International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Technology (IJMET)

Volume 9, Issue 13, December 2018, pp. 109–117, Article ID: IJMET_09_13_013
Available online at http://www.iaeme.com/ijmet/issues.asp?JType=IJMET&VType=9&IType=13
ISSN Print: 0976-6340 and ISSN Online: 0976-6359

© IAEME Publication Scopus Indexed

BUDGET HOUSES FOR LOW-INCOME PEOPLE

Ms. Janani R
Assitant Professor, Department OF Civil Engineering,
Vels Institute of Science, Technology & Advanced Studies, Chennai, India.

Mr. Kalyana Chakravarthy P R

Assitant Professor, Department OF Civil Engineering,
Vels Institute of Science, Technology & Advanced Studies, Chennai, India.

Dr. Ilango T
Associate Professor, Department OF Civil Engineering, Vels University
Vels Institute of Science, Technology & Advanced Studies, Chennai, India.

ABSTRACT
Construction Industries are facing many issues like cost overrun and lag in time.
Because of these issues, the profit reduces and loss occurs. Currently, a lot of techniques
are used to overcome these problems. One of the techniques used is Low-Cost
Construction, that is, replacement of conventional materials to alternative materials.
Without sacrificing the quality and strength, cost reduction are done by using alternative
construction materials. Different techniques are used in the past to construct the houses,
and some of the materials like bamboo, wood, animal bones etc helped to construct in a
cheaper way. Nowadays again people started following budget housing techniques to
reduce the construction cost. The main target is to build a cost-effective construction for
low-income group people without compromising the strength of the building. Some of the
cost-effective materials like Flyash Bricks, Robo sand, Basalt Rebar, UPVC windows and
Vitrified tiles are used in this research to reduce the costs and results in the eco-friendly
project. This paper compares the costs of conventional and alternative materials used for
buildings. It was found that 20% of construction cost has been reduced, by using low cost
materials. By this, the contractors will also be benefited much.
Keywords: Cost overrun, Low-cost construction, Alternative materials, Cost effective
materials
Cite this Article: Ms. Janani R, Mr. Kalyana Chakravarthy P R and Dr. Ilango T, Budget
Houses for Low-Income People, International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and
Technology, 9(13), 2018, pp. 109–117
http://www.iaeme.com/IJMET/issues.asp?JType=IJMET&VType=9&IType=13

1. INTRODUCTION
Cost effective house for all people is one of the demanding tasks faced by emerging countries.
India is presently facing a shortage of about 17.6 million houses. The daydream of possessing a

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 Ms. Janani R, Mr. Kalyana Chakravarthy P R and Dr. Ilango T

house mainly for low-income group and middle-income families is becoming a very tough
nowadays. Throughout the past era, a huge number of substitute construction materials have been
established for the housing area. So it’s become a need to construct a cost-effective, ground-
breaking and atmosphere friendly housing technologies. In this research, the structural ideas are
established for adopting the alternative building materials for reinforced concrete frame
construction used in big engineering projects. This paper compares the conventional and
alternative materials andalso cuts the cost in the place of foundation, walling, roofing, flooring
and lintel. These alternative materials are been proved by more reference journals, says that these
alternative materials are good in the strength, durability, and safety. Based on these
investigations, the design, methodology, construction techniques and alternative were presented.
Estimation is done and found that, about 20% of the construction price can be protected by using
of the given cost effective materials. The cost savings were calculated as the basis of the actual
costs and the associated project costs. A natural building involves a variety of building systems
and materials that place main emphasis on sustainability. The base of natural building is the need
to reduce the environment impacts of buildings and other supporting systems, without
losingcosiness or fitness. To be more sustainable, natural building uses primarily abundantly
available, renewable, reused or recycled materials.

1.1 Natural Building Materials

• Adobe
• Straw Bale
• Cob
• Wood
• Cord Wood
• Bamboo
• Masonry
• Earth
• Reclaimed Materials

1.2. Alternative Low Cost Materials

• Hollow Concrete Block
• Fly Ash Bricks
• Rice Husk Ash
• Ferro cement
• Tire Veneer
• Plastic Wood
• Synthetic Fiber
• Recycled Aggregate
• Fly Ash
• Bamboo
• Quarry Sand
• Vitrified Tiles
• Basalt Rebar

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 Budget Houses for Low-Income People

1.3. Objective
• To bring down the cost, by using alternative cost effective materials to the project.
• To construct a cost effective building for low income group people and to make profit
for contractors.

