A warranty on interior work is worth exactly as much as what is written down. "Ten year warranty" on a brochure, with no document behind it, is a marketing line. Here is what a real one contains — and why Pune's climate makes it matter more than in most cities.
What should be covered, and for how long
Different components fail in different ways, so a single blanket period is a warning sign rather than a generosity.
- Workmanship on joinery — 5 to 10 years. Carcass integrity, joints opening, shutters warping or dropping, delamination, edge banding lifting.
- Hardware — 1 to 10 years, depending on brand. Hinges, channels, soft-close mechanisms and lift-up fittings usually carry the manufacturer's own warranty. Ask for it to be passed through to you in writing, with the brand named.
- Modular and factory components — as per manufacturer, with the documentation handed over at completion.
- Waterproofing — 5 to 10 years where it was done as part of the scope. This is the most valuable line in the document, because a waterproofing failure damages everything below it.
- Electrical workmanship — 1 to 3 years on the installation, with fittings under their own manufacturer warranty.
- Painting — 1 to 5 years depending on the product, typically covering peeling and flaking rather than fair wear.
- False ceiling — 2 to 5 years against cracking at joints and sagging.
What is reasonably excluded
A fair warranty excludes things nobody can control: normal wear, physical damage, water ingress from outside the scope such as a leaking terrace or a neighbour's bathroom, damage from work done later by someone else, natural variation in wood and stone, and colour fade on surfaces in direct sun. If an exclusions list is missing entirely, the document is not finished.
The clauses that decide whether it is useful
- Response time. A warranty with no stated response window can take months. Look for a commitment to inspect within a defined number of working days.
- Who honours it. If execution was subcontracted, is the studio liable or the vendor? A studio with its own artisans can answer this in one sentence; one that cannot should worry you.
- Transferability. If you sell the flat within the period, does the cover pass to the buyer? It is a genuine selling point.
- What voids it. Usually third-party modification to the same component. Reasonable — but it should be stated, not assumed.
- Whether it survives non-payment disputes, and how retention interacts with it.
Why this matters more in Pune
Pune's long monsoon and genuinely humid July and August are what test interior work. Most failures — swollen carcass bottoms, lifted edge banding, shutters that stop closing flush, damp behind a wardrobe on an external wall — appear in the second monsoon, not the first. A one-year warranty expires before the material has really been tested. Five years is where the cover starts to mean something in this climate.
What a proper handover file contains
Ask for these at completion, as one set:
- The signed warranty document with periods and exclusions per component.
- Manufacturer warranty cards for hardware, appliances and modular components.
- Material records showing board grade, brand and laminate codes actually used.
- As-built electrical and plumbing drawings — invaluable the first time you need to drill a wall.
- A care and maintenance guide for each finish.
- A named contact and a stated process for raising a claim.
Two questions worth asking before you sign
"Can I see the warranty document now?" Not a summary in a proposal — the actual document. If it does not exist before the contract, it will not exist after it.
"Can I speak to a client from three years ago who raised a claim?" How a studio behaves in year three, long after the money has been paid, is the only real test of a warranty.
Our cover is set out in full on our warranty page, and what to do to keep each finish in good condition is on our post-handover care page. Because our artisans are in-house, the team that built your home is the team that comes back. Read more about our studio or book a free consultation.
