The short answer
Wood and furniture polishing in Delhi NCR is priced per square foot of surface, and the range below moves mainly with the finish — melamine is the affordable everyday coat, PU is tougher for high-use pieces, Duco is a pricier opaque sprayed finish, and French polish is priced by its hand-labour. The other big lever is whether you need a cheap refresh or a costlier full strip-and-recoat. On sound solid wood, re-polishing almost always beats replacing on both cost and quality. Ranges are indicative market figures, not XpertWorker prices — the professional you choose sets their own and quotes free.
Indicative market ranges across Delhi NCR — not XpertWorker prices. Each professional sets their own charge and quotes you free.
A dining table that has gone dull and ringed. A wardrobe whose shutters have lost their sheen. A front door bleached grey by the sun. None of these are broken — the wood underneath is usually perfectly sound — which is exactly why polishing, not replacing, is so often the right call, and so often the cheaper one.
This guide covers what wood and furniture polishing typically costs across Delhi NCR in 2026, how the four common finishes compare, the real difference between a quick refresh and a full strip-and-recoat, and the question worth asking before you replace anything: is this a polishing job, not a new furniture job?
A note on these numbers. XpertWorker is a marketplace, not a polishing or carpentry company. We do not set any professional's price and we never charge you a paisa. Every figure the generator shows below is an indicative market range collected from what independent carpenters and polishers in Delhi NCR generally charge — a guide to help you judge a quote, not a quote itself. The professional you choose sets their own price and gives you a free quote before starting.
In this guide
What wood polishing typically costs in Delhi NCR
Polishing is quoted per square foot of surface — the area of wood being finished, not the footprint of the piece. A wardrobe has far more polishable surface than its floor space suggests, because every shutter face, side and shelf edge counts. The range inside the rate is mostly the finish, which the next section breaks down. Repair work is priced separately and shown here so you can tell a polish from a repair.
| Job | Typical market range | What it usually includes |
|---|---|---|
| Wood / PU / Duco polishing (per sq ft) | ₹25–90 | The headline job. The range is wide because a melamine refresh and a Duco strip-and-spray are very different amounts of work |
| Furniture repair (chair / table / sofa frame) | ₹400–2,500 | A structural repair — a loose joint or a broken frame — is a different job from a polish, and often done alongside it |
| Wardrobe / almirah repair | ₹500–2,000 | Sagging shutters or dropped hinges — fix the structure first, then polish |
| Carpenter visit / hourly labour | ₹300–600/hr | Charged when the job is small or the scope is unclear until they see the piece |
Indicative Delhi NCR market ranges, 2026. Each professional sets their own charge and quotes you free before starting. Parts are normally billed on top of labour.
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Get free quotesThe four finishes — and why the price moves so much
Nearly the entire spread in the per-sq-ft rate comes down to which finish you choose. They look different, wear differently and take very different amounts of labour to apply.
| Finish | What it is | Where it sits on price and wear |
|---|---|---|
| Melamine | The everyday furniture finish — a clear-ish coat, matte or glossy, that shows the wood grain. Sprayed on, quick to apply. | The lower end of the range. Good value, decent protection for normal indoor use. Wears faster than PU and is harder to spot-repair, but the cheapest way to bring tired furniture back to life. |
| PU (polyurethane) | A tougher clear finish that also shows the grain, in matte to high gloss. More coats, more careful preparation. | The mid-to-upper end. Harder, more water- and scratch-resistant, with a richer depth. The sensible choice for surfaces that take a beating — dining tables, high-use wardrobes. |
| Duco | An opaque, sprayed paint finish in solid colours (think a car-like matte or gloss). It hides the grain rather than showing it. | The upper end. It needs the most preparation and the most dust-free spraying conditions, which is why it costs more. Chosen for a modern solid-colour look, not to show off wood. |
| French polish | The traditional hand-applied shellac finish, built up in many thin layers. Labour-intensive and skilled. | Priced by the labour it takes, not the material. Beautiful on solid-wood and antique pieces, and repairable in place — but less water-resistant, so it suits display furniture more than a kitchen table. |
Indicative comparison only. The professional you choose recommends a finish for your piece and sets their own price.
There is no single "best" finish, and a polisher who quotes Duco or PU for everything is selling a finish, not matching it to the piece. A child's study table that takes spills wants PU; a decorative almirah that is only looked at is fine in melamine; an heirloom rosewood chest deserves French polish. Match the finish to how the piece is used, and you neither overpay nor under-protect.
Refresh or full re-polish? The difference is the stripping
Two jobs hide under the word "polishing", and they cost very differently because one involves a great deal more labour than the other. Knowing which one your furniture actually needs is the single biggest lever on the price.
- A refresh (scuff and re-coat). When the existing finish is worn or dull but basically intact, the polisher lightly scuffs the surface and lays a fresh coat over it. Far less labour, far less time, and the piece looks new again. This is the cheaper end of the rate, and it is all a lot of tired furniture actually needs.
