Constructing own house is a dream for almost everyone. If you are in that project, it is time for you to know how can you build your dream home within the best possible budget, without compromising with the quality of construction. Let’s get in to the depth how can you reduce house construction cost with the best possible strategy. Here we are going to provide you the most useful tips for building a house on a budget.

Choose the best plot first

When it is about to reduce cost of house construction, It all starts with the selection of the right plot for your dream home. While selecting the plot you should take a note of the following parameters to save a lot of money.

1. The cost of plots just beside the highways and big city roads are usually much higher than the plots beside an arterial road. Selecting a plot beside an arterial road will also keep your home away from the clutter of the public gatherings. It will cause less air pollution from the vehicles as the traffic would be much higher on the main roads and highways than the arterial roads. Consider “not buying” hazards by choosing a plot a bit away than the most popular areas.
2. The shape of the plot is important. Choose a plot that is square (at best) or at least rectangular in shape, since you will be able to utilize most of the part. For an irregular shape of land plot it is not possible to make optimum use. As a result, you would require a bigger plot size to accommodate your plan. Obviously, it would cost your more.
3. While selecting the plot check its surroundings also. Check for any polluted area or water body, municipal waste dumping areas or similar places, and avoid those plots. It would save you of cost of maintenance of your house.
4. Select your plot considering the time to travel to the essential amenities like market, hospital, public transportation, your workplace etc.
5. Also consider flood-risk and quality of the soil of the plot as this will directly affect the foundation cost of your new house.

Do detailed Engineering

Perhaps this is the most neglected area while we construct our houses. Often we plan in detail more for the tiles or false ceiling in our houses, but don’t give due importance on the detail Engineering. Engaging a good Engineer in the design phase will make your house free of defects, and supervision of the construction by an Engineer will ensure good Engineering practices in place. Both of these will save cost of maintenance for your house.

A good Engineer will help you designing to reduce construction costs, to utilize most of the space in your house without making it look clumsy. With a correct design, your home will have sufficient light and air inside, leading to less consumption of electricity. There are numerous benefits a qualified technical person can do to your house. So, don’t use a stock design and engage a qualified professional to reduce cost for your house construction.

Cut on the Material Cost with the right estimate

For construction of any house, material cost is the largest piece of the cake. A little care on this part will lead to greater savings for your budget. Follow these steps to cut the material cost of construction for your new house, and learn how to save money on building materials:

1. Get a detailed drawing of the proposed house from your Architect and Structural Engineer.
2. Make an in-depth estimate of various building materials, e.g. cement, stone chips, sand, TMT bars, bricks or blocks, tiles, wire etc. Remember, the more detailed estimate you will make on paper, it will be beneficial for you.
3. Now that you have a detailed list of the building materials in your hand, you can now benefit in 2 ways. First, purchase materials as per the requirement only, hence you will save on wastage or over procurement. Second, now you can purchase materials on bulk and bargain with the suppliers on the price.
4. For steel items, it is a bit tricky to estimate the correct quantity unless you are a technical person. Don’t rely on your mason or barbender, and ask for professional help from your Engineer.

Do Value Engineering

To understand how to reduce construction cost of house you need to make friends with your Engineer. With the help of your Structural Engineer, exercise options like raft foundation or piling. Take your decision only after comparing the cost of both options.

For cement and steel bars, there is no compromise on the quality. So, first get to know the best 2-3 brands from quality point of view as per your Engineer’s advice, and then collect the rates of those manufacturers.

For the walls, consider the options of conventional brick wall, fly ash brick wall, and lightweight blocks like AAC blocks or cinder blocks. If all these materials are available in your vicinity, then exercise the cost of these options and go for the cheapest one.

You can compare the cost of various type of tiles and stones for your floors and pick the one that is most suitable from cost point of view. Not only type of the flooring, also make of tiles etc. play a major role in the cost. Collect the rates from all the available make and choose the cheaper with standard quality.

While selecting door and window materials, compare the cost of the wooden, aluminum and UPVC door and windows before you select the item. Also, the illumination of the room will be a factor while you select these items, hence choose wisely.

For sanitary and electrical fittings also, the rates vary from manufacturer to manufacturer. Hence, you should pay a little more time and consider all the prices you get from market. Then only you should decide to get the most savings.

Save on power consumption with the right strategy

If you want you home to consume the optimum power, go for thicker external walls. External walls of at least 230 mm (~9.5″) thickness will keep the rooms cooler, leading to less power consumption for air-conditioning.

To keep your rooms energy-efficient, avoid big size structural glazing on the external walls. If you choose to have big glazing for architectural views, make sure that it is fixed on a brick or block wall only, thereby reducing the power consumption of the rooms to keep it cool or warm.

Read More: How to Analyze the Cost of Concrete

Use Putty on the walls before you paint them

Using good quality cement based putty on the walls not only make the painting more shiny, it also consumes less primer and paint. So, go for putty on the walls before you paint them to reduce your house construction cost.

Use waterproofing compound with wall plaster

The water seepage through walls, external or internal near the water pipelines in the kitchen or toilet is a common problem for residential houses. This often involves huge cost of repair. You can easily avoid this cost by mixing required dosage of waterproofing compound in the cement-sand mix of the plaster or mortar of the wall tiles. This will have a little upfront cost but will protect your walls from moisture and reduce the maintenance cost.

Avoid last minute change orders

Modification of the plans of a building costs high. Hence it is wise to spend some more time while you plan for the construction of your house and don’t make frequent changes afterwards. List out all the features you need in your home before even preparing the plan drawings, and take your Engineer’s advice in detail. Then once you start the construction don’t make any change unless it’s really required.

Share your unique ideas to save cost for home construction with us in the comments.