Ways to cut costs while constructing

Everyone wants a house but what stops us is the affordability. Proper housing is essential and has a huge impact on societal and individual productivity as well as well-being. The need for quality housing is especially acute in urban areas where high rates of rural-urban migration are stretching the already limited supply. According to Kevin Chetty, the director market development and housing finance at Habitat for Humanity, the most underlying barrier to proper housing is the high cost of land and construction compounded by low incomes.

“The obvious option would be getting funding but banks often ignore low income earners when it comes to lending money. This is the reason organisations dedicated to providing housing, such as Habitat for Humanity, are encouraging banks and other lending institutions to start considering this marginalised group,” Chetty says.

In their effort to encourage banks into lending to low income earners, the Terwilliger Centre for Innovation in Shelter and the Mastercard Foundation has demonstrated that people earning as little as Shs170,000 per month, can successfully borrow money to build their home. Banks and housing microfinances now offer small loans at very low rates. To be eligible for a Cente Home Loan, one must be a low income earner earning between Shs12,000 and Shs68,000 a day, actively involved in legitimate and gainful income activities or engaged in employment earning regular monthly income.

Qualified cheap labour
According to Robert Opobo Canwat, a chief manager microcredit at Centenary Rural Development Bank, the bank does not only provide funding, but they also give qualified technical assistance. “We also help the homeowner save by providing labourers that are cheaper. And we organise the transportation of the construction materials to the site at a cheaper rate,” Canwat says.

Small house
Pius Louis Chelimo from Trinity Technical services, says one of the obvious ways is to build a smaller house. “Building a bigger house means buying more construction materials and spending more on labour. The construction will be faster, which will also save on labour,” Chelimo advises.

Hiring the right architect
Chelimo points out the importance of getting the right architect, who can help you, find the best ways to plan and save. “If you must hire an architect consider hiring your architect for the early design phases of the project and not engage them for the construction phase. Architects usually split up their fees into the different phases of the job so you can even decide how much or little you will use them as you go,” he adds.

Do the finishing yourself
The engineer notes that it is possible for the home owner to do most of the finishing touches themselves. “Install your own flooring, paint the walls yourself and install your own cabinets.
The more work you can handle yourself, the lower your total building cost. Manage the building process as the general contractor yourself to save money, too. This will cost you time and energy, but it will also save you a lot of money,” he adds.

Building in phases
Ronald Atwiine, a structural engineer at Excite Construction, advises one to build the house in phases to save up the necessary money. For example, you might excavate for the foundation one month and pour the foundation the next. Breaking construction into smaller chunks lets you complete work as you have the money. This might extend the length of the project, but it is an option if you do not have all the necessary money up front.
Another way one can cut costs is incremental building. This, according to Atwiine, is where one completes a few rooms before others.
“One can, for instance, finish the bedrooms and living room which will allow them to move in even if the rest of the house is under construction. This will help them save on rent which can be used for other purposes,” he explains.

Alternative material
Try to look for cheaper alternative construction material. There are alternatives to the products you are used to building with that are more cost effective. “For instance, instead of normal bricks, consider using interlocking mud bricks. These do not need cement or mortar which saves on cost and work gets finished fast thus reducing labour costs too,” Atwiine explains.

You could also compare the differences between metal roofing and concrete tiles. Metal roofing involves less trusses, less maintenance and less load. Be aware of any alternative methods to building you could benefit from to reduce your construction costs. Just make sure you get a quote beforehand and compare what products suit your project.However, Atwiine cautions against compromising the quality of the house by looking for cheap alternative construction materials. “There is no one ‘cheap’ solution here and you should be weighing up this decision against factors other than the cost of the materials. Durability, life-span and maintenance will all affect the overall cost of your house over a given period. A cheaper construction now may not result in the cheapest overall cost during its life-span,” the engineer observes.
Visit as many hardware shops as possible for all of the materials and services needed to build the home.

Discounts
Negotiate with contractors whenever you can to get discounts on their services. When buying appliances, cabinetry and other finishing details, consider clearance items or buy used ones. Choose basic finishes to save money. You can always upgrade things such as flooring, cabinetry, fixtures, gutters, faucets and countertops if high-end versions are not an option now.

Ready land
When choosing land, look for a plot that will not need a lot of preparation before construction. Consider whether the land already has utilities such as water and power run to it. It will cost more to prepare the land for building if it does not have utilities.

INTERLOCKING BRICKS
Interlocking blocks have been around the construction market for a while. They are made from either soil only or cement only.
However, nowadays, there is an emerging trend where interlocking stabilised soil blocks (ISSB) are used because they are much cheaper. They are made of soil with a small mixtureof cement.
Stephen Jjuuko Kwagala, a graduate architect and contractor, says the bricks are 10 per cent cement while the rest is murram soil.
The most common type of bricks on the market are clay and fired bricks that contain a mixture of soil, sand and cement.

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