is it more economical to build a house with concrete beam or steel beam?

how about the cost of building a basement/subterranean level. what factors need to be put into consideration. is it advisable to do so in malaysia, considering our climate, soil condition etc?

how about the wall building purposes, is it better to use red bricks, cement bricks or glass-wall? how about its thermal insulation property, as im considering passive cooling design for the house as to lower ac usage.

thinking of a 2/3 storey detached house with minimalist styling. thus its spacious and airy with lotsa light coming in, thus the question with the glass-wall...

thanks for entertaining the questions... got lots to learn anyway

I asked about thermal insulation it seems that not cost effective

concrete cheap, steel expensive.

basically in construction there are 2 type of cost involve. cost for temporary work and cost for permanent work. permanent work is like brickwall, concrete slab and etc. once the permanent work done, it remain there and will not be remove. temporary work is those cost spent on the work and will not be part of the building. example such as rental of machinery, scaffolding for support and etc. for basement the cost for temporary work will increase. so u pay for more to build a basement than to add 1 level on top.

the basement work is generally fine to do at Malaysia la. depend on location, the basement work difficulty is different also. like in golden triangle, the ground water level is high, so ur basement work is even tougher.

those "red brick" u see is better than cement-sand brick. cement-sand brick easily let water seep through. hence not advisable to do on external wall. but it could be done also.

glass wall is more on aesthetic. definitely glass wall is expensive, around 15 times expensive than brickwall

if ur brickwall haven't lay, then the cost can be reduce by add a layer of "poly" form, around 50mm thick b4 do plastering work. therefore u don't need gypsum board. generally the cost increase also just not that much. but on completed building, overall it would be more costly

Any people/group doing freelance in the industry?

yeah, plenty.

From what i know, there are freelance interior designer, freelance architect (my friend said they need a stamp/chop from authority), freelance sub-con and etc. Is there anything i am missing?
And also, how do employer hire freelancers? offline network, online platform?

what ur employer mean? employer mean developer in construction industry context.

base on percentage of total building cost for professional like Architect, Engineer, QS. those are known as professional fee.

for contractor is base on value of works.

why are u so free and doing all this free consultations bro here in /k bro ?

here is serious kopitiam. so should be fine. plus sharing is caring. I notice a lot of pipu have misconception on construction industry. heard i'll get promoted to elite if I continue to do this.

your good bro .you'll probably get promoted in haven for doing good deeds
and your probably super free.
may i ask what do u do for a living ?

thanks for the reply

how much more expensive is the steel beam compared to concrete beam?

15 times more expensive than brickwall, eh? meaning, a 20m2 of window would costs 15 times more than an ordinary wall bricks, cements, paints etc. included? thinking of large windows actually, but used the term glass wall. yea, its aesthetics though...

and i assume the cost is after considering the insulated/low-e glass? or itll be more expensive with that option?

as for roofing material, would asphalt roofing be a good choice, considering our hot & rainy climate? worried about the possibility of the asphalt to melt down a bit under intense sunlight and to be compromised by sudden rain. ceramic seems to be tougher, but its also heavier. copper is an unorthodox choice, but might be prohibitively expensive. any opinions?

iinm, usually once the land has been cleared and the drainage built, itll be given some time to let the land settled. how long does this usually take?

whats a good practice for building cost estimates? excluding the land itself, how should the costs be broken down?

and what about the good practice in choosing the contractors to build the house? any advise?

still got 2-3 years maybe before doing anything with the house-building plan, or even longer, depending on the economic condition etc. meanwhile, i better prepare myself with necessary and relevant knowledge.

therefore, so many questions...

work in construction industry.

steel structure at abt RM7/kg, while in reinforced concrete, the rebar is abt RM3.5/kg plus u actually use lesser weight of rebar as it is a combination of rebar and concrete.

general estimation (not 100% accurate but is abt there, market price in big volume)

brickwall RM45/m2
glass is RM450/m2 (RM250 aluminium and frame + RM200 tempered glazing) low-e double glazing type will cost double on the glazing itself.

straight away u can build sub-structure. the set of foundation structure is the thing matter than u wait the land set.

cost budgeting, u need to have budget first. define the area u wanna build i.e. 2000sqft then allow a budget by 2000sqft x RM150. (the cost is vary depend on the quality u want. from this budget only start to work on the rest. this can be done through feasibility study, i did elaborate a little bit in previous post.

contractor, get those design and build 1 stop do everything including they hire architect and runner for approval relevant to local authority.

damm bro ..do u have degree or something ? are u an architect ?

I have degree.

Bro, 2000 sq ft is foot print of the building only or total s.f?? E.g. ground floor is 1000 sf, 1st floor is 1000 sf. So total = 2000 sf. Or is it 1000 sf x RM150 for rough budgeting? Tq.

total. which is 2000 sqft in ur case

Respect, I am not gonna troll these page.
Have questions on 2 things
For anti fire doors,which brand is considered the best in market? What material does it made from?

Second question, for partitions. I recently want to buy a partition wall, and am looking for the hardest partition available on market with sound proofing if possible. Like the one most office use.Which brand/material you recommend? How much does it cost?

Thank you.

for timber door, high density of solid hardwood is the material made up a fire rated door. therefore it would be very heavy. fire rated door that mandated in the building listed in the bylaw required bomba certification. so those door supplier with bomba cert is suffice. gayamurni is quite a reputable 1 but also pricey la.

partition wise, i'm very confident with boral brand of gypsum board. for sound proofing, can sandwiched rockwool between the gypsum board at the ratio of 60kg/m3 for heavy sound insulation.

This post has been edited by iwubpreve: Nov 8 2014, 01:56 PM