-
The factors of production involved in the any construction process, just like any other economic activities, are the usual 4Ms namely materials, manpower, machinery and money. Materials normally consist of a significant major portion of any construction activity. Manpower relates generally to the labour force required. Machinery involves the plants and tools associated with the activities. Money refers to the capital requirement to acquire the other resources as well as the financing of the whole construction execution.
In the process of collecting prices for to build the Building Materials Construction Index numbers, CIDB obtained data on the prices of basic major building materials that were adopted to make up the Index numbers. These index referred as the Building Materials Cost Index (BMCI) is publish in a separate CIDB publication. As for the prices collected, these numbers are then processed accordingly to produce this publication on the average prices for major materials for the building construction.
In the middle 1980s bricks was available below ten cent per piece while construction cost of a government school was estimated at RM25 per foot square. Today, the scenario has changed and so does in the future. However, these construction resources price movements have not been documented in a systematic and organised manner. On the other hand, this key information is of vital importance in monitoring prices. It can also assist various users of different requirements.
Currently, various organizations either contractors, consultants or clients, practice different method of estimating process. There are various type of approximate estimate procedures ranging from unit method, cube method, floor area method etc. The bigger organisations that specialise in cost advice to clients as well as established construction companies, all have the advantage of owning comprehensive construction cost information. They are able to give adequate consultancy to their client on the matter.
But for investors, building clients, smaller organisations or even the public who wished to have some comparisons or guidelines on the price of materials, there are not many central source of information available to them for this purpose. Hence, this publication intends to fill this vacuum and provide the various users some rough indications to the current average prices of the major building materials' prices. This publication is also part of CIDB's effort to established The Construction Industry Resource Centre in order to provide basic essential information to the construction community. This is also in line with CIDB's main function in providing systematic essential information to the construction industry community.
It is hope that the information will be able to assist those who are involved in the construction industry to execute simple approximate estimates as estimating is the key to a successfully conceived, managed and completed project. In addition, it is also a function common to a broad spectrum of projects in which cost, other than time, must be managed. The primary function of an approximate estimate is essentially to produce forecast of the probable cost a future project before the facilities has been designed in detail and contract particulars prepared. In this way the person involve, either the investor or the building client, is aware of his financial commitments before extensive design work is undertaken.
View and download the Average Price of Building Materials.
-
