Construction Costs Assessment of Structural Systems for Low-Rise and Social Welfare Housing

A comparative analysis of the costs related to the construction of low-rise,\ud low-cost and social welfare housing was carried out. The study included three\ud of the most commonly used structural systems for low-rise housing in Latin\ud America, such as the traditional system of confined masonry walls, concrete\ud walls conventionally reinforced with welded-wire meshes and concrete walls\ud reinforced with steel fiber. The cost comparison was carried out by budgets\ud analysis, which were performed based on construction quantities, unit prices\ud and particular items for each structural system. It was found in the study that,\ud from an economic point of view, the systems of concrete walls reinforced with\ud welded-wire meshes or steel fibers are more advantageous than confined masonry\ud systems. In addition, the integral comparison of the three structural\ud systems demonstrates that the industrialized system of steel fiber reinforced\ud concrete walls allows obtaining greater advantages of cleaning and sustainability,\ud faster construction, lower cost and a more attractive scenario for builders\ud investing in such projects