- A full re-polish (strip and re-coat). When the old finish has failed — flaking, water-stained through, gone sticky, or you are changing from one finish to another — it all has to come off first. Stripping or sanding a piece back to bare wood is slow, dusty, careful work, and it is where most of the cost lives. Only then does the new finish go on.
The reason this matters for your wallet: a polisher who quotes a full strip when a refresh would do is quoting you the expensive job for the cheap problem. Ask them directly which one your piece needs and why. A worn-but-sound dining table is a refresh; a blistered, sticky old cupboard is a strip. If they say "strip everything" without looking closely at the state of the existing finish, get a second opinion — the same way you would on any job where the scope drives the price.
Doors, wardrobes and dining sets — what polishing actually covers
Polishing is not just for furniture. Anything wooden in the home that has a finish can be re-polished, and each has its own quirk worth knowing before you get a quote.
- Main and internal doors. A wooden front door takes the full force of Delhi's sun and dust and greys out faster than anything indoors. Re-polishing brings it back, and this is the moment to have the exposed top and bottom edges sealed — they are almost always left bare, and that is exactly where weather and swelling get in.
- Wardrobes and almirahs. Lots of surface for the money — every shutter face and side adds up, which is why they are priced by area. If a shutter is also sagging or a hinge has dropped, fix that structural repair first; there is no point laying a beautiful finish over a door that does not hang straight.
- Dining tables and sets. The tabletop is the hardest-working wooden surface in most homes — heat, spills and daily wiping. This is the one place worth spending up to PU for the water and scratch resistance, even if the chairs are done in something lighter.
- Beds, side tables and display units. Low-wear pieces that are mostly looked at. Melamine or, for something special, French polish does them justice without paying for a toughness they will never need.
One sequencing rule ties all of these together: repair before you polish. A loose joint, a dropped hinge, a wobbly leg — all of that structural work comes first, because a fresh finish laid over a fault just has to be disturbed again to fix it. A good professional will point out the repairs before quoting the polish, not after.
When re-polishing beats replacing
The honest headline: if the wood is solid and structurally sound, re-polishing almost always beats replacing — on cost, and usually on quality too, because old solid-wood furniture is frequently better made than what the same money buys new.
| What you have | Re-polish or replace? | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Solid wood — dining set, bed, almirah, door | Re-polish, nearly always | Solid wood takes a new finish beautifully and can be refinished repeatedly over decades. A dull, ringed or greyed surface is almost never a reason to replace a sound solid-wood piece — it is a reason to polish it. |
| Plywood or veneered furniture in good shape | Usually re-polish | A sound veneer can be refreshed. The caution: veneer is a thin skin, so an aggressive strip can cut through it. A skilled polisher works this out and often refreshes rather than strips. |
| Particle board / MDF that has swollen | Replace | Once these have taken water and swollen they have lost their strength, and no finish restores that — polishing a crumbling carcass is money spent on the wrong problem. |
| Solid wood eaten by termites or rot | Depends — treat first | Surface damage can be repaired and re-polished, but active termite damage must be treated before anything else, and a piece hollowed out inside may be past saving. Get the infestation dealt with before you spend on finishing. |
Indicative guidance only. The professional you choose assesses the piece and sets their own price.
The same logic scales up. People about to spend on a new modular kitchen or a whole bedroom set sometimes find that the existing solid-wood carcasses are sound and only the finish is tired — a re-polish and a few hinge and channel replacements deliver a near-new result for a fraction of a full rebuild. Always price the polish before you price the replacement; the arithmetic surprises people.
How not to overpay for wood polishing
- Ask: refresh or full strip? This one question decides most of the price. Make the polisher inspect the existing finish and justify a strip. A sound coat only needs a refresh.
- Match the finish to the use, not the sales pitch. PU where it takes a beating, melamine where it is only looked at, French polish for something special. Do not pay for Duco or PU on a piece that will never need it.
- Confirm the area being measured. Polishing is priced by surface area, and a wardrobe has far more surface than its footprint. Ask what total area has been measured so two quotes are comparable.
- Repair first, polish second. Get loose joints, dropped hinges and worn channels sorted before the finish goes on — and get the door edges sealed while a door is off. A finish laid over a fault is a finish you will disturb again.
- Price the polish before you price a replacement. On sound solid wood, re-polishing usually wins on both cost and quality. Do the arithmetic before you assume the piece is finished.
- Pay the polisher directly, after you have seen the finished work. XpertWorker never takes money from you and never holds your payment — you settle it with the professional who did the job.
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Get free quotes →Frequently asked questions
How much does wood polishing cost per square foot in Delhi NCR?
What is the difference between melamine, PU, Duco and French polish?
What is the difference between a polish refresh and a full re-polish?
Is it worth re-polishing old furniture or should I replace it?
Can a wooden main door be re-polished instead of replaced?
How we put this guide together
The ranges in this guide are indicative market rates compiled from real jobs across Delhi NCR and reviewed by the XpertWorker pricing desk. They are not quotes, and they are not our prices — every independent, ID-verified professional sets their own charge and quotes you free before any work starts.