Members, buying already made bricks and making your own, which is most cost effective/cheaper?. If you have an idea please advice

mekn ur own z beta but a big tym consumer.
yeah time consuming and I can imagine not very easy these days i.e. finding firewood etc
esp the firewood yes. watch out the rains!!
yes indeed, right now isnt a good time with the rains about to come...

Modding of bricks its cheaper but currently u just need buy

and why is that James, because of the rain? Guys, do you save a substantial amount when u mold them yourself? say u mold 40,000 bricks, is the difference in expenditure a big one in comparison with buying 40,000 bricks...because if the difference is small then one might as well just buy and save themselves the trouble of molding...

let me lay it down 4 u just did abt 55,000, in my case, molding costed K00.50/brick, water costed K00.25/brick. the issue that determines the overall cost is the firewood. In my case i was late and the pple do kno that u ll buy what ever the case since u afraid to lose out when the rains come. In my case 50,000 bricks = makomo 4, i was told i needed 10 tonnes of F-wood, 1st quote i got was K21,000 for a 10 tonne + aganyu okadula + transport, i opted to move around and just buy already preped wood, well it was crazy found lots of 7 tonnes, got 2, 1st lot K13,500 (chilengedwe trees) + 2nd lot K11,500 (mango and malaina) + transport two trips K17,000.00. now building the damn uvuni, K7,500, kumanga jekete K3,000, kuotcha K800/khomo = K3,200.00. Overall 55,000 bricks ended costing me around 100 - 125 (K1.00 - K1.25/brick) grand factoring in my car Gas + airtime in supervising the whole job. now this is nt a true reflection since i was doing it ku mudzi heavy, in town pple will tell u just molding K1/brick thats ok as long as u negotiate kuti madzi akhale awo. what you should do is to factor in the current cost yogula in ur ares say K4/brick, then ur after zonse should be atleast 40% cheaper. coz if u ll move the brick to some location u ll have to add in atleast K1.5/brick as transport. In my case a brick costed me K1.25/brick if i factor in transport say @ K1.50 that will bring my total cost to K2.75 to my project site, while buying would cost me K3.50 + K1.50 transport = K5/brick. On the other hand if u have money its better to buy but u ll have to make sure that u r moving the brick in a truck minimu 7,000 bricks/trip since u ll save on transport if u move alot at once. eg, a sm1 is buying brick frm chiradzulu to nyambadwe, buying K2.5 transport K25,000/10,000 bricks (K2.5/brick) giving the total price to K5.00. personally i think its easy to mold since u wont have to have a lot of money when doing it amatapa heavy by the time u done u wont even realize u have spent 100 grand...good luck

if you have the funds ,just buy the bricks and start building.making
the bricks is time consurming.

wow, thanks alot Darlington for sharing your experience it helps alot!!!!! and thanks also Betty! I think now I can make an informed decision :)

u welcome!

Thats a serious breakdown Darlington Chimutu.

Thanks these are the discussions we hope to have in this discussion, that will not only inform but also assist people as they make decisisons, thanks Darlington Chimutu for this

perfect analysis thanks. If you have money and want to build in a hurry Villa you might wish to buy...i explored both options really wanted to mould koma nkhani ya diesel imanditopetsa. Also in town the cost is K1.50 - K2 per brick kuumba. I am gllad - very informative discussion.

is also cumbersome, and too involving!... kulongolola with those guys, you need to visit them now and then.. koma with the rains just buy. and do so now because zikwera mtengo very soon ndi mvulayi mitengo ikwera.

If you will mould them right on your plot You will save on transport. It is better to mould. If you have to mould them elsewhere and then transport to your plot, it is not very economic. Whether you buy or mould the difference to the whole project is minimal. The most expensive items on a house are cement, reinforcement and finishes.This is where you should spend energy on how to save.

