Short-changed

Thinking of ways to save money has become more important than ever since the credit crunch hit and now developers in Bangalore have come up with a novel way to cut costs - by reducing the height of apartments by as much as a foot -which could spell disaster if you are not a mini-me...

The National Building Code in India dictated that the minimum floor-to-floor height of a property in India should be at least nine feet.

In cities such as Bangalore and Chennai - which have traditionally had bungalows with high ceilings - recently constructed apartments have had a floor-to-floor height as high as 15 feet.

Until now, developers across the country have been maintaining an average floor-to-floor height of 9.5 to 10 feet, but with the global downturn comes cost cutting and those developers looking to cut back on their construction costs are fixing on the idea of reducing the floor-to-floor height.

Now, many are looking to make use of the minimum height of nine feet, thereby lowering the apartment height by six inches to a foot. This trend is expected to become prominent in new project launches as well as in the upcoming low-cost housing market.

The reduction in ceiling height is expected to save builders up to five per cent on construction costs.

Industry sources add that a few tier II builders are said to be looking to reduce the floor- to-floor height in apartments to as low as 8 feet 6 inches, even though the stipulated norm is nine feet.

Developers are also considering other cost cutting measures, including using hollow concrete blocks rather than clay bricks; using composite concrete frames instead of wooden frames for doors and windows and laying cement flooring instead of vitrified tiles.

Picture by wili_hybrid