Carpet, built-up, super built-up: the number that costs you trust

A buyer asks how big the flat is. You say 1,450. They visit, pace it out, and it feels like 1,100. Nobody lied — you quoted super built-up and they measured carpet — but the trust is gone, and it is gone for the rest of the deal.

The three numbers

• Carpet area — the floor you can actually lay carpet on. Under RERA this is the figure a developer must disclose for a registered project.
• Built-up area — carpet plus the walls, and usually the balcony.
• Super built-up — built-up plus your share of the lobby, staircase, lift, clubhouse and whatever else the loading factor absorbs. Typically 20–35% above carpet, and it is the number most listings quote because it is the biggest.

Quoting the largest number is not clever positioning. It is a surprise you have scheduled for the site visit.

What it does to your rate per sqft

The damage is not only the size — it is the rate. The same ₹1.05 crore flat is ₹7,240/sqft on 1,450 super built-up and ₹9,545/sqft on 1,100 carpet. A buyer comparing your listing against one quoted on carpet concludes yours is cheap, then discovers it is not. You have engineered your own objection.

It also corrupts your own market sense. If half your inventory is recorded on carpet and half on super built-up, every average you take across it is meaningless, and you will eventually price something badly using your own data.

The practical rule

Record all three when you know them, and always label which one you are quoting. Say “1,450 super built-up, 1,100 carpet” on the listing itself. It costs one line and it removes the single most common source of a soured site visit.

When you only know one, say which one it is. “1,100 carpet” is a stronger listing than an unlabelled 1,450, because the buyer who turns up already believes you.