We recently bot 60,000.00 bricks from St Theresa, Chiradzulu @ k1.90 per brick,transport was K20,000.00/ten thousand bricks.The cost of 1 brick was therefore K3.90 and total cost K234,000.00. The transport cost included aganyu wokweza ndi kutsitsa.koma anthu ambiri ku njerwako amakana kugulitsa njerwa zawo coz akufuna kukweza kuti zifike pa K3/brick.

I want to know if there is anybody who makes cement blocks. I would like to build mpanda using these

I dont know about blocks now with the increases in the cost of cement. And the issue of transporting Mchenga to site wont it cost just as much

In Kanengo there is a woman who makes these a Mrs Thombozi and inBlantyre at Chirimba Industrial Area there is a company can't just remember the name.

The last time I checked they were K10 each

Chabi's Construction has got the molds and capacity to mold concrete blocks. If you're creative, you can actually make the mold yourself. I recall one of my projects earlier this year (new Total filling station in Zomba) used only 3,000 blocks (1 bag of OPC mixed with quarry dust produced apprx 90 hollow blocks using mix of 1:10)for the entire building and it took 2 weeks to put up the walls. However, follow Engineer Greshom Sichinga's advice and "count the cost" of the whole project to see where substantial savings can be made. For those building houses, extensions, consider use of alternative walling materials e.g. cement sand blocks, stabilised soil blocks (SSB's). If you do chose to buy mold your own bricks and transport them to site, factor in 40% loss/breakages due to transportation and handling...

much as am not sure abt the cost in cement blocks, but the idea is great, faster and risk free. Plus guys, if we go cement blocks we go Green! I support the Motion. Its a go.

i wud also suggest that those that r close or work with Terrastone in Chirimba cud hav a beta idea, they mould these. Another guy hu can build a shopping mall without using a single *brick is Ian Sonke, the former MP. If anyone can cox this brain to ths platform we wil gain alot. #justanidea#

i think we should indeed look into concrete blocks, Washington U Chimuzu thanx man 4 the input i ll mos def look into this...

take note that kumanga cement and lime have also proved successful as alternatives to OPC in stabilized soil blocks (SSB's). Kumanga is cheaper than OPC and can actually be used in production of concrete blocks.

True that Washington. Will look for Jap he is on facebook

a very beneficial discussion guys, thanks alot!

Cool enough, remember your supervision in moulding the bricks costs you alot of productive time. I put it at 12.5% of the total cost...the only unfortunate thing is that we most of the times do not cost this element. However, moulding will give you an opportunity to come up with similar and properly sized bricks for yoor project. I'd prefer buying provided you are good at chosing the right qualuty bricks


You could also build the corners with Cement blocks and the space in between could be filled with a wall made of soil and cement( say 1:15) The structure will be quite safe if done properly. You can make your partitions with board and insulation which will allow you to modify the size of your rooms later.

This is a good discussion. I am looking for a plot in the NRC area and if I do get it, this analysis by Darlington will surely help in decision making when we start building. Thanks

can u get me in touch with Chabi Construction I m serious about the cement blocks The headache of buying Bricks and transport cost, loading and offloading, the costs pile up. My project is in LL around bunda turn off so everything has to around that area. I just need someone who has actually made those blocks to train my boys using the right mixture of sand quarry and cement

moulding your own is the best.. the size is bigger, no tpt cost bola nkhuni zokwanira basi

, am checking out the pamodziinvestment group, very impressive stuff!

I like this discussion. My observation, however, is that in the longterm, the one moulding is well-off. You have an opportunity to produce the type of brick you want. Have you ever compared the commercial bricks with the ones people do for their own use? 3 lines built with commercial bricks may be equal to 2 build with your own bricks. What does that tell you about cement consumption, time spent building e.t.c. I, therefore, insist that moulding has longterm advantages than buying.

, you can contact Chabi's Construction via chabiscon@globemw.net

Moulding bricks is very labour intensive. Bola kugula zopangapanga and you will ony buy the good ones. While when you mould your own you might run the risk ya oven osapsya or alot of breakages. In my view bola kugula.

Thanks for the info

Ladies and Gentlemen this is very informative..keep that info coming.