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This section wishes to introduce members of the public who are contemplating building a house to certain of the cost implications that the design may have on their budget.
Many builders and clients express building costs as a rate per square meter. The builder may look at your plans and say : ”This shouldn’t cost more than R3,000.00/mē “ or, “I just built a very similar house for R3,200.00/mē “ or a friend may tell you that he can’t understand why his new bathroom is costing more than R8,000.00/mē.
This method of expressing the cost of buildings is the most convenient and therefore most widely used in cost comparisons and cost planning. It is calculated by dividing the Net cost of the building (excluding site works, cost of land, etc.) by the square metre of building area measured between the main enclosing walls, staircases, lift shafts or other circulation space.
This section is meant as a guide to enable you to understand building cost in a more meaningful way.
Let us examine some design variables, which can influence our square metre rate adversely.
Shape of building
Function and size of the building
Perimeter/floor area ratio
Other influences on cost
Conclusion
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