Everyone would want to have a comfortable and beautiful residence but at the lowest possible cost. Especially during a pandemic, when the economy is completely uncertain like this. To save expenses, we are often faced with the choice of building materials to be used in building a house. One of them is the choice of using red brick or light brick.

Brick is the most dominant material in a building. Because, bricks are used to build the walls of the house. The wall is the widest part of a building. For that, we need to be careful in making a choice between the two. Not being careful in choosing can result in swelling of the budget in building a house.

In plain view, the price of red bricks per piece is around Rp. 650, much cheaper than light bricks which cost Rp. 7,500 per block. Well, many people compare red brick and lightweight brick based on price alone. In fact, the expenses needed to make the wall are not only the price of the bricks. There is a supporting material in gluing these bricks into a wall. In addition, there is also the cost of the craftsman who does it. These two things are often overlooked when choosing to use red brick or light brick.

1. Details of the cost of using red brick per m2

   

   We need to know, the size of red brick per seed is generally around 240 x 40 mm. For a 1 m2 wall, approximately 80 red bricks are needed. Currently, the price of pressed red brick is around IDR 650. So the total price of red brick per m2 is IDR 52,000.

   Apart from red bricks, you also need to buy sand and cement to make the adhesive mixture between the red bricks. Generally, this adhesive dough is installed with a thickness of approximately 20 mm. So it requires approximately 15 kg of cement and 0.05 m3 of sifted sand. The price of cement per sack (40 kg) currently reaches IDR 50,000. Up to 15 kg of cement costs IDR 18,750. Meanwhile, the current price of sifted sand is around IDR 150,000 per m3. So that 0.05 m3 of sieve sand is worth IDR 7,500.

   Then, we also need to calculate the labor costs. In general, in big cities like Sidoarjo and Surabaya, the labor fee currently reaches IDR 135,000 per day. The duration of work is 8 hours per day. While wall construction using red brick material takes about 1 hour per m2. Because apart from installation, the process of making adhesive dough also requires its own time. So the labor cost per m2 is Rp. 13,500.

   Calculation:

   80 red bricks	:	Rp 52.000
   15 kg Cement	:	Rp 18,750
   0.05 m3 sifted sand	:	Rp 7,500
   1 hour labor fee (1 m2)	:	Rp 13,500
   Total	:	Rp 91,750

2. Details of the cost of using lightweight bricks per m2

   

   Light brick size is larger than the red brick. Generally, lightweight bricks commonly used for house walls are 600 x 200 x 100 mm in size. With this size, just 8 seeds are enough to build a 1 m2 wall. The price per seed is around IDR 7,500. So to build a wall of 1 m2 you need lightweight bricks worth IDR 60,000.

   Unlike red brick, light brick does not require sifted sand to glue it together. There is a special cement (mortar) to glue between lightweight bricks. To build a 1 m2 wall, it takes about 4 kg of cement mortar. The current price of cement reaches around Rp. 4,000 per kg. So the price of cement needed is around IDR 16,000.

   The time needed by masons to make walls made of lightweight bricks is relatively shorter. Apart from the fact that the number of bricks installed is much less, the time needed to make the adhesive dough is also much faster. Because, to make adhesive dough for light bricks, it is enough to mix water and cement mortar. To build a wall of 1 m2 it takes about 40 minutes. If the labor costs Rp. 135,000 per day (8 hours of work), then the cost per m2 is only Rp. 9,000.

   Calculation:

   8 pieces of lightweight brick	:	Rp 60,000
   Cement mortar 4 kg	:	Rp 16,000
   40 minutes labor fee (1 m2)	:	Rp 9,000
   Total	:	Rp 85.000

By using lightweight bricks, you can save Rp. 6,750 per m2. Looks small? Let's try to apply it to a type 50 house building with a building specification of 5 meters wide, 10 meters long, and a wall height of 4 meters. The total area of the outer wall required for the type 50 house is approximately 120 m2.

The cost of building a 120 m2 wall using red bricks is 120 x IDR 91,750 = IDR 11,010,000. Meanwhile, if you use lightweight bricks, the cost is 120 x IDR 85,000 = 10,200,000. You can save Rp. 810,000 if you use lightweight bricks. That's just the outer walls, right, not the walls of the rooms and rooms inside the house. So, it's a fact that using lightweight bricks is far more economical than red bricks.