TECHNOLOGIES

TO MAKE
BUILDINGS COST-
EFFECTIVE.

BUILDING ECONOMICS-I
  Construction costs in India are increasing at around 50 per cent over the average
inflation levels.
INTRODUCTION  With inflation rates getting into double digits of around 10 per cent (April 1995),
the construction costs have registered increase of up to 15 per cent over 1995,
 Primarily due to cost of basic building materials such as steel, cement, bricks,
timber and other inputs as well as cost of labour.
 As a result, the cost of construction using conventional building materials and
construction forms range from Rs. 3000 to Rs. 4000 per sqm for housing.
 This is only in respect of the standard types of housing.
 Higher cost levels are registered for using better finishes and amenities.
 Construction cost of this order is beyond the affordability of the economically
weak and low-income groups of population as well as a large cross section of the
middle - income groups.
 Therefore, there is a need to adopt cost-effective construction methods either by
upgradation of traditional technologies using local resources or applying modern
construction materials and techniques with efficient inputs leading to economic
solutions.
 This has become the most relevant aspect in the context of the large volume of
housing to he constructed in both rural and urban areas and the consideration of
limitations in the availability of resources such as building materials and finance.
  Construction cost / Initial cost- Initial cost A project's initial costs are
those that are incurred during the design and construction process. They
can include any of the following: Planning, preliminary engineering, and
project design. In short cost which goes into making of the Building.
TYPES OF COST • Land costs (land costs, stamp duty, lawyers’)
• Site clearance & earthworks earth works
 Construction Cost
• Infrastructure
 Maintenance Cost
• Building works
 Operational Cost
• External works
• Landscape works
• Preliminaries
• Design risks & contingencies
• Professionals Fees & Lawyers Fees
• Administration
• Financial (for loan purpose)
• Contribution to Local Authorities
 Maintenance cost - 'Maintenance expenses' is the costs
incurred to keep an item in good condition and/or good
working order. When purchasing an item that requires
upkeep, consumers should consider not just the initial price
tag, but also the item's ongoing maintenance expenses.
• Material
• Labor
• Spare parts
• Maintenance Resource
• Management and Costing
• Behavior
• Budget
• Impact of Maintenance
• Down time (production loss)
• Overhead
• Consumables
• Hand tools, power tools and equipment
 Operational cost - Operational costs are the expenses which are
related to the operation of business, or to the operation of a device,
component, piece of equipment or facility. They are the cost of
resources used by an organization just to maintain its existence.
• Building services:- HVACs, lift, escalator etc.
• Administration (Accounting and legal fees)
• Marketing(Sales and marketing costs) •Bank charges
• Travel expenses
• Electricity ,water, other bills charges
• Rent
• Repair and maintenance costs
Factors affecting cost of building?
 Similar Construction Projects: For the construction estimate, the best
reference will be similar construction projects. The final cost of those similar
projects can give the idea for the new construction project cost calculation.
The final cost of past project needs to be factored with current construction
cost indices.

 Construction Material Costs: Construction material cost consists of material

cost, shipping charges and taxes applicable if any. So, it is important consider
all these variations while calculating construction material cost.

 Labor Wage Rates: Labor wages varies place to place. So, local wage rate
should be considered in calculation. If the project has to be started after
several months of estimating the project cost, the probable variation in wage
rates has to be considered in the calculation .
  Construction Site Conditions: Project site conditions can increase construction
costs. Site conditions such as poor soil conditions, wetlands, contaminated
materials, conflicting utilities (buried pipe, cables, overhead lines, etc.),
environmentally sensitivity area, ground water, river or stream crossings, heavy
traffic, buried storage tanks, archaeological sites, endangered species habitat and
Factors similar existing conditions etc. can increase the project cost during construction
phase if these variations are not considered during estimation.
affecting cost  Project Schedule: Duration of construction project is affects the cost. Increase in
of building? project duration can increase the construction project cost due to increase in
indirect costs, while reduction in construction cost also increases the project cost
due to increase in direct costs. Therefore, construction project schedules also need
to be considered during project cost estimation.

