The common people whose biggest dream is to build a house of their own often wonder whether it is possible to build a low-cost house. It is, however, a fact that building a house is an expensive affair. Experts say that the idea of a low-cost house is just an imaginative concept.
Ways to lower the expenses
The rate of building materials is going up in regular intervals. The labour charges too may not be affordable. So, there is no easy way to lower the expenses. If you try to save on one side, you may also lose money on the other side. The fact is that the expenses cannot be lowered unless we are willing to change our concepts about the house.
The decision to build a small house is the easiest way to save money. The area in square feet should be reduced significantly. The expenses would be naturally lowered when the area in square feet is reduced. Besides, the usual designer elements should be avoided to save some extra money.
Plastering both the exteriors and interiors should be strictly avoided. As per the current rates, the plastering charges for up to 1000 square feet would cost at least Rs 2 lakh. You should be able to limit it to Rs 1 lakh. Besides, painting upon the plastering too is quite expensive. It would cost at least Rs 2.5 lakh to paint a 1000 square feet house. So, painting should be avoided at many areas. Putty could be applied only in the areas where it is necessary. Find alternatives for timber works. Less expensive timber could be used instead of teak wood. Besides, you could also consider reusing timber.
UPVC windows do not require maintenance for a long time. Windows could also be made by installing wooden shutters on grill built using iron bars. Least expensive tiles could be used for flooring. 8 mm iron bars are enough for the concrete houses here. However, most people insist on using 10 mm iron bars.
Filler slab technology which uses old tiles could be adopted. Meanwhile, interior designing should be limited to bare minimum.
Kitchen cabinets should be strictly avoided. The number of bathrooms too could be reduced. It would cost at least Rs 1 lakh to build a bathroom. Sunshades and parapets could be avoided; instead, terrace could be covered with iron square tube roofing sheet. Besides, it could be projected from the wall to turn it into a utility area. Moreover, this feature would save the walls from getting wet in the rain.
Try reducing the number of light points. Decorative light fittings may be expensive. The expenses could be lowered up to twenty-five percent just by making these changes.
None of us anticipate the maintenance cost that has to be spent once in one or two years. At least Rs 1.5 lakh has to be spent for the maintenance of a house that has an area of 1000 sqft. Interestingly, hefty sums are often paid for retouching painting jobs.
The painting surface should be reduced in order to lower this cost. So, in order to reduce the painting surface, plastering surface too should be low. However, unfortunately, most of us are reluctant to take these decisions. Our houses should be places where we enjoy special moments and create memories. In most cases, houses become the object that breaks your banks and push you into lifelong debts.
