The benefits of concrete block construction start paying off from the very beginning. First, block construction is now less expensive than wood frame. Secondly, it adds to the overall value of the investment when it’s time to sell. Third, over the course of your investment you’ll save as much as 30% in maintenance and upkeep expenses.
In the multi-family development industry market timing is everything! In many cases it has had and continues to have an extremely great influence on the types of products used in the construction process. Decisionmakers in the development industry had to play speed of construction against long term strength and durability. Much of that process was due to the belief that wood frame construction, though considerably less durable, was faster. When you’re trying to “meet the market”, speed is everything. Times have changes. Nowadays, developers no longer have to sacrifice strength, durability and safety in order to build with the speed they desire. Concrete block construction in the multi-family industry is every bit as speedy as with wood frame. With today’s advanced staging techniques, shell contractor processes and local sourcing, speed is never a deterrence for the use of concrete block. Below is a handy chart illustrating the benefits of concrete block construction versus wood frame. It just makes sense, long term and short term, to use concrete block.
“I’ve been a developer of apartment projects, mainly in central Florida, for more than 40 years. I followed all of the trends-moving from concrete block construction to wood frame, just like most of my competitors. Typically, I keep 30% of my projects and sell the rest within 3 years. After a while I started to notice that, of my own portfolio, some projects were costing me anywhere from 20-40% more than the others for maintenance, repairs and upkeep. It didn’t occur to me right away that it was a construction materials issue, mainly because I wasn’t paying attention and my managers were saying that it was mainly tenant caused. When I did start seriously looking into the problem, I noticed one striking similarity- the “problem projects were my wood frame apartments. Since then, on anything I plan on keeping for myself, I use concrete block construction-100%”.
Oh, one more benefit – Noise reduction. If you are an apartment owner or manager, you know that one of the top three complaints from tenants is excessive noise- either from neighbors or the outside environment. No other construction product has the combination of noise abatement qualities that concrete block has. Concrete block walls reflect noise from the outside, insulate from sound moving through walls and isolate sound from coming out. If you want to cut down on tenant complaints, concrete block is the first and best way to accomplish that.
