Building or renovating a house is an expensive proposition as every little thing adds up, whether it’s the material or labour costs. It pays to have a clear idea of what you want to achieve so that your budget is not wasted on redoing elements. Recycling old material or opting for D-I-Y features is another way to keep the costs as low as possible.

We’ve highlighted 9 tips in this ideabook to help you build your house on a not-so-big budget.

​1. Masonry furniture

Whether you want to build a bar counter indoors or fixed seating outdoors, masonry furniture that uses bricks, stone or cement as a base is not only economical but also durable. It’s especially a good idea for the outdoors where the furniture is exposed to the natural elements.

2. Flooring

Instead of stone or ceramic tiles, consider using cement flooring to keep costs down. It’s easy to maintain and is a perfect option for a rustic home. Besides being easy to install, a concrete floor can also be decorated with mosaic tile borders or a coat of paint to brighten up the home. You can easily improve your landscaping curb appeal and property value by using artificial turf.

3. Walls with cement

Concrete can also be used on walls to give a room a modern industrial look. It’s an affordable option compared to ceramic tiles and is maintenance-free too.

4. Pallets for walls

In recent years, wooden pallets have gained popularity as an eco-friendly alternative to traditional wood cladding on walls. Besides being cost-effective for a low budget house, they come with the advantage of matching classic and contemporary homes alike.

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Starting out as minor leaks caused by drains backing up on themselves suddenly turned into a river. Around about 09:00PM on Wednesday night, my brother, Rob and myself were monitoring the water levels from about 8 different locations. As we drove through Carragundi road, all of a sudden had a thin line of water running across the road, quite like it had just rained, nothing more than a millimetre or two spread across the bitumen. A couple of hours had passed so we thought we would go for another drive and check up on things around the area. Carragundi road was virtually inaccessible, with the raging waters raising in front of our eyes it wasn’t looking good for the local corner shops, let alone the houses surrounding it.

The aftermath; This… The shops were completely inundated with water. It isn’t very visible in these photos but the water level reached as high as the shark on the seafood shop sign. This photos were captured on Friday afternoon and I have to say it was quite an emotional walk through the area having people lost absolutely everything they own. More to come soon.