2. LITERATURE REVIEW
Various literatures are collected and the overview is given below;
Deepak (may2014) et al, prepared the estimation for the conventional type and alternative
type of buildings. Some of the cost effective materials like soil stabilized block, rubble filler
block, and hollow cement blocks are used to minimize the cost of buildings for the low income
group people. He saidthat, the cost effective techniques are more profitable and by using best
building techniques like filler slab, l-plan roofing, brick panel roofing, corbelling, rat trap bond,
arches and jails, 30% of costs are reduced. Urmila says that, Inorder to reduce the cost, the project
should be finished on time, within the budget and without delaying the work. She also says, time
and cost are the two main concepts which increase the importance of the cost reduction
techniques. She developed an innovative technologies and methodologies and found out the best
way to different management strategies helps to reduce the costs. Finally concludes, by proper
execution and monitoring of project, helps to save time and cost of construction.
Bhangale(2013)et al says,by using locally available cost effective material, construction costs are
reduced and that too without affecting the strength and the durability of the structure. He used
some of the traditional construction. Mahadik says the project has to be finished on time, within
the budgetand with good quality. Value Engineering and reduce the construction cost and to
increase the productivity. Her paper covers the different types of costs occurred in the project,
factors affecting the costs of the project and also given some cost reduction techniques. She used
value engineering concepts and techniques to reduce the costs. She mentioned alternative design
concepts, materials like bitumen materials, Ferro cement, bamboo reinforced plastics and
construction methods, cost effective construction techniques, materials and materials like non
erodible mud plaster, fly ash sand lime bricks and solid concrete, prefabricated materials like
brick panel and pre cast materials like RC planks, RB curved panels, hollow slab and concrete
panels to minimize the construction cost. Finally he says that, the traditional method can be
attained by substituting the materials in conventional type of work. And he also says, “If we adopt
the right method at the right place,we can succeed in the project by more profit to contractors and
low cost building for the people.
Tom (2015) et al says that the VE is not a simply cost effective method. It is an effective tool
for the construction with an aim of low cost and high services. The author analysed unwanted
elements in the project and are scrutinized and eliminated. The main concept of VE in residential
building is to reach better quality with lower cost. VE is used for cost reduction, time saving and
quality improvement. He concluded, VE is for better cost for the building. Swetha(Oct 2016) et
al says the VE is a systematic method to improve the value of goods and services. Value is defined
as the ratio of function to cost. VE can be used for cost reduction, time savings, quality
improvement and isolation of design deficiencies. She concluded with saying that cutting down
the costs without compromising the quality and to increase in the value of construction.

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 Ms. Janani R, Mr. Kalyana Chakravarthy P R and Dr. Ilango T

3. METHODOLOGY

Figure 1. Work Methodology

3.1. Plan of Residential Building

Total carpet area (370sqft) accommodated with Living room, Bath room, Bed room and Kitchen
are shown in the below fig 2 and section view of the PCC, Footing, Plinth Beam, Column and
Slab are shown in the fig 3

Figure 2.Plan of Residential Building

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 Budget Houses for Low-Income People

Figure. 3: Cross section of residential building

3.2. Scheduling Work for Building

Scheduling is the project milestone list, actions and deliverables with proposed start and finish
dates. Start date and finish date of all the works and the total time durartion of the project has
been done and shown in Table 1

Table 1 Scheduling work of Residential building

ANTICIPATED
S.NO DESCRIPTION
DAYS
1 SITE CLEARENCE 2
2 EXCAVATION 4
Exc up to 1.5m 4
3 PCC 7
PCC Reinforcement 3
PCC Shuttering 3
PCC Concreting 1
4 FOOTING 7
PCC Reinforcement 3
PCC Shuttering 3
PCC Concreting 1
5 PLINTH BEAM 7
PCC Reinforcement 3
PCC Shuttering 3
PCC Concreting 1
6 COLOUMN 7
PCC Reinforcement 3
PCC Shuttering 3
PCC Concreting 1
7 BEAM & SLAB 10
PCC Reinforcement 5
PCC Shuttering 4
PCC Concreting 1
8 MASONARY WORK 8

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 Ms. Janani R, Mr. Kalyana Chakravarthy P R and Dr. Ilango T

9 FLOORING 3
10 PLASTERING 15
11 PAINTING 5
12 ELECTRICAL WORK 1
13 PLUMBING WORK 3
CARPENTARY
14 4
WORK
15 TILING WORK 3
16 SUMP 4
TOTAL (in days) 90

3.3. Quantity Takeoff

The quantities for sub structure works like Earth work, shuttering and concrete work for PCC &
Footings and the quantities for Super structure work like shuttering and concrete work for plinth
beam, columns, beams and slab has been shown in table 2

Table 2 Quantity Take off.

