How to cut costs in building construction

Building a home is quite exciting but the high cost of construction in terms of purchasing materials, land acquisition among others often puts people off even if they have the ambition. But hope is not lost as experts say  despite the high cost of construction there are ways of cutting costs in building construction and […]

Building a home is quite exciting but the high cost of construction in terms of purchasing materials, land acquisition among others often puts people off even if they have the ambition.
But hope is not lost as experts say  despite the high cost of construction there are ways of cutting costs in building construction and still come up with a good and decent home.
Daily Trust gathered that factors that could lead to low building construction cost are location of land, design, materials and use of professionals.
Speaking on the issues, the President, Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN), Engr. Kashim Ali, and the chairman, Maitama branch of the Nigeria Society of Engineers, Engr Isreal Abraham, said most people often ignored these factors in building construction and in the end spent above their projections.
They said ignoring these factors often led to most houses not being completed on time by their owners and even spending double the money projected before completion.
They added that appropriate materials and employing the services of professionals were the two keys in cutting cost in building construction.
Design
Engineer Israel Abraham said building design was one of the steps to reduce cost of building construction. The design would be done suitable to the land available. A house with small design would be less in terms of cost than a house with bogus design because the latter would accommodate more materials and that means more money.
Design has to be done by a qualified architect for effective implementation. But most people building houses don’t have a building design before embarking on housing construction and this often leads to high cost.
Also speaking on design, the president, Nigeria Institute of Quantity Surveyors, (NIQS), Mrs Mercy Torkwase Iyortyer, said when a design was incomplete and estimates of the construction were based on it, by the time the project started you would begin to discover certain areas that were not in the design but were necessary for the project and that increased the cost. So the design had to be completed all through.
Materials
According to Engr. Kashim Ali, materials to be used for building determined its cost. It determined the cost because people might want to use either foreign or local materials; if it was local the cost would not be too high. In getting the materials, builders have to seek professional opinion on what to buy and what to use for the building. After seeking professionals’ opinion, you then decided whether to source the materials locally or internationally but it is advisable to get materials locally to save cost. There are good  materials which can be sourced locally and they are cheaper compared to the foreign ones.
Getting the right professionals
This is the most important of all the factors, according to Engr. Ali, because good use of the materials depends on the services of professionals employed. An experienced professional knows the right materials and how to use them to save cost. If the right materials are not used, as soon as the house is completed you immediately commence maintenance and be spending more money. A very good and reliable professional may have established good contractor-supplier relationships through the years thus, he can help you save on cost of supplies. Builders who are professional would know the right mix of materials as well as appropriate ratio to use. Material application is very vital in building construction and as such getting a professional to do it is vital too because if not well managed it shoot the cost up. So if you use the wrong professionals the tendency of doing the wrong thing and repeat the same process is there.
Personal visit to site
Personal visit to the site is also important according to experts because during construction it may happen that some of the specified materials are not the ones being used for the construction by its handlers or the number agreed on may not be supplied. So there should be personal visit to make sure suppliers delivered what was agreed on in quantity and quality-wise.