ᐅ Wall Costs: Is It Worth Calculating Yourself? And What Are the Costs of Brick Recycling?
Created on: 6 Nov 2021 23:16
K
karl.jonas
Hello,
During my preliminary private building planning today, I ran some calculations on different exterior wall options regarding U-values and costs. Now, I’m interested in your opinions:
- Does it even make sense for a layperson (who’s just collecting price info online) to do this kind of comparison? Or are the internet values so inaccurate that I could have just guessed?
- Is recycling existing bricks another sensible (cost) option? How can I estimate the time/costs involved in preparing the bricks that will come from the demolition anyway? Are there any experience-based references?
To clarify upfront: Yes, I will consult an architect. And yes, I will get advice from a construction company. I just don’t want to go into these discussions completely unprepared.
The house I’m envisioning will be integrated into an existing four-sided brick farmyard complex. For this, an existing open shed (in the center of the photo) will be demolished and rebuilt on the same spot. Demolition will yield bricks (the shed extends further to the left). The new building should at least have the “brick look” of the rest of the farmyard on the courtyard side. For this, I see three options: facing bricks (clinker), brick slips (thin brick veneers), or recycled bricks.
In my private calculations, I found the following (obviously, this only concerns rough orders of magnitude):
From this, I draw the following conclusions:
1. Insulating with rock wool is significantly cheaper than a thicker (Poroton) brick (it’s a pity, I would have preferred a monolithic wall structure).
2. Brick slips are only slightly cheaper than facing bricks (which is good).
3. For roughly €6,000 in brick costs, you could spend some time preparing the existing old bricks; and they would then look just like the rest of the bricks on the farmyard.
Is this basically correct, or did I just waste a few pointless hours (okay, I also enjoyed calculating the U-values ;-)?
Karl
During my preliminary private building planning today, I ran some calculations on different exterior wall options regarding U-values and costs. Now, I’m interested in your opinions:
- Does it even make sense for a layperson (who’s just collecting price info online) to do this kind of comparison? Or are the internet values so inaccurate that I could have just guessed?
- Is recycling existing bricks another sensible (cost) option? How can I estimate the time/costs involved in preparing the bricks that will come from the demolition anyway? Are there any experience-based references?
To clarify upfront: Yes, I will consult an architect. And yes, I will get advice from a construction company. I just don’t want to go into these discussions completely unprepared.
The house I’m envisioning will be integrated into an existing four-sided brick farmyard complex. For this, an existing open shed (in the center of the photo) will be demolished and rebuilt on the same spot. Demolition will yield bricks (the shed extends further to the left). The new building should at least have the “brick look” of the rest of the farmyard on the courtyard side. For this, I see three options: facing bricks (clinker), brick slips (thin brick veneers), or recycled bricks.
In my private calculations, I found the following (obviously, this only concerns rough orders of magnitude):
| Length | 19.2 | m | Window ratio | 0.2 | ||||
| Height | 6.3 | m | Area | 97 | m² | |||
| Material | Thickness | λ (thermal conductivity) | R (thermal resistance) | U (U-value) | Material cost | Labor cost | Total cost | Total cost overall |
| mm | €/m²[/TD> | [RIGHT]€/m²[/TD> | [RIGHT]€/m²[/TD> | [RIGHT]€[/TD> | ||||
| Cement plaster | [RIGHT]10 | 1.4 | 0.007 | 1 | 15 | 16 | 1552 | |
| Poroton T16 | 240 | 0.16 | 1.5 | 58.85 | 60 | 118.85 | 11528 | |
| Rockwool insulation | 180 | 0.04 | 4.5 | 20 | 20 | 40 | 3880 | |
| Facing bricks (antique) | 115 | 0.96 | 0.12 | 60 | 45 | 105 | 10185 | |
| Option 1 | 545 | 6.297 | 0.159 | 279.85 | 27145 | |||
| Cement plaster | 10 | 1.4 | 0.007 | 1 | 15 | 16 | 1552 | |
| Poroton U8 | 365 | 0.08 | 4.563 | 176 | 87 | 263 | 25511 | |
| Facing bricks (antique) | 115 | 0.96 | 0.12 | 60 | 45 | 105 | 10185 | |
| Option 2 | 490 | 4.86 | 0.206 | 384 | 37248 | |||
| Cement plaster | 10 | 1.4 | 0.007 | 1 | 15 | 16 | 1552 | |
| Poroton U8 | 365 | 0.08 | 4.563 | 176 | 87 | 263 | 25511 | |
| Brick slips (antique) | 20 | 0.96 | 0.021 | 40 | 40 | 80 | 7760 | |
| Option 3 | 395 | 4.761 | 0.21 | 359 | 34823 |
From this, I draw the following conclusions:
1. Insulating with rock wool is significantly cheaper than a thicker (Poroton) brick (it’s a pity, I would have preferred a monolithic wall structure).
