Building a home is an expensive affair. With increasing real estate prices, most of your budget would get dedicated to buying good land for your dream home. Also, various aspects of construction costs are also increasingly becoming costlier and just becoming heavier on your pocket. With a sparse amount left for construction is it possible to build a good home? Well, a few tips to keep in mind and your dream can fall in place within your budget.
Looking for cheap labor is one way of cutting costs. But this also comes with various issues and restrictions. Investing in a detailed plan is the first step to saving a lot of money. The basic design and layout need to be planned well ahead and carefully documented. You can hire an expert to do the same but make sure every bit of detail is fully documented so as to avoid any reworks. From here starts the cost-effective construction.
- Make sure the design involves square-shaped partitions for most rooms in the layout. A square shape will cost a little less than a rectangle or any other shape for your room.
- Roofing choices: While steel is most commonly used for the concrete you can choose having filler slabs to cut down the cost. This means that in areas where concrete tension zones are considered are replaced by low-cost alternatives such as soil and brick.
- Flooring options: ceramic tiles are the cheapest way to go to cut down the cost of material, installation as well as maintenance. Ceramic tiles are available in various sizes and colours along with vibrant designs and hence you can pick them without having to worry about losing the good appearance of your home. It will also be cost-effective for you to maintain in the long run. Alternatively, you can also experiment on vinyl flooring which is a little cheaper than ceramic.
- Walls: Hollow concrete blocks are increasingly being used to cut down construction costs as well as provide thermal insulation. This method cuts down a lot of clay being used and is extremely cost-effective. Soil cement blocks are also seen as an alternative to bricks. Other methods such as Rat trap bonds and half-thick brick walls reduce cost significantly.
- Doors and windows: A lot of money is spent on buying and installing expensive doors and windows. A great deal of money can be cut down by choosing the cheapest alternatives. You can choose a normal-grade wooden door for your main entrance and use low-cost PVC doors for your rooms and internal areas. This way you get to save a lot of money. Similarly, for windows instead of going for wooden or metal frames choose aluminum frames which are low cost as well as lightweight and hence will be easy to install too. For door frames, you can go for pulva wood which is among the cheapest alternatives.
- Painting: Use semi-acrylic paint for your walls to save quite some money.
- Fixtures and fittings: Use local fitting for plumbing and sockets and switches including wiring. But do be careful to buy a good quality product rather than the cheapest as this is very crucial. There are various local brands that offer good products you can choose from.
- Grills & Railing: For grills and railing go for a painted MS grill.