Home Improvement

1. Buy materials direct from the brick manufacturer, you save 10% on the cost from other suppliers, it’s not easy to find one that will sell bricks to you direct but they do exist. Downfall may be that they’re a small operation and only supply. If you can’t find better then perhaps you could try to find independent drivers for hire with 6 ton trucks that will deliver for you. They do exist and they could help you not only in deliveries but waste removal also.

2. Buy cement in bulk, if you have the storage space, we suggest doing a single order for cement, if you calculate your materials (including shrinkage) you shouldn’t need to order cement again, this decreases delivery costs and could save you R1,000’s. Also a lot of suppliers have special deals on larger orders of cement.

3. There are a lot of salvage yards nowadays and they have great materials from roof trusses and beams to salvaged bricks and roof tiles. You could save huge on roof tiles and windows and door frames, you made need to paint them to get a consistent color going, then again you may get lucky and get all you need in one order from one salvage yard. We’ve been that lucky a few times.

4. Labor is a huge cost for any project, unskilled laborers trying their luck at putting one over you and lying about their skills will cost you wasted time and possibly a failed foundation job or even structural problems. We’ve heard countless penny wise pound foolish stories where the client used a “plumber” standing outside building suppliers. The client hasn’t researched plumbing regulations and work procedures at all and buy all the materials that the plumber tells them without knowledge, only to find out later after plastering and painting completed and moving in without a proper pressure test on the plumbing lines, they had various leaks in walls and under tiles. – Please do your research and know more than your laborer does. They will quickly see that you’re not to be fooled and they will run away very quickly.

5. Plan your building with excavated or demolitions waste in mind. Remember to plan way ahead after demolitions have been completed, do you need filling later on for house foundations, a garden slope you’d prefer to be flattened out level; a raised patio; you can use rubble as filler to these areas and save on waste removal costs or even backfilling deliveries due to lack of soil on site.

6. Too much excavated soil on site; nowhere to put it? Contact landscaping companies if they need your soil, they pick it up and you’ve saved money and headaches. Or you can post it as “Free Filler Soil” on free classifieds or Facebook is the quickest route.

7. When you're shopping around for materials or fixtures (taps; baths etc.) don’t forget to ask your builder if he can get better discounts than you, he may know suppliers where you could save much more for the same sanitary ware but you may need a contractors account. It doesn't hurt to ask your builder questions; you will probably find most are willing to share their knowledge because many just like to help out.

8. So you want to paint inside your house but have a very tight budget (see our paint cost calculator page to accurately measure how much paint you need for your project). If you're going to paint your own house, just remember not to go too cheap on painting tools especially paint rollers and brushes; if you're thinking "A paint brush is a paint brush" you'd be wrong.

9. If you're not feeling confident enough to do the painting yourself, Ask your builder if they would recommend painters or lend you theirs on the weekends if they're not busy. Don't go asking the companies laborers directly; that wouldn't sit well with any builder, don't forget that they're people first and your contractor 2nd. Be polite and honest and just ask the builder if he can assist you somehow or give you advice.

10. Why you shouldn't try to save money on buying cheap imported building materials for your construction project. If you're building your own home; then sure buy those building materials, but make sure to check their manufacturing and expiry dates; believe it or not; many building materials have a shelf life before you can safely use them in a building project (cement, should not be used if its older than 3 months) . If its a non structural low height wall; or garden hedge or a bit of plaster work. then sure go ahead use them. There are also ways of testing different materials on site to check their quality and strength for proper use. For example "concrete testing".

11. Roof tiles: there are many Salvage Yards that stock roof tiles that can easily be fitted to your new build or additions and re-painted to match your preferred roofing color.

12. Wood decking or Parquet flooring: Salvage yards carry these also; but you would probably find better deals on social platform market posts or classified's where the general public like to advertise. Just be careful and ask them plenty of questions. Like what sizes are they? What wood is it? etc.

If you would like to know more ways of saving on your building costs Contact Us with your requests or blog post recommendations.