Difference in covered area will affect the cost of the house. There is a common misconception that if the size of the house — or the covered area of the house — is the same, the cost incurred on the house will be the same. For instance, in our latest grey structure covered area per sq.ft cost article/video we took a 10 Marla home as an example with 3400 sq ft area. Sometimes the covered area can vary because of owner's demands and requirements — for instance if a person wants to construct a three storey house the covered area of that house will increase to 4200 sq ft, 4500 sq ft or even more; similarly if a person constructs a single storey house, the covered area of that house will be lesser than 3400 sq ft. That does not mean that the cost of grey structure will be the same for a house with a covered area of 4300, 3400 and 2800 respectively. The main reason for this is that there are some costs that remain constant no matter what your covered area is. For instance the costs that remain constant are as follows:
- Complete boundary wall of the 10 Marla plot
- UGWT (underground water tank)
- Septic tank
- Sewerage system of the complete house
- Floor PCC of the floor outside the house, such as side passage, garage and ramp
- Parapet wall, terrace parapet wall
- Final waterproofing of the roof and overhead water tank
These are the costs that remain constant whether you build a single storey home or a double or triple storey home. For instance, if the cost of these things is Rs 100 and we divide that cost by a covered area of 2400, the amount will be more than if we divide it by 3200 — it will be even less if the covered area is more than that. All the costing done by us has been on a standard 10 Marla home with a covered area of 3400 sq ft. If the covered area of the house is more, the cost per sq ft of the house will drop, and if the covered area of the house is relatively less, the cost per sq ft of the house will increase.
Many of us think that if we decrease the covered area of the house we can save the money of the bricks and steel that weren't used due to decreasing the covered area. It does not happen like that. After constructing a full ground floor, we try to save covered area on the first floor by adding open areas and front terraces, and to cover that we add pergolas and design elements. The cost incurred in adding these design elements is more than the cost we save in the form of bricks and steel by reducing our covered area.
Here we would like to add that if the covered area of a 10 Marla home is 3400 sq ft, the cost of the house according to our latest grey structure cost (Nov 2019) would be Rs 1419/- sq ft for a premium plus complete grey structure without any compromise in quality of any type. Similarly, if the covered area of the house is less than 2900 or 2800 sq ft, the cost of the house may increase by Rs 200 to 250/- sq ft. If the covered area increases to 3600 or 4000 sq ft, the cost may decrease by Rs 50 to 80/- sq ft.
We hope this article has cleared the confusion of covered area and how it affects the cost of the house.