HOW TO REDUCE CONSTRUCTION COST BY OVER 200%.
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PART 2. SUPERSTRUCTURE[Walling, Doors, Windows, Roof]
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| From DIAMOND HOUSE FLAT ROOF |
INTRODUCTION
The Diamond house plan is inspired by the Botswana Diamonds and was designed by www.a4architect.com to offer the most efficient housing solutions to the people of Haiti after the 2010 earthquake.
The Diamond House is made of materials readily available in every hardware shop in Kenya. The efficiency is attained through unique architectural design and construction technology.
The walls are made of the usual masonry quarry stone or interlocking stabilized soil blocks,roofs made of the usual iron sheets, doors from the usual wood door Kenyan manufacturers and window frames from the usual aluminum/Louvre systems.
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| From HAITI HOUSE FLAT ROOF |
The Diamond House type has been designed by www.a4architect.com to reduce over 50% of construction costs in the superstructure[walling, windows, doors, roof] through use of efficient ‘GREEN ARCHITECTURE’ sustainability concepts.
Walling.
THE DIAMOND HOUSE PLAN
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| From Haiti House Plan |
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| From Haiti House Plan |
Floor Area: 45m2 .
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| HAITI HOUSE PLAN |
Internal walling is designed to carefully reduce the costs of internal wall plaster through design. In each room, the machine-cut stone walling is plastered on only two sides. The other two sides are keyed and left natural or painted to come up with a rough texture that matches well with the overall interior decor of the house. This automatically reduces over 50 % of internal wall finishes mainly plaster and paint.
DIAMOND HOUSE PITCHED ROOF VERSION
The 2 bedroom Diamond House Plan has approximately 100 square meters of internal wall surface. If half of the surface is unplastered , this will result to a savings of KES 10,000.
If half the internal wall surface is not painted, this will result to a further savings of KES 10,000.
This is a classic example of using interior design as a tool for saving costs since a room looks better when some surface is of a different texture and colour form another.
Wall to Ceiling Height.
A high wall height means that there is more surface area for walling, plaster and paint. The Diamond House Plan has a 2.4meter wall to ceiling height. This helps to reduce any unnecessary wall height hence bringing the costs significantly down.This results to a 20% reduction in the costs of walling, plaster and paint.
DIAMOND HOUSE FLAT ROOF VERSION
Windows.
Window costs have been reduced by using the louvre window system.
A 1meter squared louvre system will cost up to KES 2,000 including labour.
A foot length of 6 inches thick louvre glass 5mm thick goes for KES 50 . A Pair of louvre blades go for KES 80. The Diamond house plan windows are approximately 1meter squared in size. With the louvre system on half the length, this will be 75 KES x 7 pieces for glass =KES 525. For the window louvre system, this will be KES 80 per pair x 7 = KES 560. The total will be KES 1085 plus fixed glass KES 350 =KES 1435.Add 20 % for labour and transoprt to site =KES 1722.
This represents over 60 % reduction on costs compared to using the common steel casement windows.
Doors.
Use of colour to articulate the flush door frames and leafs will go a long way in saving costs. The overall colour scheme of white versus black can be used to articulate the door opening with the door leaf painted white with a black door frame.
A standard flush door costs KES 1800 plus KES 900 for the frame =KES 2700.
Roof.
The Diamond house design employs a ‘flat’ roof as a design and also to reduce costs. The flatter a roof is, the less the surface area that it covers.
The roof slope of 6 degrees looks flat to the eye but is in fact 6 degrees in slope so as to drain the water to the gutter system.
This design makes the Diamond house plan look unique and results to over 50% in roof costs saving.
The Diamond house design has a roof covering 45 square meters.
The flat roof also ensures that there is less timber for roof support since the walling will support the main roof trusses hence a further savings on roof timber costs.
Using gauge 30 roofing sheets which retail at KES 260 per square meter or gauge 32 roofing sheets retailing at KES 215 per square meters, the roofing costs will be KES 260 X 45M2 =KES 11,700 for gauge 30 and KES 9675 for gauge 32 which is lighter.
CONCLUSION.
According to the Nairobi City Council planning department, the current construction cost per square meter is KES 22,000.
Therefore, the Diamond House plan design represents a large percentage in savings on construction costs.
To obtain the Diamond House Plans, click here for further explanation and cost breakdown.
Francis Gichuhi Kamau
info@a4architect.com
www.a4architect.com
+254721410684
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| From DIAMOND HOUSE FRONT TYPE |
CURRENT CONSTRUCTION COST RATES
http://ujenzibora.com/nahinga/?p=1203
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