Complete Grey Structure Construction Guide – 2023

A comprehensive understanding of construction basics is a must for completing a quality construction project. Without having a clear understanding of all activities, a project plan is going to fail. The construction process requires time, effort, and significant investment. More or less activities sequence remains the same for any size of the residential project i.e. 125, 272, 500, etc. We can categorize any construction project life-cycle into four basic phases i.e.

1. Pre-Construction Steps
2. Site Preparation
3. Grey Structure Construction
4. Finishing Work

Let’s deep dive into detail for these steps:

1. Pre-Construction Steps:

Certain activities have to be completed before a contract can be initiated for starting field construction work.

Acquisition of Land or Plot:

It is the primary and most essential step for building construction to find a land or plot that is most suitable for constructing a building. While selecting land make sure it should be free from all land-related issues and all the necessary facilities should be available near it. The more the land is uneven or in depression, the cost of construction will increase.

Conceptualization & Desire:

Construction is not a usual activity that you will engage in your daily life. Since it is more or less once or
twice in a normal person’s life, it is better for you to have a concept of what you are looking on this piece of land. Obviously, it depends on the size of the land. The bigger the size of the land, you can have bigger rooms, backyards, and front yards but if the size is small, you have to think carefully about your requirement.

Building Plan & Technical Drawing:

One should hire a professional architect for converting his concepts into building designs and
drawings. An experienced professional architect can assist you in creating a perfect building plan that meets your demands, taking into account your budget and requirements. The architect will consult with the structural engineer for the structural design and other technical aspects of the building, such as the type of foundation to be used and its depth, footing, column size, etc. The structure Engineer will need

to understand the Soil strata to place the foundation. In the case of rocky strata 4-5 feet below the road level, the foundation depth will be normal, however in some cases it may require to excavate more depth or having a concrete pilling if the soil is lose altogether, pattern of your soil is established by a Geotechnical Engineering firm.

Estimate and Budget:

One of the key elements before starting fieldwork is to understand how the prepared drawings are going to be transformed into the real building of your dream. The construction of a building requires various amounts of materials and funds. After completing the planning and structural detailing, these details are used by Quantity Surveyor who calculates and identifies requires of material and labor. In other words, if you know the required material, and you know how much it will cost. One of the key issues we see nowadays is that there are many contractors in the market who without seeing the soil type, design of your house, or quote per square foot and people are being trapped to start the project without having any clue what the issue they will face over a period of time with them. One should note that no matter how expert the contractor is, he is not going to put money from his pocket if the material requirement is increasing for your design house, rather he will ask to pay you additional cost which you will go into argumentation, causing significant construction delay, inflation of prices, or end up in status quo in fighting with him. So, understanding a clear material requirement will save you from all these Hessel.

Building Permission:

Before starting the project on-site, we must obtain approval from the relevant regulatory organization and local authorities. The required paperwork for getting permission for a building project is listed below. Some of these documents are essential for every building construction project, and others may vary from state to state,

1. Land survey: A land survey must be performed with the assistance of a licensed land surveyor.

2. The land’s soil test report.

3. Sectional drawings/architecture/elevation drawings 4. Report on Structure

5. Architect’s Certificate of Undertaking and 6. Civil Engineer’s Certificate

Awarding Contract:

Best quality is only achievable if the Contractor you are giving the job is having a qualified and experienced team and have demonstrated the quality jobs to other clients. Before handing over the work to the contractor you must see his previous performance. One of the major issues currently we note is that available contractors do not make a detailed contract including all essential information about the work resulting in dispute and argumentation, which badly impacts project performance. The contract you are signing must include information about the work’s plan and specifications, as well as payment terms, deadlines, and expenses. If the full details are not listed in the contract, you will NOT enter a favorable ride of construction during the whole process. Since you have already got the BOQ generated, you are in a better shaped to work with the contractor on the scope, material selection, quantity and how much it can cost you and can easily judge if the contractor is asking too low ONLY to get the job or end up having a low-quality construction or he is asking too much for your project. A construction contract may also include some elements of the pre-construction activities, depending on the choice of the Project Owner and the Agreement.

Building Construction Steps:

2. Site preparation or leveling:

Before starting fieldwork, the construction site should be properly cleaned from all debris, garbage, and unwanted plants or bushes should be removed using a Tractor or general labor to achieve ground leveling. A level surface will help to transform technical requirements from approved documents to your project ground and help to avoid future complexities.

Demarcation is a marking or marker provided by the competent authority Site Surveyor which provides your land coordinates and boundaries.

Site barrication and Access: Once the demarcation markers/pegs are installed, a temporary extended marking is performed by your contractor to begin the site activities. It is a thumb role to have an extended area marked as building a foundation and retaining wall will need additional space for workers to perform the required activities. In addition to this, storage yard, site access yard passage are considered within the temporary site barrication,

Site Survey and Layout:

Manual Trenching: It is also advisable and in some cases is the requirement of the governing authority that manual trenching is performed to verify if there is no utilities or other infrastructure components existing in your layout area. Manual trenching helps to protect against significant rework costs if any obstacle is identified. Further, if the adjacent house is already constructed, it is better to perform manual trenching adjacent to the existing house’s foundation with the same depth you want to excavate for the foundation.

