Limiting the cost of your construction project can be a challenge, especially when you want the results to meet your expectations on every level. Finding a balance between cost and quality is important, but you don’t always need to compromise when trying to make your building work more affordable.
Building materials constitute a sizeable portion of any construction budget, so to help you get your head around the figures, follow our expert tips and advice on how to save money on building materials.
Alternative Building Materials
When cost-effective construction is on the agenda, there are many ways to get the desired results without paying through the nose for a quality finish. Advancements in technology and man-made building materials have widened the options available in construction, with impressive results.
Don’t be too quick to turn your nose up at low cost solutions, especially if money is tight on your project. An experienced construction team should be able to deliver great results with man-made materials.
For example, if you love the appearance of natural stone over brick, you don’t need to fork out for your whole property built in limestone or sandstone from the ground up. Instead, you can choose natural stone cladding, or even modern alternatives such as glass reinforced concrete (GRC) and cast stone.
Talk through your options with your project manager, architect or construction team and you’re bound to find viable alternatives that can bring down the cost of materials.
Sourcing Your Own vs Included in Quote
Most contractors will take care of sourcing the building materials you need when working on a construction project, but when your budget is a high priority it can be tempting to take care of this task yourself. However you should proceed with caution if you’re considering taking on this responsibility, especially if you have no prior experience in the industry.
Tradesmen will not only know the best places to source materials, but will also have a better bargaining power than any individual. So even if they do make a slight profit on materials, the price is likely to be lower than you could source them for. For specialist construction such as masonry, artisans will take natural materials, and shape them to your exact requirements for bespoke results.
However if you are concerned about the price, get like-for-like quotes from other industry experts to make sure that your construction team isn’t taking you for a ride by making you pay over the odds.
When planning your construction work, you have to accept to a certain extent that much of your budget is going to be used up on the bricks and mortar that will make your property a sturdy and attractive one.
But by keeping an open mind to alternative materials and doing a little research on prices, you can be sure your team is offering you a cost-effective solution for your project. It pays to get a little knowledge to help you get the best solution possible.
This article is written by Kelly Gilmour Grassam, a freelance copywriter from Yorkshire. You can follow her on Twitter at @KellygGrassam. This article has been written with helpful information from Henley Stone.