2. Brick slips are only slightly cheaper than facing bricks (which is good).
3. For roughly €6,000 in brick costs, you could spend some time preparing the existing old bricks; and they would then look just like the rest of the bricks on the farmyard.
Is this basically correct, or did I just waste a few pointless hours (okay, I also enjoyed calculating the U-values ;-)?
Karl
J
JoachimG.7 Nov 2021 17:22For our planned construction project, I compiled all building items into an Excel spreadsheet, calculated quantities from the plans, reviewed manufacturer data to determine how many bricks and how much adhesive is needed per square meter (square yard), labor time per square meter (square yard), researched construction price tables and labor costs (based on experiences of local builders), and found out the discount percentages that construction companies get from the local building material supplier. Everything linked together.
The result was a huge Excel file.
Shell construction: Excel shows 210,000 euros (about 230,000 USD) – shell builder quotes ranged between 190,000 and 220,000 euros (about 210,000 to 240,000 USD)
Electrician: One electrician wanted the file because his quote was only 1,000 euros (about 1,100 USD) different from my calculation.
Sheet metal work: One quote differed by 50 euros (about 55 USD) from the Excel.
Roof: One quote was 3,000 euros (about 3,300 USD) off, another much cheaper due to extremely low labor costs.
The overall construction sum from all quotes differed around 6-7 percent from my calculation.
That was before the significant increase in construction costs. Now I’m just left crying.
Conclusion: It can be done and can produce good results. But my wife occasionally asked if I was still all there.
P.S.: The only thing missing from my cost estimate for the property was the fence, which was the most important part for my wife because of the dog.
The result was a huge Excel file.
Shell construction: Excel shows 210,000 euros (about 230,000 USD) – shell builder quotes ranged between 190,000 and 220,000 euros (about 210,000 to 240,000 USD)
Electrician: One electrician wanted the file because his quote was only 1,000 euros (about 1,100 USD) different from my calculation.
Sheet metal work: One quote differed by 50 euros (about 55 USD) from the Excel.
Roof: One quote was 3,000 euros (about 3,300 USD) off, another much cheaper due to extremely low labor costs.
The overall construction sum from all quotes differed around 6-7 percent from my calculation.
That was before the significant increase in construction costs. Now I’m just left crying.
Conclusion: It can be done and can produce good results. But my wife occasionally asked if I was still all there.
P.S.: The only thing missing from my cost estimate for the property was the fence, which was the most important part for my wife because of the dog.
B
Benutzer2007 Nov 2021 20:26JoachimG. schrieb:
Shell construction: Excel estimate 210,000 euros – offers from shell contractors ranging between 190,000 and 220,000 euros
Electrician: One electrician wanted the file because his offer was only 1,000 euros different from the estimate.
Sheet metal work: One offer differed by 50 euros from the Excel estimate.
Roof: One offer differed by 3,000 euros; another was much cheaper due to extremely low labor costs. The result is that no matter how you calculate, market prices are ultimately confirmed. Conversely, you could simply have taken the contractors’ offers and verified their plausibility. That would have been easier 😉
J
JoachimG.7 Nov 2021 21:19Benutzer200 schrieb:
The result is that no matter how you calculate, the market prices end up being confirmed. Conversely, you could have simply taken the companies’ quotes and checked their plausibility. That would have been easier 😉Yes, the spreadsheet was initially intended for rough budgeting. My wife wanted us not to exceed a specific budget. Therefore, it was meant for verification after the quotation phase, though I didn’t expect to be that accurate beforehand. It hasn’t been very useful lately, especially with the recent price increases... But I just really enjoy working with Excel and numbers! 😉
karl.jonas schrieb:
Do you mean the post "Facing brick: thin bricks or cladding bricks"? I didn’t find anything about used bricks there.Today, I took this as an opportunity to dedicate an addition to you: "Can I reuse the bricks from my demolition house?" :-)https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
K
karl.jonas27 Nov 2021 17:41@11ant a great text. Now I also know how to pave the paths for the walker :-) By the way, an architect had a similar idea right away during the site visit: reusing some decorative elements in the new building (e.g., around the front door) as a nod to the (opposite) old building.
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