When Dhimaan and Nibhrant Shah began building houses in Goa a decade ago, they were entering a market that had a fairly conventional idea of luxury: more marble, more glass, more square footage. But their own houses were meant to suggest something else. When we get on a video call, the brothers and Co-CEOs of Isprava Group recall how one of the first pieces of furniture they acquired for an Isprava house was not furniture at all. It was the façade of a dilapidated haveli in Gujarat. Dhimaan says they had the entire piece removed, restored in a warehouse and transported to Goa, where it became a large cabinet in a living and dining room.

“It was our second home,” he continues. “We had four employees, including the two of us.”

Expanding yet personal

That instinct — to make a new house feel as though it has accumulated a history — remains central to Isprava, which has grown from a boutique Goa developer into a collection of businesses spanning luxury homes, villa rentals and a private club. The company has expanded beyond Goa into places including Alibaug and Kasauli even as the market for professionally managed second homes grows across India. Today, the question asked of Isprava is whether a company can scale something that is supposed to feel rare.

Dhimaan Shah (left) and Nibhrant Shah, co-founders, Isprava Group.

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The Shahs insist that no two Isprava houses are alike. Interiors begin, they say, from zero. One house may contain handcrafted tiles commissioned in small batches, another may use old teak furniture or architectural fragments salvaged from palaces and havelis. At one property, a birdbath is a repurposed haveli basin. At another, door handles were made from the walking sticks of the homeowner’s grandfather.

“We prefer things that are so unique that literally even if you had the money you couldn’t buy it,” Dhimaan says.

Air, light and bird baths

Incidentally, their customers are not necessarily looking for an overtly Indian aesthetic. Many are well travelled, and the references they bring to the design process are often international. They bring photographs of houses they have experienced in Europe or Southeast Asia to initial meetings. The challenge, then, is to translate a global expectation of luxury into a local setting.

By the poolside in Isprava’s Goa villa.

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In Goa, that means keeping the exterior architecture broadly within the region’s Portuguese-influenced vocabulary while allowing the interiors to become more contemporary. The houses may contain sophisticated home automation and appliances, but also indigenous landscaping, reclaimed furniture and locally made finishes. Dhimaan says two things are non-negotiable in the planning of their houses: air and light. The company also favours lower-density construction, leaving more of a site unbuilt than their competitors. Their philosophy is summed up in a phrase he uses about Goa: development should be “additive to the natural environment, not extractive.”

It is an attractive proposition, particularly in a state where luxury development is transforming the landscape that made the destination desirable in the first place. But it is also a claim that deserves scrutiny. Isprava’s account of its relationships with local communities and its investments in schools and civic infrastructure is best understood alongside the views of those communities themselves.

Private rentals

There is another transformation that these houses highlight. That increasingly, the second home is no longer simply a place visited for a few weeks a year. India’s growing market for managed villas has created a hybrid property: part private residence, part investment and part hotel.

That is where Lohono, Isprava’s hospitality arm, comes in. Formally launched just a week before the Covid pandemic (and just in time too!), the company manages its homeowners’ properties, providing housekeeping, landscaping, pool maintenance, security and concierge services. Around three-quarters of Isprava homeowners eventually put their houses into the rental system, according to the brothers. The house can therefore earn income when its owners are elsewhere, while retaining the service infrastructure of a luxury hotel.

Clementina’s Garden in Isprava’s Goa villa.

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The distinction between home and hotel becomes particularly blurry in the details and here, customisation is key. They tell me about a homeowner, a film enthusiast, who wanted a private cinema. Another house contains a hidden bedroom concealed behind a bookcase. Homes have been redesigned around children, people with physical disabilities, elderly residents and, in at least one case, dogs whose owners wanted only the best for their “family members”.

The Shahs know that their customers’ definition of luxury is less about displaying wealth and more about eliminating inconvenience. Thus a passage can be wider. A bathroom can accommodate a reading nook. Doors can be made easier for a dog to push open, or beds and benches designed for it. On the other hand, a technician can be available in the middle of the night to fix a faulty AC. Or a party planned at a moment’s notice.

The service extends beyond the walls of the house. Solene, Isprava’s private club in Goa, was launched last year as a third space for homeowners and like-minded members. The company initially expected about 150 members; it now has more than twice that number and has stopped actively expanding membership.

A controlled ecosystem?

The evolution from developer to hospitality company to club is deliberate. “Ten years ago the goal was never to build a real estate business,” Dhimaan, the chattier of the two brothers, says. “It was: let’s build a stable of luxury lifestyle brands.” While this language is common in Indian luxury, Isprava’s model is an attempt to control almost the entire life of the luxury home: its architecture, interiors, furnishing, maintenance, rental and, eventually, the social world around it. And that may prove to be its greatest strength for its clientele. 

Villa Floresta by Isprava in Goa.

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But while the appeal of the Isprava house lies in its suggestion that it was made for one particular person, in one particular place, the company is also building a scalable business.

So the question for its next decade is whether these houses can continue to feel like they belong to someone. “A home should feel collected, not assembled,” insists Dhimaan. And another ace up his sleeve, he observes, is the privacy offered. “You’ll notice none of our buyers’ details are ever in the press. Today, if a celebrity buys an apartment in Mumbai, it’s all over the news. And people really appreciate that about us.”