This will act as a barrier for transmitting any vibration produced by excavating machines on your site and potentially any damage to the existing property.

3. Grey Structure Steps

3.a. Sub-Structure Work:

Excavation and Foundation Soil Preparation:

Once the layout and manual trenching is done, excavation for the specified foundation is performed. If the soil strata is soft excavation can be performed by Excavator, however, if the soil strata is hard or rocky, jack hammer needs to be mobilized. Al broken stones needs to be dumped outside of the construction plot by using the access point which has been developed for the site. If the strata is not hard, then a compaction is performed to meet the AHSTO soil strength requirement. This is done by using a Vibrator compactor. FDT test sample analysis is performed to validate the soil condition.

Termite Treatment:

One of the first key processes to protect your huge investment is to have a Termite treatment performed. Termites are the biggest killer of your woodwork and destroy the woodwork very quickly if not treated. These bugs may have colonies beneath the excavated soil. A special chemical is sprayed over the excavated soil.

Lean or PCC:

After 24 hours of Termite treatment is performed, a 4″ thin layer of concrete, PCC is placed over the excavated site. Plain cement concrete is a mixture of cement, fine aggregate (sand), and coarse

aggregate without steel. PCC is an important component of a building that is laid on the soil surface to avoid direct contact of reinforcement of concrete with soil and water.

Foundation and Column Marking:

 Lean or PCC surface is then used to transform your drawing from paper to soil by a survey team. This transformation marks the foundation, column, and C2 locations for placing reinforcement bars.

The foundation is the lowest artificially prepared part of the structure, which is in direct contact with the ground and transmits the load of the superstructure to the ground.

We must first transfer the lines and measurements indicated on the foundation plan to the building site. That is, the exact length, width, depth, and position of the foundation trenches must be marked on the ground. This movement from the plan to the actual site is called setting out. It is probably the most critical step in the entire construction process. A correct marking will help to achieve a level substructure i.e. no part of the floor or foundation will be higher than others and walls will be parallel and perpendicular as needed.

After completing the reinforcement binding work, Shuttering is placed to hold the desired shapes and size of concrete. After shuttering work, its casting is done either by using ready mix concrete or insitu concrete. After 24 Hours of concreting, shuttering is removed, area is cleaned and curing is performed for a minimum of three days. Curing time and how many times per day will depend on the site’s local environment condition. As a general rule of thumb, at least three days of curing should be performed twice a day. Curing helps to achieve concrete strength.

Water Proofing:

Once the Foundation and C2 wall is cured, it is cleaned of all external particles and a couple of lavers of a waterproofing compound is applied. There are vast varieties of waterproofing compound available market which varies for their properties and may be significantly costly as well. Generally, either cold bitumen or hot bitumen is applied. This helps water ingress through the casted concrete pour to reach the rebars in the structure.

Backfilling It is the method of restoring or reusing soil removed during excavation. Backfilling helps in strengthening the foundation and supporting it and other structural members. The soil condition of your site decides the type of backfilling material you use. Material is backfilled to the desired level where the Plinth is going to be placed.

Compaction: After Backfilling Soil compaction is performed to achieve the required soil strength. Compaction is either achieved by Compactor or Water Compaction.

Plinth Lean or PCC:

Once the desired result is obtained a temporary plinth layout marking is performed and a 4″ thin layer of concrete, PCC is placed over the compacted soil. Plain cement concrete is a mixture of cement, fine aggregate(sand), and coarse aggregate without steel. PCC is an important component of a building that is laid on the soil surface to avoid direct contact of reinforcement of concrete with soil and water.

Plinth Beam Layout:

Lean or PC surface is then used to transform your drawing from paper to lean by a survey team. This transformation marks plinth and column locations for placing reinforcement bars.

A plinth beam is a component of the superstructure located between the ground level and floor level to assist in transmitting the load of the structure to the foundation. It also offers safety to the building against the penetration of moisture and a pleasing architectural appearance. At the top of the plinth, a damp-proof course is provided. It’s typically 75 – 100 mm thick plain concrete, which helps to avoid water infiltration in the soil that reaches the plinth wall and floor level by capillary action.

Water Proofing:

Once the Plinth beam is cured, it is cleaned of all external particles and a couple of layers of Waterproofing compound is applied. There are vast varieties of the waterproofing compound available market which varies in their properties and may be significantly costly as well. Generally, either cold bitumen or hot bitumen is applied. This helps water ingress through the casted concrete pour to reach the rebars in the structure.

Backfilling: It is the method of restoring or reusing soil removed during excavation. Backfilling helps in strengthening the foundation and supporting it and other structural members. The soil condition of your site decides the type of backfilling material you use.

Compaction: The soil is compacted with heavy rammers or a compactor after each layer of backfilling. Backfilling is done in layers of 15 to 20 cm in thickness to ensure proper compaction.

