Study reveals that reinforcing steel is equivalent to 10-14% of the direct cost of building a building
SANTO DOMINGO. A study of the Instituto Tecnológico de Santo Domingo (INTEC) revealed that between a 10 and 14% of the Direct cost for the construction a building de economic class, medium y high en Dominican Republic is invested in steel for reinforcement
The study led by the Researcher Tulio Rodríguez and engineer Marleni Ventura determined that in projects of reinforced concrete buildings with up to four levels built with formaleta, towers for real estate use between 8 and 12 levels and towers of 12 or more levels the steel represents 10.14%, 14.70% y 12.80% of the total direct cost respectively.
The researchers were helped by the case study methodology, which allowed them to evaluate the corresponding plans and budgets versus what was executed in 15 projects, 5 for each type of building.
Use of industrialized cut and shaped steel represents savings of 18%
With the information collected for each project, a comparative analysis was carried out considering zero waste due to the use of industrialized cutting and figuration against the use of straight steel in the projects, for which the total amount of rods used in each case was recalculated. Then the present value of the total cost of the same and the total direct costs of the samples was determined, using the Direct Housing Index of Housing Construction (ICDV) prepared by the National Statistics Office (ONE), with support from the Dominican Association of Home Builders and Promoters (ACOPROVI).
It is known as cut and figurative, the elements obtained from bent and cut rods to the dimensions of the design in an industrialized way, respecting the recommendations and regulations of the building codes.
According to the investigation, the consideration of working with court y figurative industrialized in the different projects evaluated, represents an average savings of between 18.03% un 18.46%.
The researchers concluded that, in order to complement the results, and to be of better benefit to the construction industry, it is necessary to undertake other investigations on the reduction in time of the work of steel in work and the quality of its placement when receiving the cut and figured in-situ. Likewise, as the use of rod diameters not common in the Dominican market (5/8 ”, 7/8”, greater than 1 ”) that allow structural engineers to optimize their designs and their economic impact on costs Direct and indirect projects.
The research was carried out with the support of the companies Constructora, Arq. Jorge Montalvo & Asoc., Constructora OV, Right Construction, CP Construcciones Planizadas, Wimka, Constructora RODOS, Carvajal Polanco & Asociados, Constructora Melcon, Ingeniería Avanzada and Grupo Viridiana, which provided information on construction projects under development. In addition, the study was sponsored by the Gerdau Metaldom company.