Construction Costs Are Often Expressed As The Building Cost Per Square Meter

 To build a house involves many different trades, materials and other services.

The builder acts as project manager to coordinate all these activities and to keep everything on track, from a time perspective but also cost perspective.

Comparing different building projects are not that straight forward.  Each one has its own mix of services, materials and trades.  We often use the term "compare apples with apples".

Now, to try and compare apples with apples is not easy when it comes to building.  A measure called the "building cost per square meter" was introduced to help make it easier. 

"Building Cost Per Square Meter" - What Does It Mean?

An over simplified explanation would be as follow:

When all the construction costs are added up and then divided by the total number of square meters of your house, then you get the building cost per square meter.

Many builders will actually go further and specify different costs per square meter depending what type of structure you build.  The patio, alfresco, garage type areas are obviously not as expensive as bathrooms and kitchens, areas that can really push the average cost per square meter up.

How To Calculate Square Meters

Most people will have to look for some old school handbooks for the answer or might remember the formula for area is:

Area = Length x Width or ab

These measurements are normally done in meters and the answer will therefore be in square meters.

That means that if you house is 20m x 10m, the area would be 200 square meters or 200m².

Perimeter = 2 x (Lenght x Width)  or 2(a + b)

In reality, houses are not square blocks.  They have some sections that are longer than others and to complicate it more, double storey homes may have open areas over staircases etc. which makes the calculation a bit trickier.  It is however possible to calculate it manually, but fortunately, many software packages will do it for us.  Your draftsman or architect will put these figures on the plans they put together.  A breakdown of different areas is usually given.

How The Design Of Your House Affect The Building Cost Per Square Meter

It is logic that the more material we use the higher the cost.  That is why an understanding the relationship between design, and cost should be understood.

The following example is purely for illustration purposes.

Let's assume Person A and Person B both builds 225 m² houses.

Person A build a house 15m x 15m.

Person B on the other hand build a house of 1.5m x 150m  (Just to illustrate the point).

Both have the same area, but there is a big difference.  When we look at the length of walls needed to enclose Person A's house, we find it is 4 x 15m = 60m.

Do the same calculation for Person B and you find it to be 1.5 + 150 + 1.5 + 150 = 303m

That is 5 times more wall length than in the first example.  Now, I realize there are things like internal walls etc. which will reduce this margin, but hopefully you get my point.

The design of your house will have an impact on the building cost per square meter.