Termite Treatment:

A second treatment of termite protection is performed on the soil to protect your huge investment. As explained Termites are the biggest killer of the woodwork and destroy the woodwork very quickly if not treated.

Stone Soiling:

A 2″- 3″ pieces of stones are placed over the entire surface and later hammered to firmly settled in the ground. This is done to strengthen the floor of the house.

Lean or PCC:

A 4″ thin layer of concrete, PCC is placed over the excavated site. Plain cement concrete is a mixture of cement, fine aggregate(sand), and coarse aggregate without steel, this is also called KACHHA floor. With this Substructure Work of your house is completed

3.b. Superstructure Work:

The structure above the plinth level is known as a superstructure. It consists of all parts of the building above the plinth level, like walls, columns, beam, slabs, doors, and windows etc.

Block Work:

Block work in construction is a method of building walls using pre-cast concrete blocks that are laid in courses and held together with mortar. Block work can be used for load-bearing or non-load-bearing walls, depending on the type and grade of the blocks. Blockwork has advantages such as versatility, durability, fire resistance, sound insulation and thermal mass. The walls are made of bricks or stones and divide the building space into different halls and rooms. The walls also support slabs and beams. They also give privacy and offer protection against heat, cold, and rain.

Column Concreting:

After completing the block work of the ground floor, Rebars are fixed for all required columns up to the slab level, followed by shuttering. 3000 Psi grade concrete is poured using either a ready-mixed concrete or rotary concrete mixing machine at the site. One of the key elements is to make sure that honeycombs are not formed in the column. Either a vibrator is used or a manual stroking is performed to make sure that all voids got filled evenly.

Slab Form Work:

Slab formwork is a method of constructing concrete slab using a temporary structure that supports the concrete until it hardens. Slab formwork can be made of different materials such as steel, timber or marine ply. Slab formwork can also have different shapes and sizes depending on the design and requirements of the slab. Slab formwork also needs to be designed and calculated according to the specifications and loads of the slab.

Stairs:

The stairs connect the floors. Formwork for Stair is placed in parallel to the Slab form work. The construction of stair formwork depends on the design of the stair selected.

Slab and Beam Rebar:

After completing the formwork reinforcement bars making a mesh as per the engineering drawing are placed for beams and slabs inside the formwork to provide strength and ductility to the concrete. Generally, reinforcements are cut, bent in parallel to the formwork and then tied over the formwork as per the required design. After completing the reinforcement work electrical pipes and all other concealed pipes such as AC Supply and return line, AC drain line, etc. are provided between reinforcement.

Slab and Beam Concreting:

Slab and beam concreting is a process of casting concrete into horizontal members that support the structure. Concrete is poured into the formwork, by using ready-mix concrete through a pump or by

manually. While pouring consideration should be given to avoid segregation, honeycombing, or air entrainment in the concrete and is done continuously to avoid cracks or joints in the concrete. A vibration or tamping rod is continuously used specifically in the beam formwork to make sure that all air bubbles and excess water has been removed to avoid any honeycomb or voids. Finally using a trowel or float or screed concrete surface is smoothened and leveled as soon as after pouring to prevent shrinkage cracks and surface defects

Parapet and Front Elevation Work: Now parapet walls are constructed on top of the roof and elevation work is completed as per the drawing.

Electrical Conduits and Plumbing Pipes:

After completing the brickwork, grooves are made on walls to install electrical conduits and plumbing pipes as per the electrical and plumbing drawing.

Doors and Window Frame: After completing the electrical conduits and plumbing pipes and fixing work door and window frames are set in the opening left for them as per the drawing.

Internal Plaster Work: After the installation of plumbing and electrical conduits, plastering work begins. The building’s interior and exterior are plastered with cement and sand mixture.

The internal walls surface has a coating that is 10 – 18 mm thick, and the outer wall surface has a coat that is 15 to 25 mm thick. Plastering can strengthen the structure of the building, shield it from the impacts of the weather, and improve its aesthetic appeal.

External Plaster Work: External plastering is completed with appropriate materials to protect against rain penetration, weather effects, aesthetics of the building, and most importantly, to extend the service life of the building.

Roof Waterproofing and Finishing:

Waterproofing is done on the top of the slab to avoid any leakage. Then tiles or marble are typically installed on the slab to protect it from the effects of weathering.

4. Internal Finishing:

False Ceiling, Electrical Work, Flooring, Kitchen Work, Cabinet work, Painting Work, Electrical and Plumbing fixtures installation, Wood Work including Door Installation, Window Installation, Cleaning, and Final inspections are key internal finishing activities. These will be discussed in detail in our next article.

Conclusion:

Building your dream house is a significant and life-long investment. In order to have a quality house constructed which meets your requirement from conceptualization to final delivery, it is important that you choose people who have strong technical and managerial skills and have demonstrated quality. If you are interested to begin your house construction, feel free to contact Unique home construction and Management. One of our team members will take you in detail with all the requirements and explain in further detail the above items for further clarity and understanding. Our team will develop and provide you, with a budgeted cost plan, material BOQ and Schedule to meet your requirement and deliver the project with the best quality while achieving within the budgeted cost.