Hello and welcome to our construction guide blog grey structure material purchase. In this blog today we will be discussing the criteria of purchasing the material being used during the construction of the house. As we have repeatedly advised our readers that the construction should be done in two stages, grey structure and finishing. Likewise in this blog we will be discussing the procedure and criteria of purchasing the material for constructing a house in two stages. So lets first discuss the material used in grey structure. There are three main things to keep in mind while purchasing the material of construction of grey structure that are quality, quantity and price. It is very important to apply these three things on every purchase that is done.
STEEL:
The most important item to be purchased in grey structure is steel. To make sure the quality of steel it is important to buy branded steel and from an authorized dealer. As the prices of steel aren’t very diverse it can be bought from different dealers at a very low difference. One of the challenges that everyone face in purchase of steel is its quantity.
For instance if you are purchasing 5 tons of steel you have to make sure it is 5 ton. It is very simple to calculate the quantity of the steel. if you want to calculate the weight of xyz company’s grade 60’s half inch bar. You can simply go to their website to find the weight of one running foot of your required gauge and size for instance if the weight of half inch bar in one running feet of grade 60 steel is 400g and the total length of one bar is 40ft then the total weight of 1 bar will be 16kg. Likewise if you have bought 100 bars then the total weight of those bars should be 1600kg. Furthermore if you want to calculate different sizes and gauge of steel the method will be the same. By doing this you can easily calculate the quantity of the steel being off load at the construction site.
BRICKS:
Second most important item used in the construction of grey structure is bricks. It is very hard for a layman to calculate the quantity of the bricks, to check the quality of the brick and it is also very hard for them to compare the price of the brick. The main reason for this is that there is no known brand that manufactures bricks. In Pakistan the bricks that are used in construction are manufactured in brick kiln therefore there is no brand name or set price for the bricks and it is very hard for the layman to check the quality and price range for the bricks.
The quality of the bricks is normally ensured by its price for instance brick for Rs9/-, or Rs 8/- or Rs11/- etc. Now for instance the same brick might be of Rs 9/- quality for someone and Rs 6/- quality for someone else. This is very important that we know a set standard by which we can calculate the quality of the brick. For our viewers we have already made a video on how to check the quality of the bricks (field guide ep 06). There are quite a few ways to check the quality of the brick but for a layman brick quality can be checked by the following three steps.
- Strength of the brick
- Size of the brick should be full
- 90% of the bricks being off load on your site should be of same quality, strength and size.
Secondly after deciding the quality of the brick, it is recommended to take the rates from at least three dealers and then you can decide the one with the lowest rate and give them the required order. To calculate the quantity of the bricks our viewers can watch our brick calculation video.
SAND:
Third most important material to be used in grey structure is sand. It has always been recommended to use Chenab sand in Lahore and surrounding areas because it has less quantity of mud and other particles. To make sure of the quantity of sand it is necessary to make sure that the sand being of load on the site is from Chenab and it has minimum or no particles of mud. For the price calculation simply visit a few dealers dealing in Chenab sand and buy the lowest rate available. To calculate the quantity of the sand of the damper being offloaded on the site is very simple. Just multiply the length by width by depth and you will get the ft3 of the sand being offloaded. It is very important to calculate the quantity of the sand as this is where a lot of fraud happens.
CRUSH:
Fourth item used in the grey structure is Crush. Crush should always be used from a brand as it‘s size, strength and neatness is up to mark. Crush from Margalla and Sargodha plant can be used and are recommended. To check the quality of the crush it is very important that the offloaded crush is from the brand you selected and ordered from. It is important to do so as there is a possibility of mixing of soft and local crush in the order. Rates of crush are generated on daily therefore it is recommended to go to multiple dealers before you choose to buy. Quantity calculation method of crush is same as sand where you multiply the length, width and depth of the damper.
CEMENT:
Fifth item being used in grey structure is cement. All the brands of cement are good to use but the only thing that needs to be assured is that the cement being offloaded on the site is authentic and fresh. The reason for checking that is there is a lot of mixed and non authentic cement in the market. We would like to recommend you to always buy the cement from an authorized dealer as they would have authentic and fresh cement in stock and you will get a better price. To calculate the quantities simply count the bags.
Other items being used in grey structure other than these such as electric, plumbing, gas, and sewerage should be bought from an authentic brand so it is easy for you to calculate the quantity and quality of these items.
Second phase of construction is finishing and we will be discussing them comprehensively in our next article.