The housing market has become increasingly out of reach, so how do you build a low-cost house with unwavering cost of land coupled with the high price of buying construction materials, such as cement and sand, in addition to the labor, which has made owning a home more challenging than it needs to be?

a low-cost house
Shipping container hostel

While affordability and the high cost of rent might still be an issue for many people, homes have become much faster to build these days thanks to construction technology such as shipping container homes.

Although still fairly new, these technologies have had a drastic effect on the budget, the cost of labor as well as construction time needed to complete a modern home. If you are interested in owning one of these modern affordable low-cost homes, here are some tips on how to build a low-cost house:

Pick a simple design for your low-cost house

It will cost you about Kshs. 4.8 million ($48,000) or higher to construct a relatively “cheap” three-bedroom house. With planning, research and the right construction team by your side, it is entirely possible to construct the same home for as little as Kshs. 1.6 million ($16,000) just as long as you rely on a simple design for your low-cost house.

low-cost house
floor plan of a 3-bedroom container house

You should keep in mind that the more advanced and complex you want your house to be, the more it is going to cost to put it all together. If you want to keep your costs at a minimum and the labor as cursory as possible, you should rely on a professional that has experience with low-cost housing to help you during the design phase.

Use quality but affordable construction materials

When trying to construct your low-cost home, you should steer clear of glitzy construction material and rely on affordable low-cost construction solutions instead. Fortunately, there are plenty of affordable construction materials that can allow you to build the house of your dreams without breaking the bank.

Recycled materials such as bamboo, sawdust, container homes, and prefab homes all make it possible to create low-cost housing. When building low-cost homes, you might also be forced to forgo the frills, this means that you might have to abandon those fancy door knobs for economical ones instead.

Work with professionals only

A lot of individuals have lost money during the construction of low-cost housing due to poor work from parties that claim to be professionals.  While it is always a good idea to shop around for your team before settling, cheap does not always mean better and vice versa. As such, to ensure that you are only working with the best, you will have to carry out extensive research to find skilled labor to help you with your construction project. 

Budget more than you anticipate

Regardless of how low cost you think your house is going to be, it more than likely that it will end up costing more than you have budgeted for. This is because there could be any number of things that could arise that were not included in the estimate such as finishing costs, which can run anywhere from 15 to 30 percent of your overall budget. To safeguard yourself and your low-cost project, always budget for unforeseen circumstances.

You can read further on Tools For Cutting Shipping Containers here.