What Can You Build on a 100, 150 or 200 Gaj Plot in Delhi? Coverage, FAR, Floors and Cost Explained

On a 100 gaj (900 sqft) plot in Delhi you may cover 90% of the ground and build a floor area of 350% of the plot, which is 3,150 sqft in up to four dwelling units. On a 150 gaj or 200 gaj plot the coverage drops to 75% and the FAR to 300, giving 4,050 sqft and 5,400 sqft respectively, again in up to four units, inside a height limit of 15 metres, or 17.5 metres where stilt parking is provided. These figures come from the Master Plan for Delhi 2021 as modified, which remains the operative plan while MPD-2041 is still a draft. This guide turns the plan's table into what it means for the common Delhi plot sizes: the footprint per floor, the total built-up area, the number of floors and units, the setbacks and parking, what counts toward FAR, and what building to full potential costs at our published package rates.

How Do Gaj, Square Metres and Square Feet Relate?

A gaj is a square yard: 9 sqft, or 0.836 sqm. So 100 gaj is 900 sqft and about 83.6 sqm; 150 gaj is 1,350 sqft and 125.4 sqm; 200 gaj is 1,800 sqft and 167.2 sqm; 250 gaj is 2,250 sqft and 209 sqm; and 300 gaj is 2,700 sqft and 250.8 sqm. The master plan's categories are written in square metres, so it is the square-metre figure that decides which row of the table you fall in. The plan also lets the local body disregard a variation of up to 2% in plot size arising from the conversion of square yards to square metres and grant the norms of the lower category, which matters for a 300 gaj plot: at 250.8 sqm it sits within 2% of the 250 sqm line and can be treated as a plot in the 100 to 250 sqm category rather than the next one up.

What Does the Master Plan Allow by Plot Size?

The table below is reproduced from the plotted-housing controls in the DDA's handbook on development controls and paragraph 4.4.3 of the MPD-2021 text as modified. Plots up to 50 sqm (about 60 gaj): 90% ground coverage, FAR 350, 3 dwelling units. Above 50 to 100 sqm (60 to about 120 gaj): 90% coverage, FAR 350, 4 units. Above 100 to 250 sqm (120 to about 300 gaj): 75% coverage, FAR 300, 4 units. Above 250 to 750 sqm (300 to about 900 gaj): 75% coverage, FAR 225, 6 units. Above 750 to 1,000 sqm: 50% coverage, FAR 200, 9 units. FAR is the total covered area on all floors divided by the plot area, expressed as a percentage, so FAR 300 on a 1,800 sqft plot is 5,400 sqft of floor area. The maximum height of a residential building on these plots is 15 metres without stilt parking and 17.5 metres with it, and the plan says such a building is not treated as high-rise; fire clearance, where the fire rules require it, is obtained by the plot owner.

What Can You Build on a 100 Gaj Plot?

A 100 gaj plot is 900 sqft and, at 83.6 sqm, falls in the 50 to 100 sqm category. Ground coverage of 90% gives a footprint of 810 sqft per floor, and FAR 350 gives 3,150 sqft of total floor area, in up to four dwelling units. Four floors at the full footprint would be 3,240 sqft, slightly over the FAR, so the practical layouts are ground plus three floors with the top floor a little smaller, or stilt parking plus four floors of about 787 sqft each within the 17.5 metre height. No setbacks are prescribed for plots below 100 sqm, but the plan requires a minimum 2 metre by 2 metre open courtyard in plots of 50 to 100 sqm, and the light and ventilation rules for habitable rooms still apply, so most 100 gaj designs work around one shaft or courtyard. Plots this size are usually row houses with shared side walls, which is what makes the zero side setback workable.

What Can You Build on a 150 Gaj Plot?

A 150 gaj plot is 1,350 sqft and 125.4 sqm, in the 100 to 250 sqm category. Coverage of 75% gives a footprint of 1,012 sqft, and FAR 300 gives 4,050 sqft, which is exactly four floors at the full footprint: the stilt plus four format that most new builder floors in Delhi use, with four independent units of about 1,000 sqft each. The only prescribed setback in this category is 3 metres at the front; rear and sides are zero, though the courtyard, shaft and window rules still shape the plan.

What Can You Build on a 200 Gaj Plot?

A 200 gaj plot is 1,800 sqft and 167.2 sqm, also in the 100 to 250 sqm category. Coverage of 75% gives a footprint of 1,350 sqft, and FAR 300 gives 5,400 sqft: four floors of 1,350 sqft, four units, a 3 metre front setback, and a stilt below if you want the parking and the 17.5 metre height. This is the size at which a full three-bedroom floor with a lift becomes comfortable, and the size at which the collaboration offers from builders start arriving; our guide to collaboration versus building it yourself works through that decision.

And 250 or 300 Gaj?

