Sanga, Samwel Alananga and Lucian, Charles
(2016)
Cost Shares and Factor-Cost Ratios in Owner-Built Incremental
Housing in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania.
Journal of Construction in Developing Countries , 21 (1).
pp. 113-130.
ISSN 1823-6499
Abstract
The adoption of incremental owner-built techniques in housing construction relies
on the associated lower cost compared to developer-built approaches. The mechanism that
lowers cost is however, not obvious. This study is based on survey data that were collected
using questionnaires which were distributed to 200 respondents in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
with response rate of 22.5%. The analysis results, based on descriptive statistics and regression
analysis indicate that an incremental house-builder targeting an additional bedroom
incrementally spends 28% lower annual construction cost and each additional square meter
built, is associated with 0.4% lower cost. However, such lower cost comes at a 5%–10% longer
completion time. These observations suggest that spreading costs over time reduces
construction cost through multiple cost-saving channels opened up by time itself and factor
intensity. The intensity of incremental housing construction favours increasing expenditure on
labour than capital yielding a 5% reduction in annual cost but the greatest cost reduction
benefit of up to 26% is realised through increasing expenditure on "capital" with fixed
spending on materials during construction.
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