Three people, three completely different numbers, for the exact same G+3 approval. Here's how to find the real government fee before anyone quotes you a price.
One thing to be upfront about before you read further: we are not the approval agent ourselves. We coordinate the process on your behalf — vetting a reliable agent, tracking payments, and following up between offices — for a ₹5,000 fee, separate from the agent's own fee and the government charges. If you'd rather deal with an agent directly yourself, this guide still works for that; the government fee calculator below is free and public either way.
Recently, a property owner called with a question that sounded simple: "Sir, I have a BMRDA-approved site. I want to construct a G+3 house. How much will the building approval cost?"
So we asked around. Three different people, three completely different answers — for the exact same site, the exact same G+3 plan.
Three numbers. Three timelines. And no way to tell, just from those quotes, how much of each figure is an actual government charge versus someone's professional fee.
This is where most people get stuck. When someone says "building approval will cost ₹80,000," that does not necessarily mean the entire ₹80,000 is their fee. It's usually a mix of government charges and professional charges bundled into one number — and there's no way to negotiate or compare quotes properly until you separate the two.
Before you accept any quote, get the one number that doesn't depend on who you're talking to: the actual government fee. The Karnataka Government's Land and Building Plan Approval System provides an official Fee Calculator that computes the government-side charges based on your project's actual details — plot area, built-up area, number of floors, building height, and estimated construction cost.
Enter your plot area, built-up area, building height, number of floors, and construction cost to get the government's own fee estimate — directly from the Directorate of Town and Country Planning's Nirmana portal.
This links directly to the Karnataka government's own calculator, hosted on their official bhu-yojane.karnataka.gov.in portal — we don't reproduce or estimate government fee formulas ourselves, since only the government's own system reflects current, accurate rules for your specific ULB/planning authority.
When a number gets quoted to you as one lump sum, it's usually hiding several different components:
| Component | What it usually is |
|---|---|
| Government approval / scrutiny fee | Charged by the sanctioning authority to review and approve your plan |
| Betterment fee | A development charge levied by the local planning authority |
| Security deposit | Refundable deposit held by the authority during construction |
| Labour cess | A statutory construction labour welfare charge |
| Architect / Engineer / Consultant fee | What the professional who prepares and submits your plan charges for their own work |
| Documentation & application expenses | Printing, submission, and processing costs |
The government fee calculator above only calculates the government-side components. The professional fee is separate, and it's worth asking for explicitly rather than accepting one bundled number.
A BMRDA-approved site does not automatically mean you can build any number of floors you want. What's actually permitted depends on the applicable planning rules, site dimensions, road width, setbacks, FAR/FSI (floor area ratio), zoning, and other requirements. In the case above, the consultant's own estimate assumed the site would qualify for ground floor parking plus two residential floors (G+2) — not the G+3 the owner originally had in mind. Your architect or engineer, together with the competent authority, needs to confirm what's actually permissible for your specific plot before you plan around a number of floors that may not be approvable.
If someone quotes you a single number for "building approval," ask them to break it down. These five questions do that:
Once you have the government fee calculated independently, any quote you receive breaks down into something you can actually evaluate:
Government fees: ₹XX,XXX
Architect / Engineer / Consultant fee: ₹XX,XXX
Other expenses: ₹XX,XXX
Total estimated cost: ₹XX,XXX
That's a quote you can compare against a second or third opinion. A single bundled number isn't.
You could. The calculator above is free and public, and nothing stops you from calling agents directly and comparing quotes on your own. But here's what that process actually looks like in practice, based on the calls above: one agent quotes low but takes 60 days and "delays everything," another bundles government and professional fees into one number you can't verify, and a third gives you a floor count that may not even be legally permissible for your site. Sorting through that — vetting who's reliable, confirming what's actually approvable before anyone submits anything, and making sure the process doesn't quietly stall for two months — is time most property owners don't have, and it's exactly the part that goes wrong when it's left to chance.
What we actually do for ₹5,000: we coordinate the entire approval process with a vetted agent — not the cheapest one, the one who actually delivers on time. That means confirming what's permissible for your specific plot before you commit to an agent, tracking the challan and DD payments so nothing gets bundled or overcharged, following up between the municipal office and the BMRDA office so it doesn't drift past the timeline you were quoted, and staying as your single point of contact throughout. Preparing the actual plan and getting it approved is the agent's job, not ours — our fee is purely for vetting them and staying on top of the process until it's done.
Here's exactly where your money goes — three separate payments, three separate parties:
| Paid to | What it covers | Typical amount |
|---|---|---|
| Government (challan, via the official calculator above) | Government scrutiny, betterment & other statutory fees | ~₹75,000–80,000 |
| Approval agent | Plan estimate, design, and preparing & submitting your documents/plan for approval | ~₹25,000–30,000 |
| HoskoteConstruction | Vetting the agent, tracking payments, coordinating both offices | ₹5,000 |
Our ₹5,000 doesn't replace the agent's fee or the government charges — the agent is the one who actually drafts your plan and uploads your documents to the portal. We just make sure the right agent is doing it, on the timeline you were promised.
A sanctioned building plan is typically an important document in a construction or home loan process — but the exact documents required depend on the bank, the loan type, and your specific property. A sanctioned plan doesn't automatically guarantee loan approval on its own. Ask your bank for its exact document checklist before you start construction, rather than assuming approval alone is sufficient. For the full picture on construction loans, see our construction loan process guide.
Government fees (~₹75–80k) and the agent's fee (~₹25–30k, covering plan estimate, design, and submission) are what you'd pay either way — our ₹5,000 coordination fee is what buys you a vetted agent, both office visits tracked, and one point of contact until it's approved. Calculate your government fee above first, then let us handle the rest.
We'll say this again the moment you message us: we're not the agent ourselves, just the ones vetting and coordinating them for you — the ₹5,000 is only for that.
This article is for general information only and isn't legal or financial advice. The fee calculator above is the Karnataka Government's own official tool — actual fees, approvals, permissible floors, and requirements can vary depending on the property, local authority, applicable rules, and final assessment by the competent authority. Always confirm current details directly with the relevant planning authority.