, so that you can make an informed decision while buying an apartment of your choice.

Carpet area

Technically speaking, it means the net usable floor area within a building excluding the area that is covered by the walls or any other areas specifically exempted from floor space index computation.

In simple terms, this is the area inside your apartment where a carpet can be laid and is measured wall to wall. It is essentially the total floor area inside your flat which is available for use, excluding the walls and utility ducts. This covers all the rooms in your house including kitchen, living room, bed rooms, bathroom and utility. Some builders tend to add the balcony as part of the carpet area while others do not. Hence, you should confirm with the builder about this.

Built-up area/Plinth area

Built-up area or the plinth area is the total size of your apartment unit including walls, sit-out, balcony, terrace and utility. That is to say, it is the area covered by a building on all floors including any cantilevered portion. As a thumb rule, this is usually 10 per cent higher than the carpet area. This term may not be used as often as super built-area, yet, may be often confused with the latter.

Hence,

Built-up area = Carpet area + walls + utility + balcony

Super Built-up area/Saleable area

This is one of the most commonly used term by the builder while describing the size of an apartment. Also called as saleable area, the super built-up area is the size of your apartment plus the common areas proportioned to the unit. These common areas may include swimming pool, community centre, gymnasium, clubhouse, lobby, staircase and lift. Open areas such as gardens, parks, play areas and terrace are also included in this. Hence,

Super built-up area: Built-up area + amenities and common areas (proportionate to the unit)

Loading factor

This is another term, which is not often used by builders. However, it is important to know this term. Simply put, loading factor gives you the percentage difference between the carpet area and super built-up area. Loading factor when added to 1 and multiplied by the carpet area gives the super built-up area. Thus, the formula is:

Super built-up area = Carpet area (1+ loading factor)

The loading factor is different in different cities. For instance, in Bangalore it is anywhere between 25-30 per cent. This means that the super built-up area is 25-30 per cent more than the carpet area. In Mumbai, the loading is much higher than that of Bangalore.

Per square foot rate

We often see the advertisements flashing something similar to, “Buy an apartment at just Rs 3,599 per sq. ft.!!” We may not realise this, but this rate when multiplied with the total super built-up area will just give the basic price of the property. This basic cost is only 80 per cent of the overall cost. There are various other additional costs of which you should be aware of.

An example

Let us take an example to illustrate the different terms used by the builder.
Let us assume, a property has a super built-up area of 1000 sq. ft. and the carpet area is of 700 sq. ft.

Super built-up area = Carpet area (1 + loading factor)

Hence,
1000 = 700 (1+ loading factor)
1.43 = 1 + loading factor

Hence, loading factor = 0.43 or 43%

If we consider the built-up/plinth area to be 10 per cent higher than carpet area, then
Plinth area = 1.1 * 700

Thus, Built-up/Plinth area = 770

Now that you are aware of some of the common builder terminologies, you are in a better position to decide on what carpet area or super built-up area you want from the project. Let us know if there are any other real estate jargons that you come across and are confused about!