 Location of Construction: When a location of construction project is far

away from available resources, it increases the project cost. Cost of
transportation for workmen, equipment's, materials, tools etc. increases with
distance and adds to the project cost.
1. BUILDING COST –
 The building construction cost can be divided into two parts namely:
 Building material cost,
 Labour cost.
2.SIZE :- FACTOR
The smaller the project in terms of scope or the number of square feet, the AFFECTING
more it will cost per square foot. CONSTRUCTION
3.TYPE – COST
 Different types of project have different levels of complexity and details.
4.SPETIAL COST-
5.PROJECT ACCESSIBILITY- These were the factors affecting the budget
of making any structure but we are here to
6.LABOR RATES know more about the construction
7.MATERIAL COSTS techniques and materials which helps us in
reducing the cost of structure.
8.GENERAL ECONOMIC PRESSURES
9.TIME OF YEAR So, lets move towards the techniques……..
 CONSTRUCTION TECHNIQUES ADOPTED THAT
REDUCE THE CONSTRUCTION COST

FOUNDATIO WALL
N

LINTEL ROOF
FOUNDATION  The foundation cost comes to about 10 to 15 % of the total building.
 It is adopted for single or double storey building.
 It is recommended to adopt a foundation depth of 2ft. For normal soil like gravely soil, red
soils etc.
 Suggested to adopt arch foundation in ordinary soil for effecting reduction in construction
cost up to 40%
 In the case black cotton and other soft soil it is recommend to use under ream pile foundation
which saves about 20 to 25% in cost over the conventional method of construction.

ARCH FOUNDATION –
 Arch foundations require less digging, material, and being a relatively labour -
intensive process, put more laborers to work.

VIEW OF COMPLETED BUILDING

WITH ARCH FOUNDATION
  Wall thickness of 9” is recommended for adoption in the construction of walls all around the
WALL building and 41/2” for inside walls.
 It is suggested to use burnt bricks which are immersed in water for 24 hours and then shall be
used for the walls.
 Making use of Rat- trap bond wall & concrete block wall.
 It is a cavity wall construction and leads to reduction in the quantity of bricks required for
RAT TRAP masonry work.
 By adopting this method of bonding of brick masonry compared to traditional English or
BOND WALL Flemish bond masonry.
 It is possible to reduce in the material cost of bricks by 25% and about 10 to 15% in the
masonry cost.
 By adopting rat – trap bond method one can create aesthetically pleasing wall surface and
plastering can be avoided.

CLIMATE CONSIDERATION AND USE OF LOCAL MATERIALS

INSTEAD OF USING REGULAR WALLING SYSTEM OF LINTEL AND
HELP MAINTAINING ECONOMY THAN THE GENERAL RCC
WINDOW SYSTEM, JAIL WORK CAN HELP COST ESTIMATION.
PRACTICE.
• The common burnt brick is one of man’s great invention all over the world, with only a few
exceptions, nearly all bricks are roughly the same shape and size- that Is about 9”x41/2”x3”.
BRICK JALI •
•
In many of these situations listed above a “jail” as effective.
Brick jail can be used instead of parapet wall or boundary wall.
  The traditional R.C.C lintels which are costly can be replaced by brick arches
for small spans and save construction cost up to 30 to 40% over the
LINTEL traditional method of construction.
 By adopting arches of different shapes a good architectural pleasing
appearance can be given to the external wall surfaces of the brick masonry.

ROOF
 Normally 5” thick R.C.C slabs
is used for roofing of
residential buildings.
 By adopting rationally
designed construction
practices like filler slab and
precast elements the
construction cost of roofing
can be reduced by about 20
to 25%.
FILLER SLAB
• They are normal RCC slabs where bottom half
(tension) concrete portion are replaces by filler
materials such as bricks, tiles, cellular concrete
clocks, etc.
• These filler materials are so placed as not to
compromise structural strength, result in replacing
unwanted and non functional tension concrete,
thus resulting in economy.
• These are safe, sound and provide aesthetically
pleasing pattern ceiling and also need no plaster.
 DAMP PROOF COURSE

Use of polythene, bituminous materials and cement mortar with water

proofing agents have been suggested for damp proof courses .

DOORS AND WINDOWS

Precast R.C.C. frames can save 25 to 30 per cent cost when composed with
wooden frames. Instead of wooden shutters particle board shutters may be
used.

