Construction cost - too high - need your help

[bmnirmal]

Dear all,

I am constructing my house in my 40 x 60 site. I selected an engineer for construction since I liked the house he constructed in the layout I purchased.

The house I am constucting is 40 x 28 in size and only ground floor. With staircase and car parking it is exactly 1390 square feet. So far the foundation and sump work is done.

Following are the specifications and materials used.

Total number of pillars till plinth level- 14 nos. - each 15 inches x 9 inches - Tata Tiscon rods (12 pillars - 6 rods each with 4 - 16mm rods and 2 - 12mm rods, 2 pillars - 6 rods - 12mm and 10mm for attaching them)
depth for pillars - 5 feet, 4 pillars - 6 x 6 x 5 feet excavation others 5 x 5 x 5 feet
Materials so far:

2 loads sand
150 bags cement - coromendal 43 grade
2 load of jelly (1 - 20mm, 1 - 30mm)
1000 bricks for sump
Size stones - 3000 stones.

I received the bill from the contractor for the work finished so far and it is to my surprise 5.15 lacs. Please help me. I consulted with other contractors who say that the bill is atleast 47% more than actual cost. I need your experience to deal with the contractor.

Thanks in advance.

[jackalbda]

Am confused...

"The house I am constucting is 40 x 28 in size and only ground floor. With staircase and car parking it is exactly 1390 square feet. "

How will you be able to constrcut 1390 sqft in 40 X 28 area with just ground floor !!

[bmnirmal]

Actually I didnt calculate the car parking area and staircase area. Excluding these two it is 40 x 28 = 1120 sqft. and including them will total upto 1390sqft. Hope its clear!!!

[jackalbda]

Still am not quiet sure how in a 40 X 28 , you can have 1120 sqft area with just ground floor. So where is the carporch/staircase. Outside this 40X28 area as the plot is 40 X 60 ?

In any case for me , ground floor is 790 sqft and for that , when foundation was completed, I paid about 4.55 L. The works included were ,

1. Excavation/Leveling
2. Footing/Columns/Pillars ( 13 of them)
3. Stone Masonry for foundation ( this was a bit more in my case as the site was having some portion down the road level).
4. Concreting of the flooring and termite protection
5. Sump of 8000L capacity.

[bmnirmal]

sorry it is 28 x 40. Yes the carporch and staircase are outside this area.

In your case, is the construction already done? If yes how much was the total cost for construction? I wonder if the foundation itself costs so much, then how can I finish the building within 1500 per Sq.ft. as promised.

In my case, the work so far completed are:

1. Excavation/Leveling
2. Footing/Columns/Pillars ( 14 of them)
3. Stone Masonry for foundation ( 3 levels).
4. Concreting of the flooring and termite protection
5. Sump of 8000L capacity.

[m3_07]

Nirmal.....pretty interesting. Pls ask him for the bill on the materials. To give you a brief idea:

1 - Sand - 25K/ load - NO FILTER (prices have reduced now)
2. TISCON - I presume that it should be at 51K/ ton (MAX) when you would have purchased.
3. Jelly - 40mm - 18/ CFT & 20 mm - 21/ CFT
4. Bricks - 6 Rs/ brick (good ones)
5. Cement - 310/ Bag
6. Excavation - Rs 8/ CFT (MAX)
7. If you would have used gangman for the bedding/ putting of pillars - 12K max for your size of the work.

Rest you can calculate it yourselves. On a thumb rule, have a approximation of the number of labourers engaged/ day as 500@ Mason, 250@ male helper, 150 @ female helper. Add a markup of 20% to this, which should be his expenses & this should be a decent price.

[bmnirmal]

Hello m3_07

Thank you for your mail.

[ardesarchitects]

Hi bmnirmal
How is the contract worked out,lumpsum / item wise /per sft ? if it is per sft just fix up the % you will be paying at every level of construction on finishing that job so you are clear about payment vs work done.Make it clear at this stage so you don't end up paying more to contractor .
Ask the contractor for break up of payment only proportionate to work done at site

Regards
Ar.Praveen.N
Ardes Architects and Interior Designers
ardesarchitects@gmail.com

[sk1976]

The costs for the foundation depends on factors like the earth/soil condition ( loose soil), depth of the foundation, footing/pedestal/column dimension and steel used, whether the excavated soil was removed and filled with good soil brought from outside. From my experience so far, It is difficult to forecast the exact budget for foundation even if we do soil testing (experience also shared by one of my friend). For my foundation covering 1700 sqft area on a loose soil condition, where we had to dig to a depth of 9 feet from ground level(due to loose soil) and the foundation itself is raised by 3 feet from ground level, the total cost for foundation+sump tank(13000 litre capacity) is close to 15 lakhs based on item-wise rate contract. Column footing size varied from(5x5 feet to 12x12 feet) and steel rods from 8mm to 25 mm from prime gold FE500 for columns of size 18"x9", 21"x9" and one with 27"x9"

Rough breakup of expense:
Steel cost: 3.5 lakhs (7 tons)
Sump cost: 1.3 lakhs
Excavation + carting away+ earth filling with new soil + strengthening -> 1.75 lakhs
RMC filling for the first 3 feet height below the footing for 16 columns -> 2 lakhs
concreting for footing, pedestel, column raising , plinth beam+size stone masonry + bed concrete -> 6.5 lakhs

[tvsh]

sk1976,

I am no civil engineer and have no educated opinion on your cost. It is hard to believe that the foundation alone would cost Rs 88,000 per square. Can you also let us know how many floors are you planning to construct?