Lahore Real Estate Forum: Property News & Community Talk : ,

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Dear All,
aoa,

Recently, I had to write the following information on request for a friend. Now, it is being shared at this page for the larger audience. I hope, this would be helpful for some of my friends.

RIGHT BUILDER:

Well well it is difficult to say who is the right builder? You can hire me ... just kidding. To this end, I would say turn key solutions are good but the most expensive. Contract on the basis of construction with material would be the second cheapest solution, or the cheapest would be to give labor on contract and provide material and do the supervision yourself, the following costing is done on the this basis.

COSTING:

Best wishes for your upcoming project of dream house. In the context of dream house, I would say dream house is your home where dream comes true with reference to your family. One can spend as much as possible for the construction of a house may be 20 million or more can easily be spent for this purpose.

My point of view is NOT to invest heavily in your house, meaning build a modern but modest house equipped with all the required stuff but selection of material and fixtures should NOT be too lavish. The primary argument is the depreciation factor (@ 10% annually), typically in Pakistan, people are not willing to pay good amount if the house is sold after 10 years of construction. The seller would merely be able to get the current worth (after year 10) of plot price and may be 1 - 2 million for the construction, not more than that.

Then, the question arises how much should be spent to a house, in my opinion, it should be close to the total amount of rent of 10 years. That means, presently 1 kanal double story house can be rented at Rs. 50,000/ per month and for 10 years the total rent would be 50,000 * 12 * 10 = 6,000,000 (6 million) and you can add 10% increment (0.6 million) of rent in 10 years times. The total construction cost should not be more than 6+0.6 = 6.6 million.

For grey structure, the cost would be Rs. per square foot of covered area. This variation is due to fluctuating prices of material and selection of material.

You have to choose between the following

1) Bricks: Awaal (Rs 8000 per thousand) ... Special (Rs. 9500 per thousand)

2) Sand: River Ravi (Rs. 15 per cubic foot) ... River Chenab (Rs. 25 per cubic foot)

3) Aggregate (Crush): Rohi (Rs. 40 per cubic foot) ... Sargodha (Rs. 42 per cubic foot) ... Margalla (Rs. 50 per cubic foot)

4) Steel: A, B, or C brand Rs. 60,000 per ton ... Saeed, Model, or Nazir brand Rs. 73,000 per ton.

5) Slabs: Reinforced brick concrete (RBC) is nearly cheaper Rs. 30 per square foot than Reinforced cement concrete (RCC).


For a finished house, the cost would be Rs. per square foot of covered area. This variation is due to fluctuating prices of material and selection of material and fixtures

a) cheapest b) expensive c) more expensive d) most expensive

1) Windows: a) Iron b) aluminum c) UPVC

2) Glass: a) Singly b) doubly glazed windows

3) Flooring: a) Chips mosaic b) Marble (Rs. 30 (Badal) to 500 (Marble granite) per square foot) c) Ceramic Tiles (Rs. 800 (SONEX, MASTER, SHABBIR) to Rs. 1400 (China imported in size of 32 inch square) per square meter) d) Granite (Rs. per square foot)

4) Cabling: a) A, B, C brand b) GM cables c) FR cables c) Pakistan cables

5) Doors: i) Hallow Doors: a) Plain ply doors b) Laminated ply
ii) Semi solid doors frame solid wood and filling with Lasani ply: a) Keel wood b) Ash wood c) Dyar wood
iii) Solid Doors: a) Keel wood b) Ash wood c) Dyar wood d) Branded doors by Grooves / Interwood / Mansoor Banu

6) Kitchen and Room Cabinets : a) Own built cabinets b) Branded Local: Mansoor Banu / Grooves / Interwood / Varioline Imported: Aran / SMC

7) Wash rooms: a) Simple shower with or with out shower cabin b) Bath tubs c) Jakkozi bath tub d) Steamer and Swana Jakkozi

Steel Fixtures: Local: a) Al-karam b) Faisal c) SONEX d) Master
Imported: a) Kohler b) Grohe

Ceramic Fixtures:Local: a) Al-karam b) Faisal c) Master d) ICL-BOSCH
Imported: a) Porta b) Kohler


Wall Tiles: Sonex or Mater in Local brands or Imported from China

8) UPVC and PPRC Sanitary Piping: Use any good brand hardly any difference in the price of all the brands available in the market.

Electric Conduit: Popular is the most widely used and respected brand.


I would suggest to decide once what sort of different material and fixtures you would like to use. I would request to use similar quality things in one house for example with a flooring of Granite (the most expensive) using a hollow plain ply doors (the cheapest option) does not justify the purpose of either item.