S.
DESCRIPTION UNIT QUANTITIES
NO
1 Excavation Cum 9.9
2 PCC shuttering Sqm 2.88
3 PCC Concrete Cum 0.576
Footing
4 Sqm 17.28
Shuttering
Footing
5 Cum 2.16
Concreting
Plinth Beam
6 Sqm 16.8
Shuttering
Plinth Beam
7 Cum 1.93
Concreting
Column
8 Sqm 24.1
Shuttering
Column
9 Cum 1.38
Concreting
10 Beam Shuttering Sqm 29.1
11 Beam Concreting Cum 1.95
12 Slab Shuttering Sqm 26.25
13 Slab Concreting Cum 3.95
14 Brick work Cum 23.66
15 Plastering Sqm 2.8
16 Tiling Sqm 68.15
17 Sunshade works Cum 0.357

3.4. Cost of Conventional Building

Total cost of the conventional building has been shown in the below table 3. As per the current
market rates, the materials, men, equipment etcare arrived. The percentage of the conventional
building are also shown in the fig 4

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 Budget Houses for Low-Income People

Table 3 Cost of Conventional Buildings

COST FOR CONVENTIONAL BUILDINGS
TOTAL LABOUR COST
21.9%
FOR THE BUILDING
TOTAL MATERIAL
COST FOR THE 59.5%
BUILDING
TOTAL TOOLS AND
5.1%
TACKLES
OVER HEAD COST 10% 8.6%
WASTAGE 5% 4.7%
TOTAL AMOUNT 100%
PROFIT 10%

COST OF THE CONVENTIONAL BUILDING

WASTAGE PROFIT
5% 10%

OVER
HEAD LABOUR
COST 10% COST

TOOLS
AND
TACKLES MATERIAL
COST

Figure.4: Cost of the Conventional Building

3.5. COLLECTIONS OF ALTERNATIVE MATERIALS

3.5.1 Fly Ash Bricks

Fly Ash Brick (FAB) is a construction material which gives same properties of clay bricks and it
is used for the masonry work. This bricks are reasonably priced, light weight, low absorption of
heat, etc. Hence no Plastering is required where the Fly Ash Bricks is positioned

3.5.2. Quarry Sand OrRobo Sand

Quarry sand are also called as M sand which is taken from the Rock Dust at the place of Quarry.
This sand can be used instead of River sand. It gives more compressive strength in the concrete
compared to normal sand and also gives more durability, high strength, workability, etc.

3.5.3 Basalt Rebar

Basalt Rebar is a fiber material which is made from Volcanic Rock. This is mainly used in foreign
countries to trim down the construction cost. It gives high tensile strength compare to the normal
steel bars. These are the alternative material for steel reinforcement which gives a same strength.

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 Ms. Janani R, Mr. Kalyana Chakravarthy P R and Dr. Ilango T

3.5.4. Upvc Windows

These are stabile material so it is sea water resistance and pollution resistance. Most long-lasting
material, strong and tough, easy to safeguarding, light weight and it is very cost successful
material

3.5.5. Vitrified tiles

Vitrified tiles are formed by the process of vitrification; hence it is very strong and homogeneous
resources. Vitrified tiles are scratch and stain resistant. It is easy to maintain and these tiles are
stronger than other tiles

3.6. Cost of Alternative Materials

Total cost of the alternative building has been shown in the below table 4. As per the current
market rates, the materials, men, equipment etc are arrived and low cost effective materials are
selected to reduce the costs in construction. The percentage of the alternative building are also
shown in the fig 4

Table 4 Cost for Alternative Buildings

COST FOR ALTERNATIVE BUILDINGS
TOTAL LABOUR
COST FOR THE 21%
BUILDING
TOTAL MATERIAL
COST FOR THE 59%
BUILDING
TOTAL TOOLS AND
5%
TACKLES
OVER HEAD COST
8%
10%
WASTAGE 5% 4%
TOTAL AMOUNT 100%
PROFIT 10%
The Percentage of cost is given for the cost effective building in the fig shown below.
COST FOR ALTERNATIVE BUILDING

WASTAGE PROFIT
5% 10%
LABOUR
COST
OVER HEAD
COST 10%

TOOLS AND
TACKLES
MATERIALS
COST

Figure 4 Cost for Alternative building

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 Budget Houses for Low-Income People

3.7. Comparison of Costs

The graph below shows comparison of costs for both conventional building and alternative
building made with low cost materials. The difference in cost is shown here in the fig 6.
$12,000.00
$10,000.00
$8,000.00
$6,000.00
$4,000.00
$2,000.00
$-
1 2

Figure. 6: Comparison of costs for conventional and alternative building

4. CONCLUSION
Figure 6 Shows, the cost comparison of conventional and low cost building. Cost has been
worked out for both Conventional and for Alternative building and finally results have been
arrived. Result shows that, by using low cost materials like Flyash bricks, Robo sand, Basalt bar,
UPVC windows and Vitrified tiles, the costs have been reduced and saved to 20% in any
construction without reducing its strength. Hence the suggestion from the work is to use good
quality low cost materials for the buildings for low income people.

REFERENCES
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Construction Projects , IJSR, Vol.3, 5.
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