There are areas which define your construction costs for your real estate project very forcefully, and by mitigating these areas, you can save money on your building project.  Finding a good balance on how to ensure these factors are favorably harnessed to achieve your preferred budget is something that a building professional can assist you to do. Your architect will assist you to get your design done in a manner to suit your budget.  

Have you made up your mind what type of real estate project you want to develop on your property?

It is true that the type of building plays a major role in your construction. Whatever activities that you are going to carry out in your building will define the type of fittings and fixtures that you will have within your building.  For example the design of a facade for an office will employ elements such as curtain walling, intrinsic wall coatings and perhaps use of granite cladding etc. These are premium fittings and finishes that will cost more than finishes that are related to residential projects.

In today’s contemporary architecture in Kenya for example, you may witness builders incorporating elements that were traditionally part of commercial buildings are now part of residential buildings.  For example you may find that more residential buildings are being constructed with large windows previously recommended for storefronts, or open planning of residential functions in a manner akin to an office environment. These building elements when used on your construction may modify your square meter building costs by making the unit area cost of your building that much more expensive.

With ‘contemporary’ type of fittings and finishes, your cost per square meter may increase by 25 – 40% using these kinds of finishes, but the end effect is amazing.

The kind of structural system you choose to employ on your real estate project will have major impact on your cost of construction

It is true that the kind of building you are intent on constructing will influence the type of construction system you are likely to use on your building.  Construction of a modular spaced building such as an office block or a shopping mall may favor use of framed structure more than a conventional load bearing wall system. A house may be more advantageous to construct with a wall bearing system intermixed with some reinforced concrete elements where one may want to avoid walls.

Your structural concept plays a major role in influencing the cost of your building, with 60 – 75% of your building cost going into a building’s structure. In these days of spiralling steel costs, the proportion of cost of especially reinforced concrete or structural steel elements play a huge part in the cost of your building. The smarter you use these features on your building, the more cost effective your building may become.

It therefore makes good economic sense to optimize your building structure using technologies that reduce on expensive components of building reinforced concrete for example, e.g. using fibremesh or waffle slabs. Of course this will call for a willingness by the developer to embrace new building technologies, especially if they have the advantage of reducing building time or mass materials that will go into the construction process.

The size of your spaces within the building majorly influence cost of your real estate project

An area of contention when it comes to development of real estate is the size allocation of each room in the building. either extreme is not healthy for the real estate project, with rooms being too small becoming subject to offering buyers poor value for money while large rooms becoming too expensive as they obviously cost more. It’s important to get a balance of the kind of space that you need as this will help to gain better value for your target market. spaces which are too elaborate or large will call for higher prices.

Your finishes and fittings are a major determinant of cost in real estate

The choice of what you put into those sinks, lavatories and water closets play a big part adding up to the bottom line. Its a matter of taste and pocket. However this is where a green approach has an edge on life cycle costs. You may find that a certain fitting may cost a premium to purchase at the onset of the building, but it pays for itself by ensuring zero or little recurrent expenditure on that item. A classic example is on procuring a good solar installation for yourself while building your home. The initial costs are considerable, but comparing the recurrent costs being saved over a period of say 15 years, you will definitely say it is worth the investment.

Of particular interest are elements such as sanitary fittings and building electronics. Their use depends on your approach when building your structure. For example you may opt for the highest quality fittings which have higher price ranges, as would be the case in many European brands. They are considered to be higher quality due to their rigorous testing and manufacturing process. A good buyer however plays their part looking at products coming from even the Middle and Far East which offer competitive pricing. You benchmark is to gauge your trade-off between price and matters of durability.

Your services and level of their sophistication do affect the bottom line of your real estate project

Consider how complex your building systems needs to be within your building. there must be a balance between the level of complexity of buildings services and the buildings functions, they must be corelated properly. You may have an example of a security system within a home or office which may require simple access key controls for its operation as opposed to having a biometric reader controlling automated access doors. Consideration must be made for the level of services that you need to operate that part of your building, lest you overspend on other items.  Consideration ought to be made for sufficient provisions to be made such that the space can be functional.

External works affect the cost of your construction

Your building cost is never complete without considering the proportion of external works that will be used in a building site.  the proportion of external works to your buildings cost is sufficient enough to make a difference on your bottom line when properly considered. Disregarding costs that go into external works means that your building is incomplete.

External works do include items such as landscaping, storm drainage, construction of sewer systems as well as outbuildings such as guardhouses. A major item in this regard is construction of a boundary wall. Depending on how you choose to define your boundary, either through the use of green hedges or through the use of a solid boundary wall, quite a few costs may be incurred. Other items with regard to these include services such as power and water utilities, driveways and parking all of which impact the cost of development of real estate.

You really need to consider these items in order to achieve a successful building project. Have you embarked on building your real estate project yet?  If you have do share with us what you consider as major lessons learnt dealing with cost items.