Today, any construction project, no matter how small it is, requires good design and planning. Any construction project, whether you perform it personally or not, requires a sound mind and your involvement.
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Only so, watching carefully the construction project execution, using your common sense you can save hundreds or even, thousands of dollars. One important way to save money is to find the necessary materials at reasonable prices, if not at ridiculous low prices.
Let’s see together, the most important and necessary construction materials and how to get them.
Portland Cement
Generally, price per cement bag varies between $ 2.25 and $ 4.50 or even more.
Let me give you an advice. If your construction project consists in pouring the concrete in footings, laying down a concrete driveway or paving a patio DO NOT PAY the full price for a cement bag.
A smart solution is to go to a Home Improvement Center (Home Depot, Rona, etc) and ask if they have opened or broken bags. Do not forget to take with you strong black plastic bags. You will be amazed about the price. It is a bargain. You can save between 25% and 50%.
However, do not let the cement, in these plastic bags unattended for long periods. Do not store the plastic bags on the ground. Store them off the ground in a covered patio or shed.
A wise idea is to find specific designed buckets with lids that can allow you to store your cement for long periods. You can find these buckets along many highways. They have been used to store the cement for construction and repairs of the highways. They are free to take and they are perfect to store your cement.
Plywood
Plywood is a vital component for most construction projects. Today, it is quite difficult to build something and do not need plywood.
However, true laminated plywood is relative expensive (around $ 30/sheet) and therefore, OSB (oriented strand board) or water-board is becoming increasingly used instead.
But, there are ways to buy cheap or even free plywood or water-board. Check for big business companies in your city that receive many of their items in plywood crates. They need to uncrate parts and components and dispose the crates.
So, you can find any thickness of plywood you want between 1/8-inch paneling and ¾-inch heavy duty, it is true that in some unusual dimensions, but free of charge. You need only two things the Receiving Manager permission and a light truck to pick up the plywood pieces.
Another solution is to check the discarded material piles near road construction sites, where you can find used treated lumber or ¾-inch plywood pieces. There are many construction projects DIY projects where you can use these used material pieces.
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Drywall (Sheet Rock, Gypsum Board)
If your construction project is an interior project and you know very well, you will finish perfectly your wall, then it is no need to spend a lot of money, buying 10ft or 12ft drywall sheets. You can save up to 50% on your drywall purchase. How?
Instead of 10ft or 12ft drywall sheets buy 8ft lightly damaged drywall. It is possible to buy these drywall sheets at half price. Any Home Improvement Center may have a damaged drywall stack and they are willing to make you a great discount.
Door Hardware
In this section, I do not think you can find too many alternatives.
There are overstocks and some products at the end of season may have a lower price. You can save up to 25% for this kind of product.
However, clearance items always are a problem for any store and you can make a good deal if you buy the whole stock. You can use only a few and you can sale the other ones (garage sale or put them in a paper).
Carpeting
You can find good quality of carpets if you are not too pretentious and you not put much emphasis on specific color or type. There are many brand new stocks of carpet refused by customers only for color or pattern. So, you can buy a brand new carpet for $ 2.00 sq. ft. or less.
Another option is a remnant store where you can find many deals. You can save up to 40% off a new price.