A 250 gaj plot (2,250 sqft, 209 sqm) is still in the 100 to 250 sqm category: 1,687 sqft per floor and 6,750 sqft in total, four units. A 300 gaj plot (2,700 sqft, 250.8 sqm) is the borderline case. Treated under the 2% conversion allowance as a 250 sqm plot, it gets 75% coverage and FAR 300: 2,025 sqft per floor and 8,100 sqft in total, four units. If the local body applies the 250 to 750 sqm category instead, the FAR falls to 225, or 6,075 sqft, the unit count rises to six, the setbacks become 3 metres at the front, rear and one side, and the parking norm of two equivalent car spaces applies. Which reading you get is a matter to settle with your architect and the sanctioning authority before drawings are made, not after.

What Counts Toward FAR and What Does Not?

Several parts of a house sit outside the FAR count, and the plan is specific about them. A stilt floor of non-habitable height used for parking is not included in FAR, but it is counted toward the building's height. The Unified Building Bye-Laws 2016 allow a stilt with a minimum clear height of 2.4 metres at the underside of the beam and a maximum of 2.7 metres at the underside of the slab for parking. A basement is not counted toward FAR if it is used for household storage and parking, and it may not extend beyond the ground coverage, though it may run under an internal courtyard or shaft. A balcony within the plot line up to 1.5 metres wide is free of FAR in plotted development. On the other side of the ledger, a mezzanine or a service floor is counted in FAR. Parking has its own norm: two equivalent car spaces in plots of 250 to 300 sqm, and one for every 100 sqm of built-up area in plots above 300 sqm; the plan does not prescribe a parking count for the smaller categories, which is why the stilt is a design choice there rather than a requirement.

How Many Floors Can You Actually Build?

Three limits act together: coverage times floors cannot exceed the FAR, the building cannot exceed 15 metres (17.5 with a stilt), and the plot cannot hold more than its dwelling-unit count. With a floor-to-floor height of around 3 metres, 15 metres accommodates ground plus three floors and 17.5 metres accommodates a stilt plus four. On a 150 or 200 gaj plot, FAR 300 at 75% coverage is exactly four full floors, and the four-unit cap means each floor is one unit; a fifth residential floor is not available on these plots. On a 100 gaj plot, FAR 350 at 90% coverage is just under four full floors. The stilt plus four format is the default because it uses all three limits at once, but it carries a structural obligation: the open stilt is a soft storey in seismic zone IV, and the bye-laws note the shear walls and bracing that the codes call for; our stilt plus four guide explains what to ask your engineer.

What Does It Cost to Build to Full FAR?

Multiply the FAR area by a package rate and you have the construction figure. At our published packages, Essential ₹1,500, Basic ₹1,800, Standard ₹2,300, Premium ₹3,200 and Luxury ₹4,500 per sqft of built-up area, a 100 gaj plot built to its 3,150 sqft comes to about ₹47 lakh at Essential, ₹57 lakh at Basic, ₹72 lakh at Standard, ₹1.01 crore at Premium and ₹1.42 crore at Luxury. A 150 gaj plot at 4,050 sqft is about ₹61 lakh, ₹73 lakh, ₹93 lakh, ₹1.30 crore and ₹1.82 crore. A 200 gaj plot at 5,400 sqft is about ₹81 lakh, ₹97 lakh, ₹1.24 crore, ₹1.73 crore and ₹2.43 crore. Those are the FAR floors only. A stilt is not FAR area but it is still a slab on columns and is priced as its own line; so is a basement, and so is a lift, which our home lift guide covers. Land, stamp duty, sanction fees and any betterment or additional-FAR charges the plan mentions, utility connections and boundary walls are outside the package rate, as our construction cost guide sets out, and the cost calculator will run your own area against each package.

You are not obliged to build to full FAR. A ground plus one house on a 200 gaj plot is 2,700 sqft and about ₹62 lakh at Standard, and if the foundation and columns are designed for the eventual four floors, the upper floors can be added later; our guide to adding a floor to an existing house covers how. What you cannot do cheaply is build a light structure now and decide on four floors afterwards.

What Should You Confirm Before Drawings Are Made?

Five things, in writing, from your architect. The plot's category in square metres and the coverage, FAR and unit count that follow from it. Any restriction that overrides the table: plots in heritage zones, near protected monuments, under the airport funnel, in Lutyens' Bungalow Zone, in unauthorised colonies regularised under their own norms, or on roads with a right-of-way that changes what is allowed. The additional-unit levy and betterment charges that apply if you go beyond an earlier sanctioned plan. The parking and stilt design. And the soil, because a four-floor building on a 100 gaj plot puts real load on a small footing; our guide to soil testing before construction explains why that report comes before the structural drawings. All of it then goes through the MCD building approval process before a brick is laid.

Nirman Ved designs and builds on plots of every size the plan allows across Delhi NCR, to the coverage, FAR and height the plan allows and to the current bye-laws, with the structural design for stilt formats done in-house and the sanction handled as part of our house construction service. If you want to know exactly what your plot can hold and what each option costs, call +91-7838355055 or book a free site visit and we will put the numbers in writing.