FLOORING PRECAST STRUCTURAL ELEMENTS

In mass constructions works precast members may be used for columns,

beams, reapers and stair cases. One can think of using wall panels also.

FLOORING

PRECAST STRUCTURE CONST.TECHNIQUE Low cost housing flooring may be with soil cement base, thin clay tiles,
bricks on edges or with flagstones.
 SHAPE OF THE HOUSE
• Square shaped structure has more advantages than a rectangular-shaped
structure. It saves almost 15 -20% walls than a rectangular shape of the same
structure.
• Have a floor plan/layout which is square/rectangular shaped (having lower
perimeter). Square/rectangular shaped floor plans usually consume lesser materials
(20-40%) as compared to a H shaped and L shaped layouts as they consume more
materials per unit built up area.

WALL SIZE
• The cost can be reduced by making outer walls thicker than the inner walls.
• Optimise cement consumption by using the right cement grade. OPC cement is
usually slightly costlier than PPC cement. OPC cement is usually recommend for
RCC structural work (like foundations, columns, roof and beams) and PPC cement is
recommended for non-structural works (Like Plastering, Tiling etc.,). 
• For optimising the cement consumption in structural concrete, you can mix fly ash
judiciously (15 to 25% as part replacement to cement) with OPC 53 cement. This will
not only decrease the costs but will also be durable (since degree of permeability
will be low)
 ROOF TYPE
The roof is one of the most expensive material and labor line items in your budget.
This is why the simpler the roof system, the less expensive it will be. The most
inexpensive roof is a simple, single ridgeline with a shallow pitch. More
complicated roof systems, called hips and valleys with a steeper pitch, are more
visually interesting. But they are also a lot more expensive.

MOTAR RATIO BEST USED FOR REDUCING COST

There are various mortar mix ratio (cement to sand ratios) for each element of the
building construction. It is generally as follows:-
1) For masonry construction block/ brick work, ratio of mortar mix is = 1:3, 1:4, 1:5
and 1:6.
2) For reinforced concrete, ratio of motar mix is = 1:2:3, 1:1.5:3, and 1:1:2. The
coarse aggregate of 20 mm graded down to 10 mm will be two times the respective
fine aggregate.
3) For plastering, ratio of mortar mix (cement to sand ratio) is = 1:2, 1:3, 1:4, and 1:5.
4) For plain cement concrete, ratio of mortar mix (cement to sand) is = 1:3, 1:4, 1:5,
and 1:6.
MATERIALS USED FOR BUILDING ECONOMIC
The first step to low cost building material selection is to select eco-friendly
building materials.

1) Manufacturing of Low Cost Building Materials

Manufacturing of building materials should be environment friendly. Efforts
should be made to study and revise the technologies for producing good
quality, efficient building materials and should improve the waste generation
during manufacturing. These results in reduction of pollutants to environment.

2) Use of Recycled wastes as Low Cost Building Materials

The wastes which can be recycled and can used in masonries as wooden
wastes can be used in manufacture of plywood or soft boards.

3) Use of Natural Low Cost Building Materials

The total energy required to produce a material is called embodied energy. The
greater a material's embodied energy; it requires a greater usage of non-
renewable sources. It is therefore advantageous to use materials or 
composite materials prepared from the wastages. The natural materials such as
stones, wood, lime, sand and bamboo can be used in ample wherever possible. 
 4) Use of Local Building Material
The use of local materials reduces the dependence on transportation whose
contribution to the building material cost is high for long distance. Use of
locally available building materials not only reduces the construction cost but also
are suitable for the local environmental conditions.

5) Using Energy Efficient Building Materials

Energy efficiently of a building material can be measured through various factors
` as its R value, shading coefficient, luminous efficiency or fuel efficiency.
Energy-efficient materials must reduce the amount of generated energy.

6)Use of Non-Toxic Building Materials

Use of toxic building materials can significantly impact the health of construction
people and the occupants of the building. Thus it is advisable to use the non-toxic
building materials for construction. There are several chemicals including
formaldehyde, benzene, ammonia, resins, chemicals in insulations, ply boards which
are present in furnishings and building material. 
 Thank you
SONIKA (1818243)
SUMEGHA (1806925)
POOJA THAKUR (1818235)